Chapter 12 ~Hardly Breathing~

~a few hours earlier~

Luhan could feel the heat burn down the back of his pale neck before he realised he was dehydrated. His genius idea of bringing food worked just fine after the first two hours, but then he was thirsty, and then his thirst turned into a desperate need for water. The sweat down his back didn't help much either, especially since his sweat was using his water preserve.

He had started looking around soon after he felt the initial thirst, but by then it was already too late; all the stores had been long gone, and Luhan had walked straight into nowhere's-ville.

There's a small trail of water! That would mean there was a stream somewhere here!  Luhan thought excitement filling his tired and overheated body, all he would have to do is find it. He slowed down to an almost crawl, yanking of his sleeveless t-shirt to cling it against his aching stomach. His head was starting to ache too, and the silent chiding that had begun in his head hadn't shut up for even a moment.  It sounded like Sehun’s voice for some reason, which nearly made him scoff in the silence of his surroundings.  

For a moment,  Luhan considered calling out to his imaginary friend. The boy had been walking step in step with him, not saying a word and seeming to understand that he couldn't talk. He seemed fine, despite wearing a grey hoodie that he would have been suffocating in, had he been real.

His hair was a crazy red that Luhan had dubbed "spicy red" in his mind as he glanced at the boy every so often. It was nice to not have to think about the pain he was in, and the pain he felt every time his stomach clenched.  

The boy's hood fell back in a gust of wind, and Luhan didn't mind staring at the other as he noticed he had patches of pink in his hair too. It was pretty, and Luhan reached out to touch it.

His imaginary friend obliged him. Of course he would,  Luhan chided himself, it was Luhan’s mind, Luhan’s rules, right?  The boy smiled, a silent giggle on his lips that didn't match up with his almost dangerous looking attire. An arrow earring hung from one ear, the other invisible to Luhan’s point of view.

A sharp pain filled Luhan’s body, a silent scream passing past his dry lips.  His imaginary friend looked concerned, but Luhan stopped looking his way. In his mind he thought he could hear the swirling waters of a stream, but had no idea if he was imagining it or not, as clearly, his hallucinations were creating people right in front of him.

The sun only seemed hotter once Luhan let himself sit down on the ground. The dusty earth didn't seem to bother him as much as the stickiness of his skin, which caused the earth to stick to him.

The feeling was uncomfortable, but the tiredness Luhan felt made his sanity leave him. He couldn't care less what touched him what flew onto him. He only wanted to shut his eyes and sleep.  He could feel the presence of his imaginary friend near him, and it made him feel safer.  

Luhan was curious as he drifted in and out of consciousness, as to whether his imaginary friend  had been there even before he had created him. But even those thoughts began to fade from his mind as he fell into a feverish sleep.

As his conscious wavered in and out, he became aware of someone touching his body. It felt uncomfortable in the sense that he wasn't aware enough to stop it. He whimpered, a soft quiet sound that neither of the two paid attention to, or heard. There was definitely two, Luhan knew that when one pair of hands touched his stomach, and another d near his thighs. Luhan blinked the sunshine out of his eyes, trying to decipher the silhouettes in the blinding sun.

Yes, he was right. There were two of them looking him over. His imaginary friend seemed to have disappeared and the whine that came from him then was desperate and nearly animal like. But nobody paid him the least bit of attention. Nobody ever did, except Zelo. But he had run away from Zelo, and now he was regretting his decision.

Suddenly, his body was thrown into a bag and panic struck like lighting. He started to struggle fiercely, kicking at the loose tbreads with all his remaining strength. Thankfully the bag broke and he immediately pulled himself free. But unlike him, the bigger boys seemed to have a vendetta against him and were not currently suffering dehydration.  Luhan forced himself not to blackout as he was dragged by his arms towards an unknown location.  He knew his legs were bleeding by the sharp feeling he was getting as his unprotected skin hit against the pavement.  He wanted to yell and cry,kicking himself for even thinking nobody would bother him.  

Just kill me... Luhan thought, his mind scrambling images as nausea started to build up. He puked, but instead of it falling on the floor like he had planned, he felt it splatter against his knees which only made him puke again.

The disgusted boys dropped a bag over his head, suffocating him in with his sick smell. He wanted it all to end. He shut his eyes ignoring the laughter of the two boys as one of them heaved him up, then dragged him up a bunch of stairs.

He couldn't fathom where the hell he was, except that they were no longer outside. How long had he been dragged? He couldn't place time and sense it together. Albeit, the cool air within the house was nearly refreshing to him as it ventilated through the suffocating bags. If he could only pluck up energy, it wouldn't be so bad that his body refused to listen to commands like: 'hide, run, and get away. Basic things really, if you thought about it, Luhan’s exhausted mind chided.

He was very shocked therefore, when suddenly he heard two thuds next to him.  He couldn't help or stop how his body shook in fear then. That message was definitely being sent to him. It practically screamed "danger!" At least somethings still worked...Luhan thought sarcastically.

It was obvious they were fighting, but instead of feeling better,  Luhan felt like he was being pushed into a tighter corner. He curled up, his body shaking with sickness and fear of the unknown around him, all sardonic voices gone from his head once more.

"Junsu! Jinwoon! Keumanhae!" A voice was  pleading with whom Luhan guessed were the boys who picked him up. Luhan though, kept hearing the raw sounds of flesh hitting flesh and hisses of pain and anger.  But his pleads fell to deaf ears as the two boys were taking hits on their attacker.

"I'm sorry." A new voice said that made Luhan’s heart stop.

Sehun. That was Sehun! He nearly sagged in relief, though his tightly stressed body didn't move much.

"Don't kill them." The begging voice starting to shake, and Luhan wondered for a split second what the unknown male meant by that.

Sehun couldn't possibly...

"I don't care who they are. They're going to pay." Sehun replied, and Luhan, who had his ears strained, heard the familiar sound of the metal blade being released from its sheath.

Sehun was really going to kill them, Luhan realised in horror.

Luhan reeled back at first when Sehun lunged towards them with his knife cutting into one of them as they screamed. It was a tortured yell, likely of someone that had been pampered all his life. But no, Luhan couldn't let Sehun kill anyone.  Sehun would hate himself after everything calmed down.

With every ounce of his strength,  Luhan got to Sehun right as the others body had moved to take the kill.

'NO!' Luhan screamed in his mind, as he gripped onto Sehun’s sword arm with all his might.  'You'll regret it...' Luhan thought uselessly.

Luhan knew he had to have looked and smelled horrible as he clutched onto Sehun’s waist now, refusing to let go of the other boy.

Luhan was able to feel when the fight left Sehun, as nearly all of his muscles tightened in a different way as Sehun had turned around. Luhan, still not believing his luck at coming across the very person he was looking for, hugged Sehun tighter,  an almost desperate plea in the way his arms hung around the boy's waist.

Luhan felt as Sehun took a large gulp of air, then he was pulled into a fierce hold, full of love, and Luhan was sure Sehun felt possessive of him as Sehun held him close. Luhan, as dizzy as he was had no complaints to he in the arms of his friend.

And then unexpectedly,  the bag was yanked from his head, and a gentle kiss was placed on his temple, making Luhan purr, a tiny soft sound that Sehun probably overlooked.

Luhan was sure that his eyes were looking happy now that he knew he was safe, and even though only seconds passed before Sehun spoke again, Luhan felt as if he had been embraced for hours.

Luhan kept staring at Sehun, his wide eyes both innocent and unintentionally fearful  "What the hell did they do to you?" Sehun whispered to him as his eyes narrowed and glared out at the two boys who hadn't moved from their spot. Luhan couldn't tell Sehun that his voice was y when he growled.

"You do realise he couldn't even yell for help, right?" Sehun snarled, addressing the two boys quivering on the floor of the room they were in. But neither boy apologised,  and Sehun didn't seem to care once his eyes roved back over Luhan's deer ones.

Luhan wasn't prepared when Sehun kissed him. He was eternally grateful that Sehun held him up, because the feeling of electricity sent him to his knees weakly. Sehun, ever the leader in things, decided not to hang around in a place where two boys had hurt his Luhan.  

Sehun lifted Luhan into his arms bridal style, turning to leave the room.

"The third floor is empty and up for your use." The soft voice of the one who had begged Sehun spoke up.

Luhan felt Sehun hesitate,  but Luhan quickly nodded hopefully.  He didn't want to go back out into the heat, and he wanted to be pampered in the arms of Sehun where there was cool air, water and food readily accessible.

As if reading his thoughts,  Sehun mumbled into Luhan’s neck: "We could just go to a hotel!" But Luhan shook his head again, and Sehun relented,  finding the staircase that led to the third floor.

"You better be good." Sehun whispered,  pretending to scold Luhan, but when Luhan didn't answer he realised that Luhan probably had become dehydrated like he did, but he couldn't be sure as Luhan’s head leant against Sehun’s in an exhausted sleep.

Sehun found the biggest bedroom, walking into it. But as the crisp black silk linens came into view, Sehun couldn't find it in himself to just dump Luhan onto the bed, while his body clearly needed a wash and nutrients.  

He would have to give Luhan a bath. Luhan in the meantime had been half clinging to Sehun, even in this passed out form, and every few moments he would startle awake whimpering.  He still hadn't said a word though, and Sehun had stopped expecting him to suddenly return to the same boy he had been before he was kidnapped the first time.

Sehun shook his head, he really should have killed those two scumbags earlier, they had snatched his Luhan just as Kim Woobin had done. But these boys seemed to have just been trying to get a lay with Luhan rather than kill him. Sehun could imagine how Luhan was feeling though. Taken against his will twice in the span of a day? It was almost as if his luck and fortune had run out.

Sehun realised he himself was playing with a fire of his own. If he didn't know any better, his father would have known by now any and all of his antics. But with Luhan securely in his arms, Sehun couldn't bring himself to care.  

Luhan returned to his senses when he heard the flowing water hitting the ceramic floor of the bathtub.  His gaze flit over to Sehun, but still he said nothing.  For a moment Sehun wanted to growl in frustration.  How was he supposed to communicate with Luhan if he was like this?

Luhan was still looking at him when Sehun glanced down