THE DARKEST HOPE

Chapter 22

THE DARKEST HOPE

Chapter 22

Jungkook opened his eyes. There was this uncomfortable feeling of uneasiness nested roughly inside his stomach.

First there was Jimin's odd mood in the evening, that sadness and misery which he radiated intensely. He didn't want to say what was the matter with him but he was really upset. What could stir so much his emotions, Jungkook wondered with concern, if Jimin wanted to keep his worries a secret, that was all right, but still it was disturbing and sad to see the anguished tears in Jimin's eyes.

But there was something else. Some distant feeling of menace, of fear. What was going on? Why was he feeling that alert and not sleepy at all?

The room was cold but it was cozy under the blankets. Jimin was tightly cuddled behind his back and the feeling was comforting and warm. Jungkook slowly turned and moved Jimin's body, careful not to wake him up. Jimin sighed in his sleep and curled inside the blankets. Jungkook smiled tenderly, Jimin looked so adorably innocent and vulnerable when he was asleep. Jungkook felt the strong need to just go back to bed, embrace his companion and hold him tight until the morning.

He rose from the bed nevertheless. The fire in the fireplace had almost died out. Jungkook threw in two more logs. "There. Soon it will be warm again in here." he thought and walked towards the window. Looked absentmindedly outside.

The bright moon was shining upon the darkness of the earth, covering everything with its ghostly white veil, all trees around looking like partly black partly silver skeletons. Nothing interesting there. At least at first sight. Then something attracted Jungkook's attention.

A bright, small, barely visible light in the dark. First it was there, then disappeared. What could that be? A cigarette! Someone was there, by the fence, smoking and watching the house. Jungkook's heartbeat increased. Somehow he knew just who that might be.

"I'll go down and talk to them, I have no choice." he thought...

*******

Kim Taehyung didn't know what awoke him at first. Maybe it was some small noise down the street, or the fact that he missed dinner, or maybe it was the freezing air inside his room. Anyway, he opened his eyes in the middle of the night with the strange feeling that something is off.

Tae looked around sleepily, what was this cold anyway, from what he could remember last, the windows were closed when he went to bed. Or maybe not... The curtains next to the balcony door were dancing around, blown up and down by the wind.

Tae cursed in his head and moved up, he had to close the door if he wanted to get some sleep during the night.

"What the..."

Before he realized what was happening his sentence was cut by a sharp metal string, wrapping up painfully around his neck, effectively stopping his air. A strong jolt of panic invaded Tae, his first thought was to yell for help. At the same time that his hands were desperately clawing around the wire, trying to somehow loosen the noose. The grip of the deadly device was too tight though and he couldn't even scratch it off a little bit.

He had to get help!

Tae opened his mouth, trying to scream out. No sound came out, the room stayed ridiculously quiet in spite of the brutality played in it. The grip of the string tightened even more, Tae saw sparks before his eyes, his panicked body convulsing while his lungs fought urgently for some air.

He had to fight, all that was left was for him to hold to his life as long as possible and try to survive. Logic and reason left his brain, all that was left was the pure animal instinct to live.