Perpetual Rain ✓

Stay

You weren't sure exactly how or why your feet carried you to the top of one of the many skyscrapers that littered the city of Tokyo, but there you were, standing just five feet from the ledge and staring down at a city you barely knew.

You were about sixteen stories up, gazing down at a sea of people that almost resembled ants from your height. It was well past midnight but the city was as alive as ever. One of the many places that never slept and only one of the hundreds you wanted to see in your lifetime. Though you'd never get the chance the others, well at least not in 'life'.

You couldn't see a single star in the sky over the beaming lights of the city. But something about the glowing neon lights brought just as much comfort as the star-filled sky. Not that you'd have even been able to see the stars over the grey ominous clouds that blocked out the sky and hid the moon from sight.

You stuffed your hands into your pockets to shield them from the wind that blew stronger from such feats. The soft smell of grilled meat found its way to your nose from the little street vendor standing on the corner of the building you were perched on.

A bittersweet smile spread across your lips as you remembered your trip to this same city five years prior. You and your best friend at the time, Alice, had raced from your school group to a shop a few blocks away, effectively getting lost in a sea of people and causing panic for the chaperones that had been assigned to watch you. There was a mini manhunt that included two Japanese officials trying to find two thirteen-year-old girls that were gladly stuffing their face with green tea mochi half a mile away. Needless to say, you two ended up being watched like hawks for the remainder of the trip. Worth it.

Taking a step closer to the ledge, you inhaled deeply. Maybe not the best choice given the smog, but what could really kill someone who was already dead? The entire city was at your feet and you hadn't the slightest idea of what to do with it. Maybe this plan wasn't as well thought out as you spontaneously thought.

But... maybe your parents felt a little more peace now? Just maybe, though there was absolutely no way of knowing for sure. Would they really be okay one day? Could they continue to be a family lacking the largest piece that kept it together like glue? Maybe they could adopt a teenager to fill the void. To ... replace you.

The thought caused your chest to tighten, the thought of being replaced. If it made them happy then you wanted that for them, but would they one day forget you? Would everyone whom you had ever connected with, one day erase you from their memory? For a moment, you regretted not making more connections in your life, not taking more risks, and spending so much time on things that seemed to be nothing but a waste of your eighteen years of life. You had never imagined it would end this quickly, though.

You began to feel the cold sting of something rolling down your cheek as your vision blurred, nose stuffed, and chest tightening along with your jaw. The rain served as a blanket to mask the tears that begrudgingly began to roll down your cheeks. Tears were for the weak, but who was there to judge you? Who could see you? Who would ever see you again?

You sucked short breaths through your teeth. Despite your solitude, you still tried so hard to force your own emotions back and bury them deep down like you always had, but you couldn't. You broke, the dams that kept the flood of human feelings back burst at the seams and shattered, crumbling to a thousand pieces and washing away with the rushing water that was the emotions you rejected.

Something dark lingered just at the end of that flood, however. Something you dreaded more than your self-wallowing. You felt that all too familiar spark ignite in your heart like an explosion from the most devious arsonist.

They were back. The hallucinations.

Your eyes snapped open wide in that split second. You could almost feel the wickedness consume your conscious like a virus. Darkness enveloping your vision so slowly, you watched as the city lights stretched further and further away. Your knees buckled, slamming into the rough roof of the skyscraper and soaking up the rainwater that served to chill your bones to their core. A last gasp was all you could consciously do before you were whisked away in a tormenting vision that you could not understand.

"Gregory, watch out!" You heard screams, the desperate screams of your mother as she called for your father.

The sound of tires squealing but failing in their attempts to stop the speeding car.

The unmistakable and unbelievable loud sound of metal scraping against hard metal followed only by a rush of mind-numbing pain that hit you like a train. Or rather, a semi.

You could feel your arm bend the opposite way, breaking at the elbow as your ribs concaved inwardly, puncturing your lungs and liver. Screams barrelled from your throat so loudly that they ripped at the muscles on their way. The only thing to heal them was the warm taste of your own blood as it forced its way up your throat and burst from your lips like a volcanic eruption, silencing your agonizing screams... at least outwardly.

Not even a second later, something pierced through your abdomen, skewering you like a human kabob in a fraction of a second. You could have sworn you felt your own stomach leave your body, but not before the acids contained inside spilled onto your lower intestines, making them burn hotter than any fire you could imagine. All you could do was focus on the pain. The unimaginable and colossal agony.

You wanted to scream, a natural instinct to alert those around you of your agony, but the blood choking your throat was too thick to allow any noise to escape.

"Y/N!" A horrific and terrified scream took the symbols of your name. You were finally able to lift your eyes, just barely, as they hung heavy like iron, hazed from the tears and forced nearly shut from the pain. You could make out the figure of a man, squeezed between the driver's seat and passenger's side, reaching out to you.

Large, calloused hands reached for your blood-stained face, engulfing your cheeks in a tight squeeze.

"No. No. No! Y/N, please!" The rustic voice riddled with heartbreak yelled as he roughly stroked your cheeks with this thumb, trying desperately to keep your head up straight as you were rapidly losing the strength to move at all.

"Dad...?" You tried to choke out, but the blood muffled your words, and all you could do was gargle on it. Was it even your dad? He sounded like him, at least you thought he did.

'Please ... please help me.' You inwardly begged, knowing the ability to speak was no longer granted.

The rain was growing in strength. You could feel your body shifting into hyperdrive, or maybe that was cardiac arrest.

'Make it stop, please. Just make it stop.' You begged, but you were the only one who could hear you anymore.

"Y/N, I love you! Please, stay with us!" You'd never heard your father sound so unbelievably desperate. He slapped at your cheek softly. "Baby-girl, you're strong. You can fight this! Don't give up on me!"

Your slit eyes glanced down, seeing a long metal rod as big as the foosball pole off to the right of Rose Bud park. It pierced your body clean through.

You saw your father's hands come into view, grabbing onto the pole in his adrenaline filled terror and give it a yank, unaware of the flood of suffering the slightest movement brought to you till you coughed up a pint of blood onto his hands and your eyes fell shut.

"Y/N, I love you! Please don't leave me! Not like this!" He was choking on his own words now, his voice cracking. You couldn't see his face, but you knew there were tears rolling from the eyes of the strongest man you knew.

'Make it stop, Dad. Please, anyone, just make it stop!' You tried to raise your head, wanting to release the screams that were trapped inside your soul, but as the pain increased, your body grew weaker.

There was only one thing, one thing you could think of that could end the suffering, that would put a stop to the endless circle of pain that was like the seventh level of hell.

"T-T...Taehyung..."