{HIATUS} Éternel: Between Two Worlds (#3)

xvii. Cold Arms

Warning: This chapter contains attempted sexual assault, using a gun, and mentions of self-harm.

Also, thanks Warner for being a cuck and not letting me use the original track of Cold. Oh woe is you, what ever shall we do when someone uploads a single video for a dumb story! Our money! We're broke because of Minx!

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Lines of red scraped across my skin, deep but fading slowly over time. The abuse of my wrists used to be a thing of the past, but old emotions and guilt resurfaced without warning. The thought of the boys, leading a life that wasn't true - yet, was the life I gave them even true? It was because of me that they ended up like this. I should have left when I had the chance.

And still, it seems like I would've learned my lesson, staying and lurking around those who didn't need me, until we were faced with life-or-death, and we had no other choice but to surrender to Death's grasp.

I jumped slightly in surprise as someone knocked on the bathroom door, a soft voice following.

"Hey, are you okay in there? Did you eat too many dumplings?" Jiwon asked, her voice muffled but lilted with a playful tone. I quickly pulled down my cardigan's sleeves and dried off my hands, then opened the door to see Jiwon standing before me, her hands on her hips. "You always take so long in the bathroom."

"Well, maybe I had too many dumplings," I snickered, Jiwon rolling her eyes and gently pushing past me, locking the bathroom door behind her. I sighed and began to walk down the hall when I heard Jungkook quietly humming. To my right was his bedroom, the boy laid on his bed with headphones on as he sketched in his journal, kicking his feet behind him.

I sneakily approached Jungkook then jumped on the bed beside him, a startled yelp escaping from him before he looked at me with a deathly glare.

"You almost made me mess it up!" Jungkook whined, throwing down his red coloring pencil. I just shrugged off his complaint and pulled down his headphones so he could hear me properly.

"Are you going to spend all day drawing in here?" I asked, poking his shoulder.

"Well, I've had a lot of good ideas lately. You were talking about your upcoming game projects a while ago, and I thought I could maybe pitch in with some designs," Jungkook smiled, flashing his front teeth. He opened his journal again, which had slammed shut when I jumped onto the bed, landing on a page of colored headshots of different kinds of beasts.

"These are really cool. Maybe we can use them." I smiled as I looked over the drawings, admiring Jungkook's skills when my heart suddenly stopped once I flipped to the next page.

Filling up the entire page was a drawing of a muscular, albino dragon, with black horns and red eyes. It was poised like a tiger, a leader of its pack, perching on top of a rock.

"J-Jungkook, where did you get this from?" I stuttered, my eyes locked onto the depiction of a Red Eyed Ravager imprinted into the paper.

"Oh! Yeah, I was thinking I've never seen any albino dragons in any movies or games I've played, so I thought of this guy. Maybe it could be called a Ravager or something - or maybe something to do with its red eyes!" Jungkook beamed, clearly proud of his design, but his smile faded as he saw my expression change at his words. "Maya, what's wrong?"

"I..." I looked back at the drawing, almost feeling my heart lodging in my throat. It was too similar to be a coincidence. It was practically identical. "You-"

"Hey Maya, I think Taehyung is running a fever," Jiwon interrupted, peeking into the doorway with a worried expression. I excused myself and followed Jiwon to Taehyung's bedroom, brushing off the previous nerves that had been building up from Jungkook's drawing.