Each morning before the nurse would come to wake him for the day, Kibum would crawl out of bed and clean his room. His bare feet would hit the cold ground and he would shuffled over to the small dresser and open each drawer one by one and to re-fold the few pairs of pajamas he had, line up the socks that he rarely ever wore, and make sure his underwear were facing the right direction. Then he would start to work on the shelf hanging on the wall above the dresser that held a few personal belongings. There was a blank journal and three books that he’d take down and dust off before placing them back in their respective places. Finally he’d return to his bed and neatly tuck the blanket down and fluff up his pillow before moving over to his desk and would sit on the chair with his knees drawn up to his chest, rest his head on his knees, and wrap his arms around himself.

It was half an hour before the nurse, a handsome black-haired man named Jongwoon, would come for him. Kibum could hear Jongwoon’s rubber-soled shoes pitter pattering down the hall as he stopped in another room to wake up the other patient, a young girl named Hyuna. Jongwoon would then come to his room and flip on the lights with a gentle command to get ready for the day. Then it would be decided what type of day he was going to have. If it was a good day then he’d follow Jongwoon to the small cafeteria and maybe he’d even eat breakfast, but if it was a bad day then it would be at least an hour before Jongwoon and Hyuna could coax him out of his room. As it would be, he was having a good day and so when Jongwoon came around and the lights Kibum peeked through his arms and stared at him blankly.

“Come on, Kibum, let’s get going.” Jongwoon said, walking over to Kibum and gently placing his hands on Kibum’s arms to pull him up. He kept a firm grip on him as he led the way out of the room, careful not to let Kibum pull away and take refuge in his room all day again.

There were very few rooms in the small psychiatric ward that was located on the sixth floor of the city hospital but despite the small space the area was entirely too bright with fluorescent lights above and large windows that let in too much sunlight and shone radiantly against the white walls. Kibum kept his head bowed and his eyes glued to his sockless feet as he shuffled along with Jongwoon towards the cafeteria. When he was nudged towards the table he pulled out a chair and sat upon it, resuming his previous position with his knees against his chest.

There was too much silence around him but he rarely ever noticed it with all the static muffling his mind. So few people were in this section of the psychiatric ward that if someone dropped a pen in another room they could hear it in all the others. He liked it that way, though, it was a nice break from the constant noise in his head. Even when