Seven Months Later

The seasons passed by slowly as life finally settled into a steady pace forward.

Tiffany returned to America with a bunch of promises to keep. As she and Kibum had agreed to take things slow, calls were made once a week following letters written every day. Her father had agreed to let her come back to Korea after she graduated high school, but only if she was accepted at Kyunghee university. Because of this decision, both she and Kibum were working hard in school in hopes of attending the college together. Each day was another step towards their future and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

The email counseling turned out to work really well for Kibum. It was so much easier to get his thoughts out when he didn’t have to be face to face with a complete stranger. Since things had calmed down a lot since Key never came back to cause drama, there wasn’t much for Kibum to actually talk about.

As for Donghae and Eunhyuk, things never got better between them and neither had contacted each other once. Donghae slowly began to accept the reality that it was probably the ultimate end between them, but he couldn’t help but hope that maybe one day they would get back together.

Mir was having a better year at school. Although he still didn’t have any friends and got bullied, Donghae and Kibum would come pick him up from school whenever it wasn’t raining and spend hours hanging out and doing homework together.

And of course, Heechul was the same umma as always.

 Kibum stood in front of a large shelf of books, scanning over the selections. The air was filled with the musky scent of the old books, sort of like old people and fresh soap. The familiarity of it was comforting as he tried to decide on a book to check out. He was thinking heading over to the movie section instead and finding an alien movie so he could head over to Hongki’s and spend the night with Mir. But the thought of having to sit through yet another dumb, science fiction movie was pure torture, so instead Kibum walked over to the children’s area.

It was pretty vacant, with a single mother that was holding the hand of her young daughter as they walked towards the exit. He smiled softly, remembering a long time ago when his own mother held Dayeun’s hand as they did everything together.

Has it really been two years since she died? And a year since mom and dad died. It feels so recent, but so far away, he thought, blinking twice. But he’d moved on, and it didn’t bother him anymore. He knew they were all in heaven watching down on him together, and that thought made his heart swell with affection.

“Excuse me, Kibum, darling,” A soft voice called. Kibum glanced behind him and saw the old librarian walking towards him. He’d come here often enough that she knew him quite well.

“Hello, Mrs. Park,” Kibum said as she came to a stop before him.

“Sweetheart, the library is closing now. Do you have any books? You’ve been here for two hours,” Mrs. Park replied with a smile. Glancing at the clock, Kibum saw that it was nine o’ clock at night, the latest that the library was open during the week.

“Oh. No, I guess not. I’ll leave now, then. Good night,” He said, smiling sheepishly. After she bid him farewell, Kibum left the library and stepped out into the cool, spring night.

He stretched his arms out and breathed in the fresh air deeply. Still thinking of staying the night with Mir, Kibum turned to head towards Hongki’s house, but before he got far his phone vibrated in his pocket and when he pulled it out he found a text message from Donghae.

From: Hae

Eunhyuk sent my letter back. Unopened.

Sighing softly, Kibum turned back around. As much as he wanted to have fun tonight, he didn’t want Donghae to be home alone and cry himself to sleep and so he headed towards the park. As he stepped onto the crisp, green grass, trekking towards the forest, Kibum vaguely wondered if Henry was doing the same thing with Eunhyuk. Both younger boys were in agreement, their brothers were idiots.

He chuckled softly and shook his head, thinking that he would give Henry a call later, but he knew that it was futile; Henry talked on the phone with his boyfriend all night and wouldn’t answer any calls.

Oh well. Guess it’s a quiet night at home with Hae and hyung, he thought with a shrug as he walked through the trees. The sun had set and the night time animals and bugs were creating a symphony with each other. Among these sounds, there was one in particular that stood out as Kibum leisurely strolled home.

A splash in the river.

Although it could have been anything, a deer getting a drink of water, or maybe a beaver playing around, or just the fish jumping up, the noise made Kibum stop in his tracks. Something in his heart told him not to walk away.

It was completely unreal, but he swore that he could see a white, glowing light up ahead. He squinted his eyes trying to see through the darkness what it was, and when he got a good look his heart instantly stopped. There, up ahead stood Dayeun in her white dress. When her eyes met Kibum’s she smiled softly and lifted her hand to beckon him to come over. Unable to resist, Kibum quickly ran over to where she was standing, but before he reached her she disappeared from sight and in her place, Kibum found himself looking at the riverbed. It took him a split second to realize it, but there was someone in the water.

As quick as he could, Kibum ran splashing into the water and pulled the body out towards shore. It wasn’t easy to make his way through the water, not to mention that the person was heavy compared to his own strength.

And when he saw that the person in his arms was none other than Key, Kibum was shocked senseless.

A million thoughts ran through his head, but all he knew that whatever happened, Key was unconscious and needed help; as he’d probably inhaled a bunch of water. But as he tried to heft Key into his hold, Kibum noticed that something warm was running down his hands. When he glanced down, a shiver ran up his spine when he realized that there was blood, too much of it, gushing out of two large slits on the younger boy’s wrists.

In that moment, the split between life and death, Kibum couldn’t move.

Key had slit his wrists, and probably tried to drown himself. He was trying to commit suicide, and Kibum was getting in the way of it. Immediately, he was reminded of his own past experiences.

It was Tiffany’s fault. She saved me and I didn’t want to be saved. I wanted to die and end the pain so badly, but she saved me and it only got worse, he thought numbly as he stared blankly at Key’s lifeless body.

He didn’t know what to do. Save Key and possibly let him live in misery, a life of abuse, or let him be happy, let the pain finally ease.

But in the end, he knew that despite all the pain, he would do everything all over again just to be saved a million times over. Because in the end, happiness was achieved.

And because of that fact, Kibum struggled to get Key back to the house as quickly as he could. He didn’t know how long it took, but when he finally burst through the front door he sighed loudly in relief.

“Hyung! Hyung, come quickly! It’s Key, he’s hurt!”

Off in the distance, a little girl walked towards the sky, with white angel wings spreading wide as she descended into the stars.

Peace was finally made.

The end.

Well, I decided to end it here. There was so many ways I could end this story, hence why I said that I would add an extra five chapters. But I thought that this was the best way, it ties of up everything for the way it needs to be for FID without adding any extra drama. We all know what happens, so don't be too sad.

Now, I might be adding some more additional scenes in Extras like I promised, but that will be next month. Since this is over, Static will be my main story from now on.

Now, I will give ten karma points to anyone who knows what I didn't write in these series. I bet no one can guess ;) it has to do with Kibum.