going, gone | jikook

two

His eyes were red. His soul was red. And everyone buzzed past him, as if they ignored him. They barely spent a glance at the broken boy outside room 997, the boy who had his head in his hands for the past three hours, because that's what people do.

They don't care.

Everyone is so selfish and within themselves that they don't bother to ask why the boy is suffering. They don't wonder if the boy lost a lover, a friend, a family member, or perhaps all three. They don't stop to wonder if maybe he was once a happy being, if maybe he was a top student in his dance class because his ballet techniques was so out of the ordinary- no, no one cares. Everyone minds their own business, they would rather ignore everything.

"It's all my fault," he whispers to himself over and over again, waiting to hear news from three patients who may never breathe again. But then, then the door opens and a man in a white coat comes out, and rushes past the boy, and he loses all hope.

"I'm sorry," the nurse who had walked out with the doctor says, "there was an immediate call he had to answer to. And I really didn't want to be the one telling you this..."

Park Jimin didn't care about the doctor anymore, he just wanted to know. "How are they, are they okay?" He asked, his mind racing frantically, thinking of all the worst things he could think of that happened to them. And he thought of the things he would do to himself if they were true.

"I'm sorry," the nurse said, hanging her head low, "only one patient survived. The other two, did not make it." Jimin's heart broke and he pushed the woman away, rushing into the room. No one even tried to stop him. Patient, the nurse had said, as though they weren't people. The very thought of it angered Jimin until his blood boiled. No one was worth anything anymore.

"Jiminie?" a voice croaked out from one of the three beds and he nearly cried of relief. He rushed to the bed and saw the little girl peeking at him under the blanket. Jimin's eyes welled with tears as he held the girl's hands tightly. The warm liquid dripped down his face as the girl said, "Jiminie? Why are you crying? Where's mommy and daddy? Why is it so cold?"

"We'll get you warm, baby, I promise you. And I'm crying because I'm happy you're okay." She nodded slightly. "Why don't you go to sleep, Haejin? It's okay for you to rest now," he said. Park Haejin nodded her head again and her eyes started to close ever so slightly.

Jimin purposely didn't answer her other question. He hadn't looked at the other two beds in the room but he knew. His stomach twisted into a knot as the truth settled in him. He bit his lip so hard it started to bleed, and the tears just wouldn't stop flowing. He held his sister's warm hands in his cold ones and closed his eyes, looking down, gasping as tears engulfed him and broke him.

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