“Byun Baekhyun,” D.O. began, not even needing to read the file this time, “Has unfortunately remained in his coma since the incident and so we’ve been unable to get any information from him.”

Baekhyunnie in a coma? I looked up at him in shock, my first real visible reaction to anything he’d said in any of our four sessions.

D.O. looked delighted at this, moving to stand in front of me as I peered up at him with widened eyes. “Well, nice to see you, Chanyeol,” He said with a grin.

I gnawed on my lip, averting my eyes almost instantly.

The man took a seat on the edge of the table in front of me, watching me with what seemed to be excitement. Now that he knew how to get me to react, he was ecstatic.

“Severe trauma to the head, two broken ribs and a stab wound in his shoulder,” D.O. counted off on his fingers as if he were talking about anything but a human being. “And you, Chanyeol, were the source of all of it.”

He didn’t need to remind me, those images were flooding into my mind almost instantly.

“Yeollie, please don’t.”

“How could you?! You monster! You’re sick…”

I stared down in horror at the body at my feet and his hands clasped themselves around my shoulder. “Chanyeol-“ He wasn’t able to finish his sentence before I tackled him to the ground, seeing red.

“Care to tell us what led up to all that, Chanyeol?” His voice was cool and collected, as if he were reading off of a script. It was easy for him at this point, he’d gotten me to react and my mask was slowly slipping off.  

I could remember a lot of what happened, now. What led up to Kris disappearing, what I had done to my best friend mere hours before being found by the police. There were plenty of blanks in between, but I had no doubt that they would be filled in soon. The horror of what had happened was seeping into the cracks between my bones, soaking me with disgust and trepidation and there were no signs of the images stopping. But I had asked for them, didn’t I? I wanted to remember and now that I did, I wished I could take it all away again. If they thought I was insane before…

***

“What do you want for breakfast?”

Baekhyun had nowhere to go today and it was just me and him inside the house that now felt way too big for the two of us. Since my little discovery last night, I had remained silent for the most part, only responding to direct questions.

“I was thinking we could go out and meet up with the others today…”

I hugged my knees, seated on the couch were so much had happened between the two of us, especially on that night.

“They’re worried about you, Yeollie, and I’m sure Tao could use the company.”

He came to stand in front of me, frowning at my silence.  

‘I should ask him about it,’ I decided, ‘Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing.’

But when I opened my mouth, no words came out. Baekhyun frowned at me in concern and I looked away, staring past him into the hallway instead.

And that’s when I saw it.

Blood, and a lot of it, was poured across the hallway floor. I stood in shock, pushing past my confused best friend and out into the hallway where I saw that the source of the fluid was through the kitchen door.

“Chanyeol, what’s going on?” Baekhyun grabbed my hand and spun me around to face him. He looked worried and slightly afraid and I could see my reflection in his eyes. My horrified expression, my crazed eyes…

I turned back to look at the kitchen and saw that the smooth hardwood floors were pristine as always. And then I broke down.

“I- I saw-“ I could barely get any words out as I began to sob, falling to my knees as I suddenly felt extremely exhausted.

“Shh, what did you see, baby?” Baekhyun my back in concern, but I could feel the stiffness in his body that wasn’t there before.

“Blood,” I whimpered out and he clutched me tighter, almost to the point of it hurting. I didn’t mind, however, the pressure around my body crushed my lungs and kept my mind clear.

“It’s okay, baby, you were just seeing things,” He whispered quietly. “See? You’re so stressed about him that you’re hallucinating. You need to get out and see people. It’s not good for you to be cooped up here.”

I frowned at that, my sobs quieting slightly. It was him who’d been isolating me in the first place, wasn’t it? Was I now deemed sane enough to go out? Or too insane to stay in?

At that, the tears began anew. I didn’t want to go crazy, after the nightmares, my fight with Kris; all I wanted was a moment of peace where the word “insane” was nowhere near me or my thoughts. I’d originally thought that he was the one who’d made me that way, with how possessive I was over him, but now, even when he was gone, I could feel sanity slipping away by the second.

“Please don’t cry; we don’t have to go out, we can stay here if you want. Just the two of us,” Baekhyun kissed my cheek and began to my hair as I buried my face in his chest and clung to him like he was my only lifeline.