Crossing Over

Ten - Trigger warning!

This chapter is going to be a lot darker than the others. There are mentions of abuse, murder and suicide so read at your own risk. 

Jimin sat a box of cookies down on the center of the coffee table. He and Jungkook took the two overstuffed recliners leaving Dae and her two brothers sitting across from them on the couch. Her eyes traced the swirling design on the rug under the table to keep her mind preoccupied. She had a horrible feeling about whatever they wanted to share. Nothing good started with "we need to talk." 

"Right, so, you mentioned guys as in more than one?" Jimin started softly. 

Dae nodded her head in response. "There were three of them." 

He exchanged a look with Jungkook. "Get the photo album," he whispered. 

The younger of the two bounced up to his feet and ran across the room to grab an over sized book. Instead of taking it to Jimin, he stopped in front of the three siblings and opened it. 

"Feel free to flip through until you see a familiar face," he said. 

Dae's hands started to shake as she laid the book flat across her lap and opened the first page. At first all she saw was pictures of a young Jungkook and Jimin running around the living room they were sitting in. The boys already looked to be past their toddler years in the photos. 

"No baby photos?" she asked quietly. 

"I was five when I was adopted and Jungkook brought in a year later at four," Jimin replied. 

Jin reached over her and flipped through the next couple of pages until a familiar head of dark hair caught her eyes. He wasn't crying in the photo, he was smiling. One of his arms was slung around Jungkook's shoulders. She glanced up at him to see him studying her face. 

"Tae?" she asked. 

He nodded and pointed to the photo below it. All five boys were sitting around a gaming console staring at the tv in front of them. The photo had been taken from the side and she could see each of their faces. The oldest boys looked to be maybe twelve or thirteen at the most. 

"So you know them?" Jin asked. 

"We knew them," Jimin replied. His expression had stayed calm throughout the visit so far. "I'm sure you've already guessed that they're not exactly still alive, haven't you?" His voice was too soft and sweet to be asking what he just did. 

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Jin interrupted, "that's not funny." 

Jimin rolled his eyes. His expression finally showed a hint of emotion. Too bad it was annoyance.  "Save your questions for the end if you'd like to actually know about the other people living in your house. If you don't, fine. You can leave now." 

He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair waiting for them to decide. 

Joon finally spoke up. "We want to know. If it's a prank though, I'll personally kick your ass," he warned. 

Jimin's lips twitched up in the corner like he was going to smile before his expression blanked again. "Fair enough. You already know Tae's name. The blonde one beside him is Yoongi. He's a year or two older. The one with the dark hair is Hobi. He can be a little intense but not as aggressive as Yoongi." He paused to look down at Joon's bandaged foot. "I'm guessing you've already noticed that though." 

"Yeah, yeah, they have anger problems. Why are they in our house?" Jin interrupted again. It was clear that he wasn't buying the ghost bit and just wanted answers. 

Jimin ran his tongue across his teeth and nodded to Jungkook to take over. 

"Well.. they were murdered there. Or at least Tae and Hobi were," he stopped to take a deep breath. He had obviously been close to one if not all of them. "Hobi was the first child that the Sinclair's adopted. He had a few minor health problems, mostly just anxiety. After being bounced from foster home to foster home, you can understand why. Apparently you get more money from the government if you're taking in a sick child than a healthy one so Mrs. Sinclair convinced Hobi that he was a lot worse off than he was. She would give him a handful of pills without telling him what they were and he was just a kid. Of course he believed that she was taking care of him." 

Dae placed her hand over her mouth as she listened. She couldn't imagine the joy of finally thinking that someone was looking out for her only for them to be a monster in disguise. 

"One kid wasn't enough so they also took in Yoongi. He wasn't sick so he didn't bring them in as much. He also didn't get the attention that Hobi did. Instead they gave him a book and locked him in his room," Jimin continued where Jungkook had left off. "He was brilliant when it came to words and he could write anything he wanted. It wasn't enough to appease them though. They degraded him to the point that he would barely leave his room. He wasn't allowed to come over as much. Honestly, we mostly just waited until the Sinclairs were asleep and we would sometimes sneak out and meet up outside his window. Yoongi was never caught..." 

"But Tae was," Jungkook spoke up. "Tae was the last to be adopted. He was a bit smaller than the other two at first but once he started gaining height, he didn't easily look sick anymore. Mrs. Sinclair was always fawning over how pretty he was when she would start drinking. Of course Mr. Sinclair wasn't happy about it and would take it out on Tae once the Mrs. would pass out. He was the angry jealous sort and didn't want kids in the first place. Tae snuck out to see us a few times and the last time, Mr. Sinclair caught up." 

The boys looked at each other and Jungkook swallowed hard. He looked like he was in pain just from talking about it. "What happened?" Jin whispered. The silence was so thick in the air he didn't want to disturb it. 

"He beat him worse than he ever had before. We had seen Tae covered in bruises before, but it was nothing like this. He didn't stop until Tae was no longer screaming or crying. Of course by the time the other two had gotten into the room he was gone. We could see it all from the upstairs bedroom window. We called the police but they were too late. He had locked Yoongi and Hobi in their bedrooms. Hobi took the entire bottle of medication that Mrs. Sinclair had given him supposedly for his anxiety. We later found out that it was a heavy sedative," Jimin stopped talking for a moment and frowned. 

"And Yoongi hung himself in his bedroom closet," Jungkook finished for him. The two exchanged looks again before turning back to the siblings. "The police came and arrested the Sinclairs but because of how wealthy they are and they judge they paid off, it was ruled that Hobi and Yoongi had beaten Tae out of jealousy or something stupid then killed themselves because they were afraid of going to jail." 

Joon's hand closed over Dae's as they sat there in shock. That couldn't be real. There was no way that was real. She repeated the mantra over and over in her head until she looked up to see Jungkook's eyes ready to overflow. Why would they lie about something so sinister? 

"I think it's best that we go home now," Jin said. He started to close the book still in Dae's lap when a slip of newspaper fell out. The picture was clearly the house next door they were living in. The article title read "Three boys dead in a murder/suicide." Her heart dropped to her stomach. Jin picked the paper up and skimmed it while Dae and Joon read over his shoulder. If they were telling the truth then the house had much more serious problems than the peeling wallpaper.. 

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I am so sorry for being gone! I was super busy with life and I promise I didn't forget about this! Thank you so much for being patient with me though!