road trip.

[5] claustrophobia

taehyung focus
his lifts his heavy eyelids up, his head weighing down with pain and his mind unclear, foggy like. he looks at his surroundings, his eyes widening upon seeing nothing but black, just the sound of a distant radio playing in the background and the steady thrum of a vehicle meets his senses.

taehyung gulps when he realises he's in a tight space, no light to calm him and just the whir of a car keeping him company.

his breaths turn into shallow pants, the urge to get out of this tiny space raising alarm bells in his head. he feels like he's going to pass out any second now if he doesn't get the hell out of wherever he was, his claustrophobia overwhelming his rationality.

he parts his suddenly dry lips and weakly voices out a "please. get me out." his voice thick with emotion, "please."

what's going on?? am i dead? panic rises up inside him, causing his voice to rise several decibels as well.

"get me out!"

he finds that he can move his feet a little in the hunched position he's in and hits the soles of his leather shoes hard and repeatedly against a surface near his feet, his voice becoming louder and louder - screaming to be let out as he fails to keep his breathing steady and hits the compartment he's in.

"please, let me out! please!"

all of a sudden the vehicle jerks to a halt and taehyung's harshly thrown against a wall or something similar as the radio faintly playing in the background stops completely. taehyung's chest racks with every breath he takes as he waits, waiting for something to happen to him.

he hears the loud sound of a key in a lock somewhere close to him and before he knows it, the part of the wall he was leaning against rises, yellow light of a streetlamp overhead streams in through the sudden gap and slightly stings taehyung's eyes.

a silhouetted figure looms overhead but taehyung doesn't care about who the figure was right now - he needed air and space asap.
cool air hits his nostrils, the boy inhaling sharply as if he'd been underwater for a long period of time. he gasps as he tries to sit up in the tiny compartment he was in.

"oh you're up." the silhouetted figure muses, face and any distinct features blocked off by the dark of the night and the glow of the streetlamp behind the figure acting as a sort of halo.

taehyung attempts to focus his eyes on the figure towering over him.

oh my--

is this god??

am i in god's car boot? am i going to heaven? taehyung thinks for a moment, semi conscious, as he inhales and exhales like crazy. i can't die yet, i have to take over dad's company first-

"you can't take me to heaven yet." taehyung mutters without thinking, looking away and noticing the rim of the car's boot.

"oh you're going nowhere but hel- fUCK." the figure yelps, suddenly dropping to the ground with a low groan.

taehyung uses the foot he had just used to kick 'god' in the balls, to climb out of the boot.

with shaky limbs and a blurred mind, taehyung steps on to the black tarmac road and without a backward glance to 'god' (who's writhing on the floor and cursing under his breath (does god swear?? taehyung thinks, eyes glazed over)), taehyung starts to woozily wander down the empty road.

"m'sorry god." taehyung mumbles, half awake, stepping over 'god' - who clutches his crotch and whines - and staggers away from the open car boot.

taehyung's head hurts and he finds himself holding his head, fingers digging into his forehead to somehow lessen the pain as he stumbles down the icy tarmac.

"hey!" taehyung slowly looks over his shoulder to see 'god' lifting himself up from off the floor, a hand cupping his balls and the other hand gripping the sleek navy car to steady himself.

taehyung finally gets a glimpse of 'god' with the weak moonlight setting on his young features and highlighting his dark hair, shining on to the little hoop earrings pierced into his earlobes and the dark scowl imprinted on his face.

taehyung drops on to his side and hits the floor hard as he slips into unconsciousness once again, thinking does god drive a mercedes benz? before blanking out.

the next few hours rapidly transition from blurry to clear and back again; some moments he was able to open his eyes wide and study his surroundings before being submerged back into unconsciousness and other times he struggled to even lift his eyelids, his eyes being extremely drowsy and heavy.

the four hours that've passed, mainly consisted of waking up for a few seconds to look at his captor drive silently, eyeing the man's rigid back and clear expression before falling asleep again. other times he woke up at the feeling of ice cold wind against his cheek - he'd then open his eyes and realise that the man was smoking with the windows of his car rolled completely down.
one time, he clearly remembers, opening his eyes at the pressure of something pressing against his forehead. his eyes had fluttered open at the warm sensation coursing through his forehead and noticed the man hovering above him and holding a heat pack in his hand, saying "awake? finally, i thought you were dead."

now he sits up in the back seat, feeling replenished and awake after his nap, as he looks out of the window.

he was on the motorway.
humongous lorries and vans drive by with tiny cars flitting in between them, each vehicle minding their own business. their red headlights are the only thing to indicate their presence in the pitch black darkness.

"jesus, how much do you sleep?"
taehyung turns away from the back seat window at the sudden voice and realises his captor was watching him with raised eyebrows.

taehyung recognises the man immediately as they one who had intruded into his bedroom and knocked him unconscious with his gun.

several questions and emotions pile up inside taehyung, threatening to spill out and cause a disastrous flood. but despite the overflowing thoughts, taehyung only manages to stutter out a "w-what?"

the man doesn't reply and taehyung finds his quietness as a cue to carry on with his questions.
"w-who the hell are you? and why're we on the motorway?" the man looks away and doesn't reply.

"w-what are you g-going to do to me? a-are you going to kill me?" tears spring into taehyung's eyes when the man doesn't reply again and instead rummages through the glove compartment. taehyung watches him with tearful eyes as he rifles through empty cigarettes boxes and finds something, pulling it out.
it was a gun.

"no no no, you can't kill me now! i still haven't become ceo and made my dad proud! you can't kill me before that, it's my dream! you can't kill me, if y-you do the police will come after you and my dad will, will, w-will-" taehyung trails off and instead loudly sobs, crying uncontrollably with salty tears and snot running down his face. "i don't wanna die!" he wails, kicking his feet childishly against the back of the driver's seat and flailing his arms around.

he hears the man sigh but he continues with his ministrations.

"look-"

"if you want money just say so and ill give you the amount you want!"

"i already have a payer and-"

"ill pay twice as much, so please! don't kill me!"

"i can't go back on my deal. listen-"

"fuck you! let me go!"

the man sighs and brings his gun to face taehyung's direction. "stop." he says sternly and taehyung, immediately noticing the black weapon hovering above his eyes, stops and sniffles with his chest tightening painfully.

"okay, so-"

"i-i need t-to pee."

"oh my fucking god."