ethereal | park jimin | ✓

chapter 14 this isn't an action movie

I grit my teeth together as I ram my body into the side of the cage. The damp bars rattle from my weight but they don't budge. A rising scream builds in my throat before coming out as a strangled gasp. I wrap my hands around the bars and shake them violently, praying I can snap the rusted parts with sheer strength and willpower.

"Stop, stop!" Hoseok shouts from the cage beside mine. "You have to calm down!"

I lower myself to the ice-cold ground and fight back a sob. My body is curled underneath me in order to fit in the cramped cage. I shake my head, refusing to believe this is my reality. "This can't be happening," I whisper shakily, "this isn't real, it can't be real..."

This must be some kind of medication-induced nightmare or intense trauma episode. I refuse to believe this is real.

Hybrid smugglers did not kidnap us from the McDonald's parking lot. We aren't locked inside rusty cages for interrogation about Jimin's whereabouts.

This isn't some kind of action movie where the protagonist gets kidnapped by smugglers. I thought this was the "tired college girl adopts a hybrid for comfort" type of story. Anything but this.

"Eden?" Hoseok's voice shakes me from my dissociating thoughts. "Do you hear that?"

I lift my head and stare at the darkness beyond the cage bars. I squint my eyes briefly only to feel my headache from the concentration. I rub my temples and sit back onto the ground, pulling my knees to my chest. "No?"

In the corner of my eye, Hoseok crawls to the edge of his cage and looks out. His heart-shaped lips are pulled into a worried line. "It sounds like crying," he whispers.

I have no doubt somebody is crying in this hell-hole, but I don't listen to the sound. I'd rather not add more sound effects to my upcoming nightmares.

"Can you see anything?" Hoseok asks, still trying to see beyond the cage. He turns around to face the other side of his cage and grips the bars tightly. "Do you see a window on your side?"

Slowly, I twist my body around and look up through the cage bars. I make out the faint shade of a domed ceiling and a pale white light shadowing over it. "I don't see a window but I see light."

Hoseok faces the cage wall facing mine and leans against the bars. He tries to look up to find the light I'm talking about. "It doesn't look like it's coming from outside."

In the darkness, I can see the outline of Hoseok's sharpish chin. He lost his hat during the kidnapping and his dark hair is lying awkwardly in a sweaty mess. He shakes his head at me, "We're going to escape, Eden. We can't give up."

I frown in response. "I didn't say that we should give up. I'm just saying that it's going to be difficult."

Impossible, more like it.

Hoseok scoots closer to the cage wall and reaches through the bars. His hand just barely reaches my cage bars. My eyes soften at the gesture so I move closer to him. I reach through the bar and lightly touch his hand.

"We're going to escape," he promises quietly, his fingers brushing over mine. "We just need to keep calm. Everything is going to be alright," he says but his voice is tense. He is struggling to lie but I appreciate the effort.

He must be scared out of his wits right now. I am impressed by his ability to stay calm, and ashamed of myself for freaking out.

He's right, after all. I have to accept what happened and find a way to escape.

If Jimin could escape, we can escape too.

"Thank you for that," I replied sincerely. "You're right. We need to stay calm."