All That Is Broken: A Short Story

All That Is Broken. The sky relentlessly bellowed, like a symphony of drums as the clouds were dragged down by the heavy rain which it held in its thin frame.The rain poured down over us all at once, and everything and every color is subdued under it. Barely visible, I can see Jimin’s figure move swiftly a few yards away, a faint shadow. A mirage. But he is real. He is all too real. Because we can see him - and he sees us. “Come on.” Jungkook urges, his voice a deep rumble. We quicken our pace through the fog, our boots sloshing through the mud. Jimin looks over his shoulder. He swears, and begins to run. Jungkook and I quickly follow. Boom. The first clash of thunder starts it all. A blaring whistle at the start of a game. The goose hunt

I begin struggle to keep up with Jungkook, who hasn’t slowed down either. I can’t keep up, I thought as I tried to focus on breathing. I manage to catch up to Jungkook by a few feet and try to synchronize my pace with his. For a fleeting moment it seems as if I could keep running, but then I see Jimin just ahead of us.
He’s fast, but the last of his strength depletes with every staggering step he takes. He staggers but immediately finds his center. Through the ripped jeans I can see pale skin mixed with dried blood. Jimin’s figure looks much skinnier than we last saw him - the muscle and fat in his arms are barely there, and his posture has broken into a limping, hunched over position. I can hear him making a wretched sickly sound. A cough that seems, with every exhale, takes a part of his leftover soul away from him. It makes me shudder and pause.
“Leave me alone!” he cries, his voice just as sickly. The virus has taken a toll on him. But somewhere in there, I know there’s still a part of him left. The same man who always looked at me with an envious gaze yet didn’t give a second thought when I was in trouble. He taught me to remember that even in this harsh reality, the sun still comes up for us to start all over again each day. Deep inside, there’s that same young man I saw who hoped to see a brighter future, a more vibrant sunrise, and a will to live. Not to survive.

His body makes a loud splat in the ground, followed by violent grunts. Even with the virus and all the running, Jimin still tries to escape Jungkook’s grip. “Fuck! Let go of me!” Jimin curses, kicking Jungkook off him. It was like seeing prey trying to escape the jaws of death; a fish writhing underneath a bird’s claws. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” Jungkook rattles, pinning Jimin down with his upper body, slamming Jimin into the ground. I hear Jimin cry and wince.
I don’t know which shouts or cries belong to who. All I can do was stand there, and watch, send help from the sidelines. Two bodies collide and repel from one another violently, I’m practically watching helplessly from the sidelines. Jimin tries to push Jungkook off and escape with every fleeting chance he gets, but Jungkook whips back quicker than you can imagine. I see punches, kicks and even biting thrown back and forth; Jimin hits Jungkook square in the jaw, Jungkook responds with a curse and fist into Jimin’s stomach.
Jungkook’s anger pours out almost murderously that I don’t think he realizes how much weaker Jimin is against him. When I catch the sight of blood on Jimin’s face, I knew Jungkook was going too far. “Stop fighting him Jimin! You’re going to hurt yourself!” I