Excruciating pain radiated from the centre of my skull. Up until that point I'd never known such agony was possible to endure without being inches away from death itself (then again, I had next to no pain tolerance). The room spun 360 degrees when I found the energy to force my eyes open. It was my own room for sure – I recognised every aspect of it: the outdated white and blue wallpaper, the large built in wardrobe, the collection of enormous stuffed animals staring up at me from the bottom of my bed, the abstract painting hanging crookedly on the wall opposite me... You get the point I'm trying to make.

One thing I didn't expect, though perhaps I should have, was the voice. "I brought you home. Are you happy now? Can we play?"

The sound of his voice inside my head brought everything flooding back. I’d followed him to a shack in the middle of the woods (when you put it like that I sounded like an idiot). I’d stayed there the entire night and woken up somewhere new (did he kidnap me?). Then there had been only pain – pain and blackness. He’d hit me over the head with something and brought me home. Why, though? It just didn’t make sense. “Lay, why did you hit me?”

He played dumb; he pretended not to know what I was talking about. “Huh? What do you…?” He trailed off before he decided to change the subject entirely. “Switch lives with me.”

It was my turn to sound confused, only my confusion was genuine. “Switch lives? Why? How? What?” I babbled, perplexed.

“It’s just not fair. You get to really live while I’m stuck inbetween. Time has stopped for me. I can’t even speak out loud. I just want to know what it’s like to… to really be alive.”

His string of words whirl winded inside my mind. ‘Stuck inbetween…’ Time has stopped…’ Really be alive…’  What was he saying? What did it all mean? I sat up in bed, dumbfounded, in stunned silence. He didn’t either until he materialised in front of me – I think I may have forgotten to mention that up until that point he had been talking telepathically without actually being in the room – and went back to being his usual cheerful, somewhat annoying self. “Anyway, can I stay with you all day?”

“What about the thing you said a minute ago…?”

“Forget that. It doesn’t matter.” I didn’t believe him when he said that. How could he say something so random, yet so meaningful in a way, and then tell me to forget it?

“No way can you come to school with me. If it’ll make you happy, talk to me inside our heads, but don’t you dare follow me. Like you said, you can’t even speak out loud so…” He hung his head and I thought I’d gone too far. I started to apologise but he cut me off with a burst of frenzied laughter.

“It’s not a school day!” Oh. So that’s what was so funny.

“You still can’t follow me.” I retorted. So much for that – he ended up following me around anyway.

After I’d got up and dressed and eaten lunch (I got up at noon after all, so no breakfast was required) Lay followed me downtown where I went shopping. Letting him come with me (not that he actually had my permission so technically he was stalking me) was a huge mistake. He attracted attention – way too much attention for my liking. And everyone thought we were dating – even Baekhyun thought that. By the way, we weren’t.

Lay had been complaining that he was tired and his feet were hurting; in attempt to get rid of him I told him to just teleport somewhere else like he usually does when he gets bored. “I’m not bored.” He insisted. “I’m just tired. But I still want to be with you.” I found it sort of sweet, so – being the lovely person that I am – I decided to sit with him for a while to allow him to gain some energy. Why? Why did I do that?

We were sat on a bench outside the shopping centre when Lay fell asleep on shoulder. His head was on my freaking shoulder. That’s when Baekhyun approached us with Chanyeol – who didn’t say anything the entire time. After exchanging awkward pleasantries, Baekhyun asked “You’re good at Maths right? Everyone says you’re clever.”

I nodded shyly. “I guess I’m quite good. Why? Do you need help with anything?” I squeaked.

“Umm, yeah. I’m finding some of it really difficult and I was wondering if you could come over to tutor me… maybe after school tomorrow?”

My heart practically leapt out of my mouth. “Sure. Where do you live?”

“I’ll take you there. Who’s your boyfriend, by the way? I haven’t seen him around before.” He pointed to Lay.

“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend… He’s my cousin.” I panicked then; I didn’t want Baekhyun to think I was dating someone else.

“Oh, okay.” And with that, he and Chanyeol turned around and walked away. I stared after them until they were out of sight.

Once we’d finished shopping (well, once I’d finished shopping) Lay insisted that he take me for a walk. And I let him. Why? Because I’m an idiot. He grabbed hold of my hand and led me to the park near my apartment block.

The sun was shining. We were both skipping happily alongside the pond. We were the only two people there. It was beautiful. It was paradise.

Then the world crumbled around me.

I had climbed part of the fence surrounding the lake to get a better look at the ducks. One of the came right up close to me and we peered curiously at each other for a while.

Then I felt a strong shove from behind. Before I knew my head and chest were on the other side of the fence; the rest of my body quickly followed suit. The duck I had been staring at was beside me, quacking in alarm.

I was cold. I was freezing. I was wet. My feet couldn’t find the bottom. My arms flailed wildly, trying to grasp hold of something – anything. But it was too cold to hold on. I gasped for air. I tried to yell; I tried to scream. Lay was gone…

Then my head went under.