Bang Chan knew people had been staring at him on and off all night with whispered rumors of the dead man he looked like, but now there were more of them murmuring about where he was running off to as he made a mad dash towards the scream. When he reached the spot where he thought it was coming from, he could see the purposely staged haunted house in the center of the fairgrounds. It was made to look like a dilapidated circus tent, disjointed clown laughter echoing out from the audio tracks being played inside. Bang Chan noticed Felix was standing outside the exit to the haunted house and was being held back by some sort of security guard who refused to let him back in.
"If you want to go through it again, you need to get back in line!" shouted the guard at Felix as he shoved him back once again.
"Felix, where is Bonita?" asked Bang Chan as he came to a stop beside him. I.N did the same mere seconds later, leaning forward over his knees to huff and puff.
"She's inside somewhere," said Felix. "I thought she was right behind me still, but..."
Bang Chan didn't wait for Felix to finish his sentence before he was taking off running into the haunted house through the exit. He uttered an apology to the guard he half shoved aside, maneuvering his way the best he could through the red lit interior as he made his way past a few people who had managed to find their way out. He looked at each person he passed in the hopes that it was Bonita's face, but didn't see her.
The narrow hallway he was working his way backward through soon emptied into the big top area where the audio laugh tracks were louder. A few screams from other people going through the amusement echoed out as he looked about the circus tent. A sinister chuckle reached his ears followed by the sound of a chainsaw as a clown dressed up with Joker worthy makeup rounded the corner and started to come towards him. It didn't scare him though as his focus zeroed in on a woman curled up in the fetal position nearby, hidden in the shadows of part of the tent.
"Bonita!" shouted Bang Chan as he rushed over to her, half shouldering the chainsaw clown out of the way as he bent down in front of her.
She looked absolutely terrified, her eyes wide as saucers and her ability to respond nonexistent. He reached out to put a hand gently on her forearm, shaking her so that she would look at him.
"I'm going to get you out of here," he said.
Letting go of her arm, he swiveled slightly so that his back was to her."Get on my back and I'll carry you out."
He felt her shuffle forward, reaching behind him to make sure she was situated securely on his back before standing up. The clown with the chainsaw that had been attempting to scare him when he entered just stared in shock as Bang Chan walked past him with Bonita on his back. As Bang Chan walked, he felt Bonita hide her face in the back of one of his shoulders as her arms stayed securely wrapped about his neck.
Within a few minutes, he had managed to make it to the exit of the haunted house with her. I.N and Felix were still standing with the security guard, their own eyes widening with concern when they saw Bonita riding on Bang Chan's back. She refused to lift her face from Bang Chan's shoulder to look at anyone.
"I'm going to take her to get something to drink," said Bang Chan. He could see I.N open his mouth to protest about safety, but Bang Chan merely shook his head to shut him up. He wasn't going to hear it.
Walking away from I.N and Felix with Bonita still on his back, he walked towards a drink stall a few feet away. He bought them both bottles of water, managing to half tuck them against his side before walking to a deserted seating area nearby.
"Hey...how about we sit and talk for a minute?" suggested Bang Chan. "It's just us. No one's around."
She was reluctant to untangle her arms from about him, but eventually did. He gently put her on her feet and watched her keep her head turned towards the ground as she took a seat at the picnic table. Bang Chan put the water bottles down on the table before taking a seat beside her on the bench. He snapped the cap of the water bottle off hers before putting it in front of her without saying a word. Her eyes flickered from the semi-messy table top to the bottle before she reached out to take a sip. When she was done drinking, he noticed tears sliding softly down her cheek as she set the bottle back down.
"I must look so ridiculous..."
"No, you don't," assured Bang Chan. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"
"Its nothing...It's foolish..."
"How you feel is never foolish," said Bang Chan, reaching out to put a hand gently on her back and watching as a few more tears silently slipped down her cheeks.
"I used to have a fear of clowns and the circus in general when I was younger because I got lost there once as a child," started Bonita without looking at Bang Chan, "but I thought I was fine now since I'm an adult. I started going through the haunted house with Felix and was doing alright until I lost sight of him in the big top area. I tried to keep going on my own, but I...I failed. The fear came rushing back in and left me reduced to the scared little girl I didn't think I was anymore."
"I've had a similar experience," said Bang Chan. "You probably remember the episode where I had an episode..."
Bonita nodded. She remembered there was one episode in which something that Bang Chan had stumbled across in his shelter after being there for six years had triggered him into a full-on breakdown, yearning for days in the past that were long gone and leaving him fearing the future.
"It's okay not to be okay," continued Bang Chan. "That means in real life too. It doesn't just mean a fictional one."
Bonita turned her head to look at Bang Chan, the two of them locking eyes. Bonita had buried the more vulnerable parts of herself in an effort to get better, but it still bubbled to the surface every once in a while. She never let Minho see how bad she could get because she didn't want him to worry. Bang Chan was the first man that was witness to her full on breakdown and was actually understanding. He made her feel safe.
'If only you were real,' she thought as she reached out to grab one of his hands in hers.
"Thank you," she said.
Bang Chan just nodded, a small smile tripping across his lips as he squeezed her hand in return.
"Don't mention it."
"Can you keep what I told you between us though?" she asked. "I don't want anyone else to know."
"Of course. Your secret is safe with me."
'Just like you are,' he thought as he watched her smile a smile that lit up his whole world.
- - -
Changbin stifled a yawn as he looked at the chart in his hands. He had been on back-to-back graveyard shifts at the hospital which gave him very little time to do anything let alone sleep. Interns got the short end of the stick for sure, but he knew it would eventually all be worth it. He was only half aware as another intern came to relieve him so that he could attempt to sleep for a few hours.
Taking the opportunity, Changbin wandered down the hallway to one of the rooms designated for employees to sleep, half stumbling through the door before collapsing face first on the bottom of one of the bunks.
"Just a few minutes...I just need a few..."
No sooner had his eyes shut then the door to the room flew open, banging against the bulletin board on the wall. Changbin was just going to ignore it, but wasn't given a choice as the person that entered came rushing over to him, shaking him by the shoulders.
"Wake up!"
"To do that I'd actually have to be ASLEEP Han," groaned Changbin, rolling over to face Han who stood by the the side of the bunk. "What is it?"
"Remember that guy that was with that girl the other day?"
"That's so vague..."
"What was his name...Lee Know?"
"What about him?"
"He just showed up in the ER with some other dude. Apparently they were trapped in a building that caught on fire."
Even though Han didn't say what building caught on fire, Changbin knew with a sinking feeling in his gut. The need for sleep disappeared completely as Changbin got up and raced for the ER with Han hot on his heels.
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Fanfiction"You have five seconds to tell me what the heck you are doing in my apartment, or we're going to find out if a pen can literally be mightier than a sword." - - - Kim Bonita had a loving upbringing until the tragic death of her only family (her pare...