Chapter eight

09-06-15

‘’You’re not going to believe what happened yesterday.’’

‘’What happened?’’

‘’Some teenagers managed to escape the ADT without any hardships, they just went like that!’’

‘’No way.’’

‘’Yes, seriously!’’

‘’They’re said to be the strongest in the whole school now.’’

‘’Do you know who they are then?’’

‘’No, but I heard it’s about two elementals, an abnormal and a rare.’’

‘’Wait, you’re telling me there’s a rare in this school?’’

‘’Hmm, I don’t know how strong he is, but I heard he’s pretty darn good.’’

The next day, everyone was talking about it, even the teachers were curious about who these children actually were. How they found out? Well, there is this certain guy called Park Chanyeol. He basically lives for attention and thus decided to tell what happened that day, although he only said his own name.

Baekhyun had his last lesson of that day when he first heard people talk about it. The other’s where already done as it was already 3pm, but Baekhyun didn’t really mind it. He was given the time to think, think about all what happened yesterday, about his first time seeing and fighting an ADT and about to baby girl. It all happened way too fast, he still couldn’t progress everything.

His eyes were red from the lack of sleep, from the moment the nightmare woke him up, he wasn’t able to fall asleep anymore, the ADT kept making circles in his mind.

His arm kept bleeding through the bandages, but the black blazer covered it all up. He had only received a concerned look from Jongin, but had brushed that off with a smile. He was fine.

‘’Everyone, listen please!’’ Their teacher called out for their attention. Time had flown by, just like it had done the whole day already. Baekhyun looked up.

‘’Next week we have a free day as you all know, but there are always fun things to do in the school. As for then, we have prepared the Hunter&Hunted game. Explanations will be given there but I can already tell you that it’s a great game.

Hope to see you all on the meadow behind the school at twelve pm. Dismissed.’’ The teacher said as he opened the door for his students to walk out before he himself left.

Baekhyun was the last one to leave the room. He decided to take his time, not wanting to see his roommate at the moment. His roommate, Park Chanyeol, was the real meaning of a coward, an egocentric, arrogant coward.

Baekhyun stuffed his books in his backpack when the teacher left and hoisted it on his shoulder, but when he wanted to walk out of the room, a tall body blocked the entrance. He looked up and met Chanyeol’s eyes.

‘’What do you want?’’ He asked, voice void of emotion as he expressionlessly looked up at the taller, who looked down at him with mixed emotions, sadness, regret… proudness; that look will always stay there.

‘’I-I was here to… to say…’’ Chanyeol stopped in the mid of his sentence and kept staring at Baekhyun, hoping he would understand the message and forgive him. But that wasn’t how Baekhyun’s mind worked.

‘’Get out of my way.’’ He said in a deadpan voice before pushing past the tall boy. The light turned off behind him as he walked away.

‘’Baekhyun, come on. Don’t be like this.’’ Chanyeol called out behind him, but it sounded more like he was mocking at him. Baekhyun ignored him. It wasn’t until Chanyeol grabbed his arm and turned him around that Baekhyun had to stop his tracks. He had to hold in a hiss and control his facial expression when Chanyeol pinched his arm. They weren’t far away from the classroom, so Chanyeol pulled him back inside and closed the door. Baekhyun immediately jerked his arm hiding, holding it behind his back.

‘’You can’t get away now.’’ Chanyeol murmured to himself as if he had already won… whatever there was to win.

‘’What do you want, Park?’’ Baekhyun asked, leaning against the wall next to the door as Chanyeol stood right in front of him.

‘’I-I…’’ He started stuttering again. Baekhyun rolled his eyes and pushed him away.

‘’You are really a coward húh?’’ He said, boring his own angry eyes straight into Chanyeol’s pleading ones. ‘’First you ing ran away, then you just left us! And now you’re not even able to say ‘I’m sorry’?!’’ Baekhyun’s eyes sparkled brighter than they usually did, it both amazed and scared Chanyeol.

‘’Well it was you who caused it.’’ Chanyeol butted in, but soon regretted it after seeing Baekhyun’s face.

‘’It was me?’’ He asked, voice high in disbelief. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared up at the boy. ‘’So because I ing saved your back there, you could just run away like that? Because I tried to save a child – a ing child! – you could run away and leave us behind?!’’ Baekhyun was raging with anger before it suddenly stopped. The sparks dimmed but his body didn’t relax.

‘’You know what, it, I’m going.’’ Baekhyun said as he turned around and left the room, leaving Chanyeol alone as the door closed on its own.

Chanyeol knew he ed up really bad.

¬

Baekhyun closed the door behind him and went straight to his room, his head was hurting and his eyes heavy. He wanted to sleep so badly, yet when he laid down in his bed, he couldn’t.

4pm, he shifted around in the bed for the nth time, he had gotten rid of the uniform and thrown it across the room. He changed into sweatpants and an oversized shirt before he went back to bed.

5pm, his eyes would close and open. Close and open. Close and open. It wasn’t blinking. They would close for a minute or so and then open for a second. It was a sleeping trick his mother had learned him. It didn’t work anymore.

6pm, he heard the door close downstairs and figured out Chanyeol had come back. He lifted his head off of the pillow, only to let it heavily fall back as a massive headache started to act up all of a sudden. He heard a few knocks on the door, but remembered he locked it and stayed where he was.

The knocks eventually became louder.

Then he heard a voice.

‘’Baekhyun, it’s me.’’ It was Kyungsoo. ‘’Open up please, let’s eat something.’’ He said. Baekhyun wasn’t hungry. He then remembered he hadn’t eaten all day, since Kyungsoo didn’t come by to personally feed him. But he still didn’t feel hungry.

‘’Baekhyun?’’ Kyungsoo called out again and Baekhyun knew he couldn’t leave his friend just like that. He heaved himself off the bad, ignoring the massive headache and throbbing arm, and slowly walked to the door, unlocking it and opening it. He was met by Kyungsoo’s concerned, motherly face.

‘’Hi.’’ Baekhyun greeted, a small smile forming on his face.

‘’Did I wake you up?’’ Kyungsoo asked with a frown as he noticed the messy sheets. He walked past Baekhyun and sat down on the bed.

Baekhyun turned around and slowly shook his head. ‘’You didn’t. I tried to but I couldn’t fall asleep.’’ He said, his voice sounding slightly hoarse.

‘’Something’s wrong?’’ Although it was a question, it sounded much more like a statement. Baekhyun knew he meant it like that. When he didn’t reply – only leaned against the doorframe – Kyungsoo decided to take it as a yes.

‘’What happened?’’

‘’Chanyeol happened.’’ Baekhyun replied curtly. He saw Kyungsoo’s expression change to an unreadable one. Baekhyun knew his friend wasn’t all too happy with him as well. ‘’You know, he is sorry about it though.’’

‘’Then he should say sorry, not look at me like I’m a complete retard.’’

‘’He probably didn’t mean it like that. He is just… very prideful as we all know.’’

‘’Yeah, luckily we all know.’’ Baekhyun said sarcastically before he let himself fall on the bed.

‘’Then what are you going to do now? Stay here in your room all day, keep sulking?’’ Kyungsoo asked as he patted Baekhyun’s back.

‘’I’ll just live on you know, it’s not like he’s going to say sorry anyway.’’

¬

A week passed without any hardships.

It was mainly Baekhyun ignoring Chanyeol and Chanyeol avoiding Baekhyun. They were both okay with it.

It was also the first time that week that Baekhyun wasn’t awoken up by the loud beeping noise of the alarm clock. It was their first free day! Their last free day wasn’t actually a free day since the teachers needed help from some students. Baekhyun included.

Strangely enough, here on the institute, they would not have a day off on Sunday but on Friday.

Saturday was a day were the students would have a minimum number of classes and a lot of fun activities, like the Hunter&Hunted game; while Sunday was a normal school day.

Yeahh…

Luckily we all know that it is about a magical school…

The soft sun beams caressed his face, something he actually really enjoyed as he opened his eyes to greet to beautiful sun. He stretched his arms upwards, letting them hit the headboard as he chuckled when he suddenly remembered a funny happening from a few months ago on his former school.

There was this boy with whom (and five others) he shared a room. The boy woke up and stretched his arms just like Baekhyun did just now, except that Baekhyun is a pro in controlling his power...

And that boy wasn’t.

He ended up burning his own bed.

It was quite funny back then but now that Baekhyun thought back of it, he actually pitied the boy. He stood up and drowsily walked downstairs. It was around nine o’clock in the morning so he didn’t expect Chanyeol to be up already. It was already hard to wake him up on a regular school day so why would he even be out of his bed at nine?

He stepped into the kitchen and grabbed one of the 12 white mugs out of the cupboard, making a mental note that he and Chanyeol should decorate them later as he enplaned the mug underneath the coffee machine and made himself a delicious cup coffee. He had learned about the coffee machine several days ago and figured out how it worked yesterday. The machine bleeped. Baekhyun swiftly grabbed the steamy mug from underneath the still dripping machine and marched towards the coffee table, settling his mug on it as he walked back to the kitchen.

HE didn’t feel like making breakfast because of multiple reasons. The first one was because he wasn’t a great cook, Kyungsoo was. Secondly, he was never hungry in the morning and preferred to not eat breakfast. If it wasn’t for Kyungsoo to come every day, he would’ve skipped the meal.

It was still early, he always woke up early. Figuring out that Kyungsoo was probably still sleeping, he decided to make him breakfast for today, even though he couldn’t cook. There was one receipt he knew; pancakes!

As he initiated rummaged through the cupboard and fridge to get all the needed ingredients, he didn’t notice the door being opened.

Neither did he notice the faint footsteps waking off the stairs.

And it was stupid of him that he didn’t notice the ‘poof’ sound behind him.

Footsteps were coming from 3 different places right now.

And he still didn’t hear anything…

‘’You can cook?’’

‘’HOLY JONGIN!!’’ He yelled when he felt the said boy’s arm draping around his shoulder, he pushed it off of his shoulder in an instant and took a few steps backwards, being careful not to hit the frying pan. He heard a deep laugh a few meters away from him and he looked up to see Chanyeol laughing his off, Jongin smirking and Kyungsoo… well… he was just gazing at nothing particular.

Baekhyun’s cheeks flustered red as he pouted angrily and turned around, facing the pancakes in order to prevent his friends from seeing his red cheeks.

‘’Oh my god Baekhyun, you should’ve seen your face.’’ Chanyeol said as he recalled the action, making himself laugh even harder. It only made Baekhyun hate him more, but like he had told Kyungsoo earlier; he wasn’t going to deal with it all anymore. Chanyeol would never change.

 ‘’It’s not funny.’’ He muttered.

‘’Aww, our Baekhyun can’t stand being embarrassed’’

Jongin threw his arm over Baekhyun’s shoulder again and watched him trying to cook come pancakes.

‘’Jongin, leave him alone please.’’ Kyungsoo (Baekhyun thanked the Gods) said and pulled his roommate away from the cooking boy. He then proceeded to take the frying pan from Baekhyun’s hand, which was shaking.

‘’Aww, Baekhyun you’re shaking.’’ Kyungsoo said as he noticed how much the black haired boy’s hands trembled when he took the pan away.

‘’No I’m not.’’ Baekhyun said.

‘’Come on Chanyeol, stop laughing and calm him down. Jongin you too, it is your fault that he’s so scared now.’’ Kyungsoo said as he leaded Baekhyun out of the kitchen and finished the pancakes, and of course he added sausages, eggs and toast because hey, it is Kyungsoo we’re talking about.

Baekhyun didn’t dare to look up when he felt a big hand wrap around his, leading him to the couch whereon he was pushed down by two slightly smaller hands.

‘’Okay Baekhyun, you relax, let us do the work.’’ He heard Jongin say.

‘’Wait what?’’

‘’Just relax~’’

Baekhyun obeyed and relaxed…

Bad choice.

He should’ve known he was stupid when Jongin suddenly grabbed his hands.

And disappeared.

Taking Baekhyun with him.

Baekhyun knew he was going to kill Jongin.

They both appeared in a dark forest. Everything looked so different from a normal forest, the ground was dark and dry, the bushes were dead and the trees were extremely high and moved too slow. But what stood out the most was how dark the sky was, not a single star was glowing. Maybe because of the fogginess that nearly nothing was visible as Baekhyun could barely see where he was going. So he just tightened his grip around Jongin’s hand. ‘’Where are we going?’’ He asked when Jongin started walking.

No answer.

‘’Jongin?’’

Baekhyun’s smile faded when Jongin started walking faster. The grip on his hand was getting tighter and tighter and he was almost dragging Baekhyun. The further Jongin dragged him into the forest, the more familiar everything became in Baekhyun's eyes. He didn't want to remember those things, never again. 

‘’Jongin! Stop it!’’ Baekhyun yelled as he tried to pull his hand away from Jongin's strong grip. It didn't work.

So Baekhyun did something he never ever wanted to do by his friend.

He burned Jongin's hand.

The grip on Baekhyun's hand immediately loosened, he pulled away his hand in an instant and stood still as he slightly panted. Jongin stopped walking too and faced the trees.

‘’Baekhyun-ah~’’

Baekhyun stiffened. He recognised this voice and it definitely wasn’t Jongin’s.

‘’Baekkie-hyung~’’

Jongin slowly turned around and faced the shorter boy, shocking him with his appearance.

His eyes were bright yellow and his skin was extremely pale, decorated with weird blue spots on his arms and neck. Baekhyun gasped when he suddenly started walking towards him.

‘’Where’s Jongin.’’ Baekhyun asked in a demanding tone as he took a few steps backwards to keep at least a big distance between him and Jongin’s possessed body While trying to stay as calm as possible. Jongin smirked and walked closer to Baekhyun. ‘’Don’t run away Baekkie hyung~’’ His voice sounded honeyed.

‘Yah, answer me!! Where’s Jongin!?’’

No answer.

The further Baekhyun walked away, the more he started to recognise the forest. Jongin didn’t stop walking until he had the smaller boy backed up against a tree, then he smirked. It was that moment, when Baekhyun’s back touched the tree, he became horribly aware of where he was.

He gasped when images of a castle, a big fire and wings flashed in front of his eyes. The air became red and the smell of smoke was hanging in the air.

Jongin stood right in front of him, his eyes still as bright as they were. He looked down at Baekhyun, smiling in the creepiest way Baekhyun had ever seen.

‘’Not yet.’’

Baekhyun screamed.

Baekhyun shot up from his bed, completely covered in sweat and trembling furiously.

‘’No.’’ He said with a shaky voice. He slowly sat up and leaned against the headboard, hugging his knees to his chest. ‘’Not again.’’ He whispered.

The nightmare felt so real, looked so real. Everything felt so familiar, yet unwanted and hateful.

His head was thumping painfully against his skull and his mouth was dry.

‘’This can’t do.’’ He whispered to himself as he stood up and walked towards the bathroom. He all the lights, even the ones in the spare rooms, except the ones in Chanyeol’s room since he didn’t want his giant roommate to wake up. He glared at himself in the mirror

I’m a complete mess. He thought when he saw how pale his face looked, there was a trail tears running down his cheeks and his hair was dishevelled. Even his nose had started bleeding again, luckily in a soft manner. He drew a hand through his hair and quickly splashed cold water in his face to wash off the blood before he walked back to his room. He changed his sweaty pyjamas into shorts and a simple shirt before he went back to bed, not bothering to turn off the lights.

He laid down on his bed and surrounded himself with the bright shield, hoping that nothing would happen tonight.

He fell asleep.

It was 3:33am.