The Dark Blood

9

Taehyung watched in terror as Jimin threw his head forwards and tried to break free. He was kicking the air aggressively and the only thing keeping him from charging straight towards Taehyung was a chain that kept him tied to a pole. When he extended his legs, they were scary close to actually almost touching Taehyung. Jimin was screaming while keeping his eyes shut tightly. Taehyung couldn't tell if it was from pain or not.

Then Jimins eyes shot open, making Taehyungs heart skip a beat. They were pitch black and the same coloured liquid started dripping down to his cheeks. Jimin stared straight into Taehyungs soul, with only his shoulders and head twitching. The drastic and sudden change in his behaviour made Tae fear for his life and he leaned against the pole behind him, not recognizing his friend in front of him.

He tried to avoid looking at Jimin, but couldn't help but to stare the soulles eyes and the black liguid that was dripping down to the floor from them like tears. He just couldn't look away, until the echoing sound of a high-pitched shout made him shut them tightly in horror. Jimin had started to throw himself forwards again.

"Please stop," Taehyung begged quietly, tears of fear and shock now dripping down his cheeks.

Dr. Govet had been writing something down to his notes and kept looking at both of them. He scrunched his forehead in disbelief and walked to Taehyung.

"How are you feeling?" He asked in a dead serious voice.

Taehyung looked at him, eyes widened and full of tears.

"I-I feel horrible!" He shouted, "What did you do?!"

The doctor didn't seem satisfied. Dr. Gavet sighed and picked up the blood jar from the table.

"No, no, please," Taehyung begged but wasn't surprised when he didn't listen.

Dr. Govet held the jar in front of Taehyungs nose and looked at his reaction. Taehyung looked at the thick liquid inside the jar and then moved his gaze to poor Jimin, who was violently ripping himself towards it.

"No?" Govet mumbled to himself again and puched Taehyung in his face.

Taehyung fell backwards as the pain blinded him for a second. His eyes started to water more and he was afraid to look back up. He sniffled quietly and tried to protect himself from the next hit even though his hands were chained back

"Stay still," Dr. Govet ordered him and for the first time here, Taehyung did as he was told without hesitation, hoping that it would make the adult standing in front of him show a bit of empathy.

He stayed as still as possible, but his mind desperately told him to run away from him and whatever Jimin had turned into. These dark episodes were heartbreaking to watch and the fear of maybe having to experience one for himself made Taehyung want to throw up. He looked at what it had done to Jimin, who was still unrecognisable to him. Jimin, who had been nothing but kind to him all day.  He heard the doctor write something in his notes again, before dipping his hands in the blood and turning to him.

Taehyung tried to escape. It wasn't exactly a concious decision or an action that had any affect on anything. His body jumped away, but he was just harshly ripped backwards by unforgiving metal. The effort was useless and he felt the cold blood on his cheek.

Taehyung took a deep breath, trying to prepare to what was about to happen. It looked so painful. The blood tickled uncomfortably and made Taehyung want to get it off as quickly as possible. He looked at Jimin who had gotten himself all tied up to the chains. This is it.

His head turned to the right, which caught him off guard and it only got worse from there. It felt like a reflecs to something and he couldn't stop it. His shoulders started to twitch forwards and thinking seemed to get harder each second that passed. The movements were random and didn't have any rythm in them.

Taehyung could feel pressure starting to build up in his brain and he shut his eyes tightly. Was it from him panicing or was it the blood? Taehyung barely even felt it on his cheeks since his whole body was tingling.

Then his body shot forwards Mr. Gavet and in shock, Taehyung gasped and opened his eyes. Everything was darker than before. Colours could hardly bee seen as his eyes looked up and down at the man before him. His outlines were swiggly and moving constantly, nothing in the room seemed to stay still. Then he noticed the jar again. The colour was bright red and inviting, making Taehyung taste metal on his tongue.

Mr. Gavet looked at him. His now dark eyes were fixated on the jar that was behind him on the desk. He didn't seem to react as stongly as the others, the movement was minimal, shoulder tics and only partial sudden movements but he was lacking complitely on the agressive side. Taehyung was just staring past him and breathing heavily, like a domestic dog looking at a rabbit.

Then Gavet turned to Jimin, who was already calmind down a little, but was still jumping forwards in order to try and get to them. He had almost been able to free himself from his own caused knot, however, his waist was stuck to the pole by it.

It had been a while since he had seen such a mild case like Taehyung. They were rarely caught because of how much was needed to trigger the episode. Their own black blood didn't do the trick and it was rare for them to see the normal red one. On the more seviere cases, like Jimin, who he had known ever since he was five, any blood or agressive behaviour could cause it.

The test had been useful. Taehyung didn't have any reaction to others being violent, not even when it caused him to get knocked in the face, and only reacted to healthy blood.  Still, good thing he was caught, he thought and splashed Jimin with cold water.

***

The loud noises of the bells caused Jimin to wake up from deep sleep. He rolled to his side, away from the sunlight that came through the window and closed his eyes again. The familiar light-headed feeling made him want to stay in his hard but warm bed and it still felt like he was dreaming, or just visiting his own body.

Realisation of what the feeling was caused by made him open his eyes and sit up. The last thing he rememberes was Dr. Gavit punching him, but after that, the night felt like a black hole that had swallowed every memory.

He kicked off the blanket and stood up on the cold floor. He had to make sure Taehyung hadn't been too scared of him. He knew how bad he was during these episodes and especially for someone who had never seen it. Jimin didn't like to be seen like that, he was a good person in his heart.

He was still wearing the clothes he had on yesterday, the ones stained with dried blood. Surprisingly it needed to be fresh to cause a dark episode, so he just took off his shirt and threw it into his cabinet. Saturday was laundry day, but if he felt like it, he could try and wash in in the pond. He really didn't and Jimin just put on another shirt. The noise of the lock on his door being unlocked snapped Jimin out of his thoughts and he walked out to the hallways. Mrs. Bawden was doing her routine tour and opening everyones doors. T

he kids tiredly walked out, one by one, dragging their feet and rubbing their eyes. Jimin looked at Taehyungs door that had been opened before his. He seemed to still be inside and Jimin looked back at the old woman, who didn't like when children hung around in the second floor, where also a part of the staff lived. 

Jimin shook his head, he had been a littly too risky for the last couple of days. He didn't want to join Jin and Jungkook in mopping the third floor.

Jimin walked down the stairs slowly, every once in a while looking back and trying to see if Taehyung was coming already. He'd see him at breakfast but would rather talk to him without everyone around them hearing.

If only he knew.