The Ghost In Your Heart

Hidden In Your Shadow

Taehyung had read about it in books. He hadn't thought much about it. But seeing somebody lose the colour in their face right in front of him was horrible. Seeing someone go so pale in just a few seconds was scary. That was what he saw happening to Jungkook, and it made Taehyung worry he had said something very wrong.

"I'm sorry." He said awkwardly, still shaken by the change in Jungkook's expression. "I shouldn't have assumed..." Taehyung trailed off his sentence. Now that he looked closer, it seemed like Jungkook wasn't looking at him. Rather, he was looking past him. Taehyung looked over his shoulder to see who it was that had elicited such a grave face. He saw their classmates, but doubted it was because of them. They weren't even paying them attention, caught up in their discussions about the coming presentation.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung asked and put his right hand on Jungkook's shoulder.

Jungkook flinched and his eyes snapped back to Taehyung. "Don't touch me." He snapped and backed a step. His expression was both offended and fearful.

"I'm sorry but... you don't look too well." Taehyung tried. He had never been very eloquent or good with words, but he hoped that Jungkook could see that he was genuinely worried about him. They had been acquainted for years after all, how could he not worry?

"I..." Jungkook's eyes travelled once again to that spot next Taehyung. "I'm. I'm fine." Jungkook said, backing further. He accidentally bumped into a girl in their class, causing her to drop her notebook. This only made Jungkook even more fretful. He mumbled an apology and picked it up for her.

"What uh, is... I mean, how are you?" Taehyung said, words coming in the wrong order. He was sure they were the wrong words too, to make matters worse. But seeing Jungkook like this made him nervous, and when he was nervous it was hard to be coherent. By now, the people around them had also noticed that something was going on, and curious glances and whispers were thrown their way.

Jungkook felt dizzy. It felt like everybody watched him too closely and saw too much. And that thing next to Taehyung wouldn't stop staring at him. It was hard not to stare back. It had greyish white skin with lots of bleeding wounds. The hair was long and black, and it wore white clothes. It looked exactly like something taken out of a horror movie. Taehyung said something again, but Jungkook couldn't hear. All sounds were muffled, almost like he was under water. His surroundings went from clear to blurry and he felt unbalanced. He saw that ghostly creature trace the vein on Taehyung's neck with its finger. The ghost had almost claw-like nails. He saw Taehyung's mouth moving again, but something wasn't right, because it still sounded like they were separated by a thick glass wall. Jungkook tried to focus his eyes, but everything slowly turned black. The last thing he saw was Taehyung moving to catch him.

He woke up in the nurses office. The headache from this morning had multiplied atrociously, it felt like someone repeatedly smashed his head with a hammer. He weakly turned his head, sensing a presence to his left. He locked eyes with Taehyung.

"How are you feeling?" Taehyung asked with a gentleness that rarely visited his voice. He was usually playful or intense. Gentle and soft he was only rarely.

Jungkook blinked. He had half a brain to wonder why Taehyung was there. Jungkook realised he wasn't Ben sure why he himself was there.

"What happened?" Jungkook asked.

"You fainted before photography class." Taehyung said.

"Oh." Jungkook said. He wanted to hit something when he realised it meant he had missed the presentation.

"How are you feeling?" Taehyung repeated.

"Why are you here?" Jungkook hated how weak his voice sounded.