It was still very early in the morning when Jongin slid out of bed. He wasn’t an early riser but, even though he was tired, his mind was screaming at him not to sleep; he blamed it on the stress he had been feeling lately. He tiptoed out of the room, careful in his intent of not waking Chanyeol, heaven knew how much he needed the sleep; as strong as Chanyeol appeared to be, Jongin knew the other was very affected by the kidnap of his best friend; they all were but as Chanyeol had told him, it felt like his heart had been beaten down and chewed to the core.

His intention was to start breakfast but, as he passed the study room, he noticed Sehun and Minseok, both looking like death warmed over, sprawled on the tiny couch in the room.

“What on earth are you two doing? You look absolutely wrecked!”

“We have been checking Doctor Lee’s journal; see if there is anything that can give us a hint of where Baekhyun is.” answered Sehun, stretching and wincing when his back cracked loudly.

“Did you sleep?”

“Not a wink.” replied Minseok before pointing to the trashcan, full of empty cans “We survived the night high on coffee and carbonated drinks.”

Jongin winced a bit especially because, by the looks of his friends, the coffee and the drinks had no effect at all.

“Did you find something?”

“Maybe, maybe not. We need someone to read some parts of it for us; ones that we find odd or that may have some info because the both of us became pretty much useless by four a.m. My brain is absolutely mush by now and everything word I read is blurred.”

“Well, I suppose I can help you with that, just let put some food into you beforehand.”

“Hell yes!” mumbled Minseok making a run for the kitchen, bypassing a stunned Jongin. As soon as the eldest was out of the room, Jongin turned to Sehun.

“What was that? Have you two made amends?”

“I was never upset with him in the first place but yes, we talked and cleared something between us.”

“About Baekhyun?”

“About Baekhyun!” confirmed Sehun, nodding slightly. “And plot twist, Minseok is interested in someone who isn’t Baekhyun.”

“I…what…who?”

“Junmyeon!”

“I’m so confused, didn’t he liked Baekhyun? He was mad jealous whenever you approached him or even talked about him!”

“He thought, for some reason, that Junmyeon was with Tao, felt like there was nothing to do and that Junmeyon wasn’t interested in him and looked at Baekhyun, who was like his kindred soul and thought that, if he couldn’t love Junmyeon, Baekhyun was the next best thing.”

“That is a stupid thing to do. You can’t force yourself out of love, or force yourself to be in love, for that matter.”

“I know that but I understand him to a certain level. Desperation leads you to do imbecile things!”

“I guess so, I wouldn’t know!”

“You had it easy; Chanyeol was already head over heels for you. You two are actually disgustingly sweet.”

“We have our moments. Now let’s go and feed our hyung.”

Both boys climbed down the stairs, careful not to make any noise that would wake up their hyungs. When they got the kitchen, Minseok had already a bunch of toast waiting for them, since he knew both maknaes didn’t like anything too heavy for breakfast, along with two mugs of coffee and a cup full of juice for Jongin.

“So, what did you too found out?” asked Jongin, between mouthfuls of toast.

“Aside from the fact that the guy is completely insane?” asked Minseok with disdain.

“Well, all the journals that we read have some sort of things in common, like his obsessions with dolls, Baekhyun’s story; and let me tell you that was particularly disturbing to read, since it’s really detail, like he checked all of his life and put it on paper; he actually made a list of all the places Baekhyun went, with who he went and when. He’s a stalker and has a big obsession with Baekhyun.” replied Sehun.

“I think he might be some kind of doll maker, since he talks very often about his dolls but somehow it’s strange because he mentions that his dolls are dead. I don’t really get that part.”

“Well, he did have a lot of dolls in his house. Those horrible, porcelain ones that make the hair at the base of your neck stand up because it looks like they are going to eat you alive once you turn your back to them!”

“Did he really have those?” asked Minseok, looking at the other two who nodded. “Creep…”

“Anyway, there are a lot of things he wrote that doesn’t make sense; at least not to us.”

“I’ll check them out, maybe we should ask Junmyeon to help, he’s smart like that.” replied Jongin, glancing subtly at Sehun, who blinked at Minseok innocently when the other turned to look at him.

“Yeah, but it’s still early and I don’t think that Junmyeon hyung is going to wake up so soon; neither the others to tell the truth.”

“I think both of you should just take a nap. You are clearly tired and tired, mushy brains won’t help at all when solving this gargantuan puzzle.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep” confesses Sehun “But we could just sit a bit in the living room, I would appreciate your company.”

“That’s settles it then.”

After cleaning themselves up, because none of them wanted to suffer the ire of Kyungsoo, they moved to the living room and switched the TV on, lowering the sound of it and settled themselves in the couch and covering themselves with a fluffy blanket. Minseok was the first to fall asleep, tired from a night spent reading those journals, head resting on the arm of the couch and legs drawn over Sehun’s lap. Sehun was the second to fall under the sleep spell, head against Jongin’s shoulder, mostly due to the fact that the other had been lazily drawing patterns on his scalp and neck. He had really tried to resist and stay awake but sleeping a few hours a night had taken a toll on him and he couldn’t help to succumb to sleep.

Strangely enough Jongin couldn’t help but fall asleep either. He had just awaken and he shouldn’t be sleepy but the semi peaceful feeling seeping through the room and his friends steady breathing, along with Sehun’s heartbeat had lulled him to sleep, and that was how Jongdae and Kyungsoo found them, two hours late.

“Let them sleep.” muttered Kyungsoo, making a shushing gesture to Jongdae. “Heavens know that they need it.”

Baekhyun was running through the woods, his feet stomping through leaves, sticks and all kind of rocks, however he didn’t mind a single bit if his feet were getting completely abused. He had managed to away from Doctor Lee.

The doctor had to leave the house, now Baekhyun knew it was a house, that he was keeping him locked in and had injected him with a dose of that paralyzing serum of his, however, the doctor must have lost track of the time, because the effects of the serum had vanished way before the doctor was home.

He remembered being tied up; he remembered the needle going into his neck, making him whimper in pain, and then the numbing effects starting to made his way through his body, making him slowly lose control over his body. He had then been dressed in something that could only belong to Alice in Wonderland and laid in bed, while the doctor kissed his forehead and told him to be a good little doll and wait for him. If he could’ve laughed, because he had no other choice, so wait he did. However, after a long time, at least in Baekhyun’s eyes, his body started to feel like he was on fire and then the numbing sensations started to slowly disappear, allowing him regain control. He wriggled his toes and fingers, trying to accelerate of the process, feeling a little bit scared when his left hand fingers remained mostly stiff. However, the adrenaline he was feeling at the time, made him not pay too much attention on it.

When he could control his legs properly, he stood up and trying to open the door, groaning when he found it locked but then the plan he had made when he first arrived to this place come to his mind; he grabbed his bed cover with difficulty and wrapped his harms with it. Then, he smacked the vanity mirror. He actually had to hit it several time, since it was quite hard to break it without his full strength but he managed. He picked one of the biggest shards, careful not to hurt himself, since his knuckles were already bruised from hitting the glass so many times. He thought about his hapkido training and he remembered being told that one of the pressure points to attack in order to immobilize someone was on the back of the leg, between someone’s calf muscle and Achilles tendon. He crouched near the door and waited.

Despite the effect of the serum, Baekhyun was hyper alert of everything around him; his breathe was controlled and his mind was focused, when he heard the key being inserted on the lock, the twist of the knob and then, finally, the door being opened. With a very accurate swiftness, Baekhyun moved his hand buried the large glass shard on the doctor’s leg, on the precise spot that he wanted. The doctor fell to the ground with a howl of pain and Baekhyun immediately jumped out of the room, running for his life, not minding the wooziness that fogged his brain.

He run two entire set of staircase, since it seemed that the basement where he was being locked in had two floors, and found himself on the ground floor. Baekhyun looked around for a few seconds before finding the door and yanking it open, running into the surrounding woods around the house.

There was something familiar about the forest that Baekhyun was running through, he didn’t pay that much attention to it but when his eyes focused on some paths, he felt a nagging voice in his head telling him he knew exactly where he was.

He finally collapsed behind a big boulder, gasping for air, absolutely drained. Only know did he notice the way his feet hurt and the cuts we had on them. The socks that that doctor had provided him were all ripped and stained with blood but, in Baekhyun’s eyes, it was better to keep them on than walking barefoot.

Baekhyun took time to look at his surroundings; again, that feeling that he knew the place came back to him but, as much as he looked, it was all trees and bushes and boulders, like any other forest in the entire world. He was beginning to feel desperate, even if he was out of the house; he had no way of returning to his friends, to his safe haven. The young man felt himself tear a little bit, how he wished he could be next to his friends, to have their protection and love.

He tried to get up and make some more distance between himself and the house but he fell on his bottom, completely drained. He had total control of his body; however his body was so tired that it refused to listen to him, it was being completely uncooperative.

“Okay.” Baekhyun said to himself in a whisper, resting his head against the boulder. “I’ll just stay here for a bit, and then I’ll go.”

After a much needed rest, Baekhyun’s body actually allowed him to move and he kept on walking through the forest. He couldn’t run anymore, his feet didn’t allow him to, so he marched at the fastest pace that he could, which was really slow. He jumped when he heard a noise behind him and immediately ducked behind a bush. He peeked a little and his blood ran cold when he saw Doctor Lee wandering around, limping severely looking around.

Baekhyun covered his mouth with both hands and folded his body into a little ball, trying his best to hide himself. He felt his eyes water and the cold sweat forming at the base of his neck; he was completely terrified of being caught, so he just stood on the ground, trembling slightly way after the sound of footsteps faded.

When he thought it was safe, he broke into an almost run on the opposite way, in absolute panic, as the sound of his heart beating madly, muffled all the sounds around him. It was almost like in a movie that his body slammed into another one and a scream cut through the silence. Baekhyun himself, almost screamed bloody murder until he looked up and found a young woman, no more than twenty, looking at him with wide eyes. For a second, Baekhyun thought she was going to scream again but, thankfully enough, she didn’t. She actually seemed to recognize him even though Baekhyun could tell she was a foreigner.

“You Baekhyun? From EXO?” she managed to ask in a broken Korean, pointing a finger at him.

“Yes, I am. Do you understand me?”

The girl nodded, her blonde hair falling from her ponytail with the force of her nod.

“Yes. I’m fan. I understand but no talk good.” She managed to say, stuttering a bit and stumbling over the words.

“That’s good.”

“You puff from EXO. You on TV. Missing!”

“Yes…” Baekhyun stopped abruptly when the sound of steps was, once again, being heard. He quickly put a hand on the blonde’s mouth, dragging her a bit until he found a boulder big enough to hide behind, making shushing noises at her.

“What happening?” she asked on a low whisper, throwing him a confused glance.

“He’s after me, the doctor. He is insane. He’s keeping me locked. I managed to escape!”

“He kidnap?”

“Yes! He kidnaped me and just locked me here in the basement of a house. I wanted to contact somebody but I couldn’t; I have no way of doing so! I don’t even have a clue where I am!”

“You Bucheon! Forest! I here study plants and trees. I help!”

“Thank you!” muttered Baekhyun, absolutely dazed by the fact that he was on his hometown.

A dark laughter was heard and both of them swung their heads to see a man looking at them. Baekhyun let a muffled scream past through his lips, before grabbing the blonde girl’s hand and trying to flee but, as he tried to do so, a little yelp was heard and he turned to see his newfound friend being grabbed by the hair, courtesy of the doctor.

As much as he wanted to, Baekhyun couldn’t simply leave; he couldn’t bear the thought of running away while someone, who actually was trying to help him minutes ago, being hurt. So he just jumped at the doctor, kicking the man behind the knee and making him collapse. However, the truth was that Baekhyun wasn’t at his full strength, so the man was actually up again in a second and latched his hand on Baekhyun’s sensitive neck, squeezing tightly.

From the corner of his eye, Baekhyun saw the girl looking at him rooted to the ground, completely terrified.

“Run!” he rasped, trying to get some air into his lungs. “Go to them. EXO. They…Help!”

For a second, he thought that she didn’t understand him but then, for his absolute joy, she turned away and bolted away, running at full speed.

“You have been a very bad doll” said the doctor with a menacing growl “You are going to get punished when we got home. And about the little blonde, don’t even think about her. I will find her and, by the time I’m finished with her, there will be no one to help you out. You will be mine and you’ll remain mine forever.”

With a last squeeze, Baekhyun felt himself being dragged into unconsciousness, body going limp as he passed out.

The little blonde was running through the forest, her lithe figure bypassing trees at lightning speed, searching the entrance of the forest. She had never felt so terrified on her life; she had never guessed that this would be the place where she, of all people, would find the missing idol, Baekhyun. However, as she ran for her life, her mind focused on a single mission: get to EXO and tell them what she saw. That was what Baekhyun had asked from her and that was she was going to do and she was determined to accomplish that. Even if it killed her.

A/N: Hello everyone! How are you lovely people? Here it goes one more chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! I had the afternoon off, so I managed to just finished it! Poor baby got out only to he caught again but now he's got an unexpected ally! It's like the light at the end of the tunnel! I am hoping to deliver a chapter on the weekend but if not, next week I have my Easter vacation so I'l definitly post something! Also, I'm kind of sick (AGAIN) so I'll do my best to update soon but don't get your hopes tooooo high okay?
Love you all, have a wonderful day! Hugs and kisses to everyone!