Chapter Text
The crashing sound of waves rang in Jin’s ears as he looked into the distance. There were people scattered in different parts of the beach, either resting or enjoying their time walking by the shore. He could see his younger friends, Jungkook and Taehyung, trying to build what appeared to be the tail of a mermaid.
Jin sat on a beach towel as he glanced at Yoongi, who laid down on a blanket in soldier position. His arms were folded as he snored. A straw hat covered his face. Jin chuckled at his friend who refused to do anything but sleep under the large umbrella. Of course, he couldn’t blame him. Sleeping at the beach was quite relaxing.
Hoseok tried to write words on the sand with his feet as Jimin watched, but the rushing of the cold water from the ocean hit Hoseok in the ankles, making him shriek. Jimin burst with laughter as he watched his older friend run. As for Namjoon, well, he was searching for small crabs. Jin watched him pick up a mole crab from the sand. Namjoon analyzed the crustacean that crawled in his palm. The legs of the mole crab poked his skin, making him flinch and accidentally drop it. This resulted in Namjoon dropping to his knees and profusely apologizing to the sea creature (who buried itself back into the sand).
Everyone was enjoying their day. There were no problems that arose. These days of happiness were now common for Jin and the other boys. After the recurring events of last year, the 7 boys could feel at peace. He had all of his friends together. Although he wouldn’t consider them as friends. No, they were family now.
That was what kept them all together. They had nothing to fear anymore. It was all over. Jin held his breath as he shielded his eyes and looked up at the rich blue color of the sky. The beautiful weather almost seemed unreal. Jin released a relaxed sigh as he smiled. He looked back at the others, who were now running towards where he was.
“Hyung!” Jungkook wiped his mouth to get rid of the salty taste of the ocean (he had been swimming earlier). “Is there any more coke left in the cooler?”
“Not sure.” Jin pointed at the blue colored cool that was next to Yoongi. “There should be some.”
Hoseok laughed as he looked at the sleeping Yoongi. “He long has he been sleeping for? He’s going to miss out on building the mermaid!”
Jungkook snickered. He opened the cooler and rummaged up a can of coke from the bottom. He passed a can of sprite to Hoseok. Taehyung, with a mischievous grin, grabbed a cold water bottle from the cooler. He walked to where Yoongi was and grabbed his hat, putting it on his own head. He opened the bottle and quickly dropped some water, which splashed on Yoongi’s face.
Yoongi let out a loud snore as he slapped his own face. “Hello?” He said in a groggy tone as he slowly arose from his slumber with his eyes squinting. He rubbed his eyes, noticing the wetness of his face. He looked up at Taehyung, who was slapping his knee in laughter.
“You little sh-” Yoongi tried to grab Taehyung by the ankle but failed as Taehyung backed away. His face fell onto the sand. Hoseok howled with laughter as Yoongi looked up to brush the sand off. He shot Hoseok a death glare, making him laugh even harder.
“Guys, come on.” Namjoon said in a scolding tone while wiping his sand covered palms together. “You know how much sleeping means to him.”
“Pssh, this is the beach!” Taehyung said, adjusting the straw hat on his head. “It’s not about sleeping, it’s about having fun here!”
“Sleeping is fun at the beach.” Yoongi laid back down on the towel, folding his arms behind his head and shut his eyes. “Pass me a drink.”
“No. You get it.” Taehyung drank from the water bottle.
Jimin shook his wet hair, sprinkling some on Hoseok’s face. “Jimin-ah!” Hoseok scolded. “Use a towel!”
“But all the towels we have are wet…” Jimin combed his hair with his fingers. He approached the cooler and grabbed a soda can. He took a few gulps from it and placed the can next to the cooler. “I’m going to find seashells. Maybe we can craft something with them!”
“Ahh, I wanna join!” Jungkook said excitedly. “I’ll catch up with you in a bit, hyung!” He watched Jimin walk back towards the shore. Jin chuckled at the way Jungkook’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Namjoon sat next to Jin and sighed. “My back hurts from constantly bending down.”
“From what?” Taehyung asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Namjoon rolled his eyes and threw sand at Taehyung’s legs, making him laugh.
“I think you should stop looking for crabs at this point.” Jin rested his chin on one hand. “You’re going to get a sunburn.”
“What? I put on sunscreen earlier.” Namjoon said defensively.
“No he didn’t.” Yoongi said, still having his eyes shut. “He left the bottle in the car.”
“Hey! Don’t call me out!” Namjoon whined.
Jin laughed as Namjoon wrapped himself in a towel. “You’re going to regret not wearing it.”
Namjoon laughed as well, not wanting to admit defeat. “We’ll see about that.” He watched a couple of seagulls fly in the air. “I’m glad we came here. We haven’t been to the beach in such a long time!”
“I know.” Jin smiled. He looked at a seagull that hovered above him. A feather fell from it, slowly descending upon where Jin was. He extended his arm out and grabbed it. He brushed his finger against the soft delicate features. “I wish this lasts forever.”
“What do you mean?” Namjoon eyed the feather that Jin was playing with. “We’ll definitely come
back here another time.
Jin still had his eyes focused on the feather. “No, it’s not that. It’s just...I don’t know. I’m still scared, deep down.”
“Scared of what?”
As Jin was about to respond, he could hear a shriek in the distance. It came from Jimin. He looked up to see the younger one with a frantic look in his eyes. “Guys, guys!” He cried.
“What happened?” Namjoon asked with concern.
“My...my sandal. The waves took it just now!”
Namjoon stood up and looked behind Jimin. “Where was it?”
Jimin began to panic as he dug his fingers into his hair. “I took them off while I was looking for shells so they wouldn’t be soaked. But the waves took one of them while I wasn’t looking.”
“Jimin-ah, it’s alright.” Namjoon tried to comfort him. “We can look for new ones this weekend when we go shopping.”
Jimin shook his head and sniffed. “These sandals were the ones Seokjin hyung gave me as a gift!”
Jin gave him a concerned look. “Don’t worry. I can get you another pair.”
“No. I really want it back.”
Pausing to think for a moment, Jin decided to find the sandal. It was probably still floating near the shore. It made him worry to see any of his friends upset. “Ok, I’ll go look for it.”
Jin began to walk towards the shore, eyes scanning to see if he saw a white sandal floating in the water. There was nothing he could find. He walked farther into the water to look. The water reached up to his knees. As he was about to go back, something caught the corner of his eye. The sandal was against a couple of rocks. He tried walking to it, but he could no longer feel the ground as he went farther in. He swam to the rocks and grabbed the sandal.
“I found it!” Jin yelled. He waited for a response, but he could not hear anything. He looked at where the shore was. He couldn’t find Jimin if the others. Perhaps he went too far on one side. He looked for the large umbrella where Yoongi slept under. But it was nowhere to be found.
“Guys?” Jin’s eyes scanned across the land. None of them were there. “Uhh, are you trying to hide from me?” He let out a nervous laugh. “Because it’s not funny.” But when he continued looking, he realized that no one else was there. All of the people had disappeared.
How strange. Where is everyone? He thought. Jin pushed against the rocks with his feet to swim back. “Hey! Where are you?” He called out. No response.
As he continued swimming, the water suddenly rose up. Was he swimming the right direction? There was no way he was going farther. He could still see the land. But the water continued to rise up, at least to the level of his chin. Panic began to rise inside Jin. He felt a heavy weight on him.
“Help!” Jin cried out. “Namjoon! Jimin! Where are you?!”
Suddenly, something yanked Jin’s feet from below the water, and down he went. Jin struggled as he went underwater. He tried to swim back up, gasping for air. “Hobi! Jungkook!” He went back down, and swam back up. “Yoongi! Taehyung!”
No one called out to him. He was alone. Jin tried to use as much strength as he could to swim back up. But a large wave came over him, and it pushed him even further down into the water. He could no longer reach the surface. He thrashed about as he watched the sunlight reflecting on the water. Something heavy and unseen Joey pushing him down. No, was this how it would end for him? He didn’t want another cycle to happen.
As Jin shook his head vigorously, he noticed a dark blur near him. He turned around to see someone going down with him as well. Their ash blonde hair covered their face. Upon further inspection, Jin discovered that it was Jimin.
His eyes widened as he tried to grab his hand. He tried to call out for him, but bubbles escaped from Jin’s mouth. Jimin was unresponsive.His eyes were shut and his arms were lifting up. Another figure was floating near Jin as well. He looked to see that it was Hoseok. He was sinking in a similar manner as well. Next to him was Yoongi, who was sinking as well. Above them was Jungkook. Then there was Taehyung and Namjoon, who were sinking above Jin. One by one, all 6 of them were drowning with Jin. They all had their eyes shut, as if they were in a deep slumber.
No. No. How did this happen?! Jin screamed in his mind. I thought we beat it! How did they drown?! They were at the shore a few minutes ago! He couldn’t believe it. Why was this happening again? He thought they were all saved. A wave of rage and despair grew in him.
As the 7 of them descended, Jin let out a cry of despair that escaped from his mouth in the form of bubbles