Locket - Jimin

The room was dark despite the single enormous window that took up almost the whole of the wall that faced the street outside and I leaned against the wall just under the frame, trying to keep my breathing as silent as possible.

Who knew where the enemy troops would be patrolling?

The sky outside was dark with clouds, or smoke, I couldn't tell and from the other end of the city I could hear the sound of a tall building collapsing. I shut my eyes with remorse, another one?

We had been at war for barely over two weeks and already the results were devastating. No one would be able to recognise the once bright bustling city any more than I did. I didn't at all anymore; I couldn't even tell where I was.

I had been separated from my refugee group a couple of days before, so I was completely on my own. I was terrified, knowing that my life could end at any given minute. I could be discovered by the enemy at any time. I was starving, thirsty. Tears slipped passed my closed eyelids.

The ground shook suddenly, ripping me from dark thoughts and through the window I could see part of a building on the opposite end of the street collapse as dust and tiny pieces of concrete rained down on me from the ceiling.

They were dropping bombs again.

I jumped to my feet in panic. I needed to find cover before it was too late-

There was a crash, a single heartbeat, one breath, the sound of glass breaking. It shattered against me as if in slow motion and I was thrown backwards through the window.

Luckily it was only on the first floor so I landed in the street, but that didn't make it any less painful. It was a detached sort of pain, like it wasn't happening to me but to someone else. But there was no one else.

My ears were ringing and my shock rendered me from being able to move so I could only lay there as the ground shock from explosions coming from further and further away.

Was I going to die alone, in the street? Resignation made my body feel heavy so I closed my eyes. What was the point? If the bombing didn't kill me now an enemy troop would.

Suddenly arms were around me and I opened my eyes again with surprise and fear. Had my time finally come?
I was being dragged across the tar and onto the concrete sidewalk. I was lying on my back now; I had been on my side before.

"Who-" I tried before another explosion went off, really close this time and a heavy weight was pressing me into the ground. I realised the stranger was shielding me from falling debris. An enemy soldier wouldn't have done that.

The weight lightened after the ground and building next to us stopped shaking and I had to squint when my eyes were exposed to the overcast sky.

A boy was looking down at me with concern, face smudged with dirt. There were bits of concrete and dust in his brown hair.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, eyes scanning down my body, searching for injury. "You're bleeding. A lot."

"What?" I sat up and had to shake my head in an attempt to clear it of the ringing; then maybe I could hear him properly. It caused me to look down at my arms.

They were red, like twin sleeves of scarlet and shards of glass were still sticking out of them, so why couldn't I feel anything? My eyes widened and I felt a scream start to build in my throat; I opened my mouth when a hand was clamped over it.

My frantic and panicked eyes locked onto dark eyes that were surprisingly calm, comforting, and I slowly started feeling my panic die down.

The boy was a soldier, on my side.

"Keep your eyes on my okay?"

I had control enough to nod slowly.
I was shaking and when the soldier took his hand away my breaths were coming in short gasps, but my eyes never left his.

"There's a lot of glass in your skin," he said slowly, and I couldn't understand how he could be so calm and collected when we were out, in the open, completely vulnerable to the enemy and all I wanted to do was break down into hysterics. That seemed easier than keeping calm. But his eyes kept me grounded.

"We need to find cover before we're spotted. I'm going to lift you alright?"

I didn't have time to answer before he had lifted me in strong arms and we ducked back through the window I had been thrown out of.

He set me down gently against a wall and I winced. He crouched beside me.

"I have a first aid kit. I'm going to try and take the shards out with tweezers and stop the bleeding, okay?"

"Okay," I managed in a small voice, surprised that I still had a voice.

"This might hurt," he warned, producing a pair of tweezers and bringing them to my arms. "Just try not to scream."

I wanted to tell him that it would be fine, that I couldn't feel it anyway, but the sharp burning pain of the first shard leaving my arm brought an abrupt end to that. The pain was back.

I shrieked, but shut my mouth to muffle the sound, my eyes watering.

"Sorry," the boy said in a low voice and I shook my head. I wanted the bleeding to stop just as much as he did so I shut my eyes and whimpered and winced my way through the agony as he removed the rest from my arms, legs and torso, and especially my back.

"I don't see any broken bones," he said after, focused on dabbing a cut on my forehead with a piece of cotton and I closed my eyes and sighed with relief.

He scanned the cut and nodded with approval before standing. He offered me his hand and I took it, letting him pull my carefully to my feet. My legs were shaking and my skin still stung and burned, but other than that I was okay.

The boy glanced back through the empty window frame and looked around at the desolate, debris littered street.

"We need to get back to the Base before the enemy come to scan the aftermath. Come with me."

I didn't need to be told twice.

We reached the Base without incident and I was separated from the young soldier to be bathed, dressed, fed and to have my wounds properly addressed. I was still eating when the same soldier ducked through the entrance to the small tent that had been assigned to me.

"Hey," he smiled easily and I couldn't help but smile back between mouthfuls of oats and honey. "Hey."

He glanced at the space on the camper bed beside me, "May I...?"

"Yeah," I scooted sideways to give him more room. He saved my life, which meant that I automatically trusted him. Him being a soldier helped too.

He sat and immediately began rummaging through multiple pockets on his uniform before he finally produced something shiny and golden. He offered it to me.

"The Recon team found this back where I found you earlier."

My eyes immediately glued to it; my hand subconsciously trailed upwards to my neck which I only then realised was bare.

"My locket." My most prized possession. The only thing I had to show that I actually had had a family once, because it had belonged to my mother.

The locket was open and a smiling photo of me grinned back.

I took it from him wordlessly and placed it at its rightful place around my neck.

I looked back at the soldier and smiled, genuinely happy for the first time since the war had begun. I had been certain I had forgotten what happiness felt like, that I would never get to feel it again.

I turned back to eating my oatmeal, the soldier beside me.

"I'm Jimin," he said quickly and I glanced sideways at him; he sounded... nervous?

"(' ')," I answered, looking at him properly. He had an incredibly handsome face, beautiful and open and honest, with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes that I easily could have fallen into. It was no wonder he had managed to keep me calm earlier.

"The medics didn't find anything wrong?" he asked, his eyes scanning over where my cuts and bruises were branded into my skin, "You didn't get a concussion or something?"

I held up an arm in reply, showing him the bandages that were strapped just about all over me.

"I'll just be wearing these for a while."

He smiled, "So I got to you in time then."

He was so warm, so kind, and he didn't even know me. I was a stranger yet he had saved me anyway.

"Thank you," I said honestly, suddenly setting my bowl down to grasp his hand with both of my own. He looked down at me with surprise, a slight flush touching his cheeks.

"I would have died without you."

"I-" he looked flustered but still managed to smile awkwardly, "I was only doing my job."

"No," I pressed. This boy was my saviour and for some reason I felt tied to him now. It was weird, something I had never felt before. But maybe that was because I was an orphan and had never truly had anyone to be tied to. I had heard stories that saving a person's life automatically bonded you to that person. I wasn't sure if the stories were true or not, but I was certain that that was what I was feeling right now.

"Thank you," I repeated, looking right into his eyes so intensely that he couldn't look away.

"Thank you for being there for me, Jimin."

~~ A week later

"I never knew a person could miss over forty times," Jimin said incredulously and I huffed with indignation.

"The wind. It's the wind. It keeps messing with my aim."

Jimin raised an amused eyebrow.

"Right."

I aimed again, holding the gun rigidly out in front of my body before pulling the trigger.

Forty-seven's the charm. And it really was, because this time the bullet hit the target right between the eyes and I nearly dropped my gun in my excitement. I hadn't even marked the target before.

"Turn the safety on first!" Jimin hissed, snatching the gun out of my excitedly waving arms and I laughed, dancing happy circles around him. His tense expression softened at my antics as he put the gun away somewhere on his belt and smiled at me.

Being with him made it easy to forget about the war sometimes, but it was because of the war that Jimin had been assigned to train me how to use a gun. Our side needed soldiers and women and girls were no exception.

"How're your arms feeling?" he grinned and I had to stop to think about it. They felt like jelly actually, I realised with surprise and I groaned at how stiff they would be the next day.

My facial expression said it all and Jimin laughed, "That's what I thought. Come on, I think you deserve a break."

We climbed to the top of an old lookout tower and dangled our feet over the edge, sitting so close our arms were touching, watching refugee children playing and soldiers milling around below us.

"Do you feel scared?" he asked, breaking the silence between us and I watched the sun setting off in the distance.

"Yes," I answered, imagining the enemy storming the camp and burning everything I had newly come to know and appreciate to the ground. I turned my head to look at him, also gazing at the setting orange orb.

"And you? Do you feel scared?" He kept his gaze trained ahead.

"Every waking moment," he murmured and I rested my head on his shoulder, his words washing over me, a cold reminder of what was going on beyond the walls of the Base.

From below us a child laughed as the ball he had just kicked hit his friend and I couldn't help but smile at the purest and most innocent sound. I suddenly realised that the purity of it, matched the very soul of the person sitting beside me. I smiled because I thought it was beautiful.

"I don't want to leave all this behind," Jimin said softly, gesturing to the children, "Doing good and saving people's lives. Giving them hope so that they can still laugh and smile." I nodded against his shoulder in agreement, smiling at his sensitivity and compassion. He had given me hope when he had taken all that glass out of me, when he had risked his own safety just to ensure my own. He hadn't even known me then, but that hadn't stopped him.

"But most of all," he continued and I felt him turn his head to look at me so I had to straighten to look back at him. His eyes were intense on mine.

"I don't want to leave you behind."
I blushed under the intensity of his gaze, feeling his words hit me like electrifying shocks. I was lost for words. How could I properly express exactly what those words had meant to me? Losing him, the only thing tied to me would be like losing a piece of my soul, the only thing that could keep my grounded in this war.

"I don't want to leave you behind either," I whispered and I don't know who moved first but suddenly he was kissing me and I was kissing him back, my fingers tangling themselves in his hair as his dug into my hips. Then I was on my back and he was above me, trailing his lips wherever he wanted and I wound my arms around his neck to draw him closer.

I woke curled against him in the lookout tower, his fingers were idly tracing lines up and down my back, giving me goosebumps and I planted a soft kiss on his jaw in greeting.

"That was a long break," I murmured and he sat up, looking down at me with a lazy smile. He grinned.

"How're your arms?"

I tried to prop myself up but my elbow buckled beneath me, the muscles protesting painfully and I hissed, making Jimin laugh.

"Some more target practice will loosen the muscles up a bit."

He stood, offering me his hand, which I took. I would always take it. He pulled me to my feet and only released my hand after he had trailed his lips across my knuckles and kissed each one of my fingers. He started turning back to the ladder but I stopped him, seizing the front of his uniform to effectively close the space between us.

"(' ')," his eyes were wide but I silenced him with my lips, feeling satisfied when he moaned softly against my mouth and wound his arms around my waist. I was allowed to kiss him, so I would. Who knew how long we had left to live? We parted.

"I'll never get tired of that," Jimin said breathily and I took his hand.

"You won't have to."

~~ 3 days later

"(' ')," Jimin called up to me from where I was dangling my legs over the edge of the lookout tower and I turned to face the source of his voice.

The look on his face shattered the smile on my own. It didn't take long before I was on the ground and in front of him.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, cupping his face and searching his eyes, unable to hide my concern. His face was tired, weary and grave.

"(' ')," he said my name softly, gently lifting my hands off his face.

"They're putting me in the front lines." A wave of nausea hit me immediately.

"What?" I managed, though my voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"They're putting me in the-"

"I heard you the first time!" I snapped, my face crumpling as tears of grief burned and spilled from my eyes. It was like he was dead already, because no one ever made it back from the front lines... alive.

I buried my face in his chest, sobbing my heart out while he held me, stroking my hair. But he said nothing. What was there to say? And we just stood there, embracing while I cried; no one stopped to look at us. Because this was a common thing in war.

"When I die I want you to promise me you'll look after yourself okay?" he said at last, quietly, fingers unconsciously digging into me, like I was the last thing in the world to him. I knew that that was what he was to me...

When I die...

He had already accepted it.

~~ the next day

"Make us proud," the general said seriously, and the soldiers saluted before they began moving out. I felt numb. Jimin was the last soldier to leave the command tent. He didn't look at me, because he knew I would have broken down if he had. We agreed that we wouldn't say anything.

But I couldn't do it. I ran out after him.

"Jimin, wait!" I cried, throwing myself at him and kissing him deeply, pouring every feeling I felt for him into it which he returned with just as much ferocity. We parted, panting, our foreheads resting against one another.

The tears came without warning, but I ignored them.

"Ta-take this," my words were a mess of sobs and sniffs as I shoved something into his hands.

"But, (' ') that's your-"

"Don't open it unless-unless you know you're about to-"

"(' ')-"

I silenced him by smashing my lips to his again. We parted.

"(' '), I need to go," he said between breaths and I shut my eyes. "I know."

"Be safe," he whispered against my lips and when I opened my eyes again, he was gone.

The first week wasn't so bad, but when the second week passed all my thoughts were consumed with panic and dread. Shouldn't he have come back? Didn't soldiers only have to serve for a week in the front lines before having the option to come back? Nightmares of different and equally horrific scenarios kept me from sleeping at night, not that I did much of that anyway. I trained, with guns, spears, crossbows and in hand to hand combat. I decided that if Jimin wouldn't come back, then I'd just have to be the one to go and get him. I was strong now, I could hold my own. I could bring him back.

On the third week there was a storm.
Soldiers were constantly being brought back, from all the lines, both wounded and dead. Most of them were men and boys, so the women and girls were left to take charge of the Base.

"I want search beams in all the towers!" I barked and a group of soldiers went running, "We need to make sure that the enemy don't use the night and the storm as cover to attack."

I paced the tent, down rows of people seated behind computer monitors and soldiers communicating through radios. I don't know where the authority had come from, maybe it was from my newly found natural ability with combat, or the hard shell that had come with the dread of the fact every wounded or dead soldier brought in from the lines could have been Jimin.

I had a job, and I was good at it.

"I don't want to leave all this behind: doing good and saving people's lives. Giving them hope so that they can still laugh and smile."

I told myself that I would give the people hope.

Lightning cracked, thunder shook the tent.

A stretcher was hauled into the tent, ensued by gasps of horror and wails of grief. We had so many of those these days, so why were the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, my skin prickling warningly?

The litter was set down and a hand flopped over the side. A golden locket, entangled in the fingers by its chain and smeared with blood made my heart stop. My own face blinked happily at me from the locket that had fallen open, and it sickened me.

It couldn't have been him. I had fooled myself into thinking that it wasn't possible.

"Jimin." My voice sounded unbearably loud over the chaos of the tent and I staggered forward. It was like someone else was moving my legs for me because all I wanted to do was run away. That way I wouldn't have to part the crowd standing around the stretcher. I wouldn't have to look down at the face of the boy that had been kissing me before, that had been alive before.

He looked like an angel and on his lips was the faintest hint of a smile and I wanted to throw up.

Because I was certain that my face, the photo in the locket, had been the last thing he saw when he died. The locket was open, in his hand. Why would he have opened it unless he had known he was about to die? He had vowed to only open it under those circumstances.

"Jimin."

I fell to my knees beside the stretcher.

"Jimin."

I was shaking his shoulders, like that would somehow wake him up, though I wasn't entirely sure why.

"JIMIN!" I screamed, fighting off the hands that were trying to pull me away from him as I clung to him for dear life.

I never even got the chance to say I love you....

~~