Amnesia

XXIII.

 Remington and the seven boys of BTS were sitting on the edge of the cliff. Their feet were dangling over the side, but none of them were afraid. Instead, they were all quite happy. A bag of hard cherry candies was going around, and everyone was laughing at Seokjin's angry expression every time Taehyung or Jeongguk would spit one of the candies at him. Seokjin looked ready to push one of them off the ledge.

A warm summer breeze was keeping the air fresh and made the water below them ripple gently and kept them from getting too hot under the bright sun.

It was beautiful. It was peaceful.

Until someone asked.

"Wait, where are we?" Namjoon asked.

The question made everyone look up, and almost everyone looked around for the first time, as if realizing where they were.

Seokjin stared at Remington. "Wait, didn't you go home?" He paused. "Didn't we go home?"

Remington was going to go to hell. "Yes," she said.

"How did we get here?" Jimin asked. "And where is here?"

Remington took a deeper look at the surroundings and the bag of candies. Cherry. "Door County, Wisconsin, I think."

"But it's nice out," Namjoon said.

The realization dawned on them one at a time. Well, except for the guilty one and Remington. Both of the guilty people.

"You didn't," Hoseok said.

Remington said nothing.

"It was my idea," Jeongguk said.

"Shut up, Kookie," Remington hissed.

"It was!" he protested, doe eyes wide. "I mean, it wasn't my idea to take the drug. But it was my idea that we all share it."

"You stole it?!" Seokjin yelled, jumping to his feet and glaring at Remington. Then he glared at Jeongguk. "And you injected us with it?"
"No," Remington said calmly. "I analyzed Amnesia and found out how to recreate it, and create it to be both in a liquid form and in a vapor. You breathed it in. I did too."

Someone started laughing. It was Yoongi. He began laughing hysterically, giggling until there were tears falling from his eyes.

"Somebody's lost his marbles," Remington said.

"You guys are insane," he wheezed. "We're insane. We're crazy. This is crazy. I love it."

"What," Seokjin deadpanned. He had never looked so disappointed in his oldest dongsaeng.

"This drug mindfucked us for several days," Remington said. "But we can use it for good. We can use it to create."

They didn't like it. They being Seokjin, Hoseok, Jimin, and Taehyung. It was easy to see that Namjoon was interested in the idea, but didn't want to say that explicitly in case Seokjin turned on him too.

"Look, you don't have to stay. Any of you. You can jump off this cliff now, wake up, and never experience Amnesia again." She paused. "But at least think about it."

Seokjin glanced down at the water far below, the others watching him. They were obviously watching him to decide what to do next. Finally, he spoke. "I guess I've never spoken English this well before. Might as well use it."

Jimin smiled, then his face fell. "The doctor is dead. Someone murdered her."

Remington nodded. "You're right. This isn't over yet. We still have a lot of things to figure out."

"We can figure it out together," Namjoon said.

Remington was floating. She was happy. This is what she had wanted to feel for years. And if it required Amnesia to feel like that, then that was a price she was more than willing to pay.

That was a price she would always be willing to pay.

Remington stood up, laughing. This - she could live with this. She could thrive with this.

She stood, feeling the entirety of the rock below her. It may have not been a real cliff; maybe they weren't even really together.

But it felt like it, and that was all that really mattered. It felt like it, and it felt like they had nothing to fear.

And just to prove that they had nothing to fear, Remington laughed, then began running. She ran until the rock was gone from beneath her feet, and she was flying through the air.

Falling through the air.

~~

THE END

BOOK TWO: INSOMNIA COMING SOON