Timeless Snow ✓

Ch. 57 - Lightly

You had yet to tell anyone what happened while you were inside Mr. Bowers's home. You knew it made Taehyung feel unsettled, but you weren't ready to talk about it. Eventually, you would. It was three days since the funeral. You no longer saw Mr. Bowers again, you only ever saw him inside his home after the funeral. If he were a ghost, wouldn't you see him everywhere? Now, you were considering the possibility of ghosts now? It was become incredibly hard to pinpoint what reality that you were experiencing. One thing was solidified to you now, Kasey was real. Whether you were Kasey or not was still a coin toss. Somedays, you believed it. Other days, you believed you were going insane.

You had been given more art time, as Dr. Brown promised. It was something to look forward to, a way to distract yourself from your mind even if just for a short while. Setting up your work area, you had your paint ready and canvas in front of you. Pulling off the drop cloth, you feasted your eyes on your unfinished piece.

Your eyes danced over the figure of the man in the painting. His back turned to the viewer, he stood with a slump. His head hanging a low with his large palms shuffled into his pantsuit. So much had been going on that it slipped your mind you added to the painting. What the painted man stared upon made your body freeze up. He was staring at a gravestone. With the painted man's back turned, you had never painted a face. Never the less you could tell by the way he carried himself, it was a spitting image of Mr. Bowers. The grave lacked a name but you knew before you started painting who's named belonged on the stone.

The painting had been started weeks ago, you hadn't even known Mr. Bowers for more than two weeks, yet you painted him before meeting him. Picking up your paintbrush, you readied it in your hand before reaching for the paint. You tried to focus on your artwork, over the nagging questions inside your head. You just needed a break. Brush to canvas you lost yourself in the painting process.

Finally, you knew what the finished piece looked like, even before you were done with it. In the hour you had 'art-time' you managed to finish the piece. Mr. Bowers standing alone in a graveyard. He stood in silence, looking upon his daughter's grave. Putting the brush down, you gazed at your finished piece and took in a deep breath. Carefully you placed your fingertips over the painted man. How could you miss Mr. Bowers if you had only seen him twice, one time a possible hallucination.

There was always a sense of sadness when you finished a painting as if you were parting with a piece of yourself. But a renewed excitement replaced that dreary feeling, knowing that you could create a new idea and bring it to life. Grabbing the canvas you took it over to the art cabinets and set it down to dry for a few days. After that, it would be sent to Jimin's address before being sent to the apartment you shared with Taehyung. You couldn't ask the hospital to mail it to one of their coworkers. It just wasn't going to happen. Taehyung insisted he wanted to keep them all, your art wouldn't be wasted.

Closing and cleaning up you headed to the door with a few minutes to spare. You headed into the hall and waved down a nurse. You told her you were done with the art room, and you'd be heading back to your room now. Normally you'd wait for the escort back but you didn't wanna sit around waiting for the nurse to be on time. The nurse squinted her eyes before giving a hesitant "Okay".

Starting down the long white hall, you noticed a black blur from your peripheral vision. Alerting yourself to danger, you started to take odd turns to see if you were just imagining things. Looking behind yourself, you saw absolutely nothing except the stretching walls and endless marble floors. On edge, you headed for your room. Your pace was increasing without trying to attract attention to yourself. A ping of relief entered you as you could see your door in the distance. Grabbing the handle of your door, you yanked it open and quickly stepped inside, like a small child hiding in a cardboard box thinking it would protect them.

Shutting the door behind yourself you took in a deep breath. Little did you know the danger was already in the room with you. "Yoongi." You said with surprise as your eyes darted around the room to see if anyone else was hiding in the shadows. "Your memory is getting sharp." Yoongi laughed. He leaned against the opposite wall across the room, just under the only window in the room. "Hard to forget when you won't leave me alone." You hissed through clenched teeth.

Unexpectedly Yoongi pushed himself off the way and took a few large steps forward. With each step your chest ached, your nerves shook, and your mind raced. "I will never..." He hissed as his eyes narrowed in on you, adding to your unease. "leave you alone."

Your eyes rounded, your lashes fluttered trying to process what exactly that meant. His tone was filled with disdain and anger. "What?" You awkwardly blurted out. You needed answers now more than ever. "Why?" You added right after, tilting your head toward him as he stopped in the middle of the room. "What have I ever done to you?!" This time your words burst from your lips, forgetting to adjust the volume of your voice. Hopefully, no one was outside to hear it and based on the fact that nurses didn't come rushing in must have meant you were in the clear.

"I told you, Kasey." He addressed you by the name he assumed for you. "You had a job to do and you failed to uphold your end of the deal." Kasey. This all came back to Kasey. If you were to believe his words, she was the girl you were before this life. An eternity of lives you couldn't remember that stretched through history. You were going to be punished for Kasey's mistakes? Was that fair? Was it justice?

"Are you willing to risk Samuel and Nathanal's lives?" Yoongi asked as his head fell slightly to the left, his dark eyes so large they cover most of the white in his eyes. His silver hair displaced, shadowing his eyes. "If you continue to fight me; they will die." Straightening your posture a bit of bravery reared its head, the willingness to fight for the ones you love. Wait. "Who...?" You questioned.

"The names they had in their last life. Taehyung was named 'Samuel', and Jimin's former name was 'Nathanal'." His eyes rolled as if annoyed he had to explain such basic questions to you. It wasn't every day someone was confronted by death himself. Your brows raised, the information makes you take a step back and lean against the door. So, those times you had lost your witts and called Taehyung 'Sam'? Those episodes were just Kasey trying to connect with her love, Sam. Things were starting to fall into place, not that any of it made rational sense.

In a split second, he was right in front of your face. Only a few inches separated your nose. His eyes bore holes into your own, unbothered by the closeness like you were. Leaning your head back it hit the wall leaving you nowhere to run to. "Do not take my words lightly." He breathed, you could feel his hot breath on your skin causing you to shiver. You swallowed your empty throat and nodded quietly. "The clock is still ticking."