I’m not sure how long I’ve been here. Days for sure. Weeks, I can’t tell. It feels like an eternity. Each day I become weaker and weaker, having no food or water. I can hardly stand without falling back on the floor. Sometimes I get the shivers for no reason then the next second I’m sweating to death. My fever reaches dangerous temperatures sometimes. I fear that I won’t last much longer. Then I hear someone unlocking the door. The light from the open door blinds me momentarily.
“Don’t even think about escaping.” The voice says. I can’t tell who it is. It’s a girl’s voice, though. “I was sent here to give you food and water.” I cough.
“I couldn’t run far if I tried.” I say, my voice unsteady.
“You sound horrible.” She says, walking closer to me. “Are you feeling better?” She asks in a mocking tone. My eyes finally begin to adjust to the light. I prop myself up with my forearm and look up at the girl.
“A-aera?” I’m shaken.
“Took you long enough. You’d have never known I worked for Mr. Kim.” She snickers. “But here.” She tosses a water bottle and two granola bars to me.
“I-is Taehyung…”
“I don’t know.” She sighs. “I haven’t checked up on him in days.”
“Days? How long have I been here?” I ask weakly.
“A week and a half.” She replies. “I’d save those if I were you. I’m not coming back with more anytime soon.”
“Well, thanks for the gesture.” I say sarcastically.
“Yeah. Whatever.” She walks out the door and locks it. I crawl over to the wall and prop myself up. I open the water bottle and take a small sip. It did nothing to quench my thirst but I don’t want to waste it. Dried blood is all over my hands and I contemplate whether I should use the water to clean off my hands before I eat the granola bar. But I don’t want to waste it. I’ll just be careful not to touch it with. I open the granola bar and eat only half of it. When I finished, I layed back down on the floor. I just wish I knew if Taehyung is ok. I hope I didn’t lose him. I end up crying myself to sleep, again.
I open my eyes and see another water bottle lying on the floor along with two apples. How long was I asleep for? I sit up and munch on the apple, washing it down with a swig of water. I stand up and try to walk around but end up falling on my knees. Then comes the coughing fit. I tried to calm myself down but I couldn’t stop coughing. It was getting hard to breathe and I started to panic. I couldn’t stop. I tried drinking water but that didn’t help. I coughed until I threw up. Then coughed some more. I layed down on the floor holding my stomach. I was in pain and still couldn't quit coughing. After an excruciating five minutes, I finally stopped coughing. I felt even weaker than bettor, though. I feel almost dead. I have nothing left to live for. They probably did something to my sister and Taehyung’s probably dead. I cry. For myself. For my sister. For my brother and father. My brother’s gone because of Mr. Kim. I’m glad I shot him. He deserves to suffer a little. Especially after all he’s put me through. I hope he died after I shot him. I know that’s a horrible thing to say, but I can’t help it. All of this has happened because he’s a money loving *. Before I know it, I’m out like a light.
I wake up with a blanket covering me. Even though I’m covered, I still have the chills. I think I have a fever again. I just wanna lay in my warm bed with my Mother tending to my sickness. I remember as a kid, when I was sick, she would always sing to me. I wish she was here now to sing to me. But she;s not. Before I realize it, I start singing her favorite song, FINE by Taeyeon. My voice is raspy and I’m glad no one can hear me. Jjijeojin jongitjogage
Damanaen naui jinsime Seonmyeonghaejyeo somethin’ bout you Yeah, nareul mani daleun deut dareun Neon hoksi nawa gateulkka jigeum? Gwaenhan gidaereul hae. I sing quietly. I start crying for no reason. I just want everything to go back to how it was. Just me and my family. Safe. With nothing but opposing Mafia to threaten us. Someone unlocks the door and walks in. I look towards the door and Aera walks in again. I slowly stand up and hobble over to her.
“You’re a mess.” She snickers. I shove her.
“Shut up.” I walk towards the door and try to escape. Maybe I’m just out of my mind because there’s no way I can outrun anyone here.
“Where are you going?” She walks in front of me. “There’s no way you’ll get out of here.”
“Where’s my sister?” I demand.
“I don’t know. Honest. She disappeared yesterday.” She shrugs.
“And Taehyung?”
“I could care less about him. It’s been two weeks since you’ve asked me that and I still haven’t checked up on him.” She shrugs. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up though. He was in pretty bad condition when I did see him.” She says. “Now get back in there.” She shoves me and I fall and hit my head on the ground. Then everything goes black.
“Akari.” Someone shakes me. “Akari, get up.” The voice says urgently.
“Aera, just shut up.” I mumble. The person flips me over and I squint my eyes and see…
“Taehyung!” I smile widely.
“Hey.” He smiles. “Come on.” He helps me up.
“I thought you were dead.” I hug him tightly and cry into his shoulder.
“I know. But we have to get out of here. Quickly.” He starts walking towards the door. I try to follow him but fall to the ground instead.
“Wait! Taehyung.” He keeps walking. “Wait!” I call again, trying to stand up and follow him. He doesn’t stop walking. “No! Wait! Don’t leave me here!” I make it to the door and it shuts in my face.
I startle awake, breathing heavily. The room feels like 2 degrees and I’m freezing. I curl into a ball and shiver under the blanket. I have a pounding headache along with an aching stomach. Could this be any worse? Suddenly, I fell into a coughing fit again. My head felt like a hammer was hitting it. I cried and coughed at the same time, causing me to start choking. Aera unlocked the door and walked towards me. She puts her hand on my back. I push her off me. “Akari, Are you ok?” Wait, that isn’t Aera.
“Taehyung?” I roll over, still coughing. I smile when I see him. He pulls me into a hug and I cry onto his shoulder.
“It’s ok.” he rubs my back.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Shh. I know. It’s ok.” He holds me close. “We’re gonna get out of here, ok?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“We’re leaving this place.” He stands up and wraps his arm around me, helping me walk. I took one step and collapsed to the ground. He scooped me up in his arms and continued walking.
“Where are we going? Where’s Sakura?” I ask, holding tightly into him.
“She’s already waiting for us in the forest near the airport. I told her to get out of here a few days ago. She’s fine.” He informs me.
“Where’s your father? How are we gonna get out of here without-“
“Akari, it’s a lot to explain. I’ll tell you when we get to the car, ok?”
“Ok. Sorry.” I reply. He chuckles.
“It’s alright.” He hurried to the front of the yard where a black car was waiting for us. He took me to the passenger seat and set me down. I buckled up as he got in the car.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” he asks me. “You’ve lost a lot of weight and you look sick.”
“I never said I was ok. I’m not. I was in there for god knows how long with barely any food or water. I was sick the entire time. So no. I’m not ok.” I snap. He goes quiet and starts driving. “I’m sorry I just-”
“Don’t apologize.” he says. “I understand.” He puts his hand on my leg. “It’s a 30 minute drive so you should try to sleep.”
“I’ve been sleeping for weeks.” I cough. “I need medicine or something. I really don’t feel good.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any medicine. There’s snacks in that compartment.” he points. I open it up and there were granola bars and dried fruit.
“Thanks.” I say. He takes my hand and kisses it.
“Of course.” I stuffed my face with food until I ate the entire stash of snacks.
“So are you going to explain to me what’s going on?” I ask.
“It’s really complicated. But to start my father is dead.”
“What? Did I…did I kill him?”
“Yeah.” He replies.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think where I hit him was fatal. I’m really so-”
“Don’t be. It turns out he wasn’t my biological father anyway. I was adopted.” He explains.
“Woah, what?”
“Yeah. I’ll just stop there for now. The rest is a lot to take in.”
“Wow. I mean THIS is a lot to take in.” I sigh. “I can’t believe I killed him. I’ve never killed anyone before. I feel horrible.”
“Don’t feel bad.” He comforts me. “You get used to the guilt after the third kill.” He jokes.
“Yes, because that makes me feel so much better.” I reply. He explained how we had about an hour before they realized we were gone. We parked the car in a ditch and walked the rest of the way. And by walked I mean he carried me on his back. We arrived at the spot in the woods where Sakura was. She also had Yeontan and Kimchi with her.
“Can we rest for a second?” I ask. “I know I haven’t been doing anything, but I don’t feel good.”
“I know, jagiya.” Taehyung, brushes the hair from my face. “But we can’t stop until we get to the airport. We’ll be safer there.” He explains. I nod and he picks me up again. It took us 30 more minutes to reach the airport by foot. Meaning that Jungkook, Aera, and the others aren’t that far behind us. We rushed to buy plane tickets and made it through security. We took a commercial flight instead of the private jet. It would make it slightly harder for them to track us. Once we made it to our destination, though, we’d be home free. We bought first class tickets and Taehyung finally set me down. He ordered food and drinks for me to rehydrate myself. Then he asked them for some medicine to help with my cough. Within minutes, I was all set.
“Now can you please explain everything to me?” I ask when we all settle down. He looks at Sakura and tears fill her eyes.
“It’s not gonna be easy to hear, Akari.” She informs me. I nod.
“I can take it.”