Darkness.

I was enveloped in darkness. It was empty here. No more pain. No more death. Just the silence that the darkness draped around me comfortably. All good things must come to an end, however, when a flash of light appeared and I returned to consciousness.

It took a moment for my blurry vision to clear. As my brain began to function once more, I turned my head to take in my surroundings. I was in a bed by a curtain drawn window. Sitting up, I brushed my fingers through my hair, lost. I slid my legs over the side of the bed and looked up at the door in front of me. My feet pressed into the soft carpet below me as I made to stand. A bang, Jungkook’s scared boyish face, and a flash of J-Hope being pinned against the alleyway sent a wave of shock through me that made me stumble backwards. Resting against the bed, I held my head in my hands.

Looking around the room quickly, I located a trashcan. Stumbling towards the small object, I feel to my knees and emptied my stomach.

When no more could be expelled from my body, I leaned back, shakily wiping away the excess off my swollen lips.

“Where is everyone?” I asked out loud, looking towards the door again. “Where am I?”

Eventually, I managed to stand to my feet and approach the door. Taking the handle in my hand, I turned the knob and pulled the door open. I flinched when a figure in front of the door caught me by surprise. It was Taehyung. In his hands was a metal bowl filled with water. On the lip of the bowl was a rag.

“Oh, you’re awake.” the younger hummed, stepping forward. I moved out of his way to allow him into the room. He made his way over to the bed I woke up in and kneeled beside it. Once he placed the bowl he brought with him to the side, he looked at me and patted the bed, encouraging me to lay back down.

Feeling far too drained to argue with him, I followed his gesture and made my way over to lay back down.

“Taehyung, what about-” I asked wearily once I laid down. A finger pressed against my lips and I looked at the other.

“Don’t worry about that right now, you’re ill.” Dipping the rag he brought into the water filled bowl, he ringed out the excess water and then reached towards my face. I pulled back from him at first, but his caring eyes that never left my face encouraged me to relax. We sat in silence as he wiped the sweat off of my body.

“Did you throw up?” He asked, dipping the water back into the bowl as he pointed at a mild stain that had gotten onto my shirt.

Swallowing back another wave of nauseousness that washed over me as another vision of my friends crying for help flashed before my eyes, I nodded. Without another work, Taehyung reached forward and began to my shirt. Grabbing his wrist, I asked him what he was doing.

“Your shirt is gross. Do you really want to lay in your own vomit?”

Relaxing my grip on his wrist, I solemnly shook my head. “I can do it myself.”

He wouldn’t let me. “No, let me.” No matter how many times I reached to my own shirt, he would swat my hand away and do it himself. Giving in to his stubbornness, I sighed and leaned back, lulling my eyes shut.

Now barechested, I shivered slightly as the cool air seeped into my flesh. Something wet and warm touched my chest causing my eyes to shoot open as my stomach flinched away from the unknown source. Looking down at my chest, I saw that Taehyung had begun to use the rag to wipe the rest of the sweat from my body.

“About J-Hope…” I asked again, looking wearily towards Taehyung. Pleading him with my eyes not to brush me off like before.

“What about him?” He replied monotonously, continuing his task of cleaning my chest.

I was initially taken aback by his lack of empathy, but I didn’t dwell on it for too long. Pressing further, I continued. “Where are the others? Have they heard… about what happened?”

Stopping his motions, he stared at my chest a moment before looking up at me. “Oh, yeah. They’re at the funeral right now.” With that, he dipped his rag and reached forward to continue.

I grabbed his wrist, heart pounding. “His funeral is going on? Now?” I croaked, tightening my grip on his wrist.

He winced and let out a groan. “Yeah. You’d been unconscious for a couple days. So we all got together with the family and prepared his funeral.” Yanking his arm out of my grip, he rubbed his wrist and rolled his eyes. “I volunteered to watch you since you couldn’t be left alone.”

Ignoring his explanation, I hurried out of the bed and made my way over to the closet. It finally processed that I was in Taehyung’s room. Opening his closet, I ruffled through his shirts. I grabbed the nicest button down I could see and a black blazer. My black pants that I was currently wearing were wrinkled. “Let me borrow some pants.”

Without a word, he pointed towards one of his dresser drawers. Rushing past him, I opened the drawer and ruffled through his pants until I found a pair nice enough to finish my outfit. “Let’s go.”

“But you’re recovering.” Taehyung protested, standing up to grab my waist and pull me towards the bed.

I pushed away his arm and regarded him seriously. “We’re going.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he gathered up what he brought in with him and walked to the door. “Fine, then.”

I followed behind him with haste, praying that I wouldn’t miss my friend’s funeral.