2/2
Ward C
Taeyeon opens her eyes to find herself in a dimly-lit room, strapped down to what looks like a dentist chair. She screams out, but gags on the grimy red cloth tied incredibly tightly around . Her efforts of yanking her body away from the chair are futile, and only causes her more pain when the straps dig into her body. Joon walks into the room, surgeon mask on his face looking deadlier than ever, and she pales when she sees him walk over to an old machine, starting it up. Electro therapy.
"Better use the cloth wisely, you don't want to bite your tongue off," Joon remarks offhandedly.
She screams and screams through the cloth until her voice is hoarse, solving nothing and making extremely dry instead. Tears spring from her eyes when the switch is , jolts of electricity stinging her body. She feels as if she's being fried to death at first; shrieking and writhing in her seat, but with every increase in voltage, she starts to feel less and less. The torment no longer hurt, leaving an empty shell pinning the revisitation of pain. Instead of feeling relieved, the numbness just makes Taeyeon even more afraid. She thinks she faints sometime during the treatment but can't be so sure. Until she blinks open heavy eyes and see through bleary vision that she's still in the torture chamber. Her head is throbbing as she stumbles out of the chair, realizing that the straps were removed while she was unconscious, and dashes carelessly out of the room to Minho's office. She's having nothing more of this nonsense.
Turns out that Minho is occupied with another patient, and judging by the brown sketchbook thrown heedlessly onto the nearby couch, the patient that Minho is seeing is Eunsook. Taeyeon decides to eavesdrop on their conversation, it may provide her with some clues, for all she knows.
"What? What do you mean it's not my time yet?" She hears Eunsook's perplexed tone first. Unfortunately, Minho chooses to speak in a hushed whisper, so she doesn't catch what he says.
She listens on, and is genuinely surprised when meek, quiet Eunsook raises her voice, exasperated.
"No! You can't do this, you already told me I could go! I've been here for two years already, I'm sure I'm recovered. You even let Kibum go! And he was the one who planned the revenge on Taemin in the first place!"
Taeyeon has heard that name before. Taemin. Lee Taemin. The previous owner of her room. She's suddenly extremely curious to learn what happened to him after hearing Eunsook mention his name. She presses her ear closer to the door, but again Minho's voice is muffled. Suddenly there's high-pitched screaming on Eunsook's part and then things are falling and breaking. There's sounds of struggling also, and Taeyeon definitely hears another voice that's not Eunsook's nor Minho's. She draws her ears away from the cacophony and starts pounding relentlessly on the door. What the is going on in there?
The door refuses to budge. Taeyeon is worried sick about Eunsook, and even more petrified about what they could possibly be doing to her. She runs over to the couch and swipes her sketchbook, flipping through it desperately for any clues. She sees many portraits of people, all eerily real, and comes across the picture of herself as well. She's already exhausted almost all of the pages; there's only two left to go. Flipping to the last page with fingers crossed, she drops the book at what she sees. On the left side, there's a drawing of a pretty, feminine guy, with the name 'Taemin' scrawled messily across the bottom of the page. But on the right side, big bold letters spell out 'LEE TAEMIN' on the top of the page, and below is a drawing of Taeyeon's nightmare. The ghostly figure is indeed a reality, and Taeyeon is not sure if she should feel allayed that she's not crazy after all. Daft, dilated pupils from the drawing stare dangerously into her soul. It takes every ounce of her courage to pick the brown sketchbook up with clammy hands, and not run away like she wants to. She needs to be strong if she wants to survive.
There's footsteps behind her. She whips her head around, on her guard, to find Junghee looking past her with frightful, doe eyes. The first time Taeyeon hears her speak, it comes out as a whimper.
"B-behind...y-you."
Taeyeon turns around and ducks down in time before the knife comes swinging at her. She grabs Junghee and the fallen knife and dashes, the ghost charging deliriously behind them. They manage to slip inconspicuously into the bathroom, losing the ghost as it continues berserkly down the hallway. Junghee sinks to the floor, looking like she's about to cry, and Taeyeon steadies her breath after the close-encounter. She bends down to Junghee's level, who already has tears threatening to spill from her eyes. There's no time for comforting, Taeyeon decides, placing both hands on Junghee's shoulders, cutting to the chase.
"Who is Taemin? Why is his ghost after us?"
Junghee timidly looks at her, shaking her head and refusing to spill.
"I need to know, Junghee. Eunsook said something about you guys taking revenge on him. Is this true?" Taeyeon tries taking on a gentler tone, despite how overwrought she actually is.
"I-I...I didn't do it!" Little Junghee finally squeaks out, shrinking further into herself.
"Didn't do what? What did Kibum tell you to do to Taemin?" Taeyeon questions pleadingly. She's terrified of the answer, but she needs to be brave.
"T-they...they...killed him! I-I only did what they asked me to...I didn't want to but they forced me..."
"Junghee-ah, can you please tell me the whole story?"
"...T-taemin-oppa was really mean to us...he would grab us and say many bad words...I know oppa was going through a lot of pain, I could see it in his eyes...but the others couldn't so t-they made me lead him into a dark room with a chair...then they...they..." Junghee's voice diminishes into a soft whisper, and Taeyeon strains her ears to catch what she says.
"They electrocuted him to death." Her voice is almost non-existent when she says it, and she breaks down into tears soon after, little body quaking with sobs.
"U-unnie, what's going to happen to us?"
"Shhh, nothing's going happen. I'll protect you, but you have to trust me, alright? Eunsook and Kibum are gone already, probably even dead. Now it's just the both of us left..." This makes Junghee cry even harder, most likely because her lovely Eunsook-unnie is gone for good. But she's a smart girl, and calms down faster than Taeyeon expected. There's no time to waste.
"I trust you, unnie."
What happens after that passes in a blur. Taeyeon marches over to the receptionist, one arm looped around Junghee's neck, hand gripping the knife hazardously close to . The receptionist pales, eyes watching in horror as Taeyeon hovers the silver blade over Junghee's neck.
"S-stop! You don't know what you're doing," she takes a cautious step forward, "Now, let's not be hasty, hand the knife to me."
Taeyeon shuffles backwards with Junghee still held around the neck. Junghee whimpers, small childish hands reaching up to grab limply at the tight hold. Taeyeon laughs, demented and maniacal, at the receptionist's fearful look, and speaks gravely.
"Unlock the door, or I'll kill her."
The receptionist is hesitant at first, but soon complies when Taeyeon lightly presses the blade to Junghee's throat, leaving a thin slit of red on pale skin. Taeyeon retreats towards the door with Junghee still held hostage, opening it and making her way to the lift. Tentative, the receptionist walks closer to the pair.
"Now Taeyeon, hand me the knife."
"Get away from me!"
Taeyeon screams and the receptionist backs away. The lift opens soon enough but to her dismay, Minho and Joon walk out, and immediately start interfering. In the scuffle for dominance, they manage to remove the knife from Taeyeon's hand and drug her. A wave of numbness hits her, and she feels like she's falling again.
She awakes in her ward, body constricted from movement in a straightjacket. But such a trivial matter is not going to stop Taeyeon from escaping. She's already gone berserk. She squirms her way to the corner of her bed where she spots a pointy tip of metal sticking out from below. It cuts through the bottom of the sleeves, leaving slits big enough for Taeyeon to wrench her hands out and slowly start to unbuckle the straps. As soon as she's out of the restraining material, she advances to the door, picking at the lock with a pin she finds on the floor. The door unlocks and she slips out, finding Junghee right outside, knees bent at her chest. She looks so fragile and small that Taeyeon thinks she'll disappear at any moment.
When Junghee sees her, the latter's eyes go wide and unbelieving.
"U-unnie..."
"Shh, we're getting out of here."
"But we can't! They'll stop us...and Oppa is going to kill me!" Her shrill little voice reverberates through the room, and soon the orderlies appear, eyes locked on the pair. Taeyeon throws Junghee onto her back and starts running. The main exit is barricaded. Taeyeon makes detour, quickly scanning the area for other options. She's in luck, spotting an alternative route in the distance and darts down the dark hallway, chancing upon a service lift. She slams repeatedly on the button, fatuously hoping that they can make it before the orderlies arrive. The old lift opens in time and Taeyeon can't believe how lucky they are. Not until she sees the ghastly figure emerge and rip Junghee off her back. A sickening crack is heard, followed by the dull thud of a lifeless body onto the ground. The image of Junghee's body in front of her, back bent at an unnatural angle, makes bile rush up Taeyeon's throat without warning. She turns on her heel and starts to run, heaving and gasping for air at the same time, with the ghost, Taemin, right on her tail.
When she reaches Minho's office, Taeyeon grabs the pair of scissors of his desk and holds the tip pointed outwards, squeezing her eyes shut. She feels a cold body ram into hers and she stumbles backwards. Heart hammering restlessly, she opens her eyes and comes face to face with with the ghost, face contorted in pain. She pulls the scissors out of his chest and watches him fall forward, unmoving. Relief washes over her when her mind finally processes the fact that she's still alive. Looking around the room, she notices a file lying on Minho's desk with Taemin's name written on it. She hastily snatches it off the desk and starts flipping through the thick file of medical records, understanding nothing from the unfamiliar medical terms. The door suddenly swings opens and it's Minho that comes through, hair and clothes unkempt from the chase. His face darkens when he sees Taemin on the floor.
"W-what...have you done?"
"Who exactly is Lee Taemin?" Why is he after her?
"Taeyeon, I need you to listen very carefully to me, alright?"
Minho tone is austere and ominous, and Taeyeon suddenly doesn't want to listen anymore.
"Go on." She nods.
"Taeyeon...he's you."
"W-what?" Taeyeon puts down the file.
"The house you burned down...three years ago we found you locked in there, and abused by a sadistic man. You were held captive there for five years. God knows how worried sick I was for you. When you were finally discovered, we brought you here. Due to the trauma, you developed multiple personality disorder. Kibum, Eunsook, Junghee...those were personalities you created to deal with the trauma. You see, your own personality was so overwhelmed by the rest that it became lost. So we tried using hypnotherapy on you. The "ghost" was there to help kill off your different personalities...and leave the only one that should exist. You were responding so well to the treatment, and I was so happy that my Taemin was recovering. That was until you showed up. Taeyeon. You're strong, too strong. Even after so many therapy sessions, you're still here. Alive. Frankly, I really don't know what to do anymore."
Taeyeon is rendered speechless as Minho's heavy revelation sinks in, word by word, letter by letter. Her mind is clouded and hazy with all the new unprocessed information, and she misses sight of Taemin getting up from the ground, staggering towards her. The next moment she's being flung out of the glass window, Taemin's body on hers. It is then she notices the birthmark behind his ear, and suddenly everything makes sense. The memories, the weird couple, Minho's behavior when they first met. Everything.
They crash to the ground. She feels no pain from the fall, but her head feels airy and light. She watches everything fade into nothing.
-
One week later
Taemin spots his parents' car from the window and waves excitedly. He's finally recovered and ready to go home. Minho walks over to him, landing a light peck on his lips and hugging him tight.
"I'm so proud of you."
Taemin beams up at him, eyes twinkling as he says it.
"I am, too."
He hops into the car and flutters a final goodbye to the people he's truly grateful to for the last three years — Joon and Tiffany, his nurse, the best and most patient caretakers in the world. They're smiling too, sincerely happy for him. The car starts driving off from what he regards as his second home, and he can't help but feel a little sad. Reaching home, Taemin bounds up the stairs to his room. It's exactly like how he remembers it from eight years ago. He cants over his bed and reaches for the small photo frame resting on top of the drawer. It's him and Minho in the picture, taken when they were 15 and 17 respectively, still young and carefree.
He's sorry for so abruptly disappearing and leaving Minho without a trace as to where he was. He's also sorry that he couldn't be there to witness Minho get his medical degree, to be the first one to congratulate him. But he's most sorry that he made Minho wait so long; eight whole years is not something that easily passes by. He resolves to put all his guilt away, once and for all. It's all in the past now; he wants to live in the present.
He then realizes that the closet in his room is something he's never seen before. Probably a welcome home gift from his parents. He makes a note to thank them later and crosses his bed to the new, polished furniture, pulling the doors open.
Taeyeon lunges out and tackles him to the ground.
fin.
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