LIGHTHOUSE ° you . kth

five

ʽ RUN ʼ ˑ ₅
━━━━━ 〈 五 〉 ━
「 present day ▴ rainy 」

THIRTY pairs of eyes remained glued on your body, and the sun's rays fell on you like a spotlight as you tried to comprehend the twilight zone you had just stumbled into. These people that circled around you like a lynch mob had donned the masks of your classmates, and yet as you tried to find any semblance of humanity beneath their unnerving smiles, you were only met with vacant stares.

And no matter how much you blinked and prayed that it was your imagination going into overdrive once more, you could only see lifeless husks surrounding you - drawing closer with each heavy breath that filtered through gritted teeth.

Beads of sweat trailed down your temple and your body burned with fire and ice. Fear and conviction wrestled in your conscience as you sought to determine whether fight or flight would attain victory. Questions upon questions had gathered in your garbled nebulous and all you wanted were answers. So, against all better judgement to escape, you stood your ground - orbs rife with ire as you stared at your peers.

"What are you all hiding from me?" Fortitude strengthened your muscles and yet your body acted otherwise as your words reverberated through the room in an unsteady timbre. A shield of feigned bravery barely masked the discomfort pricking at your nerves and your voice, cruelly apathetic to your attempts at heroism, revealed every worry that corroded your thoughts.

"N o t h i n g a t a l l." Minah replied once more in a monotonous cadence. This time, the rest of the class followed suit, nodding their heads in a perfectly synchronized bow, as a chorus of repetition sounded around you like the cry of cicadas.

"Nothing happened that day. We left the lighthouse, you fell asleep and snored all the way home. That's it." She continued, finally returning back to her usual mannerisms as her rigid smile loosened into a carefree grin. As if on cue, your peers broke their stares and went back to their private conversations. And just like that, everything went back to normal. Chatter resumed, laughter trickled from throats, and the day-to-day dissonance within your class filled the air once more.

Shaking your head in protest, you refused to accept this convenient reversion. They couldn't simply wrap everything up with a dismissive flick of a wrist and a carefree shrug, and pretend that everything was okay. With Minah's breezy excuse and offhanded reaction to the mystifying affair that had just taken place, any trust you had placed in your former friend quickly disappeared behind your frayed vigilance.

What you really needed now was distance.

Sliding the doors open, you hurriedly stepped out of the class as if hoping that a change of scenery also led to a change of reality. You had barely taken three steps out of the room when your body collided into the broad chest of the one person that had been missing from the events prior.

Taehyung.

Surprised eyes hardened into an apprehensive frown, and whatever sympathy or giddiness you held for him was quickly overshadowed by your paranoia. After all, he was the first person who had changed the most. He was the one that made it obvious that something wasn't right. Perhaps it all started with him and you were too love-sick to realize.

You pushed past him as a newfound resolve streamed through your veins and slammed against your chest like a wardrum. This epiphany was short-lived when a set of strong fingers curled around your wrist, trapping you in his midst.

Lowered into a cautious whisper, Taehyung's voice pierced through your iron-clad defences.

"Come with me. I'll help you remember."

▃ ▃ ▃
AUTHOR'S NOTE

ayee, seonhwa finally getting
some answers! maybe x')

♡