In the Shadows

Chapter 7

RM is keeping guard over Jin this time. He sits up straight in Suga's bed, having some music in his ears. Jin is reading a book at his desk. RM is softly dozing off and Jin looks to his side. He is so cute... He must be so tired... My guard... Jin smirks. He gets up and places a blanket over RM. He then sits back at his desk. Suddenly it gets dark. An eerie feeling crawls over the back of Jin's spine. He knows this all to well. "The shadow realm..." He has given that alternative world a name. He sees Namjoon disappearing in the darkness and soon he is alone in the room. The room has a whole different feeling. Ah! the older couple's house! I am in their house now... He looks around but surprisingly sees pictures of him. He is holding an oscar. He is smiling at the camera. In every picture he is alone. Jin is browsing the wall. He is walking in the room when suddenly he hears the door opening. When he turns around, he looks straight at... Me??? Jin is looking at Jin. Jin is seeing himself in the room. Both Jins are staring at each other. There is shaking being felt. The darkness is trembling. Both of them grab hold of something. Jin takes advantage of this situation and dashes to run away. Whatever this is, it isn't right... He dashes through the hallway and leaves the building in a hurry.

Jin picks something up from the ground. The other guy dropped this.... It is a smartphone. He unlocks it with his thumbprint. The wallpaper is Jin, smiling with 6 other guys. All looking happy together. Jin's hand trembles. How is this possible??? He looks towards the direction Jin dashed to. He browses more and notices so many pictures. Them on stage, them holding awards, them with over 20000 people in a stadium behind them. Some pictures of playing games at home. All the pictures drip of happiness. Jin is shaking in anger. I want what he has.

Jin is panting on the street. "Oh my god... What just happened? Did I see this timeline's Jin? That was the freakiest shit I have ever been through in my life. He looks behind him but the building is far out of sight. He wipes the sweat of his brow. He walks to a bench and sits on it. "He was alone... all alone... Every successful picture... He was alone..." Jin feels his heart hurt. "What kind of life do we live here in this one? It is crappy and a living hell..." V and Jk pop in his head. "They are the only ones that seemed not to want to kill me..." But I didn't get a chance to feel the temperature about the others. "Jimin and Hoseok..." Then RM in the gas station jumps to mind. Would this Namjoon be also in love with Jin? Perhaps he is kind to me too...

Jin decides to visit RM first. He takes a taxi to the gas station. The employee said that RM doesn't have a shift now. He gave Jin the address to a nearby camper ground. Jin hurries towards there, and sees just a container. He bangs the door (?) and RM opens. His eyes grow wide. "S-seokjin?" Jin, just to be safe steps a few steps back. "Are you mad at me?" RM shakes his head in confusion. "Why? You just dumped us like trash. Is trash allowed to feel something then?" His words feel stone cold and emotionless. "What has happened to your life, since I've been gone. And what do you mean with us?" RM looks strangely at Jin, but there is no life in his eyes. "Did you hit your head, pretty rich boy?" RM is about to close the door but Jin holds it. "Please. Tell me once." RM sighs passionless. "We used to hang out, you got accepted to an US acting school in LA. You became successful. We on the other hand... Well, I don't need to explain, you can see for yourself. My father and mother died about 1 year after you left for the US. I quit school and have been working ever since low paying jobs like these. I lost contact with most of the others. I only see Jungkook and Taehyung often. Both have struggles too. Jungkook's parents are stressing him out. He has tried to suicide himself already multiple times." Jin swallows sadly. "His friends deserted him and the hyung he looked up to the most left him for dead. So death is a thing he plays with constantly. Breaking rules to feel the thrill. I join him, mostly because I am sick of this life too. Taehyung has an abusive father. He knocked on my door recently after years, blood stained hands. We both got rid of the body... He and his sister are currently on the run and keeping low. Hoseok has..." "Narcolepsy. I know that already." RM looks at Jin, but just deadcontinues. "Not really. His mom abandoned him when he was young. To cope with abandonment he developed this mental disease for attention. It was fine when you were around but the moment you threw him away... It came back and hit him badly. Now there isn't a part of his body that isn't bruised or broken from falling all the time. He has lost all will to live. Doctors are already planning on putting him down. Injecting him to make him a plant like he is. Just sedating him for the rest of his wretched life. They gave up, just like he did on himself." RM's eyes shoot bullets at Jin. Everything he says, Jin feels hurt more and more.

"Jimin needed friends around him to get him through a trauma. After you went away and the group fell apart, he had a triggering incident. There was no one to catch him and his parents didn't know what to do. So they just dumped him too. 2 times being dumped by people he loved and cared about. Is that what makes life so beautiful?" Jin can't escape the hard sarcasm in RM's words. "He is already half a plant because of the meds." "And Yoongs?" Jin asks. RM looks at Jin. "Yoongi?" RM scoffs. "Yoongi is the worst of them all. His mother died in a fire. He used to play piano but now he can't even see the damn thing again. He is being wanted for arson. He is burning down houses that hold piano's. He loved you. He adored you. He felt happy again with you. Even thought about making music. And then you left. Him heartbroken, that is. He confessed to you and you shot him down. Hard. Rudely. He was already out of the group even before you left for the US. He couldn't handle the pain of seeing you and be reminded of the stone cold rejection you gave him. You are a real assh*le, you know that?" Those last words sounded meant. RM glares at Jin. "So just f*ck off to your own world and leave us all like the trash you threw away on the highway of your life." RM throws close the door. Jin is just standing outside, baffled, trying to process what just happened.

He walks away, really affected by the stories. This world sucks. For real... "Can't I save it? Maybe I should talk to the me here." Jin walks to the building again. The guard let's him pass easily this time. He rings the doorbell and Jin opens. Both of them look at each other. Jin is nervous as he enters. They both sit at the table. Jin starts to explain. The other Jin is listening, but he is clenching his fists in anger. He gets up after Jin finishes his talk and walks to the kitchen. "So maybe you should reach out to them fir-" Jin feels danger. He jumps up and just in time. A kitchen knife misses him barely. He sees Jin launching again. He rolls on the floor. The chair clatters. Jin walks towards him and his face is getting torned. His eyes grow big and his teeth stick out unnaturally in a smile that can only be seen in monsters. "DIE!" Jin's face turns even more ugly the moment he lets the knife sink. Jin rolls away again and uses the time it takes for Jin to pull the knife out of the floor to escape. He wriggles the door until it opens, and just in time because Jin has retrieved the knife and is running towards him. He closes the door and the knife appears right next to his head, missing him by a hair. The knife gets pulled back and Jin doesn't hesitate and bounces. The knife appeared again, right were Jin was standing just a few seconds ago. Jin runs again. He runs off the stairs. That wasn't me... He's a monster... this is truly a shadow realm. I want to go. I don't ever want to come here anymore. He loses all power in his legs and sinks on the ground. He is well out of sight of the building. He cries hard. I want to go away. Please.... something... Suddenly the thought hits him. What if I never get back again? Fear takes over, his stomach contracts and feels as ice. He throws up in the bushes. Besides himself he scrambles up while crying, stumbling through the shadows.