11h30. 

« Is he sleeping ?

- He is. He didn’t struggle as much this time. I think the mask was a good idea. 

- Where was he ? 

- At the convenience store. The same one. 

- He’s been starting there the last three times. 

- At least it’s easier for me to find him!

- We should stop letting him wear his clothes. He’s less recognizable with them. 

- I think it would hurt him even more to not have them. 

- Alright then. Do you have his notebook ? 

- I do. I added something. I wrote my name in there. 

- Why ? 

- So that it will be easier to get his trust next time. I want to spend as much time with him as I can without him wanting to run away from me. I would play the part for days if he wouldn’t go back to the first stage right after…»

Doctor Pat, in a white uniform, his name tag on, looks at Jungkook with a worried look. 

He takes Taehyung out of the car to sit him down carefully on a wheelchair. 

They both leave the parking to enter The Orange Tulip, the psychiatric center for long stays, taking Taehyung’s mask off. 

« We’ll put him back in his room. He’ll sleep for a while with the sleeping pill you injected, he should be back to first stage in a couple hours. 

- I know. I’m tired. I haven’t slept right for two days. I’ll take a nap. Is any room available ? »

The director of the small center comes to them while a nurse takes Taehyung away. He has a blue line on top of his name tag. Jungkook smiles when he sees this. 

« How does it feel to be called the bad guys every three days ? »

The doctors smile. 

« It’s not his fault. It’s his condition. We just have to be there for him. »

Jungkook sighs. 

« At least I get to be the good guy almost every time. »

The two doctors look at each other. 

« Jungkook… you should go to bed. In your house. 

- That’s fine. I’ll go tonight. 

- That’s not what we mean. »

Jungkook looks at the two men, a sad smile on his face. 

« I know what you mean. 

- You’re young. You’re handsome. You have all your life in front of you. You’re ruining it right now. Taehyung is not the boy you used to know. And he won’t ever be the same. 

- I know. I was there. I was there during the car accident. I was there when he woke up from the hospital and he didn’t remember any of us, I was there when he started imagining this game, I was there when his parents took him here, I was there when he looked at me and he couldn’t remember who I was, I was there when he ran away for the first time, I was there when you told his mom, his dad, who he thinks are dead, that he would never get better. 

- It’s been three years. You have been there every day. Every single day. Every time he started believing about the game and every time he ran away you brought him back, playing along. 

- I’m his best friend. 

- Jungkook. »

The doctors look at the poor boy. 

« You were best friend with a Taehyung that doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t do that to yourself. 

- He said Jungkookie today. He hasn’t said Jungkookie for months…

- How can you suffer over and over again when he doesn’t recognize you and repeats the same scenes every five days ? Even his parents understood they had to get back to their lives. 

- It’s the only way I get to be with him. »

Jungkook isn’t crying. He has admitted what his life would become the day Taehyung started talking about the first game. As months past by, he started learning every details of ‘the game’, every plot Taehyung could imagine. And he fixed his car, so that it would look like he was in there too, ready to be there for his friend, his lost friend. 

« I can’t accept that. I can’t accept you ruining your life for someone that will never know who you are. 

- He thinks I’m his brother. 

- Jungkook…

- He does. Even if it’s just a memory. That’s good enough for me. »

Jungkook goes past the doctors, the notebook in his hands. 

The two men look at him leaving, a sad grief ripping their heart apart. 

Jungkook opens the door of Taehyung’s room. It’s not white. Not like a hospital room. It’s colourful, and there are dolls and toys every where. There are video games also, sometimes he plays at them. 

Jungkook puts the notebook under Taehyung’s pillow, careful not to wake up the boy who’s sleeping like a baby. 

Jungkook stands next to him. He smiles. 

« Don’t worry. Dream all you want. I’ll be there again. We can start over again. I’ll be there for you Tae… Always. »

On the side of the bed, on the nightstand, there’s a picture in a wooden frame of the two of them, little boys, already best friends, building a sand castle on the beach, smiling under their bright yellow hats. 

Taehyung never had a brother. 

Jungkook sits down and wait. 

Wait for the other round to start. 

——

2 pm. 

Taehyung wakes up. He doesn’t know where he is. He’s in a room. The room is nice. But it’s not his. A cell ? A man comes in the room. He has a name tag on. Pat. Something in his head tells him he’s not friendly, that he can’t trust him. 

« Welcome to the game Kim Taehyung. You are actually in the entry center. You will stay here for a period of two days, after which, you’ll have to escape or die trying. You’re a player. Find the other players and kill them. Or die by their hand. There is only one survivor possible. Tic Tac Taehyung. 

And remember, you can’t trust anyone… »

The voice in his head. How can he hear it so clearly ? Is it a chip ? It must be. What’s going on ? 

Taehyung panics. 

The game has started. He has to survive now.