Exposure

The End Before The Beginning

@ineedOxyJen enjoy

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Jennie stayed in the same spot in her bed, sheet pulled to her chest and body curled in tightly. She watched the light change as it came in through the window as the sun reached its place high in the sky. Then she watched as it dropped lower and lower, trading places with the moon.

Snow continued to fall all day. Light flurries then heavy drifts. Sparkling flakes then vengeful heaps as it played games with people brave enough to venture outside.

She listened for a long time. Footsteps and closing doors from other places in the building. Muffled conversations traveling through thin walls.

She wondered if her neighbors had been able to hear her and Jisoo the night before.

The thought made her curl up tighter, clutching at her knees.

Her camera had run out of film and the dull timed clicks had stopped not long after Jisoo had left. She never heard the footsteps returning, the sweet sound of Jisoo's laugh or anything that would wake her from this nightmare.

The sun was completely gone, leaving Jennie surrounded by darkness. She felt numb. The world around her had stopped spinning and she was stuck, suspended in time as the events in the morning looped through her memory.

Where had it gone wrong? Where had she gone wrong?

Lights from a car outside filtered through her window, lighting up the empty space. It may have been the first time her eyes had actually focused on the world around her and she saw what state it was in.

Clothes strewn on the floor, comforter pushed off the bed, still lying nearly naked in the center of her bed.

With a heavy sigh she sat herself up and looked around the room. It was stupid, really. Like opening the fridge to see what inside when you already know what's there. Already know what you're looking for can't be found there, anyway.

She climbed out of bed and grabbed a tshirt off the floor before putting it on slowly. Bare feet pressed into the floor and she shifted her weight, feeling uncomfortable in her own space for the first time in her life.

It felt too quiet. Too empty.

Another deep breath and she was grabbing the sheet on her bed and pulling it up high to cover the bed. She grabbed her comforter and did the same, smoothing out the heavy cloth and placing pillows at the head of the bed.

Her eyes lingered on a few wayward feathers that had landed on the bed in front of her. She could practically hear the sounds Jisoo had made while she dragged them slowly over warm skin. A heavy swallow in a clenched throat came and she averted her eyes to the pile of clothes on the floor.

She slowly started picking them up, folding them, hanging them, and putting them away. She came to Jisoo's dress, mixed in with the pile and laid it out on her bed gently before going back to the pile on the floor.

Once her clothes had all been put away she turned back to the dress resting on the edge of her bed. She picked it up, holding it in front of her with outstretched arms. She sat down on the edge of the bed and hugged the dress to her chest, dropping her head and inhaling the scent of body wash and something sweet. It smelled like Jisoo.

Jennie grabbed a hanger for the dress and hung it in her closet before making her way to the bathroom. Immediately she turned on the water in the shower, letting it heat up as she stripped of her clothes. Her reflection mocked her. Not the same person she had looked at earlier that day. She avoided lifting her eyes to look at her face, only scanning the marks left behind that were lower on her body.