Hollow Bodies

FOUR DAYS.

THE DISAPPEARANCE.

Jimin was missing.

Jungkook stared at his phone as he shook with the usual wild turns and bumps of the school bus, scrolling through the texts he sent Jimin the previous night. All unanswered. All unopened.

The situation from the previous day had already felt fucked. Jungkook's stomach churned relentlessly throughout the entirety of the school day when he didn't see Jimin there. However, Jungkook also knew he was prone to worrying more than was necessary. So he gave it the day, waited to see if maybe Jimin would just arrive to school late or maybe swing by to see Jungkook after the school day ended. Or at the very least, maybe Jimin would send a text or call or anything.

But there was nothing. By the time it hit midnight Jungkook had sent eight spaced out texts asking where the hell Jimin was, and he'd called three times to no avail. The boy laid in bed wide awake for at least an hour just staring at his phone, hoping to receive some indication that his best friend was okay.

After Jungkook woke up and got ready, he told his parents about the situation very briefly, to which they basically just shrugged. His and Jimin's parents were high school friends, the very best of friends from what Jungkook understood. His own parents treated Jimin as if he were a second son, and for them to make nothing of this situation was something Jungkook couldn't begin to comprehend.

But maybe his parents were right. The Parks hadn't called to say their son hadn't come home⎯ or at least, if they did Jungkook's parents hadn't said anything about it⎯ and if he was missing Jungkook was sure that his household would be the first to know.

And that was what he used to quell his thoughts throughout the morning.

In his mind he knew that Jimin wouldn't just ignore his calls and texts, but he also had to consider that maybe his friend really did get suspended or in big trouble and his parents took his phone. Jungkook continued staring at his texts to Jimin, scrolling up and down to view the same twenty or so messages over and over again until his bus arrived at school. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, even despite the logical, probable explanations for the sudden disappearance.

Jungkook entered the halls of his school about twenty minutes before first bell. He kept his head mostly down as he headed towards the cafeteria, trying not to make it obvious that he was examining the students lingering around the hallway lockers to see if Jimin was among them.

Of course, he wasn't.

Upon entering the cafeteria Jungkook spotted his usual table: a round table with small seats fixed, off near the back left corner of the room. The boy headed towards the table without even really thinking about it, so used to his usual morning routine by then. Jungkook always sat with his back towards the bulk of the cafeteria. He didn't like the feeling that anybody could look up and see his face if they looked in his general direction.

"Woah, woah, what do you think you're doing?" Jungkook was stopped just short of getting settled in his seat by the voice of one of his closest friends there: Yoongi. On either side of him sat two others that formed their little group, Namjoon and Taehyung. While Jungkook was in the same class with Taehyung and Jimin, Namjoon and Yoongi were seniors. They sure acted it, too. They often spoke as if they were well advanced in years rather than just on the brink of adulthood, referring to their underclassmen friends as "kids" and "youngins". Jungkook just blinked as he looked at Yoongi, still gripping his backpack by the sleeves, paused midway in the action of setting it down. "My breakfast..?"