The window was open, allowing a rush of cold air to flow through the room.
Taehyung's skin crawled as he slowly paced back and forth, almost dragging his bare feet across the carpet of her room. Wishing, praying, hoping for a miracle, and looking for a sign of where she might have gone.
Her unkempt bed sat still in the cool breeze, her bedside lamp still lit up from the night she disappeared remained untouched, as did her dresser - covered in items of her clothing. Not an overly unusual sight for a child, but definitely something worth investigating considering she wasn't one to leave a mess such as that. A plate or two on the bench, maybe, but never her clothes sprawled out and spewing from the dresser.
Taehyung froze and raised an eyebrow at her messy dresser, 'This can't be right.' He whispered and brought his hand to his chin.
He then pulled his attention from the dresser and to her closet, it was cracked open and swaying lightly in the breeze making a small squeak each time the wind pushed on it, a sound Taehyung hadn't noticed until now.
Feeling a sudden rush, he dashed towards the closet and swung it open with vigour pulsing through his veins, hoping it was all just a big misunderstanding, hoping that she was in her closet sleeping. But as he opened the door he noticed he was wrong.
Nothing. Nothing but a small blanket, her teddy, and a pillow from her bed laid on the floor of the closet. Seeing this caused Taehyung's heart to shake, the way she must have felt to have curled away in her closet.
This is my fault.
Taehyung slammed the door of the closet to a hard close and burst into tears, anything and everything was passing through his mind at that moment. But the only thing that his mind managed to repeat was, my fault, all my fault.
Taekwon heard the slam of the closet door and tiptoed down the hallway to peak through her bedroom door, only to see Taehyung in a fit of madness.
He threw her clothes across the room, yanked out the cord of the lamp and smashed the bulb against the wall, sending shards of glass and chemicals across her bed.
Out of fright, Taekwon reeled back and ran back down the hallway and into his room, slamming the door behind him and pushing his back against it, afraid that Taehyung would take out his anger on him.
Taehyung hadn't noticed that Taekwon was there and gone. In his rage nothing was present, not even himself. He felt as though he had left his body and was spectating from a close distance, he didn't feel like himself.
He continued to kick everything in his path, smash the bedside tables against the wall, and slam the closet door until it shattered sending wood shards into his skin.
Taehyung, now in pain and even more furious, with full force he sent his foot through the wall. Feeling satisfied with his moment of destruction he let go of his body and fell to the floor.
All my fault.
Taehyung closed his eyes for what only felt like a few seconds before he felt multiple hands gripping tightly and pulling him to his feet. At the feeling of being touched his body jolted and his eyes shot open.
'Let me go!' He screamed, the three officers tried to hold him still but he refused.
'Sir! Do not resist!' One officer yelled just before the other officer read him his rights. Taehyung continued to fight back and resist arrest, causing the officers to apply more force as they dragged him to the hallway.
Detective Wolfe stood in the hall waiting for Taehyung.
'This is for your own good, Mr Kim.' Detective Wolfe said as he managed to cuff Taehyung's wrists.
Taekwon stood behind Wolfe and leaned around him to see his father, sobbing.
'Where are you taking him!' Taekwon screamed through his desperate tears.
'Kwonnie!' Taehyung yelled, 'don't be scared! Don't scare my son! Please!'
Wolfe raised an eyebrow at Taehyung before turning to the officers who had the same expression, 'Take him in.' Wolfe said as he ushered the officers down the stairs.
-
Taehyung laid in the white blanketed bed and stared at the ceiling.
It was quiet and he finally felt at peace, despite Taegeuk being missing he felt as though it was all over - he felt as though he didn't have to worry about anything anymore. A feeling that he had been longing for.
A knock on the door awoke him from his dazed state, 'Mr Kim,' a friendly male voice spoke with a smile as the door opened, 'it's lunch time, would you like to come to the cafeteria?'
Taehyung pulled himself up and smiled faintly at the man before nodding. The male nurse entered the room with a wheelchair and made his way over to Taehyung to help him out of bed.
He gently pulled the blankets off of Taehyung and inspected his leg, 'It's getting better, how do you feel?' The nurse asked.
'I feel fine.' Taehyung said faintly, his face was more pale and his lips were colourless, the life within him was slowly draining, as it had been for a while now.
'After you've had something to eat you can see your visitors.' The nurse smiled and helped Taehyung out of the bed and into the wheelchair, making sure his leg was stable.
'I have visitors? Who?' Taehyung asked as the nurse began to wheel him out of the room and into the white hallways. Other nurses were nearby, either checking medicine charts or escorting other patients to various areas of the hospital.
'You have quite a lot of friends, Mr Kim,' the nurse said with a smile as he pushed him down the hallway, 'there's about, four or five people here to see you!' The way he spoke was overly cheerful, as though he was talking to a child. Taehyung didn't mind his tone, but any more of it and he would soon grow annoyed.
'What about my son?' Taehyung asked, 'what about Taekwon?'
'Uh, hmm,' The nurse paused for a moment, still pushing the wheelchair, eventually pushing through a door into another hallway, 'I'm quite sure he's in a home for now, don't worry, he's being taken care of while we take care of you. You'll see him soon, Mr Kim.'
Taehyung nodded and leaned back into the chair, watching the lights run past him the further he got down the hallway. The smell of medicine was soon overtaken by the smell of food and plastic trays.
'Here we are,' the nurse exclaimed, 'now let's get you some food, you must be hungry! You didn't eat all day yesterday.'
Taehyung nodded, staying quiet. The nurse parked the wheelchair at a secluded table and fast walked over to grab a tray and some food, occasionally glancing back at Taehyung and shooting him a smile but mostly watching over him to make sure he was safe from the other patients.
Other patients sat at various tables spread out across the room, but one patient in particular had his eyes locked onto Taehyung. He could feel a pair of eyes burning into him and eventually found where the burning feeling was coming from.
A man sat three tables ahead of Taehyung, his spoon - full of soup - was frozen midway from the table and his mouth as his eyes just stared at Taehyung and his mouth gaping.
Taehyung shuffled uncomfortably in his wheelchair and his eyes desperately searched the cafeteria for the nurse that was getting his food. He was still waiting in line with the tray not even half full.
The man with the frozen gaze suddenly dropped his spoon into the bowl of soup, causing the spoon to hit against the bowl and send soup splatters all over the table, he got to his feet and proceeded to make his way towards Taehyung.
Taehyung silently hoped the man would leave or be taken away, but no such bliss was he blessed with.
The strange man approached the table Taehyung was sitting at and sat across from him. His hard dark brown eyes were piercing through the strands of dark brown hair that hung low over his eyes.
'I can see them.' The man spoke.
Taehyung's breathing picked up as his nerves began to grow even more frantic, 'W-what do you mean?'
'I can see them.' The man repeated.
'You can see who?' Taehyung asked, although he didn't want an answer.
'Them,' the man answered, 'they're all around you, I can hear what they're saying too. What they're saying is not nice.'
Taehyung gulped, who?
'What...what are they saying?' He dared to ask.
The man laughed and held their eye contact, 'You know what they're saying, you listen,' The man spoke with a twisted tongue and chuckled his way into a manic fit of laughter, 'you know! You know! You listen to them! You know!'
A few nurses heard the manic laughing and rushed to escort the man out of the room, he continued his loud protests all the way down the hallway before Taehyung couldn't hear him anymore.
The nurse taking care of Taehyung rushed back to the table with a tray of food and placed it in front of him, 'Here you are, Mr Kim, I'm sorry for making you wait so long.' He said with a worried smile.
'Thank you,' Taehyung said as he lowered his head, 'but I'm not hungry anymore.'
'But you haven't eaten for a while,' the nurse explained, 'are you sure you don't want to have just a little something to eat?'
Taehyung raised his dark eyes to the nurse, 'I'm sure.'
'Please, Mr Kim, at least have a drink of water then we can go to the visiting room to see your friends,' the nurse said with a smile, 'alright?'
Taehyung looked up at the nurse with heavy eyes, his arm stretched across the table and his hand gripped the plastic cup, squeezing out most of the water.
'I said I'm not hungry anymore.'
The nurse stepped back with eyes wide, 'Okay, let's take you to see your friends now, shall we?' He said as he pulled the wheelchair out from under the table and towards the door which lead to the hallway.
Taehyung's eyes were darker, through his eyes it became obvious that he was beginning to shatter from the inside out.
The nurse opened the door to the visitors room and pushed Taehyung in. More patients were scattered at tables with their loved ones, playing cards, reading magazines, doing puzzles, or watching the television.
The wheelchair came to a stop near a pair of couches where they sat, waiting for Taehyung. They straightened their backs at the sight of him and smiled at the nurse who then left.
'How are you feeling, Taehyung?' Yoongi asked as he took a seat across from him on the couch.
'Where's Jin?' Taehyung snapped.
Yoongi glanced at the others, taken aback by Taehyung completely dismissing his question, 'Jin isn't here, we still haven't seen him.'
Taehyung's eyes ignited like a wild fire.
'Taehyung,' Jimin said as he leaned forward, 'none of us have seen him, we went over to his house but only his wife was there and she didn't say where he went, she doesn't know where he went.'
Taehyung exhaled and closed his eyes before raising his hand to signal one of the nurses in the room.
'I'm ready to go.' He said as he avoided any more eye contact with them.
'Are you sure?' The nurse asked as he looked over at the others before returning his attention back to Taehyung.
'I'm sure,' Taehyung answered, 'just take me away, please.'
'As you wish.'