Scattered Dreams

End

Her eyes are so sad, so painfully sad he can feel it clawing at his heart.

Despite the pain gnawing away at his head and the blood that had now uncomfortably dried against his temple, he pushes it aside to watch her fleeting figure as she leads Taehyung to the edge of the balcony.

As she spoke, she kept her eyes trained on Taehyung, occasionally looking back at him. The words were for himself he realizes with a hollow ache in his chest. Words to remember for his future that she would not be a part of. Words that felt worse than death itself.

As she spoke, he couldn't help the memories of them together that play out in his head. Her shy smiles, her melodious laughter, her warm hands intertwined with his, her soft lips against his, it hurt too much. He realizes belatedly that tears were now falling from his eyes. Bitterly he thinks of Taehyung too, the Taehyung he had grown up with, not the person before him whom he could no longer recognize. Five-year-old Taehyung jumping onto his back and giggling loudly as he would beg Jungkook to piggyback him around the schoolyard, eight-year-old Taehyung bandaging up his wounds every time he fell off his bicycle, thirteen-year-old Taehyung encouraging him to play the piano and offering him his own in his father study.

Eun Hye hugs Taehyung close, sending a reassuring smile to Jungkook, though her eyes remain sad. His heart nearly stops at the realization of what she was going to do. Would it help her? Would it set her free? He thinks, a small part of him selfishly wishes she could stay longer.

He watches, heart thrumming anxiously in his chest as she tilts them back, leaning over the edge of the balcony, he barely catches the sound of her voice, a whisper over the crumbling leaves carried away by a chilly, howling gust of wind. "I'm sorry".

Taehyung seems to realize too late, eyes wide open as he follows her gaze. Jungkook can only watch, tearfully, the strange calm that etches across his face as their eyes meet. As though he were expecting this and had long accepted it.

They disappear from the ledge, having flipped over the balcony and careened down faster than his legs can carry him. He hears the harsh thump of a body hitting the ground before all falls silent. Shakily, he takes slow steps toward it. His breaths are heavy as he places his hands on the cold stone ledge, peering over he nearly hurls, gagging as he falls to the floor with ragged breaths.

Eun Hye has disappeared entirely but Taehyung lay in a puddle of blood. His right leg is twisted unnaturally and his face is turned away from the sky, facing to the left. The asphalt around him is stained in crimson, dark red colors the cracks of the sidewalk, spreading like veins around his body.

"H-Hye?" He calls, the bitter taste of bile still lingers in his throat. Standing shakily he looks about for her, hoping that he would get to see her.

"Jungkook", comes her voice, soft and warm, sending his heart fluttering. Turning around he sees her standing in the bedroom. Her entire being is glowing, like an ethereal being.

"Hye" he breathes out, relief flooding him. "He's gone" he whispers, scared to think of the blood staining both their hands. "He- he's dead", a sob leaves his throat and before he knows it she's standing before him, wiping his tears away.

"Will you leave too?" He asks, taking a hold of her hands desperately. The look she gives him is all he needs to know.
"I can't stay anymore, I can feel it, I'm fading" her sad smile is beautiful. "He was the reason I was stuck here, I needed to find out the truth of my death and now that I have, now that he's- gone, I can go".

He's left speechless, holding her hand tightly as though she would fade any second.

"It wasn't enough, we didn't have enough time," he says, huffing a laugh though the tears keep coming. Once again he would lose her and there is nothing he can do to stop it.

Pulling her hand from his she cups his face, lifting it to meet her teary eyes. "We had our time together, don't you remember? All the memories we shared" she sucks in a breath, blinking away some tears, "and thought I can't be here with you always, know that I love you always and if you ever find yourself missing me too much, just look inside", she says placing her hand to his chest over his heart. "I'll be there forever".

It's too much for him to handle as he tugs her into a tight embrace, inhaling her familiar scent, even if it's for the last time, he would treasure it. The warmth of her skin seeps into his and her soft hair brushes against his cheek.

Their life together, the limited time they had, plays out in his head like reels from an old movie just as he begins to feel her body fade. Her entire being glows like that of the moon that hangs above them, bearing witness to their last moment together.

His hands go through her, he can no longer smell her scent. Opening his eyes, he looks into her luminescent ones. She smiles oh so beautifully, like a dream he wishes he could stay in forever.

"I love you" is the last thing he hears, barely a whisper of it, before she disappears quite like moonlight, leaving him to stand in an empty embrace.

Dropping to his knees he sobs, grasping at the remnants of her. His head pounds as he screams in despair into the empty sky.

Even as the shrill sounds of sirens ring through the night, red and blue lights fill the neighborhood in a myriad of colors. Even at the shouts of his name from below the balcony, a terrified Hoseok's face appearing in front of his, tugging him into a tight embrace, he can't pull his eyes away from the moon.

The steady thrumming of his heart reminds him, that she would always be there.

🥀

The house that once held the reels of their lives, now stood alone, hollow, empty, and haunted by the secrets burrowed within its walls.

Jungkook would occasionally pass by it, on his way to the cemetery, only sparing a fleeting glance in hopes that he would see them, waiting for him as they always did when they were children.

She's long gone, he would remind himself, finally at peace.

Hoseok hadn't taken the news too well after he had told the other that it was Taehyung that had murdered Eun Hye and not Ae Jin. He thinks the haunted expression on the other's face would follow him for a long time.

He makes it a routine to visit Ae Jin in the asylum every Friday after work, though she continues to mistake him for her son, he says nothing, merely sits with her in the evenings with a warm cup of tea, listening to her recount stories of their childhood whilst watching the sunset.

He tells Ae Jin the same thing Eun Hye had said to him in their last moments, taking her hand and pressing it to her heart he reminds her that all whom she loves would always be there. And part of him thinks perhaps she chose to live in delusion, that if she imagined him as Taehyung long enough, he might be.

And on nights where his chest ached at the mere thought of her, his beloved Eun Hye, he would look to the moon, talking to it as though she were there with him and even as life went on and time passed, he would never forget her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello!!!

First and foremost I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read this fic. It took me waaay too long to finish this and I'm so glad it's finally complete! I really hope you enjoyed this and I hope to bring you better stories in the future!! Until then, take care!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️