He was alone. Completely alone. Fear gripped Tao as he fell to his knees, shivering with fear. What if they were all dead? Sure, he talked big when he had Kris and Kai at his side....but....what if everyone was dead? What if he was next? What if he was already dead? Did the other side look just like their side? What if he could find the others here? Getting a headache from all this thinking, Tao stayed on the ground, staring down at his hands that were shaking ever so slightly. He had to get a grip of himself, had to stand up and try to find...someone...but what if he really was alone? What if he really was locked in here forever? What if school really was hell? Purgatory for all lost souls who died in the school??

Clenching his teeth and balling his shaking hands into fists, Tao stood up straight and looked around defiantly. No Way was he dead. That was stupid. You can't just disappear. There had to be some sort of trick, right? Walking over to where Kai and Kris had been last time he saw, Tao knelt down to one knee and felt the ground for a trap door or something. They could have just been hidden or something, right? Maybe the reason they disappeared when you weren't looking was so you couldn't see the trap door? It had to be some sort of stupid magic trick, right? But then what about what he saw in the bathroom? And what about those cuts and bruises? Looking at his hand that was feeling around on the ground, Tao saw the cut was still there. Touching it with his other hand, Tao hissed a little. Yup, still hurt.

Well, it didn't look like there were any trap doors or anything there. But the area was cold. Almost like...a ghost...was nearby. Instantly wide eyed, Tao looked around and stood up quickly. Okay. Now it felt like someone was watching him. But who? Looking around, Tao took a couple steps away from the area and then tried the door again. This time it wasn't locked! A wide smile appeared on Tao's lips as he fluffed his hair a little and then pushed through the door, peeking down the hallway. There was light down there. Maybe other people WERE around!

"Hello??" Tao called out, hearing his voice echo down the hallway. No response. Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the slender male stepped into the hallway and walked along it towards where he knew the exit would be to get out of the school. If he could just finish the mission they’d been set out to do before Kris and Kai disappeared…maybe everything would be okay? A few steps later, Tao was running down the hallway at top speed until he finally got to the door he was trying to get to.

There was no chain on the door like the other one had. Gasping in shock, Tao pushed the lever to open the door and instantly the cool air from outside greeted his warm face. It was open! The door opened and he was free! But…wait…

Turning back inside the school, Tao bit his lower lip. What about the others? Had they all seriously disappeared just for Tao to get out? “Maybe….” Tao mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking down at the display screen with shaky hands. “Maybe they’re okay…” Tao said, unlocking the phone and then quickly dialing Kris’s phone. Shakily pulling the phone to his ear, Tao was afraid he’d hear the same squealing as before. Without realizing he’d been holding his breath, Tao let out huge breath of air when he heard ringing on the other side rather than squealing.

Tears started to freely flow from Tao’s eyes as he then heard Kris’s voice on the other side of the phone. “OH MY GOD KRIS!” Tao practically yelled into the phone, his voice cracking when he said Kris’s name. “Tao?! Where are you?”  Kris responded, making Tao choke up a little. “O-Outside. I found a way not locked…” Tao said, wiping his tears away and stepping back inside. “Wh-where are you? I turned around and you were gone and….Kris I didn’t know what to do…But I found a way out…” Tao rambled for a while before finally stopping for Kris to respond to his question. “Come back inside. We’re all in the gym” He said, voice calm and collected.

Not really sure why Kris sounded so calm after everything, Tao instantly ran back to the gym. Crashing in through the doors Tao’s instantly fell on Kris sitting in the middle of the gym. His eyes then scanned the area as he saw the others. “Oh my god…” Tao wiped away his remaining tears as he ran inside and watched as Kris stood up and hugged him tight. Not even caring about the others who were staring, Tao buried his face into Kris’s neck and felt as the other pet his hair fondly. “I thought you’d never come back…” Kris said, holding him tight.

“Come back?” Tao asked, looking up at Kris then the others in the room. Lay then stepped forward with a dimpled smile and pointed around to the others. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense…but…before we were all in another place.” He started only for Sehun to interrupt him to get straight to the point. “We were in an alternate universe…or…well you guys were in an alternate Universe.” He said, looking towards Luhan who nodded in agreement at the statement. “Wait…so…” Tao stared at the others and pointed to them. “When you disappeared…” He started, only for Sehun to wink and give him the thumbs up “We came home…”

Head spinning from everything, Tao leaned against Kris, enjoying his warmth as he tried to sort everything out in his mind. “Then…what about these?” Tao asked, showing his cut hand to them. “And…I saw you…and you…” He then said, pointing towards Kyungsoo and Sehun. Sehun then looked over towards Kyungsoo and frowned a little as the other male’s eyes widened and shook his head. “No! You see…well you did see us…” Kyungsoo said, looking nervously at the others and shifting from one foot to the other. “It’s hard to explain but…you kept going in between.” Sehun said, coming over and latching onto Tao, hugging him and taking in a deep breath.

“Hound dog…” Kris muttered about Sehun, causing the rainbowed hair boy to cut his eyes at the blonde. “It’s true I found him…” Sehun said, taking in another breath of Tao’s scent before then stepping away with a smile. “Creepy…” Tao said about the whole situation. “Very…” Kris agreed, glaring Sehun down only for Tao to hit his chest with the back of his hand. “Not Sehun. Just…all of this…” Tao said, sighing a little.

There was then a silence between the guys before Chen suddenly spoke up. “Sorry Tao…” He said, offering an apologetic smile. “Huh?” He asked, looking towards Chen who then pointed towards his hand. “For cutting you. I didn’t mean to…” He said, looking over towards Lay and then towards Kai and then back towards Tao. “We thought that if we just held onto you we could keep you on the proper side but… I don’t know it was weird. You appeared but you were like a ghost…kind of like how we probably appeared to you? We tried to hold onto you and…well…I kind of cut you.” He said, offering another weak smile only for Tao to brush it all off.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Tao said with a light chuckle, jumping slightly when Kris threatened Chen with his fist. “Just don’t do it again.” He said before a roar of laughter came from everyone, Kris included. Tao then went back into Kris’s arms…not quite sure what just happened but glad to see his friends were very much alive.