"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟,
𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠,
𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑"
❛ 3𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒂
❛ 𝒕𝒘𝒔: 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕, 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 & 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒔
❛ 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔: 1120
***
They found their friend, their older brother on the couch, in the living room. The coffee table just beside the couch as well as the floor were littered with empty cans and glass bottles. There were also shards of glass round the place.
On the leather couch was lying Chan. His body looked small, vulnerable, easily breakable. He was lying on his back, eyes closed, face neutral and body completely limb.
The two younger boys made their way further. They couldn't care less about the chaos in the apartment, they were just glad they had found their friend.
"Hey, Hyungie" Changbin spoke when he reached the oldest. He brushed his matted hair away from his face when he noticed something.
The older boy's skin was worryingly pale. His skin was cold to touch as well and it was alarming. The apartment was super chilly as well.
Changbin noticed the dark circles around Chan's eyes, his gray, chapped lips and how he was lying absolutely still. It was odd. The gut feeling never went away, only grew inside Changbin.
Something was wrong.
Perhaps the oldest boy was simply really tired. It could be reasonal, taking into account how much he works and how little he rests. He must be exhausted by now, there was no doubt.
"This place is disgusting" Changbin hears Jisung speaking. He lifts his eyes from his older friend on the couch and finds the youngest tidying up the place.
Changbin has to agree. The smell was almost nauseating. It was pungent, sour and typical for alcohol. It was concerning.
"Didn't know hyung had relapsed" he hears Jisung muttering. Changbin spots a frown on the youngest face. They both eye the bottles and cans all around the place.
"Or that it was this bad" Changbin adds and beckons around with his other hand.
There was no signs of this. When they saw each other yesterday, all three of them, their hyung looked fine. Or maybe the signs were there for those who knew where to look for them. This is stupid.
Something catches Changbin’s eyes though. An orange bottle on the coffee table in front of him. The lid was missing and the whole, little bottle was empty. No single pill left.
They know Chan struggles with mental health in general, suffering from depression and battling with inner demons. But something doesn't click right.
Huh?
"Sung? Didn't Chan hyung go to the pharmacist yesterday? To refill his meds?" Changbin asks but his eyes can't seem to leave the orange bottle. His frown deepens.
"Yeah? He said he had run out of them, why?" he hears Jisung answering.
What? Wait-
He connects the dots, hesitantly but rationally, until it all makes sense. The empty bottle of pills, the alcohol, how Chan is looking right now-
Fuck.
"Fuck" he turns to the oldest next to him and can feel himself starting to panic. The uncomfortable feeling in his gut growing.
Before he can get into action, an obnoxious smell invades his nostrils. There's a puddle of puke on the floor, just beside Chan's head.
Right. He had thrown up. It means that the pills hadn't reached his system yet, right? Changbin hopes so.
He kneels next to Chan and slaps his cold, pale cheeks gently. He needs, needs, a reaction out of his hyung. Right fucking now.
"Hyung? Hyung!" he shakes the older by his shoulders but there isn't any reply. The older looks like he would be in a very deep sleep. Changbin hopes that's the truth.
He presses his ear on the other's chest and his eyes widen and his breathing halts.
"No, no, no, come on, hyung!" he's screaming right now.
"What?" he hears Jisung rushing to him. "What is it?" he asks.
"H-he's not- he's not breathing!" Changbin yells and Jisung winces away.
"What? Chan hyung? Hey, wake up!" Jisung speaks loudly and nudges Chan's shoulder gently, then again firmer. There isn't any response even after their multiple calls and attempts.
"W-we need to call an ambulance, okay? Sungie, can you do that?" Changbin quietens down and asks gently, his voice unsteady and shaky. It's hard to breathe and get a hold on the reality around him.
"Yeah, I can do that" Jisung says hurriedly. He stands up and gets on the phone. After what felt like too long he starts rapidly rambling, stumbling over the words. Changbin hopes he could comfort him but he isn't in the right mindset for that right now. He wishes to be comforted himself.
They need to be together now though.
Changbin looks at his hyung, his pale face, his limb body. This can't be real, it can't. Please, let this be a bad dream.
He brushes his fingers gently through the other's blonde curly hair, untangling the knots. Although he soon retreats his hand away since it starts trembling uncontrollably.
"Hey, hey, Changbinnie, come on, don't cry" he hears Jisung talking gently from beside him. Jisung wraps an arm around his shoulder and squeezes lightly. "They're coming, help is coming" he says.
It doesn't make Changbin feel any less at lost, helpless, hopeless.
He feels Jisung wiping at his cheeks and he realizes he's crying, silently with silent tears. How pathetic.
Changbin and Jisung stay aside, side by side as they watch their precious hyung being taken away from them. The paramedics run some tests on Chan before he's being removed into the ambulance and to the hospital.
Changbin and Jisung both cry and at the same try to provide some comfort for one another. It's hard though.
How can one react correctly to something like this? Is it even possible in the first place? Nothing prepares you for this and even if it's no one's fault, it feels like a test that they have to get through. The shock, the anxiety, everything. It's overwhelming.
They decide to follow the ambulance to the hospital, scared of what will be coming next but unable to do anything else.
"H-hyung..." Changbin whimpers and squeezes his eyes tight. Both to escape the reality around him, the white walls and the white lights of the hospital and to stop the oncoming tears from spilling.
"Shh, it's okay, Changbin, hyung's okay, he's a fighter" Jisung shushes and pats his back gently.
No, it isn't okay but yes, their hyung is a fighter. The strongest solder they've ever known. Changbin and Jisung try to stay strong as well, for their hyung. It's the least and at the same the only thing they're capable of doing right now.
It's tiring.
