Gabriel
"Messenger of God."

Chen was gone. At first I thought I had slept through shower time, but this wasn’t that easy to figure out. He was gone, just like the three guards, Heechul, Shindong and Yesung. The hallway was silent as well. Deadly silent.

I swallowed my fear and turned myself to Chen’s bed. Empty. The piece of paper that he had been carrying around and hiding, was also nowhere to be found. I didn’t know what to do right now. This was freaking me out.

A shiver raced down my spine and my brain couldn’t handle what was happening right now. I didn’t dare to. I held onto the hope that this was all just a dream and approached the thick bars. 

“Hello? Anyone! Chen is gone!” I screamed and screamed but there was no one to answer me. My heart started racing at an inhumanly rate. I couldn’t handle this. It was freaking me out. “Hello?!”

Alone in everything you are.

I pinched myself, trying to wake up, but couldn’t. “Luhan? Luhan?” I whispered now. “Luhan? Are you gone as well?”

There was a long silence. I felt alone. Incredibly alone. Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t know what was happening at the moment. All I could do was cry. This wasn’t me. My personality was collapsing. That’s the only way I could describe it. Something was happening inside my head and these feelings didn’t belong to me.

“I’m here,” a soft whisper answered me. Luhan was standing behind the bars, holding onto them. “I’m always here.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Alone you won't feel.

“Luhan,” this was the first time I was actually happy to see him. I rushed over to him and tried to touch his hands, which were grabbing the bars of my cell. “Luhan,” I said again.

“What have you done, Tao? What have you done…” he kept on weeping and I couldn’t help but cry along. There was this wave of sadness washing me away. I couldn’t explain where that came from.

My life was a joke. Nothing made sense. My sight was slowly dying, I hallucinated, I didn’t even know whether I had parents at all, I couldn’t remember my life before this place and now everyone was gone.

“I killed you,” I whispered. “Why? You had done nothing wrong.” I started screaming now. “What had you done to deserve being killed? What? You aren’t a bad person.”

I opened my eyes in terror and noticed the look Luhan was giving me.

My voice was almost silent. “I’m not a bad person. I don’t deserve this.” Luhan nodded softly and touched my hand.

“It’s over. I tried to protect you from yourself, but there is no going back now. I’ll watch over you until the end and cry for you.” Luhan stepped through the bars and wrapped his arms around me. I could feel his tears stain my neck. “I did everything I could.” It all ended when Luhan stepped inside me.

Before I fainted, I now understood what Luhan had been doing. He had offered me a way to safety. He brought me to this place and now I had ruined it.

I thought I would be gone by now; back to where I came from, but when I opened my eyes; I was still inside my cell. I tried to crawl up and noticed that my eyes were still getting worse. It was as if the place was cloaked in darkness and terror.

Luhan was gone. I wanted to believe he never existed and was a fabrication of my mind. I knew this was wrong. Even though it seemed impossible.

The door of my cell was open now. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Was I getting out of here? The place was spitting me out. I should’ve tried staying here. I was safe in Unit 13. Now the place was tearing itself apart and pushing me out.

I walked through the exit of my cell and tried taking it all in. No one was here. Every single cell was empty. I had to think about Chen. His being couldn’t be erased from my mind. I wondered if he was in a better place.

The ground started shaking. The prison was going to fall apart with me in it. My heartbeat lost its mind and I started running.

Open your eyes, Tao.

Upon hearing that voice, I felt like throwing up. It was getting closer and closer and I kept running. Every single door was closed, but one. It was the hallway that lead to the courtyard. I didn’t know why I had to go there, but the dark voice didn’t follow me.

I could only hear his voice in the far distance.

“No, no, no…ssssht.”

My feet stepped on the grass. It was pouring outside. It took me three seconds to get soaked. I kept my eyes glued to the ground. It didn’t scare me anymore, but I had to move.

I finally dared looking up. The courtyard looked different now. The rain made it appear hostil