The Dark Blood

4

Taehyung was woken up by loud sounds of the big bells that were outside. Still half asleep and confused of how he had ended up in his tiny room, he turned around in his bed and pressed his face against the thin pillow.

The places schedule had been told to him yesterday, when he had came here, so he knew he had a half an hour to get prepared for breakfast.

He stood up from his bed, but froze instantly afterwards. What had happened yesterday? He had no clear image of anything after Yoongi had told him to put his tongue back in his mouth. He turned around to face the closed door. What had they forced him to drink, and for what reason?

He walked to the door and grabbed the door handle, but it didn't open. Taehyung tried pulling with more force, only to realise he was locked in.

No, his mom wouldn't have let them take him here. This wasn't a school, he was almost certain of it. But would his mom had lied to his face?

After changing his clothes, he stared outside of the window. He saw the fence that surrounded Aldermere and felt even more desparate to get out of them. The long grass was moving in the winds rythm, creating waves which looked quite mesmerazing from afar.

The handle moved and soon, he was let out. He took a scared look of the nurse before looking back at the floor. She looked straight back at Taehyungs eyes with a neutral face and just gestured him to move downstairs.

The rooms were on the third floor, so it took a few stairs to get down on the first one, where the dining hall was. Tae impatiently walked down, hoping he would get to talk to the others about yesterday.

His place was in the fift table, the furthest away from the first, where the Angels sat. In front of him was Ali, who greeted him with a worried smile.

"Hi" she whispered.

Taehyung looked around him, "Wait, we aren't supposed to talk, right?" He said nervously.

"No, but we're so far away from the nurses that if we keep quiet, we can get away with it," she answered before continuing, "This is Namjoon by the way, he's a part of the other boys' friendgroup. I think Jin mentioned him once."

Namjoon smiled at him and Tae noticed his dimples. He had a calm aura with a friendly face. He greeted him.

"And that boy there, who doesn't have his shirt fully buttoned, is Jimin," Ali introduced and shook her head.

"I think you've now met everyone."

"Yeah, you're the new kid," Namjoon realised. He had been so focused on eating his porrige that he hadn't paid much attention to anything else. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen," Taehying answered the same question once again, "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm seventeen, but turning eigteen in fours months and 20 days. You're lucky," He stated.

This made Ali adjust her position uncomfortably and she cleared her throat quietly. Other people in the table glansed at Namjoon, but went straight back to eating.

"What do you mean by lucky?" Taehyung asked him.

Ali side-eyed Namjoon, who looked at Tae like he was surprised by his question.

"Uhh," he mumbled, "You're just so young. Innocence and that stuff."

Tae furrowed his eyebrows and looked outside though the big windows the room had. They didn't have that big of a age difference for that to make sense.

"Anyways, what was that thing yesterday?" He moved on and now asked Ali.

She analyzised his facial expression, "You don't remember or are you just confused?"

"No to both. I don't remember anything after the drink, but I'm confused about everything leading to that," he explained.

Ali nodded and leaned further from the table for a while. She kept nodding her head slightly while thinking of a response.

"Memory loss happens sometimes, especially during the first times, it's normal." She stated, "It's okay to be confused, we were all like that at first."

She now turned her head to look at the first table and this time leaned forwards him, "Just a piece of advice: don't resist or you'll get in trouble."

***

Yoongi was looking at the last table.
Ali and Taehyung were talking about something and he looked stressed out.

Yesterday had not been easy on the poor boy and Yoongi hoped he wasn't too traumatised by it. Usually the kids were given time to settle in a little, but apparently since they were so old already, they weren't given that privilege.

Taehyung had looked pretty spaced out last night, so he most likely didn't remember much. Yoongi sighed in relief, since it was for the better. Taehyung had cried a lot and Yoongi still remembered how heartbroken he had sounded. He had been brought in in a bad time, since the experimental treatment had been quite harsh lately.

The Angels rang the bell that signaled the breakfast to be over and the kids quickly walked out.

"Hey Tae," Yoongi whispered sharply.

Taehyung turned around and seemed happy to see a familiar face, "Yoongi! Hi."

They were walking together on the hallway. If you wouldn't know them, you'd think Taehyung was older from their heights. Yoongi glansed at Tae with caring eyes.

"Do you know where you have to go now?" He asked him.

Taehyung thought for a second but answered with confidence, "To my room to change my clothes to formal ones and then to a classroom on the second floor."

From bottom to top Aldermere had: Multiple basements, dininghall and a few other bigger rooms on the first floor, classrooms and libraries on the second and bedrooms to the people who lived here from the nurses to the patients on the third. The rooms were all small and only had a one small window each to have space for everyone.

Yoongi nodded and before the younger boy walked in his room, he blocked the entry to stop him.

"Are you okay?" He whispered.

Tae stared at him, still surprised of his sudden movement. He didn't really know what he was supposed to not be okay from. He just had questions, quite a lot of them actually.

"Y-yeah, why?" Taehyung asked him.

Yoongi broke the eyecontact and looked at his shoes. He really didn't remember anything, did he?

"Just wanted to make sure, you know. This is a new place to be in after all."

They both waited in silence for a little, trying to figure out what the other one was thinking. Yoongi stepped away from the door and scratched the back of his head.

"Anyways..." he moved on, "Don't be late to class, they hate that."

"Okay, I won't!" Taehyung assured him and walked inside of his room.

***

Taehyung felt like people were giving him little hints, but none of them were actually telling him anything to connect the pieces.

He wanted to sit down and weep for a little, to channel out the frustration that had build up inside of him. He missed his mom and home, but couldn't stay in bed for much longer. Like Yoongi had said, it wouldn't be good to be late.