What's Broken Can't Be Fixed

03

     "Did he hit his head when he fell?" Seungmin asks, and Felix says no. Which made no sense to everyone else except Seungmin. "Then he's probably experienced some head trauma in the last few days."

     "But why would it randomly start bleeding? It wasn't bleeding before this."

     "Maybe he was stressed about something." Seungmin looks up at Felix. "He needs rest." Chris helps Seungmin bring the boy to his room, leaving Felix to stare at the small puddle of blood Hyunjin left on the floor.

     Everyone has some form of trauma. But it's not the physical trauma that hurts the most. It's the kind that sticks a needle through your lips and sews your mouth shut.

     The gym was quiet. None of them had said a word to the other in a while. How could they? They were going to die in two weeks anyway. Jisung stands in front of a window, looking out at the beige colored fog suffocating the streets. He turns on his phone and goes to his voicemails, seeing at least 10 from his mom and dad.

     He clicks on one from his mom and listens to it.

     "Jisung. I... I love you and I always will you know that right? I know I don't have much time, and I also don't know what's going on out here. You're probably at school with your friends oblivious to what's going on outside, but I need you to stay safe. Don't leave the school, stay inside. Please..."

     Jisung's eyes sting with tears and he sets his phone down. The next voicemail plays automatically, and it's just screaming. He didn't recognize anyone's voice in that one like her phone was just recording. He hears someone walking up to him and hurriedly reaches to stop the voicemail, wiping his face. "You don't have to turn around or stop crying. I just don't want you to be alone." Jisung looks down, relieved about what the boy said.

     "Minho."

     "Hm?"

     "Are you worried about your family?" The answer didn't come as quick as Jisung had hoped, because he thought the answer would be obvious, but Minho was taking longer to think about it than expected.

     "I don't... really have any family. I consider you guys my family."

     "What do you mean?"

     "My family died a long time ago. They all went on a trip together for a family reunion, but I chose to stay back. I turned on the news one day to see the plane crashed. No survivors."

     "That's... sad."

     "They pretended to care about me but really, they didn't. Sometimes I think they knew they didn't love me and tried to... but it felt fake."

     "I guess not everyone's lives are perfect." Jisung mumbles. Still mindlessly staring out the window, Minho smiles.

     "Not at all." The two stand in silence for a while longer, when Jisung begins to hear screaming again. He grabs his phone, thinking the voicemail was still playing but his phone wasn't even on. He looks out the window again, and hordes of people were running down the streets. Banging on doors screaming to be let in. The others come out of their rooms, wondering why it suddenly got so loud. Then they all jump when someone bangs on their door. "HELLO?! IS ANYONE IN THERE?!"

     Except when they heard the voice they didn't freak out. In fact, Chris walks up to the door. "Hannah?" His voice was weak, but he knew it was her. They all knew her voice; it was Chris' sister. He rushes to open the door and pulls her inside.

     "Thank you! Thank you so-" She looks up at Chris and then around at the others. "No fucking way..."

      "Are you that disappointed to see me?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

     "No... I just didn't expect to see you. All of you." She looks around for a moment more and then her eyebrows furrow. "Where's Hyunjin?... And Felix?"

     "They're resting. A lot has happened in a couple of hours."

     "Yeah... I can see that." They all look at the people running past the building. The more screaming they heard the louder it seemed to get.

     "Jisung has food if you want some. Choose the room you'll sleep in. I'm going back to bed." Chris ruffles her hair as he walks past her. After a while it was quiet again in the gym. There was nothing more to talk about even after finding Chris' sister running from something. Hyunjin had woken up when he heard Hannah in the front, but he didn't get up.

     He stayed laying down and stared at the ceiling. He wanted to move, but at the same time he didn't want to move his body even an inch. He rubs his face with his hands before he stands up and walks out front. No one was there. The screaming had stopped. There was a small TV hung up in the corner of the room. He sits on the edge of the ring, flipping through channels to see what he could just turn on. The lowest volume even seemed loud from how quiet it was around him.

     The switch from loud to quiet made it even more unsettling for him to sit in. While watching the show he picked, he hears footsteps coming towards him. He turns to see Felix limping around the corner. Hyunjin immediately gets up and grabs Felix by the shoulders. "Hyunjin."

     "You should've called me. Next time don't get up by yourself." He wanted to express his concern more, yet he had nothing else to say. Hyunjin picks Felix up and walks him over to the area in front of the TV. But when he sat down beside him, he could feel Felix's eyes on him.

     Deciding to ignore it, he continues to watch the TV. But after a while he feels something on his neck. A hand? Felix's hand. Then, Felix props himself up on his knees, sliding his next hand on Hyunjin. For the next couple minutes all Felix did was rub Hyunjin's neck which the raven began to see as odd behavior. Yes, Felix will show affection sometimes, he might hug you or hold your hand, but this was different.

     For a second Hyunjin chooses to divert his attention from the television and onto Felix. However, when he does, he realizes something is wrong. Felix's eyebrows were already furrowed, he was biting his bottom lip so hard that he was starting to draw blood.

     Unfortunately, Hyunjin realized too late. Because Felix's grip around his neck was already so tight that he could no longer breathe.