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Yet another Christmas came.
It was one of those holidays where absolutely nothing changed. The world kept spinning, no one paused to catch a single snowflake as they’re too busy shivering. Everyone led their own lives, even unwillingly, because they knew it would be their last.
It has been a while since the apocalypse ended.
The earth, for once, was quiet.
Buildings were rebuilt, societies gathered. Communities resurfaced and some formed new ones. It was like starting to live from scratch, except this time, we knew how to live, just not how to implement it.
Their lives were quieter after Kim Dokja’s disappearance.
(Shin Yoosung perked up at the sudden lights, her eyes sparkling, even without the lighting. It was evident in her smile that she was happy to find Christmas ornaments and lights even during the gruesome apocalypse—the child thought she would never see such festivity ever again.
“Dokja hyung?” She tugs at the man’s classic white coat. “We’re celebrating Christmas?”
Kim Dokja only smiles at the child, his gaze softening by the way she sounded so vulnerable, fitting as the child that she was.
“Yes, Yoosung. If we can, why not?”
Yoo Joonghyuk stares from a distance, his eyes unreadable.
Yoo Joonghyuk thought Kim Dokja was a fool.)
There were no more celebrations. Birthday parties were sometimes held, but most had already forgotten about their own date of births due to stress.
The others still tried. The others still remembered.
(That fool never told them anything about himself.
He moved at his own pace in which the others could barely follow, and so they were forced to keep up.
That absolute fool never looked back.
“Yoo Joonghyuk?” Lee Gilyoung approached the stoic man that he was, and still is.
“When is Dokja hyung’s birthday?”
He froze. “Why me?”
“You’re always with Hyung,” The child admits like it was a matter of fact.
Yoo Joonghyuk did not know.)
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I stare at the finally clear raven skies with an unreadable expression. I spent the rest of the 25th accompanying the companions Kim Dokja, the fool, left alone.
I let them celebrate Christmas as they used to before. I let the children redeem their lost childhoods by letting them play around freely and with a sense of safety. I let them live the life they could’ve led.
Yet another Christmas came.
It was another Christmas without you.