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school the next day had been anything but normal. mrs. sina filed the report for her son, in return fliers with bam's chubby face plastered on them were on every window, every tree branch, every classroom door. if people hadn't known who bam was, they knew who he was now. and it was all for the wrong reasons.
"kunpimook bhuwakhul, 16 years old, brown eyes, silver hair, responds to bam as well, last seen at star movies. reward, $500."
jaebum read through the description given to the general public and his mind raced with all of the things he could add. how bam's favorite book series was the chemical garden trilogy by lauren destefano, how his favorite movies were superhero ones, he raved about a new one coming to his theaters a mere week ago. it didn't feel right to smile at the thoughts, the pink haired boy suppressed every jolt of happiness entering his body and instead just stared into the still life in front of him.
the bell had rang, jaebum hadn't noticed, his earphones were blasting "dark red" by steve lacy. no one bothered to alert him, thousands of boot clad feet stomping their way into their 7-hour prison. maybe they saw the emotion of longing and need in his eyes as he wistfully looked at that damned paper, his fists clenched at the big crimson red letters that spelled out 'M I S S I N G' over a snow like background.
the melodic voice of the guitarist swiftly disappeared from one ear, jaebum quickly twirled ready to blow his top before seeing it was just youngjae. his gaze softened, traveling from the others screaming eyes to his crying lips. instinctively, his fingers reacted on their own, each joint working to caress the brunette's face softly, to catch the droplets of steaming water flowing down his cheeks.
and people stared, their gazes almost mocking, mirroring how pitiful the two males looked as they just stood and cried. but no one helped, bothered to even want to know everything, all they did was assume. you could tell from the way they glanced at the sign, frowned, and then whipped their phones out to type a message to their friends or even post something on social media in some sick way honoring his disappearance.
"i can't escape it bum, his face is everywhere. i'm tired of people speculating if he's alive or not. i just want this to all go back, i want bam back." jae sniffled almost soundlessly, the twitching of his nose giving it away. the couple had begun to walk inside the school, just walking to trig class since it was an emergency meeting in every class about bam and the life lessons of things involving disappearances.
last night the reports had just come out. televisions all across yeoldo being recorded on snapchat, the same photo of bam smiling in front of school being accompanied by crying emojis and "i just talked to him yesterday omg." half the people saying they talked to him probably only asked for a pencil and/or never really knew who he was excluding the fact he was best friends with 6 other guys.
it made the gang sick, seeing all of these people bandwagon on someone's misfortune to gain ten more likes out of pity. it made the gang feel worthless when people randomly touched their shoulders and gave them this stare that emitted sympathy. it made everything feel so much more real when all 6 including the 3 companions brought along visited the missing boy's locker which had been embellished with colorful post it notes, some teachers made their classes do it.
of course it wasn't going to bring or turn back time but it made everything much more set in stone. that out of thousands of young males in yeoldo that bam had been chosen to go missing. and it didn't make sense. none of it did. bam had never done anything to get kidnapped or go missing. he seemed too happy to just willingly leave.
"mr. bang gave me a hug when class was over, to say it was repulsive was an understatement." youngjae had been the first to talk at their new hang out, the garden, the only place where photos of missing people hadn't been placed.
"same with mrs. jong, i don't like all this extra attention." yug spoke, his nose crinkled up to show his distaste. jani stood beside the tall male, her fading red hair placed into a messy bun on top of her head. you could tell every few seconds she would inch closer, but the other one wasn't having it and instead would scoot closer to the wall as if he didn't even want to be seen with her. that greatly contrasted with yesterday when they had been holding hands but everyone knew the gist of why so there wasn't really any confusion there.
jinyoung and siyong were sitting on a single chair, big enough for the both of them. the most confident male of the bunch didn't even voice his own opinions as he usually did, only hid in his shell, which was his coat hood, and only answered with his eyes when siyong would question if he was okay.
jackson, blonde hair showing its roots, had been the only one along with alex that wanted to keep up with the case, always on their phones refreshing the news websites eagerly. nothing new had been added except an earlier curfew and a scheduled search party that only 2 out of 9 people wanted to attend. those two people being alex and jackson. but knowing their persuasive qualities the rest would give in and join them anyway.
"when i tried questioning bam's mom, she just told me to leave." mark quietly informed the rest as he breathed loudly, his lungs weren't at their best to hold their full capacity of oxygen. he couldn't sleep after last night, something had been wrong with that. maybe he hit a spot he didn't mean to or she was hiding something and pulled the victim card.
"why are you questioning a woman who lost her son? c'mon mark, we all wanna find bam but that's not right." jaebum warned mark as he got up and embraced him while rubbing his back. "i know this is taking a big toll on you, as it is to all of us, but we can't point fingers at each other without any evidence." sadly, bum was right, he needed evidence, evidence that gave them more information on his family life, anything.
"you're not the police mark, just stop." jinyoung's first words that day pierced the air. everyone quieted down at that statement waiting for the other's response.
"i know i'm not, but as bam's best friend, i want to help him. he didn't deserve this at all, no one deserves to go missing and as some of the last people to see him alive, i think we owe him that."
that was followed by the lunch ending bell, the crew once again splitting up to finish the school day.
note: woop woop this is my fave book,, there I SAID IT but it's underrated asf but i still love the plot and i spent so much time working on it and i come up with new things to add every day!! so thank you so much if you read my hard work,, it means a lot :)) okay bye <3
