Terrible Things

Chapter 5 - Then

I try to hide to happiness I feel when he grabs my arm, but a smile works its way onto my lips regardless. I lead him away from my photo, intending to save it for last.

We enter a dark room, the normally vacant space transformed to look like a forest at night. The ceiling glitters like starlight, grass crunching under our feet as we make our way through the trees. A spotlight shines, illuminating the main attraction of this particular piece of art. An animatronic girl sits in the center of the trees, her knees pulled up to her chest. Her blue dress is in tatters, a bright yellow blindfold tied around her eyes. Her head moves back and forth, as if looking for someone, anyone, who could help her.

But for her, help never comes.

"It's so sad," Jimin breathes, his voice filled with awe. He squeezes my arm tighter, his hand coming to rest on his chest.

"It's pain. The theme of the exhibit is pain," I explain, my eyes still on the girl. To me, this was the highlight of pain - the loneliness, the hope that someone will save you, the crushing feeling of defeat that comes when you realize that no one will. Between my photo and this exhibit, I wasn't sure why mine was the centerpiece and this wasn't.

"That makes sense," is all Jimin says before tugging me back through the trees, the sound of bugs and crunching grass fading as we make our way back into the brightly-lit hallways of the museum. We make our way through the exhibits, Jimin claiming each one was his favorite.

We come to a large crowd, my heart kicking up a notch. "What is this? Why's there so many people?"

"It's the centerpiece," I hiss out, feeling my palms growing sweaty. I didn't want to go through that crowd. Maybe Jimin didn't even want to-

He turns to me, his eyes wide and dancing with excitement. "Does that mean that it's your piece?" He bounces from foot to foot, unable to hide his excitement. "I can't wait to see it."

Well damn, if Jimin wanted to see the piece, then there was no way I could back down from it. I swallow, clenching my fists as I lead us towards the crowd. I push through the throngs of people, giving quiet apologies and "excuse me"s to the people we jostle. We break through to the front and I hear Jimin gasp as he takes his first look at my contribution to the exhibit.

Glass steps surround it, leading up to a platform, leaves littering the bottom of it - the edges of them blackened as they shrivel up and die. Iron bars are wrapped around the frame, clinging to the edges of it like vines, the black metal gleaming under the bright lights of the museum.

The picture is done in monochrome, matching the decoration perfectly. A woman stands behind frosted glass, her hair damp and a tangled mess as the dark locks cascade down to cover half of her face. Her hands cup her cheeks, her eyes closed as a single tear tracks down her dirt-caked face. The center of the window is unfrosted, her breath thawing it as she prayed for the pain to end.

I had taken this photo at the request of someone else, the very subject of the photo. She had been suffering with crippling depression, a mental illness that she kept well hidden from most of the people in her life. She asked me to take these to help her, to assist in showing people what she saw when she looked in the mirror.

And that's how the photo got its title "Behind The Glass".

"Wow," Jimin finally speaks up, his words nothing but a whisper. "This... this is beautiful, Yoongi." I just shrug, my eyes still glued to the picture. It was a deeply personal one, showing the deepest struggles of this woman. When the museum first approached me about displaying it, I didn't feel right about it. It seemed wrong to put her pain on display, to show it off for the world. It was only when she said it was okay, that she was in fact glad that it finally got the chance to be seen by more people, that I felt okay enough to let them feature it.