𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

73 | 'seven'

I follow him all the way to the parking lot and wait to get some distance between us before going after him. At first, I thought he was going to enter his car and I prepared myself to sprint towards him at that moment, but he simply opened the car and left his backpack inside, before shutting the door and then locking it. Yoongi walks ahead towards the main road, and I tail him. He starts pacing across the pavement in a quicker pace. I suspect he's figured me out already, but he tilts his head only a little before pulling up his black hood when he pauses right in front of the bus stop. I'm on the opposite end of the stop and I look at him as he leans his back against the display board. I can barely see his face, but I recognize him by the way he walks, his figure, his stance that screams to everyone to stay away from him, his crossed arms, and consistent pouts.

The bus finally arrives, and I step inside at the far back, while he sits somewhere in the front. He takes off the hood and adjusts his bucket hat when his head falls on the window. I look outside and take in the incredibly sunny day when it suddenly hits me that I'll be missing practice this afternoon. Anyway, occasionally playing hooky won't kill anyone.

We stay on the bus for more than thirty minutes and Yoongi hasn't moved an inch ever since he plopped down on his seat. I think he might have fallen asleep.

Several stops later, we've reached a remote part of town and we finally get off. The only things that are here are the woods and Cove Falcon, I think. I drink in the summery rays that drip on my bare legs; I'm wearing my volleyball shorts and kneecaps paired with one of Elijah's jackets, so the feeling of the sun teasing and licking up my skin feels refreshing and awakening.

The scent of pine and Douglas fir invades my nostrils along with the smell of sea waves, rocks, and salt. The brief smell of sea foam follows me into the woods as I follow Yoongi further up ahead. He's walking faster and never looks back.

I'm surprised that Yoongi hasn't caught up with me yet, but now it's my turn to lift my hood up to cover my hair when he proceeds deeper and deeper into the woods. I'm starting to have trouble catching up with him when my foot suddenly gets caught in the tree roots and I fall on my face. Panicked, I reach for my backpack to make sure that the dessert isn't ruined, and I open the container with the tres leches, only to see that it's slightly smushed to the side of the box. The sandwiches seemed okay though. Cursing under my breath, I lift myself off the ground and walk to the direction Yoongi is headed when I suddenly reach the clearing.

There's an open road up ahead with a sign that reads 'Odd Fellow Cemetery' and Yoongi is walking straight into the gate. A pang of guilt strikes me right in the gut when I realize what I've done. But what's worse is that I can't stop my legs from moving.

I put one leg in front of the other, breathing heavily.

My heart hammering against my chest as his silhouette has disappeared somewhere in the plethora of tombstones.

For a moment which seemed like an eternity I thought I had lost him. But I'm lost too in this labyrinth of a graveyard when I suddenly hear a ghost of a cry.

Having only the faint echo of a cry as my compass, I follow it like I'm using a map. The sniffles turn louder as I walk, so I continue towards the same direction. I walk and walk in the middle of stones that serve as pillars that contain countless memories and withering bodies as they slowly turn to dust with time.

Skin melts into the bones and then the bones become one with the earth. All those bodies have succumbed to their inevitable fate while their memory remains alive in the minds and hearts of the people who cherish them or people who despise them, but either way they still stay alive inside someone. One day we might be gone, dead and buried, but all the good and bad we've caused is immortalized inside somebody.