ALL BARK NO BITE | SADISTIC BEAUTY SPINOFF

Chapter 60

(Spoiler and TW in comment):-

6 YEARS AGO

~ Special Unit, Ward 01, Hôpital Psychiatrique du Cygne Blanc, 11 Rue Albert Bayet, Paris

Wookyung groaned in the dark, eyes cracking open inside a moonlit room.

For a few moments, he felt blinded by the glare of the night and blinked the blurriness away. He realised he was in his isolated ward, a small blue rectangle with a single, unadorned bed and a writing desk with a chair. A square of barred windows serving as the periscope to the outside world. Everything looked like bare-bones under the pale moonlight, a pristine wasteland... smelling like chemical comfort. Wookyung looked down at his arms, looking bloodless as he felt the remnants of needle pricks still piercing into his skin

His head hurt and his legs and back felt sore too. He had scratched himself in multiple places. Wookyung brought a finger close to his lip, feeling the throbbing spot where he split it. Everything was swimming... like he was drugged into a state of stillness and yet here he was... lying eyes open at a vague hour. He looked down at his hospital clothes, covered by a modest blanket. His restraints were gone... he felt his wrists and shifted in bed... why is he in this room... what is this place... why was he here...

"WOOKYUNG!"

He heard a helpless cry in the middle of the woods... Minho... crying out for him and he reeled, putting his hands over his ears... his voice was louder than usual. He tumbled out of bed and walked to the window, the grill making a dappled pattern on his face as he stared out at the strange city. Glittering and sprawling out yet... he felt no comfort in the site. Knowing he was far away from home. "Minho" he whispered against the window, curling his fingers around the cold metal, breath fogging up against the glass as the floor froze his feet.

"Mama..." he said softly, hitting his head on the bars lightly. He turned back to the room and looked around, trying to understand where he was. He knew he was in an institution... the one he was forcibly brought to. He recalled his brief conversation with Han Taekyung when he was strapped down... this must be the same night in this hell. Had he fallen asleep again after that? Wookyung squeezed his eyes shut. Everything was blurry, the only thing remaining was the sedatives in his veins.

And Minho's photos...

He frantically turned to his bed and pulled the sheets off, looking for the photos... he had put them under his pillow... he tossed everything off and climbed on top, patting down every inch of the sheets, his breath growing jagged and his throat closing up as he climbed off and searched every inch of the floor to see if it had caught the photos. No... no... wh-why do you keep slipping from my hands... isn't losing you once enough?? he screamed inside his head and turned to the door, a pale fluorescent slit of light shining from just below.

He hurried to it and turned the lock. Huh? It won't budge even as he turned it harder. They had locked him inside. He threw himself against it slamming and banging madly on the metal and howling "LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE TAKE WHAT'S MINE! HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY-" he pushed his weight against the door, putting a shoulder to get it to the budge. Suddenly, the lock popped open and he fell out the frame and onto the floor. He stared at the tiles for a moment, steadying his floating head.

He slowly looked up and found the shoes and security uniform of a foreigner staring down at him from over the periphery of his paunch. "Quoi?" (What?) he spat, unimpressed "Arrête de hurler, il est tard et la nuit est tombée. Tu vas réveiller les cinglés-" (Stop shouting, it's late night. You'll set off the loonies-) he began to walk towards him, intent on getting him to go back into the room but Wookyung crawled forward, grabbing his ankles "No please... the... photos... I need them..." he begged and the man struggled to understand him.