kim jongin.

It’s dark and cold. Underneath, Jongin felt gritty sand up against his palm, and ran his hands through it. He sat up and brushed the remains onto his shirt. Slowly he stood up, and in the process, his shuffling feet kicked up sand and dust. He coughed and brushed the dirt from his bottom. For a moment, he swayed, woozy and his head began to ring. It was an awfully fuzzy sound and it continuously changed volume.

Where am I? He thought and reached out cautiously to get a grip on something to keep him steady. His legs wobbled terribly and he felt as though he would faint at any moment. However, when he thought he had found something solid, his hand grasped nothing and tripped forward.

He hit the ground with a thud and a groan of pain. What was happening and how did he get… where ever he was in the first place? Jongin sifted through his memories, but there was a deafening ringing sound and the images appeared fuzzy. They were followed by blurred events that were saturated with color, but he couldn’t pull together a complete picture. Sometimes, his memories would be absent of faces and it frustrated him as he gripped his head.

Fwoosh!

Jongin looked up and a bright beam of light shined in the the distance. The first thought that came to him was one of astonishment which swiftly turned into relief. A light! Maybe there are people there who can help, he thought.

Feeling a sudden adrenaline rush, Jongin started off at a slow walk, which became a jog, and then a full sprint. As he continued to get closer to the light, he glanced around and realized that where he was was quite bizarre.

The ground was a dull, grey concrete with piles of sand, in various amounts, in no particular pattern.

As he approached the light, it illuminated the floor around it and he squinted to adjust from the lighting.

When his pupils were dilated enough, he observed his surroundings. There wasn't much to see, except for the looming concrete walls that matched the floor and stretched as far as he could see horizontally and vertically. Directly in front of him was a large opening where the light was coming from.

Nervously, his eyes darted back and forth between the pitch darkness behind him and the bright, but foreboding entrance before him.

As he stood there contemplating, he sensed someone watching him. Quickly, he whipped his head around, hoping to see someone to give him a plausible explanation, but was disappointed when he was met with unending black. Slowly, he turned back around and took a few tentative steps to the entrance. The more time Jongin took to walk, the more he felt as though the dark behind him could reach out and consume him, so with a sinking feeling of dread, he walked hastily between the two walls.

When he passed and was about a meter away from the entrance, there was a loud bam and he jumped. Jongin turned around and saw there was no longer an entrance, and instead a thick, concrete wall.

No turning back now, he thought.

Jongin heaved a sigh and started forward, putting caution in each step and tensed muscles. For all he knew, there could be traps to take his head off. But as he went, nothing of that sort came up and he began to relax and instead strolled parallel to the grey walls.

*

Deflated and getting colder, Jongin stopped at a crossroad. He had been walking ceaselessly and was losing all hope of ever finding a way out. Maybe he shouldn’t have stepped through the entrance. But then again, if he had stayed in the dark, fear would have consumed his conscious and left him an empty shell.

Jongin walked straight, as he had done the previous time, and crossed his fingers that he wouldn’t loop back. As he walked, he started to wish that there was some sort of landmark instead of endless grey walls that made his head spin. It gave him an unpleasant claustrophobic feeling. As he walked past an opening in the wall, he swore he saw another person looking back.

He back pedaled and poked his head through the gap in the wall and looked to both sides, but he saw no one. Cursing, he started walking again. When would it ever end? It was like something from a dream and at any moment, he could wake up drenched in sweat, and go back to a “normal” life -- whatever that was. But inside, he knew that wasn't true and where he was, it was real.

Exhausting step after exhausting step, Jongin walked for hours on end, and he assumed he had trekked at least three miles, probably more. All while he walked in solitude, he questioned the motives of whoever had put him there. Was there really any point in making him run around like a mouse other than sick amusement? Or was there some greater plan that he was a part of? Most likely the latter. Suddenly, there was a strange sensation that flooded through his body starting from his head and ending at his toes. In a split second, he was in a different place altogether. Instead of being between two concrete walls, he stood between two brick walls with city sounds just ahead of him.

From where he stood, he could clearly see through an adjacent store's window. It was a souvenir shop, and the sweatshirts read: London.