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He opened his eyes and stared at the white ceiling. Felt like he has had a strange dream. He sat on the bed and looked around the room, the white silk sheets on the bed he was sitting, a mirror with white borders hanging on the wall and on the left side of the mirror, a clock, it was 08:30 am. A dresser, also white, was leaning against the wall on his right. There was only one window - it was closed, half-open white curtains. He didn’t knew where he was. He stared at the gray and cold walls trying to remember what was that place and what he was doing there. Tried to remember the last week: nothing. Tried to remember the last day: nothing.
Where did his memories go?
Jeon Jungkook got up from his bed already feeling desperate, since he could remember literally nothing. The only thing he knew was the basic information about himself like his name, age and birthday date. He looked at himself for a few seconds - he was wearing gray and long pajamas. Jungkook walked to the mirror - his appearance was still the same, at least that was what he remembered of himself - walked to the window and opened the curtains, and then the window. He felt the cold glass in his fingers when he touched it, but the day was cloudy - white. The clouds were sadly shining, it wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t cold either, there was no wind. He went to the dresser and opened the drawer, looking for something to wear. The drawers were full of clothes, pants, shirts, coats, socks, all folded and organized, Jungkook picked some for him to wear.
He walked out of the bedroom and when he opened the door, he saw an aisle, as lifeless as the bedroom itself. Walking carefully and trying not to make any noises, he opened the door in the left wall, it was a bathroom as white as the furniture in the bedroom he woke up in. It was empty. He closed the door and walked till the end of the aisle, this time opening the door on his left - a living room, also empty. He opened the last door of the house, it was the kitchen, as empty as the other rooms. He realized he was alone in the house. Jungkook was careful enough to lock the front door, then he went to the bathroom, it was all organized, there was a shelf with white towels - clean and folded, soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and a toothbrush, everything still inside sealed packages.
Jungkook closed the door behind himself and locked it. After he had taken a shower and wore the clothes he had separated - which coincidentally were exactly his size, he decided to go out find a grocery store to buy something to eat, he didn’t remember the last time he had eaten.
He walked, his hands inside the pockets of his black coat - half-closed. Jungkook watched the streets and the houses as he passed by, there was no one in sight - there were cars parked on the streets and in garages, but no one driving them. Apparently he was on a avenue, because he had passed by some shops, all of them were open, but no living soul inside. He had already passed by three drugstores and two clothing stores when he finally saw a grocery store. He walked faster.
The parking lot was empty, the grocery store was open. Jungkook walked in, hoping to find someone who could explain to him what was happening and what was that place, but like the rest of the town, the grocery store was empty. He grabbed a basket and started walking around the grocery store. Nobody in the aisles, nobody in the cashier. He took what he wanted and judged necessary, went to a cashier, placed it all in bags and went home. On the way back, Jungkook noticed the landscape, the houses were clear, but the nature was brown, dead, dry. He thought he had heard the sound of the sea, probably on the coast.
Placed the bags over the kitchen table, opened the fridge to place the food and only then he noticed that it was turned on and already had food inside. If he had looked before, he wouldn’t have had to go buy it. When he was at the grocery store, Jungkook had taken a newspaper that looked like it was today’s, still hoping to discover what happened, why there was only him in town, and why everything looked so intact. He read the whole newspaper while eating breakfast, there was nothing uncommon, nothing explained what was happening, nothing answered his questions.
When he finished eating, Jungkook brushed his teeth and decided to walk around the house to see if there was something that could help. There was nothing in the kitchen, nor in the bathroom, not even in the room, but when Jungkook passed by the aisle, he asked himself how he hadn’t noticed the pictures there. There was some kind of photo wall with a lot of pictures of himself, the colorful photos were the only sign of life inside that whitish gray house, Jungkook analyzed carefully each one of them, he didn’t remembered any of those moments, but then he realized that there wasn’t only pictures of him, but of some other boy and there was a lot of pictures of them together. There was two photos that caught his attention, in one of them the boy was fronting the sea with open arms, in a gray day just like that one, wearing a blue coat and smiling. Jungkook automatically remembered the sound of the sea he heard while he was on the street. He stared at the other picture, it was one of them together, so close, so… happy, their faces touching. Jungkook knew the happiness in his face was true, and the boy’s smile - so peaceful and sweet, something inside him screamed desperately saying he needed that smile, that warm look. He took that picture, flashes of memories passed by his mind, only images, and the sound of the boy’s voice saying his name while laughing at something.
Jungkook took the canvas off of those pictures, his fingers touching the boy’s face on the photo. He needed to find him. Definitely. Placed the folded photos in his pocket and left, determined to find that boy of whom he remembered only the sound of the voice and laugh. Locked the front door for the third time that day and left, he felt like he should look for him on the beach, but he didn’t know the way, so he just decided to follow his instincts and the sound of the waves. Jungkook decided to follow the avenue, on the opposite way of the grocery store. As he walked, the houses became more and more rare and the sound of the waves got louder, he was still far away from the beach, but the absolutely silence made the sound of the sea more evident.
He walked for what seemed like hours until finally arriving at the beach, where the white sand mixed with the sky - white as well, cut by the greenish blue of the sea. The beach was empty and calm. Jungkook looked from one side to another - nothing. Total silence. He felt like screaming and so he did it, screamed at the top of his lungs, with all the strength he had left and was surprised by the fact that that was the first time he actually heard his own voice since he woke up. Wrote an “X” on the sand, to mark the place where he came from, took off his shoes and started walking by the beach, and then walked for what seemed like hours, until he saw, a little further on, some kind of forest, but the day was already ending and he knew that if he walked more, he wouldn’t get home in time, so he decided to get back, put on his shoes and walked back home. He was almost half way back when he decided to stop, the night had already fallen and he was alone in the dark.
“There’s no one else in this town anyway.” He thought while lying on the ground in the middle of the street and staring at the starry sky, he took the pictures off his pocket and stared at them for a few seconds, he felt lonely, stared at the boy’s photo, more flashes. The memories surrounded him, he could feel them close, but he couldn’t catch them, it was frustrating and he felt lonely,and as tears began to roll down his face, he couldn’t understand why. He stayed about an hour looking at the sky and then started walking again, feeling hungry and tired.
As soon as he arrived home, he ate a sandwich he found in the fridge and went to sleep. He would search more the next day.
He woke up and looked around, the clock was showing the same hour of the day before, Jungkook got up and for a moment he didn’t knew where he was, but the memories of the last day reached his mind. He realized he had slept in his clothes and didn’t think twice before getting dressed, he needed to go to the grocery store again, he needed more food and a newspaper. Jungkook still had hopes that everything could be explained somehow. The grocery store was still empty, just like that city. Jungkook went back to the shelf he had taken something the first day he went shopping, logically that space should be blank, but it wasn’t. It was intact. Perfectly organized. Things were just getting worse and Jungkook could understand nothing. He took what he needed and a newspaper as well, he read the news in the grocery store itself, the news have changed, but the day was still the same. Jungkook decided to ignore it, he needed to go to the beach as soon as possible, he needed to find that boy.
Once back home, he had breakfast and left. The pictures were still in his pockets, he stared at them one more time, more flashes. He needed to find that boy. Something inside him as saying that when he finally find him, everything would be explained. He ran.
Jungkook ran until he was breathless, until his lungs feel like burning, until his legs hurt. He stopped in front of a house, decided to enter it, wishing he had done it the last day, but he was too tired. Knocked on the door once, nobody answered. Twice, nobody answered. He decided to walk in. The door was unlocked, the furniture looked new - just like in the house he woke up. He looked at the kitchen, the fridge was turned on with food inside. He went to the bathroom, everything was in sealed packages - the towels folded. The bedroom was exactly the same, the colors, the furniture, a perfect copy. He opened a drawer, the clothes were exactly the same - the same size, the same colors. He was too scared to stay there. He left the house and ran to the beach, it didn’t mattered if his legs were hurting, or if his lungs were burning.
Jungkook fell on his knees on the sand, unable to stand. Unlike the town, there was a lot of wind at the coast. He took the photos out of his pockets, trying to find motivation and so he did. But he got distracted and the wind took his only font of motivation away and handled it to the sea. Now all Jungkook had left was his own memory. He took off his coat and placed it on the ground, heading to the forest he had seen the last day.
When he finally arrived at the entrance of the forest, he sat on the ground and rested for a while. His mouth and his throat were dry. He needed water and was hungry, after all, he was running for hours. Jungkook rested for what seemed like eternity, but it was only a few minutes. Of course he wasn’t totally recovered from all that running, but Jungkook didn’t want to waste time. He entered the forest and started walking between the trees. The forest was damp, the air was heavier, but fresh and pure. It was all so green, he felt peaceful and walked like that for a long time, but that feeling was interrupted by a calm melody that was echoing between the trees.
That voice.
He could recognize that voice anywhere, it was the same voice that was living inside his mind for the last twenty-four hours. All those memories hit him like a train, flashes. The image of himself going away, of the boy with tears in his eyes, of the feeling of pain, regretting, sadness and one name: Park Jimin.
Jungkook ran, even though he was being hunted by all those memories at once, he ran. He tried to follow that voice, tried to follow the melody and the feeling of relief started taking over him as the sound got louder, until he finally saw him - walking between the trees, singing that melody.
- Jimin?! - He screamed, only to see the other laugh and turn his face to him.
- Hurry up, Jungkook, you’re too slow. - He laughed and turned his face away, walking and singing the melody again.
They were away from each other, but Jungkook had Jimin under his eyes. He tried to hurry, started running again, but then he saw Jimin disappearing next to some strange flowers. He ran as fast as he could and found a mirror - big enough to reflect all his body. When his fingers touched the mirror, they went through it. Jungkook, of course, deduced Jimin had went through it as well, there wasn’t another explanation. He called his name again, there was no answer. He decided to close his eyes and cross it.
He opened his eyes and stared at the white ceiling. Felt like he has had a strange dream. He sat on the bed and looked around the room. He couldn’t remember anything. The hour was still the same, the day hasn’t changed and the city was still empty.