LUMINESCENCE | K.NJ ✓

XXV - LOCATION

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—LOCATION

SHE FELT LIKE fire when she awoke.

Her head, her chest, her eyes, the open wound in her leg. Everything stung. She was engulfed by flames of blue, eating away at her flesh, her heart, her sanity.

Of course, she knew these flames weren't real, no matter how painful the sparks of her imagination happened to be.

The flames that Namjoon had rushed into, however, were very real.

He was the only thing she could think of. No matter how much she wanted to focus on her surroundings, he flooded every inch of her consciousness, quenching the flames that were eating her alive. Eyes of caramel that creased and crinkled when he laughed. Honey-colored sun kissed skin, soft to the touch and warm against the palm of her hand. Arms that, despite being thin, made her feel safe when they were wrapped around her. A voice that sounded like summer rain; gentle and comforting.

The feeling of being at home whenever she was with him.

The feeling of being utterly lost without him.

What if he didn't make it out?

What if he's gone?

Her stomach dropped. She tried to push the thoughts away, but they swarmed like moths to a flame, clouding every last corner of her brain.

She tried to take a deep breath in, but then realized that she had a cloth tied around her mouth, keeping her from doing so. Her hands were clasped around her back, tied together with something that she couldn't quite place—rope, perhaps?

She was seated upon a chair, wrists and ankles bound. The room was illuminated by several floor lamps in addition to the bright ceiling light above. The walls were painted a pristine white, making the room even brighter, if that were possible. Other than her chair, there was a single bed—all white coverings—and a nightstand in the room. The door was closed, and she was alone.

Her mind began to race as reality sunk in. The moments before her blackout flooded back in; watching Namjoon rush into the fire to save Seokjin, her attempt at getting to him, the blinding flash of light and the pain searing through her leg. Looking down, she saw that one leg of her jeans had been cut off at the middle of her thigh. A bandage was wrapped around her lower thigh—where the bullet had pierced her skin. The wound ached and throbbed beneath the white wrappings.

She was able to connect the dots right away. The flashbang, the gunshot. She had been taken.

Where were the other girls?

Heart pounding against her rib cage, her mind worked furiously in effort to divulge some course of action. She knew virtually nothing about what would happen to her after this point. Would she be left here? Would she come in contact with the other victims?

Were they still alive?

It was then, in the midst of her panic, that she noticed something in her back pocket.

Her phone. He hadn't destroyed it?

Some kidnapper this guy is.

Even as she thought it, she knew that luck was simply on her side. If he had been bad at what he did, they would have found the other girls by then. Her heart pounded even harder inside her chest—she needed to take advantage of his slip up, and fast.

Gently, she began to squirm in the seat, trying to nudge her phone out of the back pocket. Her fingertips, though her wrists were bound, brushed against the edge of her screen, but she couldn't grab hold of it yet.