Sulyeon could feel the blood rushing just under the surface of her skin, boiling and bristling and giving her whole body a mottled red appearance. She was dressed in shorts and a tanktop, not having expected company.

"What are you doing in my house?" she asked it as flatly as possible, calmly sliding Zelo's discarded knife into the dark hallway she'd just come from with her foot.
"Well," Kai laughed, sitting up straight and rummaging through his bag. "You invited me in." he gave her a sly smile, expecting her to have a sharp comeback.

His comment was quite pointedly disregarded as she shifted her weight to a different foot and crossed her skinny arms over her chest. Sulyeon had learned a thing or two while dating Kai, those few years ago. Never dignify a sarcastic remark, unless you wanted a screaming match.
"And I wanted to show you something I've been working on for the past few weeks." He held up a camera, the side flap extended and inverted to show her his video.

"What makes you think I want to see that?"

"Mm, call it a hunch." he pressed a button and set the camera on the coffee table, motioning for her to pick it up. She stayed stock still, refusing to touch it. This game was getting old, fast and she was not going to keep playing.

She watched in mild surprise as the camera began on a take of Kai holding up Zelo's pill bottle. He shook it, opened it, and dumped all the pills into the dirt, grinding them into a fine orange powder under his heel. Static, and switch.

"Here, kitty, kitty." she froze, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She strained her eyes, still not moving, and examining the video. Zelo was sitting in the alley, his hand outstretched to a puffy black cat that was sniffing it cautiously.

Her stomach turned. "Turn that off." she forced her voice to stay calm. How could he take a video of someone doing that? Of someone suffering and killing and... Kai smirked, leaning back and shrugging.

"You can turn it off, if you don't like it." There was a horrible splat from the camera and Sulyeon closed her eyes.

"You're sick." she spat, hearing a crack as something was misplaced on the carcass. There was a sob, a whimper, a whispered apology. Kai leaned forward and pressed his elbows into his knees.

"That's not even the best part." his eyes were halflidded and he had the most terrible, knowing smile she had ever seen. His lips parted slightly at the side, his teeth glaring through in a twisting smirk.

"Why weren't you at school today?" her own voice came through the tinny speakers, the rustle of clothes on clothes.

"I haven't been..." she took a step forward. He could not possibly have recorded them... he wouldn't have...

"Haven't been what?" Sulyeon heard quick breathing and the voices dropped to whispers.

"Turn it off!" She hissed, taking one step forward. He laughed at her, again, and turned up the volume.

"Why? Are you ashamed?" He had a steely glint in his eyes, one that cast no doubt that he was enjoying every moment of this torture. There was a moment of silence before the camera continued to spew the voyeuristic content.

"I... No," Her eyes were slits, and her chest was rising and falling in a manic rhythm. In, out, in, out, in, out... So much for keeping calm. "Turn it off, you sick son of a ." She took another step forward, glaring at him with the full menace her 101 pound frame could produce. Kai tsked, leaning forward and picking up his camera, but still letting it play.

"Did you tell him that he wasn't your first?"

 

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Zelo stirred lightly in his sleep, searching for the frail form that had been with him. He sat up groggily, not even sure why his exhausted body had woken itself up. There was a strange sense of vertigo swirling around his head. He felt warm, too warm.
"Sulyeon?" his voice came out in a croaky whisper. The fact that he'd been asleep hadn't quite hit him yet.

You should leave...

He felt himself lurch to the side, as though the voice had struck him. He couldn't place who it was. He didn't really care, it didn't matter. He stood up slowly as the floor rocked underneath him. When his face came into contact with the floor, he allowed himself to stay there a while, enjoying the feel of the cool wood against his feverish cheek.

"Turn it off."

"Why? Are you ashamed?"

Who was that? He couldn't remember. It was too loud to think.
 

Get out, you've got a job to do. go slit your ing throat, get it over with, the end the end the end the end the end the end is nigh

He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Now... now... now!

Zelo stood up and peeped out the window. There was an escape ladder down to the filthy streets below. Perfect. He tread carefully across the floor, opened the door and listened.

 

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Kai watched the look on Sulyeons' face when the video from the scene at school began. He saw how her eyes misted over at the pained look on Daehyun's face and the shock, disgust... then fear as it showed Zelo climbing in through her window.
"I'm the next DeMill, don't you think?" he said, sarcasm dripping from each word.
"Why are you doing this? Zelo never did a thing to you!" Kai sighed, shaking his head and beginning to enunciate each word as though Sulyeon were an idiotic child.
"He didn't have to. I just wanted to see what would happened."

"Wanted to see...?"

"Besides, do you know what antipsychotics can do to a person?" He began to tick off symptoms on his long fingers.
"Weight gain, Weight loss, insomnia, excessive sleep through the day, not to mention sudden death."

Sulyeon wasn't listening anymore. She had long since shut down.
 

"Just get out of my house." Kai stopped talking and stared at her strangely. "I said, Get out!" Her voice rose slightly and she picked up the nearest thing to her, a vase, and hurled it at his head.

It shattered near his face and he darted to the side. She grabbed something else, a paperweight, and chucked it. "Get out of my house!" He gave a little chuckle, saluted, and darted out the door to avoid another flying object.

 

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Zelo heard the crash, the noise startling him into lurching out of the half open door. He landed on the ground again, right next to his...

 

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Sulyeon took deep breaths as she paced quickly through her living room. Her chest was heaving with rage and her eyes were narrowed to lapis slits. She ran her hands roughly through her hair and turned to stare at the space where Kai had been sitting. She would clean that, she thought to herself. Scrub it, burn it, buy a new one before Father dearest came home. Perfect. And she'd throw that ing camera...

Camera? Sulyeon felt her eyes widen, twitch. She darted forward and snatched it from the table. Camera, he left the camera!

"I have proof..." she laughed breathlessly. "I can prove that he's the one who did this..." she allowed her smile to darken and twist at the corners as she wondered if vengance would be sweet.

 

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Zelo held the knife nervously in his teeth, tasting the sickening and clotted gore on it's silvery surface. He climbed quickly and meticulously down the ladder and leapt from the fourth rung.

It was over. He could be done. Finished with the horrible spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning, out of control.

Where to, though?

Home. That was it. Home. He would go back to the house of his childhood nightmares. The one where mother had died, Himchan cried, Daehyun tried to protect him and his father who...

Zelo winced, the raised lashes on his forehead tingling at the memory. He raced away.

 

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Sulyeon realized, after a few moments, that her plan was not a sound one. Kai was going to realize he'd left it. She checked the tape, to make sure it wasn't another false clue. No, he had really screwed himself over this time. Where could she go? Where would she be safe?

Sulyeon was fully aware that she would not stand a chance against Kai if it came to a physical confrontation, and she would never ask Zelo to...

"Zelo?" she called. Eerie silence answered and she forced herself to stride slowly, quietly, carefully into the room. He's just sleeping. He's just sleeping...

She crept to the bed, leaning over and pressing her hands against a large hill in the threadbare comfortor. The mountain flattened under her hand, and her stomach compressed with a chill of fear.

 

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Kai walked silently down the street, his hands buried in his pockets. That had not been nearly as satisfying as it could have been. He'd taught her too well in the time they had dated. He sighed, agitated at the hitch in his plan. He was going to have to cut tonight... of course he could always watch his tape. He searched around his bag and stopped abruptly. He had left it.

His eyes darkened and he turned swiftly on his heel. He was not losing.

 

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Sulyeon raced towards Zelo's house, meticulously avoiding the main streets and the decaying light of the lamps. Her heart was bashing in a quirked rhythm against her chest, and she felt that maybe she was going to vomit blood, stop breathing, and crumble to dust. She was so tired...

Buzzzz. There was a footstep not far behind her a murmured curse, and the buzzing of a cell phone. She stopped, and listened.

Silence. Oh, God. She took another, and there was a quick series of pseudo silent footfalls to match. Her eyes narrowed and she judged the distance to the nearest apartment complex. She feighned a step to the left, flinging an overfull garbage can to the ground, and darted off to the right, hoping that she had remembered how to get to her boyfriends house.

 

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Sulli looked up from her book. There was a tall pink haired boy perched on the bench beside her. He was shivering and his face was ashen as though he were very sick. She marked it with a scrap of green ribbon, leaning back and stretching. Rain pattered on the plastic covering over the waiting station beside the bus stop. "Hey."

"H-hey." he whispered back, not looking at her. She peered through his unkempt bangs, seeing a familiar scar marring his otherwise flawless face. It was young, and rounded at the edges. His misty eyes were surrounded by insomnia induced smudges and he kicked his feet nervously.

"Some night, huh?" she asked after a minute, hoping he hadn't noticed how she'd just been staring at him. He nodded, his eyes flicking to hers for a moment, before returning to a putrid gum stain on the sidewalk.

She slipped her hand into her purse and pulled out a small cookie wrapped in red foil and her phone. The phone dropped soundlessly into her lap, the texting option open. "Would you like one?" He shook his head. "Oh, come on." She waved it under his nose. "It's a friggin' cookie. Everyone likes cookies." He bit his lip, and stared at her strangely.

"Th-thanks." he gave her a sad smile, a tired smile that spoke of relief. She picked up his fragile little hand and wrapped the long fingers around the thick packaging. She winked.

"No prob." her fingers moved deftly,

"Zelo's with me at the bus stop. The one on 13th, what do I do, Ray?"

 

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Kai's pocket buzzed loudly. "." he breathed, watching Sulyeons' back stiffen and her neck snap forward. She took a few steps forward, but not when he expected her to. This threw him off enough that his steps continued once hers had stopped. He watched her dart forward and grab the most disgusting, most full garbage can and hurl it across the pavement behind her as she ran.

He blew a strand of technicolor hair from his eyes. And smiled. He wasn't that stupid.

 

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Sulyeon pounded on Zelo's door. "Himchan! Daehyun! Someone, someone open the door, quick quick quick!" the door opened abruptly and she collapsed into the warm room. Daehyun stared down at her blankly, one eye peering over a thick white pad of gauze.

"Can I help you, miss?" he asked, gruff. Sulyeon scrabbled for a footing, raced through the door and shut it firmly behind her, sliding the lock and jerking on it three or four times before she was satisfied. "I don't remember inviting you in."

"It's really important and I'm sorry that I just blew into your house and Oh my God... Can I sit down, please?" her tiny frame was shivering so violently that he briefly regretted his curtness and led her over to the couch.

He sat down across from her, hunching over the coffee table. Her breathing came in short ragged gasps for a few moments while she collected herself. He peered into her stick like fingers, wondering what the hell she was holding onto.

"What do you need?" he asked, only when he was sure she wasn't going to faint. He crossed his stitched up arms over his chest, watching her take a deep breath and noting the telltale quiver of her lower lip. She opened to speak, but a croak came out, and a tear slid down her gaunt cheek.

"Is it about Zelo?"

 

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Sulli watched Zelo eat the soft cookie in tentative bites, He would pause, look around, squint, and maybe his lips would move in a quick answer. Then he'd look back down and take another bite.

Come on, Rayne... why wasn't she answering?

Zelo suddenly went ramrod straight. She jumped slightly at the movement and watched the way he stared at the building in front of them.

"That's it..." he stood up and darted across the street. The crumbling building looked apt to swallow him up. As he reached the door, he seemed to remember her.

He turned and waved at her, giving her a half smile. "Thanks." his voice barely made it to her.

"You're welcome..." she smiled until he was gone, and then she ran.

 

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Daehyun, much to Sulyeons' surprise, neither screamed, nor threatened her, nor anything she had expected him to do during her explanation of the events that had transpired. He merely sat back and traced the stitches on his arm while she talked.

"And... I know who took the meds."

At this, Daehyun's face tightened. "Sulyeon, they didn't just disappear. He stopped taking them, simple as that. This isn't the first time it's happened."

"No, you don't-"

"No, You don't understand." he snapped, leaning forward and fixing her with a glower of disapproval. "You've known him for less than a year, and you think you know him?" Sulyeon opened , but Daehyun slammed his fist onto the table. "I'm his brother, dammit!" his voice had risen somewhere in that sentence to a low roar. "I know how he works, and I know how to fix this!" He fixed his jaw, his neck muscles tensed and his teeth grinding obviously under the curve of his cheek.

Daehyun said nothing, recalling in her minds eye the day she had accused Zelo of much the same thing. "Daehyun," she asked softly, her face composed. "Zelo loves you. He would never do anything to hurt you intentionally."

"I know that!" Daehyun was completely out of his control now. "My hyung and I ing raised him, Sulyeon!" Daehyun took a breath, grinding the heel of his hand into his forehead. "I know my brother." Sulyeon smiled, sadly.

"This hurts, doesn't it?" He gave her the most withering look.

"You know he'd never hurt you on purpose." She switched on the video, and turned to leave.

 

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Sulyeon stepped back into her dark house, feeling Kai's presence before she saw it. "Sulyeon, where is my camera?" he was perched on the arm of her couch, nonchalantly leaning forward, one hand cupping his chin.

Sulyeon didn't say anything, she turned her back on him and switched on the lights. "I believe I asked you a question." there was an eerie click and Sulyeon turned to see him sitting there, a switchblade knife glinting in his hand. He smiled slightly, his thumb relishing the stinging edge of his knife. "You have to the count of three. If the camera is not in my hand at that time, you will pay for your sins with a pound of flesh."

"One," Sulyeon stepped back, not sure what to do.

"Two," She closed her eyes and began to cover her face. There was a loud bang as the door knocked open behind her.

"It's right here." Sulyeon turned and watched as Daehyun walked slowly into the room. "Want it?"

Kai had frozen, his eyes wide. He knew he was outmatched. Silence became his best in this moment.

"Come get it." Daehyun tilted his head, as if listening to Kai. "What's the matter? Why won't you come and take it?" He gave him a dark look, one he had perfected on his father. "Why don't I bring it to you? Sulyeon, go call Himchan, please." Daehyun pressed the camera into her hands as well.

"Now, let's get aquainted."

 

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Zelo sat in his old room, the musty smell of decay hitting him rather violently. He the edge of his knife, watching his voices crowd around him, sunken eyes wide, gaunt faces stretched into grotesque maskes of anticipation.

He pressed the blade to his pale and dirty flesh, and drew it in a perfect circle around the circumference of his arm. Blood pooled up, and blood dripped down, and he sat back, his eyes heavy.

"I'm so tired..."

 

 

 

 

I don't know what to say.....

 

-Serenity