kicks ✓ || namgi || k.th

040: mellow

chapter 40: mellow
location: rutland, vermont

There was nothing to do in Vermont, and Jimin wasn't feeling it.

Something had happened at the casino, that was for sure. Namjoon had gotten drunk off his ass, and Yoongi had hauled said ass to bed. Hoseok had lost an insane amount of money at blackjack; apparently his luck was over, and they only had half as much money as they had started off with. It was enough to keep going, but they couldn't afford anything frivolous -- especially any more casinos. And Taehyung hadn't said a single word, not even when they had been deciding on food. It was like he was stuck in his own mind.

So Jimin ditched the crummy hotel they were staying at and walked downtown. There certainly wasn't anything to do, but Jimin could walk around and get a feel for the land, at least look in some windows and be eternally less bored. Many of the shops down the main strip looked closed. In fact, this entire small town seemed like everybody had up and left.

He stopped in a convenience store on the corner, where the man behind the counter filled him in. "Yeah, this town was once so bustling because people would come to work in the marble quarries. But those closed a few years back, and everybody moved out and away. There's not even enough people to commit crimes, so we still stay open all night even though nobody comes in."

"That's too bad." Jimin bought a Sprite and left. He felt kind of odd, drinking out of an open bottle on the main street of some small town. Come to think of it, maybe he felt so odd because there wasn't anybody else around.

As Jimin walked down the street, he peered into empty windows, shops that had signs on the front stating they were for sale. One was for a bike shop that had just up and left, still with all of its bikes inside the stores. Jimin peered inside, at the dark walls and the dim lighting, looking at all the dusty new bikes in a row. So many memories that could have been made on those bikes, and none of them would ever come to fruition.

Jimin wrinkled his nose. This wasn't the American dream that they always talked about on television. This was totally different from New York City, too. Sure, in the city you'd always have turnover in shops, but never an entire section like this. But if all the jobs had left, it made sense that all the people did, too.

He passed by an old electronics shop that looked like it hadn't changed in years -- decades, maybe. The televisions were all on, switched to a news channel, and Jimin stopped to watch for a moment. Some pretty lady with a perm and a pantsuit was reading the news, and he couldn't hear what she was saying.

And then he glanced down at the tagline. He knew just enough English to panic.

[FBI ON SEARCH FOR SEVEN KOREAN MEN: Nationwide Search, All Police Departments Involved]

Jimin raced back to the crummy hotel, Sprite still in hand. "We need to turn on the TV," he said; thankfully everybody was still in their rooms, so they congregated into one and turned on the news. The channel Jimin had seen was done with their broadcast, so they changed over to another channel that was just starting their evening news.

"In national news tonight, a nationwide search for seven men is now underway. We originally heard from affiliate WAST two months ago regarding Jin Kim, an up and coming Korean model from New York City. He and six of his friends disappeared overnight, and now reports are coming in that they have been spotted in several locations across America in a purple church van with a New York State license plate. Anybody with any information is being told to call the CrimeStoppers number below

"Great," Seokjin muttered. "We're gonna end up on Cops."

"Ooh, we're gonna end up on Cops?" Hoseok asked, then got smacked upside the head by Jungkook. "What?"

"I love how you're the famous one," Jimin noticed. "Nobody knows who the rest of us are, but Jin Kim, that model, man." He tsked. "So handsome."

Yoongi looked up at Namjoon. "What do we do?"

Namjoon thought for a moment. Then, he said, "We push the button until we find Sara. And then, we stop pushing the button."

There were shocked gasps from the group, including cries of protest from Jimin and Jungkook. "Now look," Namjoon said. "We've got the entire country looking for us now. But you want to know who they're not looking for? Sara. You know who could still drive across the country in a purple van with a weird license plate? Sara. We can't just keep playing around anymore. We need to find her, and then we need to find our place where we can lay low until this all just stops."

"Nobody even knows who Sara is," Taehyung added, "so that's a plus. Jimin, I told the group something while you were gone." And he passed Jimin a printed copy of Sara's email. Jimin skimmed it quickly, then went back and read it from beginning to end.

"You're saying she's a time traveler?"

"I'm saying we watched her disappear in front of our eyes," Namjoon stated. "And we're caught between a rock and a hard place right now. We have to lay low, and I'm confident she would help us do that. But every time we push the button, it sends her some random place as well. So we have to find her, and then just travel until we find our new home."

"Our new home..." Hoseok smiled. "A place where I can dance! Even if nobody sees me."

"A place where I can play piano," Yoongi said with a smile. "You think I could do that, Namjoon?"

"I'm certain you can." Namjoon smiled at Yoongi; the others didn't know their secret yet, but it was a matter of time. And before long, all of the boys were talking about what their new home might look like, out in the open or hidden in the mountains, far, far away, where nobody could find them and separate them. And if the police came looking for them, then Sara would make them all go away, until it was safe and nobody remembered them anymore.

It was just like they had originally planned it. Seven best friends, forever, no matter what.