Ruined (A BTS fanfiction)

Chapter 17 - Ruined

Jin's heartbeat pounded in his ears like thunder. He had pulled far ahead of his two younger brothers as they ran to the dock. The fear he felt only comparable to one other moment in his life, the moment he was sure he was going to die. He was horrified to feel just as sure, that they were too late. As the water came into view, his heart stopped. Its dark waters stretched out for an eternity, completely empty. There were no boats and no sign of his brothers.

"Taehyung! Hoseok!" Jin called desperately.

He stopped at the dock, turning around frantically, searching for something, anything that would prove they were alright. Jungkook and Namjoon soon reached him and came to the same horrible realization.

"Hoseok! Taehyung!" Namjoon screamed. "Hoseok please!"

"We have to go in!" Jungkook took off running down the dock. "We have to save them!"

Namjoon ran after him, grabbing him just before he could jump into the water. Jungkook struggled to get away. The two of them fell to the ground. Namjoon held onto him, burying his face into his little brothers back, unable to hold back the tears. Jungkook stopped struggling. They had given up. Jin stared at them hopelessly. But he refused to give up. Jin charged down the dock. Before his brothers could react, he jumped into the water.

"Jin, no!" Namjoon let go of Jungkook.

Jin surfaced, coughing. The freezing water quickly effected what little ability to swim he had. Namjoon and Jungkook both reached their arms out trying to grab him. But Jin ignored them and began waving his arms through the water. His arms and legs quickly growing tired.

"Jin, stop!" Namjoon cried.

"I can't!" Jin screamed. "I can't leave them!"

Jin began to lose feeling in his limbs. And as he grew more and more dangerously close to sinking beneath the water, he heard a faint groan. Jin looked up, following the sound to underneath the dock. There, barely clinging to life and consciousness, Hoseok had one arm wrapped around a support beam, and the other clinging to Taehyung's limp body.

"There!" Jimin said putting the final piece of the puzzle into place.

"Oh, wonderful!" Auntie said. "I've been working on this for almost a year now, you know."

"Really?" Jimin looked at the large puzzle stretching across the table. "I could never do that."

"You don't like puzzles?" She asked.

"No, I do." Jimin sighed. "It's just I'm not so good at them. I would need help. But there's no way my brothers would want to help me."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure," She said. "You'd be surprised the kind of people that can really get into puzzles."

Jimin smiled. He liked the idea of sitting down and doing a puzzle with his brothers. Maybe it would be a quiet activity for once. As he thought that, Jimin realized just how quiet his brothers had been. And as Jimin and his great-aunt sat in the silence of a lull in conversation and lack of distractions, she realized it too.

"Maybe you should go check up on your brothers," She said.

Jimin nodded and stood up. After discovering the bedroom was locked, retrieving the key, and realizing his brothers were neither there nor anywhere else in the house, Jimin rushed to the front door. He opened it as slowly and quietly as he could, praying his brothers had only gone into the front yard to play. Jimin closed the door just as quietly and turned around. There was someone in the yard. Before Jimin could even register who, there was a strange loud sound and Jimin fell to the ground. There was a moment when he lay there, unaware and confused as to why he had fallen. But when the shock began to wear off and he began to see his blood flow from his leg, he understood. Jimin lifted his head slowly, trembling uncontrollably. When the horribly familiar face greeted his eyes, he was so terrified his voice refused to cry out. Father stared at him, emotionless, gun still pointed at Jimin. Father's eyes locked onto Jimin's, refusing to let them go, devouring his strongest hopes. As Father's finger began to squeeze the trigger, Jimin wondered if this horrible helplessness was what Jin had felt. The gun went off, shaking the air with its deadly cry. Jimin heard the sound of a body hit the ground beside him. He didn't have to turn his head to know what had happened. He could see his great-aunt's blood creeping along the ground as if searching for life. Parts of her brain that had once held memories and emotions were now spread across Jimin's shirt and caught in his hair. Jimin stared up at the man who now had a grin spread across his face.