He was screaming loudly, but not in anger as he’d done yesterday. This was a panicked scream, a call for help because he needed someone to save him. He screamed and screamed and screamed, thrashing and kicking wildly against the restraints. His heart was pounding in his chest and all he could see was the man towering over him in an attempt to kill him. Hands were around his neck, squeezing tightly so that he couldn’t breathe anymore.

“Kibum! WAKE UP!!”

“Undo the restraints right now!”

“NOOOOO!!”

All of a sudden he was free to move openly and in the midst of his screaming and rash behavior, he was pulled upright with a pair of arms wrapping around his body, holding him tightly.

“Someone call Dr. Choi ASAP.”

“I’ve got this, go away.”

He began to hyperventilate and his lungs squeezed painfully in his chest. There was some more commotion and then something was pressed over his mouth and nose, pushing cold air into his body. His body was trembling violently as he struggled to get away from his attacker, but the screams began to die down.

“What is that?”

“Calm down, it’s just going to relax him.”

“Leave him alone!! He’s just having a nightmare, not throwing a fit! Don’t you bring that needle anywhere near us!”

Kibum’s mind heard the word nightmare and all of a sudden he could see. He snapped out of the hallucination, the man trying to strangle him to death disappeared. He glanced down at the hands that were holding him tightly, reading the name on the wrist band and realizing that Key was the one embracing him.

“Hey, hey you’re okay, right?” Key said softly, rocking him back and forth. He glared at the male nurse that was standing in front of them, holding a needle in his hand. “He’s calming down, alright? Let me deal with him, I do this all the time.”

“Kid, I know how to take care of Kibum. I did it for three months down in psych,” Jongwoon, the male nurse, said in an assuring voice. He leaned over and wiped a patch of Kibum’s upper arm with a medical wipe. “This will only sting for a second. See? All done.”

Kibum glanced down at his arm, shocked by the sudden bee sting. He then looked up at Jongwoon, blinking at him with a hurt expression on his face. The nurse smiled sympathetically at him, reaching over to adjust the oxygen mask that was strapped to his face. Then he turned his attention to Key, speaking in a very calm and collected tone of voice.

“I know that you’re probably used to taking care of him, and that is such an admirable thing to do, but both of you are hurt right now. Please return to your own bed and lie down because it looks as if you’re bleeding,” Jongwoon told him, pointing down to the red spot seeping through Key’s white t-shirt.

Key glanced down, his eyes widening at the sight of blood. His mind was suddenly filled with horrible thoughts of his insides spilling out all over the floor and he quickly released his brother and darted back to his own bed, lying flat on his back.

“Am I going to die?” Key asked in a panic, covering his face with his hands. Kibum looked over at him, not quite comprehending what was happening because whatever Jongwoon had injected him with was starting to work and he was feeling a little out of it.

Jongwoon chuckled and walked over to the bed, lifting up Key’s shirt. He studied the incision for a moment before pressing the call button for a nurse to come. “You’re alright, I promise. The stitches just pulled apart, probably because Kibum elbowed you in the stomach. Don’t worry; the nurse will put it right in no time.”

Key sighed as relief washed over his body like warm water. He stayed very still as the nurse came into the room with a suture kit and began to mend his wound. Since he was in the hands of a nurse, Jongwoon walked back to Kibum and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, Kibum,” He said in a soft voice, reaching over to brush the hair out of the teenager’s eyes. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Kibum whispered, nodding slightly. He shifted and lay against his pillow, hugging his burning arms against his chest.

“Dr. Choi sent me up to monitor you for a couple hours,” Jongwoon informed him, tucking the blanket around him. “Is that alright with you, if I stay with you for awhile?”

“Yeah,” Kibum whispered again.

Jongwoon smiled at him, patting his belly comfortingly. “I’m glad to hear that, Kibum. Now, it looks like you’ve re-opened some of your wounds as well. Do you mind if I take a look?”

Kibum nodded slowly, allowing the male nurse to take away the bandages. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of all the little red cuts from where he’d grabbed up handfuls of the broken mirror in the bathroom, and when he reached the gashes in his arms something changed inside of him. Some were deep and others were shallow, some small and others large; one in particular reached from his forearm all the way to his elbow. It was a destructive piece of artwork