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ㅡTHREE DAYS EARLIER. "there is nothing more poetic then the death of a beautiful woman."
as soon as he woke up, the boy rushed out of the front door.
his sneakers crunched against the un-leveled gravel of the sidewalk as the sun began to peak over the horizon, signaling the start of a new day.
a new day, a new start.
that's just what park jimin needed.
he heard the wretched echo of the screen door creaking open as his mother stepped out of their living room and onto the red-bricked steps that led to their driveway. though his hearing was still foggy, he could faintly make out a string of curse words and his own name leave his mother's mouth.
he whipped his head backward. she was still in her pink bathrobe and bunny slippers- the outfit she had began exclusively wearing ever since she started taking pills. her dark brown hair was frizzy and matted against her forehead, and even though he was almost all the way down the street, he could still smell the alcohol.
he gagged.
neighbors were beginning to leave their houses, too, dark circles under their eyes and their children tucked safely behind them. their eyes, the piercing stares full of judgement and disgust watched over jimin closely. they new that the alcoholic's son was crazy, but running down the sidewalk at 5 am?
jimin began to taste blood trickling down from the lip he didn't know he was biting. he felt like his legs were going to collapse beneath him.
but still, he ran.
he ran and ran and ran until he wasn't feeling pain anymore. he felt numb. but maybe feeling nothing at all was worse than feeling the worst pain in the world. his fears, they ran with him, alongside him. his fears, at that moment, were his best friends, and his closest allies.
his worst fear was looking back.
and so he never did.
•<><><><><>•
"i found him in the woods." namjoon said into the phone, crossing his legs and looking at the teenager crouched in the corner of his office, biting at his thumb. he heard his husband, seokjin, sigh on the other end.
"what's wrong with him?" seokjin hesitantly asked. namjoon rarely called in for patients to come to the mental asylum, unless it was something serious.
"i don't know, but something's not right about this kid." he mumbled, even though jimin could very easily hear what he was saying. it was fine, though. being called crazy wasn't new to him.
it was sad that he was used to it, though.
"how did you even find him?" seokjin asked. jimin closed his eyes, trying to imagine cartoons, disney characters, anything to take him out of this harsh reality he still hadn't accustomed to.
"i told you, in the woods. some residents of the neighborhood reported hearing sobbing from the woods. we went to check it out, and we found the kid. he scratched into his arms with his nails, we had to patch them up. he's very... childlike. almost too young for his age."
jimin picked at the bandages on his wrists, peeling them back to see the scratches on his wrists. his heart dropped when he realized he hadn't cut into his vein before the police arrived.
swell.
seokjin sighed. meanwhile, across town, he was in his own office, furiously typing on the computer and searching through the hospital's patient log to find a place for him to stay. his heart dropped when he realized the only available roommate he could have was min yoongi.
seokjin was concerned for yoongi's thoughts on a new roommate. things didn't exactly go well with his last roommate, mei, so he didn't know how he would react to a new one.
"joon, i don't know. we have enough patients as it is." namjoon stood up and walked into another room, leaving jimin alone.
"listen to me, seokjin. i can't put my finger on it, but this kid... he needs serious help."
