Don't Come Inside • Jungkook

xix.

Yoongi awoke to the sensation of never having awoken at all. He thought his eyes were open, but he couldn't see anything. But Yoongi wasn't much of one for dreaming.

This was real.

He winced as he realized that his left leg had cramped, only when he went to shift his position, he found that he couldn't move freely. He put his hands out, feeling along the planes as he determined that he was in a box of sorts, the sides composed of metal grating. He felt his throat constrict a bit at the thought, but he pushed it aside. He figured he had enough room to change his position if he moved several inches at a time, and he was slowly able to turn himself from lying on his left side to lying on his back instead, crossing his legs. His knees scraped at the sides.

"Yoongi?" a voice asked, and Yoongi became aware of the quick breaths coming from his right.

"Taehyung?" he asked, turning his head, but he couldn't see his friend's face. He couldn't even see the walls of the box he was in, but he knew them to be there. Still, it worked at his mind, propagating doubt of what he thought he knew.

"Yoongi," Taehyung said again, and Yoongi could hear the terror in his voice, sadness and fear of indefinable depth. "Yoongi, I can't breathe, I-"

"Shh," Yoongi said, recognizing Taehyung's rapid breathing and fear as signs of a panic attack. "You can breathe, Taehyung. Take deeps breaths. In, out. In, out. Okay? Is that better?"

"I don't know," Taehyung mumbled, and if he hadn't been crying before, then he certainly was now. "Jimin- and Hoseok-"

"Shh," Yoongi said, half to comfort Taehyung but also because he didn't want to hear the words himself.

"I'm stuck," Taehyung said after a moment, his breaths quickening once more, and in the darkness, they sounded all the louder, harsh exhalations scraping at the walls, desperately clawing at the concrete. "I can't- I can't move, I-"

"It's okay," Yoongi said, but as Taehyung mentioned the space confinement, he found his heartbeat quicken once more. He shut his eyes, finding it easier that way since opening them just caused his brain to panic over what it couldn't see. "Just move a little bit at a time, okay? Lay on your side so you can face me."

"I can't- I can't move, Yoongi, I-"

"You can do it," Yoongi said, trying to keep his voice firm for his younger friend. He knew how the maknae line looked up to him as a tough hyung. Even if he didn't feel very tough right now, even if he felt just as trapped and helpless as Taehyung did. "Turn a little bit at a time, okay? You can hear my voice, right? Just turn this way. I'm right here, I promise you."

Yoongi heard sobs mixed with shuffling as Taehyung slowly turned on his side, his limbs scraping against the walls as he shifted.

After about a minute, the shuffling stopped.

"Are you facing me?" Yoongi asked, hoping that Taehyung had been successful, that he didn't have to listen to his friend have a panic attack while being stuck in a box half a yard away from him.

"Yes," came a soft, tearful reply.

"Stick out your fingers," Yoongi said, putting his own through the grate, reaching towards Taehyung's voice.

A moment later, fingertips met his own, and Yoongi curled his fingers around Taehyung's, trying to hang on to him, squeezing to show him that he wasn't alone.

"Yoongi," Taehyung cried out once more, another sob breaking through as he squeezed back. "Jimin- Hoseok- they're dead."

Yoongi didn't say anything, but his lips fought a battle as they struggled to contain his expression, his eyes pricking as he squeezed Taehyung's fingers as hard as he could. Still, tears leaked out of his eyes, one at a time, each one heavily resisted as they pooled in the corners and fell.

"Yoongi, are we going to die?" Taehyung asked, his fingers weakening for a moment.

Yoongi didn't know.

***

He hadn't slept last night. Their manager had been calling him almost constantly as the company panicked, trying to locate their investments. His call log was full of missed calls and voicemails as frequently as every fifteen minutes. Jungkook had listened to the first of twenty voice mails but had never replied, too afraid of the consequences. The box with Jimin's hand was still sitting open on the table where he'd left it, and a new box was next to it, unopened, delivered just that day.

He didn't want to open the box.

He reached for his phone instead, sucking in a breath as it opened to the most recent tab, his chat with Jimin. He exited the message thread, just breathing for a moment before he opened the phone app and stared at the keyboard. End it, he had to end it, he was the only one who could.

1-1-2

"1-1-2, what's your emergency?" a calm female voice answered, the tone low and even. She probably listened to hundreds of these calls a day. She was probably sitting in a chair, tapping a pencil, waiting for her shift to end, waiting for the last emergency of the day. His emergency was just a two-minute conversation to her.

It was an unending nightmare to him.

"I need help," Jungkook said, breathing heavily. He wondered if it was really a 1-1-2 operator after all. Maybe she was fake, too. Another part of the game. "I- My friends are being hurt, I'm scared- they might be dead-"

"All right sir," the woman cut in, her voice precisely the same tone as earlier. Was she bored? This was a familiar fear to Jungkook from his life on the stage. Was he not enough to captivate an audience? "Can you please give me your location?"

"My what?" Jungkook asked, the blood draining from his face. His heart began pounding. It was funny how he never noticed his heart beating away in his chest until he felt like he was going to die, and then he was suddenly hyper-aware of each palpitation.

"Your location," she repeated, the words a little firmer. "So we can send someone over to you and make sure you're okay."

"No, it's not me, it's my friends that need help-"

"We're just following protocol," she said. "We'll send help to your friends as well. But sir, can you please give me your location first."

"No," Jungkook said, clutching his limbs closer to his body, minimizing his form into a small ball as he attempted to hide from a person he could not see. "No, you can't- you can't come here-"

"Sir? Are you all right?" she asked, her voice slightly agitated. "We can trace your call if you're unable to tell us your location. Please just stay on the line for a few more seconds and we can-"

Jungkook hung up, staring in alarm at his call history, the 26 second call to 1-1-2 at the top of the list in black. The thought of people, finding him, tracking him, forcing themselves into his apartment-

He let out a whimper as he hunched down against the ground, knees drawn into his chest, arms encircling them, phone dropped on the floor. He crawled his way behind the couch, hiding in the small crevice between the back of the couch and the wall, rocking back and forth.

No, he had to remain hidden, he had to remain safe. He couldn't go outside, and no one else could come in. He needed to- he needed to-

He needed to breathe, first off. He sucked in a desperate breath that got caught in his throat, coughing painfully before he attempted a second, slower breath. Then he crawled out from behind the couch, taking a few more forced breaths before picking up his phone and stopping once he saw the notifications.

Jimin
Jimin wants to video chat
1m ago

Jimin
missed video chat
now