Under the sky in room 553

14

"Is that the end?" The child asked, stifling a small yawn. Evening was drawing in, and the sky outside their window began to gradually give its light away to darkness.

"Not really, but yes. For a while, he was happy." Soobin bit back a small smile. We were happy, was what he omitted from the child.

But it was like she knew, because immediately after, she asked. "With you, mister nurse?"

A hint of colour washed over Soobin's face at being put on the spot; by a somewhat three year old child, no less. "You can say so."

The child sat up from her sleeping position now, visibly excited. "Then, where is he now?"

The smile on Soobin's face dimmed. "He's with his happily ever after." This made the little girl frown in confusion, like she wasn't expecting the story to take that turn. "He's with the angel boy?"

Sighing, Soobin reached in to mess up the girl's hair. "He's not just with the angels. He's now one of them."

The child shrieked, displeased. "But how?"

But how?

Soobin can vividly recall asking himself the same exact question when it just happened. He remembered rushing to the park as soon as he saw the headlines that the alarming rate of autumn wildfire had reached the city. He prayed and prayed that Yeonjun wouldn't be there as his long legs took him to the location he dreaded, two steps at a time. Soobin had never run this fast in his life. He was hoping that he'd be proven wrong, and that the older male was just in the shower or something when he didn't pick up his phone thrice in a row.

He could barely catch his breaths when he finally halted to a stop, holding onto a street light pole to steady himself.

The only thing he saw was red. Red filled his vision. Red was reflected in the panicked gaze of his eyes. Red, angry as it rapidly consumed everything it touched, spreading like a pool of venomous blood. It painted everything crimson—the trees, the grass, the ferris wheel he saw from afar, the clock tower—as piles of thick, black smoke pummeled into the sky. Pedestrians were yelling, scattered about as they tried to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the burning park. Soobin was the only person doing the complete opposite.

The scene was awfully horrific, yet nothing felt nearly as terrifying as the way his guts sank into the pit of his stomach as his legs took him closer.

It was barely dusk, and sunlight was escaping them. Yet, the whole park was set alight, as bright as the sun itself; the wildfire sparing nothing in its destructive wake. As he desperately tried to peek through the gates that were now consumed in flames as well, he prayed and prayed.

Please, do not let him be under that maple tree.

Soobin's heart almost failed him when he successfully rounded the property, stopping at a spot that earned him a vague view of the giant maple tree inside. Perhaps he should work out more in the future.

Yet, in the next second, all thoughts were wiped clean in his head when he caught sight of a familiar pink-haired male, standing exactly where Soobin wished he wouldn't be.

There, Yeonjun stood, phone in hand as he stared at Soobin's last call going straight into his voicemail. How long had it been? Yeonjun was never good at keeping up with the time.

He only remembered coming to the park after finishing his last dance class of his shift at the academy, a guitar strung to his back as he walked the familiar route to his favourite spot. He'd only planned to spend some time in solidarity, playing a song to himself, and maybe watch the sunset for a bit before going out for dinner with Soobin. It would just be another day.

The date was March 13th. Yeonjun knew that he was not supposed to be so strung up over a simple date, but something inside him nagged. And thus, that something brought him here; under the maple tree where he would always celebrate Beomgyu's birthday.

It would just be a small revisit of the past. A little walk down memory lane.

Who would know that the memory lane was long gone, now replaced by a destructed trail of vivid flames? Yeonjun's little walk turned out to be something much more complicated than he'd anticipated it to be.

The fire started at the other end of the park. He had no idea how, nor was he paying attention; Yeonjun was busy learning the fingerstyle to Tori Kelly's newest song—but when the suffocating smell of smoke reached his nose, he immediately perked up in alarm.

It was a race between him and the fire. It spread so quickly, going from the furthest corners of his periphery to blasting right in his face just by the time he stood up. In the distance, he watched in shock as it consumed the ferris wheel—what was once lit by multicoloured fluorescent lights were now glowing in Mother Nature's signature orange. He was only able to take a few steps when the fire had already reached the clock tower, riling up along the antique concrete walls.

In hindsight, he should have considered not visiting the park when it was the most quiet. As he turned, making a slow spin; he realised that he was, yet again, the only person left in the property. Normally, he'd very much appreciate the sense of privacy that fact gave him—but now? He wasn't so sure.

It took him a second to finally see the irony. Then, instead of breaking out into paranoia; the male lightly chuckled. He could now see eye to eye with the scene playing out in front of him. He wondered if it was karma.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to Yeonjun that death would knock at his door just when he'd least expect it.

When the time comes. Distantly, a weak voice echoed through his head. Oddly, Yeonjun's tense shoulders relaxed. 

The next time he turned, he spotted a familiar figure outside the gate—one he'd seen almost every single day for the past five years, he could recognise him everywhere. He wasn't able to clearly make out the look on Soobin's face with the flames dancing between them, but he imagined it'd be his usual panic stricken expression.

For whatever reason, Yeonjun suddenly had the urge to look at the now crumbling clock tower. Just before the hands bursted in fire embers, he was barely able to read the time.

5:53pm—blue hour, the fragment of time between twilight and dusk, the bridge that was neither day nor night; where most supernatural things tend to occur. Yeonjun remembered reading up about this phenomenon during his sleepless nights. It only lasted a minute, and it was said to be a border where all things were possible. If it hadn't happened to him, Yeonjun would never believe in such absurd myths.

So, he turned the other direction, staring into the once green field that was now a deathly ring of fire. Yeonjun was only hoping with half a heart, but when he blinked next; he spotted exactly what he was looking for.

Who he was looking for.

Stood in the middle of the field as the wild flames licked at their feet, as if unaffected by it all—he stared at him with a smile. Yeonjun smiled back. It was probably the biggest smile that ever marred his face.

Like he wasn't afraid of anything in the world, the male stepped right into the fire—and closer to the only person he'd ever longed for. When the time comes, a muffled voice echoed in his head. It rang clearer now, and Yeonjun distinctly recognised who it belonged to.

On the other side of the gate, Soobin could only stare in horror as Yeonjun walked straight into the vivid fire, letting it engulf him whole until he was no more. It was the most devastating thing he ever had to witness, his breaths were knocked out of his lungs, heart shattered on the floor.

Yet, to Yeonjun, it was the most breathtaking thing he could ever hope for. "Are you finally here to pick me up, angel?"

Beomgyu only gave him an amused chuckle. "I didn't get to set this up, okay."

To walk straight into his death, welcoming him in the form of black smoke and endless trails of furious flames as the sun died behind them, with the love of his life standing on the other side—Yeonjun couldn't have asked for better.

He was twenty two. What a poetic way to die.