Do you remember me? (skz fanfiction)

30

Hyunjin PoV

"We have to bury or burn him," Chan said softly. "No! no. Nobody touches him," Jisung said, not moving away from the corpse lying on the ground. His eyes were red and swollen. He had cried so much and he didn't deserve any of this. "Ji we can't leave him here like that," Chan said, crouching down next to Jisung. "Who said we would leave him? I'll just stay here with him," he said, and you could clearly see him trying not to burst into tears again.

The eldest of us tried to get Jisung to understand that it would be best to burn Minho. Again and again the younger said that his love was still alive. That he didn't have to be cremated. He tried to convince himself that he was just sleeping. But deep down he already realized that he was dead.

And then it hit me. Changbin betrayed us. Minho was dead. Jeongin was firmly convinced that it was his fault. Felix's heart was broken. Seungmin was speechless. Chan tried to be there for all of us. And I... It wasn't until that moment that I realized that it wasn't as great as we thought it will be. 

This world also brought sorrow and pain. The government of this world was better but still people would die. People would get hurt. It wasn't perfect. Nothing was as we had hoped. Why couldn't we just enjoy our lives? Why did we have to go through hell? Whoever wrote our story wanted us to despair, and when there was a spark of happiness in our lives, it had to be smothered again by a dross of fate.

I could feel my eyes starting to hurt. I wanted to cry but I held back the tears. I had to be there for those who showed more that they were suffering. I went to Felix who was lying on the ground looking at the stars. Jeongin was comforted by Seungmin, so I didn't feel the need to comfort him as well. Seungmin would take good care of him. 

I sat down on the lawn next to Felix and he said in a voice that was still cracking: "I once told someone that I believe the brightest star in the sky is another universe. Another world. And when I look at this sky now I can't see such a bright star anymore. Maybe this star really was another world and this is where we are at the moment. But I would have thought that this world can only be beautiful. I also told this person that I won't lose any of you I wanted you all to always stay... But two of us didn't stay."

Felix sat up and looked at me. He was also crying and his whole body was shaking slightly. "H-Hyunjin it hurts. It hurts so much," he mumbled and his eyes filled with tears so I hugged him. I rubbed his back to calm him down and he cried into my shoulder. I did not say anything. No word could have comforted him. I just had to be there for him.

We stayed like that for some time until I caught a glimpse of Chan piggybacking Minho. I stood and held out my hand to Felix, who took it, and pulled him up. We all followed Chan. Felix stayed by my side. Seungmin was still comforting the youngest and Jisung walked alongside Chan with his head bowed.

There he lay. On a bale full of wood and branches. Chan had the flint in his hand which felix had dug out of his pocket. Jisung leaned in to Minho and kissed his forehead. "Everything will be fine," he whispered to him, although he probably just wanted Minho to hear it, we all heard it anyway. He squeezed his hand one last time and then walked over to us.

And the next moment the bale on which Minho was lying was on fire. Jisung turned around and cried, clinging to Felix who was standing next to him. I stood and watched as the fire increased and then diminished over time and there was nothing but ash on the burnt wood.

Then I began to regret having spoken so little to Minho. Every now and then we never really talked to each other much. The only time we spoke to each other much was when we were all goingt to town in groups of two. And suddenly I felt tears running down my cheeks. He was gone. Forever.

I suddenly felt two arms wrapped around me and heard Seungmin's trembling voice. "It's okay." I slowly huged him back and sobbed into his shoulder. Even though I didn't want to cry, I couldn't hold back the tears.

A few minutes passed and Chan said quietly to all of us, "Let's go home."

Feb 28th 2023

I wrote this while I was on the bus ~Yumi