a small hand
The Red ShoesI'm really touched by how interested and open-minded you are and MissLocket's comment especially moved me. I'll get to that again later on :)
Thank you all very much for your support!
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For a second I just stare at the blank screen not capable of processing what just happened. Then Minho cursing next to me wakes me from my stupor and I see Jonghyun breaking away and running towards the stadium.
Minho and I exchange a quick glance both thinking the same thing and follow him. We easily avoid the security because they have trouble enough to avert another panic in the plaza. And while we’re running I try to gauge the extent of damage the building has suffered but it’s impossible to say from the outside.
Jonghyun has already reached the nearest entrance. I wish he would wait for us and not just storm into the stadium risking to get hurt, but there is no holding him back now.
Minho is faster than me but waits for me at the entrance.
“Let’s proceed carefully,” he says, “we won’t catch Jjong anyway.”
We see a couple of soldiers already at work at the inner stadium-doors some of which are blocked. They ignore us. I catch a glimpse of Song hauling off a man in hand-cuffs and for a split second our eyes meet. Is this the bomber?
But there is no time to think about this. Minho has managed to wrestle open a door and we enter the stairs that lead down to the floor-seating area. The destruction is minor in the corridors but the further we proceed the more obvious the disaster becomes. We have to climb over piles of rubble to reach the last door that opens towards the floor. Luckily it is halfway open so we can slip through it.
We’re entering from the stage side of the place. Inside the air is filled with dust and smoke. It’s impossible to see as far as the center-stage. The tarpaulin over the seating towards the back has caught fire and is smoldering away. But it doesn’t look like the fire-hazard is major here.
I can hear Jonghyun’s desperate shouts for Kibum and Taemin. He must be on the other side of the stage. Minho has ripped off part of his shirt to cover his mouth and nose. Good old rational Minho. I follow his example.
We fight our way towards the center slowly grasping the amount of damage done to the inside of the stadium. The broken steel-beam has smashed into the floor seating on the right where Jonghyun tries to get through.
While looking around I lose sight of Minho but I don’t care right now. I’m near the remains of the bridge between main stage and center-stage so I just follow it to get to our boys.
The amount of plaster, concrete and steel I have to climb over is alarming. Looking up I see sunlight pouring in through a ragged hole in the ceiling. I realize that this is the only light-source except for a couple of emergency-exit signs.
Falling directly on the center-stage the light leads me there. I can hardly make out the former shape of the platform. There are parts of it ripped away where a bomb went off and it is covered with the debris of the ruined ceiling. My heart skips a beat when I can’t help but think ‘there is no way they’re still alive below this’
I push the thought aside and start to tear away at the rubble when I see Jjong on the other side of the platform. He doesn’t even look at me when I call him but keeps frantically digging with bare hands for Kibum and Taemin among the ruins.
Suddenly there are a number of other people around and I register that the bomb-squad has come to search for our boys as well equipped with shovels . Nobody talks.
We keep digging in silence until someone beside me shouts:
“I see a hand!”
I didn’t even realize that Minho caught up with me and we have been working side by side for a while already. He’s pointing to a spot to our left and for a horrible second I believe he’s talking about a severed limb but then I realize that it is still attached to an arm that reaches deeper down into the ruins and doesn’t look separated from the body.
We scramble to the spot and while Minho and a couple of squad-members carefully clear away the rubble I grab the unusually small hand with the familiar rosary-ring. Gently squeezing it I am rewarded with a faint echo.
“He’s alive!” I shout, “Taemin is alive!”
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