Take My Breath Away

25

Sounds echoed in Jimin's ears, quiet muffled sounds that sounded like they were coming from far away, from a different world. He could swear that it was voices he was hearing, but he couldn't bring his brain to concentrate enough to listen better.
It was too hard, too much effort to think. He felt light, like he was floating along on his back on the ocean, and his mind seemed to work in slow motion. Putting together coherent thoughts was impossible, it was far easier to just keep floating, keep existing in this state.
The sounds around him started to come closer, like Jimin was moving down a corridor towards people. Yes, he was sure that it was people he was hearing now, his mind seemed to clear up by the second, or maybe it was by the minute? He couldn't tell, time was irrelevant.
Jimin opened his eyes, but he had a hard time focusing on anything, his vision just as foggy as his mind. Blurry shapes were standing around him, outlined against the light coming from the ceiling, but he couldn't tell who they were. He wasn't sure what was happening, where he was, but he found that he didn't care.
He could feel his mind slowly getting clearer, his senses coming back to him one by one. His body felt impossibly heavy, he wasn't able to lift as much as a finger. His vision started to focus, his hearing become more acute, the world around him becoming more and more tangible.
Suddenly he felt his lungs struggling to get air, his chest heaving up and down. He felt something covering his face, something that wasn't supposed to be there. The panic in his chest rose and his eyes went wide. He couldn't breathe like this, something was covering his face, hindering him from breathing properly.
Jimin tried to move his body, tried to force himself to pull whatever was obstructing his airway away from his face.
His hands slowly lifted towards his face, even in his panicked state he couldn't seem to move them quicker than that. Jimin had barely made it halfway to his face before he could feel someone pulling his hands back. He couldn't understand why they would stop him. He couldn't breathe, he needed to get this thing off his face.
He drew quick, shallow breaths that shot pain through his chest while his eyes darted across the blurry room in complete panic. With every second his brain was becoming more and more conscious, more and more aware of what was happening, gaining more and more control of his body.
His limbs still felt heavy, but the adrenalin surging through his body made him rip his arms from the loose grip they were in and move them back towards his face. However, his arms were held back once again and Jimin thought he was losing his mind. They were killing him.
"I don't think it's working, do something!" Jimin could hear a voice saying, it still sounded muffled, like someone had stuffed cotton in his ears. He couldn't tell whose voice it was.
He tried to struggle against the grip holding his arms down, but soon he felt his strength fade away. His mind grew foggier again, his vision blurrier, his hearing more muffled. He was falling, falling head first, plunging into nothingness. A great big darkness where he couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything.
There was nothing left and Jimin embraced the bliss with open arms.
"Is he awake?"
"I don't know."
The sound of voices coming from close by echoed in Jimin's head. They were voices he recognised, Jihyun's and his mother's. He tried to listen for a different voice. a soft one mother's. He tried to listen for a different voice, a soft one that he loved so much, but no one said anything else.
Jimin was so tired, so utterly and completely exhausted.
His eyelids felt heavier than lead, his brain begging to go back to sleep. He almost let himself slip back into the darkness again, but then the voices returned.
"Did they say how long it would take?"
"No, just that it would take longer than last time."
There it was, the voice that sounded like the most beautiful song in Jimin's ears, a voice he was so familiar with but couldn't remember why. He poured all his concentration into opening his eyes, determined to win the fight against his heavy eyelids. His vision was flooded by harsh light and he immediately closed his eyes again, a slight frown forming on his face.
"Jimin?"
He scrunched his eyes together hard. It was too bright. He slowly opened his eyes again and blinked a few times, getting used to the brightness around him. He was in a white room, somewhere he didn't recognise. His eyes fell on his mother sitting next to him and he could feel her hand holding his.
"Hi." His mother smiled at him, but he could see a hint of worry in her eyes. It made Jimin feel uneasy. What had happened? Where was he? His mother answered his question before he had time to ask it.
"You're in the hospital, but you're okay now. We can talk more about it later." She said and smiled again.
Okay, he was in the hospital. That probably made sense.
He still didn't know why though, but at that very moment it didn't seem too important.
His eyes left his mother and wandered over to Jihyun sitting next to her, but he didn't linger long on his brother.
He blinked a few more times to try to make his vision more clear, tempted to keep his eyelids closed every time he did.
He kept his eyes open though because he needed to find someone, the someone who was the owner of that voice, the one that made his heart swell. As he looked to his left he saw a big pair of doe eyes, pink lips and fluffy brown hair. Jungkook, it was Jungkook's voice. His boyfriend smiled at him and took his hand. Jimin tried his best to grab it tightly, hold onto Jungkook as hard as he could, but he was too weak, barely managing to squeeze his hand at all.
"Are you feeling okay?" His mother said and Jimin could feel her thumb grazing the back of his hand.
His eyes found his mother again. How was he feeling?
Tired mostly, he just wanted to sleep. He didn't feel much else, his body felt numb. He tried his best to nod, but he only managed to move his head a few millimetres. His mother seemed to understand though.
"That's good." She said and caressed his cheek. Her fingers grazed something hard on his face, something Jimin hadn't realised was there before. There was something pressed over his mouth and nose. He opened his mouth to ask what it was.
"Don't try to talk, honey." His mother said and squeezed his hand gently.
Jimin's hand left his mother's and moved towards his face, to whatever was pressed against it. His mother quickly took his hand again before he reached it.
"It's okay, it's just a mask. It's helping you breathe." She said and Jimin swore he could hear a hint of nervousness in her voice, but he wasn't sure. His brain felt sluggish, working at a painstakingly slow pace and he couldn't trust his own iudgement at the moment. All he knew was that as soon as his eyes met Jungkook's again, all the worry he felt disappeared.
He pressed his fingers against Jungkook's palm and his boyfriend opened his hand. Jimin traced his fingers against his skin spelling out the word tired.