Atlas

12

Hoseok and Jimin were laughing in the next room. I guess I shouldn't call it a room; it was more a large and dark empty shopping mall. Either way, they were laughing and chasing someone who was also laughing. I couldn't make out who it was, as they only appeared as a shadow on the wall whenever I tried to look. But I could hear a girl laughing, her cheery giggles bouncing off gray concrete walls.

Jimin was smiling as he slowed down his running as he approached me, Hoseok and the girl running down a different hallway. "Hey!" he panted. His gold chains dragged behind him. "Good to see you."

"Uh," I stuttered. "Hi?"

"I mean, it would be better if you had fully remembered because that would mean we're done, but it's good to see that you've gotten this far."

"Seokjin helped."

Jimin seemed surprised by this. "Oh, you talked to him?"

"He told me that I have a daughter and that-"

The shadow that I had been looking for materialized into the shape of a real person next to one of the walls. Hoseok walked next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. They finally stepped into the light and my jaw dropped. I knew those brown eyes and that curly brown hair wrapped into a messy ponytail like the young woman had always done it more than I knew anything. Her olive skin matched her father's smooth skin - a man that I suddenly remembered. He was strong, solid, and the most loving person I ever met. I hadn't believed in love at first sight until the day we ran into each other at work. I remembered our wedding, which had been comical for everyone because I hadn't worn a dress in years. I remembered our fear and excitement when my pregnancy test was positive. Those brown eyes staring up at me when she was born. Those same little brown eyes not understanding when the letter came.

"It's going to be okay," my husband told me from across the kitchen table as he held our daughter in his arms. I still held the letter in my hands.

"How do you know it's going to be okay?" I asked, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. I wasn't angry at them. I wasn't angry at the people that sent the letter. I was just angry at the world for making this happen now.

"It's going to be okay."

The young woman approached me. We had always joked that her father's genes for being tall would make it so she would grow to be taller than me. But we were the same height. She smiled, just slightly. "Hi, Mommy," she said, before hugging me.

The moment lasted for a few seconds. I was... scared. Not the same scared I had been when the pregnancy test turned showed positive. I wasn't sure if I could care for a little one, then. Now I knew I could do that, but I didn't know if I could love this woman the way she needed to be loved.

But finally, I gathered the strength to hold her as well, and it was the easiest thing I had ever done.

Hoseok and Jimin watched us with curious eyes. I looked up at them.

"Is this-" I asked, my voice breaking like glass, "is this real? Is it done? Can we go home?"

"No," they said together.

"You have to free us," Jimin said.

"You have to talk to her," Hoseok said. "She has to forgive you."

"What did I do?" I asked, looking at the girl in my arms. "Why does she need to forgive me?"

"Not her," Jimin said. He held out one hand, and my daughter broke away from my hold to grab his hand. As soon as they touched, though, my daughter disappeared into a shadow. The boys' golden chains glowed suddenly brighter.

"The girl in Room 13," Namjoon's voice said from behind me. I turned and saw all the other boys standing in that concrete prison, their chains as bright as the sun.

"You haven't remembered yet," Seokjin said. "But you will."

"You'll find what you're looking for," Yoongi promised, "you've gotten this far."

Taehyung brought up a cell phone to provide more light. "There's only one guard left," he said. "It's just you now."

Jeongguk held out a hand to me, welcoming me. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said, taking a deep breath and taking his hand."