Limbo

Never Shine as Bright as Your Eyes

Lots of tears, a little bit of blood, and a little bit of throwing up in this chapter. I'm on my third week for updating this once a week so I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job, but we'll see how long that lasts - hopefully it does last, this book is surprisingly following my outline perfectly. 

Enjoy!

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Silence. The air was still, so still and so tense that it could have been cut with a dull blade. No one moved a muscle, almost like prairie dogs freezing to see if a predator would ignore them. Only this predator was poor little Minho curled up between Jeongin and Han on his bed. 

His eyes shone in the little light falling into the room from the hallway and they looked twice their usual size, stuck on the eldest on the floor before him. "Hyung?" He asked again after a moment. "Channie hyung?" 

"Seungmin, get him out of here." Changbin rushed to say, hurrying to the younger's side to hoist the leader up onto his back. 

"Wait-" Minho began, ripping his blanket off, only to be stopped by two pairs of arms wrapping around him. "Wait- Channie! Channie hyung!" 

"Sh, sh, hyung." Han whispered, pulling the elder back against his chest. "Let's go back to sleep." 

"No- I- What happened? Hyung! Channie hyung!" Minho struggled against Han's hold, weakly trying to pry the younger's hands off of him. He wiggled and squirmed, fighting against Jeongin as well who looked absolutely terrified to be holding the older member back. "Let me go!" Minho screamed, kicking frantically. "Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go, LET ME GO!" He swung his elbow back, connecting painfully with something behind him but he couldn't care. 

Chan. Chan would come running if he called for him like this. Why wasn't he coming? What was going on? He should be here. Where was he? He needed his hyung. Why wasn't he coming? Why? Why? WHY? "WHY? HYUNG!" He fell out of the bed, scrambling across the floor and running out into the hallway, only to get stopped by Hyunjin blocking his path. If everything didn't hurt so much, Minho might have fought him. 

Actually, scratch that, Minho didn't care. Fuck pain. Minho wanted Chan.

He lunged past Hyunjin, sprinting to the door, screaming on repeat for Chan. Until he banged into the front door, unable to reach his hyung just beyond. "HYUNG! CHANNIE HYUNG!" He threw himself on the door, pounding it with all the strength he had left. Every bit of power from the rest of his body centered in on his fists - his legs gave out, his head spun, his vision blackened, but he gave it all to pounding on that door. 

He needed Chan. And Chan wasn't coming. Why?

"Hyung! He's okay! You're okay!" A voice behind him spoke, but Minho couldn't care less what lies they tried to shove down his throat. He sobbed, letting his forehead bang painfully against the door as he sat there, legs completely useless, chest burning, head reeling. All he wanted was Chan. 

"Hyungie, Minho hyung, breathe. Please breathe for me." The voice whispered softly, a hand reaching out to pet his hair, but Minho smacked it away angrily. If this person wasn't Chan, then he wanted nothing to do with them. And he'd know by a single touch if it was Chan. The warmth his hands always had. The soft callouses on his fingers from playing string instruments. The rough skin dulled by lotion. Those were Chan's hands, and this wasn't him. 

"Sh, he's okay, Minho hyung. Chan hyung is okay. Changbin, Felix and Seungmin are taking good care of him. Everything is going to be okay; I promise. Just... just please breathe. Please." 

"I want him back!" Minho wailed, giving the door one last feeble punch, like it was a prison sealing him in. "I want him back! I want him back!" 

"I know. I know. It's- he'll be back soon. I promise." Hyunjin really hoped it wasn't a lie. He was shaking himself, bordering on losing his own mind, but he had to hold onto sanity somehow. Because whatever was before him wasn't sanity, whatever Minho was going through wasn't what a normal person experienced. And the only person who was really able to shine a light in that foggy territory was currently unconscious on the way to the hospital.