drip.

drip.

drip.

"where am i?"

"Where are you, in this world?"

drip.

"Who are you, in this world?"

rush.

"I really want to eat meat."

"We can go for some..."

"Waaaah! Jaebum-hyung is the best!"

 

Jinyoung tilts his head against the window.

The scenery skims past his view as the car is steered down the freeway.

 

"Don't throw it so hard! I'm holding a camera!"

"Don't throw- AH!"

 

Mark laughs.

Yugyeom grins mischievously.

Youngjae tries to comfort Jackson, though doing very terribly at hiding his laughter.

While Jinyoung is still looking out the window.

Though his face is wearing the same soft smile that Jaebum has.

 

"Kids, try not to disturb Bam. He's sleeping."

 

As soon as Jaebum says that, Yugyeom grabs a marker pen and leans towards Bambam.

 

"Shh... draw more, draw more."

"It's a face on a face!"

"Aw... Our Bambam! So cute!"

 

The confused boy, who just woke up now starts cluelessly rubbing his eyes while everyone else laughs.

Mark notices Jinyoung's slight lack of attention and plugs out one side of his earpiece and puts in in Jinyoung's ear.

Slightly startled by the gesture, he looks towards Mark and attempts to remove it.

 

"Keep it in."

silence.

"Don't feel bad about it. JB wants you to take this time to enjoy and loosen up a little bit. God knows how much sleep he’s lost worrying about you.”

“I…”

“Seriously, we could all use the break too so just take it as you gave us an excuse.”

Jinyoung hums lowly in acknowledgement, leaning his head on Mark's shoulder.

Slowly, he falls asleep.

 

Night has fallen and they are still on the freeway.

This sparks concern from Mark who realises that Jaebum has been at the wheel for nearly six hours.

 

"Pullover, I'll swap."

"It's okay, you rest. I'm good."

Mark turns back and looks around.

The rest have all been knocked out as well, what with how rough they were playing.

He notices that Jackson's camcorder is still recording.

He picks it up and looks through the memory.

 

160219: D1 of our road trip to the snowy mountains of jeolla-do

the reel shows them by the Han River, enjoying the late winter wind and playing baseball.

160314: D23 of our road trip to the snowy mountains of jeolla-do

the reel shows them in the motel that they came across by the freeway in Gwangju, resting as the rain pelts outside.

160316: D25 of our road trip to the snowy mountains of Jeolla-do

the current reel is recording

 

Suddenly, the car swerves, waking Youngjae, Jackson and Bambam.

Jaebum tries to hit the brakes but only god knows it's too late.

The car rams into the bridge barrier and the car freefalls.

 

Instantaneously, Mark moves over Jinyoung while Bambam and Jackson do the same to Yugyeom, Youngjae leaning over to the driver's side to grab onto the steering wheel.

 

The shock hits the bonnet and they all feel the pressure as water floods in.

 

panic ensues.

pain.

It is all pain as Jinyoung is bodily forced onto the floor.

He looks into his oppressor's eyes and they’re the same ones.

The same ones he met all those years ago.

The same one that he has learnt to trust.

Those eyes, he can't mistake.

Im Jaebum.

But instead of the warm brown that normally floats in them.

They glow a piercing red.

laughter.

He tilts his head backwards and she stands there.

And it is now clear.

She.

His fear, given a shape and form.

"How does it feel Park Jinyoung, to be killed by the one you trusted?"

"no! it’s me you want so let him go!"

"Oh Jinyoung, don't act like a hero. If you were even half the man he was, maybe none of this would have happened.”

He could only glare at her, for Jaebum was starting to apply more pressure on his neck as he attempted to struggle free.

"Haven’t you figured it out yet? He's the reason you're still alive."

And Jinyoung's eyes softened, head attempting to look back at Jaebum who was pressing onto his abdomen as well.

And he searched, for a sign hidden in those deep eyes.

And then he saw.

 

He saw himself stuck under the collapsed driver seat, Jaebum still tightly secured to it.

As Jaebum unclasped the seatbelt, he found that he too was stuck as the engine has caved in over his feet.

So he did what he could.

He used his hands, to attempt to dislodge Jinyoung from underneath the back of the seat.

He struggled but eventually he succeeded.

And he manoeuvred Jinyoung's unconscious form out the broken passenger window as he himself started losing consciousness.

 

"Don’t you see now, Jinyoung? If he didn't save you, he would have escaped by himself."

"You killed him."

NO!

 

Like a charm, that shout of denial brought power.

Power in the form of five others.

Together they overthrew Jaebum, pinning him down.

This allowed Jinyoung to regain his balance and stare her down.

And for once she seemed scared.

"you were the reason. you held me back.”

"I am but a part of your psyche Jinyoung, everything I do comes from your deepest thoughts and fears.”

He smiled, full of conviction and confidence.

"i think right now you are the one that’s afraid”

He looked back fondly at the others.

He saw them all fawning over Jaebum, trying to coax him out of his state as they held him tight.

"jaebum was our fearless leader. and he loved us like no one else.”

"he loved us so much, he gave his all. even when the time came as a test of his leadership, he never feared to give his life for me."

"for the six of us."

wake up.

snap.

Jinyoung takes in a deep breath and discovers that he is hooked onto a ventilator.

He also notices two figures in the room.

He can now place their names to their face.

And so he weakly calls out to the nearest; Jackson.

Both get up off their chairs and crouch at his bedside.

Jackson immediately grabs onto his hand and Jinyoung can tell he's started crying.

Mark on the other hand looks to Jinyoung mellowly and with that smile he's come to know very well.

"Are you feeling better? You scared us all so bad."

Jinyoung nods slowly before softly telling Jackson to let go unless he's trying to give the doctor a reason to amputate his hand.

So he does as he's told, though the tears were still flowing.

"Twenty-seven days Jinyoung! Twenty-seven! I thought you weren't going to wake up! I thought you were going to leave us all and join Jaebum-hyung!"

"twenty-seven days?"

"what happened, Jackson?"

"You passed out on live television? Causing all the fan sites around the world regardless of fandom to be on high alert once again? Nothing?"

"no, i meant before, the first time i was out."

"Oh."