The pungent smell of the medicines overwhelmed him, stirring him out of his daze. His eyes flickered open, greeted by bright white lights overhead. Trying to sit up, his body was hit with a surge of pain, his muscles flaring up, protesting any movement. Donghae dropped his head back on the pillow, letting his body lay listless on the bed. He turned his head to notice a IV saline drip attached to his hand. The room was minimal with a small bedside table stacked with medicines and empty jelly cups. 'Kyu' Donghae wondered as a small smile graced his face, immediately disappearing noting that he was alone nonetheless.

He raised his free hand to touch his forehead, feeling that it was throbbing lightly, a small pain reliever patch stuck on. He noticed how his hands were bandaged too, especially his fingers, dark bruises on his bare forearms, wondering how he got them. He moved his legs ever so slightly, when pain shot up his knees, as if he had been kneeling for too long.

The bright white lights suddenly started flickering, ceaseless buzzing droning in his ears and his breath ghosted in front of his face into small puffs with each exhale. Donghae clenched his eyes shut when his head started aching, putting his hands on his ears, trying to curb the incessant buzz, part of the culprit of his headache. When he cracked open his eyes, the bright room was slowly shrouded by dense black smog, a figure of a faceless person manifesting out of thin air, dressed in dark garb.

Donghae pulled himself upright with much difficulty, his breath labored due to the exertion. He wanted to tell the stranger to stop what he is doing, stop tormenting him and just leave him be. But no cogent words escaped his mouth, too frozen to speak up at all. In an instant, the stranger was on top of Donghae, his garbs looming over his prone body, weightless yet burdening his very soul. As his smoky formless face inched closer, its red eyes piercing him in place, Donghae willed his hands to push away his assaulter, only to be trapped by veins creeping out of the very bed he was laying on.

"You have work to do", the intruder spoke up, as his formless face gradually materialized into a skull, still embossed by crimson eyes. "Can't leave things unfinished!"

"Wh-who are you?" Donghae asked, barely able to keep his voice strong. "Forgive me and j-just let me go." More veins slithered out and circled his body, squeezing tight to avoid any resistance.

The stranger laughed, tone deriding Donghae's words. "You started it and only you can finish it".

As soon as the words were uttered, it placed its boney fingers on Donghae's head and a searing pain coursed through his head, numbing his entire body, inch by inch going limp. At the same time, the air in the room cleared, returning back to its annoying bright white lights, his body freed of the veiny trap.

A gentle knock on the door drew his attention to the lone visitor. "Good morning", Kyuhyun politely greeted, a warm smile on his face. Donghae dazed by what had just transpired, body throbbing in pain, shrunk back in the bed, his gaze analyzing his visitor. "Kyu?" he croaked out in a raspy voice, grimacing at the sound and realizing he was thirsty, very thirsty. Kyuhyun stopped in his tracks noticing the look of wariness on his friend's face, "It's really me hyung" he said as he looked straight into his eyes. "You can trust me". Kyuhyun took off his jacket as he slipped on a pair of slippers, pouring water in a glass. He helped Donghae sit up, the latter trying to keep the groans and discomfort out of bay, but his face revealing it all anyway.

"How are you", Kyuhyun asked in a small voice, his eyes turning sad at the state of his beloved hyung, bringing the glass close to his mouth. Normally, Kyuhyun would remark how handsome he looked in a plain white T-shirt, but today his friend just looked too miserable in the hospital attire, color drained off his face.

"I've b-been b-better", Donghae remarked, his voice still raspy, as he sipped water from the offered glass, his trembling bandaged fingers conveying that they had no strength.

"We were so worried hyung", Kyuhyun spoke up as he piled pillows letting Donghae rest in a slightly upright position. Donghae kept fidgeting, not feeling safe in the room after what happened just moments ago. A guilty look crossed his face as he tried to avoid any eye contact. "I am sorry", he spoke as his voice quavered.

Kyuhyun shook his head, "Don't be. Just - you should have told us if you were going out. What were you trying to find anyway?"

"What do you mean", Donghae asked confused. "I didn't go anywhere, I was too weak to even move".

Kyuhyun shuffled the chair closer as he sat, "Maybe you're confused since you've been unconscious for an entire day". Donghae closed his eyes shut, rubbing his forehead as he strained to recall anything else. The last thing he remembered was being tormented with a suffocating pain and fainting in his apartment. "Where did you find me?" Donghae asked.

"Hyung you went back to that forest", Kyuhyun replied, brows creased in concern. "Don't you remember. You even drove yourself all the way. Unless somebody else did, but you were alone when we found you. And you kept on digging, even when we tried to stop you", he paused testing if he remembered it. "Siwon hyung knocked you out, because you were getting violent", he continued as he touched his nose, the memory of pain stinging him.

Donghae stilled as flashes of being in a forest crossed his vision and the stranger's words echoed in his mind, 'Only you can finish it'.

"You looked very strange, like you weren't yourself", Kyuhyun said in a hushed tone. "There were these veins, like dark black veins stretched across your face and chest". Donghae's breath hitched when he recalled, how his face had veins spreading, before he was helped by his friends. "And they dissipated when you were knocked out. I assume it was the same thing that you told us about", Kyuhyun continued, noticing Donghae's fear stricken face.

"I - I out", Donghae stammered, "I fell asleep just as you left. I don't know what time it was, but it was still dark when I woke up in pain." Donghae continued as his breath turned frantic, sign of a panic attack. "I-I wanted to call you, but I co-couldn't move and then I out", Donghae looked up, his gaze meeting Kyuhyun's.

"Relax", Kyuhyun soothed, as he ran his hand up Donghae's arm. "We'll think about what happened and how it happened later". He straightened the blanket that was messed up, flinging it properly over Donghae's body. "Just take deep breaths", he said as he mimicked deep breathing, with Donghae following his pace. "We'll figure it out together. You don't have to do this alone", he assured.

For now Donghae had calmed down, as their stress-filled talk was interrupted by the routine visit of the doctor. The doctor had checked up his vitals, noting it down on his chart, advising on taking complete rest, not skipping meals and keeping hydrated, while he changed the drip with another, injecting some medicine in it. The two kept mum about the time gap in Donghae's memory, unsure of what the doctor might think. Kyuhyun cleared his throat when the doctor asked if there was anything Donghae wanted to share but the smaller man