Insanity (TAEKOOK)✔️

Chapter 14

- Jeon Jeongguk -

    Water fills the vehicle, climbing up our bodies and quickly gaining speed, nearing closer and closer to our chests and, soon enough, our heads. Despite having faded in and out of consciousness for several hours prior, I'm wide awake, acutely aware of everything that's happening around me.

    My friends are yelling at each other, both trying to come up with a plan, as well as yelling at Namjoon and Jin, both of whom seem confident but nervous. The only person who seems completely calm is Taehyung, as he rummages through his supplies.

    I turn and hug onto Jimin, who is quietly crying next to me while everyone else is yelling. He leans into me, as the water gets higher. Breathing is starting to get difficult, as the strength of the water starts squeezing my chest.

    I close my eyes but open them back up not five seconds later as I hear the sounds of windows breaking. I turn my head sharply to the left, to see both windows on the left side of the car smashed completely. Namjoon and Taehyung are both squeezing out the windows as water pours in faster than I would have ever expected.

    The two usher the rest of us out, taking extra care with me. I take one last deep breath before I'm completely underwater. Blood taints the water around us, but nobody seems to care as they pull me up, trying to get back to the surface. It grows dark very suddenly, as we swim through what seems like a hole.

    I don't know how deep underwater we are, or where we are, but we seem to be swimming forever. My chest starts to hurt, and I can feel myself getting extra tired. We're never going to make it to the surface. I'm going to bleed out. Why isn't there more blood? I must be running out. I must be dead.

    "Jeonggukie, come on. Only twenty minutes." I hear Namjoon say. Why is he wasting his breath? Twenty minutes for what?

    "Gguk, come on. Twenty minutes, you need to wake up." He says. The voice gets louder, but everything feels distorted. An endless journey through the water, as though we're not even moving.

    Suddenly, another strange voice echoes all around me, jarring me awake.

    "Flight 87 will board in twenty minutes. Please make sure you've gathered up all your carry-on baggage." I open my eyes, startled out of the dream world I was just in. Looking to my left, I see Namjoon smiling at me, glad that I'm finally awake.

    My head is resting on Taehyung's lap, and he seems to have just woken up as well. He looks around with a dazed expression, as I look up at him.

    I stay laying down for a few more moments, thinking about my dream. I've had that same dream six or seven times in the past month, which is how long it's been since that happened. But the dream never finishes. I never get the pleasant reminder that we all made it out of there – that Taehyung had managed to stitch me up while I was unconscious on that final drive. That Tae and Namjoon had somehow managed to break the windows of a police car – with some knives, I believe. That there was an underwater cave we went in to, that lead up to a hidden area with access to the surface.

    No, I always get the scary ending. The part where we're stuck, swimming endlessly as we all drown, never escaping our fates. I often wonder if it's my conscious, telling me that's how it should have happened – we never should have survived. We're not good people.  No, we're awful people. But we didn't die. And, if that's what the universe wants... well, we shouldn't deny the universe, should we?

    I hear the loudspeaker announce a fifteen-minute heads up, and excuse myself to the restroom. I still feel drowsy, so I splash myself with water a few times before lifting my shirt up a bit, checking my mostly healed wound to make sure it's still alright. Seokjin has spent hours explaining to me the dangers of letting it get infected or having it tear open, and I don't want him to beat my ass because I didn't look at it every few hours.

    Once I'm finished doing my business and cleaning up, I hear some familiar footsteps enter the room. I don't see who it is, but before I can finish washing my hands, I'm grabbed by the arm and yanked back into an empty stall. I look at who grabbed me and am met with Taehyung's mischievous smile.

    I start to ask him what he's doing, but I don't get to say much before he pushes me up against the wall of the stall, lips on mine.

    The kiss is intense but doesn't last as long as I'd have liked. He pulls away much too soon, smiling warmly at me.

    "What... what was that for?" I ask, keeping my voice low and quiet.

    "You know... in the van after we kissed? About... if we lived..." He trails off, looking away with a flustered expression.  I giggle.

    "Yeah, I do."

    He smiles again, putting his forehead on mine. We just stand there, looking into each other's eyes, before leaning in for another, slower kiss. It's nice, and soothing, and slightly hot. But we're interrupted by the loudspeakers announcing 5 minutes until boarding. He pulls away.

    "We should get back to the others..." He says, going to unlock the door.

    "We'll talk about this more on the plane, right?" I ask him, following him out of the stall. Our footsteps echo in the emptying restroom.

    "Yeah. Yeah we will." He replies, looking back at me one more time before leaving me behind in the restroom.

    I take a look at myself in the mirror. I can feel my heart pounding out of my chest, and not just from Taehyung.  There's excitement, and nervousness.  A new chapter is opening up - we're no longer going to be confined to the streets of Korea and Japan. I do a couple of hops in place, getting out some energy, before turning and leaving the restroom before the plane leaves without me.

    New York City, here we come.

- The End... or is it?