| !! MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING !! |
CONTAINS BLOOD, STRONG LANGUAGE, & ANGST
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It was the pain that woke me up. I bit down hard on my tongue as I groaned into the carpeted floor, feeling heat surface around my right shoulder and consume the whole of my lower left leg. I didn't dare open my eyes to the sight I knew would be waiting for me. The smell of blood wafted up to my nose as I inhaled sharply to steady my heart rate, but it was mixed with something else. My arm and foot felt heavy; heavier than they should've felt with the seeping wound of a bullet in their place. I hesitantly flexed my foot and whimpered when a sharp pain shot all the way up my leg through my stomach. Something was wrapped tightly around it, probably to stop the flow of blood that had already stained much of the living room carpet.
Yura must've wrapped up my injuries to stop them from bleeding out further, but I couldn't think of a reason he'd actually want to help me. Other than the fact that I had bled all over his floor and would continue to do so if he didn't bandage the wounds he'd caused. That thought seemed to settle me; he didn't care if I died, but at least he'd prevented something from going even worse by stopping the flow of blood.
Finally, I cracked my eyes open but was met with the pitch blackness of the still, musty air. I already knew Yura had thrown me back in the closet at the end of the hall, and as I listened past my beating heart and panicky breathing, I could hear him fumbling about past the door, somewhere in the apartment doing who-knows-what. With my good arm, I pushed myself into a sitting position with my bottom lip caught, hard, between my teeth to silence any cry of pain that threatened to fall from them. I flipped onto my rear and sat for a moment to catch my breath. The more I moved, the harder it seemed to draw in each breath. I stared straight out before me at the door, knowing I was bolted inside and scooted forward to lean against it for support. My eyes fluttered shut and I drew a shaky breath through my nose, caught by the smell of blood that seemed to run all throughout my insides.
The wind began to pick up outside, shuddering the shackles and frames around the apartment's windows, and I thought of how Nari always got a cold during the colder months. Her pink nose ran soggy and she sneezed at least twice every hour. Jimin would wrap her in a blanket and press a chaste kiss to her furry forehead as they cuddled on the couch to share each other's warmth. The memory brought a smile to my face, but it was quickly flushed out at the soft knocking that sounded on my door.
No. Not my door. The front door.
Yoongi.
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Yura's head perked up at the sound of knocking coming from the front door. He held his gaze on the piece of carved, polished wood for a minute or so before glancing down the hall and making his way across the living room. The broom closet was still bolted up tight from when he first locked Yumin inside nearly two hours prior. He stood for another minute wondering who would risk knocking on his door at such an odd hour before it sounded again, this time angrier than before.
Stepping over the freshly washed squares of carpet, once spotted with fresh blood, the brunet placed his palm on the door directly over the small bullet hole that had managed to chip away parts of the wooden door. He squinted through the peephole and froze. Outside waited a police officer with his hands wrung out before him as he stared down the road to his left. Yura hesitated, slipping his hand around the doorknob and clenching it tightly. Just before he twisted it open, he hollered through the door for the officer to give him one second before shuffling quickly down the hall.
Yura smacked his hand down on the closet door and leaned in close. "Keep quiet in there," he whispered fiercely. "Or it's your head next time."
With no reply from within, he made his way back to the door and cracked it open to peer out at the man on his front step. "Can I help you, officer?"
"Got a call about a domestic disturbance from one of your neighbors."
Fuckin', Ara, Yura bit back. Can't mind your damn business...
"Domestic disturbance?"
"Yes. Have you or...anyone else been making some unnecessary racket in the past few hours?"
Yura paused, picking apart his words wisely in his head. "No, not really. I was messing around with some stuff in my cabinets earlier and it fell on the floor; it might've been that." He offered a shy shrug for good measure.
"Yuh-huh..." The officer jabbed his tongue at the inside of his cheek as he sized up the man before him quietly. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. I'm Officer Park."
"Min Yura."
Yura could've sworn that he saw Officer Park's lip twitch but blinked extra hard to rid himself of his nervous jitters. No one should know that Yumin was here specifically; Yoongi could blabble all he liked to the police, but without his address, there was no way of getting to him. At least not so soon, anyway.
"So, it's just you by yourself tonight, Mr. Min?"
"Yes, just me."
"I'm sorry to disturb you then. If it's just you, then whatever business you were tending to before, I'll let you return-"
A knock sounded behind him from down the hall and Yura froze. He didn't dare risk a glance over his shoulder, already knowing that the sound came from the closet at the end of the hall no more than 30 paces away. Yura blinked across at Officer Park who stared at him blankly, sniffling from the cold wind as he tapped his foot upon the cement underfoot. The knock sounded again, this time slightly louder, and Yura cursed Yumin a million times over in his head as he fisted the doorknob, out of view, with trembling hands.
"You sure it's just you?" Officer Park asked again. "No pets or nothin'."
"No pets, sir. Rats, but no pets." He chuckled, but Park seemed unphased.
Yura felt the breath hitch in his throat, slowly beginning to shut the door as he bid fairwell on a low breath before the man before him jammed his foot in the way.
_
I could hear another voice from outside. His was lower than Yura's, droning on without any emotion. I slammed my hand yet again down on the door to grab his attention, not caring what Yura would do to me if I was caught, and all went quiet. My breath drowned out everything until I heard him speak again, asking if there was anyone else in the house. Yura mentioned something like rats, mice maybe, and began to bid farewell to the man on his doorstep. I felt my heart begin racing at the thought of him slipping away without knowing I was inside and began to call out. Words wouldn't register in the back of my throat, and a strange, gargled cry fell from my lips instead. I tried again, probably sounding like a strangled crow to the two men outside my door, but I was desperate to catch the stranger's attention.
"Sir, who else is here with you?"
"No one. I told you."
"That doesn't sound like no one."
There was a rise in tension from outside and I listened, with my breath held, as they began shouting at one another until there a slam against the far wall. Scuffling sounded and I listened to the man demand Yura get down on the floor and stop resisting. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized that it was an officer who had arrived at our front door. I cried out again and again, the sound of frettful yelling and thumping the only sounds traveling down the hallway for me to hear. The officer's voice grew deathly quiet and a whimper slipped from my mouth as I strived to hear any word he had to utter.
"HELP!" I managed to bite out. "HELP ME!"
The officer didn't reply. Yura's cursing thinned out until I could barely hear it and tears sprung to my eyes as I pictured him being led away.
Without me.
With my good arm, I slammed down repeatedly on the door, crying out until the apartment sounded like Jigsaw's torture chambers until footsteps rushed back inside.
"Ma'am!" A voice called out. "This is law enforcement! I'm here to help!"
"Please!" I whaled. "Let me out of here!"
"Where are you?"
I pounded my fist repeatedly on the locked door until his footsteps rushed up just inches away. His hands fumbled around the deadbolt, tugging and twisting, until he pulled away with an agitated huff.
"I can't undo it like this."
There was a moment of silence as the sound of approaching sirens sung through the darkening streets of my old neighborhood. More tears rushed down my face and I began desperately yanking at the door from the inside. Help was just on the otherside, an arms reach away, but the damn door was stopping me from gaining my freedom. The officer outside pounded his fist on the door, ordering me away from it before slamming his foot down on the deadbolt. Again and again, he brought the heel of his boot down upon the metal until it clinked and crumpled, falling away to the floor with a thunk. The knob twisted and I collapsed backwards on my rear as the light of the hallway flooded into the closet, but the moment I saw the officer before me, dressed in all blank with a face mask pulled down over his chin, my heart engulfed itself in pure terror.
_
Officer Park threw the closet door open and stared down, panting, at the young woman huddled in the far corner of the enclosed room. Her once fare, caramel-colored-skin was now sunken and pale, purple marks blooming across her face, chest, arms, legs. Her entire body looked like a bruised plum, once so sweet and beautiful, but now no more. Blood caked her left arm around her white t-shirt and the grey sock that had been tied tight around the wound. Another was double-knotted around her right foot, but blood still seeped into the carpet beneath her.
The brunet leaned down with his hand outstretched cautiously as if she were a stray dog, trying to coax her forward with a gentle voice and sweet words that felt so bitter on his tongue. Nearly twelve years on the force, and not once had he encountered something such as this. The girl whimpered softly as his hands closed around her bent knee, his thumb brushing over her skin in slow strokes as his eyes scanned over her battered body.
"You're alright now. We're here to help."
We. Officer Park's partners had pulled up on the curb in two cruisers just seconds before he'd knocked the deadbolt from off of the closet door. He heard voices outside but didn't turn back, his attention locked on the girl before him as he inched closer.
"Can I take your hand?" he asked softly, to which she hesitatnly slipped her thin fingers into the palm of his hand. He pulled her forward into the light, still huddled within the confines of the closet. Her startled gaze traveled down his torso and up again as she drew in a shaky breath. Park made to utter another string of comforting words when her good leg shot out and connected square with his jaw. Falling back on his rear with a curse, he watched the girl hop to her feet and stumble out past him as she made to flee the apartment. His men could be seen just beyond the door.
"Don't let her escape!" he shouted. "Grab her!"
The brunette fumbled back as two other men raced up the steps and into her apartment, arms outstretched beside her for balance as she made to twist and dash towards one of the side doors. Before she could make it two steps she was knocked to the ground with a whale of pain as her arms were restrained behind her back, legs forced into the ground. Officer Park scrambled to his feet as he shouted at the other officer's let off of her "You're hurting her more, damnit!" The girl whimpered under her breath as his partner, Officer Jeong, moved her up against the wall into a sitting position with her arms cuffed against the small of her back. Tears streamed down her face as she shied away from his touch, the former dragging his hand down the side of her face gently.
"Come on; we're gonna get you an ambulance and get you to a hospital, alright?"
_
I felt like I was floated. My head spun and my legs felt almost like water beneath me as an officer with the nametag Jeong uncuffed me and held me close as to not topple over. Or run away. The officer that had freed me, a tall brunet with tattoos that disappeared into the collar of his shirt, cupped the back of my elbow on my injured arm and they both guided me outside into the grey evening light.
Sirens flashed all up and down the street. An ambulance clunked along the curb into place and a female parametic hopped out of the driver's seat to unlock the back doors. Her pecan-color skin instantly made me feel at peace amongst the sea of strangers with weapons clasped to their hips. At the sight of me, she ushered Officer Jeong and the other to help me into the back where I sat on a hard little cot as she made to undo the socks Yura had knotted around my wounds.
Through the open doors of the ambulance, I could see Ara and Yonghwa Lee standing on their balcony as they overlooked the scene before them. They stood at a distance, despite the tears that trickled down Ara's face and smudged her perfect makeup. Yonghwa didn't make to comfort her, only staring me dead in the eye with a look of pity on his face. He waved, but I didn't wave back.
"You poor thing," the paramedic muttered. I blinked down at her nametag which read Boateng. "I'm gonna get you all patched up and then over to a hospital."
I pulled out of her gentle touch at the mention of a hospital. I had to get home to Yoongi and the others. They had to know I was alright.
"Home," I whimpered.
I swore I could see tears brimming in the corners of Boateng's dark brown eyes. "We'll get you home eventually. Gotta make sure you're alright first. These are some nasty injuries." She ripped open the arm of my shirt and I could help but think how mad Taehyung would be that I ruined one of his many plain, white tees. After about fifteen minutes, I was all patched up with a cup of water in my hands and a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Boateng asked if I'd be alright sitting in the back with her as the woman in the passenger seat took over driving, her hand clutching mine protectively as we bumped along in the backseat, headed for Busan Medical Center.
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So few chapters left. It's making me kind of sad.
:)