What Time Forgot | Minsung

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Sleep

Jisung willed himself as he shut his eyes.

The room around him was cold, the thin cotton blanket doing nothing to warm his small frame. The bed was uncomfortable, hurting his back as he lay there.

The cold hurt his bones. They were aching as he lay there.

The halls outside of his cell were loud with crying and screaming. Loud with terror and fear.

It was dark and it only made the screaming louder. It only made everything seem amplified in what was supposed to be a quiet night.

Quiet was all he ever desired here. When his thoughts were loud the halls were quiet but when his thoughts were quiet the halls were loud. Jisungs body was exhausted and he was surprised he hadn't collapsed from exhaustion yet. Surprised that his body hadn't given up like his mind had started to.

Jisung lay there with his eyes closed for what seemed like forever but in reality it was only about an hour before he gave up.

When he opened his eyes, the room was filled with soft rays of the morning sun peeking through the thick glass of his window.

The very same window that he would stand in front of just to feel the warmth of the world beyond his grasp. To see the world that taunted him from four stories up.

He didn't belong here.

The reform had placed him here under arrest for suspicion of rebellion. However, he was just trying to survive. Just fighting to live at this point and fighting to be able to make it through the impending war.

Life wasn't the same.

Books, media and everything he once knew was gone. Everything his childhood had to offer was now small remnants of a life he lived before. It was sad. Sad when he would find ripped pages of books he once loved in his small house he used to live in. sad in the way that small puzzle pieces would sometimes turn up around his house when he'd been there.

Jisung had been held captive for one hundred and nine days. One hundred and nine days of torture and sadness and insanity.

The four walls were carved with markings he'd made with a small rock he'd found on the ground. They were tally marks, marking the days he'd spent in pure hell.

Marking every single day he went more insane.

Jisung sat up, silent as he looked out his window. Orange painted the smog covered skies. Or at least he thought it was smog.. though he wasn't sure. Sometimes rumbling would shake the building at night. The light was his hope. The orange and yellow sun rays made his body fill with a sort of happiness. The warmth he felt from them in the early mornings on his skin was some of the only warmth he got.

It was the only hope he had.

Especially when it got dark in his cell. When the hopeful light faded from the room he closed his eyes tightly and never opened them again.

No matter what happened, Jisung never opened his eyes.

They would get him if he did.

The metal lock on his cell opened with a few electronic beeps and Jisung kept his head towards the window.

"Breakfast." A guard said simply as he tossed the tray on the ground with a loud metal clatter. The door closed only moments later with a loud slam and Jisung counted ten seconds before he moved to the floor and began eating the small amount that was still on the tray.

•••

"Soldier #297." Minho became alert as his number rang from the radio resting on his shoulder. Slowly, he reached up and took the radio from his clip and clicked the button on the side of it.