Shadow Dancing | K.TH

Heaven and Hell

I wake with tears in my eyes and my voice hoarse from screaming.

Tears only continue to pour down my eyes when I see all six of them watching me, their faces varying in the degree of anger and fright. But in the midst of them, I see V, his expression unreadable as he looks down on me without a word.

It's enough to remind me of everything that he'd said, and I feel weak as I bury my face into the tear-streaked blankets.

"What happened? Where in the hells is Jungkook?"

V sounds strangely calm— reminding me of the silence before a thunderstorm. It scares me even more when his tone is like that— quiet, collected, unemotional.

"Jimin found you collapsed a quarter mile from here, and Jungkook nowhere to be seen. What happened?"

"They took him," I rasp, pain streaking through my body as I speak. "They took him, and I couldn't do anything."

Suddenly, the sorrow that seemed would last forever turns into pure hatred. Red hazes my vision with dark splotches of rage as I hurl the nearest thing against the wall.

Nobody flinches as the water glass crashes into the flat surface, shattering into a million pieces of glittering crystal and showering down onto the floor. My breath is fast and rapid as the sudden urge to throw more stuff grows even bigger.

I couldn't do anything.

When I try to rush out of my room, a sudden hand wraps around my wrist, drawing me back. An inhuman growl escapes my lips as I snatch my arm away, the black hole inside of me increasing in size and power with every passing second.

"Don't touch me." I hiss at Jimin, not even bothering to regret the poison in my voice and the pain that flashes in his face after I tell him. The rest of them look stunned as I rush upstairs to my room, slamming the door shut and locking the door behind me.

The moment I hear the click of the lock going in place, a strangled sound echoes from my lips. I shouldn't have done that to Jimin. I shouldn't have thrown the water glass. I should've apologized.

Do I go apologize?

I'm so damn pathetic.

The similar urge to hurl more objects battle with another side of me that just wants to cry myself to death. I can't forget the last glance I'd gotten at Jungkook before they'd taken him away. I can't forget the words that ring through my mind every stupid second.

One by one.

Until we're nothing but remnants of what we once were.

I scream, the sound the definition of horrible as I cry at the same time. No one knows what Jungkook would be going through better than me. My father would first kill him, than revive him just to have the sickening pleasure of killing him again. And then he'd do it over and over and over again until he got bored.

At that point, there would be nothing left.

"Tzuyu,"

"What?" I yell, the venom back in my voice. Sensitivity prickles everywhere in my body, making me a walking bomb. A simple poke— all it would take me to make me explode.

V.

"Open the door."

"No!"

"Tzuyu." He calls my name again, in a way that's infuriating and attracting at the same time. The fact that I was feeling this way, just by his voice, makes me so angry that I grab the digital clock off my nightstand and watch it slam against the wall.

"What?"

"Please."

The single word sends sparks flying, fires burning.

I find my hand on the door without me realizing.

"I can't." My voice stiffens, and I grip the doorknob so hard that it might just snap off. I couldn't show him how I looked right now. I couldn't show him
this. This worthless idiot that only knows how to watch people die.

"Please."

Tears flow helplessly from my eyes as my fingertips linger on the lock. It was so simple— all I had to do was turn the clasp. It was all I had to do to let him in.

But it wasn't like that.

This door was the only thing separating heaven and hell— and one naturally didn't belong with the other. One couldn't exist without the other.

They could never truly be together.

I'm getting him back. And no more risking. No more sacrificing.

No more.

Pain tears my mentality apart, strip by strip, as I utter words I would never mean. Even though it meant that it would rip his heart to shreds, make any love he ever bore for me dissipate into ashes, it also meant his safety.

No more risks.

Even though it would hurt him more than anything else—

There would be no more sacrifices.

Swallowing down the thick lump in my throat, I slide my hand off the cool rounded knob.

It had to be done.

"Go away, V. Leave me alone. I don't want to see you— why won't you just go?" Tears fill my eyes as I harshly deliver the final blow.

"Stop trying to pull me back. I'm not yours."

I don't need my sight to see that he has gone completely still on the other side, and that he turns away. Even though there's a firm door separating the two of us, it doesn't stop me from seeing the flash of pain cross his face.

And that he walks away.

I'm half-tempted to just jump onto my bed and cry, but I force the strong urge away. There were things to be done— and quickly.

The instance I'm sure that he's gone down the stairs, I slide open the window and look down onto the ground below. It's not a long distance— but even though it's short, it still reminds me of the time when I'd first escaped the compound.

I couldn't believe I was doing all this to get back there.

Knowing that the best way to do this was to just do it, I purse my lips and jump.

I wouldn't come back to this house unless the maknae was with me, and alive. He had to be alive— but that could change any moment. My father was unpredictable— ruthless with lives.

It wouldn't be any different for Jeon Jungkook.