Caged (Jimin BTS)

VII = Fidgety

I served each one of them a glass of lemonade and took a seat at the end of the counter. Namjoon stood at the other end, crossing his arm and frowning.

Then it went through me. "How did you know about it? I never told you, Namjoon."

If he was surprised, Namjoon is one hell of an actor. "Seokjin told me about it, and he heard it from V." I frowned at him, nodded and flicked my wrist for him to continue.

"Why are we taking it way too seriously? It might just be a stray animal." Yoongi sipped  his lemonade, putting his chin on his palm.

"Can you name an animal with blue fur, Yoongi?" Seokjin countered. "Besides, animal don't live in drains, and even if pets might get lost in the sewer systems, the rescuing team would make a fuss about retrieving it back."

The others at the table nodded. "They always do."

Taehyung sighed. "We really have no leads about this."

"How about we have a look in the town's sewer system layouts, and then we think things through?" Hoseok suggested, and the others murmured their agreement. "Maybe it is a stray animal and we're being paranoid. But let's check it out first."

"Where did you snap the picture, V? Can I have a look at it?" Namjoon asked for Taehyung's camera and the others crowed around him. Hoseok and I already looked at the picture but he still joined in.

"The drain is weird, don't you think? I never seen a drain in the city center before, or I don't think I ever noticed one. But it's there." Sipping my own drink until the glass emptied, I refilled mine and the other's while they fought over Taehyung's camera.

Yoongi and Hoseok are already stepping on the counter, yanking Taehyung back to see better. Seokjin is trying to put them off but failing. Namjoon remained nonchalant in the middle of it. And when all of them collapsed on my brother on the counter, Father chose that moment to walk in.

"Oh, hello Father." I smiled at my father coming into the kitchen. The others got off Namjoon and bowed politely at him. So much for being good boys.

"Hey kids. What are you doing?" He casually fills as I poured him his favourite pomegranate juice. Father thanked me as he took a seat and downed the juice.

"Nothing, Mr Kim. Just playing treasure hunt." Hoseok chirped. And got himself 6 neck slices from the others.

"It's nothing, Father. It's a school project, and they're asking me to help them out." I noticed that Yoongi is twirling his drink in the glass, looking at it while the others focused their attention on my father. And when Namjoon airily lies about the picture, I gave him an incredulous look.

That's when I noticed it. The awkward tension in the air. They really don't want Father to know about this picture. But why? Wouldn't it make it easier for us to solve it if an adult lend us a hand?

"Can I do anything to help?" Taehyung opened his mouth to deny, when Seokjin closed his hand around his wrist like a vice. "No, I don't think so. But thanks anyway for offering, Mr Kim."

"Okay then. Good luck with your school project." Smiling a smile that seemed off, Father walked out of the kitchen and everyone seemed to exhale at the same time. Seokjin and Namjoon looked at each other, Yoongi to Hoseok and Taehyung gripped his camera in his hands. Something is really off.

They seemed... kind of scared.

"What's wrong with you guys?" They acted surprise when I asked that.

"What do you mean?" Seokjin retorts. I crossed my arm and huffed, disarraying my bangs. "I deemed an answer, not a question back."

"He really takes from you, Namjoon-hyung." Taehyung pouted and looked at my brother. I groaned and stored the lemonade jug into the refrigerator.

"If you guys are going to play dumb, I'm done here." After covering the tray of tarts on the cooling rack, I put my glass in the dishwasher and stomped upstairs. "I'm going to the library. Autumn project."

They all watched as I left the house with the fury of a provoked rattlesnake and took in a shuddering breath. "Now I know how she survived all those years living with you."

Namjoon nodded, grimacing. "She might be a cute little sister, but when she's mad Naomi can even kill her own teacher with a glare. Trust me, I've experienced it." This time, he winced. "It's not a good memory."

"But it's better this way." Yoongi put his glass in the dishwasher and wiped his hands on his jeans. "Naomi's better off not knowing about this."

"But it's just an old legend, hyung." Hoseok frowned. "But it does makes me wonder..."

"Those dictionaries having words that we only see in movies, but not real life. Sadness, grief, gloom, misery, suffering and a lot more. A thousand or maybe more." Taehyung took out a dictionary from his messenger bag and opened it, scanning the pages. "Why didn't we feel any of these emotions?"

"We are born that way." Namjoon answers, although he himself looked unsure about it. "Living in Omelas, those words didn't exist. While we watched movies about those bad emotions and feelings, we cannot feel them because we are not born with them. That's our fate as a resident in Omelas."

Yoongi stared at Namjoon, hard. "You've read about it, right?"

This time, he crumbled. Namjoon sank into his chair, clutching his throbbing temple. "That's why I didn't stop Naomi from leaving. She cannot have her world- the only world she had ever known to be crushed by the reality."

"About what?" Taehyung looked at his hyungs in front of him. "What's this reality you're talking about?"

The sun sets by the horizon, casting a reddish rays all over Namjoon who sat with his back by the door. He looked like a demon with purple hair, with his frown and slouch on the chair. And when he looked up, he didn't exactly look happy to tell Taehyung about it.

So Seokjin is the one who spat the name out.

"The Caged Kid." After Seokjin said those words, the light in the kitchen died out.

=×=×=×=

And a ghost jumped out of the shadows and eat all of them. The end.

No friggin way. The end just took some CreepyPasta shizz... Here's the chapter for *cough* last *cough* week *cough*. Enjoy your reading~

Your running away author