Earphones• Vkook

34

Yoongi sits on his bed in his room, he sits there, wondering if he should ice his bruises but then realized ice can't take away what has already been done. Unlike what school nurses want us to believe.He just got home from the hospital a few minutes before, no-one else is home they wouldn't be for a while his parents went on vacation and he's left alone.The walk out of the hospital gave him anxiety, scared he looked too much like a member of a gang. He wouldn't make eye contact with anyone, he wouldn't even let Taehyung and Jungkook walk with him, he told them not to worry and sent them on their own way. Jungkook took Taehyung home before going back to Namjoon's leaving Taehyung alone in his apartment to relive the horrible past few hours. 

 Yoongi lays down on his bed, thoughts cross his mind. Should he show up to school tomorrow? Its Friday anyways, could he get away with just staying home? Yoongi closes his eyes and envisions Taehyung walking, in his school uniform, he's walking down the side walk, Yoongi smiles at the thought. He falls asleep and continues his thought in his dream. 

Taehyung walks down the street and Yoongi goes to wave, but then see's Jungkook run to catch up to Taehyung. Yoongi slowly lowers his arm still smiling at his two friends but he can't be seen in their vision. He decides not to bother them, but he can't help but notice a group of guys also in school uniforms coming closer behind Taehyung and Jungkook. He can't look away from them. Jungkook notices him and waves. 

"Yoongi!" He says happily waving him over. Yoongi smiles but doesn't go to move. 

Taehyung waves him over and he feels an urge to go but he can't. He shakes his head no and Taehyung and Jungkook look disappointed. Yoongi notices the guys behind them are gone. Then he looks at Jungkook and realizes he's no longer at Taehyung's side. Like a hand went down into the world and picked up Jungkook and placed him somewhere else. Taehyung doesnt react, he stands still. As if he is frozen in time. Yoongi then moves towards him slowly. Taehyung isn't blinking or even seems to be breathing. 

"Tae? Taehyung?" Yoongi questions and he hears a noise of something hitting the pavement. He looks behind Taehyung's frozen shoulder, the group of guys are back and so is Jungkook. Jungkook on the floor. They are now frozen, a guys hand grasped on Jungkook's shirt, his other hand in a fist in the air about to hurt Jungkook. 

"No!" Yoongi screams as loud as he can. He wants to go hug his friend on the floor but can't move instead he wraps his arms around Taehyung. 

"Don't look behind you, don't do it" Yoongi pleads to the frozen person he has his arms around. Everything is still and silent. No one moving. Yoongi realizes nothing is right, he lets go of Taehyung and tries shaking him. His body lifeless, he shakes it over and over again and when he stops Taehyung is right in the place he started in. He looks around and notices Jungkook isn't bleeding but has red blood on his white shirt. 

Yoongi blinks rapidly confused. He looks again at Taehyung and notices, he's no longer wearing his school uniform but a dark blue shirt and light blue jeans, his hair down covering his eyes, restricting his only way to communicate with the world. 

Yoongi notices one of the guys in the group move and he throws himself at Jungkook. He closes his eyes tightly as he cover's his best friend, he tugs at the arm attached to Jungkook's shirt trying to remove it. 

"Get away" he mumbles but even though everyone was stuck in time, lifeless the grip was tight.

The wind picks up and Yoongi feels the air turn cold and he flinches wondering if everyone will start moving.

Jungkook blinks and Yoongi feels a punch in his back.

"When did you get there?" The guy who just punched him asks but he doesn't answer, He turns his head to the left, not paying attention to the fact he just got punched.

"Taehyung, run" He yells then realizes his message didn't reach Taehyung. Taehyung walks ahead slowly. 

"I can handle this, run take Taehyung away from here" Yoongi says, the guy already lost his grip on Jungkook's shirt. Jungkook without objection gets up and runs, he grabs Taehyung and signs to him words Yoongi doesn't understand a language Yoongi doesn't get. They take off leaving Yoongi behind. 

"You saved them, but why? When will they save you? Yeah Jungkook calms you down, and yeah Taehyung is a great listener, but he can't even hear, how do you know he's listening" Yoongi looks up to the guy, his face changes, Taehyung watches as the facial features turn to ones more familiar to him. The guy turns into him and now he's face to face with himself. The other guys who were there for decoration left. 

"They would leave you" His mirror self says, "They wouldn't!" Yoongi yells 

"But they just did" 

"I told them to" Yoongi says 

"But you didn't want them to go"  

"I told them to" Yoongi repeats and his mirror self laughs. 

"You're just a punching bag, a shield" 

"I am not!" Yoongi yells 

He jolts up in his bed, scared he looks around to see his dark room. 

"Just a dream, you're not a punching bag" He says and he gets up from his bed and goes to brush his teeth. He looks up at the mirror, tooth brush in hand. He looks at all the marks on his face, all the shades of colors where bruises lie or will lie. 

"You're a shield, a good friend" He thinks but his reflection reminds him of his dream twin. He shakes the thoughts and puts tooth paste on his tooth brush. He brushes his teeth and not once looks up into the mirror.