King of Stars Volume 1 (An interstellar ATEEZ Hongjoong fanfiction)

Part Sixteen Point Five: In Which The Prisoner Nearly Escapes

He doesn't know why he did it.

He doesn't remember at what point he decided he just couldn't take anymore. It was while he laid there on the cold tile, for how long he couldn't say, enduring the water as it hailed down on him. It eroded him at the edges slowly, achingly, bit by bit until he wasn't him anymore. He couldn't remember who he had been before the pain. The pain was all that was left behind in that small cell, a throbbing crying mess of what once used to be a person.

There would be brief moments of reprieve where he would go numb because his body simply couldn't withstand it. It was a peculiar feeling, as if he was floating outside of his body looking down. He could sometimes fool himself into believing that this hell wasn't his but some other poor soul's. But it would never last. Soon enough he would be filled to the brim until he overflowed. He was adrift and drowning, head bobbing under, over and over again. It was then that the idea came to his mind.

It was so easy how didn't he think of it sooner?

All he had to do was surrender to it. He had to let go and let it wash away what was left inside down the drain. His vision blurred as he stared at the glassy surface of the puddle he laid in. He could use the one thing that brought him pain and save himself with it instead. All he had to do was turn his head...

So he did.

It was easy at first as his lungs still had a whisper of breath left inside of them. As the seconds ticked by however he began to feel the strain as his stomach tightened, mouth opening and filling with water where there should've be air. When the last of his oxygen dissipated, searing panic took hold. This made his legs, which he thought strength had long abandoned, spasm uncontrollably. The kicking brought even more waves of water back onto him, buffering his body and blinding him with fresh agony. He fought against the urge to turn back and pressed his face as hard as he could to the floor.

He didn't know drowning could feel so burning hot. When a desperate gasp forced him to inhale he sucked in an entire lung full. It seared his throat as it siphoned into his airways and it hurt. Hell, it hurt worse than he ever could've imagined. All of his muscles coiled as his body fought to live. He thought his mind had already gone yet his instincts kicked in, clawing against death in a mad attempt to survive.

His vision tunneled as the cell darkened around him and he knew it was finally happening. He was finally going to be free. The fire in his chest died down into a pleasant warmth as he relaxed into death's embrace. He closed his eyes for the last time and felt at peace.

                                               ***

When his eyes opened he was on his back looking up at the pale blue through a thick canopy of trees. Wispy white clouds drifted lazily across the sky. He could feel soft blades of grass against his downturned palms and tickling his skin. His lungs filled with fresh air as he inhaled deeply enjoying how the cool breeze felt against his face.

Where am I?

This place was foreign to him and yet somehow vaguely familiar. He didn't know how he'd gotten to be here or where he had been before this, a fact that should've scared him but didn't. His mind was totally calm as he shifted into a sitting position.

The place he found himself in was breathtakingly beautiful. Trees of different species shot up tall, surrounded by vibrant flowers of all colors making the air sweet with their scent. Beyond the rolling hills where he sat he could see the distant whitecap mountains piercing the sky like teeth. The sky itself was tinged in pink and blue and the sun that hung above his head gave off a warm light. It was strange that matter how long he stared at it the sun didn't hurt his eyes, allowing him to see the flares it put off, dancing in gentle yellow and orange.