Don't tell me bye bye (mystery/ thriller)

Chapter 12

I've closed my bedroom door and I'm sitting on my bed, the note in my hands. I trace the letters on the envelope, written in black spiky capital letters. I don't want to open it because I'm worried if I hope too much for something from Namjoon, it will miraculously change the contents.

What a loser. Just open the damn letter, Y/n.

I tear the envelope open, and scan the ink on the page, not allowing myself to focus on the words just yet. I deflate a little, disappointed at how short it is. I close my eyes, and take a couple of deep breaths, getting my adrenaline in check, then look down at the page, ready to read it properly.

My heart shrinks in my chest and I grip the edge of the bed; it's not a note from Namjoon and it's certainly not from a secret admirer. The hairs stand up on my arms as I read the words again.

STAY AWAY FROM TAE. YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU EVER CAME TO SEOUL.

I wake with a jolt, my hair plastered to my forehead and I sit up in my bed, panting hard as my mind

staggers between nightmare and reality.

I dreamt about that night with Jungkook again. The laughter, the music, then the screams, everything. It all seemed so real, like I was there again, standing in the street surrounded by everyone. I push back my covers and swing my legs out of bed, and squint at the glass on my bedside table, picking it up to confirm that it's empty. My shoulders sag and I muster up the energy to go to the bathroom to get a refill.

The bathroom light pings on and I grimace at the mirror, my reflection staring back at me like an abstract version of myself. My birds nest hair is beyond any attempts of taming it so I turn on the tap and I lean forward, cupping the water in my hands and splashing it over my face, letting it cleanse my inner disharmony.

I dry my hands and flinch when the towel catches something on my index finger. I pop my finger in my mouth, then hold it in front of my eyes under the bathroom light. Great; I must be the only person alive who manages to get a splinter in their finger while they're sleeping.

I rummage through the cupboards and find a pair of tweezers, then perch on the toilet seat to perform a splinter removal operation on myself. I squint at the offending piece of shrapnel protruding from my finger, and hold my breath as gently pull it with the tweezers.

I chomp down on my lip; it feels as though my skin is going to tear away with the splinter.

I drop the tweezers and take a couple of breaths, wiping my gammy forehead with the back of my hand. I bring my finger up in front of my eyes and peer at it from every angle. I've managed to pull it out a little, and it's slightly thicker at the end where it's protruding out of my finger. No wonder it hurts so much.

I pick up the tweezers again and grip the splinter around the thicker part that's sticking out of my fingertip. I pull, sucking air in through my teeth as the pain intensifies; it feels as though I'm pulling against a sinewy piece of muscle attached to my bone.

My eyes are starting to feel swimmy, but I pull the splinter harder, needing this to be over. Beads of sweat trickle down my temples and my back and I grit my teeth against the searing pain in my finger, as the splinter shifts and splits my flesh open in the shape of a crescent moon.

I bite the inside of my cheek, widening my eyes in horror as the splinter continues to emerge, splitting the cut even wider open. My vision swims at the sight of the blood trickling down my hand, but I keep pulling, my terror working its way up my throat in acidic chunks as it tears further from my flesh, widening out into a stumpy yellow pellet.

The sight of the foreign object covered with my blood has got the bathroom spinning along with my stomach, but I carry on pulling. Bile burns the back of my mouth as a pair of translucent, misshapen wings emerge from the slash at the end of my finger. I half gasp and half gag as spindly, blood-covered legs follow the wings until the whole thing, including a pair of jet-black eyes, has now left my finger.

I spin round, open the toilet seat and throw up. A bee.

There was a bee stuck inside my finger.

I stand up on wobbly knees and wash my hands, mesmerised by the pink water as it swirls down the plug hole, then wrap a wad of toilet tissue around the end of my finger. I close my eyes, waiting for the room to stop spinning, then look at the yellow and black insect lying on its back like roadkill next to the sink. I peer down at it, staring into its tiny droplet eyes, and it flaps its wings.

My heart explodes in my chest, and I scream, then clamp my hand over my mouth. The bathroom door flies open and mum and Jin burst in, all creased pyjamas and bed hair. Mum rushes to me, grabs the tops of my arms and looks me up and down.

"Are you ok!? Y/n!? Are you ok!?"

I slump against mum's grip, pulling up every last ounce of energy from my toes and give her a weak smile.

"I'm fine." Mum's too busy studying my face to notice me putting my hand behind my back. "Sorry...I found a bee, and thought it was dead. But it's not. Sorry, it just...made me jump."

Jin takes a big breath before letting his shoulders slump and sits down on the side of the bath.

"Thank God. Oh thank God, Y/n. We thought you were...." He shakes his head, and wipes his hands down his face. "I don't know what we thought. I'm just glad you're ok. And it wasn't Freddy Krueger."

"Sorry I woke you both."

Jin shakes his head. "Don't worry. Get back to bed. I'll get rid of the bee." I start to protest but he holds up a hand. "It's going to take a while for my heart rate to go back to normal. Please, Y/n, get yourself to bed. You too, Jules."

"I'll take you back to your room," says mum, putting her hand on my back. "I'm fine, mum, honestly. It just made me jump, that's all."

Mum blinks at me, the bags under her eyes full of all our baggage. "Okay." She kisses me on the forehead and squeezes my hand. "I'll go check on Teddy. Get yourself into bed."

"Okay," I say, my body suddenly feeling very heavy. Bed sounds so good. "Sorry again. Night."

Mum tiptoes into Teddy's room and I leave Jin by the sink. I stand in the dark hallway and realise I'm still parched, but I'd rather go back to bed thirsty than find goodness knows what else stuck inside my body.