ANL - mark lee

3

thoughts raced through my head a mile a minute, this can't be happening. this isn't fucking real, i'm just dreaming. I have to be dreaming.

"aeri," taeyongs voice snapped me back to reality. I moved away as his hand touched my right shoulder.

"we need to go, it's not safe here,"

"where's nini?" my voice shook with every word.

"who?"

"nini!?" I cried, "nini?!"

I stumbled my way toward the stairs feeling as though I was going to trip on every step. when I entered her room I was met with an empty bed. tears blurred my vision as I walked to my room, every step feeling like a million miles. my hands shook as they rested on the silver colored door handle.

my stomach turned upside down and my vision went blurry as I screamed at the sight of my little sister lying on my bed, the white sheets stained crimson with blood. her eyes were open and her cheeks were a pale, ghostly white. I rushed to the bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach into the sink.

there was no way this was real. I could hear footsteps pounding up the stairs and someone calling my name as I approached my sister. her once lively eyes that she would roll every chance she got, now seemed faded as if she was never alive at all. tears streaked my cheeks and fell onto her small face. I could hear footsteps inside the room and didn't bother to look up.

"aeri, i'm so sorry," jaemins voice shook from behind me. I ignored him and dug my nails into my palms, trying to numb the pain I was feeling.

"ri, cmon please talk to me," I could tell he was crying, but in the moment I could care less. I felt his hand on my shoulder and I quickly jerked away, finally turning to make eye contact with him. he had streaks on his cheeks from a few tears and his eyes were filled with concern meanwhile all I could feel was rage.

"this is your fault," was all I could manage to get out before my voice cracked. a hurt expression crossed his face, but I felt no remorse for what I had said.

if he hadn't dragged me into all this stupid gang stuff my family would have never gotten hurt. my parents would be home from work and we would be eating dinner. nini would make a sarcastic comment every chance she got and my mom would scold her for it while my dad tried to hold in his laughter. he and nini always shared the same sense of humor. I would be exactly where I belong, not in some big gang house, not hiding from people who want kill me apparently, and most importantly not in the same room with my sisters dead body.

my feet started moving before i even realized that i was leaving the room. I moved down the stairs quickly and out the front door even faster. I shoved jaehyun aside and then I ran. I only heard them yell my name twice before I had tuned out everything around me and all I could hear were my feet hitting the solid concrete below. I couldn't tell you how long I ran before I ended up at a park.

as I scanned the area I recognized it as the place where my parents would always take nini and I when we were little. it was where I had broken my wrist jumping off the swings, and where nini had knocked her first baby tooth out, running up the equipment. as I looked around the small park where I had spent my young childhood I broke down in tears. I sat down and leaned against a large tree trunk as the tears continued to streak my cheeks. my breathing was rapid and I tucked my knees to my chest.

I closed eyes but all I could see was my parents and nini.

it's my fault they're gone I thought. if I wasn't friends with jaemin or renjun nobody would be looking for me right now. my brain felt scrambled as I tried to go through everything that happened and what i was going to do now. it was starting to get dark and I had nowhere to go.

A/N: sorry this was rly short but it kinda just leads to the future chapters