BTS Sickfics

Namjoon: Struck by Lightning

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MyaDee I FUCKIN LOVE YOUUUUU

request by charlottefray13 :)

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Namjoon's POV -

Dry storms are a common occurrence in Seoul during the summer. Along with the heat the country sits in anyway, the air pollution dries up precipitation before it can hit the ground. There can be dark skies above, thunder and lightning for a whole day, but not a single drop of water would hit the ground.

It's unnerving in a way. The thunder can be quite loud, and the lightning could strike at any moment before you would even know it. With no rain, there is no warning. If a dry storm is predicted, it's better for you to stay inside.

When I was younger, I used to hate that. I used to love to go outside and play with my friends in our little neighbourhood. We rode our bikes around, played football and tag, and regularly went to the local park. Mum would sometimes grab the collar of my shirt and pull me back, warning me of the lightning.

I would beg her to change her mind, but she stayed resolute, and if dad was back from work, he would take her side. They warned me constantly of getting struck by lightning, of the lack of warning from the disappearance of the rain, but I thought that was stupid. I thought it was impossible. Of all the places you could stand, how likely would it be that you would get hit? Impossible, right?

No. Not at all. After being denied going out during a dry storm when I was 10, I had to watch my friends cycle around outside from the kitchen window. I was half wondering if it would be possible for me to sneak out before my parents could notice, but I wasn't really one to break the rules, especially with my brother roaming around desperate to tell tales on me at any moment possible.

It happened in just a split second. Blink and you'll miss it type of situation. One moment, my friends were circling around on the bikes, then there was a sharp, bright crack of light, cascading my view. It was gone in an instant, and Sungchan was lying on the floor, his bike still between his legs. He wasn't moving, and the others were screaming. I screamed too.

Plenty of people rushed out to help, to try and figure out what the hell happened to Sungchan. I managed to get one look at the deep, purple marks streaking across his arms and face before mum pulled me away from the window, and forced me into my room, where I couldn't see what was happening.

I cried. For hours, I begged to be let out, to have just a crumb of an update. I had heard the sirens of an ambulance, voices muffled through the walls and unable to be understood, but mum just ushered me back to my room if I tried to leave, her face pale and her eyes red from crying. That just made me even more upset.

I only found out what had happened the next day, when we were gathered for an assembly as soon as the school bell had rung. None of my friends were in school, and those who were there kept looking at me with sympathy and whispering. I was so on edge I nearly yelled at our headteacher to just get on with it. Clearly something had happened. Something bad.

Sungchan was dead. Struck by lightning. The electricity had gone through him and through his bike, which ricocheted the current back into him. It disturbed the electricity in his brain and heart, arresting his breathing and putting him into cardiac arrest. He had awful burns all around his body, enough to rip his clothes. No one knew CPR, and the ambulance took too long to come. We were promised he wouldn't have felt a thing, but I don't believe that.

From that day on, I've been terrified of thunder storms.

It's a fear that has gotten me a lot of joshing from my best friends. A college student still afraid of thunder, for God's sake, but the memory of seeing Sungchan's burnt body still haunts me, and when I open my mouth to explain the trauma I experienced, no words come out. I have to take the light bullying in my stride, and take it on the chin.