Chapter five

19-05-15

WARNING!

Some (again probably two or something, idek why I’m warning for this) curse words…

…

You have been warned!

Again…

Be careful when you go outside the fence.

Abnormals Destruction Team, abbreviated, the A.D.T, is always on the lurk. They aren’t like any other human being, these people are meaner, more insane, they would do anything to either kill or imprison you forever.

The A.D.T. wears special equipment on and around there body. It’s hard to shoot them, harder to hit them.

They are trained to become this way.

They can never change.

Be careful when you go outside the fence.

¬¬

‘’Hey Baekhyun, have you heard already?’’

‘’Heard what?’’

‘’About Mr. Lim.’’

‘’His name is Lim??’’

‘’…’’

‘’Sorry, continue.’’

‘’Anyway, he sent us to the maze although no one was actually allowed to go in there because of the highly dangerous spiders. It was actually Mr. Lim’s jobs to get rid of them but because of some reason, he didn’t do it and instead put us in there in the hope we would kill all of them. He didn’t get away with it though.’’

‘’Better for him, is there news about the girl yet?’’

‘’The one who got carried away?’’

‘’Yeah?

‘’Well, she was said to be bit by a spider in her leg or something. I’m not sure, but she fainted midway to the infirmary; she’s okay now. Are you okay though?’’

The whole conversation, Baekhyun had been lying on the couch like a shrimp; his head popped up on a pillow and he was playing with his fingers that were right in front of his eyes. He was looking at his fingers most of the time and only took his eyes of them when he asked something, but that would only be one second. Meanwhile Chanyeol had been standing behind the other couch, leaning his elbows on it.

Baekhyun took his eyes off his hands and frowned. ‘’Yes.’’ He said. ‘’Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be okay?’’

Chanyeol raised his hands in a defensive manner. ‘’It was just a question.’’

‘’I know, it was just an answer.’’ Baekhyun slowly sat up. ‘’I’m gonna take a shower.’’ He muttered before making his way upstairs.

It wasn’t that late, but already dark outside. It wasn’t like Baekhyun was going anywhere. He grabbed his pyjamas and went into the bathroom. He quickly undressed himself before turning to a full body-length mirror. He only kept his boxers on as he turned around and looked over his shoulder to see big bruises colouring his side and shoulder.

A small cut – which was barely visible – ran over his neck but was halfway-covered by his hair.

When the spider jumped on top of him, there was a small yet pointy stone waiting for him to fall on.

Baekhyun stopped looking at his neck and instead at the long, old but very deep, faded-purple scar, running down from his left shoulder to his lower back. It was probably the ugliest thing he had on his body, and even after three years, it still hadn’t faded a bit.

Being flexible, Baekhyun ran his fingers over the thick corrugations of his scar before his hand suddenly stopped  mid-way, at a very painful point. He moved his hand away from the scar and turned around.

Despite it was the ugliest thing ever, it was part of him. it was his scar. His battle scar.

While the shower upstairs ran, Chanyeol remained in the same position behind the couch. His eyes were blank, but his mind was occupied with thoughts. Many, small thoughts.

The most occupying one was about the small, as in tiny cut he saw on the back of Baekhyun’s neck. He wondered where it suddenly came from and was even more curious about how it happened.

His thoughts however couldn’t run for that long when the doorbell rang, successfully snapping the tall boy out of his thoughts. Chanyeol made his way to the door and opened it. He was met by a short boy – shorter than him at least – with big eyes.

‘’Uhm hi?’’ Chanyeol said and the boy grimaced.

‘’Funny how you greet the same as your roommate does.’’ The boy said before walking past Chanyeol in the room. ‘’Where is your roommate actually?’’

‘’You know Baekhyun?’’ Chanyeol asked, closing the door. He didn’t really mind people coming in, although it was kind of odd.

‘’Met him the other day.’’ The stranger said. ‘’Nice room you have.’’

‘’I know. Wait; aren’t you the guy who blew up the  last two walls?’’

‘’Last three, and yes. Why?’’

‘’Just asking.’’

The boy shrugged. ‘’I guess I should come back later.’’

‘’You probably should.’’ Chanyeol agreed and nodded.

‘’That’s actually very rude to say.’’ The boy said as he walked past Chanyeol to the door and went away.

‘’... Well, that was strange.’’

¬¬

Baekhyun came downstairs a quarter later. His hair was a muddle on his head and he wore an extra sweater over his white T-shirt.

Chanyeol sat on the couch, watching TV, not really paying attention to his roommate until he remembered the cut on his neck. He lowered the volume and turned towards Baekhyun, who was in the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water.

‘’What happened with your neck?’’ He asked.

Baekhyun didn’t respond. He drank the water in one go before sitting on the other couch. ‘’Tackled by a spider.’’ He replied with honesty.

‘’Must’ve hurt.’’

Baekhyun nodded, ‘’It did.’’

They were enveloped in silence; Chanyeol didn’t know whether it was a comfortable one or not.

‘’Someone came by for you.’’

Baekhyun turned towards him with a small frown, trying to remember someone who could come. ‘’Who?’’

‘’The same boy from the maze, with the big eyes and narrow shoulders.’’

‘’Kyungsoo.’’

‘’I don’t know his name, but yes; probably.’’

‘’Why was he here?’’ Baekhyun asked.

‘’For you, he left after knowing you weren’t here.’’ Chanyeol explained and Baekhyun nodded. Then there was silence again. It wasn’t that there was nothing to talk about, they just weren’t that used to each other yet, Baekhyun not being used to people in general.

It left him wondering about why Chanyeol was sent here, he already knew his own pathetic story anyway. So he asked.

‘’Why were you sent here? Or to a magic-teaching school?’’

The question caught Chanyeol off guard as he stiffened for a second. The boy however recovered quickly and turned back to the television. His pride slipped away from his face, just like it had done many times with Baekhyun’s presence already.

‘’I-euhm.’’ He started, scratching the back of his head. ‘’I accidently set my house on fire… the whole neighbourhood actually. It was very stupid.’’

‘’… Very stupid.’’ Baekhyun stressed.

‘’Seriously, you’re not gonna say anything else?’’ Chanyeol said, feeling slightly indignant.

‘’It was you who said it first, I just agreed with it.’’

‘’I know I said it first, but it was more meant like-‘’

‘’I know exactly how you meant it to be; you want people to pity you and say nice things to you because you’re so pathetic. But let me tell you something, I am not like that. I don’t pity people who self-pity.’’ Baekhyun said before he stood up and proceeded to walk upstairs.

‘’Where are you going?’’

‘’Bed, I’m tired.’’ It was a lie. Although he wasn’t fully awake, he wasn’t tired either. He heard the TV’s volume turn up, overpowering the ticking of the clock as he walked upstairs into his room.

¬¬

‘’BAEKHYUN!’’

‘’WHAT?’’

‘’…’’ Chanyeol didn’t reply.

‘’WHAT?!’’ He yelled again, a bit louder this time as he turned around on his bed.

‘’THERE IS SOMEONE FOR YOU!’’

Baekhyun frowned and took a look at the alarm clock which told him it was nine pm. It wasn’t that late, but it was a bit strange for someone to come over at this time. A sigh left his mouth as he rolled off the bed and made his way downstairs.

‘’Kyungsoo?’’ He said when he saw the said boy standing in the living room.

‘’Yes, Baekhyun, can I speak to you for a second.’’ Baekhyun’s feet hadn’t even touched the marble floor when Kyungsoo grabbed his wrist and walked him back upstairs again. They went into Baekhyun’s room and Kyungsoo closed the door.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ Baekhyun asked and sat down on his bed while Kyungsoo stood in front of him.

‘’My roommate and I… we kind of got into a fight; and since I don’t know anyone around aside from him and you... can I sleep over here?’’ He decided to go straight to the point. Baekhyun frowned and hugged one knee to his chest while the other floated in the mid-air. ‘’What happened?’’

‘’He’s a teleporter, and he teleported away when we were being chased by a spider back in the maze, leaving me alone.’’ Kyungsoo emphasized the last word in his sentence.

‘’.’’

‘’I know right!’’

‘’But, yeah sure, you can sleep here.’’

‘’Thanks.’’ Kyungsoo stopped pacing around and stared at him. ‘’But where can I sleep then? There sure must be another bed in this place.’’

‘’Uhm… well, the thing is that these two rooms are the only ones. Then there is the cou-‘’

‘’I’ll take the couch, it’s so big!’’ Kyungsoo didn’t even let him finish, it seemed like the boy had already made his own plans.

They ended up lying on Baekhyun’s bed (since he didn’t feel like going downstairs again), talking about everything that came up in their minds and having their own quality time. It wasn’t until two hours late that Kyungsoo finally fell asleep on his bed.

Baekhyun glared at him for a second before he slowly got off the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping boy up. He made sure to close the door behind him when he went out and was greeted by the loud noise of the television.

Chanyeol had fallen asleep as well, on the couch, watching the sports channel. Baekhyun turned off the TV and opened the big chest behind the couch, grabbing a blanket from it and throwing it over Chanyeol. No matter how much he could dislike the boy sometimes, he knew how cold it could get at night, and how sick some people could get of it.

He went out of the room and walked to the door across theirs, knocking on the door.

Seconds later, it opened, revealing a broad, greyish-white haired boy who stared down at him. His eyes stood sad and his expression hung.

‘’And you are?’’ He asked. Baekhyun didn’t feel like acting nice anymore.

‘’Baekhyun, your neighbour.’’

‘’Okay… and why are you here?’’

‘’Well, since your roommate is in my room at the moment, I wanted to know why actually.’’

‘’If he’s at yours, why don’t you ask him?’’ The tall boy responded.

‘’Because every story was multiple sides. I have heard his of course, but I’m curious about yours.’’ Baekhyun said. The boy seemed to take it as he relaxed against the doorframe and crossed his arms.

‘’My part of the story, we were both running from those mutant things. I wanted to teleport me and Kyung away from it but I have to grab his hand to do that – since I’m not that strong yet. But I assume I didn’t grab him because when he teleported, he wasn’t with me, and when I teleported back, he wasn’t there either; and now he’s angry.’’ Jongin explained and Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

‘’Why are all of you so stupid.’’ He muttered, it was barely audible, making the boy only catch a word or two.

‘’What?’’

‘’Nothing.’’

Baekhyun got a glimpse of the room when Jongin moved. The room looked very nice, it was big, but smaller than theirs. The kitchen on the left was huge, the couch and TV on the right took less place and then three doors to what Baekhyun assumed where their rooms and bathroom. The boy had probably been sitting or lying on the couch the whole day, looking at the few, wrinkled blankets and pillows on and around it and the fact that only the TV was on and the curtains closed.

‘’What are you looking at?’’ The boy said.

‘’Nice place.’’ Baekhyun commented instead, catching his neighbour slightly off guard with the sudden remark. The boy looked over his shoulder and nodded. ‘’I know, my roommate’s done it.’’ He muttered before turning back at Baekhyun.

‘’I’m Jongin.’’ He introduced.

‘’Baekhyun.’’ Baekhyun replied and nodded. They didn’t shake hands, because neither of them felt like it. It was a bit too formal, and it probably wasn’t like they were going to see each other much.

‘’I’ll be going then. Thanks for the explanation.’’ Baekhyun said and turned around, wanting to open the door to his own room when he found out it was locked. He turned the knob another time, but it didn’t work. He heard a snort from behind.

‘’Don’t laugh.’’ Baekhyun curtly remarked before trying once again to open the door. Again without much avail.

‘’Dammit.’’ He murmured and knocked loudly on the door, fully aware that his neighbour was watching him. ‘’Can’t you teleport me inside or something?’’ He asked and turned around, after a minute of knocking repeatedly.  Jongin shook his head. ‘’I don’t know what your room looks like form the inside, I need to have seen the place before I can teleport to it.’’

‘’Sounds logical.’’ Baekhyun said and Jongin shrugged. A minute passed and Baekhyun was still facing his own door. Meanwhile Jongin had been watching him for the whole time.

‘’Want to stay over at mine?’’

Baekhyun turned around at glared at Jongin and his offer. ‘’… It’s not like I can go anywhere else.’’ Baekhyun shrugged before he walked back to his neighbour and leisurely walked through the gap between Jongin’s arm and the door.

‘’A ‘thank you’ could’ve done too you know.’’ Jongin exaggerated and turned around, closing the door. It was meant in an offending way, Baekhyun was aware, but Jongin couldn’t help a small smile to bloom up on his face. Baekhyun didn’t even want to find out what kind of smile it was and sat down on the couch.

‘’You guys really have a nice place.’’ He commented on the room once again, looking around to get a better view of everything. His own room may be a lot bigger, but Kyungsoo’s room was more cozy. The colours were darker, but that made the room… the room.

‘’So what do you want to do?’’ Jongin asked as he sat on the couch beside him – of course giving him the personal space he needed – and grabbed the remote control from the table to lower the volume. Baekhyun shrugged.

‘’I don’t know. What is there to do around ten pm?’’

‘’Yeah…’’

So they sat for a while, in silence. An awkward silence, unfortunately. But that didn’t make Baekhyun regret the decision to come here because he knew he would’ve stayed outside if it wasn’t for Jongin. Chanyeol was a heavy sleeper for sure.

‘’Isn’t it stupid that your roommate is in my house and I’m in his.’’ Baekhyun said, chuckling merely. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jongin nod. ‘’Coincidence I guess. But it is funny, indeed.’’

They stopped talking again. Jongin turned up the volume of the TV and changed to channel to the sports channel, delightfully watching soccer. Baekhyun started to space off. Jongin started to doze off.

When Jongin’s eyes getting droopy, Baekhyun stood up and walked to the kitchen.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Jongin drowsily muttered, glaring up at him.

‘’Getting a glass of water, want one too?’’ baekhyun asked and turned around, seeing Jongin nod. ‘’Second drawer to the left.’’

‘’Got it.’’ Baekhyun walked into the kitchen – which was at least three times bigger than his – and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard filling them up with water before he walked back to the living room. Jongin drowsily reached out for the glass and Baekhyun gave him his, watching how he tiredly drank it all in one big gulp.

‘’Why don’t you go to bed?’’ Baekhyun asked, tilting his head slightly.

Jongin shrugged. ‘’I don’t know, don’t really feel like it.’’

‘’I see.’’ The remark was sarcastic. Very sarcastic; and Jongin knew that. The boy was slumped down on the couch underneath a blanket, his eyes were closing every now and them and he would yawn the whole time.

Jongin didn’t reply to him and Baekhyun didn’t go further on it. He instead looked around, finding a small bookcase.

‘’Who of you reads the books?’’ He asked as he stood up, walking towards it.

‘’I do, why?’’

‘’Just curious.’’ Baekhyun said as he crouched down to see what kinds of books there were. He had expected there to be comic books or sports magazines, since it was Jongin who read them. So it surprised him when he saw history books, neatly and tightly placed on the few shelves.

‘’You read history books?’’ He asked as he grabbed a random book from the shelve. ‘History of Magic’, it read.

‘’I’m always curious about why we are like this. Why people hate us so much and what happened with SM. You should’ve seen my face when I saw the bookcase there when I first entered this room, priceless if I can say it. There are even more in my room.’’ Jongin kept talking as Baekhyun looked at all the books.

‘’What’s your favourite?’’ Baekhyun asked as he placed the book back into its place.

‘’SM’s combatants, I’d say. It’s not only about the people who fight with SM, but also how badly manipulated they were. How they lived and trained, the tortures and punishments. It even tells something about the huge fire – how it started and stuff – and that there was only one survivor. They call the ‘the escaper’.’’

Baekhyun nodded and grabbed the book Jongin was talking about. ‘’The escaper?’’ He muttered – mainly to himself – flipping through all the pages. The book wasn’t only filled with text, also drawings and pictures occurred in it; creating a vision of how it all happened.

‘’How much do you know about the escaper?’’ He asked, curious if there were more books written about it. Jongin turned around on the couch to face him while he talked.

‘’Uhm… not that much actually; no one knows much about him. They say he is the strongest when it comes to magical arts and has a hidden talent. He’s also marked they said, but I don’t think there is much more about him to be honest.’’

Baekhyun nodded as he turned back to the book. He wasn’t looking at the pictures. He wasn’t reading either. Just staring.

‘’Can you imagine? Almost a thousand people died that day with only one survivor. No other lives saved, no traces, nothing.’’

‘’It sure pissed them off.’’ Baekhyun muttered, talking about SM.

‘’Damn straight. They’re doing the exact same thing once again.’’

Baekhyun frowned and turned back to Jongin, who wasn’t looking at him anymore. ‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’SM is making a new army again, they’re manipulating people and taking the strongest ones from schools to train those as well. They want to fight us again, it’s probably never gonna happen anyway.’’

‘’Why do you think so?’’

‘’Because the first time they tried, they lost. The second time they tried, their base got burned down to the ground and killed the army. I don’t believe it’ll happen a third time.’’

‘’You never know, they’re much stronger than you think they are.’’

Jongin turned to him again his face had an unreadable expression as he stared at Baekhyun. ‘’You know more, don’t you?’’ He asked, his voice softer and more awake than it was before.

Baekhyun stopped his actions for a second before he closed the book, putting it back on the shelve. He stood up and walked towards one of the three doors, the door with Kyungsoo’s name on it.

‘’See you tomorrow.’’