Marauders Era Reimagined (part 2)

Miss Havisham, the lonely heart.

Great Expectations (2011) BBC

A Reaper’s Mistake

'The Avonlea Story Club'

Story no. #01 Genre: Adventure Time Duration: 15 Jan, 2023- 15 Feb, 2023

Warning: Death (obviously), grief, mild horror, slight swearing, small space, some messed up explanation of heaven and hell, deceiving, betrayal, angst, crying, kissing etc. Word Count: 7.7k Words (It turned out longer than I planned)

Summary: Harley comes to know that the death of her twin brother was a mistake by the grim reaper that took his life. So, she makes a deal of travelling to the underworld to correct it in order to bring her dead brother back home. On her journey, she learns little things about life... and death.

Harley returned to her room after a long and exhausting day. She felt cold, both on the inside and the outside. But she didn’t mind. After all, death was supposed to be cold. Now, Harley wasn’t the one who died really. It was her twin brother Ashton. But it didn’t make any difference to her. The thing about losing a twin is that you lose yourself along with them. At least, that was how Harley felt at the moment.

She lay on the bed, thinking. There was no way she could go to sleep without any trouble. How could she, when she knew her other half laid all alone in a mortuary? Harley wanted to cry. But her eyes were as dry as dust. She turned on some music on her phone and wished that her heart stopped clenching for a while.

By the time, the room temperature started to drop. At a point, Harley started to feel very uncomfortable to ignore it. When she checked the AC remote, she was shocked to find that the temperature went down to 19°C. Before she could fix it, another degree dropped before her eyes.

“What the hell!” she thought to herself. “It’s not even that cold outside.”

Harley could detect sudden movements behind her. She turned on her bed carefully and saw a hooded figure in a corner of her room. An involuntary gasp escaped her mouth. She sat on the bed promptly and whisper-called the intruder, “Ashton! Is that you?”

The figure came forward. Through the lamp light, Harley saw its long and oval shaped face. The jaws looked like they were sucked in. A crooked nose hung in the middle. The gray eyes were very large. Whoever this man was, he was not Ashton, Harley knew it for sure.

“Who are you?” Harley asked flatly.

“I am not a ghost nor a mere human. And I am definitely not your brother Ashton.”  The man replied fast and paused for a while before adding, “I am a grim reaper.”

Harley sighed. The man who claimed to be a grim reaper was taken aback. It was definitely not the reaction he had been expecting. The man cleared his throat to speak but was interrupted by Harley.

“So that’s it?”  she asked quietly, “This is how I die?  Because of  a heartbreak?”

“Umm…” The man considered her unusual behavior for a moment. She had believed him. But she wasn’t a bit scared. She was rather accepting her death more easily than most of the people he had encountered.

“Actually, you’re not dead.” The grim reaper said. Harley nodded her head slowly. But didn’t say anything further. He took a deep breath before saying the following.

“We’re short on time. So, listen carefully. Ashton wasn’t the one to die. It was supposed to be someone else. However, due to some misunderstanding on my part, this grave mistake occurred and it has to be fixed to avoid further complications. We need to retreat his soul from the underworld. Now, I could have done the job myself but it is mandatory for a grim reaper to accompany a human, be it living or dead, to cross the river by boat down there. Yes! Living humans had gone to the underworld before. You may ask why. But I’m not in a situation to explain anything unnecessary. I hope you don’t have any questions.”

Harley could take in huge amounts of information at once. Still, this was too much to comprehend even to her. She could never imagine in her wildest dream that her dead brother could be brought back to life.

She said as politely as she could given the situation, “But I do have a question. To be honest, a lot of them.”

The grim reaper was satisfied with her reaction this time. He held up his hand and said, “Even if you do, you’ll be answered on the way. Now, pack your bag with necessary stuff because we’re gonna have a wild night in the underworld.”

“I haven’t even agreed to go with you, have I?” Harley said, irritation clear in her tone.

The grim reaper put on a smile and asked, “Do you want your brother back or not?”

“But…” Harley tried to argue but was immediately interrupted.

“Yes or no?”

Harley groaned in annoyance. But she considered the matter. She had nothing to lose but gain from this expedition. So, there was nothing much to think about, not even the dangers it may involve. She replied quietly, “Yes!”

“Follow me, then!”  The reaper leapt out of the window.

Harley took as little time as she could to pack her bag like she had been told. She got out through the door noiselessly, not that her parents could still be awake. The reaper was waiting in the backyard. As Harley went closer, she could feel how her surroundings were changing abruptly into a very cold one.

“Good!” he said after examining Harley. “Let’s get moving!” 

For a while, all Harley could make out was his light gray eyes before he turned and started to run. She followed him as fast as her little feet allowed her to. They kept going like that for some time without saying anything to each other. Harley’s mind was spiraling with thousands of questions. But she decided to ask the very basics.

“You didn’t say how much time we really have.” She yelled at the tall figure ahead of her.

“Let’s say before they arrange Ashton’s funeral ‘cause no soul can be retreated once their earthly goodbye is done.” The reaper replied.

“That,” Harley said, “would be tomorrow.”

The reaper slowed his pace and turned to face her, “I hope you understand now why you should hurry a little more.”

Harley felt out of breath. But she wasn’t willing to take any insults for her height. She continued to run and asked again, “Where are we going anyway?”

“To the underworld, of course!” the reaper laughed.

“I meant, where on earth?” Harley said through gritted teeth.

“Oh!” The reaper said, no sarcasm in his deep voice, “Mrs. Laferty’s backyard.”

“No way! That’s the underworld?”

“There’s a doorway to the underworld. Yes!”

Harley stopped abruptly. It took a few moments before the grim reaper realized that Harley wasn’t following him anymore. He turned and ran back towards her, giving her a look which asked why she had done that.

“At least,” Harley breathed out the words, “give me a good reason to trust you.”

“Should I summon up dead people to make you believe me?” the reaper asked impatiently.

“Nope!” Harley replied flatly, “I believe that you’re a grim reaper. But I don’t exactly trust you about bringing back my brother. Who knows, what you’re tricking me into.”

“Seriously? You think a grim reaper has anything to gain from a mere human?”

“That wasn’t very convincing.” Harley turned back to walk.

“Wait!” the reaper held her by her wrist and said, “Alright! I’m going to tell you the real reason why I’m so desperate to make it right. But you have to promise me that no matter what, you’re not gonna back away from this. No matter what!”

Harley sensed the seriousness in his voice and nodded her head in affirmation. The reaper sighed, “I’m gonna lose my job even if I mess up for once. I saw what happened to the others when they did it. I don’t want the same fate. If I can correct the mistake before the higher officials are aware of it, I may have a chance of keeping my job as a grim reaper.”

He paused and looked at Harley, “Since I need you as much as you need me to bring back your brother, will you help me do this?”

“Alright! I think,” Harley took her warm hand away from his cold one and said, “I can do this without bothering you with more questions.”

Once they reached Mrs. Laferty’s backyard, the reaper produced a scythe out of nowhere and marked a large X on the ground. After a few minutes of complete silence, the ground beneath their feet started to shake. Then the X mark glowed scarlet before that part went down, creating a stair to the underworld.

“I think you forgot to ask the most crucial question on the way.” The reaper said to Harley. She looked at him with genuine curiosity. He smiled brightly and added, “My name is Joaquinn with double N.”

Joaquinn walked ahead of Harley down the stairs. Once they reached the floor made of wood, fire on the huge torches that hung by the wall lit up. Harley looked back the way she had come only to find that the stairs had disappeared completely. Fear had slowly started to build inside her. She almost reached to grab Joaquinn by his hand but stopped herself immediately.

Ahead of them was the huge river that Joaquinn had mentioned earlier. There was a small boat and the boatman was staring at them with a piercing look. Joaquinn turned to Harley and whispered, “You stay here.”  Then, he walked toward the boatman.

Harley wondered what it was that Joaquinn had been explaining so earnestly to the weird looking boatman. She couldn’t make out the words. But she could definitely tell by the tone of it that it was something she didn’t want to find out. After a while, Joaquinn took out an envelope from his pocket and showed the piece of paper it contained to the man. The man glanced at Harley for a split second before giving a stiff nod to the reaper.

Joaquinn turned back and came towards Harley with a pleasant smile on his face. “It’s all done,” he said and took Harley’s hand to guide her to the boat. Harley wasn’t feeling very good about the idea now. She wanted to ask Joaquinn if he was sure that their plan was going to work. But she couldn’t do that since she had promised him earlier not to bother with more questions.

“C’mon, now!” Joaquinn called, “Hop in!” Swallowing the lump that had grown on her throat, Harley climbed on the boat.

The boat ride was a quiet and long one. Harley had fixed her stare on the boatman, who had been rowing away without looking at them for once. Minutes later, they reached the end. Instead of wood on this side, the floor was made of concrete. They got down and Joaquinn nodded a thanks to the boatman. Harley doubted if he had even noticed that. The boatman headed back.

Harley couldn’t help but ask, “How are we going to go back?” 

“You don’t have to worry about that part.” Joaquinn said casually. “It’s easier to get out than getting in.”

“Now what?” Harley asked once again since Joaquinn kept standing there for quite some time.

“Shh!” Joaquinn whispered, “I think they sensed our arrival.”

“Who?” Harley was alarmed by Joaquinn’s change in voice.

“The guards.” As soon as Joaquinn whispered out the words, barking of dogs from all directions started to deafen Harley’s ears. “This way!” Joaquinn yelled as he took Harley’s hand and ran towards a corridor.

Harley glanced back for a split second while running along with Joaquinn. She could swear that she had never seen such a sight in her lifetime. At least twenty or more animals were coming at them. But they looked nothing like ordinary dogs. Their heads were huge with eyes looking like they could fall out any moment. Their tongues were dark purple and saliva secreted from them looked like blood.

Harley didn’t look long enough to find more hideous structures on their bodies. She tightened her grip on Joaquinn’s hand and ran faster. The corridor was getting narrower as they ran forward. At some point, it was hard even for one person to move let alone two. The dogs, being huge in size than a human or a reaper couldn’t reach them before the animals got stuck. It meant only one thing. Both the reaper and Harley were stuck as well.

There was this extremely narrow corridor which could crush your bones if you tried to pass through it on one side and the dangerous looking dogs a little further on the other. Joaquinn swore by the realization while Harley started to feel suffocated.

The barking of those animals sounded worst inside the corridor. Harley clapped her hands on her ears tightly. Joaquinn looked down at her with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Please make it stop!” she yelled.

Joaquinn noticed that Harley was in between him and the underworld dogs. So, he moved Harley a bit further to make space for him to pass by her. He then placed himself between Harley and the dogs, his back facing the latter. He pulled Harley closer and said, “You need to calm down.”

Harley buried her face on Joaquinn’s chest, her hands still covering her ears. She felt dizzy. All the chaos around her, the small space, her seasonal asthma and the fact that she hadn’t anything to eat the whole day were good reasons for her to faint. And that she did in a matter of a minute.

Harley woke up in the dark in complete silence. She sat up promptly and pondered over the possibilities of her being in the underworld. “Had I been dreaming?” she thought to herself.

“Hey! Welcome back!” Joaquinn’s cheerful voice proved her wrong and she sighed in relief. That meant, the hope of getting her brother back was still possible. The next moment, she thought about the terrible event she had encountered before she passed out.

“Where are we?” she asked, panic raising with each word.

“Ah! Don’t worry about those nasty animals. They’re gone. We are now safely locked up inside a cell.” Joaquinn said those words as if being locked up in the underworld prison was no big deal.

Harley asked, “What happened exactly when I was out?”

“Well! After you fainted, the guards came to inquire about the sudden outbursts of the hellhounds. Since they found us with no real explanation of trespassing in the underworld, they decided to put us in a cell before informing their master. That’s all.”

Harley secretly appreciated the quality of Joaquinn explaining critical situations easily. By the time, her eyes adjusted to the dark and she could make out his figure sitting in front of her. She sighed and asked, “So, how do we break out of here?”

“I’m still thinking about that.” Joaquinn said casually and pointed to Harley’s backpack, “You better eat something while I plan our escape.”

Harley thought she ought to eat something in order to have some strength for the future troubles she was about to meet. She prepared herself mentally to face more obstacles too. After the greetings from the hellhounds, she thought she could handle just about anything.

Offering Joaquinn the packet of butter cookies that she had brought, which he gladly refused, Harley started to relax as she chewed on her favorite snack. She felt a little more comfortable to ask Joaquinn some more questions which were not necessarily important at the moment but were bothering her mind a lot.

“Why do you think my brother is in the underworld?” She asked quietly, “I mean, isn’t it hell?”

“It is, indeed!” Joaquinn replied, “Why do you ask?”

“Because I can’t think of anything my brother did that was evil enough to land him in hell. Wait a minute! Or is it because of the other person who was supposed to be dead instead?”

“Nope!” Joaquinn shook his head and continued, “even if it was a mistake that your brother died in the place of umm… someone else, he still would end up where he deserved to be. Don’t give me that look before I explain the whole matter. It’s not because he's evil that he ended up in hell. It’s rather because of the lack of a heaven.”

“Lack of what?” Harley couldn’t mask the surprise in her voice.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Joaquinn chuckled, “There is no heaven to begin with. Humans made that place up for the comfort of mind. Every human ends up in hell after they die, which is this underworld.”

“Now that you’ve said that,” Harley said thoughtfully, “I don’t think that there is anyone saint enough to enjoy eternal peace or something. So, I guess, it’s quite logical.”

“Not a saint exactly but there are people who are really good compared to others. And they definitely don’t deserve to be put in the same place. It’s not the flaws in humans but rather the flaws in the whole concept of heaven itself. Do you think eternal peace is even possible? I mean, what is peace without a little chaos, huh?”

“You’re smarter than you look.” Harley thought. Of course, she didn’t say the words out loud.

Joaquinn continued, unaware of Harley’s admiration, “Now, here is how the hell works. To put it in easier language, people who did worse get the worst place whereas the best people get the best, all here in the same underworld. Easy as pie.”

“Isn’t it crazy to think that once we get out of here, me and my brother, we’re going to be the only people who know exactly about the afterlife?” Harley said dreamily.

“Hell, no!” Joaquinn replied with a laugh, “I’m not taking any risks. I’m gonna make Ashton forget about this all. A grim reaper’s kiss can make you forget certain parts of your life, you know.”

“Ew!” The thought of Joaquinn kissing her twin makes her want to puke. Then, she remembered that she was also someone who knows his secrets as well and gulped down the lump on her throat.

“So,” Harley asked, “Do you know where my brother is?” 

“Well, if it isn’t my dear friend.” Joaquinn had turned his head towards the cell door and called the person who had just arrived, much to Harley’s surprise.

“I think I know you, don’t I?” the person brought the torch he was carrying closer to the cell and recognized Joaquinn.

“How can you not?” Joaquinn whined, “I am the grim reaper who brought you here. It had been only a month and you already forgot all about me? I thought you said that you were glad I wasn’t as scary as you thought.”

“Of course, Joaquinn!” he smiled, “I am glad that it was you rather than some other mean reaper. What are you doing here?”

“I’m in trouble, my friend.” Joaquinn stood up and walked to him, “I see you’re in uniform. That means, they’ve already posted you as one of the guards, haven't they?”

“Sure, they did.” the boy said with a doubt.

Joaquinn yelped in joy, “Speaking of perfect timing, huh! C’mon, now, what are you waiting for? Get me out of here.”

“Wait a minute!” The boy took a step back, “What are you talking about? If the master knows about this, he’ll lock me up instead.”

“Oh no, silly! He wouldn’t. Because I’m going to take you out of here with me.” Joaquinn said reassuringly.

“Out of here?”

“Yep!”

“Is that even possible?” The boy asked dreamily. “But I thought you can’t go out into the world if your funeral is already done.”

“Who said that your funeral’s done?” Joaquinn continued, “Remember? You don’t have a family, Alex!”

“My name’s Alec.”  the boy corrected.

“Of course, it is. Now, listen to me carefully. I have a spare soul to put in the underworld. Instead, I can free one from here. Okay! I see, you don’t believe me. Wait a second.” Joaquinn took out the envelope from his pocket and showed the paper to the boy.

“Who is…” Alec tried to ask but Joaquinn instantly said, “We gotta hurry if you want to get out. Now, tell me if you agree on the deal we just made.”

“I don’t know.” The boy simply shrugged his shoulders.

“C’mon, Alan.” Joaquinn tried to persuade him further, “All you need to do is get me out of here and you’re granted a second chance of living your life.”

“But what’s the point if I’m gonna die someday.” The boy argued, “I don’t even have a family to go back to.”

“I know,” Joaquinn thought for a moment before saying, “But what about… her?”

“Her?” the boy’s eyes widened, “You know about her?”

“Yes!” Joaquinn nodded, “I do.”

The boy thought for a moment quietly. Then, his face beamed with hope. “Alright, Joaquinn! I believe you. I’m going to bring the key.” Saying this, the boy had already gone away with his torch and darkness fell into the cell once again.

Joaquinn let out a heavy sigh, “Ah! It’s so bothersome to deal with humans.”

Harley had been listening to their conversation quietly but attentively. She came forward and cleared her throat before asking, “Is it true that his funeral’s not done and that you’re going to help him out?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.” Joaquinn replied, “I don’t stay long enough for people’s funerals. Once I bring them to the underworld, my work is done.”

“So, you just lied to him?” Harley doubted the reaper’s words.

“Do I have any choice?” Joaquinn turned to her and said, “We don’t have an eternity to get your brother out of here. And answering to your hanging question, I don’t even know where he is right now.”

Harley remained quiet. She knew there was nothing she could say to argue with him. After all, she would choose to help her own brother over some stranger named Alec. But her heart panged with sudden guilt.

“Who is her?” She asked quietly.

“What? Who?” Joaquinn asked unknowingly.

“The one you told Alec about.”

“Oh! I don’t know that either. Just made a lucky guess.” Joaquinn shrugged his shoulders.

Harley’s hand clenched into a fist at his apathy, “He could be gay, you know.”

“Once again, lucky guess.”

The boy came back with the key and a huge grin on his face. He unlocked the door without a word and they got out immediately.

“Thank you so much, my friend.” Joaquinn pulled him into a hug and said, “You need to wait here while I finish my job. Then, I’ll be back to get you.”

“You’re really coming back for me, aren’t you?” The boy asked, still a faint smile lingering on his face.

Harley spoke before Joaquin could say anything. “Alec, you’re an amazing person. The world out there doesn’t deserve you. I hope you always remember that.”

“Who are you?” the boy asked in confusion.

“She’s another reaper. Anyway, we gotta go, now. Don’t worry! We’ll come back for you. Bye.” Joaquinn said quickly and pulled Harley by her hand to drag her out of that place through the dark corridor.

It was hard for Harley to keep up with Joaquinn when they ran together. Because, Joaquinn with his huge legs ran as if he was jumping on the moon's surface. Harley, on the other hand, had to take more steps faster to remain by his side. Since it hadn’t been the best day for her, she didn’t feel energetic enough to run anyway. So, after a while, she tripped and fell, hard, on the ground.

Joaquinn kneeled down beside her and asked anxiously, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fucking not!” Harley muttered angrily under her breath.

“Hey!” Joaquinn yelled, “Don’t take out the anger with me. We should hurry if you want to save Ashton. Now, is it my fault that you’re too weak to handle anything?”

“Technically, everything that has been happening is your fault.” Harley snapped back.

“Okay! Fine!” Joaquinn threw his hands up in defeat, “Let’s not run anymore. But at least get up so that we can walk out of the dark.”

Harley did as she was asked to and they both walked quietly for a while. She felt uneasy this way. She felt like she didn’t really have the right to remain angry at this stranger, who had been helping her, even if it was something he needed to do as well.

So, she tried to cool down and asked, “Would you mind me asking about that paper you showed Alec and the boatman? What does it contain?”

“Well, umm… it was sent to me with the name of umm… the person I was supposed to take the soul of.” Joaquinn said rather awkwardly.

“Who is this person?” Harley asked instantly, feeling a little bad for not wanting to know about them earlier.

“I don’t think you should know that.” Joaquinn sounded reluctant to tell her, “You would probably make a huge deal out of it.”

“Why?” Harley asked more curiously, “Are they someone I know?”

Joaquinn scoffed, “Judging by how you reacted earlier for only deceiving a stranger, I don’t think it matters.”

Harley rolled her eyes in annoyance, “Fine! Don’t tell me.”

They walked a few more minutes when they could finally see the light ahead of them. “Can you see it?” Joaquinn asked, pointing at its way and Harley nodded, “Let’s get out of here, then.” Joaquinn started to sprint toward it, leaving Harley no choice but to run after him.

They came out into an opening. It was a large field full of what appeared to be people at first glance. But they were rather different entities; souls of dead humans, guards, demons, monsters etc.

Harley's eyes grew larger at the sight, "Are we caught again?"

"Not yet!" Joaquinn replied shortly and grabbed her hand. A sudden shiver went through Harley’s whole body at his cold touch.

"He's a little too touchy." Harley thought to herself even though it was something she didn't think worthy to be thought of at this time.

"Let's walk out of here casually." Joaquinn dragged her forward. He kept talking while looking straight ahead, "It's the center of the underworld. Did you see the doors around?"

Harley nodded her head. The place was circle shaped and the walls had lots of doors to it. They had gotten out of one of those doors as well.

"Each of them leads to a different place. Now the question is, which one are we supposed to be using?" Joaquinn said.

Harley asked him instead, "Where do you usually bring the souls?"

"To the receptionist." Joaquinn nodded at a woman in front of them, "They are taken to the master and he decides where to put them in."

"I bet the receptionist knows where they are kept." Harley said.

Joaquinn nodded again, "She might."

"We should take a chance." Harley said boldly. Joaquinn looked confused. So, she replied, "Let's ask for help."

Asking for help turned out to be a bad idea.

Harley was reluctant to speak with the receptionist. But the receptionist made both of them answer her questions at once. Bombarding them with questions and receiving different answers almost every time from the two of them, made her suspicious. So, she decided to play it cool with them, but dialed for the master’s number secretly.

“You may wait for a few minutes. I need to make a call to ask the ones who keep the records to let you know where Mr. Ashton Campbell is kept currently.” The woman said with a professional smile on her face.

Joaquinn and Harley glanced at each other and swallowed together. Before Joaquinn could mouth the word ‘run’, someone yelled from behind.

“Holy Molly! Look who I ran into. Joaquinn, my bro.”

“Matilda!” The woman called her, while Joaquinn looked at her in disbelief. “Do you know this man well?”

“Bet I do, Kim.” Matilda walked towards them. “He’s one of the guards.” The receptionist named Kim left out a sigh. She was a good friend of Matilda and trusted her. So, she gave them the location to Ashton’s room, which was a map since the underworld was as big as the earth itself. And they all left the place quietly.

It wasn’t until they entered a door which led them to another corridor (“Jeez, the hell is full of corridors!” Harley thought) they started to talk.

“Thank you for saving my ass just now.” Joaquinn looked at Matilda and let out a huge smile. Harley thought he looked better with a smile.

“It’s nothing.” Matilda replied, “You better explain what’s going on. Who is this living human that you brought here? Don’t tell me you fell for those tricks like me as well.”

Joaquinn laughed at this and said, “She’s a friend. She’s helping me to break out the wrong person I sent here today.”

“No way!” Matilda’s eyes widened, “You kidding me?”

“Absolutely not!” Joaquinn gave a quick explanation of what the real deal was. Matilda nodded her head. “Won’t you introduce me to her?” Matilda elbowed Joaquinn.

“Yeah, sure.” Joaquinn said, “This is Harley as I told you. And Harley, she is one of the reapers, I mean, was a reaper.”

“Why isn’t she anymore, may I ask?” Harley asked, confused at her being suddenly involved with them.

“That’s because,” Matilda replied, herself, “I did the worst thing a grim reaper could do. I fell in love with a human. It is called ‘love at first sight’ I believe. And I refused to take the soul of that person. Now, there you go. That’s the dumbest shit I did. But you know what? I’m not ashamed. Not even a little bit.” Matilda started to laugh at her own speech even though Harley couldn’t see what was so funny about it.

She could only imagine how tragic it must be; given the job of killing a loved one. Even if you knew it was their time to die, you could never bring yourself to do that. Or at least, Harley could never do that.

“The master gave me the job of a guard instead, you know. Just so he could make me regret my poor choice. Because I got to see the love of my life going through the worst punishments of hell regularly. But like I said, I don’t regret nothing.”

“That’s my girl!” Joaquinn pulled her into a hug. Harley wished that she could be hugged like that sometimes too.

“Freeze!” Some guards came behind them with different weapons.

“Shit! We gotta run!” Matilda screamed the order and in the blink of an eye, they started running as if their life depended on it. Actually, it pretty much did.

“Why are we running?” Harley asked, “I thought we got the permission.”

“The permission of only a receptionist. Not the master.” Matilda said sarcastically.

Matilda ran ahead of them, reading the map in between so that they didn’t have to lose time on finding their desired person. But at a point, they ran into a dead end.

“What happened?” Joaquinn asked, “Why are we stopping here?”

“Shit! I should have turned left.” Matilda lifted her head from the map.

Suddenly an arrow was shooted towards her and she was pinned to the wall by her arm, “Fuck! It hurts.” she screamed in pain, making Harley flinch.

“This is it!” Joaquinn sat down with a thud, “Guess I have to serve the master along with you, Matilda.” he muttered.

The guards came running towards them, seizing them by their arms and tying their hands behind them. Neither Harley nor Joaquinn made any complaints at all. But Matilda struggled hard against them only to increase her pain and to give up in the end.

“I’m sorry, friends. I couldn’t come to much help, after all.” Matilda said with a sigh.

“Let’s just leave our fates to the master.” Joaquinn replied.

“Oh, I’m sure he’s going to have a blast.” Matilda scoffed.

They were dragged along with the guards and were forced to follow them. Nobody said anything to the other. Harley understood that begging the guards to let them go would be fruitless. They looked like they were loyal to their master.

The guards took them in front of a cell. Harley observed that this one looked more exclusive than the one they were kept in earlier. It was rather big and cleaner too. The guards checked them thoroughly. They took away Harley’s backpack too. Joaquinn started to get really mad when they took out the contents of his pants pockets.

Joaquinn snapped at the guards and almost started an argument. Meanwhile, Harley noticed that the envelope that made her curious earlier layed on the ground. She took it and opened it to see what’s written there.

Name of the Human: Harley Campbell

Date of birth: 19 January, 2003

Date of death: 15 February, 2023

Time of death: 02: 34 a.m.

Assigned Grim Reaper: Joaquinn

Harley didn’t know what to feel at that time. She could never imagine that it was her instead of her brother who should have died. But the more she thought of it, the more it made sense.

They both had sneaked out of their house to get to one of their friend’s parties. She didn’t want to go. But Ashton insisted upon her coming along with him. That was when the accident took place. That was how the mistake was made. They shared the same surname. They both were born on the same day. They both were present in the car during the accident.

Harley closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. Then, with a poker face on, she kept the paper inside the envelope and handed it to Joaquinn.

Joaquinn’s eyes grew larger and he looked at Harley suspiciously, trying to read her face. But Harley didn’t budge. She went inside the cell willingly and sat down at a corner.

They sat there in complete silence after the guards left. Joaquinn sat down beside Harley and Matilda fell asleep at another corner across from her. Then, Harley decided to speak.

"So, it was supposed to be me." It was not a question, rather a statement to let Joaquinn know that she had found out.

"You saw it, didn't you?" Joaquinn asked and Harley nodded slowly. Joaquinn muttered something to himself and buried his head in between his knees.

"You could have just told me. You didn’t need to hide it." Harley said quietly.

Joaquinn looked up and turned to face her, "I did it because I had to. I needed your help to make things right. But as far as I know humanity, no one would want to die willingly."

Harley let out a painful laughter, "Then, you only know a fraction of it."

Joaquinn didn't reply. Harley settled down easily and made her space to lie down on the ground. She whispered softly but loud enough for Joaquinn to hear, "If we get to Ashton anyhow, please do me a favor and keep it a secret from him as well."

“You really thought you could work right under my nose without me finding out, huh?” The master scoffed at the three captives. They had been brought before him. He was now the god of their fates. And everybody knew, except Harley, that the master liked to play with them.

“Let me first get done with my old acquaintance.” The master moved towards Matilda and spoke, “Dear Matilda, we met again. I thought we wouldn’t until you finish your 300 years sentence.”

“Here we are!” Matilda shrugged her shoulders.

A frown appeared on the master’s forehead. He looked displeased when he said, “There’s nothing interesting about you. Nothing that excites me at all. I’ll go for the usual punishment. Add 300 years more to your 167 years that’s left.”

Matilda blinked her eyes quickly for a while. Harley wondered if she had been expecting some worst kind of punishment. The master ordered the guards to take Matilda away. But she said, “Please, master, let me talk to the girl. For once.”

When the master nodded she came straight to her and said with a smile, “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be just fine. But since you’re the only living person I can say this to, I will. Remember that it’s coming from an ex grim reaper’s mouth.”

Matilda took a deep breath before saying, “Life’s too short to waste over stupid mistakes. Please, don’t leave any regrets. So that when it’s your time to die, you can die a happy human.”

Harley could say nothing in return. She glanced at Joaquinn. But he had been keeping his eyes down to the floor. Matilda pulled Harley into a warm embrace. Harley could swear that she had never been hugged like this her entire life. Then, Matilda was taken away.

The master walked around the room, thinking. Harley thought he was probably thinking of how to punish them.

“Alright!” the master announced, “I think I know what to do with you two.” He smirked at Harley, “You’re here to save your brother, right?”

Harley nodded her head rather innocently. She looked a little too desperate. Joaquinn bit his lower lip in frustration. For some reason, he was really mad at himself.

“I will grant you that wish then.” The master said and Joaquinn’s head shot up.

He asked in disbelief, “You’re gonna let us go?”

The master shook his head as he laughed, “Not that easily! But hear me out. I thought for a moment how I had never granted anything to anybody before. So, it might be a good thing to experiment on. But again, there is a condition.”

The master walked to Joaquinn and said to him only, “I will let this slip for only once. If you can make it right this time, you’re free to go. But if you mess up again, just once again, you’re going to have the same fate as your friend, Matilda.”

The master walked back to his seat and asked, “So, tell me, Joaquinn, do you accept it?”

Joaquinn glanced at Harley. But this time, her head was bent downward. Joaquinn swallowed hard and replied, “Yes!”

The master said nothing in return. But Harley noticed a satisfied face when she looked at him for the last time.

The moment Harley had been waiting for had never been closer. Two guards accompanied them to the cell where Ashton had been kept. They opened the cell door and giving a stiff nod went away. Harley stepped inside first followed by Joaquinn.

Ashton was sitting by his bed. He first thought that some guards had visited him. But when he saw his twin sister’s face, which was so much similar to his own, he couldn’t help but cry out.

“Harley!” He stood up and hugged her right away. “Oh, Harley! I’ve been so alone and I missed you so much.” Then, he looked at her face and his smile drowned, “Are you dead too?”

“No, I’m not!” Harley tried to show a smile, “I’m here to bring you back home.”

Ashton looked puzzled at her comment, “But I thought I died.” He looked at Joaquinn and said, “And you were the grim reaper who brought me here.”

Harley nodded and said, “Yes, I know. But there had been some mistakes. He shouldn’t have taken your soul. It should have been someone else. Anyway, we’ve sorted it out. Now, let’s get you out of here before the master comes up with some cruel ideas.”

Ashton nodded even though he wasn’t very sure about the whole matter. They got out of the cell and walked through the corridor. Joaquinn walked ahead of them, map in his hand. Harley thought that he had been exceptionally quiet. Probably giving them some privacy so that they could talk for the last time.

So, they talked. Harley told Ashton everything she couldn’t have. She told him how much she loved him but was never able to express it. She told him how he was the only person Harley cared about. She told him how much she hated her parents for discriminating between them and loving Ashton a little less than they did Harley.

By the time they had reached the river, both the siblings had become too emotional. Harley knew that it was their last meeting. But she couldn’t really say goodbye to her brother in fear that he might refuse to cooperate.

“Let’s get on the boat.” Ashton exclaimed, “I can’t wait to start anew.”

“Wait!” Joaquinn stepped forward, “Ashton! Don’t you want to know who this other person is? The one who’s to die instead of you?”

Harley glared at Joaquinn, shaking her head to remind him of the favor she had asked earlier. Ashton was too confused to understand it. He simply asked, “Who?”

Joaquinn swallowed before saying, “It’s Harley.”

Harley closed her eyes in disbelief. She thought she could trust this reaper only for once. But no!

It took a few minutes before Ashton realized what the reaper had informed. He gasped, “Oh my God! Harley!”

“No, Ashton!” Harley said, cupping her brother’s face in her hands, “It’s okay! Don’t feel too sad. I already know about it and I’ve accepted it too. Please, brother, it’s fine.”

But Ashton had been shaking his head in denial, “There’s no way I’m going back without you. No way! I can’t do this. I can’t take your life.”

“But it’s your life that I’ve been living right now.” Harley argued, “It was meant to be me from the start. Please, Ashton, don’t act like this.”

Ashton hugged Harley once again and Harley sunk into his embrace. Tears started to stream down her face. Ashton, on the other hand, was crying too. Seeing them in such misery, Joaquinn realized he had to step in.

He spoke, his voice shaking from the emotion that had been building inside him unknowingly, “I’m sorry to say this but I don’t think I can do this either. I can’t take your soul, Harley. I just can’t.”

Harley let go of Ashton. She looked furious. She yelled at Joaquinn, “It’s all your fault. You have to fix it now. You have to take my brother back to the world. I’m not taking any ‘sorry’ from you.”

Ashton tried to calm her down. He had never seen Harley in such a vulnerable state before. He pulled Harley back and they sat down on the concrete floor together. Ashton patted her softly on the back. When Harley finally stopped crying, he spoke.

“It’s okay! I’ve already faced death and I’ve accepted it too. Just think about mother and father. They had already gone through my death. How do you expect them to behave if they found out it was you and not me?”

“I don’t give a fuck about them.” Harley snapped.

Ashton chuckled and said each word as if he meant them, “Don’t be so stubborn, Harley. I know you love them, no matter what you say. Okay! If you don’t want to think of them, think of yourself. You have so many regrets. I know you do. But I don’t really have much. I have enjoyed my life the way I wanted to. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t the favorite child. But you had been fulfilling their dreams all this time that you never stopped to think what you wanted for yourself. I know, being a favorite child has its disadvantages. Now, what I want is that you go back and live the life you wanted. Not the one you were meant to. We’ll meet again. Then, I hope you would tell me what a happy and free life you had led.”

Harley suddenly remembered Matilda’s words, “Please, don’t leave any regrets.”

Harley looked at her brother and tears filled her eyes. She buried her head into his neck and sobbed quietly, while Ashton softly stroked her hair.

The boat ride back without Ashton was quiet at first. Harley could feel that her body was screaming for a nap. She was exhausted by everything that had happened in the past few hours. Harley felt as if she had lived through days.

The thought of leaving behind her twin made her eyes watery once again. She didn’t mind them anymore. Never in her life had she cried so hard. She felt that from now on, it would be a little easier for her to cry whenever she needed to. So, she sobbed in her hands freely.

Joaquinn sat closer and unconsciously wrapped his hands around her shoulders. Harley let herself lean onto his chest and cried silently. Then, she suddenly remembered the deal Joaquinn had made earlier with the master. She remembered how his face glowed with glory as if he had been expecting Joaquinn to fail.

“Joaquinn!” She called and looked up to his face, “But the master is going to hold you captive. You’re going to lose the job. You need…”

Joaquinn hushed her up and pulled her into a hug. He whispered to her softly, “It’s okay, Harley. I’ve learned to take responsibility for my actions. Everything was my fault, after all.”

Harley sniffed but remained silent. Joaquinn ran his hands through her hair and said, “I think, I ought to apologize to you. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess. I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save your brother. I’m sorry, Harley, for everything.”

Harley nodded and said quietly, “Can we please stay like this until we reach the other side?” Joaquinn hummed and pulled her a little closer, letting her relax into his arms.

When they finally reached the spot, Joaquinn gently pulled her away. He held her by the shoulders to support while she got off the boat. The stairs had appeared once again. They climbed the stairs side by side and came into the opening of Mrs. Laferty’s backyard. The dawn was about to break. There was not a soul in sight.

Harley turned to Joaquinn to say her final goodbye. But he shook his head as if he knew what she was about to say. He said, “It’s not a goodbye. I hope we’ll meet again.”

He cupped her face into his cold hands and said, “It’s time for you to go back to being normal again. Don’t worry! I’ll let you remember the part where your brother and… someone you knew advised you to live your life with no regrets.”

Harley nodded her head in agreement. Joaquinn leaned forward to kiss her warm lips gently. Closing her eyes, Harley felt the moment with all her might till it lasted.

Author’s Note: This is the first ever story of the first month for my story club. Since I’m not a pro at this, please consider stupid mistakes. And also, I appreciate your honest feedbacks. The door to constructive criticism is always open to the readers.

Please check out my partner’s work of the month as well and support her > @littlemissblogger​

jimin and taehyung are only two months apart but jimin sounds like hes 12 and taehyung sounds like he’s gone through puberty twice and this is why i have trust issues 

How Hatred Starts

I just realized why people hate each other.

Once someone sees the worst side of another and continues to judge them by it, they eventually starts hating the latter.

Suppose the person A knows the worst mistake the person B has made in their life and judge their (B) every action based on the knowledge they (A) acquired, they (A) starts to hate them (B). In turn, the person B also tries to find the worst of the person A and starts to hate them as well.

This is how it goes on and none of them ever tries to find the person behind all that mistakes and weaknesses.

The Bangtan Boys - Masterlist

Special 8 Photo-folio Masterlist

My favorites- 💜 Popular- ✨

Special:

How OT7 give gifts

Christmas Special Fluff

Series:

Red Hope! [Complete] ✨ - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

We Are Only Seven [Complete] 💜 - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10

Noona! Please! Help! - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 [Ongoing]

Series:

True Self [Complete] - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Drabbles:

Singularity

Stories:

Bad Decision

Star-Crossed

Series:

My Guardian Angel [Complete] - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Stories:

Boy With Luv 💜

Drabbles:

Sleepy Cats 💜✨

Sweet Morning

Disguise

Drabbles:

Ghost Town

Series:

The Other Side: Part 1 - Part 2 [Ongoing]

Stories:

Dweller of the Dark 💜✨

Drabbles:

Love 💜

Stories:

Almost 💜

Careful What You Wish For ✨

Drabbles:

Bitter-Sweet 💜

I wuv U

Stories:

Our Moon (Jimin x Female reader x Taehyung)

Drabbles:

Parallel (Jungkook x Female reader x Yoongi)

Aww, my cute little Balf.

Hello! I want you to ship me with a riot club member. I'm 1.6m, I always have short black hair upto my shoulder, my eyes are brown in color and I'm a bit brown too. I wear round spectacles. I love books and movies. I'm a bit shy with strangers but once u get to know me, I'm wild.

I know Leighton is your favourite, but I feel like you and George would be the OJ power couple!

You and George would meet at a bookshop; You were looking through the bookshelves as a bumbling boy came through the doors with his tie askew and his book bag hanging off his shoulder. He caught your eye as you giggled behind a book, watching him trip up over his own feet at the entrance of the shop. He saw you from the corner of his eye, saw your smile that gave him butterflies in his stomach – He had seen you around town and seemed to remember you at the odd university party. George being George fumbled his way around talking to you, walking up to the bookshelves you were standing in front of and tried to spark up a conversation about the book you were holding. Somehow his bad flirting had worked and he was able to score a date with you, so a week later you were meeting up with him outside a coffee shop next to the bookshop that he saw you in. The coffee date went as well as you could have imagined, with George buying you a drink with a slice of cake; You guys talked nonstop, constantly finding new hobbies and interests that you both shared. By the end of the date, you were able to bag a second date with George offering to show him some of your favourite movies round your place.

The dates never seemed to end between the two of you, whether they were simple coffee dates, book dates or cinema dates; however it got to the point where it felt like George was never going to make a move on you. You had been seeing each other for what felt like an eternity, yet he hadn’t told you how he felt or if the thing between the two of you was going anywhere. You were growing impatient, not knowing if this thing was ever going to have a label. If only you saw into Georges mind however, you would realise that he was ready to call you his girlfriend, but whenever he had the opportunity to ask he always chickened out and turned the conversation on its head. He was so ready to call you his, but his nervous stopped him from doing so. He had asked Leighton extensively what he could do to make you his, asking his friend for advice on how to ask you to be his girlfriend. Leighton being Leighton was able to list all the ways George could ask you to be his girlfriend, telling him to just do it before anyone else did.

George had planned it all out, he was going to pull out all the stops and invite you round to his and he was going to have a candle lit dinner laid out that Leighton helped to cook. He had it all ready, but the moment Leighton left it all went tits up. He had given George strict instructions to take the food out of the oven when the timer went off; the timer that George didn’t hear. Just as you knocked on the door George heard the the fire alarm go off in the kitchen. He rushed to let you into his place, before running to the kitchen to get the food out of the oven. You saw the charcoal that had come out of the oven and before thinking George had just come out with it.

‘Oh for gods sake.’ He exclaimed.

‘George its fine, we can just order in pizza or something.’ You tried to reason with him.

‘No its not, I had this whole evening planned out and I’ve screwed it up - The tables all set and Leighton helped me cook everything and I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend half way through and now the whole things gone tits up.’ He finished, looking round to you after realising what he had said.

‘You were going to ask me to be your girlfriend?’ You repeated, looking to him for an answer.

‘Yes?’ He said with uncertainty.

‘Well why don’t you ask me now then?’ You tell him.

‘Will you be my girlfriend?’ George asks you, looking up to you nervously awaiting your answer.

‘Yeah.’ You whisper to him, causing him to break out into a grin.

The rest of the night was spent watching films whilst indulging yourselves in pizza that you order not too long after George had asked you to be his girlfriend. The next day when Leighton checked in on George to ask how it all went, all he could do was smile like an idiot whilst explaining everything that happened. All Leighton could do was laugh at the story, happy that his friend had finally done what he had been meaning to do for ages.

When it came to you meeting his friends, you were nervous. You had heard all the stories from George on what the club got up to, knowing how wild they got. Granted you got just as wild as them on a girls night out (minus the nearly killing someone), but these were near enough strangers. Both you and George had agreed that you would go with him to the pub the next time he went with the club and upon entering the pub your nervous started to wash away. George got both of you a drink before heading over to the clubs table and taking a seat next to Hugo.

By the end of the night you had already organised a shopping trip with Hugo, a day out shooting with Harry, Alister and George and a night out on the town with the whole club. You may be nervous with strangers, but the minute you started to get comfortable with them all, your confidence came out and you started having a ball. That day at the bookshop not only gave you a boyfriend, but also gave you a group of friends that would stick with you through life.

Almost

Fandom: BTS Pairing: Jungkook x OC (Jessie) Genre: Angst and a little bit of fluff Warning: Possessive behavior, underage drinking, heartbreak etc. Word Count: 1.8k words

‘Almost’, the most depressing word in my dictionary. If you want to know the reason behind it, we’ll have to go back in time.

Our grade 1 teacher had suggested to fix our seats alphabetically. That didn’t sound bad to me. Because Jungkook and I were the only students with the initial J for our names. Or at least that was what I thought.

“Jessie” my teacher called me to seat at the very back of the first row. I smiled at Jungkook and went over to take my seat.

“John” the teacher called next.

“Who the hell is John?” I thought while the new boy in our class came to sit beside me.

“Now Jungkook would sit at the very front of the second row” the teacher announced.

Jungkook went to his assigned seat and looked back for a moment to catch my eyes. It was a signal for me to persuade the teacher to let us sit together.

I knew I had to do it. Because Jungkook would rather die than argue with the teacher on any matter. I, on the other hand, searched for every single chance to contradict my teachers. It was something I found really amusing.

As soon as I put forward my request, our teacher replied with, “Who would complain on such a peaceful organization of the seats other than you?”

The other students started to laugh. As much as I can recall, we had some minutes of argument when finally the teacher said, “Alright! Let’s ask Jungkook on what he has to say about it.”

Then he turned to Jungkook and asked, “Do you want to go over to the back to sit with her? Or are you happy with my decision?”

Jungkook nodded his head and said, “I’m fine, here” like a complete idiot.

I remembered how his reply had hurt my pride and since then I had never sat beside him in any class, not even when we had gone to the high school. We were almost going to sit together for a whole year and more to come. But no!

None of us would introduce the other as the best friend. Nonetheless we had the closest bond than any best friends’ duo of our class. In fact, we were more than friends. We knew it and so did everyone else.

Some people couldn’t understand how we ended up together while others would say, “opposite attracts.”

We were totally opposite in terms of our personalities. I was wild, adventurous and free-spirited while Jungkook was shy, introverted and conserved. But these were merely what appeared on the outside. I believed him to be more like me spiritually. He just had been taming the animal within himself.

Perhaps I was the only one who could see that. Whatever it was, nobody would deny the fact that we were surely an unusual couple.

The next incident also happened at the farewell party of our Elementary School. I was talking with a bunch of boys and joking around.

I knew Jungkook would not join us since he didn't like the crowds. So I didn't bother calling him either.

The party was over and we were walking home together. Suddenly he said, "I didn't like seeing you there." he paused for a moment and added, "With THEM."

I laughed, "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I am talking about"

"Okay, I understand." I said. "You were probably lonely in there. But hey! We are going to the same High School. But some of the boys are leaving the town. I will get to meet you anytime I want. But not them."

"Whatever!" Jungkook sighed in exasperation.

"Why are you making such a huge deal out of it?"

"Because, I don't want to share you with anyone."

"Why?" I asked, rather shocked.

"Because you're my..." Then he abruptly stopped.

I stopped walking. "What?" I urged him to continue.

Jungkook went red on the face but didn't say anything further.

"For God's sake, Jungkook, just say it." I wished to myself.

"Let's hurry!" He said, "We’re already late."

And that was it. Jungkook almost called me his girlfriend. If only he really did, I would have gladly accepted that. Perhaps then, our relationship could have gotten a tag.

We were only 13 back then. I had sneaked a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen cabinet where my father usually kept them. I was always curious about adult drinking that I wanted to try it myself. But doing something this big alone didn’t sound exciting at all.

Of course, I had told Jungkook earlier to sneak out of his house at midnight to meet me at the little junkyard. Reluctantly he had agreed. He actually showed up even though I doubted that he would.

“Guess what I have with me?” I asked him.

“Umm…” he went on to his usual loading mood.

I didn’t have any patience left so I showed him the bottle right away. Jungkook gasped as soon as he saw it. His reaction made me feel more proud of myself for accomplishing the task.

Jungkook tried to persuade me not to drink it. But it was hopeless as I was too determined. As soon as I sipped directly from the bottle I spited it out.

“Yuck!” I shouted, “How can people enjoy drinking this thing?”

Jungkook started to giggle at my reaction. I wasn’t feeling confident anymore. I had to try something else to prove that I was braver than him.

“Stop laughing!” I said boldly, “as if you’ve ever done anything fun in your life before.”

“You didn’t do anything to boast about either.” He said as a matter of fact. "You’re all talk.”

“Who said that? I’ve done quite a lot of things.”

“Like?” he was mocking me at that point.

I quickly tried to make up a lie to get away from the embarrassing situation, “Like I already had my first kiss?”

“What?”

The shock on his face was satisfying. So, I continued, “Yeah, of course, dummy.”

Jungkook frowned and asked, “Who was it?”

“Why would I tell YOU?” I started to tease him now, “I bet you have no idea about these stuffs anyway.”

“I don’t believe you.” He said.

I walked closer to him and said, “Why? Do you want me to prove it?” Jungkook took a step back and I started to laugh.

“I know about these stuffs as much as you do, okay?” he tried to argue.

“Then prove it.” I said in a very serious voice.

Jungkook remained quiet. I slowly walked toward him. He took two steps back causing him to be pinned to the nearby broken car. I rested one of my hand on the car to his left.

Through the moonlight, in the otherwise dark night, I could see Jungkook’s face clearly now. He had shut his eyes closed. I leaned to close the distance between our faces. Our chests were already touching and I could feel his heart beating fast. His trembling lips were parted a little.

I was almost within the reach to feel his breath on my lips, when I realized, he might be frightened. And I moved away. Jungkook opened his eyes and looked at me in confusion.

“I lied,” I said, “I never kissed anyone before.”

I’d had enough. I wanted to get rid of this unestablished relationship I was in with Jungkook. I finally decided I would ask him to be my boyfriend. I had even saved enough money to buy him a nice watch once we were official.

“I have something to tell you.” I said as soon as we met.

“Me too.” Jungkook replied.

“Okay, I'll let you go first.” I was shocked at his calm voice, “Mine can wait.”

Jungkook bent his head down and he said, “I've got accepted.”

“What?”

“You remember about the audition, right?”

“Oh yeah, right!” I said, remembering, “The audition. So, what now?”

“They had called me to sign the contract and go stay in Seoul.”

I didn't know what to say. I never really thought about what was going to happen if he got accepted by the company.

I asked hopefully, “But you'll come back again right?”

Jungkook was too quiet. Something felt wrong. That time, I knew it was the end. He was never coming back to me. A new life awaited him. How could I stop him now?

I smiled, "I knew you would do well."

“But I don't want to go away.”

I could see tears were forming in his eyes. My own tears threatened me to burst out at any time. I still managed to hold it back and said, “What are you talking about? It's a life changing opportunity.”

Jungkook wiped away the tear that just fell from one of his eyes. He slowly nodded his head. He understood.

“Jessie!” he called.

“Hmm?”

“Didn't you want to say something earlier?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I said, “I want to buy you a watch. Consider it as a goodbye gift.”

That’s how our story ended with yet another almost. It could have gone differently. If only I could bring myself to ask him to be mine, could he refuse? Didn't he loved me enough to leave behind everything to be with me? Apparently I never found out.

It had been ten long years. By the time, I had witnessed Jungkook growing up little by little on screen. I had been his number one fan since day one. He along with his group had gone so far now.

I was really grateful to all of his hyungs, who had been there for Jungkook all these years. They had made him who he was today. They had helped him to grow and come out of his shell. I was more than just proud of him.

My life had been different than what I had imagined it would be like. Nonetheless I was doing okay. However, one day, something really unexpected occur.

I saw Jungkook for the first time in ten years. He had come to the store I work in to buy his all-time favorite banana milkshake. He was wearing a cap to hide his face, so that no one could recognize him at a first glance. But how could I not? He was my first, if not last, love.

I was a little shocked when he put the milkshake in front of the counter. Our eyes met for a split second. Jungkook quickly looked away and handed me the cash and said, “Keep the change.” Then, he was gone.

He didn’t recognize me. I doubted he would have. I had shorter hair than him, too many piercings on my ears and nose, tattoos on my arms, neck and even face.

Life almost gave me a chance to be reunited with my Jungkook, only to snatch that hope away in the end.

My Masterlist

Red Hope! - Part 7 (Final)

Specially requested by @lelewright1234. Hope you enjoy!

Note: This work is totally fictional and has nothing to do with BTS on real life. I mean no hate toward any person in particular. This plotline was requested. Though I personally hate bullies, I still believe there is hope for everyone.

Fandom: BTS Pairing: OT7 × OC (Leah) Warning: Bullies, clingy behavior, heartbreak etc. Genre: Angst and Fluff Summary: Now that Leah knows the truth, will she end their new found friendship or forgive them for the good times sake?

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 (Complete)

*************************************************

I confessed to my mother about getting back most of my past memories. Some of them were still blurry. But I was remembering everything eventually. I told mother I wanted to take a break from school for the day. I was still not prepared to face Jungkook or any of them.

After the school was over, both Jin and Jungkook stopped by my house. My mother told them how overwhelmed I felt as my memories came back and that I didn’t want to meet anyone just then.

I had been getting calls after calls from the boys. Some of them even texted me, asking if what my mother said were true. I neither picked up the calls nor replied to them. I had decided it was better to avoid them. I didn’t need any fake friends in my life. Nina was enough.

But I knew, deep inside, I was hurting. It pained me to even think about not talking to the boys anymore. All I knew for the past few months were the boys. They had been in everything I was doing. Without them, I wouldn’t even be able to recover as fast as I did.

I stayed in my room the whole day and cried. I felt like I was broken into pieces and I would never be able to put them together. Every beautiful experience I had with the boys felt like a lie.

Since Taehyung kept calling me non-stop, I thought it would be better to let them know how I felt about them now.

*************************************************

Taehyung: Finally you’ve answered. What happened, Leah? Are you okay?

Leah: I’ll get straight to the point, Taehyung. It’s true that I’ve got my memories back.

*A pause*

Taehyung: So, you remember everything?

Leah: Everything.

Taehyung: Are you mad at us?

Leah: What do you think, Taehyung? Should I?

Taehyung: Listen, Leah. We’re all really sorry for everything, okay?

Leah: Stop it! I don’t need your apologies. I just want you to convey the message to the rest of the boys. I don’t want you guys near me anymore. Our so called friendship ends here.

*************************************************

The next day in school, I sat with Nina avoiding Jungkook. But he came to sit behind us and started to say how sorry he was for his past actions and that he deeply regretted them now and other stuffs like that.

I said, “You have apologized and I took it. But I still don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Jungkook still followed me to the cafeteria at lunch break. I was really annoyed at the way he was acting. “Could you please stop following me?” I almost shouted at his face.

“Please, Leah…”Jungkook tried to say something more when I turned to go. Then, he grabbed my hand.

I looked him dead in the eyes and said boldly, “This is the last time I’m going to tell you this, leave me alone.”

Instead of letting go of my hand, Jungkook took a step toward me. That was when I slapped him, really hard on his face. As soon as I did, I regretted it. Some of the students were staring at us by then.

“Leah,” Jungkook’s voice trembled as he looked at me in disbelieve, “You hate me so much, don’t you?”

*************************************************

Jimin had texted me to meet him even if it was the last time I did. I was very upset about the whole school affair. To ease my unsettling brain, I thought it would be better to talk it out.

As I waited for Jimin in the nearby park, I kept replaying in my mind how Jungkook had looked at me after I had hit him. I knew I would never forget that look.

I saw Jimin approaching me from a distance. He brought flowers for me again. He came to me and smiled. Even with the smile on his face, he still looked sad. It was hard to be mad at Jimin. I took the purple flowers from his hand.

“I know how you’re feeling, Leah.” he said and it sounded like he really did.

I started to cry, “Why did you have to be so cruel to me?”

“We’re really sorry, Leah.” Jimin’s voice broke as he struggled to say the right words. “We were stupid. Trust me, if only we knew just how much you would mean to us, we would have never done that.”

“You said you care for me!”

“And we do.” Jimin stepped forward and hugged me. There was a feeling of comfort in his arms. I buried my face on his chest as he gently stroked my hair. “Just trust us this one time and we wouldn’t let you down.”

I nodded. There was no way I could stay away from them. They had become a part of me. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew I loved them.

*************************************************

The boys had arranged a special dinner for me. The reason was obviously to apologize to me officially. I called Nina to ask if she was coming. She said that the dinner was meant for me and she’d better not intrude.

I was having mixed feelings toward the dinner. I kept worrying whether I had made the right decision or not. I felt like I really didn’t have any choice. I loved the boys too much to break off the friendship that was so precious to me.

Even if I could now remember everything, most part of my life I had felt empty. These past few months I had spent with the boys were the most exciting part of my life. No matter how terrible they had been to me before the accident, they had been double nice to me afterwards.

I had put on my best dress to go to the dinner party. When my mother saw me, she literally gasped and said that I looked so pretty. Before I got out of the house, she told me that she was glad that I had finally found the friends I deserved and that she had never seen me so happy before.

Jin came to pick me up since I still didn’t have the driving license. He was awestricken when he saw me. “Leah,” he said, “you look beautiful.” Then immediately he added, “even though that’s nothing compared to me.” I punched him in the arm and got in to the car.

Once I got down from the car, I ran straight to Jungkook and hugged him. "I'm really sorry, Kookie. I didn't mean to hurt you." I said after releasing him from my arms.

Jungkook shook his head and said, "No, Leah. It should be me apologizing to you instead. I AM SORRY!"

"Can we please skip this part?" Yoongi poked his head in between us and gave me his huge gummy smile, melting me right at the spot.

As soon as the other boys saw me they started to shower me with compliments. None of them could deny the fact that I looked beautiful in that dress. I was blushing really hard and told them to stop it.

After some times of talking and fooling around just like the old times, I almost forgot about all the worries I had earlier. Hoseok stood up and declared, "It is now time for the special performance that we've arranged for our precious friend, Leah."

The boys arranged their position to sit facing me. Namjoon said, "This is the song I wrote just for you when you were in the coma."

Then, they started to sing, one by one. It was so beautiful. The music was really soothing. It calmed me right away. And what could I say about the lyrics. It was so heart-warming.

They had admitted their fault of not being good friends to me. They had failed to realize my worth. They had regretted their actions once I was gone. There was nothing in this world that they could ask for other than my forgiveness and the promise of our friendship.

They said those words in the most poetic way and it made me tear up. Once the song was over I hugged them all, one by one. I said that I was so lucky to have them in my life, that I had already forgiven them and that I wished to continue our friendship till death.

We sat at the dinner table and made a toast to our friendship. We ate and drank till our stomachs could no longer take it anymore.

Then, the disco lights were turned on and we danced to the loud music. It was the best night I had spent in my entire life.

Being exhausted, I went to sit beside Jin, who had already given up dancing at that point. We laughed at the other boys doing stupid dance moves.

I rested my head on Jin’s shoulder. "See," Jin said, "I promised, we'd make it up to you, didn't I?"

*************************************************

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