The school day went on forever.

I couldn’t focus with all the thoughts racing through my head, and the lack of sleep didn’t help. I ended up falling asleep in one of my classes and getting lectured by the teacher as soon as she woke me up. I didn’t pay any attention to her, though. I had my own problems to worry about.

And I wouldn’t even be too worried if it wasn’t for that dream I had last night. I knew it was probably silly to be so afraid of a dream, but none of my nightmares were ever that bad. Usually I just fell from a building and woke up before I hit the ground.

The final bell rang after the dreary day at school. I met up with my friends to walk home, as always. But today I wanted them more for their company. After all, there’s safety in numbers.

None of us really had much to talk about. We might share a story here and there, but for the most part, we stayed silent. I guess they caught onto my exhaustion and figured I didn’t want to talk.

We reached our splitting point, where we each left each other for the day. I was a bit frightened to walk all the way home by myself, but I couldn’t tell them that. They’d just ask me why and make fun of me. But I figured it was a short enough walk, so I told them “Bye” and kept on walking.

I got home with no problems. In fact, it seemed like just another day. There was no sign of Joon, and nothing else in the paper about him. I continued my day, although cautiously, and found out that that too turned out to be normal.

And the next couple of days were just the same. No sign of Joon, not even one word in the paper about him.

I started to get my everyday life back. The sleep, too. I could sleep for hours with no nightmares, unlike a couple of nights before. I started relaxing again.

But perhaps I got a bit too comfortable.

I was already starting to erase Joon from my mind again. At first I was paranoid that he’d come to get revenge on me, but by now I was certain that wasn’t going to happen. After all, it had been a little over a week since he was released. If he wanted to get to me, he could have done it by now.

It was around 6PM. My mom sent me out to go get her dinner ingredients. She told me to be quick, because my dad would be home soon and it was starting to get dark. I told her all right, and headed out the door.

The store wasn’t very far from my house. Just a couple of blocks away and around the corner. I was used to going down there a lot for my mom, since she never seemed to have the cooking supplies she needed.

I was nearly there when I had to stop at a crosswalk for oncoming traffic. I groaned and crossed my arms; I really hated waiting. As I stood there and cursed the world and everything on it for making me wait for a few cars, I didn’t notice a man come up behind me. He tapped my shoulder and asked for the time, waking me up from my thoughts. I blinked, but checked my watch. “6:12”, I told him, turning around to face him, but freezing as soon as I saw his face.

His face mirrored my own; my heart was about to stop. Those facial features were impossible to mistake.

I didn’t know what to say, so I stood there looking dumbfounded at him. His expression was the first to change, but not into an expression I hoped for.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Well, it’s been a long time, Mir.” I swallowed a lump in my throat and smiled nervously at him. “Y-yeah, it has. . uhm. . really long time. . nice seeing you again Joon. . I should get going. .” I started walking past him, back from where I came. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.

“Off so soon? We have a lot of catching up, Mir. And I do believe we never finished our game,” He smirked at me slightly, and I could see the dangerous look in his eyes. I began breathing harder from fear and shook my head. “I really have to get going.” I wondered what those ten years in the mental hospital did for him. Did they even try to help him? Or maybe seeing me shocked him enough to loosen those bolts in his head again? He scowled at me and tightened his grip. “No. You’re not going anywhere.” He glanced around to make sure there was no one nearby, and once he was sure there wasn’t, he grabbed my wrist and started dragging me away. I gasped and began to struggle to get my arm free, but he didn’t let go. I was beginning to panic, but I had enough common sense to use my other hand and grab my cell phone. I managed to dial 911 without Joon noticing.

“Help! Lee Joon is dragging me away and he’s going to hurt me and I’m on the stree—“ I only got that far with my call before Joon turned around and punched me right in the cheek, sending my phone flying and knocking the battery out. I gasped and held my cheek, but I didn’t have much time to recover. Joon grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me up a few inches from the ground, growling at me. “You tried to call the cops on me?! They’ll send me back to that damn hospital!”  He lowered me and threw me onto the ground in a close by alley. “But that won’t be the first time you sent me there,” He walked up and stomped his foot on my chest, causing me to gasp and wince. All I could hope for right now was that the police somehow traced my phone call.

He kept his foot on my chest for a few more seconds, but then leaned down to pull me up by my shirt again and throw me against the wall. He pinned me there; I must have seemed like a ragdoll to him. I let out a small whine and gave him a pleading look. “Joon. . don’t hurt me. .” My begging just seemed to anger him more. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife, and immediately pressed it to my throat. “Don’t hurt you? Did you ever think I was going to hurt you? Do you think you, my only friend, would ever become one of my victims?” I widened my eyes at the blade, but listened to his argument. “I. . you. . your parents though. .your family. .” I lowered my eyes, but I could feel him scowling at me. “My parents? My parents hated me! I told you that! I told you all about my life at home, I told you how before you became my friend I had none! Did you even listen?!” He pressed the knife harder into my throat, making me cringe. I shook my head as much as I possibly could without hurting myself. “I did, but. . you killed things. . ! You. . you stuffed them and called them your friends!” Joon’s expression started to change; for once I could see pain and hurt behind his eyes. He shook at his head at me. “Did you ever think I did that because I had none?! I. . I was messed up, I know that! I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn’t care because to me I was just making friends the only way I could!” I frowned and looked away from him with my eyes again. “But. . you were going to do something like that to me. .” I glanced back up at him. I saw two tears run down his cheeks; when had he started crying? “I wasn’t going to, I only said it out of anger. It hurt me seeing you so afraid of me. .” He lowered the knife from my throat and took a step back. I lifted up my hand to where the knife had been to make sure it wasn’t bleeding, while I stared at him, confused. He looked down himself and tried to blink back a couple of tears, but to no avail. “I was mad. . but. . Mir. .” He paused and looked up at me. “You were really special to me. . you were. . more than a friend. . I felt like I had to have your approval of what I did. . but because of you, I was sent away for ten years. . If you could understand the way I felt, you’d know why I was so angry. But you couldn’t and you never can, because you’ve always had friends, your parents love you, and you aren’t a psycho.” He looked away from me again and raised his arm to wipe his eyes. I could hear him quietly crying.

I frowned and scratched the back of my head as I took in what he said. “Joon. . maybe you’re right. . I can’t understand your feelings, but. . you aren’t a psycho. You know what you did was wrong. . you have feelings and emotions. . you’re just a human being who got a little. . confused. .” He glanced at me and let out a tiny sob. “Mir. . I. .”

He was interrupted by the sound of sirens close by. We both looked around to find out where they were coming from, but they soon found us. I remembered the phone call I made to him. . I thought. I guess they did trace my call. . .

They surrounded the alley on both sides and called out the typical “Put your hands up!” and “Don’t make any sudden movements!” Joon just looked at them and their weapons for a moment, but then looked back at me. “Should I end this silly game. . ?” He asked me, smiling a sad and pathetic smile. I was shocked by the question, but didn’t know what to say. All the sudden it felt like this alley was its own world, and only Joon and I could hear each other talking. It was almost like a dream-like feel.“What?” I asked him, although I knew what he was talking about. He just laughed quietly and shook his head. “This will avenge those who I killed, right. . ? It’s for the best that I do this. .” I scowled at him. “No Joon, don’t do anything you’ll regret. .” He laughed again at me. “Who says I’ll regret this?” His gaze turned to the cops for a second, but then back to me. “Oh, but. . I was going to say. . those feelings I mentioned. I. . I love you, Mir.”

---

[This isn't the ending to the chapter obviously. I decided to go a different route with this, so I made up two endings. Choose yours~. Chapter 5 is an ending, and Final is another ending. Hopefully that won't be too confusing.]