1994.

24. DRIED RIVERS

DRIED
RIVERS

                             "HOW?" JIMIN HAD croaked, clasping raesun's hand as they all sat on uncomfortable plastic chairs on hoseok's back yard, "honestly, how?" the sound of jimin's usually–bubbly voice breaking tore raesun to shreds: her 'death' had clearly hit them all hard.

she gave an awkward laugh, not quite knowing where to start — where would you start with such a whirlwind of a story? the beginning or where everything went oh so very wrong? "well... taehyung brought me here, for starters—"

"yeah, i kinda figured that," a small hand of his motioned to the top window of hoseok's house; the silver hair of taehyung's could be seen from just behind the curtains, said curtains immediately closing when they turned their head towards him. raesun rolled her eyes as jimin continued, "but... you died, rae. we... we all saw..."

he shook his head and wiped at a stray tear; she winced at the sight, opening her mouth to speak but not knowing how. raesun pushed her sorrow down to gulp, finally letting the words out behind a shy tongue, "i was close to dying. you know how there's that saying: your whole life flashes before your eyes before you die? i didn't see... my whole life... but all i could see was your faces and... jeongguk... it was awful to think, in such a short moment, i'd never see my friends again. my brother. my entire future seemed to crumble."

"were you scared?" mijin whispered beside her, resting her head on the other female's shoulder.

raesun pondered that for a second — scary was an understatement, "terrified. to feel your heart slow down, to hear sounds drown out, to only feel pain... honestly, it scared me fucking shitless," she had laughed but it was far from funny; what more could you do when the rivers in your soul had ran dry from countless nights of crying?

"this doctor came out," jimin sniffled, "he... he told us you were dead, said you had 'died a peaceful death'. jeongguk..." he hesitated, as if he didn't know how to put it all into the right words, "freaked out, i suppose, though it was so much worse than that. he begged that damn doctor to bring you back, to let him see you, to try just one more time. security thought he was attacking him, so we all got kicked out. they passed on a message that none of us, not even namjoon, were allowed to see your body."

raesun frowned. though the incident was so long ago, she still remembered the doctor she had: a short woman with a blonde bun at the nape of her neck, always motivating her patients to eat their food or sit up in the morning. she had even braided raesun's hair before she left, wishing her the best with recovery, "but, jimin... my doctor was a female. i had a few male nurses but no male doctor."

then everyone was confused, especially hoseok who was silently watching the whole ordeal. jimin shook his head as he rubbed at his temples, "must be hana, to draw us out of the city."

"she's still alive?" raesun raised her brows.

mijin spared a scoff between her tears, "barely. we saw her once, back in late march i think it was. it was only me and jimin there. i managed to stab her but some of her... 'friends' dragged her away. i didn't get to finish the job, but since then she's been in hiding."

after a long while of a quiet school–life, belittling parents, and a loneliness so cold that winter was too bland of a comparison, raesun had only just then been struck by the disbelief that there was in fact people that truly cared. these people, the few friends and family she had left, were prepared to get revenge no matter the cost — even death itself.

"thank you," she rasped, "for caring, really."

jimin simply smiled, whilst mijin rubbed at her arm. the male laughed, before lifting himself from the garden chair, "anyway! let's get you to lover boy, shall we? i think we've all waited long enough."

— 雨 —

yes jimin i think we have

sorry for not updating this for a while, i've been busy with college n stuff

hope this is alright

and i hope y'all wont be disappointed by the next chapter either, its my fav so far soooo yeah i'll post it tomorrow

lots of love,
starr.