I slowly come to my senses when I hear noises around me.
Another dreamless night.
"Hey, Violet," Jin says, gently shaking my shoulder. "I'm gonna go to work for a bit. They're short-staffed and asked if I could come and help. Are you okay on your own? Jungkook went to school."
"I'm fine," I mumble in my half asleep daze. "I'll see you at work."
"No," Jin says, and I slowly open my eyes. "You're not going to work. Remember?"
"Right," I say, rubbing my eyes. "Sorry."
"Nothing to apologize for. You're still half asleep," Jin says, and I can vaguely see him smiling. "I put a bucket next to you in case you need to throw up and can't make it to the bathroom. I also left some water and snacks on the table so you really only need to get up if you need to pee."
I nod as my eyes adjust to my surroundings more and I see the coffee table covered in everything from crackers to the leftover peanut butter cookies Jungkook has been bringing me.
"Thanks," I say, reaching for a bottle of water to take a small sip. "Go. I'll be fine. Not like I have the energy to go anywhere."
"I'll be back at 5," he says, ruffling my hair before walking out of the front door, and I hear the lock click back into place.
I decide I'd better wake up, since I've not been doing much besides sleeping since I've been here and I know I must be dehydrated.
I sit up on the couch, my body feeling even more stiff and sore than the day before, and I force myself to take small sips from the water bottle.
I grab the remote to the television, deciding to watch random shows to pass the time until I see someone standing in the corner of the living room, their gaze locked onto me.
"Taehyung," I breathe out as I put the remote back down on the arm of the couch.
"Hello Violet," he says, his voice low and quiet.
"Hi," I say, leaning forward slightly to try to see his features better since they're shrouded in the darkness of the dimly lit room.
"How are you feeling?" he asks, taking a few steps towards me until he stops and places his hands in his pockets. He's still a fairly far distance from me, and I almost want to offer him a place next to me on the couch before I remember he isn't real.
He's some kind of fever-induced hallucination.
Right?
"Like I have the flu," I say and his eyebrow quirks up slightly.
"Do you have the flu?" he asks, rocking back and forth slightly on his heels.
I roll my eyes. "No need to be a smartass."
He smiles, and I smile back at him, feeling slightly less heavy now that I get to talk to him again, hallucination or not.
"I missed talking to you," I say, deciding to voice my thoughts since it's so easy when it comes to him.
"I missed talking to you too," he says, his eyes taking on that sad look again. "But I've been here the whole time, even when you couldn't see."
"Taehyung," I say, glancing down at the blanket clenched into my fists. "Why don't I dream anymore?"
Taehyung tries to take a step closer, but he looks down at his shoes before taking a step back instead. "Do you miss the dream?"
"If you'd asked me that a month ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to say no," I say, letting my fingers glide along the material of the blanket. "It was terrifying and lonely. I was always afraid that one day, I wouldn't wake up and I would be stuck in that place forever. But now... I don't know. It turned into something different for me. It was a place where I could be..."
"Free," Taehyung completes my sentence and I nod.
"I didn't have to worry about bills," I continue. "I didn't have to worry about whether my dad was still breathing or not. I didn't feel the pain of my overworked, tired muscles. It was just me and the freedom to just sit on the pavement and stare at the starless sky."
"It was a place where you could get your burdens off your shoulders by confiding in me," Taehyung says.
"Yeah," I say, glancing up at him before turning my attention back to the blanket. "It was where I met you."
"Well, I'm here for you," Taehyung says, smiling down at me. "I'm here."
"But why?" I ask, slowly standing up. "Why do I keep seeing you? Why does my mind keep hallucinating you?"
"Violet," he says, taking another step back towards the shadows. "I'm real. How many times do I have to say that for you to believe me?"
I sigh and take a few steps towards him. "No, you're not. You're not real, Taehyung."
"Why not?" he asks, taking more steps backwards until he's barely visible.
"You can't be," I say, shaking my head. "It makes no sense."
"Just because it doesn't make sense doesn't mean it's not the truth," he says, his eyes glimmering with the sadness I've come to grow accustomed to.
I try to take another step towards him, but he holds his hand up.
"Not yet," he says.
I open my mouth to say something, but before I can, I hear someone putting a key into the lock on the door and when the door opens, sunlight floods into the darkened room, and Jin walks in.
I glance towards the corner, and there's nothing there but the rays of the sun.
"Violet? What are you doing up?" Jin asks, walking over to put his hands on my shoulders as he leads me back to the couch.
"Daydreaming," I say in a quiet voice as I pull the blanket around my shivering form.
