I sit on a bench and although the sun shines on me, I don't feel the heat. To be honest, I don't feel much of anything, not even the bench under me. I'm not sure where I am, or why I'm here, but I find that I don't care that much.
A butterfly flits passed my face, its bright wings brushing my cheek. I smile, reaching out my hand for it, but it flies on, leaving me behind. I close my eyes and tilt my head back, letting the sun shine on my face.
"Hoseok."
I hear the voice, but it sounds far away so I pay it no mind. After all, I have no idea who this Hoseok person is. So I just keep my eyes shut, listening to the world around me.
"Hoseok."
Something stirs in my chest at the voice. Maybe familiarity? My mind wars with itself, the majority wanting to ignore the nagging feeling and go back to our blissful ignorance. But there's a little part that refuses to let me do that. Unable to slip back into my previous state of mind, I open my eyes slowly, giving them a chance to adjust. I sit forward, my gaze landing on him.
He stands before, a frown tugging his lips down. His blonde hair is disheveled, as if he just woke up. My eyes single in on the color, my eyebrows furrowing.
Where's the red?
I shake my head, unsure of what came over me. Why would I expect there to be red in his hair? Obviously it was blonde, it would be crazy to just put a splotch of red in it. But still the strange feeling gnaws at me, twisting my stomach in knots. I feel like I recognize him, but I'm not sure where from.
He stares at me, the intensity in his gaze unsettling. I stare back, unable to bring myself to break the eye contact. Sighing, he closes his eyes, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, further mussing it. Reopening his eyes, he takes in the park around him, before settling back on me. "Hoseok," he repeats, his voice deep. I can't help thinking that he sounds like he's tired. Is that how he always sounded or did he just need a nap?
He stares at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to answer him. I just tilt my head to the side, confused. "Are you talking to me?" I ask, surprised by the sound of my own voice. I hadn't needed to speak at all, and, before now, I wasn't even sure that I knew how to.
The boy groans, dropping to sit on the ground in front of me, his legs crossed over one another. He looks up to me, his gaze stirring something in me. Suddenly, the image of those eyes, vacant and staring lifelessly fills my head. My brows furrow, uncertainty filling me.
What the-?
Noticing the change in my demeanor, his expression changes, mirroring my own. "Are you okay?"
I want to answer him, to tell him that I'm fine. But his voice sends more images flitting into my brain, each one flashing for a second before being replaced by another: computer monitors, darkness, legs, baseball bat, blonde hair blossoming with red.
Pain flares in the side of my head and I cry out, reaching up to grip at my hair. I grit my eyes shut, trying to breathe through the pain, but even that seems impossible right now. Suddenly the pain stops as hands grip my shoulders. I open my eyes to see him standing there, his eyes watching me with concern. "Are you okay, Hoseok?" Something clicks into place.
Hoseok-that's me. I'm Hoseok.
"I, uh, I'm fine now," I say meekly, my voice shaky. He sighs, relieved, and drops back to his spot on the ground. I watch as he plucks the grass, briefly twirling in his fingers before releasing it to get another. It was such a normal, human thing to do. But, actually watching him sitting in front of me, playing with the grass, filled me with unease because- "You're dead," I point out.
He freezes, his eyes moving up to mine lazily. He quirks an eyebrow, a smirk pulling at his lips. "Wow, what an observation," he says, rolling his eyes at me.
I'm having a full blown panic attack and he thinks right now is the time to joke?
My mouth drops, shock overtaking me. "Th-This is serious!" I exclaim, throwing my hands up. He just watches me, his eyes glinting with amusement.
"Yeah, yeah. How do you even know that I'm dead?"
My mouth opens and closes, my mind searching for something to say. In the end, I decide to just go with the truth. What did I care if he thinks I'm crazy anyway? "Because I've seen it." His gaze on me never wavers and my stomach does flips, my anxiety rising. "I've seen how you die."
He nods, his eyes dropping to the ground. "You're right." He grabs a fistful of grass, ripping it from the ground. "I am dead."
I should be scared, I know I should. That was the rational response to this kind of situation right? Instead, I found myself immensely curious about the man sitting in front of me. "What's your name?"
"Min Yoongi," he says quietly, his focus on the grass in his hands.
How many times have I woken up, my heart racing, and wondered what his name was? Now I finally knew and the moment felt oddly anti-climatic. Laughs shake me, Yoongi watching me suspiciously. "What's so funny?" he asks, his eyes narrowing.
I wipe my eyes, taking deep breaths to calm myself. "Nothing, nothing. I just never imagined that I would be here." I look around me, at the empty park that surrounded us, at the sun that hadn't moved from it's place high in the sky. "Where is "here" anyway?"
Yoongi lays back, his arms out to his side, his eyes strained on the sky. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest." He folds his hands beneath his head, his eyes closing. I watch him for a moment, distracted by the sight of his dark lashes splayed across his pale cheeks.
"Am I dead? Is that why you're here?"
He peaks one eye open. "You're not dead," he assures me, avoiding the second half of my question. I open my mouth to call him out on it, but he speaks, cutting my train of thought off. "If I had to give this place a name, it'd be 'The In-Between'." He chuckles. "Sounds cheesy doesn't it?"
"It could be worse," I sigh, my eyes drawn to the pale sliver of skin poking out from beneath his white shirt. It gleams under the sun, like untouched snow, begging me to reach out and touch it. I squeeze my fists tight, fighting the urge. "Did you come to The In-Between when you-" I gulp, unsure of whether or not to continue. Luckily, Yoongi takes pity on me.
"When I died?" He sits up in one fluid movement. "Are you asking me if I came here when I died?" I nod, nibbling on my bottom lip. I swear his eyes glance there, but it happens so fast that I'm not sure. "No, I didn't come here."
"Where did you go then?"
"No where."
"No where?"
He groans, rubbing his hands down his face. "I'm not sure where I went, Hoseok. It definitely wasn't here though. It wasn't as-" He looks around the landscape. "bright as this place. It was pitch black, all around me."
It feels awkward, to be talking to him about what happened when he died. But I'm the one who asked the question, so I can't exactly back out of it now. "Was it scary?"
"No," he says, shaking his head. "It wasn't scary. I didn't feel anything, really."
I nod slowly, remembering how I had felt earlier: blissful, unaware. "What about after that? What happened then? How did you get here?" I ask the questions rapidly, not giving him any time to answer any of them before spitting out the next one. Yoongi looks away, his lips thinning as he presses them together. I watch him patiently, waiting for him to answer. After a few moments, though, it becomes apparent that he's not going to say anything. "Okayyy then," I huff, a little offended at his silence. I decide to move to a safer subject. "Why do you call it The In-Between?"
A bit of the tension in Yoongi's shoulders disappear, his body slouching as he relaxes. "Because it's like you're in between states," he explains. "Not fully dead, but not fully alive either."
My stomach drops at his words. I hadn't really thought about what had gotten me here, but now I found it strange that I didn't remember anything at all. "If I'm not d-dead, but not alive either, what exactly am I?"
"Sleeping."
"I'm sleeping?"
"Yeah." His eyes stare into my own, so far that I'm sure he can see everything about me. My fears, my insecurities, my soul. "You're sleeping, Hoseok. But it's time to wake up."
"What do you mean?"
The world around us flickers, fading away at the edges bit by bit, as if someone was taking an eraser and working their way in. Pretty soon it was just Yoongi and I left, nothingness surrounding us. I look around, panic rising in me. "What's going on?"
Yoongi stands, towering over where I still sit on where the bench used to be, somehow not falling even with nothing under me. "It's time to wake up, Hoseok," he repeats. His form flickers in and out of existence. Starting from his feet, his body starts to fade out, becoming transparent before disappearing completely.
Yoongi watches stoically as his body disappears out from under him, not a bit of panic showing on his face. That was okay, though. Because I was feeling enough to cover for the both of us. "Yoongi?" I stand and he gives me a reassuring smile, opening his mouth to speak. I reach out to him, my hand passing through empty space as the final remainders of him fade away, leaving only his words behind.
"Wake up, Hoseok."
