THE STARS ARE HIDING

The stars are hiding tonight

It was late. He sat at his desk flipping through the local newspaper, squinting his eyes because the light was too dim in his room.
Occasionally he'd stop to sip from his mug of coffee, he sighed in defeat when he realized it had already gone cold.

It was too cold, there was just an overall sense of dread in his cramped room, he hadn't cleaned in ages. The walls smelled of cigarettes. And he was pretty sure there was mold in the bathroom. But he was a champ in ignoring his living conditions. After all he'd spend most days at the bar if he wasn't working, so he'd only need to be here at night.
His eyes got tired and he rested his head on his hands, sunken in thoughts.

He stayed that way what felt for ages, momentarily slipping away. His heart jumped almost out of his chest when his phone rung right next to him. He picked the horn up and slowly put it to his ear. Mumbling to himself about why anyone would call this late.

"Jimin, Seokjin here. Could you get your ass over to the church?"
"Jin it's 2 in the morning, what for?"
"I know it's late...
He paused, making Jimin grip his own dark hair a little tighter.
... But they found a body near the cemetery in your town."

He wasn't aware but Jimin held his breath, "I'm on my way."

He launched from his chair rushing to throw his long jacket on. Accidentally spilling his coffee all over his furniture, but he couldn't even care to look. He went straight to the door after putting on his cap.

He ran through the familiar lowly lit streets, by foot would be way faster than by his old box of a car. With every step he took the road to the church seemed to get longer, the houses surrounding him taller. His breaths deep and shaky. The uncertainty of this all made his little world spin around his head.

From all places, why this village? A place where nothing ever happens, time was supposed to stand stil here. It felt like an unspoken rule of the universe was broken this very night. He felt his blood flow through his body as he ran, he felt as heavy as could be.

Jimin finally saw the church in sight, the wind sung in his ears and he saw the tall trees dance in the moonlight. He was rapidly approaching the crime scene, his mind overflowing. He did not even greet his loyal partner Kim Seokjin, he just pushed him aside when he tried to get to talk to him. Trying to sketch out what he already has found out, but he was interrupted by Jimin. His eyes wide as ever, demanding the white sheet to be lifted off of the victim. One of the officers on scene obeyed to his command.

The white cloth was lifted only to reveal a face too young to be this void of color. Jimin was frozen in his place. His chest felt like an open fire, and at the same time he was sure he'd freeze to death on this very spot. All he could do was stare at the dead boy's vacant and stained eyes as his partner rambled on. All the sounds that surrounded him were muted.

His vision turned black and soon he heard nothing at all anymore.

"Blarghhh"
Before anyone had the chance to react Jimin had emptied his entire stomach on the sidewalk. The contents being nothing more than coffee.
He heaved in agony and bent over until he felt a hand rub his back "Hey, are you okay?" Seokjin had genuine concern woven into his voice.

Jimin was quick to reassure him. "I just ate something wrong." Still everyone could feel there was more to it than that, but no one pressed the issue. Jimin stood there for a while, his own silence consuming him.
He had never felt this ill before, wishing he could just go up into smoke, disappearing in the night sky.

Still bent over he opened his eyes, the sight of his own vomit making him even more sick. He turned away from it.

He looked up at the sky, expecting to see the stars above him, he saw only black. Like the eyes of the young boy who were meant to be filled with little stars. These starless eyes on this awful night would forever be etched into his mind.