Smoke and Mirrors |ATEEZ

Bloody Tears

The car was moving again. Twisting down the gravel road. Yeosang stared forward with a frown laid plainly over his face. Your conversation had stopped. 

Suddenly, you felt the car starting to slow. You looked forward. A prison-like fence stood tall in the distance.  The chain-link fence was topped with layers of razor wire that would deter almost everything that dared to enter whatever this place was.

Yeosang slowed the car at a gate. He rolled down the window, leaning out to type a four-digit code into a keypad.  You leaned forward, looking around his shoulders.

111...

Yeosang turned around before entering the last digit, staring into your eyes. You shot back into the seat in shock. He pushed the last digit while staring down at you. A loud beep sound rang and the gate in front of you started to slide open. He turned back to the front, driving through the open gate. The car behind you still following closely.

You could start to feel a weird pounding against the inside of your skull. The small pang began to magnify. You felt the familiar weight of a thousand stones pressing down on your chest. Your breathing became heavy and you squeezed your eyes closed, trying to calm your mind, but your mind began to run. The pounding in your head began to become unbearable. You pressed the heels of your hand firmly onto your eyes, pulling at your hair with your fingers.

"It's your light side," you heard Yeosang's voice barely over the pounding in your head, "It doesn't want you here."

"How.. d-do I... m-make it s-s-stop?" you cried between gritted teeth.

"I don't know," he said nonchalantly.

You squeezed your eyes harder, feeling warm tears drip from your eyes. You grabbed your legs, digging your nails into your jeans.

You heard Yeosang sigh deeply, "Here," he said, placing a hand on your shoulder. Suddenly, everything was gone. The pain. The trouble breathing. It all melted away. You slumped low into the seat as if your body had lost all of its bones. Tears still fell from your eyes as you couldn't stop them. You reached up, wiping them from your cheek. You looked down at your hand, noticing what you thought was tears was hot, dark blood. You sat up in the seat, pulling down the sun visor to look in the mirror. Blood dripped down your cheeks onto your clothes.

"What's happening to me?"

"I told you. It's your light side trying to "save" you," he said, throwing up his hands to signify air quotes, "But honestly, this is the safest place you could be."

"How? And why do you keep saying light side? What does that even mean?"

"Joong will explain everything to you," he groaned, "Look," he pointed to in front of the car. You turned to the windshield and you could see it. A large brick warehouse grew in the distance. You could see the dust from here. The sight sent chills down your spine.

The warehouse was huge. There were tons of missing windows and graffiti coving all sides of the complex. An entire outer wall had collapsed on one of the sides farthest from the water. The river that ran through your town, ran right against the foundation of the warehouse where a water wheel now sat still from years of rust build-up.

Yeosang pulled the car around to what seemed like the main entrance, "What is this place," you asked looking out your door window.

"An old ice house that we have conveniently made ours," he said with an odd smile over his face.

"Why are you smiling like that?" you said hesitantly looking at the weird man in the driver's seat.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"That thing?" you said pointing to the run-down building.

"Yes, when you been trapped in Hell for centuries, it's nice to be on the outside again." he smiled.

His words sent goosebumps over your skin, "Okay," you squeaked in a mouse-like voice.

Yeosang got out of the car, coming around to your side, opening the door for you. You stepped out, feeling the cool wind blow your hair into your face, sticking to the tacky blood still staining your face. You pulled the hair away, hearing the sound of another car door slamming. The car that had been following now stood parked behind yours. Seonghwa stepped out wearing the same outfit from when he visited you last night.

The sight of him brought a weird feeling of comfort to you. A familiar face in such an unfamiliar place was the only thing keeping you stable right now.

"Let's go," Yeosang said coldly, turning to the wrecked building. He walked ahead of you, but you were hesitant. You felt something crawling over your skin. You looked down seeing you mizt wrapped tightly around your arms.

"It's okay," you heard Seonghwas soft voice over your shoulder. You looked behind you to see Seonghwa's smiling face, "I won't let anything happen to you." He lightly placed a hand on your forearm, breaking through the protection of the mist. His cold skin against yours sent chills over your body, but the touch was comfortable.

You walked by him toward the looming block of bricks. He pressed down on a rusted handle, pushing the door open. He leaned forward, pointing into the room, "After you."

***

Hey, guys. I am happy to finally be able to update this story. My life has been incredibly chaotic. I am a full time college student while also having a part time job. I have school/work seven days a week, so I never really have to time to just sit down and write. I have also been struggling a lot with mental health issues that leave me unmotivated even though I feel like writing is the only thing that makes me happy.

I also wanted to share that I will not be continuing to write the other fic on my account "She's Mine". I just don't have the time and passion for that story anymore, and personally I love this fic ten times more than the other. I enjoy writing this fic, even though I don't get to do it often. I also don't want to say that I will be trying to update regularly because I don't want to disappoint you all.

So just please enjoy this part <3