Trigger Warning
This chapter contains content about self-harm and sexual assault.
EYES SEE YOU
Chapter 7
"Pain"
Juni remained invisible in the demon’s vision. If only it could foresee its doom, Juni perched atop its shoulders, a wide grin painted his face. Juni’s voice rang out in the darkness:
“You are going to die…”
Juni’s horn was white as snow, unlike the horn that came out of the other demon who vanished because that one was as dark as the void.
With brute force, he thrust his horn into the demon’s skull from his chest, like pulling it into a deadly hug. The demon screamed in pain as the lethal horn sliced and seared its flesh simultaneously. When it penetrated through the other side of the demon’s head, Juni grabbed the end of the horn and pulled upward, intent on beheading the demon.
As its head started to rip out of its neck, it made a sound similar to fabric getting torn apart.
Before Juni was able to separate head from neck, the demon managed to forcefully throw Juni aside and quickly fled. Juni got up and followed the demon’s path down the hallway, but his vision started to blur. Gradually, he began to calm down, returning to his usual self. Checking his chest, he noticed the horn was gone. Before he could process this, weakness overcame him, and he collapsed. His eyes closed as he lost consciousness.
When Juni opened his eyes, he was welcomed back by the view of Jane cradling his head outside of the decrepit house, tears streaming down her face in fear and concern. It was evident that she had dragged Juni outside with all her might, once she regained consciousness herself.
“J-Jane?”
“Juni? You’re awake! I’m so sorry. This is all my fault!”
“Jane, you’re covered in blood. Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine! This is all your blood! I don’t know what I’d do if you didn’t wake up…”
Jane sobbed as Juni’s head rested on her lap.
“Jane…”
Juni slowly lifted himself up, looking at her earnestly. Jane met his gaze, her eyes filled with emotion.
“Will you still go to Remnant Fair with me?”
Jane couldn’t believe Juni’s question, and she let out a loud cry. Juni tenderly tapped her head as she released all her pent-up emotions of relief.
AT THE PARK
Juni and Jane sat together in the park, sharing dumplings that Juni had saved for them.
“Juni, I still don’t understand what happened back there. I woke up, and you were… unconscious. And there was blood… everywhere.”
Juni hesitated to share the details, not wanting to worry Jane further. What mattered most to him was that she was safe now, and the dumplings from his mom were still delicious. He found himself distracted by their taste.
Juni touched his chest, remembering that a large horn just came out of him not too long ago, and now it’s all gone.
Jane held a dumpling, seemingly talking to it since Juni wasn’t responding to her questions.
“Your uniform was covered in blood, and your eye…”
Juni realized Jane had noticed his unusual eye. Quickly, he tried to brush his hair to conceal it.
“What’s with everyone hiding things from me? You and Rachel—”
Jane’s thoughts drifted to Rachel’s wrists. The scars—
“Who is Rachel?”
“She’s my friend. But my point is, you don’t need to hide anything from me. It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
Juni’s heart swells with warmth. He felt a sense of relief that she cared for him despite whatever secrets he harbored. Though he couldn’t comprehend the recent events himself, he resolved to seek answers from Dr. Braille on their next check-up.
Meanwhile, Jane recalled something Rachel told her that day, her mind racing with newfound thoughts.
Flashback…
.
.
.
“Before moving to Serene, I attended a different school where I didn’t have many friends. However, my passion for photography led me to join the journalism club, where I captured moments for the school paper. It was there that I met a girl we were assigned to interview.”
“You look really pretty,” —the new girl complimented Rachel as she snapped her picture for the article.
“Instantly, we became best friends. We supported each other academically and creatively, she would pose as my model and I would help her with our subjects. We were sharing lunches and adventures outside of school. We were like kindred spirits, inseparable in our bond.”
“But life wasn’t always smooth sailing. Something huge happened… One day I was in the film room and a student came in.”
Rachel was holding a camera. The guy took it from her hand.
“Just one touch and I’ll go.” —he locked the door behind him.
The room was cramped and Rachel was not comfortable with the situation.
“I didn’t know how to respond to it. All I knew was, I just wanted it to be over…”
The boy touched her in the areas he shouldn’t. The guy didn’t just stop there… He did much more… And Rachel was holding off a scream and tears started flowing from her eyes.
“Now, to make sure this is just between us. A memory photo.” —The boy took a photo of her in a compromised position using her camera.
“Why did you do that?!” —Rachel was on the floor, crying.
“This is for me… a reminder of you.” —the guy put the photo between his lips and closed the door as he left Rachel inside the room.
“The only one I could trust was my best friend, so I told her everything. We planned to report the incident together, but the rumors spread like wildfire…”
Two girls were heard while Rachel was inside a bathroom cubicle.
“Have you heard of what happened to that girl from the journalism club?”
“Oh, Rachel?”
“Yeah. I heard she seduced one of the guys in our school.”
“But she was telling people that he forced her.”
“How do you know that?”
“Oh, I saw the picture! She looked like she was asking for it.”
As Rachel heard this, her tears fell from her eyes. She was holding a box cutter close to her wrist and she started hurting herself. She would hide the wounds with some bandages. Some people looked at her as she was walking in the hallway with her bandages stained with her blood.
“Overwhelmed by shame and guilt, I resorted to self-harm to hide my pain. My best friend was my rock, but then… I caught her with the boy who had hurt me, and my world crumbled. I sought answers from her… She said she talked to him just to confront him. Despite my hurt, I chose to believe her, because it was hard for me to accept that she would betray me… But then—”
As the two girls calmed down, they stood up to leave and a photo fell from the pages of the book Rachel’s best friend was carrying.
“I saw the photo… and it was me. That was the picture the guy took of me. My bestfriend had it…”
Rachel’s tears started falling again. When her bestfriend looked back at her, she saw the photo in her hand. While Rachel was just standing there, her best friend came to her and whispered something in her ear.
“Please keep everything to yourself, that guy…is my brother.”
Jane bit her lip to hide the pain she felt for her poor friend. Juni’s beside her waiting for her to say something.
“Juni, I can’t tell you. Besides… you look more in pain right now with all that blood on your shirt.”
Juni saw the sadness in Jane’s eyes.
“The worst kind of pain is the one without visible wounds.”
With a gentle gesture, Juni poked the last dumpling and offered it to Jane, silently offering her comfort in their shared moment of understanding.
RED'S PRACTICE
As Red tied his shoelaces, an overwhelming sense of guilt washed over him, triggered by memories of what Mr. Clean had said.
“Juni…he can’t feel pain.”
The words rang in Red’s mind, causing him to feel a surprising concern for Juni. For someone like Red, who typically didn’t care about anyone, this new emotion felt unfamiliar and complex.
Frustrated by these conflicting feelings, Red took to the track, venting his frustrations through a fast-paced run. However, despite pushing himself to the limit, he couldn’t beat his record, his troubled thoughts weighing heavily on his mind and affecting his performance.
“Red…”
Someone called him. The voice sounded like Andrew, Red’s older brother, but it was merely a figment of his imagination, perhaps fueled by his longing for him.
After finishing his practice, Red noticed Mr. Clean preparing to leave for the day.
“Mr. Clean…”
Mr. Clean turned back and waved at Red.
“Hey, Alfred. I thought you’d already gone home.”
“About Juni… Can you tell me what’s up? Why doesn’t he… feel any pain?”
“So you do care? I knew you were a softie.”
Red blushed and felt a little uncomfortable but he digressed.
“I wanted to explain it, but the doctor can explain it better than I can.”
As they exited, Red crossed paths with Indie, who had just finished his soccer practice. They exchanged glances but said nothing to each other.
“He’s always hanging out with that janitor dude too. What’s going on with him these days?”
Indie scoffed inwardly, mulling over his thoughts.
VISITING DR. BRAILLE
“Juni’s condition is rare. And this disorder made his left eye all white…”
Young Juni was joyfully chasing after some kids, playing tag with them.
“I’m coming!”
But then he tripped and scraped his knee. Despite the pain, Juni got back up, still laughing, and continued chasing the other kids. However, the children seemed scared of him when he was bleeding but wouldn’t stop running, and they tagged him as “it” because of his unusual appearance. To them, weird equaled monster.
Suddenly, someone struck him in the face, causing him to fall and bleed, this time from his face. Looking around, Juni saw the other kids frightened of him, while some were laughing, except for the one who had hit him who was furiously giving him the stare. Despite his confusion and pain, Juni didn’t cry or show any signs of distress.
“Why…did you do that?” —Juni asked as he genuinely wondered.
The child who had hit Juni appeared surprised that he didn’t react as expected. In a fit of anger and fear, the child kicked Juni and shouted, “Stop chasing them, you freaky blind demon!”
“Hey!”
Just then, an adult intervened and scared the other kids away. The adult helped Juni to his feet. It was Dr. Braille.
In Dr. Braille’s clinic, Juni’s wounds were treated, though he didn’t flinch even when the doctor touched him.
“Where does it hurt, Juni?”
Juni looked at the doctor and placed the doctor’s hand on his heart, showing that his pain was inside.
“That’s the time I realized about Juni’s medical condition. He can’t feel physical pain. But just like anyone, he can still feel hurt in other ways.”
In the hospital, Juni stood beside Dr. Braille, crying silently as he watched over his mother, who was in a coma.
“It was the first time I’ve seen him cry… Narra, his mother, has been in a coma for years. Juni mostly grew up alone. Even with me around, it’s not the same as having parents.”
To cheer him up, Dr. Braille offered Juni an ice cream cone, but Juni couldn’t stop crying. So Dr. Braille tried to make him laugh by telling him a secret.
“I have a secret superpower.”
“S-superpower?”
“I can make this ice cream disappear!”
Dr. Braille ate the ice cream quickly and got a brain freeze. But Juni didn’t laugh. Instead, he asked sadly.
“Am I a monster…Doctor?”
Dr. Braille looked at Juni’s young face. Even with different colored eyes, he looked innocent and precious. He offered Juni a choice between chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
“What do you like the most?”
“I…like them both.”
“You see? I like them both too. Just like you…you may be different, but never a monster.”
Juni wiped away his tears, feeling better after Dr. Braille’s comforting words.
Suddenly, Dr. Braille revealed a surprise that made Juni forget all about his sadness—
“Happy Birthday, Juni…” —Dr. Braille said with a smile.
It was a box with a small ribbon on top. Juni excitedly opened the box and inside, his eyes were immediately met by the sight of a kitten peeking out.
“I’ll name him Gabi, Doctor!”
“Then Gabi it is..”
“I never saw him cry again after that.”
Juni lifted the cat near his face and posed for a photo for his birthday. Dr. Braille captured a beautiful moment with his camera.
The doctor showed the picture of Juni when he was young, a pure white left eye, posing with a black kitten with different colored eyes.
Upon hearing this, Red’s eyes became watery. Mr. Clean noticed this and teased Red.
“Are you crying, Alfred?”
“Huh? What are you saying? I just got a speck in my eye! You’re the one that’s sniffling there in the corner!”
“He is a good kid.” —Dr. Braille’s eyes smiled seemingly proud of Juni.
“I promise, Doctor. I’ll watch over him… always.” —Mr. Clean wipes his eyes behind his specs.
Red sniffs and composes himself.
“Man… this room is so dusty, my eyes are reacting to it.”
Mr. Clean tapped Red’s shoulders.
“You can be responsible to someone, but you are not responsible for someone. What happened to him was not your fault, Alfred.”
Red denied that he cared about Juni.
“What are you talking about? I really just came here to ask about my test results!”
Suddenly, a knock can be heard from the door. Dr. Braille opened the door and there was…
“Juni?” —Dr. Braille called out who he saw by the door.
Juni was so surprised to see Red, Mr. Clean, and Dr. Braille in the same room that he forgot that he was full of blood on his clothes, a hole in his shirt’s chest area, and an exposed white eye.
“What happened to you?!” —Mr. Clean and Red asked Juni altogether.
Before Juni could answer, the door fully opened, and there was Jane behind him. A little surprised and hesitant to go in because the room was a little crowded.
“Uh…hi everyone… I’m Jane.” —Jane waved shyly to people she didn’t fully know.
“That stain will not come off anymore…” —Mr. Clean rubbed his chin as he inspected the stain on Juni’s shirt with concern.
“Your girlfriend?” Red asked bluntly, causing both Juni and Jane to blush.
“Yes…” Juni confirmed, his response turning Jane’s face even redder.