smoke and mirrors

14

What is this, rain? Falling on his body, is it raining? No, it wasn't rain, it was water.

"He's coming through." His eyes flutter open.

What just happened? The brunette's face feels broken. Everything on his face hurts so it must be broken.

"Jaehyun....."

The boy stands up from the tub. He pushes everyone's hands away from him and rushes to the mirror in the bathroom. Slowly memories flood his brain.

"What did you do to me?" Jaehyun rubs his neck. His eyes start to water as he sees the red marks. He wanted to vomit at the blistering scabs. So sickening.

"Son we..."

This isn't ok, it never was. All of this time he wanted those parental figures but now he knows that he doesn't need any.

Under the red light, something shines and catches Jaehyun's eyes. Slowly he grips the knife in his hands.

"You never cared. All you ever wanted to do was ruin the wang's lives. I was just the unfortunate by-product in everything."

Staring straight into the mirror Jaehyun sees his not-so-parents head tilts to the side. Yeah, now they know he remembers.

How stupid was he to believe that doing the same things over and over would result in a different result? If he keeps being quiet he will always be taken advantage of.

"Jaehyun you don't mean that. Mama loves...."

"You aren't my mother!" His grip tightens, "you didn't even raise me."

The woman gasped. "You disrespectful little shit. I'm going to kill you... GET HIM!"

Jaehyun runs out of the room. He zooms down the hallways. He has never been past the blue and red so the green looks a little interesting.

With adrenaline pumping Jaehyun isn't afraid to jump over the banister. He didn't even mind landing on his fist. He needed to do anything to get away from them.

By the grace of God, he sees a door, big and brown. Just as he was about to grab the handle something wrapped around his neck, snatching him straight to the carpeted floor. "You ain't going nowhere you little bitch."

Jaehyun's hands fly up to grip the chain. His supposed father keeps on the ground pushing the chain deeper into his neck. Frightened and not wanting to know the afterlife Jaehyun had to take a leap of faith and snatch the knife out of his pocket. With no hesitation, he stabs the man in the side.

After hearing that guttural grunt Jaehyun kicks the man off of him and sprints for the door.

Horrified Jaehyun's hands flew to unlock the door but he couldn't. Nothing was working. He felt trapped.

"Are you looking for this?" That low and menacing voice haunts him. "You thought you could get away Jaehyunie. You're our little boy. You belong to us."
The woman stumps her way down the stairs. "Come here and kiss me. Then I will give you the key to leave."

"Never." Jaehyun chokes out. His neck still stinging. "How can someone do this to their child?"

"Little can't come here and you will go free or stay there and be trapped forever."

No, he didn't feel safe. He wanted taeyong, he wanted yuta, and of course, he wanted Johnny. "Mama please all I want is to go ho..."

His father stans. "You little bitch. Don't you know not to stab the elders? Now it's time for you to pay!"

Jaehyun's chest began to hurt. It felt like a heart attack. He literally couldn't breathe. This is it he is going to die.

Mr. Jung grabs him and slams his back on the ground. "Would you like matching wounds?" He smiles as Jaehyun screams and kicks under him. With that lunatic stare in his eyes, he rams the knife right into jaehyun side. "Does it hurt?"

Jaehyun screams louder and louder. This man is trying to end his whole life.

The door busts open. The other two sweethearts and his sweet but sour heart were standing like the heroes they wanted to be.

"Jae! Leave him alone!" Taeyong screams at the top of his lungs. All three spring into action to get the man off of Jaehyun.

They grumbled, fumbled, and tussled until Jaehyun was free.

"Are you two insane?" Yuta asked if the two should have been parents. He keeps Jaehyun by his side away from the beast staring with eyes to kill.

"I can't believe that the wangs were right. The judges were the villains all along." Johnny scoffs. "Talk about a plot twist."

"Let my son go. None of you could take care of him the way we can." Mrs.Jung hounds like a dog. "Jaehyun you know. All they ever do is hurt you. Tell them the truth."

Jaehyun shook his head. The only thing that was going through his mind was RUN, he wanted to run away. So that's what he did. Out of the door, he sprints into the stormy night.

"Johnny and Yuta stay here with them. I'm going after him." Taeyong runs out after the stressed-filled and panicking boy.
"Jae wait!"

Taeyong caught up to Jaehyun. He was standing at the edge of the road. "Jae, I know things suck right now but soon..."

"No taeyong. Soon isn't soon enough. I've always been the one paying for everything. Even the things I didn't know about." Rain crashes above them. Jaehyun's heart was storming too. "I mourned those people, the same people that just tried to kill me!"

"I know it is hard baby just listen to me!" Taeyong steps up. "You have been through a lot. You have suffered because of things out of your control. I get that." Taeyong closes the distance, he was getting very personal. This is what he had trained for all of his life.

"Jae, I may not know everything you went through. I may not understand. However, I raised you. I was by your side when you were sick. All I want for you to do is lean on me. We can do any and everything together."

Jaehyun was beyond touched. He adored taeyong so just hearing this made his heart leap with that his body leaps into Taeyong's arms.

"Lean on me." Taeyong rubs the back of Jaehyun's head. This is more than a brother moment, it is a parent moment.

"Tae we got them!" Johnny yell!

Jaehyun looks up to see his wannabe parents. They were in handcuffs being led out by Baekhyun and Sicheng.

Why was this so hard to watch? Is it because he felt played? He didn't realize it but his walls were back up.