In The Dark

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    Hoseok didn't learn about Taehyung right away.  For a few days, he continued with his usual routine, going to school and coming directly home afterwards, it was back to just him and Namjoon, and that brought me a small about of inner peace, and yet I had been slightly nervous. Would Hobi tell him about us? I still didn't understand why Jungkook trusted him so much.
   
After a few days the two became mildly suspicious, neither Taehyung nor Jimin had been to school all week, and they began to ask questions, even if they were just to each other, they made Jungkook and I quite uneasy.

Finally the news caught up, on the Thursday after the concert, the body of Jimin had been found, dead, in the factory in which we had had our little game. The police suspected that he had been attacked, randomly on the street, probably because of a violent fan of Parallel or gang attack, due to the apparent opportunistic nature of his death, and proximity to the concert hall.
That same day they declared Taehyung missing, due to reports by his family, and witnesses who had seen him and Jimin leaving the concert together.

Hoseok came home from school that afternoon asking questions. Bad idea, I promise you. Jungkook, to my surprise, answered them, not how you'd expect a person to answer a question however.
“You took Taehyung didn't you? Why did you kill Jimin? Where is Taehyung?” he spat questions,  one after the other, contempt in his voice.
    “I didn't kill Jimin. As for Taehyung, follow me.” Jungkook was shockingly calm throughout the whole ordeal. He lead myself and Hoseok down the stairs into the all too familiar room.
    Upon his opening the door, we could see Taehyung, leaning back in the same chair we had both once been bound to, his head hanging over the top of the backrest, asleep or unconscious, I couldn't tell either way. 
    Once we had entered the room that we all knew so well, Jungkook instructed Hoseok and I to sit on the mattress directly across from him, we did as we were told, since, I at least, knew better than to argue with him.
    He pulled out his cellphone and played a loud ringing noise, much like one would use for an alarm clock, which quickly jolted Taehyung awake. The boy screamed loudly, making me wonder why Jungkook hadn't taped his mouth, or gagged him in some capacity at least.
    Taehyung looked relieved when he saw Hoseok, however his expression quickly changed to one of fear again when he noticed Jungkook and I in the room as well.
    “Hoseok... You're not working with them, are you?” his voice shook, and he stuttered slightly in shock.
    Hoseok just buried his head in his hands, looking like he was too ashamed to answer, either ashamed of what he had done, or ashamed just to be seen with us, I wasn't sure which.

    “Hah!  Work with us, that's rich.” Jungkook laughed loudly. “I don't let weak people like him,” He pointed sharply towards the boy “Work for me. And I'm pretty sure I work alone.” His words stung a little, but part of me knew he couldn’t be serious. He needed me, I was useful. He told me I was useful.
   
    There was a short silence, in which the tension that hung in the room was almost palpable. It felt like years, but it truthfully could only have been a minute or so.

    “Do you guys want to see something funny?” Jungkook inquired, though it was really more of a statement than a question, he didn't even wait for an answer before switching on the small tv, to the same news story we had all, excluding Taehyung, seen that morning.

    “Park Ji-Min, 19, has been located, in Seoul, just blocks from the concert venue at which newly debuted boy group, Parallel, played the night of his disappearance. We regret to inform you that he has been declared deceased, our condolences to his friends and family. Ji-Min’s death has been ruled as homicide, and police insist that they will not rest until the perpetrator is brought to justice.”

    “Oh God… Oh God…” Taehyung began sobbing loudly, and repeatedly muttering these words at the news of his best friend's death, to which Hoseok’s response was burying his face deeper into his palms.
    Jungkook quite obviously loved using the news as a tool to hurt his victims, he always knew exactly what to show people, pre-taped or not, to cause them anguish, and I often wondered why and how this worked so well. Maybe seeing someone of authority talk about you or your friends as if they no longer existed struck a nerve, or maybe it was just the simple fact that no one likes to face reality. Regardless, it worked, and that's all that seemed to matter to Kookie.

    Taehyung continued to cry, tears falling onto his lap leaving dark, wet spots on the familiar fabric of the pair of grey sweatpants that had been passed along yet again. Subsequently, Jungkook continued to laugh, the volume rising with vibrato.
    “I think I'm going to call you... V” he stated matter-of-factly. “Because this is definitely a Victory for me. For as long as you’re with us that is.”

    “Kookie, just let him go. Haven't you hurt the poor kid enough?” Hoseok spoke for the first time since we had entered the dank basement.
“Yoongi, back me up here, Taehyung and I, we're your friends.” he sounded like he was pleading, begging even, and almost as if he was trying to convince himself more than  he was trying to convince me.
“He isn't going to tell anyone, and neither am I. I'll even stay here if you let him go.”
    It wasn't funny anymore, the second Hoseok started offering himself in the place of Taehyung for freedom it became sickening, didn't he hear the way Taehyung and Jimin had talked about me? Yet he had the nerve to call Taehyung my friend.

    “Fine. if you don't want him to be here,” Jungkook spoke, in a low tone, nearly silent in comparison to the thoughts rushing in my head, and Hoseok’s begging. “He can go elsewhere.”
    He made his way to his cart of toys, resting his hand on his well-used scalpel. Clutching the small handle in his palm Jungkook made his way back over to where the three of us sat, and stood behind Taehyung, gently resting his hand on the boys chin and tilting his head back to expose his throat.

     “He can leave us right now.” he stated pressing the blade into one side of Taehyung’s neck and swiftly dragging it across, in one clean motion, with no hesitation.  Blood spilled from the wound as we watched the life leave Taehyung’s eyes, his face permanently fixed with an expression of horror.
    Hoseok came into my peripheral vision, he looked as though he was about to vomit, I on the other hand felt nothing but mild jealousy, in all honesty I had wanted to be the one to do that to Taehyung, I had finished Jimin, and I wanted to complete the set.

Jungkook nonchalantly wiped the blood from the scalpel onto the thigh of the pants Taehyung had been wearing adding yet another copper stain to the worn fabric, and swiftly placed the blade he was so fond of, back into its original position on the cart.
Jungkook and I each grasped one of Hoseok’s arms and steadied him, before guiding him up the stairs and back to our shared room. It was safe to say he wouldn't be going to school again tomorrow,  let alone try to escape.
Jungkook took care to lock all of the doors that night though, just in case.