He couldn’t remember what he was dreaming and now he stood confused as he saw himself meditating. There were lab assistants and monitors around. The Tao sitting in front went slack, his head fell forward and the flat line alarm bore into Tao’s ears.

“I’m not really dead,” a third Tao said. The third Tao stood next to him as they watched the other Tao receive CPR from a lab assistant. “They will save my body, but my soul is long lost.”

“What do you mean?” he asked the vision Tao.

“I will always be there for you Zitao,” he smiled. “In spirit.”

Tao woke up. He quickly sat on his bed as he tried to breathe normally. His body was shivering, he felt confused.

I was dreaming, it was a dream, right?  He thought to himself.

Did he call me Zitao? Did I call myself that?

He let out a shaky breath as he searched for the clock at his desk. He knew what time it was, but he wanted the visual stimulation to confirm. 06:12, there was no way he would go back to sleep at this hour. He got up to take a much needed hot shower.

“So you have a soul trapped in some weird dimension?” Sehun asked confused. “It doesn’t make sense. How could you have two souls?”

“I don’t know. He just said he was a spirit. What else could he be?” he said as they were walking towards Kris’s balcony to meet the rest.

“A ghost,” Sehun suggested.

“A ghost,” Tao repeated with a funny expression. “What are you? Five?” he mocked.

“Are you five? Are you five?” Sehun repeated with a stupid expression.

“Shut up,” Tao pushed him.

“Hey,” Sehun whined as he staggered to the side. “I’m not going to help you up to the balcony then.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Tao shrugged. “I’ll just bat my pretty eyes and make Kris fly me up.”

“You’re gross,” Sehun gagged.

“Ugh, so immature,” he said exasperatedly. Sehun stuck his tongue at him. “My point exactly.”

They were reaching the right wing of the facility, but from the exterior. They had to walk through the clearing because the inner doors won’t open for them. They needed assistance to open their own freaking bedroom doors. They had them under close watch.

“I have a friend that sort of feels like a ghost,” Sehun seriously said after a moment of silence. Tao stopped walking and looked at him weirdly. “I’ve never seen him in the flesh. I only get to talk to him in my head,” Sehun explained.

“Are you institutionally mad?”

“It’s true. It’s true,” Sehun defended. “He’s friends with Xiumin too. He’s real. He talks to both of us.”

“But that’s not possible?”

“It is. He is telepathic,” Sehun said with a proud smile. “He lives somewhere inside the building, locked up,” his smile turned bitter. “He’s probably still in the first trials.”

Tao shuddered at the mentioned trials. He hated the imprisonment he had to endure during those tests. He was never allowed outside on his own and he only left his room to be escorted to the test rooms and back. It was a lousy way of living.

“So he talks to you whenever he wants? Just out of the blue you hear his voice in your head?” Tao asked.

“That’s the thing. You never know when he’ll talk to you,” he said sadly. “It’s been almost a month since I last spoke to him,” he sighed. “I’ve only been able to hear him when I’m in my room. So I thought he might live near Xiumin and me. I tried to find him, but here the damn doors don’t even function as doors.”

“His presence does seem haunting,” Tao said lightly.

“My point is, whether it’s a spirit or a ghost or a telepath, if they mean something to you then they are real,” Sehun smiled softly.

He didn’t like serious and awkward one on one conversations, it made him feel all jittery inside. “You’re so sappy Sehun,” Tao said to kill the silence.

Sehun scowled before he propelled his body with wind and got up to the balcony.

“Yah! Help me up! Sehun!”

“Beg for Kris!” Sehun yelled from the balcony and disappeared into the room.

“You prick,” Tao muttered, but he knew that is was himself who’d been acting like a prick.

They were too many for Kris’ abode. Kris sat comfortably on his desk chair, while Suho, Sehun, Kai and Lay sat on Kris’ bed. Chanyeol, Tao and Xiumin sat on the floor, their backs against the closet. Kris was petting Tawny on his lap. Yes Kris was so creative like that. He named his Tawny owl as Tawny. Brilliant.

They mainly talked about the dreaded upcoming group trial. They had no idea when it would occur, so they wanted to feel prepared. They tried to fill in Kai with what they’ve done while he was gone and tried to explain the strategies and plans they’ve worked out for the trials. Kai looked like he was struggling to pay attention. He’d do his best to listen to the combat strategies at least. But Tao couldn’t help but notice how aloof and lost the boy looked from time to time. When the conversation steered towards him, Kai would look a bit tense but confident. When they spoke about anything else, his eyes averted to a different dimension, away from the room. He didn’t act like the Kai his friends boasted so much about.

Tao looked at Sehun who had a worried gaze in his eyes. When they looked at each other, Tao silently said ‘You okay?’ Sehun nodded, but his eyes moved to Kai.

Liar.

Then Tao noticed how weird Lay looked. He looked tense sitting by Kai, his eyes were staring at the same spot for who knew how long. He would smile from time to time and add input to the conversation, but other than that he looked just as out of it as Kai.

“What’s going on with them?” Tao asked to no one in particular.

“I’m not sure,” Xiumin answered softly so the others wouldn’t hear. “I guess Kai’s just feeling lost. He’s missed out a lot and the guys aren’t helping much by bombarding him with information. He looks exhausted,” he reasoned. “Sehun’s is obviously worried.”

“When is he not?” Tao joked but it came out halfhearted. “What about Lay?”

“Guilt,” Xiumin quickly replied.

“Guilt? Why?”

“Because he couldn’t fully heal Kai that day,” he explained, “he probably feels bad that he couldn’t do more that day.”

Tao nodded and they stayed silent as Chanyeol talked about the time Kris kicked his because he suggested to make a campfire. Kris made Suho throw a wave at the fire boy and Chanyeol managed to evaporate the water off himself. That was the day they learned to combine their abilities, to boil water and vaporize it. Also, it was the first time they ever drank tea.

“Kris looked horrified when I said fire.”

“That’s not funny,” Kris grumbled.

“That’s mean,” Xiumin added.

“But Kris, now you’re over it,” Chanyeol chuckled. “You’re not afraid of fire anymore,” he said proudly. Kris nodded.

“That’s not funny Jongdae.

But hyung.

That’s mean Jongdae.

Hyung! Minseok hyung. Wait!”

Tao blinked as the memory ran through his mind. He looked at Xiumin; his small frame, wide forehead and big eyes always made Tao believe that the he was older than the smaller boy in light blue. If he knew his age, he’d probably be one of the oldest or of the middle. But he didn’t know. None of them knew their age, which was another weird thing about the institution that could be added to the long list of unanswered questions. He wondered why Xiumin was in the vision and why was he called Minseok instead. Did he know the other boy? Could Xiumin know who Jongdae was? And what the hell did hyung mean?

“Minseok,” he whispered at Xiumin, but the other did not react. “Minseok,” he said louder.

Xiumin turned to look at him, he seemed confused. “What’s that?”

“Nothing, just a name I thought of,” Tao lied. Xiumin nodded but he still looked at him weirdly. Change the topic Tao, he thought. “Hey, so answer me this. Do you sympathize Sehun so much that you let him believe he’s not insane or are you both wacked up?”

“What?”

“I’m talking about the voice in your head,” Tao snickered at how puzzled Xiumin looked. “Is the guy for real or has Sehun finally lost his mind?”

“Oh,” Xiumin chuckled, “he’s real.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you spoken with him lately?”

Xiumin stiffened and stayed quiet. He gave a cautious glance towards Sehun, who was laughing at some joke Chanyeol said. Suho seemed displeased at the comment, probably the joke was about him. He looked back at Tao and sighed.

“No, I haven’t heard him in a long while,” he seemed doleful.

“Why?”

“I don’t know what happened to him. The last time we’ve spoke something went wrong,” Xiumin remained silent for a moment. “I just hope Luhan is safe.”

“Luhan?” Tao said a bit too loud. Xiumin looked at Sehun, who now was looking at them with a stoic expression. Tao couldn’t tell if he was surprised, angry or sad.

“Luhan?” Kai suddenly spoke. “I know a guy named Luhan.”

Well , Tao looked from Xiumin to Kai to Sehun and back, things got interesting.

“How do you know him?” Xiumin asked.

“I…” Kai looked nervous, “When I woke up in the ICU, there was a room across the hall. The walls are glass windows so I could see the person inside,” he explained. “I… don’t know how to say this without sounding mental.”

“Did he talk to you?” Sehun asked. “Here?” he pointed his head. Kai nodded in response, his eyes wide surprised.

Lay shifted in his seat so he could look clearly at the rest.

“I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating the voice, but he convinced me that it was him. The guy across the hall,” Kai explained.

“Why was he in the ICU? What happened to him?” Sehun said inquisitively. He looked worrisome.

“Uh he, he said he couldn’t remember why he was there. He just woke up there, like I did,” he fidgeted a bit. “I honestly don’t remember much from the... trial,” he looked at Sehun who visibly stiffened. “He explained that, other than some memory loss, there was no reason for him to be there. It’s just that they…” he bit his lips.

“Go on, tell us” Xiumin said calmly.

Lay placed his hand on Kai’s shoulder and the latter eased up and looked more confident.

“They keep him there because they can watch him all the time. They have him as if he were a prisoner. It’s worse than when they locked me up after I yelled at Mama,” he shivered.

Tao wondered what he meant by that. He wasn’t there at the time. He looked around and the only ones who gave any sign of knowing what Kai meant were Suho and Kris.

“He’s strapped on a bed and sedated right?” Xiumin asked with a gloom expression. Sehun’s brows furrowed confused.

“Yes. He’s kept under most of the time. When he wakes up he pretends to be asleep so they won’t drug him again. That’s the only time we were able to talk.” Kai said bitterly.

“Wait. You knew about that?” Sehun crossed at Xiumin.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Xiumin said apologetically.

“Worry me? I worry because I don’t know what’s going on with Luhan and you knew. You knew and you didn’t tell me!” Sehun got up, but was quickly held down by Suho and Kris.

“Calm down Sehun, he didn’t mean any harm,” Suho tried to ease.

Lay got up and touched Sehun’s forehead, he immediately pacified and relaxed in Suho’s hold.

“Let’s switch places,” he calmly said.

Suho sat at the edge next to Kai while Lay sat behind Sehun. He made Sehun sit between his legs so he could back hug him, holding him lightly in his arms. You could always count Lay to be the touchy-feely guy.

“Do you know why they keep him immobilized?” Chanyeol asked Xiumin, but the latter shook his head. “You?” he looked at Kai.

“He said it’s because he can move things without touching them. He can move things with his mind,” Kai explained.

“He’s telepathic and telekinetic?” Kris asked.

“Looks like it,” Suho answered.

“Sounds cool,” Tao commented.

“So he doesn’t remember why he’s there or how he got there?” Xiumin asked.

Kai shook his head, but suddenly stopped as if he remembered something. “He said he, he thinks that… He thinks he’s there because he did something wrong. Something bad,” he paused. “He doesn’t know what. He had nightmares about it but he never talked to me about them. He didn’t like it when I asked.”

Xiumin seemed to pale and looked down to the floor. Tao reached out to pat his shoulder, but Xiumin’s skin felt cold, too cold for Tao. Xiumin gave him an apologetic side glance, as if he were saying ‘thanks’ and ‘sorry’ at the same time.

“I… I snuck into his room once,” Kai blushed a bit. “His heart monitor was increasing. I figured he was having a bad dream. I couldn’t wake him up,” he scratched his head, “but his heart calmed down. It was like he knew I was there even though he couldn’t react.” Kai fell silent, he seemed heavyhearted. “I don’t understand how they can do that to someone. He doesn’t look like a harmful person, he’s just a boy. He’s…” Kai blushed even further. He shook his head as if he decided to say something else. “He’s not evil, he wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“We’ve all gone through our share of ,” Suho said as he rubbed Kai’s side. “Let’s hope they let him out soon.”

“Or we could bust him out,” Chanyeol suggested.

But no one answered back. They all knew the consequences of pulling an act like that. Who knew how harsh the punishments could turn out to be.

“Did he ever mention us?” Sehun asked after a while. He had a slight frown on his passive face. He looked annoyed to be imprisoned in Lay’s hold.

Kai averted his eyes and clenched his jaw. Then he looked at Sehun and held his hand. He looked at Xiumin. “He mentioned one of you, I think. He said he’s spoken with someone before, but he couldn’t remember the name.”

Sehun gripped Kai’s hand hard as he hid his face behind Kai’s shoulder. Lay hugged him tighter and moved his hands soothingly. They all knew he would be crying if it weren’t for Lay. Tao flinched when Chanyeol stood up from beside him. The lanky guy walked up to Xiumin’s other side and plopped down, leaving an arm around the smaller guy. He rubbed his shoulder and Xiumin said he was fine but Tao felt a cold aura emanate from him. He felt himself shiver slightly.

After a while they decided to get going and rest at their rooms. Tao decided to follow Sehun and Xiumin towards their rooms, just in case they began to bicker again. It happened a few times that Sehun snapped at Xiumin, mainly because of all the things the other never told him. Xiumin and Sehun were the only ones with rooms at the left wing of the building, so when he bid Xiumin goodnight, he had to walk all the way back to the right wing to his bedroom. He was drowsy once he reached his door.

“Wake up!”

“Wake up!”

“Wake up!”

“Zitao wake up!”

Tao’s eyes shot open, it was dark. A deafening alarm went off and red lights illuminated the room. Tao quickly got out of bed and put some clothes on. He went to his door, unsure if it would open but it did. This was the first time he had been able to open a door on his own. The guards were gone, the hallway was empty. The corridor was dark and lit up by red lights which made the vacant corridor look eerie.

He was scared, damn it he was terrified. His heart galloped in his chest, his throat tightened and he felt cold sweat run down his spine.

“What the hell is going on?” he spoke through gritted teeth.

Tao carefully walked down the hall with his back against the wall and his senses alert. He’d flinched towards any sound and any movement he perceived. His heart would clench each time he thought someone was near. He felt anxious. His breathing was rough and noisy. He wanted to panic. He wanted to cry.

He jumped, grabbing his chest as his heart ached, when he saw a figure emerge from a room.

“Lay! You ing scared me!” he yelled, tears sprung from the fright.

Lay looked confused. He had his hands covering his ears, trying to block the annoying alarm out.

“What’s happening?” Lay asked.

“I don’t know,” Tao said through tears.

“What?” Lay repeated.

Tao wanted to punch him in the face, but decided it was better to just remove Lay’s hands so he could actually hear.

“I don’t know,” he said loudly.

“Tao no, don’t cry,” Lay encouraged when he got close enough to see Tao’s face in the ill-lighted room.

He held Tao’s arm and the alarm stopped. There dark red-lighted corridor felt horrifying in the dead silence. Tao began to sniffle and Lay tried to console him.

“Come, let’s go find the others.” Tao nodded while he wiped his tears away.

They were nearing the stairs when they heard a horrific screech. Tao screamed out of fright and Lay quickly tried to shut him up.

“We can’t let them hear us. We can’t let them hear us. Okay?” Lay instructed, Tao nodded.

“What was that?”

“A bogger.”

He felt his stomach turn. A bogger. Tao might have been training to fight against them but he has never seen one, not yet. Lay grabbed his hand and lead him downstairs where they should find Suho and Chanyeol. A dogger shrieked as it appeared behind them. Tao screamed and pushed Lay to run, but Lay tripped on the stairs and fell down roughly. Tao jumped next to Lay.

“Are you okay?”

“Don’t let it bite you!” Lay yelled pointing up the stairs.

The dogger jumped towards them. Quickly Tao slowed time and shifted his body to a combat stance, left foot forward. He aimed an outward crescent kick towards the dogger in midair. He twisted his hip towards his left, extended his right leg and swiped to his right, hitting the dogger’s side with the outside of his foot. Time was normal again. The creature flew through the air and brutally crashed against the wall. It gave out a horrendous cry. Tao felt the adrenaline surge. He ran towards the dogger, jumped and aimed a low hook kick towards the monster’s neck. The impact was hard enough to snap the dogger’s neck. It disintegrated.

Tao ran back to Lay who was struggling to stand. He aided him to his feet.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just waiting for a bone to mend,” Lay said slowly. “Just give me a minute.”

“Sorry about that,” Tao said abashed.

“Okay, I’m fine,” Lay smiled and shook his leg.

“Lay, do you smell smoke?” he asked and the fire sprinklers set off. “Never mind.”

They searched for Chanyeol, running through corridors inside the building towards the main lobby. They found him at a waiting area near block A testing rooms. He was battling three boggers on his own while Suho was gathering water, forming a spiraled stream. He yelled something at Chanyeol and the taller boy ran closer to Suho, he formed a giant flame in front of the other. Suho made the stream pass through the fire, the water boiled and steam rose. The hot water was thrown towards the boggers, scalding their ragged skin off. They shrieked and cried in pain, collapsing to the floor.

Tao and Lay ran to their side to greet them. They heard screaming and hustling. At the right side of the room, Kai and Kris came in running. A herd of doggers was chasing them. They were at least a six of them.  

“Chanyeol burn them, hurry!” Kris yelled as he got closer.

Chanyeol stood up front at and waited for Kai and Kris to pass him before he combusted fire towards the doggers. Two got burned but the others pounced at Chanyeol. They were all over him scratching, biting and gnawing at his skin. Chanyeol screamed horribly and inflamed his whole body but the doggers didn’t let go. He struggled and rolled but their bite was fierce. He was yelling he was crying. Everyone was screaming horrified. Suho tried to whip the doggers off with water. No one could get near without getting burned. It was a mess. It was a horrid mess.

“No, no, no!” Tao yelled. “Go back. Go back. Go back,” he chanted and closed his eyes.