I sighed. I remembered so clearly now. The past was now with me in the present, no matter how hard I tried to forget.

"All good?" I scanned the forest around us before laying my eyes on Taehyung, who had successfully pitched the tent. I was back in the present, back in the forest alone with Taehyung. The night before, we'd arrived and eaten roasted hot dogs over the fire, and it was like the rest of the boys were with us. It had sure felt like it, since Taehyung and I had actually had a nostalgically wonderful time, just basking in each other's company. We'd fallen asleep around the fire, waking up to the sunlight in our eyes and the fire long gone.

"Yeah," Taehyung replied. "We're all set. What do you wanna do now?"

I sighed and blew my growing fringe from my face. "Wanna go back to the beach?" I suggested. He shrugged and nodded. "Then let's go."

We climbed back into the truck, and I turned the key to start the car. Windows all the way down, I drove through the forest as Taehyung hung the upper half of his torso out the window, staring at the trees blurring by. I glanced at him a couple of times, seeing the awe in his eyes as he whooped from exhilaration.

The scenery quickly changed from emerald to a dusty pale color. Blue tinted the horizon--the ocean--and the road ended under my tires within seconds, and suddenly we were gliding on sand, the minuscule grits spewing up in a golden spray as we swerved through the sand.

Tae shouted loudly from the window, laughing, but the joyous noise was lost to the wind. I swerved to a stop, right before the tires hit the water, and Taehyung immediately flung open the door and dashed into the foaming blue water.

"It's so cold!" he screamed, rolling away from the waves as soon as he was ankle-deep. I laughed and clambered out of the car, the salty beach air stinging my nose. Reaching back into the car, I plucked up my pink Polaroid and leveled it at the ocean. The sky was a dull blue, and it was so empty. I snapped a picture of the horizon, and when the picture slid out, it was flat blue on blue.

"Smile, Tae!" I shouted, swinging the camera towards him. He turned around, spotted me, and waved. When I pressed my finger down to take a picture, the waves rushed towards the sand, quickly covering his feet in salty, freezing water. The camera clicked just as he jumped, shrieking, and I chuckled lightly at the notion of how that picture would turn out.

Within seconds, the film slid out of the small slot, and Taehyung had jogged over to check it out. He giggled.

"That one's a keeper, hyung," he laughed. I nodded in agreement and opened the car door again to slide the camera back into the glovebox. Replacing it with a camcorder, I shut the door again and captured Taehyung in the lens.

"Do something interesting!" I commanded. He giggled and started making weird faces, his eyes bulging in some, and his chins multiplying in others.

"Let's go sit and stare at nothing!" he suggested, dashing towards the wooden dock, sand spewing everywhere after his heels. I whooped and sprinted after him, the camera capturing everything in front of me. We plopped onto the cold, wet wood and stared at the opaque sky. Our legs dangled inches above the water, and we leaned on each other, gazing at the horizon.

"Whoa, look--seagulls!" I pointed the camera towards the sky, where the white birds were circling overhead. Taehyung glanced up, and he leaned a little more on me.

"Seagulls, huh?" he sighed, his voice much quieter than it was before. My heart dropped. Seagulls.

"Maybe it's a sign," I suggested. "It's Kookie telling us that he's fine."

Taehyung chuckled, but it was without humor. He stared at the small flock intently. It was silent for a few seconds, only the sound of the seagulls and the waves crashing against the shore ringing in the humid, salty air.

"There are five seagulls," he said at last. "One for each."

"Maybe it really is a sign," I remarked, deflating at the remembrance that the others were gone. "They're here with us."

I zoomed in on the white birds against the murky blue sky.

"Hi, guys," I whispered, waving with my free hand. "Miss you."

"Why did you leave us?" Taehyung murmured, staring at the seagulls blankly. "You shouldn't have done that. Now we're alone."

I cast a sideways glance at him, half surprised and half weary. I'd thought that he had gotten used to the deaths, but then again, you never get used to it. Even I felt that permanent pain of loss every day behind my heart. It was understandable. But the way Taehyung said those words, with such conviction and hurt, it almost sounded like someone had just died. It wasn't like he was grieving over a past death--it was like a fresh wound.

"You're not alone," I muttered quietly, swinging my feet over the dark water. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

Taehyung turned his head towards me, his eyes wide. "Y-Yeah, we still have each other," he answered quickly, "but as soon as one is gone, the other is alone. We're going to end up alone faster than we would've if everyone had stayed alive."

"Then we'll have to cherish our remaining moments together," I replied. Taehyung only hummed in response, staring into the depths of the water. The sun was starting to set, turning the cotton candy blue sky tangerine, which in turn, reflected on the water and tinted it the same color. It appeared as if there was dark lava churning under our feet.

I sighed and felt Taehyung's head lean against my shoulder. His head was heavier than I expected, and I felt like I was carrying a portion of the weight on his shoulders. I felt his head shift, displacing the fabric on my shoulder, as he looked around.

"Hey, look at that," he said, sitting upright and pointing to a scaffolding a small distance away. It had been reduced to a flimsy foundation, just layers of boards supported by rusty poles. Fabric strips billowed in the wind, displaying the age of the scaffolding.

"I wonder what that used to be," I remarked, watching the decaying building waver in the salty breeze.

"Who knows," Taehyung replied. "Time changes everything. Everything will be unrecognizable one day."

"Oh," was all I could say.

A couple more moments passed by, and Taehyung stood up with little difficulty, leveling his feet on the damp wood. I looked up in surprise, holding up my hand to block the sunlight.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Taehyung looked down at me. Panic flashed in his eyes when he looked down, but he was looking behind me. I turned around to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing there.

"J-Just watch," he stammered. He took off towards the scaffolding, and I held up my camera to capture whatever he planned to do. He grabbed the first bar of the scaffolding and hoisted himself up, scaling the skeleton building. I watched his silhouette rise against the orange sky. When he reached the top, he stared ahead of him into the dark sea.

"Taehyung!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"

He looked at me and smiled grimly. I stared in confusion. What was he doing?

I only realized as soon as he started to run. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and sprinted off the scaffolding, leaping right before his feet hit nothingness.

Just like that, Taehyung plummeted into the cold ocean, the darkness engulfing him.

I lowered my camera in shock. I had filmed his suicide. That made me feel sick to my stomach. He had planned to kill himself all along? Had his happiness been a rouse, just to make me less wary? Or was he trying to finally live again before death?

Taehyung's death was the most confusing of all, because it only left me with questions. I would never know what happened to him, and since his body was gone, the only way I could see him again was to watch his filmed suicide.

I started to cry. The shock had worn off, and I had realized that this was the end. All my friends were gone. I was the last one standing, and I was all alone.

"Taehyung?"