𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. | BTS |

chapter 99 ~ 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒕

CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE, WEAPONS, MENTIONS OF BLOOD, ABUSE, & ANGST

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       I hadn't gone to sleep all night. I couldn't go to sleep. Almost every other hour, Yura would wake and pull back from my side to gaze down at me through the darkness. I could feel his eyes burn into me as tingles raced down my back, but kept quiet, hugging a pillow to my chest and pretending it was the body of one of the others pressed reassuringly up against me. Now, it was almost eight or so in the morning. I couldn't really tell; the bedside alarm and clock were missing since I'd last been in the room and all I had to go by was the position of the sun outside the window.

      Now was my chance. Yura was fast asleep on his back, snoring up a storm so loud I felt tears prick my eyes purely out of annoyance. How had I put up with him for three years? I thought back to last night past the fogginess of my exhaustion to each of the doors I'd passed through. There was a single lock on the bedroom door. I could slip out unnoticed if I lifted myself carefully from my position on the edge of the bed. It was the front door I had to worry about. Relying on only my hearing that night, I'd found that there were at least three chain locks added to the deadbolt that already existed. I could easily slip out of those, but it was time that I was worried about most. I had to act quickly, and it had to be now.

       With my breath held, I carefully leaned forward from off of the bed, balancing on the tips of my toes as to not add extra pressure to the floorboards. I glanced behind me to find Yura still fast asleep, but my eyes couldn't help but find the gun placed peculiarly on the edge of his nightstand. It glistened with his fingerprints in the sunlight. I remembered the feeling of it pressing deep into my temple and the small of my back as he forced me home with him; I shook those thoughts aside and concentrated on getting out.

       I made it to my feet and tip-toed towards the bedroom door. I listened to the sound of Yura's deep breathing as I silenced my own, resting my fingertips on the doorknob and turning it slowly. It creaked at first and I bit back a sob of fear, tingles racing up my back as I glanced over my shoulder. Thankfully, he was still asleep and I managed to squeeze through the small gap between the door and its frame and slip out into the living room.

        I didn't dare let out a sigh of relief no matter how badly I wanted to. My gaze quickly snapped over to the front door where stacks of old books, bags, and DVDs towered around the sides, about to topple over at any second. Sure enough, there were three latches bolted poorly to the door frame. I padded over to them and slipped my finger around the edges of a single silver latch, gently tugging it out of place and letting it dangle before the rest. 

       I was so close. Only two more latches and a deadbolt before I could race out into the street and head as far away from Yura's apartment as possible. I undid another latch and inhaled a shuddering breath. My hand dropped down to the deadbolt and I slowly flipped the lock. The door seemed to jerk inward and it released an audible pop that made me freeze up completely. A whimper slipped from my lips as I felt something loom behind me but I didn't turn around. Before I could even comprehend what I'd done, something slammed down on my neck and sent me to the floor.

       "I thought you'd be smarter than this, Yumin!?"

       I groaned in pain as I clasped my hand down on the nape of my neck. Blinking up through blurred vision, I found Yura standing above me with his gun gripped too tightly in his dominant hand. His chest heaved with anger and he stooped low to spit in my face.