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apotatomashedbybts · 3 years

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The Trail Of The Firefly

➡Pairing: No Pairing

➡ Member: Park Jimin

➡Genre: fluff, horror

➡Rating: PG-13

➡warnings: alcohol consumption, smoking, mention of devil

➡ Word Count: 3.6k+

➡Theme: Autumn Harvest (20 points) + Pumpkin Carving (5 points)

➡ Event: Jimin's Carnival of Horrors

➡Hosted by: @btsgoldnetwork

➡ Summary: Jimin gets lost in the forest in search for the drink that could get him forget his sorrows, but instead he finds you and a way out of the forest.

➡ Author's note: This is the beginning of me posting for the Jimin's Carnival of Horrors event for Halloween! Hopefully I'll be able to complete most of the squares (〒﹏〒)

I want to thank the absolute angel @hobeemin for beta reading this story and giving me such a beautiful and positive feedback! I can't thank you enough🥺🌼 Love you 💜

Drowned in the indistinct yet loud chatter of the frenzied symposium of tireless party animals, Jimin gulped down shots after shots. He went there to get drunk. He wasn't getting drunk enough.

Coming back to his grandparent's house in the countryside was maybe a good idea, but nothing could soothe a broken heart more than good old liquid poison. So he accepted the invitation of his childhood friend, who was throwing a party to celebrate the autumn harvest and wanted to reconnect.

Jimin had accepted right away – the booze made by the village's tavern was too intoxicating for needy souls. And thus, he ignored his grandfather's repetitive warning of coming back before the clock hit three in the morning by laughing at him, "Come on, grandpa, what am I? Cinderella?"

But now that the drinks weren't doing their job, he began to consider his grandfather's warning as an excuse to leave the party. With blurry eyes, Jimin looked at his phone screen – it was two past midnight.

"Perfect time!" He thought and made his way to the washroom to wash his face.

"Leaving already?" Jimin looked up while shaking off the water from his hands after leaving the washroom and saw a boy about his age lighting a cigarette leaning against the wall.

"Yeah." He wanted to leave as soon as possible. He was too intoxicated to have a chit-chat with a stranger.

Jimin passed by him and made his way to the main door but got stopped on his tracks by the boy's words, "The booze wasn't what it was supposed to be, eh?"

Jimin didn't know what to answer, but he couldn't move forward either.

The boy blew a large cloud of smoke out from his mouth and came near Jimin. Keeping his hand on his shoulder, the boy whispered near Jimin's ear, "If you want to forget, then follow me."

Jimin went there to get drunk. He didn't get drunk enough. He went there to forget, even if for a little while. But the memory was still intact. So he followed. He followed the boy to forget.

The light cold breeze along with the scent of burning wood hit Jimin as soon as he came outside the house. The boy was standing beside a bonfire that was burning for who knows how long. Flicking off the cigarette into the fire, the boy smiled at Jimin and said, "Desperation fucks mind, I guess."

"Just give me the booze, man," Jimin said impatiently – he was desperate.

"I don't have the booze on me. The tavern is making liquid gold, buddy. But I know where you can get some for free!" The light of the bonfire made his smile appear almost sinister.

But Jimin was in no position to detect the details on a stranger's face.

"Where?" Jimin's voice slurred.

"I hope you are sober enough to follow the directions because I won't be guiding you there myself."

"Why?" This time Jimin was concerned. It was going to be challenging to make out the path on his own.

"Well, you see," the boy scratched his chin, "I have been caught stealing the juice a few times before, and the owner said he would have my head if I try to enter his property again. But you are Mr. Park's grandson. He is a good friend of the owner! I doubt he would want his friend's grandson's head."

The reasoning seemed reasonable enough to Jimin, so he replied, "Okay then! Where is it?"

A grin broke out on the boy's face, "Wait a little bit!" Then he went near the house's boundary and brought out a big haversack from behind a large tree.

"What… is that?" Jimin knitted his eyebrows.

"Ah! This? Lemme show you." The boy brought out a big glass container with a fine net covering the top of it, and the container was full of fireflies flying haphazardly in all directions in a vain attempt to get out.

The knot of his eyebrows got more compact, and he looked at the boy questioningly.

"These fireflies.." the boy straightened himself up proudly and said, "will show you the path! You just have to follow them."

Was he too drunk, or did the boy actually say that, Jimin questioned himself, and then scoffing in disbelief, he replied, "What bullshit! This isn't a Disney movie."

"But this is a remote village in the outskirts that you came back to after 13 years." The boy stared into Jimin's eyes.

Something in that stare made Jimin think that maybe he was right, that maybe there were things out there that lacked definitions from the modern world out there.

"Fine then. But remember, if anything happens, I am having your head." Jimin uttered curtly.

"With pleasure." The boy smiled and set out the fireflies from their confinement.

Jimin watched in awe as the fireflies flew together instead of scattering away into the night. They flew up towards the sky and then came down together, creating a circle, almost like a typhoon, and shot in the direction where the path to the forest started. They stopped right at the edge as if waiting for Jimin to follow their lead.

The boy, still standing with a chest swollen with pride, said, "My job here is done. Just follow the fireflies, and they will lead you to a small hut decorated with carved pumpkins. You have to say only once, 'Is stingy Jack out on a stroll? I am Daeshim's friend,' and then an old man will come out from the hut and will take you to the tavern."

Jimin had been walking for ten minutes now, and quite unbelievably, the fireflies were truly flying in front of him, showing the path. It felt surreal, and Jimin couldn't take his eyes off of that out-of-the-world event; he thought he could follow those creatures for as long as his legs kept company.

After another ten-minute walk, the fireflies stopped in front of a run-down hut with innumerable carved pumpkins placed haphazardly surrounding itself.

Jimin looked around, making out the outline of the hut in the dim light provided by the fireflies, and then thought that it was no use straining his eyes, so he called out, "Is stingy Jack home?"

There was no response.

As if hit by a realisation he began to take small steps forward in the dark, and raising his voice, he called out again, "Is stingy Jack out on a str---"

But before he could complete his sentence, he slipped down a small ditch full of water and hit his head on a flat rock-solid lump of mud on his way down.

"Hey! Hey, wake up!" Jimin woke up, startled, by a soft voice calling out.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw a woman in her thirties squatting down by his side.

Jimin slowly sat down and rubbed the side of his head where he got hit, but surprisingly the pain was long gone. Then he looked at himself and saw in the uncanny light that lighted the forest all of a sudden that he wasn't wearing the clothes he was initially wearing. Instead, he was dressed up in a white shirt with a printed bandana tied in a fancy knot inside the shirt collar, straight-leg black pants accompanied with a green jacket, and orange shoes.

He looked at the lady questioningly about his outfit who had stood up and was waiting for him to get up with her extended right hand.

"Oh!" A small gasp left his mouth, and he took her hand to stand up.

Once Jimin stood up, she asked, "Were you looking for Jack?"

"Ah, yes.. how did you know?"

"I heard you calling him. But I am afraid that you aren't at the hut you should be." She replied with a concerned expression.

"Is that so?" Jimin smiled, embarrassed but then remembering Daeshim's words he said, "But my friend Dae--"

Jimin's sentence got interrupted in the middle by the lady as she put her cold palm on Jimin's mouth to stop him.

Jimin looked at her with questioning eyes, to which she replied, whispering, "You shouldn't speak of your friend here. This world works differently. If you swear that you won't utter your friend's name anymore, then I'll take you to the place you need to be."

A slight nod was all Jimin could muster.

It's been a few minutes since Jimin had started to follow her, and he noticed that as they were walking, there was no sound of the lady's footsteps.

As if sensing Jimin's curiosity, the lady spoke out, "Please lift your eyes from my feet and keep them on me. Otherwise, you can get lost."

Confused at her remark, he asked, "Lost?"

As soon as he said so, the environment around them started to be engulfed in fog. With each passing second and with each step taken, the fog around them thickened. Jimin could barely make anything out in his surroundings except for the lady in front of him who was glowing just like the fireflies, showing him the way to move forward.

Jimin's mind felt numb. He wanted to ask so many things, but the main question he wanted to ask was why he was following her so blindly, trusting her every step.

After a while, the fog dissipated as suddenly as they appeared, and soft sun rays touched Jimin's face, and they stopped for a time.

The sun shone on her too. And he looked at her with wonder as her skin glowed differently this time; she was glowing golden.

Just like the darkness was lift-off of the forest, so was Jimin's numbness, so he couldn't help but ask her, with unexplained amazement prevailing in his eyes, "Who are you? And why do you look so familiar?"

The lady who was soaking herself in the warm sunlight with her eyes closed turned to look at Jimin and said with a friendly smile, "Familiar? That's odd. I have never seen a fine gentleman like you here before."

Jimin felt a warmth rush through his cheeks, and with a shy smile, he replied, "Well, I returned here to my grandparents' home after almost 13 years… And I guess I have changed a lot. Maybe I saw you when I was younger."

"Perhaps…" Her words trailed off as she stared at his face.

There was a moment's pause, and as she stared at him, the forest stopped moving. It seemed like the forest was bound with her soul, and with her, the forest was also speechless.

When the moment came to an end, she gathered up a mumble from her throat, "Who's your grandfather?"

"Ga-Eul Park. Do you know him?" Jimin replied.

Another pause, and then she replied, "Very well." Is that a glint he noticed in her eyes?

She extended her hand and ran it softly on his orange hair, "I remember now. I met you 12 years ago on the full moon at the autumn harvest festival of the village."

"Really? I can't recall. Sorry." Jimin smiled, once more embarrassed.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." The lady smiled, and then, abruptly changing the subject, she said, "It's getting late. Your grandpa must be worried."

"Yeah." And for the rest of the journey, they walked side by side without saying anything to each other.

After what seemed like half an hour of the walk, they reached the foot of a slanted slope filled with bushes and trees.

Jimin looked at her excitedly and exclaimed, "I know this place! I remember it so well! We have to climb this slope, and we'll reach grandpa's pumpkin nest!"

Jimin grinned at her happily, "Come, have a pumpkin spiced hot chocolate with us! Grandpa's are the best!"

"I doubt that." She chuckled.

But Jimin couldn't hear it as he had already started climbing the slope. A few steps on it, and he looked back to see if she was coming, and he saw that she was still standing there, at the foot of the slope.

"Aren't you coming?" Jimin shouted.

"No." She smiled with a melancholic expression.

"Then at least tell me your name! So I can tell grandpa!"

"Tell him that you met Y/n Park! He'll know!" She waved at him.

"Alright! See you soon!" Jimin shouted back and began to climb.

After reaching the top, Jimin looked back, and he found her still standing there looking at him.

He waved her goodbye. She waved back and urged him to go.

With a slight nod, he moved away from her line of sight.

With a sudden change in thought and an urge to spend a few more minutes with her, Jimin ran back to the edge of the slope; "she couldn't have gone away this quick," he thought.

He was wrong. She was not there anymore. Jimin stretched his vision as far as it could go, but he couldn't find her. He shouted out her name; there was no reply.

A creeping sadness came over Jimin, and with a sigh, he started to walk back. He just wanted to see her once more. He knew it was uncertain whether he could meet her again or not. Now that he was not with her, he could feel the absence of the very close and familiar warmth that he felt with her.

So when he saw the pumpkin nest that his grandfather always put so much care and love into rebuilding and decorating every year, no matter how difficult it was for him, Jimin ran. He ran as if his life depended on it. He ran like he could fill the void that was left inside him once he reached that love-filled place.

And once his feet touched the outline made by pumpkin carvings to act as a fence, he fainted, even before he could catch a breath.

Jimin flinched at the feeling of cold water hitting his face, and he could hear a voice calling out his name. He slowly opened his eyes and saw his grandfather looking at him with worry plastered all over his face.

"Are you feeling okay, Jimin-ah? Does it hurt anywhere?" His grandfather asked as soon as Jimin opened his eyes.

Jimin was about to shake his head to say it didn't, but as he did so, his side of the head throbbed.

"It hurts a little." Jimin smiled sheepishly.

"I told you to return before 3. Can you get up? Let's get you home. Hm?" His grandfather held his hand.

Giving him a nod, Jimin tried to get up, but after doing so, it dawned upon him that it was still dark when it was supposed to be sunny.

He staggered back a little and mumbled, "H-how?"

"Hm? What?" Jimin's grandfather asked.

Jimin faced his grandpa and said, "Grandpa, I have to tell you something."

"You can say that after we reach home, come on." He urged Jimin to walk.

"I- I met someone… She said she knows you." Jimin's voice shook as he recalled those melancholic eyes of her before parting their ways.

"Who?"

"Her name is Y/n Park." Jimin looked into his grandpa's eyes with his glistening ones.

"Who?" A shriek wanted to make its way out of his throat, and he staggered backwards, a couple steps away from Jimin.

They stood in a suffocating stillness, waiting for it to be broken yet not by themselves. But it had to be them, so Ga-eul took the step forward, and holding Jimin's hand, he whispered, "Come with me."

They entered the pumpkin nest. It was decorated with old yet sturdy furnitures. Each wall was made like a separate room – a bedroom, a kitchen, a small living place with rounded table and chair for two, and there were flowers and plants and carved pumpkins everywhere. It was kind of a cottage that Jimin would have loved to spend vacations in with a person he loved romantically.

Ga-Eul made Jimin take one of the seats beside the rounded table and brought out a yellowed vintage album from the bookshelf of the bedroom sidewall.

After taking the seat opposite Jimin, he kept the album on the rounded tree log. Very carefully, he opened the first page.

He passed it to Jimin, and pointing to one particular picture of his wedding; he said, "That's your grandmother."

Jimin stared at the picture, not believing his own eyes. He started flipping through the pages gently, checking out each photo intently. All the pictures of his grandparents' were so full of love that even he could feel how happy they were together.

The last page of the album was adorned with two single photos of her dated October 1976.

With a shaky voice, Ga-eul said, "These are the last pictures of your grandma before she passed away.…."

"H-how did she die?" Jimin asked, shifting his eyes from the album to his grandfather.

With shaky voice he replied, "She was having complications after giving birth to your youngest uncle… That time we didn't have many resources; I tried my all to keep her by my side. But I failed her." In the last sentence, the older man wailed loudly, and his body trembled as he was hit with a fit of sobs.

"Grandpa… You did all you could! Grandma knows that too, hopefully!" Jimin tried to console him.

"She knows… And she doesn't blame me.." he exclaimed between the sobs, "But I don't know… I want her to be by my side so much. That's why maybe she's tied to this damn world."

"How do you know she knows, grandpa?"

"Oh.. that's because she comes here every year on a full moon before Halloween, and we spend the night together! This nest… She and I built it together before she left us. It used to be like our own little tradition to rebuild this nest each year for autumn harvest.." He looked all over the inside of the cottage, "You see... I tried to keep it exactly like how your grandma left it. She loves this place so much. She loves me more though," he chuckled and wiped his tears, "I am glad that you met her today. I don't know why I am so emotional, but I guess this day always makes me so."

He extended his hand and softly patted Jimin's head; he spoke softly, "Didn't you get shocked when you saw her? You look exactly like her."

Jimin had realised that a few minutes ago while looking at the photos – why she seemed so familiar; because he saw himself in her.

When Jimin was once again going through the album and thinking about all the great memories he could have made if she was still here, his grandfather came back from the kitchen with a glass of Pumpkin spiced hot chocolate. Jimin smiled at him and took a sip, and hummed in satisfaction.

With a kind smile on his lips, his grandfather said, "This used to be your grandma's specialty. I have been making this for so long, but it never turned out like her's. Some things can never be duplicated, I guess."

"Yeah.." Jimin smiled, "but for me, yours is still the best!"

"Aw! That's so sweet of you... I can never say it enough, but it's nice to have you back. But before I forget, you need to tell me what happened last night that your grandma had to bring you back!"

Jimin took a long sip of the chocolate and took his time swallowing it, and then slowly he told his grandfather everything that had came to being last night right before he met his grandmother.

As his story progressed, Ga-eul's expression turned grimmer.

When Jimin finished, he let out a long sigh and exclaimed, "If your grandma didn't find you last night, you would have been as good as dead!"

Jimin had never seen his grandfather with such a darkened expression before. Concerned and feeling guilty, he said, "I am really sorry, grandpa. It won't happen again. But what do you mean by 'as good as dead'?"

With another long sigh, Jimin's grandfather started to explain, "There is a reason I told you to come back before the clock struck 3. Have you ever heard of the urban legend of Jack-o'-lantern? It's not just a legend here. He exists in those woods. Stingy Jack goes out to hunt for a soul every day at 3 am once Autumn Harvest begins. And sometimes, to get their wishes fulfilled, some people offer other people's souls in return. They just had to lure them towards the hut at around three and recite the spell that you had been told to recite last night. Yes, it's a spell. And your grandma had saved many people from meeting the unfortunate fate as she descends to the earth realm the night before the full moon every year. You are one of the lucky ones."

Jimin couldn't believe what he was hearing. He could feel his palms sweating just at the thought that he wouldn't be sitting here talking to his grandpa if it wasn't for his grandma or if this had happened some other day.

With a quivering voice, he asked, "And what happens to the one who made the deal if that person couldn't meet his end of the deal?"

"He would probably get his soul taken away instead. It serves them right! No good man deals the devil." His grandfather huffed.

After helping his grandfather put up the last pieces of decorations, Jimin got out of the hut and soaked himself in the first rays of the morning sun.

He could now understand the difference between the sun rays touching his skin when he was with her and now. Unbeknownst to himself, a soft smile painted itself on Jimin's lips, and Jimin whispered, "Thank you for being my firefly. See you soon, grandma."

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