Louder than Bombs

Breaking

warning: blood and major character death

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Taehyung couldn't sleep. Pictures flashed in his mind.

***

The sun was high in the sky. Inside, there were no air conditioners and it was sweltering. Taehyung could tell that Jungkook was uncomfortable, even though he didn't say anything.

There was no medicine, no medical equipment, nothing. They had been promised it a few weeks ago but the shipment hadn't come in. There was no guarantee when it would come. But Jungkook needed help now.

His face was ashen gray. Taehyung could hear him wheezing with every breath.

***

He swore he could hear Jungkook's wheezes in the rushing wind outside. His whole room had been engulfed in shades of gray. Just like Jungkook's face. Just like Jungkook had looked when he had last seen him.

***

"Sit up."

Jungkook couldn't do that by himself. Taehyung watched Namjoon help him sit up as he coughed and coughed. Taehyung grimaced. Every single cough sounded painful. He leaned forward to check Jungkook's temperature. It was too hot. His hair was glistening with sweat.

Namjoon exchanged a panicked look with him.

Taehyung shook his head. Jungkook kept coughing. He coughed up blood. It spattered over his lap and onto the sheet. Taehyung heard Namjoon inhale sharply.

There was nothing to wipe Jungkook's mouth with. It kept dripping down, drop by drop from his lower lip.

***

Taehyung had borrowed his bedsheets from his parents. This one's design had big roses all over it. In the dark, the red roses looked like big pools of blood. He shuddered. He felt like he was Jungkook. When he glanced up, he saw Namjoon and his own self staring back at him, horror in their expressions.

***

Namjoon put his arm around Jungkook's shoulders and tried to shake him awake.

"Eat, just a little-"

Taehyung was interrupted with Jungkook's groan. He put his head on Namjoon's shoulder, his eyes half-closed. He was breathing quickly.

The food forgotten, Taehyung reached forward to check his forehead. Namjoon's eyes were wide.

"Jungkook!"

His breathing was growing quieter.

Taehyung shook him. Namjoon did too. Maybe if they shook Jungkook hard enough, he would come back to them.

But he didn't. His head lolled back and his body went limp. Namjoon clung onto his waist.

"Jungkook, wake up, Jungkook!"

There was a deafening silence. Others in the makeshift ward curiously glanced over. Taehyung could feel their gazes burning into his back.

He felt tears spring to his eyes.

***

One by one, he let them fall.

It had been so long and he felt like he was never going to get over it. He was still trapped in that ward, the world falling away around him. He knew Namjoon was dealing with the same thing.

------

Slowly, slowly, the years passed. Yoongi found his anxious mind starting to calm down. He tried to keep in touch with the others as best he could, but his life started to move on too. He got a better job opportunity and moved out of the area. His old life became a thing of the past. He was moving on, but everyone else remained static.

Jimin and Jin and Jungkook looked the same in all the pictures.

------

"Who are they?"

Yoongi whirled around. He hadn't realized that there were people behind glancing at his laptop. His wallpaper was the picture the seven of them had taken together, nearly eight years earlier. Hoseok was fourteen in it. He had a grin on his face as he sat at Namjoon's feet. Jimin and Jin were next to each other. Jimin was smiling, Jin wasn't. Jungkook was in the middle. Yoongi and Taehyung were off to the side.

And now, his coworker was staring at it carefully.

"Oh, those were my friends, we... yeah."

"Ah."

Yoongi followed his gaze to Jungkook's face. He felt tears well up in his eyes. Taehyung had told him the story many times before and it still made him cry. Poor Jungkook. He hadn't deserved that.

"I've seen him in the news before. Was he, was he by any chance, involved-"

"Yeah, yeah, he was."

"Oh." There was an awkward pause before he added, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Yoongi nodded. He couldn't stop a few tears from running down his face. Eight years ago, things had been so different. He missed his best friend. He missed his hometown.

But he had to carry on as usual, acting like nothing bothered him. He couldn't be a mess like he had used to be.

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its been like two days of school and its already too hard

743 words