Thank you to everyone reading my story! I'm glad that it's enjoyable.

So I mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating: I will be out from the 26th to July 19th, so I won't be able to write. In the meantime, I will be brainstorming and probably sketching some stuff out (and a note: it's gonna get fantastical from here).

While I'm out, feel 1000000% free to leave suggestions, thoughts, or a restaurant review (yum) in the comments.

Chanyeol didn't know Luhan could cry, but there he was, sitting on the other side of a glass pane with the older man sobbing into his hands and a security guard calling for water.

Luhan was unintelligible, his words nothing more than babble. Another prisoner draped a blanket over his shoulders, and wailed even louder.

"I'm...really sorry I had to tell you this," Chanyeol said, biting his bottom lip hard.

"Who--who the f would--Yixing, my Xingxing--" Luhan stammered, slamming a fist down hard on the table on his side, hard enough for it to jolt on Chanyeol's end. "Oh, G-d, Xingxing...I'm going to find the fing b-stard who did this, I swear I will, I'll tear his throat out--"

"He's still in the ICU, but doctors say he's going to be okay," Chanyeol said, trying to calm the hysterical prisoner down. "He got shot in the shoulder and leg, and he just has blood loss. Nothing fatal, I think."

Luhan wiped at his eyes. "But it's...it's Xingxing. Whoever did it had to be--" He froze suddenly, eyes wide. "Kris."

Chanyeol watched as Luhan raised his eyes ominously to meet his. "You need to find him," Luhan said. "I swear to Jesus, Elohim, and Allah, if he gets to you first, he'll be worse than all nine circles of Hell. Find him before he finds you."

"I--"

One of the security guards put a hand on Luhan's shoulder, indicating time up. Luhan leaned forward in his chair.

"He's after you," he hissed, shrugging off the firm hand trying to get him away. "You need to be ready."

Baekhyun, Sehun, and Jongdae sat beside Yixing's bed, watching their roommate argue with a nurse.

"I know I can sit up," he snapped, a familiar sound that made Sehun and Jongdae flinch. 

The nurse was unfazed. "Sir, your wounds haven't healed yet, and it's best for--"

Yixing tsked. "It's a bullet to the shoulder, not evisceration."

"Sir, I'm going to have to--"

"Call the doctor, ask him." Yixing waved a hand, unusually irritated. 

The nurse pursed her lips and swept out of the room, fuming.

Baekhyun took one of Yixing's hands, and the older man's expression softened immediately. 

"Sorry, I'm a little prickly right now." Yixing chuckled, then winced.

"Be careful."

"Ah, s . This is nothing. Me breaking my arm in preschool was worse."

"But your collarbone's shattered and your femur's cracked."

"Oh, hush."

Yixing gave Baekhyun's fingers a gentle rub, and Baekhyun sighed. Even his roommate in the hospital bed was braver than himself.

The whole time he had been in the hospital room, Baekhyun had seen black smoke creeping up the walls, in from the window, even from Yixing himself. He didn't say anything, for fear of worrying Yixing, but there was something very wrong about the tendrils curling into the air. Something more than just a hallucination.

Sehun cleared his throat. "Hey, Lay, do you want me to grab something for you? Like, food?"

"It'd be great if I had a book. Is there a bookstore nearby?"

"Down the street."

"Get me a cookbook. Not the Martha Stewart one, though."

"Sure."

Sehun hurried out, and as soon as the door shut behind him, Jongdae burst out with an apology.

"I should've been there," he said, voice tinged with disappointment.

"No, actually. Nothing you could've done." Yixing reached for a Hershey on his bedside table, and Baekhyun handed it to him. "The guy was...better to have just been me."

Baekhyun patted Jongdae on the knee. "What's done is done."

Jongdae nodded solemnly, looking down at the ground between his feet.

"Good words." Yixing offered Baekhyun another Hershey Kiss, and Baekhyun shook his head, attention caught on a red wisp coming from underneath the door. It flattened out, creeping slowly in Baekhyun's direction. The walls seemed to wobble, and Baekhyun blinked. 

It got worse.

Baekhyun stood up, catching Jongdae and Yixing off guard.

"Baek?"

"Uh, give me a moment. I just need to...use the bathroom." Baekhyun stumbled out into the hallway, world tilting precariously around him. The red mist seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, thickening as Baekhyun approached the door.

Hallucinations weren't like this.

Baekhyun pushed through the doors, out into the chilly day.

At once, the world around him went black and red, and a pair of red eyes hovered before him. The air itself seemed to split open into a hideous bloody grin, and Baekhyun opened his mouth to scream.

Something grabbed at him, pulling him forward into the red.

The man hovered outside the hospital, looking up the steps at the brightly lit lobby.

This is where the filth gathered. This was where the Eye was telling him to go.

But he couldn't, could he?

Just as he prepared to step up, the hospital doors opened, and someone with a bright coat and brown hair staggered out, eyes flickering to look at everything, hands grasping for support on nothing.

Something inside Yifan whispered, and his hand went into his pocket.

Not here. Too bright.

Do it. Do it. Let his blood run and clean it all. Do it.

No--

The man at the top of the staircase swayed, then collapsed, one hand dangling down the steps. Someone screamed, and passerby started flcoking towards him.

The Eye in his mind cackled. Look how dirty he is. Look at the dirt he's giving to all of them. Don't you want this world to be clean?

This was the man he would get money for killing. This was the source of the filth he saw on every surface. How easy would it be to just walk up, slit his bared throat.

Go. Do it. Cleanse him. Something tightened in him, squeezing his insides and racing down his arms into his hands. NOW!

But what was left of Yifan turned and walked away.