Part Four: To Meet Again (1/1)

Part FourTo Meet Again“Don’t touch me.”The words were still ringing in Howon’s ears as he stood in the empty room, staring at the door Woohyun and Myungsoo had dashed out from, almost expecting them to come back any second. But it was silent; no footsteps were coming, no one was coming back. In the stillness of the room he could still see the confusion written all over Myungsoo’s handsome face and the wrath in Woohyun’s dying eyes.Howon rarely felt depressed or like crying; or at least when he was hurt he didn’t let it show. However as he stood alone, still hearing Woohyun’s spiteful words, his eyes stung and tears fell. It had always been hurtful when there was no one to comfort him when he was in pain, but he had always brought it upon himself with his “I’m fine” and “Don’t worry about it”.When Woohyun with Myungsoo left, they planted a ticking bomb of guilt in Howon’s chest. Truth be told, it didn’t hurt that much that Woohyun hated him and Myungsoo would too as soon as Woohyun would tell him what had happened to Sunggyu; no, what hurt the most was that Howon knew he deserved the pain. He deserved it for what he had done; he had done it completely willingly and the promise he had made with Sunggyu was no excuse.No matter how much he hated himself as he stood there, no matter how much he wanted to hide inside the old, squeaky wardrobe they never dared keep their possessions in and die, he still remembered the promise. He had to find them again. If not for their sakes or his, he had to for Sunggyu. Because he promised.Powered up by a new dose of adrenaline, he quickly finished packing and within five minutes he was back outside with the bag over his shoulder, leaving behind the only place they called home behind. He just wandered aimlessly though; he had no idea where Woohyun and Myungsoo could have gone.He constantly kept glancing around himself to spot any possible threatening danger, but it was safe to say that practice had made him learn to be careful when outside. There were two gunmen keeping guard, but luckily for Howon, they were too engrossed in their own likely mindless chatter to notice him.Thinking that at least a bit of luck was standing by his side, he carried on.  It was silent, but he did not hear the partly annoying partly lulling whistling sound of silence in his ears; it was not that quiet. He could hear droning sounds as if there was a kind of a machine working nearby. He didn’t spare it a second thought, though. He tried to move his hand, but only the twitch his finger sent bolts of pain to his entire forearm. He desperately wanted to move, to open his eyes at least but as it seemed, his body was no longer under his control; the air was unbelievably heavy sitting on his chest and he felt like he could run out of breath every second. It was not the end, though; there was still that dull pain that shooting from his shoulder to the rest of his body.He tried to remember. They were out with Howon and were caught; that was where the track of his memories ended, but judging from the state his shoulder was in, he guessed he was shot. It didn’t matter much to him, though, certainly not as much as the question whether or not Howon and the rest were all right.Whether or not they made it out alive; if it wouldn’t be better for them to be behind the curtain already. Sunggyu didn’t know; in such a messed up place the world had become one never really knew what was for the better.Sunggyu was thinking about how long his life might be from then on, considering the fact that he couldn’t even open his eyes let alone move, he guessed he must have been drugged with sedatives or stuff like that. And that was when he heard the voices; thankfully his ears were still fully cooperating.“- him there.”“No. We did the right thing.”“What do we get for it though? I bet if he’d had the power to choose, he would’ve chosen to stay in that bloody forest and bleed out. No one would have ever found out.”“Shut up. Christ, do you want to get arrested for not keeping your mouth shut?”Sunggyu tried to keep his focus on the voices, however his head was starting to spin again and it was not long before he lost the fight to stay awake again. He knew, though, that the first voice was right. He would have chosen death if he could.He flew through endless numbness and emptiness for what seemed like the age of Earth itself until a gentle hand on his shoulder pulled him out. It was as if he was half-sleeping and suddenly fell in his dream. His whole body jerked and for a second he thought he might die from all the pain he experienced at once. He would have screamed if the voice in his throat wasn’t sleeping still.Once the pain fell off to an at least bearable point, he struggled to open his eyes again, but actually accomplished it after a few seconds.Bright light hit him in the face, cold steel-like ceiling and walls welcoming him in. There was a person leaning over him, studying him with big, curious eyes as if he was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen. Sunggyu’s vision was a blur of a kind, and it didn’t want to sharpen even after waiting. There was a little voice in the back of his head, screaming in panic, but he kept telling himself it must have been because of the sedatives.It must have been.The person, a man, leaning over him had a grin plastered on his face the instant he saw Sunggyu open his eyes and he immediately tapped onto his tablet while nodding his head. Sunggyu hadn’t seen a tablet in ages.“What is your name?” he asked then, putting the gadget aside.Despite not seeing his face clearly, judging by the voice, Sunggyu thought the boy couldn’t be older than him. In no way possible.He didn’t answer. He was scared to hear what was left of his voice; if anything was.“Do you remember your name?” the boy pressed on, grin long gone.So instead of giving a verbal reply, he nodded his head lightly. It seemed to satisfy the other enough for a while so Sunggyu could continue in taking in his surroundings. Much to his relief, his clear vision was coming back slowly, silencing that voice in the back of his head. The walls and ceiling indeed were metallic, steel-like, reflecting very obscure images of whatever was in the room, including Sunggyu himself.Then there was the boy, sitting on a chair next to his bed, tapping away on the tablet. He had a white coat on, like doctors usually had, but Sunggyu guessed he must have been too young to have any idea how medicine worked. His features were very gentle, almost feminine; body petite, yet his hands appeared strong.He noticed Sunggyu observing him and smiled.“I think you might be wondering where you are, why you’re here and who I am. Correct?” he asked then, completely dropping the let’s-find-Sunggyu’s-identity subject.Sunggyu nodded right away, expecting some answers to finally come his way.“Well,” the boy started, making himself comfortable in the very uncomfortable-looking chair, “I guess you can tell you got injured. Do you remember why that