“Sungyeol,” muttered Niel, his eyes glistening with worry as he peered at the elder who looked out of it, “Sungyeol, come back to me…Are you going to be alright?”

“I-I’ll be f-fine,” responded Sungyeol, biting his lip as he attempted to pull himself up to help the younger search for a way out only for a pain to surge up his arm, proving to him  that his arm was in fact broken – if the pop of the shattering bone hadn’t been enough, “a-at least for now.”

Niel strained his eyes, trying to see Sungyeol through the darkness though his mind was telling him it was impossible to see the elder in the complete darkness, “I know how bad your arm is, but I’m more concerned about your ankle…”

“I-It’s better than a break but worse than a sprain,” responded Sungyeol, trying hard to clear his mind, trying hard to ignore the nauseating scent of blood and also the extreme pain he was in.

“Are you able to help me look for a way out?”

“Y-Yes,” muttered Sungyeol, finally getting himself up off his and standing up with the aid of the wall.

As the search for a way out continued, Niel moved quickly and quietly – jumping with every heavy step Sungyeol too as he gimped around the perimeter of the room, his fingers tracing the cracks in each of the bricks. Sungyeol on the other hand strained his ears in hopes of hearing any noise from the other male, and for any approaching or possible dangers.

Sungyeol felt his heart jump into his throat as he heard a sharp intake of air from his companion – or so he believed.

“What is it N-Niel?”

“Oh, god, please…no…no!”

“What?” muttered Sungyeol, the feeling in his gut telling him that their time in this asylum would only continue to get worse and worse – far worse than their experiences in the blasted doctor’s house.

“W-we’re trapped Sungyeol…the h-hole we came from is sealed…”

“W-What?”

“The hole is gone,” responded Niel.

Sungyeol froze in shock, unable to get his voice to work as a hand brushed against his shoulder, as fingers grazed the loose shirt that sat over his thinning frame before gently pressing against the back of his neck. As sudden as the pressure appeared, it vanished, leaving Sungyeol terrified. Reaching for Niel, Sungyeol felt a knot forming in his throat as his hand touched something that felt like skin, but at the same time was too slimy to be skin.

“Niel, please tell me you just touched my shoulder,” whispered Sungyeol, trying to ignore the nagging voice in his head telling him to stop being so delusional and hopeful.

A gasp from Niel confirmed his greatest fears, confirmed that his biggest nightmare come true. Niel’s reaction proved to him that there was someone, well, something else locked within the cell with them.

“W-we’re trapped in here with something,” muttered Neil, fear coursed down through his veins as he felt the slimy hands wondering over the skin of his arms.

Sungyeol’s hand trembled as he shook his head violently in disbelief, “P-please…no…”

“Hun-ah, it’s alright…” whispered a voice cynically, as the hand continued to caress Niel’s arm, “It’s alright…he’s gone now…”

“N-Niel…” whispered Sungyeol.

“I-I’ll keep him distracted,” whispered Neil, “You keep searching.”

“O-Okay,” whispered Sungyeol, his voice wavering slightly as he wondered around the room, trying hard to keep his cool despite the fact his legs were trembling and threatening to give out underneath of him. The adrenaline kept him moving despite the paralyzing fear and the extreme pain he was feeling.

“Sehun…” muttered the man, grasping onto Niel’s arm, “I-I’m sorry…”

“For what?” questioned Niel, trying to gather more information about this Sehun guy.

“For what I did,” whispered the lunatic, “I-I didn’t mean to leave you…I didn’t mean to leave you with that guy…I-I thought you’d get out of there alive. I’m sorry that I did that to you…h-he told me to…I had to do it, but I’m happy that you’re finally here with me.”

Niel froze as the man hugged him, he tried hard to ignore the far too strong scent of blood lingering on the male as well as the sliminess on the man’s arms and hands. As he stood still, the man that hugged him began to come back to his senses – or so it seemed – and seemed to sense that something was wrong.

“Sehun, you’ve lost some weight…what did that man do to you?”

“Ah…” muttered Niel, he paused to think about how to respond to the male, how the others had responded to him when he we insane for a little while in the mansion, “They didn’t do much to me…”

“They?”

“He…” responded Niel quickly upon noticing his own slip up.

“Sehun, are you alright? You seem a bit off.”

“I-I’ll be fine,” responded Niel, “I-I’m just shaken up from all that has happened recently…”

“That’s understandable,” responded the other male in the cell dreamily, “You have been through a lot for me…”

Suddenly the male hugged Niel closer, “I’m sorry…”

Niel listened for Sungyeol, realizing that the sound of the older’s footsteps had fallen silent, “S-Sungyeol?”

“Who is Sungyeol?” growled the male in Niel’s arms suddenly, causing Niel to jump away from the faceless and nameless man suddenly, having not expected the change.

“Sungyeol is another…”

“Don’t bull me!” growled the nameless man, lunging forward and grabbing the collar of Niel’s shirt and pressing him violently against the wall, his hands trembling as they pressed into Niel’s throat.

Hearing the commotion, Sungyeol frantically grasped around for something he could use as a weapon as he listened to Niel gasping for air while trying to get the powerful grip off of his neck – away from him in general.

As he grew more panicked, his hand finally clasped around the end of some sort of metal pole – possibly the leg of a chair or a beam from the bed frame. Stalking forward as quickly as he could in the dark room, Sungyeol got as close as he could to the psychotic man who was strangling Niel, who was hardly making any noise now. Raising the pipe, Sungyeol hoped that he would hit the attacker and not Niel, that he would only hit the man and that Niel would not feel the blow. Swinging the pipe back down with all his might blindly; he trembled at the feeling of the pipe colliding with the man’s body, hissing as the vibrations on the pipe jostled his broken arm. Sungyeol felt a bit guilty at first as he heard a crack and then the loud thud of a limp body hitting the floor however, the guilt was soon overrun by relief as he heard Niel coughing and gasping for air while forcing himself to thank the older male.

“T-Thanks Sungyeol,” gasped out Niel, chanting the words over and over again.

“Are you alright?” muttered Sungyeol, finally dropping whatever he had in his hand, causing a loud cling of metal to reverberate through the room.

“I will be here in a little bit…just…give me time,” gasped out Niel as he shakily collapsed onto his knees, his hands messaging his surely bruised throat. Taking a deep breath, Niel greedily in air – ignoring the pungent scent lingering in the air around him.

“Alright,” muttered Sungyeol, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the room alongside Niel’s heavy breathing.

“W-We should try to be quieter,” muttered Niel, his voice wavering as he winced in pain as his fingers brushed over the crescent shaped bruises on his neck from his attacker’s long fingernails, “T-the doctor has to know we are still here…h-he saw the severity of how much he messed your ankle and arm up…he has to know we didn’t get away…”

“Y-yeah,” responded Sungyeol, sharing the same doubts as Niel, he tried his hardest to walk quieter, but it became more painful to walk.

As Sungyeol continued to walk around the room, his fingers tracing every inch of the walls, he strained his ears to listen past his racing heart beat to hear any signs of oncoming danger, to listen to Niel’s breathing. Sungyeol tensed up as he heard something moving outside, freezing in fear as he heard voices just outside the door. Sungyeol whispered a warning and he heard Niel holding his breath just as he was.

“I-I don’t think we’ll be able to get him back to how he was…” whispered an unfamiliar voice, “It’s already too late for him, with Sehun gone Luhan was left alone…h-he went insane – well, he became more mentally unstable than he had previously been.”

“I-I know, but we can’t just leave him,” responded another voice, “That would make us like Luhan.”

“H-He…” muttered the first voice, “I feel like he is incapable of being saved…he’s probably long gone.”

“We won’t know until we see,” muttered the other voice, “We don’t know, Taeil. He could be perfectly normal and we’d be leaving him behind without knowing it. We’ve already lost most of our group…w-we can’t lose any more…I-I won’t allow us to.”

The man, apparently named Taeil, spoke up again, “Fine…you can open that door, but who knows what the shadow did to him…what the doctor did to him when he locked him away.”

The other male sighed and Sungyeol pressed himself into the wall as he heard the door knob to the door slowly twisting open, as he hear the squeak signifying the door opened and the light that filtered into the blood stained room.

“What the hell…” whispered the male in front.

“I-Is he still alive?” pondered the man both Sungyeol and Niel were recognizing as Taeil. They both stayed silent, hidden in the shadows as they watched the two silhouettes stumble into the room – staring at the blood covered floors and the frail form of Niel’s previous attacker.

The other male advanced forward, kneeling down beside their old friend, pressing two fingers against the male’s neck, “H-He’s gone…”

The male known as Taeil let out a slight whimper, staring at the prone body that laid before him.

“H-how?” questioned Taeil, “Zico, how?”

The other male, known as Zico, glanced around, his eyes landing on the pole that glistened with Luhan’s blood – that was painted red. He stared at the fresh blood and stood up, spinning around on his heel, his eyes scanning the dark corners of the room – staring straight into Niel’s eyes for a second before turning his attention elsewhere. As he continued to look around, he frightened his friend.

“Who else is in here?” growled the man known as Zico, “I know you are in here, where are you? Who are you?”

“Z-Zico,” muttered Taeil, sensing the anger radiating off of the other male.

“Come out and maybe, just maybe I won’t kill you,” growled Zico, his eyes scanning the room around him, knowing from Luhan’s head wound that someone had to have attacked him.

Niel opened his mouth to protest as he heard Sungyeol gasp in pain, as he watched the man known as Zico spin on his heel and glare in the injured male’s direction. Sungyeol, knowing that his cover was blown, stepped forward, his hands raised above his head and a limp blatantly obvious in his step. Taeil stared at Sungyeol in shock while Zico eyed him cautiously.

“Niel, our cover is blown,” muttered Sungyeol, his voice wavering as he looked towards where he believed the younger to be.

Niel let out a deep breath and tried to conquer his fear as Sungyeol had, trying hard not to show the fear that resided within him on his face. He got onto his feet and raised his hands over his head, stepping out into the light that filtered into the room from the door way.

“T-They are like us,” muttered Taeil, taking note of the duo’s wounds, of the obvious fear in the duo’s eyes, “T-They are prisoners here…”

Zico glanced at Taeil, before turning to examine Sungyeol and Niel yet again, taking in the make-do splint over Sungyeol’s arm and the crescent shaped bruises blooming on Niel’s neck. Despite seeing the duo’s injuries, Zico kept himself at the ready to make sure the two couldn’t pull anything on him.

“How did you get those injuries?” inquired Zico, nodding towards the two males that still held their hands above their heads as a sign of their surrendering.

“T-That guy,” muttered Niel, nodding towards the limp body on the ground that sat by Zico’s feet.

“Luhan?” inquired Taeil.

Niel nodded, guessing that that was the name of the now dead man.

“H-he tried to strangle me,” muttered Niel, wincing as his voice cracked from fear as he peered at intimidating male that stood before him.

“Who killed him then?” growled Zico.

“Th-that was me,” muttered Sungyeol, guilt bubbling in his stomach, his throat became suddenly dry as he saw the malicious glare being sent his way from the man that stood beside the prone form, “I-I didn’t mean to, I-I…N-Niel was getting attack…his breathing was almost completely cut off…I-I couldn’t think of what else to do…I-I panicked.”

“And hit him in the head with a metal bar?” growled Zico, approaching Sungyeol, “What in your right mind were you thinking?”

“I-I was being t-threatened, it was either him or Niel…” responded Sungyeol, trying to regain his composure as Zico attempted to size him up, “It was dark and I grabbed the first thing I could find to use as a weapon…”

“So, you used a metal bar?” hissed Zico, causing Sungyeol to flinch.

“Y-yes,” mumbled Sungyeol, his eyes being cast down towards the ground.

“Zico, why does this matter? They are like us,” muttered Taeil, “they are just trying to survive in this hell hole!”

“I told you before, we’ve already lost a lot of people, we need to save as many as we can!” replied Zico angrily, aggravated that the older male could not seem to process that, “We can’t just throw them away because they are like this…we could possibly save them.”

“Zico, we lost him the moment Sehun died and you know that – there was no way to get him back! What happened between him and Sehun was it...there was no way to return Luhan to his past self.” responded Taeil, causing Zico to turn to face the older male.

“We didn’t know for sure,” responded Zico, “We could’ve saved him…”

“We can’t save everybody, you know that,” responded Taeil, “He was gone, you and I both know he was gone long before we found his location, discovered the note…he was no longer the Luhan we knew…the notes said so and this is farther proof. As I said before what he did to Sehun killed him, the betrayal he committed and the guilt that came with it was eating him alive, driving away the last of the sanity he held…”

“The doctor isn’t the most trustworthy person in the world, this hell proves it,” growled Zico, his eyes narrowing as he peered at the shorter male, “So, we didn’t know anything prior to coming here.”

Sensing that their fight may end up causing unwanted attention to come their way, plus the fear he had of the doctor returning, Sungyeol decided to speak up.

“H-He though Niel was that Sehun guy,” muttered Sungyeol, “H-he acted really nice towards Niel until he mentioned my name…”

Zico and Taeil’s attention both turned towards Sungyeol in a mixture of fear and interest.

“He was apologizing to me,” muttered Niel, “apologizing for leaving Sehun behind, b-but he thought I was the Sehun guy…he thought the Sehun guy was alive.”

Taeil and Zico looked at each other, Taeil looking at the younger male with a look that seemed to say ‘I-told-you-so’ and Zico scowled about losing the disagreement.

“See, Zico, they only lashed out because Luhan was attacking them,” muttered Taeil, “I-Imagine if it was me that was attacked – someone you had been traveling with since the beginning…Imagine if I was suddenly attacked, wouldn’t you want to save me than spare the insane attacker’s life?”

Zico froze and peered at Taeil, nodding at the older’s point before whispering, “I-I would save you…b-but…he was a friend. I promised to take care of them…to make sure they all made it out alive…”

Taeil smiled sadly as he continued and whispered, “Also, Zico, the notes said he was out of it…and judging from the blood covering this room I’d say that the doctor is not lying about this – was not lying about it in his note. He was gone, he was no longer Luhan. They did him a favor, they made it so he no longer had to suffer in this hell hole, they freed him from this prison…You know Luhan, you know he wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less another human…sure, he betrayed Sehun at some point but you knew who he was prior to entering this asylum.”

Zico nodded hesitantly, eyeing the injured duo as he whispered, “Our numbers are already small, so, I guess we can take them with us…but one sign of them getting ready to attack either you or me and I’m ending their lives without hesitation…”

Taeil stared at Zico, “I feel as though they can be trusted.”

Zico stared back into Taeil’s eyes before stating calmly, “I hope you are right, or else this time we won’t be as lucky as we’ve been.” The leader like male, who reminded the duo of Sunggyu, turned to look at them. “You both are free to come with us…I would say you all could go on your own, but seeing as how neither of you seem to be in good condition, I’ll say otherwise…You two need more protection with those injuries.” His eyes turned towards Sungyeol, “Your injuries especially.”

The duo hummed in response. As soon as Zico fell silent, Sungyeol looked towards Niel to see the younger staring back at him. Based on the look in the other’s eyes, they both guessed that they had come to a decision without even having to be verbal. They both had come to the decision of traveling with the two new comers and have the safety in numbers, something that had saved them before in the doctor’s mansion and would save them now, especially since both their lucks were wearing thin. Sungyeol had escaped death twice in the past and with his injuries, he doubted he could do it a third time. As for Niel, he had seen the horrors of insanity, remembered it. It had changed him and not for the better, it had caused paranoia to creep up on him whenever he was alone or it was silent. He could hear the whispers of the darkness around him, of those that had died here in the asylum before them and they scared him.

“We’ll go with you,” muttered Niel, his voice still a bit raspy as he messaged the blossoming bruises on his neck.

Sungyeol hummed, limping towards Zico and Taeil, though he was happy to finally be getting back with other people, he was terrified of what was to come knowing that all this was just the beginning of their time here in the asylum. He was also uneasy, unsure of whether or not he could trust the duo that stood before them – posed as their saviors. 

I'm back from the dead...(please read the following essays  in the next ANs.)

I've finally decided to update again after about five months (hahaha...time flies, huh?).

Though I posted a double update last time, my muse vanished afterwards and quite honestly I spent hours these past months staring at the first paragraph at this chapter until it all finally came to me.

Also, as we entered September days ago, I got into the mood to write this again - seeing as how Halloween is next month (along with my ACT, god I love being a senior in high school *insertdramaticeyerollhere*). 

Anyhow, as mentioned before I am a senior in high school and am currently in a college class that acts as both a credit towards my college education and my senior high education, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update in the coming months and so I'm not going to promise anything like before...However, I will try to make it so that you all don't have to wait five months for an update...