Keep breathing || BTS

Ten to nine

The odd ambiance, with the deads' growls echoing in this dusty entry, wasn't scary compared to what the group will eventually have to face.

"Prepare the girl" the crow guy, boss of this place, Lee, ordered his men, loud and clear. At this moment, the two guys that were holding Charlie's arms seemed to change the direction. The young girl looked over her friends, that were being carried away to another place.

After a few minutes, Charlie had a bag over her head and was sitting in a cranky chair, wrists and ankles tied. When the bag came off, the brightness of the room blinded the girl for a second, until her eyes adapted to the luminosity and noticed the bunch of people around her, staring in silence. She observed each and everyone of those who were in the first row before her gaze landed on her friends, Taehyung, Hoseok, Seokjin, Jimin and Yoongi.

Charlie had already a bad feeling as her eyebrows frowned when a loud voice boomed in the room to welcome the people in it.

"Hello, my friends!" Lee greeted his group with a bright smile before his eyes met Charlie's. He stepped in the circle and bent closer to the girl's face. He caressed slightly her cheek while pushing a lock of hair out of her delicate figure.

"What's your name, darling" he asked with a confident smirk.

Charlie stared at him coldly before answering, "Charlie."

"Charlie, ladies and gentlemen" Lee announced loudly to the people around them, scaring the girl with his sudden shout. His gaze turned back to Charlie and he slowly took off his plague doctor mask to reveal his identity. Underneath the mask was a pale looking guy, high cheekbones, dark eyes, long lashes, brown short hair and guessing in the middle of the 30s. Quickly, Charlie's attention was drove to the long scar that he had, crossing the middle of his face.

"No wonder why you wear a mask-" Charlie was interrupted by Lee's hand that smacked her cheek at the speed of the light. As the loud sound echoed in the room, Jin tried to defend his friend, but the men holding him back were too strong to break free.

"You disrespect me in front of my people" Lee started, loudly as always. "You get punished" he continued while looking directly into her eyes. He paused for a moment and whistle as a signal. Then a guy brought another young man forward. He was trembling and sweating like a pig knowing that it was going to get slaughtered. Half of his face was burnt and formed a sort of disgusting crusty scab by the time of it to heal. Charlie couldn't help her mouth to twist at the sight of his injury.

"Now, this" Lee pointed the guy's face. "This is the result of what happens when you disrespect your chief. But I have something else reserved for such a strong character of rebellion" the chief said with a creepy, dark smile at the end.

Dex, his valet, arrived with some materials that caused Charlie's eyes to enlarge at their maximum. On a small table, with wheels to move it around, there was knives from different sizes, a rusty saw, a giant pair of scary scissors, a heavy-looking iron plaque with a handle on it — that was probably what Lee used to burn half of the guy's face.

Charlie tried to free her hands and feet, but the ropes were so tightly tied that it was cutting her blood circulation already.

Then, Lee took carefully the big scissors and brought them close to the girl's face, who gulped loudly enough for the few people the closest to the scene to hear — and that included Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jimin and Taehyung.

The boys were unable to stand there and watch. Although they were tightly held back, they still tried to help their friends.

"LEAVE HER ALONE" Jin shouted as he swung his shoulder forward. The men almost lost grip on him, but more came to help. Charlie's friends started to yell all together, causing cacophony in the room. Charlie watched them with the most scared look that she ever had. Then she saw the chief going up in front of them as her eyes shifted quickly.

"NO STOP!" The girl's scream wasn't effective against Lee's punch on Jin's nose. The shouts stopped. It was such a powerful hit that Jin's head kicked backward and started to bleed.

"Do you all want to die?" The man asked, frowned eyebrows. "I am giving you a chance to live here. You just need to learn how to respect your new leader" he explained and sighed deeply before returning to Charlie. As soon as Lee had his back turn, Yoongi tried to attack him, but he was immediately held back.

"So...where were we" Lee questioned with a husky voice as he was so close to the young girl's face. Charlie was staring at his eyes when she jumped as the blades of the big scissors popped close to her left eye.

Meanwhile, Hoseok was observing the people around them. It seemed to have two clans in this giant group. There were the mean ones, serving the bad chief, and the people that actually appeared to be afraid and submitted to the others. Jhope thought that this second part of the group must have been people like them, survivors from anywhere else and that have been caught in this crazy dictatorship.

Suddenly, Hoseok's attention was back to Charlie when she started to scream in distress, at the top of her lungs

The man took the girl's middle finger firmly and forced the others to bend. Then, he approached the scissors and placed Charlie's little finger between the two sharp blades. Charlie's heart was racing as her breathing was short and loud, interrupted by sobbing.

At this moment, Lee lifted his chin, revealing that creepy-ass grin.

"One last word" he asked.

"Fuck y-" Charlie was interrupted by her own voice that screamed and cried for God's help when the man cut her middle finger off slowly and enjoying to hear the pain in her voice.

Jimin automatically turned his head, crisping his facial expression while his friend was being tortured.

The scream faded as Charlie's voice cracked, almost losing it and ended in crying and shrieking as she was trying to catch up some air. The blood was pissing excessively, causing a small pound on the floor. Her body was trembling after this horrible experience.

Although Lee had cut her finger off, he wasn't done with her yet. He violently threw the scissors on the small table, causing some knives to balance on the floor. The chief then grabbed the girl by the throat as she was already trying to breathe through the sobbing. A quiet squeak escaped Charlie's mouth before her face was starting to turn red.

"You will never disrespect me ever again. Is that clear" Lee asked coldly. The girl couldn't even answer.

"Please let her go" Jin begged the man. Lee turned his head towards him and expressed a small smile before letting Charlie's neck free. The girl loudly inhale before she would start seeing some black dots. She blinked multiple time until her vision was back to normal. The chief left as well as everyone else, leaving the boys with the girl.

Taehyung hurried to go to Charlie and untie her, meanwhile the others were making their way to them. Once she was all free the girl just stayed on the chair, crying all the tears of her body in silence. She moved her bleeding hand a bit to see her missing finger. She couldn't believe that it happened to her. Everything. She couldn't understand what she had done bad in the past to deserve such a brutal punishment.

Calmly, V took Charlie's injured hand. It was wriggling in his, appearing so fragile.

"It's gonna be fine" he soothed her. Charlie broke in tears as she gave the man a hug. Her four fingered hand was bleeding in Taehyung's back, but he couldn't care less. Not long after, the young girl lost consciousness in her friend's arms.

"Charlie..."

"Charlie...

"My darling...keep breathing..."

———-
Hello readers! Sorry for the late update. I'm working super hard these days so I'm kinda tired when I get back home.

Anyways, let's talk about it. BTS WON THE TOP SOCIAL ARTIST AWARD!!! I am so proud that they also got to perform Fake Love at the BBMAS. What did you thought of the performance? I know that a lot of people complained about the camera, but I'm just too happy that I've seen them on the screen of my tv that I don't look at it that way.

I wish plenty of good opportunities for BTS in the future and now I hope that they are resting well. They deserve it.