Angels alike | y.jh + h.js

XIX

"Joshua Hong. Completed." The man said, opened his notebook, and stamped his page with a red stamp that read 'completed'.

"Remember, there was nothing we could do Jeonghan." He put his hand on the other person's shoulder. He nodded and sighed. Ryuji ended up collecting his soul and soon a transparent figure rose from the bloody body. The figure shook his head and looked around, seeing Jeongham his eyes widened.

"Jeonghan, what- am... Am I dead?" He saw himself on the floor, certainly deceased. Jeonghan smiled and slowly nodded. Joshua needed a couple of moments to breathe, but he soon calmed down.

"So Joshua, this is Ryuji, a grim reaper, and Ryuji, this is Joshua." They both nodded at one another, and Jeonghan helped Joshua to stand up.

Jeonghan was shocked that Joshua felt so cold. He was like ice, and he was transparent to top it all off. Ryuji noticed Jeonghan's surprise, so he quickly came to the rescue and explained.

"So, Joshua right now is a lost soul. If we were to leave him here, he would become stuck as it wasn't his time to die. Luckily, you're here, so you can take him up to paradise. I completely trust you two, so I know you'll be fine on your own." With that, Ryuji disappeared without a trace. It was still raining heavily outside, alongside thunder and lightning.

"Don't worry, you'll be okay." Joshua looked at him, very lost as one would expect. He smiled and nodded. Jeonghan ended up opening the window and stepping on the windowsill.

"Come on, take my hand." Joshua grabbed his hand and Jeonghan jumped out, flying straight up. Joshua was levitating, he took a look one last time at his dead body as his smile left his face. He looked up again at Jeonghan, his smile returning.

That's right, he was okay, he was with Jeonghan.

_

The news spread faster than a virus about the famous singer's murder. 

The man was charged with another case of manslaughter, alongside 6 murders and accusations of child trafficking, and drug dealerships.

Of course, he received the death penalty.

After a month after Joshua's death, Seungcheol was not doing great mentally as one would expect. He considered suicide more times than he could count over the past month.

He had no one left, so for who was he living for? Himself, maybe? 

He saw no point in that, if he hated himself and his life then why would he live for himself? Then maybe for his family? No, they hated him as well.

His existence was pointless now, after all, he was also guilty for both of their deaths. In his eyes, he killed both Jeonghan and Joshua. Maybe if he hadn't suggested going to the arcade, Jeonghan would still be alive and if he would come to Joshua's place then maybe he would end up dead as well. Everything was better than losing both of the people you cared for more than yourself.

Seungcheol sat on his bed in his room, laying against the wall and looking at nothing. He picked up a bottle of beer and lifted it to his lips, taking a sip and putting it back on the bedside table. That was his 10th bottle in an hour.

He did realize alcohol had gotten a big problem since the death, but it was the only thing that made him forget and have a little relief over everything. He sighed and stood up, swaying his way towards the bathroom.

Maybe he could forget.

Maybe he could be free from this guilt.

Maybe he could be at peace.

Maybe it would be possible.

-

With shaky hands and blurred vision from the alcohol, he opened his cupboard and rammed his hand in, knocking just about everything that resided on the shelves until his eyes landed on a bottle. His 'mystery' pills.

Perfect, he's just going to do it. He finally had the guts because of the alcohol.

He placed the bottle on the sink and stared at himself in the mirror. 

Finally. No one would stop him now.

He opened it and downed almost the entire bottle in one go. The pills that remained got downed on the second go. He would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified, but at least he'd die.

After about 10 minutes, he started to feel very funny. His stomach was doing turns and eventually, everything came up and he ended up throwing up into the toilet. At one point he started throwing up bile, and lots of it, until eventually collapsing on the floor.

His mom, who heard the crash, came up to check on him, only to find him passed out in his bathroom. She immediately called 911, hysterical. SHe didn't know what happened to him, so she wasn't able to explain well but still, the ambulance was there in only a couple of minutes.

They rushed him into the hospital, luckily being fast enough to stabilize him as the 'mystery' pills slowed his heart down.

Fortunately, Seungcheol was going to survive. It was quite clear to the doctors that he overdosed on something, assuming it was pain medication as it was written on the bottle, which they found on his bathroom floor, alongside alcohol.

They were ready to leave him be, but as they were about to leave, one of the machines started beeping loudly. Doctors quickly jumped up at the sound and checked what was going on.

''Doctor! How is this possible, his heartbeat is slowing down even though we stabilized him?!'' One of the nurses exclaimed as she watched Seungcheol's heart monitor start to slowly slow down.

''I don't know how that's possible. Quickly, we have to stabilize him. There's something fishy going on here, this shouldn't be happening.'' The doctor exclaimed as the nurses started giving him different IVs with excess potassium to hopefully help him. The doctor widened his eyes.

''Doyun, quickly take a sample and run down to the lab! I don't think those were pain meds.'' He exclaimed as the petite woman took a sample of Seungcheol's blood and quickly ran out of the door.

''Say what?!'' The other nurse exclaimed as Seungcheol's heart was beating slower and slower, despite their best efforts.

They tried everything. Everything.

Used the defibrillator when his heartbeat stopped, to using different injections to hopefully bring down his blood sugar levels that have risen to an alarming point.

Nothing worked. His heartbeat continued to spike and slow down.

"I've never seen anything like that before. His heartbeat is irregular? Maybe a heart attack? No. There has to be something else." The doctor thought as the nurses were almost panicking.

"What should we do? It stopped for the 3rd time now and it's back up again, luckily." One of the nurses said, checking out the heart monitor beside the table. The doctor gasped.

"It can't be" doctor managed to get out as Seungcheol flat lined for the 4th time now. It spiked up, flat-lined again, and so on.

''How could I be so stupid?! It's too late, we can't save him anymore. '' He sighed and took off his gloves.

''It's no use, turn everything off, this is a lost cause.'' He pressed his lips into a flat line as the nurse removed the IV and in a matter of seconds, his heartbeat ultimately stopped.

Later that day, they got the lab results back. Like the doctor suspected, they weren't pain meds, but potassium supplements. If they knew, they could have saved him.

Choi Seungcheol, age 19, died of an overdose on July 16th at 22:46.