SWEETEST THING

구 (9)

Jeonghan woke up with a groan. Head pounding heavily and body pained from everywhere. He tried to sit up but only ended up groaning in pain. Next he tried to open his eyes, hissing when the pounding on his head got louder as he did so. He successfully opened his eyes and is immediately greeted by darkness.

It took him a second to adjust to the darkness and tried to move again only to feel the soreness throughout his body. He moves his legs, sighing in relief that it was not tied up or something. Using his legs, he shifted himself into a sitting position, leaning his back against the wall with a groan.

The pounding on his head was getting worse and he could feel himself start to panic. He could barely remember what happened but he could still feel the sensation of being grabbed, being overwhelmed, and losing all his strength. It's the most terrifying feeling ever.

Jeonghan could feel his heart racing and body shaking. He pulled his knees closer to his chest and buried his head between them. He needed to calm himself down as having a panic attack would only make things worse than it already is. He took a few deep calming breaths and focuses on calming down his heart as well.

A few more deep calming breaths and Jeonghan finally felt better, he was more at ease this time and his mind cleared enough for him to focus on finding a way to escape. He lifts his head, eyes finally adjusting to the darkness.

He could make out shapes of different objects but not enough to tell him where he was. It was just too dark and so Jeonghan decided to use his other senses. He sniffed from side to side, forehead creasing to a frown at the awful smell in the room. It smelt like wet socks or something. 

There was also a faint smell of bleach that comes and goes. Not wanting to give up, Jeonghan sniffed some more and this time smelt something metallic, a strong one at that. And not just any metallic object, Jeonghan recognizes it as the smell of blood.

Eyes widening in shock, Jeonghan immediately checked on his own body for any injuries, sighing in relief when he found none. But the smell still left him unsettled, someone else was bleeding.

Jeonghan tried not to panic and stay focus, with all the strength he could muster, he pulled himself up from the floor into a standing position, leaning against the wall for support. He calmed his breathing while also thinking of a way to navigate through the darkness.

He then remembered something and using his bounded hands he quickly searched for that object in his pockets. His mind chanting a cheer when he found it, he pulled it out of his pocket and turned it on. The screen displayed his wallpaper along with the time and date.

But that could wait, he needed light and so he fumbled through his phone until he found the flashlight. He turns it on and it illuminated the room just enough for Jeonghan to recognize it as the teachers' lounge. With shaky but cautious steps, Jeonghan began to walk around the room, his mind focused on locating the source of the metallic smell.

He quietly crossed the room and saw a gym bag lying on the floor, it was the source of the wet sock smell but not the one he was looking for. He kicked the bag aside and continued walking until he notices a couch that was oddly misplaced. He was about to approach it when loud footsteps echoed from the outside.

Jeonghan hid behind the nearest spot he could find, held in his breath as the footsteps got louder and closer, he then remembered his flashlight was still on and he scrambles to turn it off. He turned it off just in time as the owner of the footsteps peeked into the room with his own flashlight.

The light moved around the room for a couple of seconds then it was gone and the owner of the footsteps started walking away. Jeonghan finally could breath again. He thought he was going to get caught but miraculously he wasn't. He thanked the heavens for that.