Do you remember me? (skz fanfiction)

18

Jeongin PoV

I wandered around. My feet propelled me down a path. I didn't know where I was. The cold enveloped me and I just felt more and more alone. Every noise I heard startled me. I was afraid that at any moment a wild animal would jump at me or something else would ambush me. I was so terffied and didn't know where to go. So I was glad that my feet went their own way.

After some time I came to a remote playground which was mostly destroyed. The youth probably destroyed it as a protest against the government. But they couldn't run away. And I knew I couldn't run away forever either. Sooner or later I would be found and imprisoned again and this time I will have no luck and probably never escape. 

The only thing that was still intact on the playground was a carousel. It was spray-painted with graffiti but I couldn't make out what was written on it. I walked slowly towards the carousel and sat down on it. I can still remember how Hyunjin and I used to shoot so long and fast on a merry-go-round as children until one of us was so sick that we almost threw up.

I hung my head down slightly and played with my fingers. I didn't know what to do. I had no way to go. Maybe I should just starve and rot here. It wasn't so bad to die when I didn't have anyone left.

"I was looking for you," I heard someone say. I heard myself say. The latter person owned my voice. I looked up from my fingers and saw a person standing in front of me. And that person was me. Not really me but he looked like me .

He looked me in the eye and played around with a bunch of keys in his hand. "Who are you?" I asked snippy. He started to grin mischievously and then said, "I am you." I glared at him angrily. "You're not. You just look just like me. I'm me and you're you. We're completely different people who may look alike." 

"Your friends won't notice."

When I didn't answer, he continued to play with his bunch of keys, which annoyed me and then talked again: "You know, a phenomenon in this world is that there are a few people who have doppelganger. Each of us has a doppelganger and the government always tried to avoid us to be born in the same areas but for some reason something went wrong and a few people were born in the same city. I knew you existed but you didnt know anything about me am i right? I would generally say that I know some things that you don't know. The only thing I can't figure out is why the government started doing experiments on us."

I didn't know what to say and I started playing with fingers agein. "Do you know what those keys are for?" I looked in the direction of the keys in his hand and shook my head. "You could go back to your friends with that." My eyes widened. He came a few steps closer. 

"You can have it if you want," he said, holding out the keys. The moment I reached for them, he pulled away. He burst into fake laughter. "Did you really think I would just give them to you like that? You are so cute and naive Jeongin or as your beloved Hyunjin would say: Innie."

Anger began to spread through my veins and every part of my body. The only thing I wanted to do at that moment was punch him in the face. That face, that disgusting smile he wore looked so good to punch. I would never laugh like that. He looked like me but you could tell the difference in personality alone. My hands balled into fists and I stood up to be closer to him. 

"I don't need those fucking keys! I'll find my friends one way or another!" I yelled in his face. And again he started to grin. As if I had no control over it, I punched him in the face. 

I practically punched myself in the face.

He stumbled back a few steps and held his nose, which was dripping with blood. I didn't know I could hit that hard. And I didn't know how much it hurt to smack someone in the face. I rubbed my knuckles to ease my pain.

"If you hit me you can expect me to hit you back harder," the latter said and the next moment his fist slammed into my face. A strong, shrill pain spread across my whole face.

He pushed me and I hit the ground hard. He looked at me with a derogatory look. "I can't believe a wimp like you has the same face as me," he said, kicking me in the stomach, which made me cough. Everything hurt. My nose burned with pain, my legs ached from running and hitting the ground, and then my stomach hurted too.

"By the time you'll find your friends I'll have already taken your place," he said, spitting at my feet. He turned and disappeared into the forest. 

After making sure he was gone, tears streamed down my cheeks.

Feb 1st 2023

Two chapters today because I was in the flow of writing. ~Yumi