Everything hurt. She tortured him everywhere, never touching him as she used his doll to deliver all the pain he felt. She ripped holes in his skin and twisted his insides. It burned when she tore the doll’s stomach open, pulling it apart so slowly, each second so painful he cried out for her to just kill him. But she wouldn’t let him, stitching him up and leaving him. 

She made him watch the others, watch how she tortured them and how none of them uttered a sound throughout the entire thing. He couldn’t fathom how none of them made even a whimper; he couldn’t even hold back a scream it hurt so bad. 

And then there was crying…she had put him in the cell with Seok-jin’s old cellmate, and he would always cry whenever she beat him. Curiously, she never tortured that guy, in fact, he’d never seen his doll. He wondered how long that boy had been here to not even be beaten, to be ignored and allowed to cry and sob as loud as he wanted. One day she stepped inside the cage, and he immediately shielded the defenseless boy, for a reason even he didn’t understand, and the flash of anger on her face was the last thing he registered.

There he had it; he couldn’t even mutter a cry when she shot holes into his skin and ran metal rings through them, stringing him up like she did to all the others. 

It was when he felt the blood rushing down his open wounds that he realized he was never going to see Saet-byul again. 

Loud, incessant beeping greeted his ears as he stirred, the numbing that he had been encased in fading enough for him to blink his eyes open. He was greeted with a couple faces he didn’t recognize, two of them smirking while one was nearly pressed to his own face. He wondered how he got down from the chains when he finally noticed the plain, white walls and ceiling, and then noticed how each of them held an IV. 

“Look who finally woke up,” one of the smirking ones said, and he recognized him as the guy behind the glass. 

“You scream like a girl,” the other joined in, though he could tell from their eyes alone how relieved they were he woke up. 

“W-where are we? The basement-”

“It’s like a dream,” the first one said, and he finally recognized the last person as the boy who had shared a cell with him. “Somehow, some miracle happened and the police arrived, freeing us. We’re in the hospital.”

“I never thought I could be free again.” 

“What are you two doing in here?” the two whirled around to see two more guys come in, one in a wheelchair with his leg in a cast and another pushing him. The two culprits giggled as they ran on the other side of the bed, sticking their tongues out and taunting them. The one in the wheelchair frowned. “You’re lucky I can’t move my foot or I’d come over there and shove it up your .” He glared at them for a few more seconds before turning to him, sighing. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“It hurts…”

His eyes softened as he nodded his head sullenly. “That’s how it always starts. She’s always vicious at first, but once she gets a new doll, she kind of forgets about you.”

“You should feel special,” he said suddenly, motioning to the boy by his side. “Bin has been watching you the whole time.” He looked over to see the boy whose eyes were constantly roaming over him as if to make sure he was okay. He tried to move his hand to pat his head but hissed instead, glancing down to see his arms completely wrapped in bandages. 

“Don’t try to move for a while,” one of the two troublemakers said quickly. “Your wounds are still pretty new so they’re still painful.”

“Where…where are Saet-byul and her mother?” 

Immediately their faces darkened and the one behind the wheelchair’s hands began to shake. “We….Saet-byul is in a separate ward than us. Eun-ji beat her pretty badly before the cops got there. As for Eun-ji…we don’t know. Probably down at the police station. They’re surprisingly leaving us alone about it.” 

“Well, some of us here have just gotten out of surgery, so they’ll probably leave us alone for a bit. They’ll come eventually.”

His head whirled as he tried to make sense of everything, the others’ chatter fading in the background. How could the police have found them? She’s been doing this for years and only now was caught; how did that happen? Bin whimpered next to him and he opened his eyes, the one in the wheelchair noticing. 

“Come on guys, let’s let Hak-yeon rest. You guys are too obnoxious-”

“Woah! I didn’t know we were having a party in here!” Two more heads poked in and, at the sight of everyone gathered, hobbled in. He recognized the shorter of the two as the one who yelled at him to stitch his doll, what now seemed like an eternity ago. The guy noticed him staring and waved back hesitantly. 

“Don’t move your arms,” the wheelchair one said sternly, and the guy dropped his arm, and that was when he saw him with his arm in a cast. “What are all of you guys doing anyway? You should all be resting!” 

“Come on E, we don’t want to stay in one place, now that we can roam around and check things out,” the new guy said, one arm slung around the arm cast guy’s shoulders. “And neither of our legs were broken, unlike somebody,” he snickered. 

“You disrespectful brat,” he muttered. “Respect your hyung!”

“Oh please, nobody’s my hyung. You should all be respecting me, your sunbae!”

“Quiet!” Bin suddenly snapped, and everyone quieted instantly. “Hak-yeon hyung needs to sleep!”

One of the two troublemakers scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. “Sorry Binnie. We got a little excited. We’ll come back later, okay?” Bin ignored them, going back to watching him, and the others all shuffled out awkwardly. 

He finally opened his mouth, Bin’s whole body twitching. “Bin-ah, shouldn’t you be resting too? Go rest.” 

“But…I’m not in the same room as you hyung,” he muttered.

“If you want, you can ask them to switch here. But go and rest for now. I don’t want you to hurt because of me.” He didn’t look the least bit happy, though after a few seconds he finally got up. “You can come back here later, okay?” That brought a smile to the other’s lips, and he left the room without another word.

He sighed as he laid his head against the pillow, tired suddenly. This had been something he’d fantasized for months, for him to be rescued, and freed from that horrible place. It felt almost surreal. But…he’d always imagined Seok-jin being with him. Tears pricked his eyes, his bandaged fingers clutching the sheets. 

Seok-jin would never be saved. 

He must have fallen asleep again; his foggy mind finally waking enough to open his eyes and see a whole group of faces hovering over his, Bin’s closest. He bit back an unmanly scream as he tried to shy away, the others finally getting the idea and backing away. 

“We were deciding to just stare at you until you woke up. And it worked!” 

“Oh shut up,” one on crutches said, and he noticed he had an accent. A small part of him wondered how far she would go to find her dolls. “You just wanted to hear him scream.” 

“That’s cause he screams like a girl!”

“He does-”

“I do not,” he snapped, and they all turned back to him. He attempted to sit up, the medicine they gave him numbing his arms, and they all reacted, trying in their own way to stop him from moving. He frustratingly pushed them away as he propped himself against the pillows, Bin helping him get comfortable. “Is there a reason you guys keep coming to my room?” 

“Why, you don’t like the attention?” one of the troublemakers asked, and he scoffed as he shook his head. 

“It’s not that your special or anything,” one of the guys from the back muttered, and they all parted slightly so he could see him. “None of us like being alone, and you’re the only one right now who can’t move, so we just come in here.”

“Not to mention Binnie here won’t leave your side,” the guy in the wheelchair laughed, ruffling Bin’s hair and the other half-heartedly pushing him away. “So until they figure something out, you’re stuck with us.” 

“They still haven’t figured out who you guys are?”

They were silent for a while, the mood souring quickly, and he regretted slightly saying anything. “I don’t know,” one of them laughed. “I was still going to school before. I don’t really feel like going back.” A couple of the older guys snapped at him, and soon they were all playfully attacking the one, laughing loudly. He watched them all in slight awe, wondering how they could all be so happy and playful after all they’d been through. He was sitting here in a pool of pain, pity, and anger. He doubted he would be able to smile and laugh so easily like that. 

“Ah, that’s right,” one of them spoke up, “someone came here to see you.”

“Me?” he asked. They nodded. 

“He seems kind of shy. We told him he could wait in here with us, but he said he’ll just wait outside. I think K scared him when he touched him.” Another one of the guys slapped him, shouting at him with another accent. 

“Don’t make it sound so erted,” he snapped. “All I did was grab his shoulder. He’s the one who ran away.” 

“Well, if you’re not erted, go and call him in.” 

“W-why me?”

“You have two perfectly good feet, go get him!” The one glared before stomping off to do as told, whipping the door opened. 

“Hey! He’s awake now!” He slammed the door shut and stomped back over, glaring. “There, happy?” 

“K, what the hell did you slam the door for? Are you trying to tell him to come in or stay out?” The doll mimicked him spitefully, sticking his tongue out at him, when the door creaked open. His whole face lit up at the sight of Taek-woon.

“Taek-woonie!” Everyone quieted as they turned back to the boy, his face now beet red. The guy in the arm cast slapped K upside the head, rolling his wide eyes. 

“Look what you did. This guy actually knows Hak-yeon.” While they grumbled to each other, he motioned for Taek-woon to come over. He wondered how much the other knew; he was very hesitant around the others and his shoulders were hunched again. He shuffled over next to Bin, who surprisingly moved over for him. 

One of the troublemakers noticed and leaned to get a closer look at him. “Wow, he’s so cute! Look at those cheeks-”

“Can you guys leave for a minute?” he asked before they could embarrass Taek-woon any further. A couple pouted at him but luckily a few of the more sensible ones forced them all out, silently shutting the door behind them. When he was sure they were gone, he smiled brilliantly at Taek-woon, trying to ignore how the other was staring at his bandaged arms. 

“How are you, my lovely Taek-woonie?” For once he didn’t glare at him for the nickname, still looking worried. “It’s not as bad as it looks, I promise.” 

“They told me.” He gestured to the door, his eyes downcast. “Woo-jin-”

“Woo-jin isn’t my real name,” he said softly, his heart beating erratically, frightened, as if waiting for that woman to burst in and kill him. He gulped, pushing down the growing fear in his stomach as he tried to smile. “It’s Cha Hak-yeon.” Taek-woon didn’t say anything for the longest time, and he panicked slightly. “You…you aren’t mad are you?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“I’ve been lying-”

“You’ve been held captive in that house…tortured…how can I be angry at you for lying?” He noticed how flushed the other’s face got, how his hands shook. “I…I should have noticed. She’s been doing stuff like this and-”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. This was the first time she’s ever done something like this to me. I was usually with Saet-byul.”

“Saet-byul…did she do anything-?”

“Jung Taek-woon, don’t say anything bad about my Byullie,” he said dangerously, and the other shut his mouth. “I was forced to live and take care of her, but never did Saet-byul do anything wrong.” 

The room fell into an awkward silence, Bin fidgeting at his side and Taek-woon as still as a statue. Finally, “Those other people…”

“You mean those loud, obnoxious guys who keep invading my personal space? Those were her other dolls…they were trapped in the basement for years.” 

“Dolls?”

“P-people she kidnapped,” he corrected quickly. He couldn’t tell Taek-woon about the dolls; what would he think if he found out that he was connected to a doll? Would he even believe him? He probably would never be able to tell anyone about it, they would all think he was crazy. He decided to get off that topic, unwilling to talk about it anymore. “I heard you got all embarrassed when one of them touched you.”

That got the wanted effect, Taek-woon blubbering and him finally laughing. “You don’t have to be so embarrassed…or did he lie and he touched you inappropriately?” 

“Don’t be stupid, of course not.” 

“Aww, is my Taek-woonie embarrassed? Look at your red face-”

“Don’t touch me!”

“Taek-woonie-”

“Hey Hak-yeon!” Both of them flew away from each other when his door burst open again; and he had serious thoughts to supply Bin with something heavy to throw whenever one of those idiots tried to sneak in his room. Whichever one it was, which was honestly hard to tell since there were so many and that in itself was alarming, hobbled in the best he could on his crutches. By the time he reached his bedside he was breathless, though that didn’t seem to bother him in the least, grinning so wide it looked like his face would split. “Hak-yeon ah, they figured out who we are!” 

“Really?” he asked, sitting up straight and wincing when a jolt of pain shot up his back.

“Careful,” Taek-woon said softly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

“Yeah. They even found out who Bin is!” Bin jumped at the mention of his name, and they looked over to see him fidgeting. “Are you excited Binnie? You’ll get to go home.” 

“I…” Bin pulled in on himself, obviously uncomfortable, and he wished he could comfort him. “I don’t remember anything besides home…”

The guy hobbled around the edge of his bed to Bin’s side, steadying himself before patting his head. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to get better from here on out. You won’t have to cry anymore.” He grabbed his crutches again and headed for the door, stopping for only a second to give them a last glance. “You should come out too Hak-yeon. I’m sure they’ll contact your family too.” 

His…family…?

He whipped his head to Taek-woon, ignoring the pain shooting through his body as he grabbed his arm and shook him hurriedly. “Grab me a wheelchair Taek-woonie. Hurry!” Taek-woon seemed to understand the importance of the situation, nodding silently before shooting out of the room. Unexpectedly, Bin jumped up as well and toddled after the taller man, wanting to do anything for his hyung. 

He drummed his fingers against the bed impatiently, wanting to just get up and run out by himself. His mother…they were going to call his mother! He was finally going to be able to see her, something at this point he thought to be merely a dream. He could hug her, let her beat and yell at him for leaving her with a smile on his face. He was never going to leave her again, not like his father had, not like Seok-jin’s father had. He would tell her about Seok-jin, and the two of them could support each other and keep Seok-jin alive in their memories. 

He wanted to see her so badly. 

He inhaled sharply when the doorknob turned, opening slightly. “That was fast! Hurry Taek-woonie, I don’t want to wait any longer!”

He frowned when he saw who it was, the long, grungy hair and sunken, dead face being a giveaway that this was another one of the rescued dolls. He wasn’t sure which one it was; he definitely wasn’t part of the happy bunch that enjoyed annoying him. He was older, much older, and his injuries were all healed, only scars covering his body. 

“Hak-yeon…” he said, and he gulped when he heard how low and raspy the voice was, as if it hadn’t been used in a long time. “Listen to me.” 

The doll was long gone by the time Taek-woon and Bin finally came back with the wheelchair, and he struggled to keep up his enthusiasm when they lifted him out of the bed. While Bin was oblivious to his change in behavior, Taek-woon caught on right away, continuously sending him looks and silently asking what was wrong. He tried his best to ignore him, turning all his attention to helping Bin place a blanket on his lap, the other boy wanting to cover all the scars that ran down his legs. He thanked him; even he didn’t want to see them. 

They pushed him out and one of the guys with only arm casts came up to greet them, hopping on the balls of his feet as he impatiently waited for them. He huffed at them. “Took you long enough,” he muttered, motioning for them to follow him. He hissed quietly as each time the wheelchair bounced it aggravated his wounds, each time feeling as if he was being stabbed all over again. He needed more of whatever they gave him after this. 

He took them to another room where the rest of them were gathered, the wheelchair guy being the one in the bed this time. They seemed to be arguing with a couple of the cops in the room, the nurses fluttering around as they tried to calm the patients down. One of the two troublemakers was the first to notice them, and couldn’t control himself. 

“Hak-yeon and Bin’s here!” 

The two cops were instantly forgotten as they all gestured for them to come closer, wasting no time pulling him over and wrapping arms around his throbbing shoulders. He decided not to tell him they were only making it worse. The two cops groaned when they saw they had lost their attention, one of them rolling her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. 

“This is important!” she snapped, and he was surprised when they all sent glares her way. The glares were the same ones they had sent him back in the basement, when they were still hopeless and trapped. It sent chills down his spine. Even she was surprised. 

“If you won’t tell us all together, we don’t care.”

“But it’s protocol that we tell you all separately-”

“Bull,” the wheelchair guy snarled viciously, and he was surprised because he seemed to be the most sensible one. It was as if a switch was flipped, the guy now extremely hostile. “We’ve been together for three years in that godforsaken basement. Whatever you have to say, you can easily say it in front of all of us.” 

This time the male cop spoke up, grabbing the clipboard out of the woman’s hands. “Look, when we say it’s protocol, it means it’s mandatory -”

“If you don’t just ing tell us,” one of the troublemakers said, stalking forward and pushing himself so he was only inches away from the other, “I’m going to grab that and look at it myself.” The cop ran a hand over his face as he sighed heavily, his hold on the clipboard tightening. 

“It won’t take long. We need to ask you a few questions and confirm a few things; it would be best if we could see each of you separately.” 

“We won’t answer a single one of your damn questions.”

“I-”

“Sir, should we just-” The cop grabbed the woman and began to whisper in her ear, and he looked over at the others to see what they were doing. He had only seen these guys acting exceedingly bubbly and annoying; almost to the point it was impossible to tell where they had been only a few days ago. But here…this was how he had imagined them to be, vicious and extremely distrusting. He glanced up at the arm cast guy standing by his side and the guy sent him a quick smile. 

“Alright,” the cop snapped, looking extremely irritated but defeated nonetheless. He pulled the clipboard out from under his arm, sighing heavily. “We’ll do it here. But I don’t want to hear a word out of any of you while I do this, understand? If I do-”

“Just get on with it already.” 

He glared at the interruption before clearing his throat. “I’m still going to ask you the questions later. I’m only going to tell you your names.” They all looked like they were going to tackle the guy to the ground, and he quickly started. “Alright, who said his name was A?”

“Me!” It was the tall guy who had first come in with the arm cast guy, smiling excitedly as he hobbled forward, yanking his IV when it got caught on another guy’s. 

“Your name is Kim Jong-in.” The cop’s voice was suddenly softer, and they all noticed bitterly that he was taking pity on them. Even he was a little unnerved by the pity sent their way. He hadn’t endured months of emotional trauma dealing with that woman and the torturing she put him through just to be pitied in the end. He especially didn’t need this man’s pity. Vexed, Kim Jong-in snatched the paper the cop held out, glaring long enough before whirling around and shuffling over to the arm cast guy.

“Look B,” he said, shaking the paper that listed his personal information. “That’s me! My name is Kim Jong-in!” 

Using his good hand, B glanced at the sheet. “Wow…you’re so cool! You were in dancing school?”

“I was?” 

“Who’s B?” B gulped, looking to Jong-in for reassurance before shakily raising his good hand and stepping forward. The cop gave him a smile as he handed him his sheet. “Your name is Do Kyung-soo.” 

“Do…Kyung-soo…” he repeated, turning back to Jong-in in half-shock, half-fear. “A…that name doesn’t sound familiar. I…that name-”

“Look Kyung-soo ya,” Jong-in interrupted sweetly, pulling the other close and pointing with his cast. “You were into singing! You’ll have to sing for me sometime. I bet you’re great!” Kyung-soo’s cheeks flushed as he held the paper to his chest as if he was afraid it would disappear, a small smile growing on his lips. 

Now b with excitement, the others willingly kept their mouths shut as they waited for their turn to learn their names. It wasn’t just their names they were excited about; he learned from the first two that these guys didn’t just forget their names; they forgot who they were completely. They forgot their families, their hobbies, their friends; they didn’t even remember what they looked like. Jong-in and Kyung-soo stepped away as they marveled each other’s pictures, telling each other how handsome the other was. 

The names rattled off almost like clockwork afterward. C and D, the two troublemakers, were named Byun Baek-hyun and Park Chan-yeol, and the two were so giddy with each other that a nurse had to give Baek-hyun a shot to numb the pain that shot through his ribs. He hadn’t known his ribs had been broken; the guy had been walking around and playing as if everything was fine. But he shouldn’t be too surprised, after becoming a doll and forced to feel its pain, bodily pain just didn’t faze one anymore. F turned out to be a Chinese exchange student, one who had been declared dead in his home country. None of them could pronounce his name, though he and a few of the others were able to read it, all of them marveling over it together. 

“Your name is nice, Yixing,” one of them said. “You were studying music? You should go talk to B-er, Kyung-soo. You could make music together.” 

“I told you I was studying,” he muttered, wrinkling his nose and causing them to laugh. 

They were in the middle of identifying the last of them when he felt a tug on his arm, and he looked up to see Bin pulling at his gown. Baek-hyun and Chan-yeol, who were giddily comparing themselves to each other, noticed. “Hey,” Chan-yeol spoke up, “what about Binnie?”  

“Binnie?” the cop flipped through a few more papers in his file before sighing, pulling a sheet out. Everyone had stopped talking by then, intently listening for what he was going to say, and he realized how important Bin was to these people. He glanced up at the boy to see him fidgeting again, and it was suddenly painfully obvious how young he was. He didn’t look any older than Seok-jin did. “Ah, here it is. He wasn’t pestering me, so I nearly forgot him.” 

“Read the damn paper,” Baek-hyun hissed, and the cop coughed uncomfortably. 

“His name is…” he trailed off and they all leaned forward, waiting desperately to hear the name. The man looked up in surprise, glancing back and forth between Bin and the paper before stuttering out, “Lee Hong-bin.” 

“Does that name sound familiar Binnie?” Joon-myeon asked softly, causing Bin to flinch. Bin’s fingers on his shoulders dug straight into his bandages, and he had to bite his tongue to stop from shouting. The boy shook his head, shaking faster and faster until a nurse ran up, trying to get him to sit down. 

“Don’t touch me!” Bin shouted, pushing her away and running to the opposite side of his wheelchair, hiding behind Taek-woon’s broad shoulders. “Hyung, don’t let them touch me!” When the nurse tried to grab him again, Chan-yeol’s arm shot out, yanking her back and glaring at her until she stumbled away. Jong-in went over and pulled the shaking boy close to him, squeezing him.

“It’s alright Binnie, nobody’s going to hurt you anymore. You’re safe here.” 

“My name is Bin,” he muttered out, trembling. “I don’t know who Lee Hong-bin is.” 

“Your real name is Hong-bin,” Lu Han spoke up, struggling a bit before getting up and ripping Bin’s information sheet out of the cop’s hands. He paused for a second as he stared at it, swallowing heavily before flashing it at them. “See? Right here, it says that’s your name.”

Now they could see why the cop had been confused; the sheet read that Bin had gone missing when he was only four years old. The only picture they had of him was of when he was a baby, the happy, chubby baby a stark contrast from the malnourished, restless Bin that clung to Jong-in’s chest like a lifeline. Bin squinted at the paper, his face scrunching as he shook his head again. “I don’t like that name. I don’t like Hong-bin.” 

“But the paper-”

“That’s not Bin! That’s not me!” 

“Calm down Bin,” Hak-yeon said, finally speaking up, and Bin froze at the sound of his voice, sniffling. “Hong-bin is a nice name.” Nobody moved for the longest time, waiting to see his reaction, and after a long while he broke out from Jong-in’s hold and toddled back over to Hak-yeon’s side, crouching down so his head could rest on his lap. He raised one of his throbbing arms and the younger boy’s cheek, just for a second imagining Seok-jin there instead. He was so engrossed in comforting Bin that he nearly missed hearing his own name being called, Taek-woon lightly tapping his shoulder. 

“You’re Yoon Woo-jin, right?” He nodded his head, quickly cutting him off when he saw the man open his mouth. 

“I know my name is Cha Hak-yeon. I wasn’t there long enough to forget it.” 

“That’s good,” he replied, and there wasn’t a trace of sarcasm or malice in his voice as he handed the clipboard back over to his partner. His tired eyes scanned all over all of them, his lips pursed. “I’ll let all of you rest for the night before we start questioning you. I’m sure just this alone has been tiring enough for you.” He signaled to his partner to leave when the door abruptly opened, a doctor casting an eye over all of them.

“Your families had been notified upon your admittance, some of them have already arrived. If you would like, I can send them to your rooms-”

“Send them here,” Joon-myeon called out, and the doctor frowned.

“We can’t have that many people in one patient’s room-”

“It’s my ing room and I’ll decide what I want. Nobody’s going to do this alone; we’re all going to face this together. Send them here.” The doctor still looked unconvinced, though that was when the two cops took him out of the room, whispering. The moment the door was shut behind them, the heavy mood in the room lifted, bright smiles returning to everyone’s faces. 

“What do you think they thought when they heard we were alive?”

“Do you think they waited for us?”

“My family already thinks I’m dead. Guess that means I can’t study anymore!”

“Don’t worry, you could always stay with one of us. Don’t think you’re getting out of studying any time soon!” 

“No!” 

While they all prepared themselves for their families, he turned his attention back to Bin, the boy now nearly asleep on his lap. He tapped his cheek playfully to get his attention, watching him flinch before looking up at him expectantly. “Do you want to go home?” he asked.

Bin shook his head, fidgeting again. “Bin doesn’t have a home. I don’t want to leave hyung.” He clung tighter to his legs, unknowingly pulling and scratching one of Hak-yeon’s healing scars. He hissed quietly, hoping it wouldn’t bleed. 

He didn’t want Taek-woon to see something like that. 

“I’m sure your family has been looking for you.”

“They never found Bin. I don’t want to see them.” He rolled his head away, his fingers picking at his scar. “I’ll run away. I only want to stay with hyung.” 

“Run away…?” He snapped his head up to see everyone blissfully preparing themselves for their families, none of them worried in the least. 

“The doll gives you a new life; it will do anything to keep you away from your old one.” 

“Any time you see them, you’ll immediately run away even if you don’t want to.”

He remembered that feeling of indescribable panic that had shot through his body when he accidentally ran into his friends that day, remembered how devastated he had been to realize he wouldn’t be able to meet them. Seok-jin had said it happened because of the doll…that must mean that all of these guys too would be affected by it. With so many of them here, and with all the family members that would soon be running in here, what would happen? He looked up at Taek-woon in horror, realizing too late what was going to happen. Taek-woon noticed how shaken he was, leaning closer.

“What’s wrong?”

“Taek-woon ah…the families, they can’t come…”

“Why not?”

He shook his head, knowing Taek-woon wouldn’t understand, and turned to Kyung-soo, the other being the closest to him. The two troublemakers laughed loudly at a joke one of the two had made, and soon the whole room was laughing. Why…? When everything was supposed to be over? Kyung-soo seemed to notice his distress, pulling away from Jong-in and hopping closer. “Are you alright Hak-yeon?” he asked. 

“Kyung-soo, we can’t let the families come in here. The doll’s failsafe, it’s going to set off.” That caught the other’s attention, his large eyes widening in realization. “We can’t see people we’ve seen before-”

“Baek-hyun!”

“Se-hun ah!” 

“Wait, Baek-hyun-” But it was too late; Baek-hyun, along with the others who were able to walk, had gotten to the door, excitedly waiting for their family members to come in. Baek-hyun, with the help of Chan-yeol, yanked the door open, smiling elatedly when an elderly woman ran into view, her screams near deafening. She was in tears as she stepped forward to hug him, affectionately calling out his name, when it was as if time froze. 

Baek-hyun’s smile distorted into an expression of unadulterated horror, stumbling away from her as he dry heaved. A couple of the others called out to him, shouting in surprise when in his haste to get away he fell to the ground, falling and landing on his arm cast. That didn’t seem to deter him in the least, him rolling over and scrambling to his feet, lunging at the window across the room. The old woman screamed his name when he clawed at the window, screaming all the while.

“Get her away from me! Get away!” 

For a few seconds, nobody moved, all too shocked to watch the once happy, teasing boy crumble into the frenzied boy before them, his hands slapping the glass until his hands bled. It was only when he shoved Jong-dae out of his chair and lifted it above his head, breaking his cast apart as he heaved it and slammed it against the glass that they reacted. Doctors pushed past the old woman and charged across the room, managing to catch Baek-hyun before he could throw himself out the window. 

The old woman ran forward, right into Baek-hyun’s line of sight, and cried, pounding her chest. “Do you not recognize me Baek-hyunnie? It’s me, your grandmother! Baby, it’s me!”

That only agitated him further; he gained newfound strength as he violently struggled against the doctors’ hold, screaming all the while for her get away. 

“Get away from me! Get away you vile woman!” The two cops from earlier ran in the room, hurriedly escorting the woman away before anything else happened. As they led her out, more people stuck their heads in the doorway, setting off another wave of chaos. More and more of the guys fell victim to the doll’s failsafe, turning into blubbering messes as they tried their best to escape from the tiny room. Joon-myeon managed to rip his leg out of the sling they placed it in, crawling out onto the floor before being lifted up by his nurses. Some of the guys who’s families hadn’t arrived also tried to help in calming the others down, screaming at them and trying their best to comfort them. 

Taek-woon, who was clueless to everything that was going on, panicked at the sight and hurriedly yanked his wheelchair back and out of the way. Min-seok, now awake and fighting desperately against the doctor, noticed and struggled harder. 

“Don’t take Hak-yeon! Stop!” 

Taek-woon froze, unsure of what to do, and Hak-yeon quickly looked up at him, noting the petrified look on his face. “It’s alright Taek-woon ah,” he said as calmly as he could, swallowing heavily. “It’s alright.” He felt something shift by his side and saw Bin shaking horribly, his lip quivering as his eyes shot around while taking everything in. “Don’t look Bin ah,” he said quietly, lifting his arms and pulling the boy’s head into his chest, unwilling to let him continue watching.

It took the cops a while to convince the family members that it was best to wait outside, and only when they were gone did the others start to calm down. Soon groans and cries were heard across the room, now after coming back to their senses feeling the pain they caused themselves. After a few clipped words, a gurney was brought in and Baek-hyun and Joon-myeon carted away, both of them having reopened their wounds. 

The others were all taken back to their rooms to be treated, leaving behind only Yixing, Lu Han, Zitao, Bin, and himself. None of them could find anything to say, still in shock at what they saw. When Seok-jin had said the doll had a failsafe that made sure they never saw people they knew, he never imagined it would be something like this. The time his kicked in, he hadn’t felt fear so much as the feeling to get away. 

“Is Bin okay?” He looked up to see the three of them staring at him, their eyes on the shivering figure in his arms. 

“He’s scared.”

“I…I forgot about the failsafe,” Lu Han said quietly, his fingers clutching his crutch. “We all did. We were so happy about being freed we forgot we were still attached to those dolls.”

“Are all reactions that violent?” he asked, and the other three just shrugged their shoulders. 

“Some of the older dolls told us about it, but since none of us had a chance to meet anyone, we never experienced it. I don’t think any of us imagined it to be that…extreme.” 

“Would that mean…?”

“I guess it’s good my family thinks I’m dead,” Yixing joked, though he quickly shut his mouth when Zitao shot him a deadly glare. They all jumped anxiously when the door opened back up, though they calmed down when they saw it was just a nurse. She looked just as scared as they did, hesitating at their tense expressions before stuttering out,

“You need to head back to your rooms now. Also, visiting hours are over.” She directed that last sentence to Taek-woon and, the other boy still dazed, barely was able to nod to her. When he moved to follow her out, Hak-yeon reached out and held him back, wincing when his body punished him by rippling pain down his arm. 

“Wait…at least take me back. Please Taek-woonie.” Taek-woon hesitated for a split second, though in the end he agreed, stepping back behind his wheelchair and pushing him away. The walk back to his room was silent, he knew Taek-woon probably had a million questions running through his head, but he was just too exhausted at this point to answer them. So when he was finally laid down on his bed and Taek-woon standing silently while staring at him with that look, he pretended not to notice and sent him away with a smile. 

He hoped he never had to explain any of this to him.

Hello!

I felt this chapter was hard to write after the of the last few chapters, but in the end this is what I came up with. Though now you all can see why EXO was in the characters list. They were going to come eventually!

The story is actually almost done; I've got about one or two chapters left. I originally left this story with a very open-ended up ending, and if I have time might write a sequel. I already have ideas but haven't really written anything yet, so it'll depend on if I have time. But I never expected so many people to have read my story, and your comments are truly amazing and spur me on to keep writing. Thank you all so much!