L'appel du vide - The unexplainable desire to jump when on the edge of a cliff. 

    Chanyeol knew things. He saw things. 

    Chanyeol was loud. He was clumsy at times and got overly excited. He loved deeply and he was loyal above all else. Somehow people saw these things as signs he was oblivious to the world around him. With so many teens clued to their friends, he saw why. He would be oblivious too if it hadn't been for Baekhyun. The boy had just whirled into his life one day, laughing as he dragged Chanyeol to a complete and utter stop. 

      After that he knew there was no going back. Baekhyun was everything. He saw everything. He wanted Chanyeol to see it too and so he had tried. Chanyeol paid better attention, trying to catch the millions of things that Baekhyun not only saw but put together and used. Maybe if he hadn't been too caught up in his spiteful game with Shion and Baekhyun, he would have seen the signs. 

      Chanyeol sat in the classroom. He was perfectly still, his eyes fixed ahead. Those around him wondered if he was crazy. How did one go from a raving lunatic to a model student? Chanyeol wanted to laugh. He was far from a model student. He wasn't looking at the board. He wasn't hearing the lesson. His focus was on the teacher. 

     On Kang Tae Won. 

      Taking a deep breathe, Chanyeol closed his eyes. People had ignored Baekhyun. He was too strange for them. Too wonderfully himself. When Chanyeol had began dating the most popular boy in school, his disapproval just meant he was shoved further out of mind. No one rememebered his name right until it was plastered all over the news. 

      No one that is, but Tae Won. 

      The teacher had always liked Baekhyun. Chanyeol, once upon a happier time, had thought it was because Baekhyun was smart. Now, he saw that wasn't it. He remembered how Baekhyun hated Tae Won. How the tiniest flicker of disgust would flash in his eyes whenever Tae Won spoke to him. The way he complained every time they were alone. He had called the teacher "pathetic". 

         Baekhyun had known. 

        Chanyeol felt sick. He had known too. All of the signs were there but he hadn't seen. He'd been an idiot. Tae Won watched Baekhyun. Not like a teacher watching his student, but like a predator watching his prey. Chanyeol was disgusted. I failed you Baekhyun. I should have seen. 

      The urge to throw up overwhelmed him. His mind crackled with shock, an electric sensation burning across his skull. His fingernails dug into the wooden desk. He opened his eyes, watching as the killer stood less than ten feet from him. A man who calmly taught his students like he wasn't a monster. 

     Kang Tae Won....

      Slamming his hand against the deks, Chanyeol felt the rage building up inside. It threated to spill over. The room fell silent. Everyone stared at his outburst, eyes watching to see if he'd attack someone else.

       "Chanyeol," Tae Won asked. "Is everything okay?"

      Chanyeol's hands ached to grab the murderer by the throat and choke the life out of it. To beat his body. To break his legs and throw him in the river. To make his confess the horror of what he did. 

        Chanyeol was taller than Tae Won. Stronger. Madder. He could do it. 

         But not now. Now was not the time. 

        "I'm fine," Chanyeol said quietly. 

         The teacher resumed his lesson. Everyone turned to the front like nothing had happened. Chanyeol bit his lip, fighting to stay calm. The crazy impluse to do something was driving him mad. But he needed to think this through. He needed a plan to do what he needed to do. To avenge Baekhyun and then join him wherever he was. 

         No matter what happened to Tae Won, Chanyeol knew how this would end for him. 

      He'd known the moment since he'd seen the little stripped scarf. 

      Why did he take so long to realize it?

       Baekhyun was his everything. Not his other half, or his better half. 

       He was it. 

       There was nothing but Baekhyun. 

       His father hadn't been a father. His mother had been caught up in herself. Popularity and the friends that came with it were nothing. His future wasn't worth anything if it didn't have Baekhyun in it. 

          He needed to plan this carefully. To see everything and move on that. 

        Baekhyun.....

          Baekhyun shivered as he climbed into the dusty attic. He and Sehun had spent a lot of time up here. Sehun had taught him how to smoke, Baekhyun had weasled out whatever information he could out of the rude, cold boy. Those moments had lead him to discover that you can break a ghost's bones. They hurt like hell (or Sehun was a baby) for what felt like a month. Then the pain faded and the arm was fine. 

        Ghosts could hurt. They just couldn't die.

        Sighing, Baekhyun began poking around the sheet covered lumps. He didn't think there was anything up here....but Kris had sent him here. Kris, for all his aloof behavior, hadn't lied to him yet. Besides it wasn't like he was going to run out of time. 

       Baekhyun gripped the edge of a sheet, pulling it off the desk. Dust kicked up into the air, making him sneeze violently. Rubbing it ruefully, he began pulling the sheets off of everything. Couches, chairs, beds, lamps, books, random boxes. Everything was so ordinary it hurt. Huffing, Baekhyun scanned the empty walls. Kris lied the bastard! He scowled, yanking out the faded picture Kris gave him. He looked at how smug Kris looked in it. Why wouldn't he be? He had everything then. He'd been alive. Baekhyun was halfway to ripping into two when a light flickered across his eyes. 

        He stopped. What was that?

        He put the picture back in his pocket. He could always tear it into bitter shreds later. Kneeling, he saw the light had been reflecting off a mirror. Baekhyun hadn't seen it before. Probably because it was hidden behind stacks of books. Shoving them aside, he ignored it when they hit the ground. 

        The mirror was white. Large, but tipped on its side. A large, ornate frame standing around dirty glass. It looked like nothing special. Still, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. He frowned when he spotted a long, jagged crack running through the center. Carefully, Baekhyun traced it with his fingers. A warmth radiated from it, feeling electric beneath his finger tips. Baekhyun shivered in excitement. 

       This was it. This is the way into the In Between. 

       Baekhyun pushed his hand flat against the glass. If the In Between was on the other side, than he needed to push through right? ing with all his might, he tried in vain to push into the crack. The warmth grew hotter, burning his hand. Yelping, Baekhyun snatched his hand off. The crack glowed. Then it faded away, leaving just a broken mirror. 

       "Why?" Baekhyun cried, hitting it. "Let me in!" He jumped to his feet, kicking it viciously. "I want out! I just -just want to get out of here...."

        Tears welled in his eyes. Unable to keep them from rolling down his cheeks, Baekhyun fled down the stairs. 

          The In Between did not want him. 

  Hello dear readers! It's been over two weeks hmm? Sorry about that, but life got busy with events, school, and my up coming college entrance exam. (Blegh.....) But I'm going to focus on updating this story. I like it too much to leave it alone for too long. ;) 

     Thank you guys for commenting (I love it so much!) up voting and subscribing to The Unusual Afterlife of Byun Baekhyun" Have a great day and Happy Easter!