Free Will

Slip Up

 Breathe.

He could do that, couldn't he? Jimin could remember to breathe, he could remember to open his airways, to raise and lower his chest, to allow air to enter through his mouth and leave through his nostrils to improve his breathing. Jimin could do that, he's doing it right now.

But right now he's not trying to buy something from the street vendor to his left, as he would soon be.

Gods, this is pathetic, isn't it?

He's an adult, and he even knows this man, is it really so hard to walk up to him and buy some produce? Apparently so, as his feet turn to led the moment he makes the decision to step forward. But Jimin had made the decision, and he had enough sense to know that if he didn't buy food now he would starve.

Jimin may be stupid but he's no fool.

"Hello Chim!" The kind old man smiles, accenting his heavy wrinkles. "You're looking thin. What do you want on this lovely autumn day?"

"What's in season, sir?" Oh no, is his airway closing?

"Apples. Nuts. Corn. All the same, you know this Chim."

"Ah, yes, I guess I do." He hesitates and checks the amount of money in his pouch. "Can I have two apples and a small bushel of nuts? Please"

"No wonder you're so skinny! You barely eat!" The elderly man scolds him as he collects Jimin's money and hands him his goods. "You need to get more food in your body Chim! Start taking care of yourself before I invade that hermit hut of yours, eh?"

"Oh, of course sir. Thank you sir."

The man glances over Jimin's shoulder and makes a face. "Don't look now but we've got a few strangers in town. They came in yesterday and bought enough from us vendors to feed a small army." Jimin glances over and sees two tall men enter the apothecary. "Guess they need to supply their army with medecine, too."

Jimin's eyes widen in surprise. "Do they actually have an army?"

"Probably not." The man admits.

He bites his lip "Then... shouldn't you be glad for the business?"

The elderly man smiles at Jimin and ruffles his hair. "Oh, believe me, I am. This money will help me get through the winter while my good for nothing son lies on his ass. I just want to know who they are, and why they need so much food."

"I'm sure their reasons are good." He clutches his food closer to himself, hoping that these strangers haven't come to the peaceful little down with the intention of destroying people.

The man notices his concern and chuckles softly. "Don't fret, Chim, if they were really bad people they would've just taken the food without paying. Maybe even slit our throats."

Jimin's eyes widen. "That's not actually gonna happen here, is it?" He whispers, frightened.

"Oh, oh no. Of course not, Chim. I was just joking. Don't listen to an old man like me." He says frantically.

The strangers exit the apothecary and begin walking towards the street vendors. Jimin takes this as his cue to leave.

"Thank you for the food, sir." Jimin bows swiftly before turning in the opposite direction of the strangers and hurrying out of the area.

Jimin lives far away from town. Far away from people. It's not that he doesn't like people, in fact he loves them. He loves how passionate they are about things they enjoy- or about things they hate. He loves how they seem to care so deeply for people other than themselves. He's seen humans die for each other, and kill for each other. Human are loyal to a fault. Not a day in their presence is boring.

It's just that he's not one of them. Whatever Jimin is it's not human. They made sure of that. He doesn't fit in anywhere, so he's stopped trying.

Jimin's mind returns to the strangers he'd seen in town. Now that he's not in such close proximity to the he can actually think clearly. Those men didn't seem evil, just unknown.

Gods, he thinks, why was I so afraid of them?

He wasn't always this shy. When he was younger he was incredibly outgoing, he made friends with everyone he met. Jimin was the world's golden child, until he grew up and gould no longer be called a child. He lost the 'golden' part of of the title not by default but by his own doing.

Jimin shakes those thoughts out of his head, physically, and that's where he messes up. Jimin lives up near the top of the mountain that the town lies at the base of. Up here the paths are narrow- easy to fall off of -and ice over long before snow reaches the bottom of the mountain.

Shaking his head momentarily disorients him, and instead of looking down at the path as he normally would he steps forward without thinking. He's met with slick ice and doesn't even have a second to think before he's falling. Not onto the path but off of it, and down the mountain. Jimin rolls uncontrollably and only stops when his body is met with a tree.

He must have hit his head somewhere along the way because he feels a warm liquid on his forehead and everything seems blurry. Jimin tries to focus on something, tries to use his gifts to heal himself, but he's to out of it to think straight.

He expected there to be some sort of bright light he's supposed to see before death takes him but it's just darkness. I guess... I'm different from humans in this way too, Jimin thinks before drifting away.