May 24th.

I was able to speak now. Not for long. But I was able to manage. Others treated me like I was made of glass. Fragile, breakable. Your other friends took a while to forgive me though. As expected.

I apologized profusely. I really did feel awful. I do feel awful about what I did to you.

Then my worst fear came true.

We were walking to class together. Small animal medicine. One of our favorite classes. It was sunny, a perfect day. A little windy. I was cuddled in a scarf. Not because it was cold. Because it hid the scar on my neck.

Then we heard a loud bang. The unmistakeable sound of a gunshot. Then we heard screams. I turned to you. You looked frozen. Terrified.

People started running down the hallway, away from the screams. We were frozen, trapped in the stampede. Eventually I pulled us to the wall.

Then one person made his way to us. It was Mingyu, a friend of ours. A third year.

“Help,” he gasped. I looked him over. He didn’t seem to be bleeding anywhere. “Minnie―he's in there.” Seokmin. Mingyu's twin brother. “I couldn’t get him.” He grabbed my arm. “Please, find him,” he gasped. “Please, I’m begging you, I can’t lose him too.” I looked at you. You nodded.

“Of course,” I say. The look on his face was pure thankfulness.

“Thank you, thank you!” he cries. You and I took off, pushing our way through the crowd to get to the source of the gunshots.

That’s when I got separated from you.

“Seokmin!” I shouted. “Seokmin!” I heard a faint response. I pushed through the people to try and find him. Eventually I got to him. He had been shot. Bleeding from his stomach. I knelt beside him. “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” I said, pressing my hands against the wound.

“Mingyu?” he whispered.

“He's okay. He's waiting for you outside,” I murmured.

“Give him my necklace,” Seokmin rasped. It’s the other half of the cheesy brothers necklaces they’ve had since elementary school.

“No! Seokmin, hold on, you’ll be fine!” I said frantically.

“Please,” he whispered. “And… tell him I love him…”

“Seokmin!” His eyes were glassy and… lifeless. I wiped the tears that had started running down my face. I unclasped the necklace around his neck and put in my pocket. I closed his eyes. I looked around. The room was empty, save for the bodies on the ground. I stood up.

“Hi.” I whirled around and came face to face with a boy a few years older than me.

The first things I noticed was the scar on the left side of his face and the darkness in his eyes. 

The boy tilted his head.

“You’re a fool,” he whispered. He raised the gun.

Then I was shoved out of the way. I heard a scream.

It was y