Dead Leaves (BTS Fanfic) #Wattys2017

Chapter One | Welcome Back Akuji

An ambiguous difference that is different from before

A night that's much more quiet today

A single autumn leaf that's attached to the branch

It's breaking, I can see the thing called the end

~

Please don't fall, the dead leaf that's becoming crumbs

BTS DEAD LEAVES

11/11 3:12 AM

Taking shaky breaths, Akuji's hands trembled around the rope that was loose around her neck. Her lips quivered, her cheeks damp but cold, and her heart was pounding. Squeezing her eyes shut, the same sentence kept repeating in her head.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.

She opened her eyes again, looking out at her room one last time. The notes she left for her loved ones were neatly splayed out across her desk so that they'd be the first things her parents would see. Each name was written across the front with a shaky hand, trying hard to make the handwriting neat and tidy.

The bucket under her feet wiggled, but perhaps that was just her shaking. Akuji took one last, long breath, knowing it would be her last.

And then she kicked the bucket.

She felt gravity pull her down, and immediately she started kicking her legs. It felt like her lungs were on fire, and that the rope was burning into her neck. She had no time to think if she still wanted to live, none of it was on her mind at that point.

What was there to live for? All the pain and suffering she's had to go through, what was it all for? The betrayal and hardships she had to go through, what was the point?

She never got her answer, though, as her feet went limp, swinging gently just inches off the ground.

11/11 8:15 AM

The students buzzed with the usual chit chat, thinking the day was just as ordinary as any other. A few eyes glanced at the empty chair near the back of the class, but they simply skimmed past to meet the eyes of a nearby friend.

The intercom beeped for the regular morning announcements, but they were greeted with a monotonous voice instead of the cheery one of their class president.

"This morning, at 3:13 AM, Kim Akuji committed suicide," the class president droned in a solemn voice. Murmurs and confused glances were exchanged. A few mumbling questions about the girl, others giving slight frowns, and others shrugging from the seemingly boring fact.

A lone boy paused when he heard the words, almost begging- no, screaming!- on the inside of his mind that it wasn't true. Akuji couldn't be dead. She couldn't. He saw her only yesterday, she looked just as normal as any other day. There was nothing different about her. Why now?

His friends became concerned, seeing his eyes become blank and glassy, along with the fact he was squeezing the pencil in his hand so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

Akuji isn't dead. She can't be dead.

"What's wrong?" one friend asked, trying to put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "You seem upset."

The boy got up abrubtly, dropping the pencil at his side and leaving the room. Murmurs followed him, but with each step they faded away. Running to an empty bathroom, he instantly pounded against a stall door, not caring if anyone was within earshot.