-Chapter 13-

Always There

“Why am I getting goose bumps?!”

“Yeah, I feel a chill too!”

“Oh man, I’m feeling kind of nauseous guys…”

It was hard for you not to have your eyes subtly trail up to gawk at your classmates around the room what with all the chatting. It was strange, that’s for sure. For some reason, it seemed like everyone in the room had something to say about some type of discomfort they were feeling. Goose bumps, nausea, chills, headaches, migraines- the list went on. Each of your classmates had groaned to their friends about at least two or three of those symptoms if not all of the above.

It was pretty bizarre because while everyone else was being tortured by discomfort, you felt completely fine. You deduced that perhaps there was a bug going around that you were fortunate enough not to catch. It was safe to just stay in your seat and keep to yourself just in case the “bug” that was going around was contagious.

The sound of loud footsteps and hysteric laughter echoing from the hall outside your classroom suddenly caught your attention. Peering up, you saw Jongin accompanied by Chanyeol and Baekhyun tailing close behind him nonchalantly strolling into the classroom.

The trio seemed to be in deep conversation, uncontrollably guffawing at who knows what. The exact moment they took a step inside the classroom, they fell silent and their smiles had vanished from their now pale faces.

“Whoa, I think I overdid it with the laughing guys. I’ve got a massive headache now…” Chanyeol pretty much groaned with a hand resting on his head. “Ugh, this is serious… I think I’m gonna puke…!”

“Me too…” Baekhyun added followed by a nod from Jongin. “And does anyone else have chills!” Baekhyun wrapped his arms around himself and vigorously rubbed his hand on his arms in an attempt to get rid of the goose bumps arising on his skin. Baekhyun’s eyes scanned the room to get a look at the other discomfited students around him until his eyes locked onto yours.

The second Baekhyun’s eyes were on yours, a paralyzing shiver jetted down Baekhyun’s spine and a wave of nausea crashed into him without any warning. Baekhyun slapped a hand over his own mouth in order to keep himself from completely losing control of his body. “Baekhyun, what’s wrong?” Chanyeol woozily asked, a bit dazed from the overwhelming sensations bogging him down.

Baekhyun subtly glanced at Chanyeol and nodded in your direction. Chanyeol looked over and immediately his body tensed up. “J-Jaeyun… I almost forgot she was in this class…!” Chanyeol in his breath and hesitantly looked down at Baekhyun. “Y-you don’t think… it’s because of… her do you…?” Involuntarily, Chanyeol reached his arm behind his back to slightly touch the fabric of his shirt that hid healing scars.

Baekhyun agonizingly brought his eyes back up to gaze at you again and once more, ill fillings hit him like a ton of bricks. “It’s gotta be her…! …W-we’d better go now Jongin. We’ll see you after school.” Grabbing Chanyeol’s arm, Baekhyun fled the classroom with Chanyeol stumbling behind.

Jongin took a step towards the doorway in an attempt to go after them but stopped, feeling himself too besieged by his uncomfortable feelings to actually do it. Turning around, Jongin sluggishly ambled across the classroom and down the rows towards his desk. Very faintly, Jongin could hear his classmates greeting him with the usual ‘good morning’s’ but for some reason, although the people around him were only a foot away from him, their voices sounded miles away and it was only sounding farther and farther as he approached his desk.

Jongin looked up and saw you silently sitting in your desk reading over your notes. The longer he stared at you and the closer he got to you, the weaker and sicker he felt. Being just a few desks away from you, Jongin felt his now weak legs just seconds away from giving in. This simple walk across the classroom felt like an agonizing trek to him. What’s… wrong with me…?! Jongin thought, barely even hearing himself think.

At last, Jongin dropped down onto his desk and laid his head down on the table. Even being in his chair and relaxing all his muscles didn’t even put him to ease. “Jongin, are you okay?” your voice rang. You leaned out in your desk to the side in order to get a better look at Jongin. Immediately after you had leaned in closer towards Jongin, Jongin’s body seemed to have tensed up. It almost looked like he was shrinking back in his desk away from you.

After a few minutes and with a muffled groan, Jongin slowly turned his head to stare at you. You were a bit startled to see the look on his face. Jongin looked completely and utterly drained of energy. His face had gone pale and white and his eyes were clouded in pain and misery. Compared to everyone else in the room, he looked the worst. W-why is he like this all of a sudden… He was just fine before he entered the classroom…!

“Jongin…” you nervously extended your arm out to reach out to Jongin but in a flash, Jongin sharply recoiled back in his seat.

“Argh… my head…!” Jongin hissed, dropping his head down into his hands. Ever so subtly, you could see Jongin shivering a bit and goose bumps arising on the skin that peeked out from underneath his sleeve. You stared down at Jongin, horrified. The guy in front of you right now… was a complete mess. Why did you feel like… this was your own fault…?

Abruptly, Jongin shot up on his feet. “I’m going to sit somewhere else today.” He muttered in a matter of seconds with his head still hanging down low. Without even waiting for a response, he turned and rushed away. You wordlessly watched Jongin hurry to an empty, unoccupied desk in the front row on the other side of the room. Even from so far away, you could clearly hear a sigh of relieve emit from Jongin and it looked as though as enormous weight was lifted off his shoulders as relaxation set into his body.

Your eyes fell downwards where you blankly stared at your desk. “This… has to be… my fault…” the words slipped out of your own mouth before it even entered your mind. You didn’t know why or how but it made sense. Everyone in the room felt sick, Jongin who was the closest one in the room to you looked as though he was moments away from falling unconscious and here you were feeling as thought nothing in the world was bothering you.

It was obvious and there was no doubt about it. Uneasily looking around, you stood up out of your chair and gathered your things into your book bag. With eyes glued to the ground, you sped out of the room, not caring who saw or what people thought. A few feet away in the hallway from the classroom, you stopped. You could hear your classmates talking.

“I think I’m starting to feel better…!”

“Unbelievable me too! My migraine is starting to ease down!”

Your hands tightened into fists and your clenched your eyes shut.

It was my fault…

You continued on without even knowing where you were even heading in the first place. Before you knew it, you ended up running into the girls’ bathroom. You supposed it was a good place to go to when you wanted to get away without getting in trouble. You shuffled into the bathroom and looked around. Thankfully enough, the place was completely barren of girls, leaving you alone.

You walked over to the nearest sink and turned the handle and watched the water rush out from the nozzle. You just stood there, eye fixated on the rushing water. Your mind was racing all the while though. Over and over you replayed the comments each of your classmates made about their distress. You couldn’t even get the image of Jongin’s pale, almost lifeless face out of your head. “Why… why was all of that happening… what does it all mean… I-it had to be my fault but… how is all this even happening…?”

Cupping your hands together underneath the water, you bent down and splashed the water into your face. You were hoping that this would clear your mind and freshen you up a bit.

“Jaeyun.”

Your eyes snapped open. What…..?

Your hands began to tremble. Your body went numb. That’s impossible…

Bit by bit, you straightened up your back and stood up tall. Your eyes were still glued to the sink and you weren’t sure you would be able to pry them away from it. Seconds past. Perhaps even minutes past. Finally, you gathered all your courage in one moment and looked up at the mirror in front of you.

As clear as ever… Luhan was standing behind you.

A suffocating gasp got caught in your throat and you quickly swiveled around to stare behind you. Frantically, your eyes darted from the left to the right, scanning the entire bathroom. There was nothing there but you knew the unsettling feeling of Luhan’s presence all too well to know he was in the room right this second.

“How is this possible… this can’t be happening…!” you kept repeating to yourself as you looked around.

Taking a moment to catch your breath and calm yourself down, you wearily looked straight ahead. “L-Luhan… are you really here with me…?”

There wasn’t a response. Minutes ticked by and you were beginning to think you were just hysterical and imagining things until right before your eyes you noticed something in front of you. At the first glance, you thought it was a simple shadow against the floor. But it was much more than that after better examination.

The shadow before you was standing upright on two legs and was in the shape of a tall man. Undeniably… it was Luhan.  

Luhan’s ominous new form caused terrified chills to run down your spine but you tried to disregard it as best as you could. “Luhan, how did you get here? W-why are you even here in the first place? How are…” you were cut short when Luhan’s shadow suddenly swoop directly towards you. Before you knew it, all you could see was a faint, dark cloud before you eyes and you felt a constricting feeling around your arms and chest and a weight that was leaning against you.

Unmistakably, you felt arms being wrapped around you. Luhan was holding you. Luhan was embracing you.

You didn’t dare to move while you were in his arms. You weren’t sure if it was because of complete fear or out of this tiny hint of joy that was peeking out inside of you. Standing completely still, you could hear your breaths calming down. And behind your own breaths, you could even hear Luhan’s own even breaths against your ear.

You felt… warm in his arms… your cheeks felt as though it was even warming up all on its own for some reason…

An eternity seemed to have past by until you finally heard something that woke you out of your daze. It was an airy whisper from Luhan that could have easily been unheard. But you did in fact hear it and it sent a chill down your spine.

“I told you I’d always be with you.”

It all made sense now why your classmates felt uncomfortable and why you felt perfectly normal.

It was because Luhan was with you.

No matter where you go now…

He’ll be with you…     

`Author's Corner

Uggghhh it's 1 in the morning and it's a school night. Wut am I doing???!!! Gonna go puke now bleegghhh.............. I'm sorry, I'm crazy when I'm sleepy lol