SAVE ME (BTS): Last Breath (Taehyung)

Chapter 8: Justice

Taemi POV
I stomped to the toilet and went to wash my hands. It is my first time using the field toilet, no wonder no one wants to go to this toilet, it is so dirty but big and that makes it creepy as well.

I walked all the way to the last sink, sobbed a little while washing my hands, thinking that I acted a little too much and was scared that people would see me as a petty person. At that moment, my friend came in and stopped at the main entrance of the toilet, "Taemi, you've to head back now, teacher is looking for you." I turned around, at that moment I heard a very loud squeak and held my ears with my wet hands. I heard shouting but it's like it's all muffled. The moment I looked up, it's dad.

I'm hallucinating. I knew it. I wanted to stop and act normal but it's getting worse than before. That flashback... It is starting to repeat again. The same trauma is coming back... I know it's my friend but...

(Flashback)
"Where's mummy? Where is she?! Who told her that she could leave the house without permission, huh?! Tell her to come home NOW!" Dad grabbed my shoulders and shook really roughly. I panicked, I couldn't breathe, it's like someone tried to suffocate me.

I immediately took a step back but I've already reached the wall. I signalled my friend to not come nearer but the squeaking sound was so loud I squatted down covering my ears. She definitely knew that something was wrong with me. At some point of time, she looked like dad, but sometimes she does not. Dad then grabbed my shoulders, just like that time. I cried in fear, hoping that thing wouldn't happen again. "Please... please let me go..." I said as I still covered my ears, crying in fear. "LET ME GO!" I shouted back. At that moment, my vision was so blurry I couldn't even open my eyes...

(A while later)
I heard a door opening... and it felt like a bunch of people were around me. I wanted to open my eyes up but I decided not to. "She was shouting and screaming dude... what a crazy person." I heard from one female student. "I was just trying to help her!" She continued. "Maybe it's because she's obsessed over homework and stuff... does she even have a life?" I heard from another guy, that's when I knew it's the bunch of friends that I "always" hung out with. "Oh yeah, I think it was yesterday or something but I saw her running out of the motel and quarrelling with some random guy." I knew it was Sang Won who said it, his voice... and that day... that person that looked really familiar, it's him.

"Maybe she went to have prostitution... hahaha," another guy exclaimed. "Oh yeah! You know during recess she said she went to the amusement park? It's a complete lie! Maybe her "fun" is referring to the day she went to the motel that caught on fire!" I heard Sang Won telling lies about me. Maybe the first part is right, but the second one is totally false. "It's that motel that caught on fire? Cool bro! How did you know?" One of the guys asked. " I saw it of course!" He replied. "But that motel is like... the opposite side of the school, your house is way further the other side." That friend asked again. Then, there was no answer, all the friends left the room and so I opened my eyes... I'm at the nurse's room. I couldn't believe everything I've heard. At that moment, my face turned super red with anger as I stood up and walked towards the window which faced on the opposite side from the door.

My anger then slowly turned into fear and nervousness. What if all my friends start to believe in Sang Won's words? What if they changed their perspective of me? Will I get in trouble? Are they even my friends? I stood there, a metre away from the window and thought worriedly. It unconsciously made me peel the skin of my fingers nervously and rapidly.

I peeled too hard... too hard that it's bleeding. It started to bleed and drip on the floor profusely. I then scratched my arm so hard that I can see my skin coming off, bleeding profusely again... the floor is full of blood. It's a flood of blood. I cried. Looking at the floor and thinking back on what happened... I cried. Why does life doesn't go the way I wanted it to be? Why?

Then I blinked. The blood is gone, there's no skin peeling off from my arms or fingers. No dripping blood, no tears. Just me standing and looking out of the window. Am I in illusion? Am I getting worse?

But that moment felt so real.