Innocently Guilty [EDITING]

《30.1》

Six months. Six whole months had passed since Taehyung boarded a plane to search for his sister. Six months in which Jungkook or anyone in the matter had any sort of contact with the male besides a a single videochat per week.

The first week was the hardest. They had released the Venom hours after Taehyung had left. It was a complete success and in just a month, they had earned almost the triple of the daily distribution.

Obviously, the police and the general public was going crazy. People were afraid of letting their kids out in fear that they would be offered the drug that had been named by some as the "miracle drug." Not because it did any good, but because people have reported to feel more euphoric than taking a mixture of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines in one go.

People were addicted.

The hospitals were getting filled to the verge with incoming patients of overdose and the government was starting to get pressured to do something about the situation.

Not only was the Venom powerful enough to send anyone to the clouds (and a hospital) but it had also proven to not kill the victims. At least not as fast as the regular overdose of LSD. It affected the main organs in a way doctors weren't sure of how to deal with it. This was very new.

And very dangerous.

Bangtan had to, by all means, remain under the radar of the police more than once, but they never let go of the opportunity of making transactions and distributing the drug as much as they could. All of their members were on peak form and had manage to outsmart several police operatives just in time.

By this point, even the FBI and CIA had started to step down from their Korean divisions. As long as there was no major risk of the Venom causing a big damage in the US, the situation seemed too faulty for them to be mingling around foreign affairs. So it was all left to the South Korean forces to deal with the new wave of Venom that threatened to put half of the country in hospital beds and leave the other half addicted.

For the six heads though, it was a bittersweet victory. Taehyung had tried to tell them more than once to stop worrying about him and celebrate their success with the release of the Venom. But the tension still weighed on them and a melancholic feeling lingered in the air whenever they were together.

Six months, two weeks, five days, six hours and twenty-five minutes. That's how long it has been ever since Taehyung left. Not that Jungkook counted. He stopped after the first two months, when his watch had stopped working one afternoon.

It was an old pocket watch. His pocket watch. It was the only thing he had from them. The only memory.

Up until six months ago, he had it buried in the depths of his closet, inside one of the boxes where he stored old clothes he didn't really wear anymore. He was still growing and a lot of his old clothes didn't fit him anymore.

The day Taehyung left, he was lying on bed, alone with his thoughts. Memories that he had tried to push to the very back of his mind, that he tried to forget for so many years, had resurfaced among the occurrences of that day. He remembered the darkness, the light, the coldness and the warmth. He remembered the silence and the noise. He remembered the flames.

Jumping up from his bed, he opened the door to the closet and walked the hallway until he got to the very back where they left all the boxes of things they didn't use anymore, but didn't have the heart to throw away either.

Clothes were flying all over as he dug in for a small box, hidden by his old hoodies and sweaters. With shaky hands, he reached for it and ran his fingers through the smooth, cardboard surface.

He stood up and walked out, sitting on the edge of the bed before taking a deep breath and taking the lid off. His heart sank at the sight of its contents. Nothing more that a few old photos, an old carnival mask, a candy wrapper and the watch.