Waterfalls || Yeonbin

epilogue 1: flames

August 12, 1943

Something woke me up, a loud noise. Groaning as I rubbed my eyes, I was confused since Soobin seemed to still be fast asleep. When my eyes finally adjusted, I scrunched my eyebrows at the bright light coming from outside. I couldn't see the source of the brightness from my spot in bed, so I quickly pulled the covers off of me, put my slippers on and walked over to the window. My eyes widened when I saw one of the houses set ablaze, in a state of shock for a few seconds as I realized who's house it was.

I scrambled to turn the light on, almost tripping as I ran to my closet to get my robe. I think all the rustling woke Soobin up, hearing him whine a bit and move around. I grabbed his robe as well, hearing him ask in a raspy voice, "W-What's going on?"

I turned to him, seeing the confusion on his face since he must've noticed the light coming from outside. He squinted his eyes, trying to adjust to reality, "Jisung's house is on fire!" I raised my voice.

Soobin woke up in an instant, widening his eyes as he threw the covers off him and put his slippers on. He sprinted to the window, gasping at the scene before him. He turned to me, and before he could say anything, I threw his robe to him, "Call and get help. I'm going to make sure he's not in there."

I ran out the door, ignoring Soobin calling my name as I hurried outside. I guess everyone else on the street is still asleep, unaware of the disaster that's currently happening. My God, I can't even begin to imagine how long his house has been burning like this. When I got to his front yard, I could already feel the heat. Jisung was nowhere to be found, calling his name multiple times before I made the conclusion that he must be trapped in there. There's no way I'm letting one of my best friends die.

"Think, Yeonjun, think." I said to myself over and over again, trying to stay calm as I pondered what was best to do. I quickly took my robe off, dropping it on the ground before frantically trying to undo the buttons of my shirt. I got frustrated after a few buttons and pulled it over my head instead. I know how flammable silk is, but I have to keep at least my pants on to have some sort of protection from the flames.

I knelt down, ripping off a piece of cloth from my robe to try and filter out the smoke for when I go inside. I sprinted to the front door, instantly pulling my hand away from the molten hot doorknob. I pursed my lips and stepped back to kick the door down instead. It took a couple tries before it broke open, widening my eyes at everything in his house up in flames. I didn't hesitate to put the cloth over my nose and mouth, crouching to try and stay under the smoke line as I searched for him.

"Peter! Jisung!" I called out, moving carefully through his entire first floor. I was sweating from the intense heat, my eyes burning from the smoke. The cloth was only helping so much, beginning to cough as I frantically tried to locate him. I searched around for a few minutes, my coughing getting worse and worse with each breath. He wasn't anywhere on the first floor, which means he must be upstairs where the smoke is worse. There was a wall of flames in front of the stair way, swiftly going through it and burning myself to get to him.

I only realized a few seconds later that the hem of my trousers had caught fire. I scrambled to swat at it with my hand to put out the flame, yelling from the burning on my skin. I began walking up the steps cautiously after I put out the small flame. I noticed his bedroom door was closed. I kicked it down in one try, not wanting to burn my hand again. The smoke on the second floor is so much worse, constantly coughing as I squinted my eyes. It was as if I was trying to look through smog, that's how thick the smoke was, begging to escape into the atmosphere.

I saw him on the floor, realizing he was unconscious when I called his name. The smoke must've made him lightheaded to the point of being unresponsive, but I couldn't sit here and check his vitals in a burning building. I knew I needed to get him out of here as fast as possible, and that was my first priority. I threw away the cloth over my mouth, needing both hands to pick him up and carry him outside. It was difficult to breathe, coughing and wheezing as I slid one arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders. I don't even want to think about how long he's been trapped in here, breathing in excessive amounts of smoke instead of the oxygen he needs. I picked him up as quickly as I could, starting to get dizzy from the amount of smoke I was inhaling.