Things I Wrote at One Time or Another

Magic Shop: A Psychodrama; "Book I, Episode I, Part I"

A/N: That BTS fanfiction with Suranim and Ikuyo in it. I titled "Magic Shop; A Psychodrama" and posted it on a BTS FanFiction Amino. I might have the other chapters, hopefully. I think there were only three--or two. Taehyung is Crow--and yes, I got that from Kafka on the Shore.

BOOK ONE; EPISODE ONE, PART ONE

"Do you remember me?"

His lips pursed in impatience, his eyes scanning the room for time as his hands reached out towards me. I felt dazed, like the vertigo you feel when staring out into the boundless sky. The sun was dim, almost like the moon. Beside me, out the window, I could hear the cicadas calling out to each other over the sound of my own breathing and the sound of his restless wings.

"Wake up, Seohyun . ." he whispered to me, his gentle hands nearing my eyes. I looked away for a moment, just as the cold, brisk feeling of his fingertips brushed along my cheek. From the corner of my eye, I watched as the tip of his wings hit the ceiling. "Wake up and remember--"

"--that you are not in your bedroom, but instead in my class-- and when you are in my class, you do not nap through-- ah, I see you've finally bothered to return to reality."

The first thing I do when I wake up is spit out the clump of hair that managed to get stuck inside my mouth. I lift my aching head from the desk, carefully using my hand to cover up the small pool of saliva and hopefully wipe it away as all eyes landed on me. Mr. Han stood at the board, marker in hand, capped and presented to a term on the whiteboard. I had to blink a few times for my mind to register the characters.

'NCATs'

"It's your final year, Miss Nam-- I suggest you stay awake." Mr. Han stated, tapping his marker against the whiteboard. "You know what they say, 'Sleep three hours a night, you might get into SKY University," He glanced my way again, "Sleep--twenty? Twenty hours a day, you'll find yourself . . well, let's not imagine it, and instead focus on the positive." He pushed his glasses back up along his bulbous nose and returned to his lecture. However, eyes still lingered and whispers spread like wildfire.

"Is that Nam Seohyun?"

"How'd she make it this far?"

"Sleeping Beauty, more like Sleeping Menace--"

"In order to prepare for the NCATs, one must first . . "

"I heard about her mother--"

"She ranked number . . . in her old school."

"She's from Ulsan, right? A city girl--"

"They say she's crazy, she was supposed to live with her step dad but--"

Breathe, I remind myself. Breathe. My hands tremble as I reach towards my face, cuffing my ears as I lean towards my desk. My eyes fixate on the paper in front of me; a rank sheet for my choice of universities, the lower right corner of it stained by my drool. I stare until my vision blurs and my eyes close. With my hands over my ears I let myself breathe, listening to nothing but my heartbeat and the fluttering of wings.

Crow, I think. And when I look up, there he is.

"I've told you plenty of times, that's not my name." He stands beside the window panes, his fingers tracing imaginary images along the glass. They're faded out now, nothing but while light streaming in. The classroom is cast in a blue hue and the paper in front of me has disappeared, along with Mr. Han and the other students. In their place, a school of goldfish swim in mid-air, slowly, from wall to wall.

Crow seems bothered by the abundance of fish, and ruffles his wings, settling them to his sides as he advances towards me.

"I only know to call you Crow," I glance down at his black feathers, glowing miraculously in the white-blue light.

"From that library book you stole?" He cocks his head to the side, almost teasing me with the innocent look plastered on his face. His earrings glitter from the sudden gesture and I look away, everything becomes amplified when I hallucinate like this.

He smiles, "I just don't find it very fitting," he glanced towards the window for a moment before a goldfish blocks his view. "You know my real name."

"I do?"

He returned his gaze to me, "You should."

I looked away again, boring my eyes into the iridescent scale of a nearby fish. It's dull eye boring back into mine. "I don't remember."

He head slides into view, his body bent just to interject my sight. An amused smile masks the unpleasant shadow that resides in his eyes, "You remember the hospital, right?"

His voice cuts through like a knife and I waver, my eyes narrow, fixed on something far away. In the distance I can hear my own voice, straining to break through the walls as they pinned me down. I swallow hard, tightening my hands into a fist until a goldfish swims too close and almost knocks me over.

I give the fish a look before adjusting myself in my seat, finally letting myself address Crow.

"You promised me you wouldn't bring it up anymore." I reminded him.

He hoisted himself up onto the desk in front of me, his bare feet settling on the chair. From under his pant leg I could catch a glimpse of the tattoo around his ankle. An intricate design that reminded me of henna on the hands of Indian women. I don't bother asking him about it anymore, so I find it only fitting he'd offer the same for me.

He sighed, resting his cheek into the palm of his hand. His eyes gazed into mine from under his lashes. "You're no fun, you used to be fun . . . but of course, I can't talk about that," he tutted, after a moment he knocked my desk with his foot. I shot him glare, as I was already paying attention to him. He smiled, leaning back. "So how about it?"

"What?"

"Are you going to pick a university?" he asked, the rank sheet appearing in his hands like magic. He held it up between his thumb and index finger, studying it. It was empty.

"Of course not." I stated, pushing a lock of hair behind my ear. At that moment, his desk shifted, jutting and making a loud screeching noise as he leaned in towards me. His wings expanded, unfolded and spread. It startled the goldfish and they hurried off to separate corners of the classroom, leaving our space untouched. It felt cold and silent as his eyes fixated on mine, curiosity gleaming in his irises.

"Is that so?"

I frowned, "I won't get in anywhere, so what's the point?"

"This isn't about what Mr. Han said, right? I mean, what could some thirty-something countryside teacher know about making it in the big city? I bet you the majority of these mindless teenagers will just end up picking up some town job where their dad is their boss and the whole thing runs on an unjust amount of nepotism." Crow said, a satisfied smile on his lips. I raised an eyebrow his way and watched the goldfish reassemble nearby.

"Well, there's always the other option . ." he said, still leaned in. I gave him a side glance. "You could always come visit me."

I sighed silently to myself, "You're an hallucination," I said, at this point I was just about ready to return back to the classroom and Mr. Han's droning lecture. "I'm not going anywhere with you, I'm not crazy."

I closed my eyes and settled into my seat, Crow's curious eyes burned into my memory as his voice whispered off.

"How can you be so sure?"