Heart Beating For You // Lipsoul

Episode XV: Wash Away

episode 17: Wash Away

episode rating: R

episode run time: 45 min 

previously, on Heart Beating For You... Everyone must face the final obstacles to prevail and return to the lives they once knew. Sacrifices are made. Not everyone is destined to survive, fate is as cruel as hope is strong.

episode synopsis: Scars begin to heal over and the girls must learn what it means to live again, not just survive. Haseul tries to heal. Nothing will ever be normal again.

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The color of her skin was red.

Blood completely covered her arms up to her elbows, sticky and thick. Her hair was brittle from dried blood, her cheeks smeared with it. The sky above her was a ghastly shade of scarlet, and below her, bodies. Zombies, their flesh rotting in the dying sun and their hands still reaching out for her. Jungeun swallowed hard, then looked down and saw them.

Hyeju, her body barely recognizable from the flames. Chaewon, her leg horribly twisted and her mouth open like she was in terrible pain. Yerim, battered and bloody and-

And Jinsoul, covered in red just like her.

"Jinsoul? Yerim?" Jungeun rushed forward, but suddenly they were far away, and Jungeun couldn't reach them. "Jinsoul!"

No. Jungeun was too late. She was alive, and they were dead. She'd survived, they'd died because of her.

When her tears fell, they were red like blood. Jungeun looked down at her stained hands, sobbing and hiccuping and choking on tears. They spilled down her cheeks endlessly and she gasped for air but it was pointless, she'd become a fountain of blood. The hot substance filled her mouth and she coughed but to no avail. Blood, blood, so much blood-

Jungeun gasped, clutching her neck and sitting up harshly. Her throat hurt like the dream had been real, and Jungeun could still feel the remnants of it pulling at her. She brought her arms around herself, taking in her surroundings like a wounded animal.

Jinsoul. Where was Jinsoul? Jinsoul was the one she turned to after nightmares, to chase away the remnants of fear in Jinsoul's arms. She kicked off the stiff blankets and looked around, but Jinsoul was missing. Her heart dropped. She was completely alone.

It was the cleanest place she'd been in a while. Jungeun looked around at the white floors, and then down at the bed she lay in. Her arm was connected to cords, which she pulled out with a wince. The sheets were scratchy but sterile and when Jungeun looked herself over, she realized she'd been cleaned. She didn't even remember that.

Her bed was hard, but still softer than many things she'd slept on in the past few months. Jungeun played with the end of her shirt, the clothing foreign to her. She wore a shirt and pair of trousers both in grey, and there were bandages on her arms where she had cuts. On the table next to her was a glass of water and what vaguely resembled food, but Jungeun didn't bother touching it. Her room had other beds in it, but sheer drapes obstructed the patients from view. On the opposing wall was a small window, and Jungeun deduced it was either dawn or dusk, more likely dawn since there were no doctors. She stood up, flinching from unexpected pain in her legs. Nevertheless, she took small steps to the closest door she saw.

"Jungeun?"

Jungeun froze. Hyunjin's weak voice called out to her, and she saw Hyunjin in one of the beds by the exit. Hyunjin was in bad shape, with more cords connected to her arm and her face pale. Her eyes smiled when she saw Jungeun.