Chanyeol paced back and forth over his living room floor, trying to get to the bottom of what had actually happened. Had it been real or was he not so slowly losing his mind? The more he thought about it, the fuzzier his memory got. It was like trying to hold on to a freshly caught fish which was energetically fighting back. He tried to find a place to grab hold of, to get a firm grip, but it was just too slippery. The two realities were blending together in his recollection, making it hard to analyze what had been real and what had been his imagination. Or, had both versions been real? Could it be?

It was impossible. No matter how he approached it, he couldn't make himself believe that he had rewound time or that he was developing clairvoyant abilities. What was next on the list, ghosts? Aliens? No, he didn't believe in such preposterous figments of fertile imaginations, the musings of broken brains, crossing the barrier of all that was sane and tangible, heading into Fantasyland where anything was possible.

He picked up his phone. He was halfway through dialing the number of his doctor when it hit him. Aliens. A familiar pain shot through his gut. A ghost from the past, his past. He had done the right thing. He had been sure he had done the right thing, and he still was. Or at least he thought he was. At the time it had seemed like the only option, he had been trying to do right by him. To help him. He had been his best friend after all.

He erased the half dialed number on the screen, hitting #1 instead. With every ringing sound, his insides wound into a tighter knot. Was the same thing happening to him? Would he be joining his best friend soon?

“Star Mental Hospital, how can I help you?” a dry, listless voice answered.

“Yes, I would like to make a visitor's appointment,” he stated in a formal tone, hiding his nervousness.

Chanyeol stood in front of the gate, his hands about to turn into ice, but yet he couldn't make himself take another step. He had been putting this off for so long, and with good reason. He felt guilty for having left his best friend here to rot, for not being able to do more. That, and he felt so terribly uncomfortable around him now. Him who he had been closest to, the only one around who he could completely let his guard down. Now he never knew what to say, walking on eggshells, hoping against hope for them not to break.

As his reluctant feet resisted him, making every step a battle, he got a sudden craving for tacos. It was so strong that he could almost taste them in his mouth. And they weren't just any tacos he wanted, he wanted a Gusto taco, which was odd because he hadn't been there in years. Maybe it was the trip down memory lane that had brought it up in his brain, the ghost of that dreamy taste hitching a ride with the memories from the most horrible period of his life.

When they were back in university, they had frequented that joint, getting a late-night taco-boost to get them through those excruciating library study sessions. Although he had been the only one doing the studying, his friend had gotten a free ride to Hongik University, studying music, so he only hung out at the library to keep him company, writing all kinds of incredible songs, some of them featuring their amazing friendship. He had been so full of potential, so full of life. It had been the flower period of Chanyeol's life. Before he was forced to grow up and enter into the gray mist that was adult life, leaving the rainbow of youth behind, along with his friend who opted to remain at the bottom of the rainbow, chasing the golden chest of crazy.

He had stopped going to that taco place after everything went down. He just couldn't go there anymore, he even avoided the whole Hongdae area since every step he took there brought up some fantastical memory of the two of them painting the town red. Yet now every cell in his body was screaming for a taco, begging him to turn around and run, run until he reached the taco place. It was probably just a tactic of his subconscious, trying to save him the pain of facing his fears, but he couldn't avoid it forever. He had to go see him. Pushing his newfound taco-obsession to the side, he entered the building.

“Hyung... Donghae-hyung!”

He was trying to sound upbeat but ended up only sounding loud.

Donghae started, but as he turned around there was a smile on his face.

“Chanyeol-ah! You came!” he exclaimed delighted, running towards him and giving him a big old hug.

Donghae's reaction might have been a bit overly dramatic, but he was glad he didn't resent him for not having dared to visit him in so long. Donghae didn't know that Chanyeol was the reason he was here, that he was the one who had him committed. Donghae didn't remember anything the night of the incident and Chanyeol wasn't about to bring up old hurtful memories, they wouldn't do anybody any good.

They sat down at a table, Donghae seeming extremely lucid, but still not like his old self. Chanyeol got a painful pang in his heart, he hated seeing him like this. He missed his friend, he missed how it used to be. Now it was like they were barely acquaintances, both overly civilized and careful around each other.

“I'm doing fine.”

Donghae answered his question in a light voice, putting on a smile. Not like he meant it, it was more like a trained mask.

“Are they treating you okay in here?” Chanyeol inquired cautiously, since he sensed that there was something off, something that didn't make sense.

“Oh, I'm treated well,” he replied in a full voice, yet there was something robotic about it.

Chanyeol decided to just get to the point since the small talk wasn't working out so well.

“So ehm... I'm curious... how was it when you first became aware of the aliens?” he asked, perhaps a bit too bluntly.

Donghae's expression changed at once, going from cold serenity to intense alertness in under a second.

“Shhhh!!!” he scolded him, looking around furtively.

“Not here,” he added, whispering.

“It's not safe here, there are ears everywhere.”

Donghae pointed with his eyes towards the staff.

After entering Donghae's room, Donghae kind of lost it. He started frantically squeezing coins between the door and the door frame, putting aluminum foil into the keyhole as well as covering the bottom of the door with it.

“So you know about them too, huh?” he asked in an ominous tone after finishing his crazy door-project.

There was fire in his eyes. It made Chanyeol uncomfortable, but he might as well discuss what he came here to find out. The thoughts of tacos were still bothering him, but thankfully the longing had lessened substantially.

“I was just wondering what it was like at first. Like.. how did you know it was... you know.. 'them'?” he probed warily, not sure how Donghae would react.

Donghae sat them both on the bed, his face turning mysterious and haunted.

“It was really disturbing at first, I had no idea what was happening to me and I became seriously worried about my mental health. I was actually starting to believe I was going crazy,” he started explaining.

Chanyeol nodded, the knot in his stomach turning into solid rock, poking the rest of his organs.

“I started experiencing loss of time and sometimes it was as if time had just jumped...” Donghae continued like he was confiding state secrets to him.

Chanyeol could feel the panic set in. It all fit. So either he was rapidly falling down the same rabbit hole Donghae was stuck in, or Donghae had never been crazy in the first place. Meaning the aliens were real, or rather, the time-manipulating creatures to which Donghae referred as aliens. He needed further information, yet he was scared to find out more.

“Did someone ever die and come back to life?” Chanyeol asked, biting his lip, not sure what answer he should hope for.

Donghae's face turned pale as snow.

“NO! Have you been in contact with the Greys?! They are pure evil and completely devoid of emotion. They do all kinds of experiments, including killing people and then taking them over, making it look like they came back to life, but it isn't really them. It's the aliens controlling their brain dead bodies!!” Donghae was getting frantic, his nervousness infecting Chanyeol, who shivered at the idea of some sort of zombie-aliens walking around in broad daylight. How were you supposed to tell the difference?

“And... then what happens?”

“Then they take you to their ship and do experiments...” he said in a high strung whisper, his eyes growing wider.

“Horrible experiments...”

Donghae's eyes suddenly darted towards the door as if he had heard something, but everything was quiet.

“They've taken everybody over in here. Don't trust anyone!!”

“Except Eunhyuk, he's solid. He knows... and he gives really good back rubs... and other kinds of rubs, but those are not for you. No, no, not for you... Only the back rub, yes, yes...”

“Huh?” Chanyeol had lost him, he was sliding further and further into the crazy fog, rocking back and forth.

“You see, Eunhyuk knows. Like he knows he knows.”

Donghae winked at him like he should get where he was going with this.

“What does he know exactly?” Chanyeol asked hesitantly, getting the feeling that they were not on the same page after all, relieving a bit of the guilt he had been carrying around for all this time.

“Eunhyuk found out that the government is working with them, providing them with test subjects in exchange for not annihilating the planet. It's all one big conspiracy!!”

Donghae jumped up and screamed, frantically waving his hands about. There was a loud thud and the door sprang open. Two large orderlies came charging in, grabbing Donghae.

“Nooooo, NOOOOOOOOOO!! They're here! The aliens are here!!” Donghae yelled at the top of his lungs as he got a shot in his arm, passing out a moment later.

Chanyeol walked out in a daze. He was sure he had done the right thing. But why did the right thing have to be so painful? A lonely tear escaped down his cheek before he had the chance to wipe it away. Donghae had been his first crush, his first love, his first everything. One-sided firsts. He had thought that hurt, but this hurt even more.

At least he was certain about one thing, whatever Donghae had, he didn't share his curse. He was pretty sure that the government hadn't made some slave-contract with aliens. And even though he was no closer to figuring out what was happening to him, at least his conscience had been wiped clean. Poor Donghae. He took comfort in knowing that he had that Eunhyuk guy to confide in, even though he sounded just as crazy as Donghae, if not more. Maybe they weren't such a good influence on each other, but still, it was good that he wasn't alone.

The question remained, was this Kyungsoo character real or was he only the imagination of his sick brain? He had to know. Last time the people surrounding them had been awfully surprised when he stepped out of the line to yank Kyungsoo to safety, so maybe there was no Kyungsoo at all. Maybe Chanyeol had superimposed a figment of his imagination on reality, a ghost only he saw. He couldn't trust himself anymore.

As he arrived at the office he handed his secretary the business card of Kyungsoo's lawyer, asking him to find out more information about Kyungsoo. His secretary took the card like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Chanyeol let out a sigh of relief, so at least the card was real. If the card was real, so could the rest of it.

“Ehm... ehm... sir?” his secretary knocked timidly on the door of his office even though it was open.

He looked slightly paler than usual.

“So ehm... Doh Kyungsoo... he's dead, sir.”

He could hardly get the words out.

“What? He's dead!?” Chanyeol asked to confirm.

His secretary nodded nervously.

Maybe Kyungsoo had actually died the first time around and the shock of it had made Chanyeol rewrite history so he wouldn't have to face the ugly reality. His limp body had felt all too real in his arms, he got goosebumps just thinking about it. The horror.

“When did he die?” Chanyeol asked, wanting confirmation of his suspicion.

He already knew the answer - yesterday evening.

“Today, sir. Only a couple of hours ago.”