════════♫♬♫♬♫════════

"my mind is quiet now. there's no fire
or ash, no sulfur or shattering glass.
only silence, empty and cold."

— Christine Fonseca —

════════♫♬♫♬♫════════

[ 3RD PERSONS VIEW。]

Mark rushed out of the campus, wanting to arrive at Jisung's house almost instantly as they said it was urgent and he had to go now. As soon as he had stepped out, he let out a small gasp, not expecting the light snowfall especially since it's still November.

It rarely snows during November in Korea, but here it was, snowing. He tugs on the rims of his jacket before quickening his pace with small pecks of snow dropping on his shoulders and hair.

Nearing Jisung's neighborhood, hastened steps against the pavement, he heard a scarcely audible scream.

Mark turns around, seeing Hanmi across the road, her eyes were wide in terror, fear had become tangible, her own pulse beating in her ears making it difficult for her to hear any other sound.

Hanmi had run out of her house as if it was a horrible place that she had to escape in order to survive, at least that's what she thought momentarily.
"Help me." she mouthed, her voice weak and fragile as she slowly crossed the road.

Mark furrowed his brows, not catching what Hanmi was saying. He walked back, about to cross the road when the sound of wheels scoring against the rigid cement, loud honking noise to alarm everyone. The driver was scared– his heart racing as he couldn't stop the car, the brakes were broken.

Mark's lips parted wide, shooting a look at the girl crying on the road, with everything going on, she couldn't register all at once.

"Hanmi!" the boy panicked, ready to jump into the road and push her away, but a force pulled her back.

He was late.

Her body flew further as the front of the car crashed with her. With an abrupt stop, the driver hopped out, crying and rushing towards the poor girl.

Blood, darkened red started pooling around her. Eyes still wide open, the body looked dormant as life had gone away. Cheeks stained in an agony of tears as specks of white snow faltered.

People nearby began crowding her body, utters and whispers bursting into the air, sirens going loud.

"H-Hanmi..." Mark croaked out, horrified, traumatized. He had just witnessed death right in front of his eyes, the fact that it was a friend made the whole situation worse.

Something was unsettling with her death.

Hanmi reopened her eyes, seeing herself in a big black setting. "Where am I?" she questioned softly, looking down, her skin was pallid and lifeless, also noticing the snow-white dress on her.

Faint noises, she could hear noises. Snapping her head to where the sounds came from, soon memories started popping in front of her.

It was like a flashback of everything. Her life in seven minutes. Studies said that when you die, you have ten to seven minutes as your body starts giving up. The brain playing back a memory sequence and the last thing that surfaced Hanmi's vision was the accident.

Hanmi ran out of her room, knowing very well she couldn't just betray her friends like this, believing that there was another way to avoid her situation. Ignoring the yells drifting away, nothing but her own fast heartbeat resonated.

Tears masking her eyes, unstable heavy breathing as she ran, all she wanted to do was to escape.

"Noona?"
"Eonnie?"

Hanmi turns around, gasping to find Hansung and Hana, smiling sadly at her. The teenage girl ran towards them, only to find them gone. She reaches out, seeing her siblings crying in the arms of her father.

Hanmi gulped, biting down her bottom lip to suppress tears though there were none. Slowly, her once visible hand started fading, until there was none of her.

They weren't able to revive her.

She was reported dead on arrival.

Sand. The next thing she knew was she could feel watery sand. Looking down, she was shocked to see nothing but the clear water that reached her ankles, sand under them.

I no longer have a body. That was the first thing that crossed her mind.

The girl gazed up seeing beautiful purple skies, no sun shone. It was like a painting that she never wished to be ruined. Everything felt so foreign, she felt so free.

It was like the weight she had before has finally lifted.
To Hanmi, she felt like she has finally escaped.

Ji Hanmi no longer lived, she now only exists—in this unknown world and in the real world, in their memories and in their hearts.

— • • • —

"What the fuck is happening!?" Donghyuck growled, his own fingers tugging the roots of his hair in frustration.

Jeno patted Mark's back gently, assuring him that everything will be fine, although all of them were sure enough that it had just begun.

Was this the rain of terror that the copycat came with?

"I- I just- I just witnessed death... J-Jeno, Hanmi died right in front of me!" Mark cried out, wrapping his tremulous arms around the younger boy.

"This is it..." Chenle pointed out, gaining a few glances from his friends, "If we don't find the copycat... soon enough we'll all die."

"We need to find Haruka..." Jisung said followed by a shaky breath, you could easily tell how scared he was, maybe even more than that.

Lihua nodded her head vigorously, still holding onto the throw pillow. She couldn't really do anything else but accept the horrible fact that the known SC Vice President was dead. It felt like yesterday to her when Hanmi greeted her and Chenle, welcoming them to Hwanseong High.

Lihua wanted to close her eyes, rock herself to sleep, convincing herself that it was all right, that it was all just a dream, but it wasn't.

It wasn't.

"Where's Renjun?" Jaemin questioned them, noticing the absence of the blonde boy.

Donghyuck scanned the area, seeing no sign of the boy at all. Everyone looked at each other, their eyes growing wide.

"Shit!"

— • • • —
i don't remember much about
the seven minutes thing- cuz my memories so bad 😔 but yea i learned the last sy
i wanted to find my notes abt it so i could write more but i couldn't find them 😤

but anyways- drop ur theories so far 👀

-jibin