{h} the butterfly effect : bts gang au

XXI.*

*very mature themes in this chapter. please read at your own discretion.*
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He put his hands on Jae.

I could not even begin to believe my ears when Jae came to my house at 3 a.m on a school night and told me about what had happened.

Her stepdad, who had only been her stepdad for only a mere six months, thought it would be okay to wake her up almost every night and put his hands on her.

I remember the absolute rage I felt upon hearing her sob in absolute perish. I remember watching the tears roll down her face when she told me her mom wouldn't do anything about it because she thought she deserved it.

I remember the whole night vividly.

The bruises on her arms, new and old, were blue and purple and yellow with anguish when she rolled up her sleeves. She told me she couldn't do it anymore.

"I can't live there without wanting to blow my fucking brains out, Hana. I thought it was bad when it was just my mom and I, but God, this makes me feel like I've died and gone to hell," she cried out, gripping the sleeves of my hoodie in pain and sobbing into my shoulder. It was late autumn, but she ran to my house bare footed and in her pajamas. "You have got to help me."

We were only sixteen.

I told her she could stay the night and when my parents woke up in three hours, we would get help from the police. However, that's not what happened.

Upon my parents' awakening, they told Jae to stay and told me to still go to school because I still had grades to uphold. Strict, yes, but there was nothing I could say or do to change their minds because it wasn't me who had bruises up and down my arms. It wasn't until I got home when I found out Jae had been sent back to her house with her mom and stepdad.

"Why would you just let her go? Didn't you see her arms? He's been hitting her! He's been hurting her!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face as I slammed my fists on the counter. My parents always had me whipped into shape and I have never raised my voice at them, but my best friend was being beat into a pulp and my parents just sent her to become juice.

"Hana, watch your tone! Do not talk to your mother that way!" My dad yelled back. "Mr. and Mrs. Eom said she has been slacking in school lately, and has been misbehaving. They have every right to whip that kid into shape."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This is a fucked up society we live in if adults think it's okay to hurt their child for having one low mark on an exam.

Jae wasn't at school for three weeks, so her grades would surely suffer more.

After those three weeks agonizing over the fact that I have not heard one word from Jae, I ran to her house one Saturday night while my parents were out in the city. I originally hoped I could climb the fire escape to her bedroom window, but what I saw through the second story of their apartment complex scared me into a frozen state.

I only caught a glimpse of what happened, but the blood curling screams coming from Jae whipped my gaze to see the burning oil thrown in her direction. This guy is trying to kill her, I thought, but thankfully, he missed her before she ran out the front door.

He was still boiling the oil on the stove which started to flame up due to neglect, and my young naïve mind didn't know what happens if you throw water on hot oil.

I jumped inside through the window, not knowing the danger ahead, and swiftly threw the mop bucket on the stove and immediately, flames started to rage through the kitchen. I flew back outside into the safety of the fire escape, but Jae's stepdad was not as lucky.