Jiyong’s eyes flickered open, then immediately squinted shut again from the glare of the morning sun’s low rays streaming in through his window. He moaned, rubbing his head where there was a dull ache.

He ran his hands over the familiar covers of his bed, smiling slightly and turned over, nuzzling his head into his soft pillow.

He was just drifting off when suddenly all the memories from yesterday came flooding back all at once and left him drowning, gasping for breath.

He yanked himself out of bed and yelped when he saw Youngbae at his feet, staring at him wide-eyed.

“Wha-what are you doing here?” Jiyong spluttered. He was sure that whatever Youngbae saw yesterday had probably dropped them to acquaintance level now, or to at least avoiding him.

“What? You didn’t think I’d just leave you did you?” Youngbae said, sounding slightly hurt.

Jiyong lowered his eyes.

“I could’ve hurt you,” He said simply, his mouth wobbling a bit, “I could hurt you now, if that monster comes back. You shouldn’t be anywhere near me.”

“Jiyong.” Youngbae said forcefully, causing Jiyong to look up into his eyes which Jiyong knew he would always see when things got tough - though that was an understatement for what had happened.

“Jiyong,” Youngbae repeated, “I would never leave you. I still don’t exactly know what happened but I do know that whatever it was, you won’t be alone in figuring it out.”

“But I don’t even know who, or what I am anymore! ” Jiyong’s voice wavered, his eyes swimming.”It’s not safe for you.”

“Jiyong! Do you think I care?!” Youngbae was shouting now, his eyes fierce. They stared at each other for a second before Youngbae’s eyes softened.

“Look, I appreciate your concern for my safety, but I know you would never hurt anyone. You’re stronger than whatever that is Ji, it isn’t really you.”

But Jiyong couldn’t help question if it was. He remembered that feeling of bloodlust and wondered if that was the real him. What if this Jiyong was the fake one, and he was really a crazed psychopath with red eyes.

“Youngbae… I can’t..” Jiyong falterd, tears streaming freely down his blotchy face.

Before Youngbae could stop him, JIyong was in his bathroom locking the door behind him. Youngbae could hear a body sliding down the door on the other side. Muffled sobs breaking the silence.

Trying to pull himself together, Jiyong unsteadily brought himself to his feet – Youngbae deserved better than this. He was still crying so he walked over to the sink to try and clean himself up.

He looked up slowly to see himself in the mirror.

What looked back was a stranger.

It was still the same face, but Jiyong knew he had changed.

His high cheekbones looked sharper than usual. His normally exuberant face looked pale and haggard with pink spots from crying. His skin glimmered from tears and his usually sparkling eyes looked hunted and anxious. He stood stooped and defensive in contrast to his open and happy personality.

Jiyong didn’t know what to think anymore. All he knew was that nothing was ever going to be the same.

Then a thought which was nagging him came to the surface, it was just before he passed out yesterday:  what was the voice that spoke to him saying ‘he was his”. It sounded like his own voice, but then who could tell when it was in your mind? He was so confused and scared. “Why did it have to be me? I feel like the victim out of one of those ty horror films who just can’t seem to run away fast enough!” He mentally complained.

“Hey Jiyong are you ok?” He heard Youngbae’s muffled voice shout out.

“Yep, just peachy,” Jiyong muttered to himself. He raised his voice and instead replied, “Yeah I’ll just be out in a second!”

He was about to splash water on his face when he saw that his hands were still crusted with dried blood, the ghosts of claws shimmering in the air above his nails.

Closing his eyes, Jiyong washed his hands and face roughly, hoping to scrub away the evidence that yesterday happened at all and it was all just a nightmare. He imagined the red water being his memories fading away down the drain.

But of course he wasn’t that stupid, of course it happened.

Jiyong sighed miserably and left the room to find Youngbae hunched on his bed, his forehead creased with worry. Jiyong swore there weren’t as many wrinkles there as there was yesterday. , he didn’t know how much he was hurting his friend.

When Youngbae saw Jiyong he plastered on a smile he hoped looked genuine and bounded over to him

“Howabout we ditch today Jiyong?” Youngbae asked

Jiyong, already looking for a distraction, leaped at the idea, “Yeah! Can we go go-karting? I’ve never been before and it looks so cool plus I love the sound they make!” “It’s also a very normal thing to do too” Jiyong mentally added.

Seeing how excited and back-to-his-old-self Jiyong was Youngbae immediately complied.

                                                                                                             ***

They stopped off for breakfast, even though it was 11AM, and headed down to the go-karting track. Jiyong was giddy with delight and Youngbae was happy just to see that gorgeous smile again, even though he was kinda scared of the karts, which seemed to go at least 200mph.

After about 2 hours of adrenaline and excitement (and 2 hours of terror for a certain individual) they were exhausted, so they decided to go get something to eat.

They spotted a normal burger bar on the highway and pulled in. Once they had got their food, they walked to a nearby park to eat it, enjoying the view of laughing children and barking dogs.

You don’t realise how much you miss this side of life until it’s harshly taken away from you.

Jiyong was content to relish this moment anyway, no matter how short it may be. Sitting in the park eating burgers, they almost looked like normal teenagers – almost.

Jiyong still didn’t understand how quickly his life had changed. He was a normal person, albeit a shy one, but normal all the same. Now, he was scared to be in public, though he guessed that hadn’t really changed from his old life, just that now he could actually hurt someone.

He hoped it was a one-off thing and his mind was doing a pretty good job of convincing him, but deep down he knew it was just binding its time to strike and Jiyong hoped that nobody would be around to get caught in its path.

The updates will probably be weekly now, i just wanted to get some chapters up :) hope you enjoyed!!