❝I just want to be whole again.
Maybe the four boys beside me can help.❞
One lost his parents.
One lost his childhood pet.
One lost his first love.
One lost his brother.
One lost his memory.
But can they find healing, through each other?
The...
At sunset, a letter comes delivered from none other than a carrier pigeon. It lands among the campground with a small letter in its beak. After a few short chirrups, and Huening Kai cooing in return, the bird takes off, gliding back to its sender.
The anticipation in the air is a thick smoke, so Yeonjun decides to unfold the piece of paper before tensions rise even further. The letter is from Taylor, her signature cursive gracing the center of the page.
Dear members of TOMORROW X TOGETHER. I know this may seem like a surprise, but I believe you're ready to test your abilities and love of performing. By the beach, prepare for an audience of twenty. Pick one song you're comfortable with. Oh, and don't forget the bonfire!
Yeonjun repeats the content of the letter, but it isn't until everyone has had the chance to stare at it for several minutes until reality sinks in. Worry rises like a steady tide, seeming to latch onto their ankles. The sun is already disappearing, and Taylor expects them to perform for an audience in less than five hours?
"What are we going to do?" says Beomgyu. "This is our first time performing as a group, and we don't even have an instrument."
To make their task even more real, a delivery comes soon enough by one of Taylor's body guards. He walks into the boy's camp with sunglasses and black attire. Without saying a word, he delivers an instrument in a leather case, along with a small set of matches. Yeonjun can't help but wonder why the carrier pigeon was needed, but he shakes his head and decides to accept Taylor's whimsical ways.
"A guitar!" Beomgyu shouts with joy, seeming to jump several feet from the ground. He heads to open the case and gasps. "This is just what we needed. Wah, it's such a beautiful Martin!"
As Yeonjun holds the matches in his hands, he gasps while being overcome with a flood of images. He holds his skull while the bright colors overtake his vision, the memories of the past filling his mind. Of course! He may have forgotten, but he did in fact go camping before. He must have been around thirteen when he and his parents went to the Malaekahana Beach Campground. It was only for a few days, but Yeonjun filled his hours with adventuring through the beach, stuffing himself with s'mores, and admiring the stars in the coolness of the sand under midnight.
"Guys!" he shouts, while Beomgyu begins to strum a few simple chords. "I think I know how to make a bonfire. It just came to me that I've been camping before."
"Great!" Beomgyu says, his eyes wide with adrenaline—the prospect of a late-night performance. "Soobin, how should we go about this?"
"We all need to practice together, that's for sure." Soobin dwells on the thought with his head cocked like a parakeet's. "But Yeonjun, maybe you can gather the materials while we're still discussing?"
More memories return as Yeonjun heads to gather the firewood. He separates the kindling, tinder, and firewood and places them in separate piles near the rusty wagon. As he does so, he remembers his other camping experience. He thinks about how happy he was to finally have a perfectly-roasted marshmallow. The sweetness, mixing with the slightly bitter chocolate, is a taste he's glad to recall. That night, his father had said something about Yeonjun's dreams, as he prepared to advance to high school.
"Son, I'm happy you dream of being a singer," he had told him. Gusts whipped into their tent, as they didn't properly face it away from the windward side. "I want you to know that I believe you have the talent within you. No matter how many years it has to take, I want you to keep going."
"I know it'll be hard," he had mumbled. "But what if I work so much and I don't even get anywhere?"
His dad took a few moments to think. Yeonjun's mother was already sleeping, and his dad took a few moments to sweep away a few stray bangs across her forehead. The image was so delicate, a picture of true love and care that has lasted close to twenty years.
"Every moment," his dad started. "Every moment that you work on your craft, it isn't a waste at all. When you make new raps every day, that's progress you should be proud of. There's no such thing as a dream giving up on you. The only time when you actually fail is when you make the choice to stop moving forward."
As Yeonjun gathers the final piece of firewood that he believes will be sufficient for the night, he joins the boys again and offers input for the performance. "So we're going to do "Over and Over Again" by Nathan Sykes?" He's met with an adamant nod by his four teammates. "I have... a rap that I've been working on. Maybe I can add it in somewhere?"
"Right before the bridge?" Soobin suggests, and the thought is met with collective approval.
As they continue to work, Yeonjun can't believe he remembered so much—it's the most he's regained since his memory was stolen from him. Perhaps the talk with his dad was fated to return to him. Despite losing most of his high school years, the most important moments will rise again someday, like precious stones emerging from the dust.
A/N: Their first performance comes in the next chapter! Let's see how they all do. I'm so excited to see where Camp Heartbroken will take us next :).
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