WONDERLAND

❤️ CHAPTER TWELVE ❤️

Minsung followed the boy down the twisting endless hallways, guided only by the boy's giggles. It wasn't until he traveled deeper into the hospital that he could hear the whispers beneath the light hearted giggles. Whispers that grew louder, the quieter the giggles became, as the boy got further and further away. They were indistinguishable and yet seemed to roll through his mind like a thick fog. 

He shook his head to clear the haze, but it only seemed to grow thicker, the whispers louder, echoing around him. He saw the boy stop at the end of the corridor that seemed to twist and distort, and look back at him curiously, "Who are you?" Suddenly, the boy looked at the bunny in his hand and gasped, as if the toy had spoken, "You're right, we're late for a very important date!" The boy once again sprinted away while repeating over and over, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

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They made their way through the familiar halls, predatory eyes scanning each door one by one, bypassing those decorated by a simple vinyl bunny sticker and continued on to those left barren of Alice's protection. 

Ryu didn't falter in his waltz as a blood splattered member of Wonderland passed his protected door and into the room next door, his humming drowned out by his neighbors screams, another added to the tortured symphony of long endless screams echoing down the empty halls of the hospital. Wonderland were vicious, merciless predators indeed.

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The screaming and whispering were driving him mad. The screams of the insane beating upon his mind like a sledgehammer, the whispers, like shards of sharp, poisonous glass, piercing so deep into his mind, he felt like his head would split in two.

Minsung stumbled in his steps, falling to his knees, eyes screwed shut tightly in pain and hands clamped upon his ears in a desperate attempt to block out the screams and whispers that plagued his mind. The pain was unbearable, eating away at his brain.

"SHUT UP!"

The screaming stopped.

The whispers stopped.

The intense pain was gone.

The fog blanketing his mind remained. 

He staggered to his feet, trying unsuccessfully to shake the thick haze from his mind. As he opened his eyes he was greeted by the already dim lights flickering, the walls, once barren, now scribbled with the word he hated the most across every inch of their surface like wallpaper. 

'No'.

That hated word followed him down the hallway, bleeding from walls, 'No no no No No no No NO NO NO. '  

The hallway before him seemed to go on for miles, no matter how far he walked he never seemed to reach the end. It elongated and distorted, the darkness ahead growing thicker, an endless void. 

Then, a single, solitary, female scream pierced the deadly silence around Minsung, a scream born of anger and pain, followed by a different kind of whisper, a whisper loud and crystal clear. A whisper of his most hated word. It echoed around him, crashing upon him like a tidal wave, over and over. A whisper of his most hated word spoken with a very familiar voice.

'No no no no'

It was endless, attacking him from all directions. It angered him. He hated it.

"Shut up!" 

'No no no no'

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Her voice only grew more insistent. 

'No no no no'

Minsung drew the hunting blade, fist tightening on its hilt as the whispers grew louder, burrowing deep into his mind, planting itself into his subconscious like nails. He wanted it to stop, to shut up, but it came from everywhere. He recognized her voice. She always told him no, always denied him. 

'No no no no'

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He continued forward, the flickering lights above him shattering with a loud, violent pop one by one, as if in consequence to each step he took, leaving him in a dim pool of stuttering light as an eerie darkness surrounded him. He faltered in his steps, getting more and more unnerved, his anger giving way to fear. It was like the darkness around him was alive, breathing, eating away at the hallway from both ends, a hallway that seemed to grow narrower and close in around him, the doors that once lined them now gone. 

Among the whispers he heard the sound of footsteps, bare feet upon cement floors. He focused on the thick shadows ahead, the footsteps getting closer and closer, the whispers becoming erratic, louder. Minsung backed up a step when bloody bare feet and the torn frayed edges of a dirty white gown stood just at the edge of his circle of light. 

He held the blade out before him as the figure drew closer, slowly shuffling into the light. His eyes widened for a moment before he smirked, lowering the blade.

"So this is where you've been hiding. I should've known you'd come running to him, but no matter, he's gone now and he can't keep you from me again," he looked at the woman standing before him, unmoving and silent. Her delicate skin decorated in large blue and black bruises all over, her busted lips painted in dried blood, the inside of her thighs equally painted with blood from the many times he had taken her, and her eyes, her big eyes were red rimmed from prolonged crying. She was as beautiful as he remembered her.

"I'm never letting you leave me again Jeon Naeun. I'm taking you and the boy home with me. One happy little family." 

'NO!'

Minsung winced and covered his ears at her prolonged outburst, the angered scream reverberating off the walls, shattering most of the remaining lights above and the ground beneath his feet vibrated from the sheer violence of it, as if the very sound sent it quaking.

The piercing screaming stopped and Minsung opened his eyes to see Naeun staring at him with hateful black eyes, blood painted mouth open wide, releasing millions of bees. His eyes widened at the sight, his mind unable to comprehend what he was seeing, shock freezing him in place, the angry swarm upon him before he could so much as take a single step back. The bees burrowed under his skin, his muscles involuntarily twitching and contracting, before he felt a burning, excruciating pain, causing him to scream out. He fell to the ground in convulsions, body writhing and burning, until his skin burst open and a million fire ants crawled free, as if escaping a disturbed mound, biting and eating at him as they did so. 

The pain finally dulled, the bees and ants preying upon his body, gone. His body was still in shock, muscles still convulsing, and heart beating quickly and irregularly, breathing ragged. Minsung struggled to his feet, making it as far as his hands and knees before needing to stop to slow the throbbing in his head.

'No no no no'

The sound of her slow, approaching footsteps drew his gaze, his fingers grasping around the fallen hunting blade, fist tightening upon the hilt as he saw her begin to slowly open her mouth. Driven by adrenaline and fear, he forced his aching body to lunge toward her and plunged the blade deep into her stomach as far as it would go. She released one last angry blood curdling scream, shaking the ground once again, the last of the overhead lights shattering, raining glass down upon him, leaving Minsung in absolute darkness and a thundering silence.