Footsteps echo through the dark and desolate room. Jungkook feels his heart beating, the panic evident under his skin, but his voice won’t work. A single spotlight hovers along the floor and stops just meters away from him, revealing the owner of the footsteps.

His face is twisted. His eyes are empty and hollow. He looks nothing like the last time Jungkook had seen him.

“How could you do this to me?” he says menacingly.

Jungkook tries to step back, but his feet are frozen.

“I haven’t done anything.” His voice feels heavy, dragging itself along his tongue.

“Yes, you have, Jungkook. It’s all your fault.”

“I’m sorry,” he tries to say, but the latter just chuckles lazily.

The scene before him dissolves and Jungkook’s now standing in an empty playground, autumn leaves falling around him. He strolls towards the swing set, checks his surroundings and sits down. The swing creaks eerily as he pushes himself forward but apart from that everything seems fine.

Silence dissipates when a soft, tinkling laughter floats through the air. Jungkook glances up. A small girl dressed in a white flowing dress skips through the grass. Her black hair streams behind her in thick ribbons. Unwillingly, Jungkook smiles. The girl seems familiar but he can’t figure out why.

Sensing his presence, the girl glances up and laughs again. She runs towards him and the closer she gets, the clearer her face becomes.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, perching herself on the swing next to him.

“I don’t know,” he answers uncertainly. “I was waiting for someone, I think.”

“Were you waiting for me?”

She smiles and for some reason, Jungkook feels like he knows that smile so well.

“I don’t think so. I don’t even know who you are,” he says, shrugging.

The little girl giggles and hits Jungkook’s arm lightly. “Idiot.”

“What did you call me?”

She faces him and shakes her head. “Pa. Bo,” she says slowly.

He’s about to protest but a deep, sinister laugh comes from the opposite end of the park. He sees the same man from before, running across the park towards him, laughing. Panic fills his body again but what worries him the most is the expression on the little girl’s face.

She looks terrified as she watches the same man and in one swift movement she jumps down off the swing and runs.

“Wait!” Jungkook screams out.

He sprints after her and manages to grasp her wrist. She skids to a halt and screams.

“Let me go, Jungkook.” Even though she looks petrified, her voice is so delicate and calm.

They both look back when the man chasing them gets closer. The little girl tries to run but Jungkook holds her still.

“Don’t go,” he pleads.

She shakes her head. Her eyes seem to hold a sense of security that Jungkook doesn’t want to lose. Before he can stare at them for any longer, everything blurs and suddenly he’s sitting in the dance studio with Jimin and Taehyung.

They’re both laughing about something when they notice him there.

“Hey, man. Where have you been?” Jimin asks.

“Yeah, we were just talking about you,” Taehyung adds in. “We thought you’d never show up.”

“Sorry guys. I got caught up.”

“No worries,” Jimin assures him. “We were just gonna get started on the new dance. You in?”

Jungkook sees his friends’ familiar smiles and he knows he’s safe.  “Hell yeah.”

The smell of pancakes roused Jungkook from his sleep. He hadn’t had a dream like that in ages. Shaking it off, he slipped out of bed and stalked to the bathroom. Apart from that random note, his week had been fine but he couldn’t help but worry. Obviously, his subconscious mind thought it was a big deal and he shuddered when he remembered who he had seen in his dream.

It had been almost two years and there wasn’t a day that passed when he didn’t think of what had happened. Even though he didn’t know how it was his fault, he still felt guilty. After washing his face, he suddenly remembered the aroma that had woken him up so he changed into some casual clothes and went down to the kitchen.

He had almost forgotten that Jaera lived there, but he was sharply reminded when he found her in the kitchen, stuffing her face with pancakes. She was so immersed in eating that she didn’t even notice him until he tripped on a stray bag lying on the floor.

“Jesus!” She gasped, jumping in her seat a little. “You look like the walking dead.”

“Good morning to you, too.” He faked a smile and continued to the fridge. “I didn’t get much sleep, actually.”

“I didn’t ask,” Jaera commented, nibbling on the last of her pancake. She suddenly remembered the scene in his bedroom earlier and mentally hit herself. “I mean...” She coughed. “Why’s that?”

“None of your business,” he snapped, and Jaera instantly regretted asking.

Jungkook grabbed the milk from the fridge and dumped it on the counter before fetching the cereal. He noticed Jaera hadn’t left him any pancakes, which pissed him off a little, but he could cope. Humming a tune to himself, he made his cereal as quick as possible and went to eat it in the living room. He couldn’t handle Jaera’s presence so early in the morning.

Jaera on the other hand didn’t mind at all. Weirdly enough for her, she was still a little freaked out about seeing Jungkook experiencing a nightmare. It did spark some curiosity inside her that she didn’t know was there, and in all honesty she wanted to find out what was wrong with him. Not like she planned on helping him or anything, she just needed to know.

The two managed to spend the next hour at home alone in peace. Jungkook watched bits of a few channels and Jaera finished sorting out her closet. It was just before eleven when Jaera heard the front door slam shut, bringing her out of her cleaning trance. She scurried to her feet and peeked out the window to see Jungkook rushing down the street.

“Why is he in such a hurry?” she asked herself.

She felt that same curiosity bubbling inside her. Damn it. Before she could change her mind, she was cramming her feet into her shoes and running off after him. She hadn’t even thought it through properly. All she could focus on was not losing sight of Jungkook. He had stopped running, but he was still walking quite fast so she made sure to stay close, while keeping a safe distance. She didn’t want him seeing her being a stalker.

Jungkook needed the fresh air. He inhaled the warmth that surrounded him and smiled. After breakfast, he couldn’t keep his thoughts in check so he thought a good old dance session would get things off his mind. Luckily, he had his own copy of the key for the studio. Jimin thought it was a good idea in case anybody lost the original one. Jungkook had tried calling his friends but none of them were answering, so he left messages hoping they’d meet him there later. He didn’t really fancy being in the empty school all by himself.

Twenty minutes had passed since Jaera had left the house and she was starting to feel like the route she was taking was very familiar. When she spotted the school gates up ahead she suddenly realized why. Jungkook was still in her sights. She followed him around the building until she reached the back field.

, she thought. There weren’t any buildings or trees around to hide behind, so she kept a good eye on him until he was on the other side of the field. There was one lonely building just at the edge of the grass that she had never visited before. She watched as Jungkook stopped near it before disappearing inside.

Safely out of his view, she sprinted towards the same building, more curious than ever. Why would he be sneaking into some random place at school? And how did he even get inside?

Jungkook shut the door securely behind him, breathing in the comforting scent of the dance studio. Without hesitation, he stripped off his jacket and plugged his phone into the sound system. A heavy hip hop beat started playing. Stretching his muscles first, he took his stance in front of the mirrors. As he relaxed his breathing, he could already feel the stress leaving his body.

The rhythm of the song escalated and Jungkook took it as his cue to start dancing. He had no choreography planned; the music was his only guide, flowing through his body like an electrical current. He hadn’t been dancing for long, sweat had only started to form on his forehead, when the sound of the door hitting the wall interrupted him.

He didn’t know whether he was more angry or surprised to see Jaera lying on the floor, wincing in pain. She’d been trying to budge the door open for a while as quietly as possible. When she’d decided to put all her weight against it, she wasn’t expecting it to work so she consequently met the floor with her face.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jungkook asked angrily, switching the music off.

Jaera groaned and rolled over onto her back. “A little help would be nice.”

“As if.” He walked over to look down at her. “Answer my question.”

She sat up, avoiding his gaze. “I was, well, when I, um, you see... Wait, what are you doing here?”

“Stop changing the subject. You followed me here, didn’t you?”

“Ha!” She faked a laugh. “Followed you? Why would I follow you... I was just going for my usual midday jog and I spotted this lovely, uh, room where I thought I could rest, but it was locked so I –“

“Cut the bull, Jaera. Like you go for ‘midday jogs’.”

She scoffed. “How would you know that?”

“Because you’re still fat.”

“Am not! Ugh, I should have never come here in the first place.” She stood up quickly, brushing her clothes off and turning to leave the room. “Don’t know why I even cared about your stupid anyways...”

“Wait, what?”

Jaera ignored him and rushed out the door but Jungkook was quick on her heels. He grabbed her wrist and a sharp sting of nostalgia hit her.

“Let me go!”

For some strange reason, it felt like déjà vu for Jungkook but he didn’t have time to figure out why. “Tell me what you meant and why you’re here.”

Jaera yanked her hand back but he was much stronger when he was awake. He dragged her back inside and shoved her onto the bench with no concern about how rough he was being.

“Hurry up. I haven’t got all day.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything, . Let me go!”

She tried to jump to her feet but he only pushed her back down. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me.”

“Fine!” she growled, shoving his hands away. “I was just... I thought you were in trouble because of the dream.”

“The what?” Jungkook stood back, confused. “The dream? What are you talking about?”

Jaera sighed. This is so embarrassing. “I... this morning, I heard you scream in your room so I thought you were in trouble, but when I walked in it turned out you were just sleeping.”

“You came into my room?” Jungkook’s anger multiplied.

“I thought you were in trouble,” she argued. “You were banging and thrashing about, I didn’t know what... Anyways, I was just checking to see if you really were asleep, nothing creepy at all, and you grabbed my wrist.” She looked down and showed him the red marks lining her arm. “You wouldn’t let me go. You told me to stay,” she whispered.

Jungkook frowned. “I wouldn’t...”

And then he remembered the little girl in his dream. And the man that was chasing him. His blood ran cold.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Jaera’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Yeah, that’s why I’ve been trying to leave, idiot.”

“You shouldn’t even know this place exists.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know what you were thinking, but you can’t be here.”

He pulled her up by the arm and towards the door. “Stop trying to get involved in my life, Jaera. You’ll only get hurt.”

She had no idea what to make of that. It sounded like he was protecting her?

He pushed her further ahead. “Because if I ever catch you following me again, I’ll make sure you never walk again.”

Jaera’s heart stopped when she saw the darkness filling Jungkook’s eyes.

“Just stay out of my life.”

With that, he stalked back inside the studio and slammed the door shut. Jaera stood staring at the door; her mind couldn’t process anything. It was then that she realized she was shaking. Her whole body was trembling and she didn’t know why. She had been embarrassed, scared and threatened all within five minutes. 

And just like that, tears followed without her control. She was ashamed of herself. Why did she even care in the first place? Why was she so foolish as to follow him? Why did she confess to everything? Why did Jungkook always make her feel like this? As if a switch had been flicked on, she started to sprint home, the memory of Jungkook’s fierce expression etched clearly in her mind.

Jungkook slid down the back of the door until he hit the floor with a thud. He scraped his fingers through his hair in frustration. He didn’t know what was going on. He came here to find relief from the memories and his taunting thoughts, but now he was even more stressed. Jaera was being so intrusive and he couldn’t think why. It’s like she actually cared, but she could never understand what he was going through, let alone help.

What am I even thinking? I don’t even need her help.

But it was still there in his mind, like always. That scared and fragile expression that she had on when he’d pushed her away. The one he hated the most. The one that always managed to chip away at his guard. He didn’t want to do it, but he couldn’t stop himself, because almost as soon as the thought entered his mind, he was up on his feet.

I must be going crazy.

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