Trapped |Jake Sim|

16

Jake sat in bed, as Heeseung laid on the couch.

None of them could sleep, Heeseung because he was worried, and Jake had too many things on his mind.

He'd be tossed in the looney bin.

He couldn't help but shake his head as he placed his hands against his head in exasperation.

If he were to be treated at the hospital, what would happen to the rest of his life? What would happen to his apartment and his job? What would happen to finding Sonny's murderer?

He took his head out of his hands and looked at Heeseung.

"I'm suspicious of the landlord." Jake said to Heeseung, making him freeze, before sitting up to look at Jake through the dark. "I'm only telling you because they might lock me in a white room with a fucking straight jacket."

Heeseung's eyes were slightly wide at the sudden words.

"I'm trying to find the person who killed her."

"You're not suspicious of me anymore?" Heeseung questioned, slight relief in his voice.

"Not as much as before. You're still not off my list."

Heeseung felt like crying. Being seen as the person most likely to have killed her was stressing him to the core although the police hadn't bothered him again after ruling him out of the case.

The closest person to Sonny was saying that he thought he didn't do it, and that felt like a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders.

After recovering from his shock, Heeseung sat up even more and placed his hands together.

"Why are you suspicious of him? Did you see him that night?"

Jake shook his head and looked down at his hands in thought. "I did see someone that night, but I'm not sure if it's him."

Heeseung hummed in thought as he looked at his hands through the dark.

"I know you probably already think I'm crazy, but just to make you think that I'm much crazier I'm going to tell you the truth... I think Sonny might be real."

Heeseung stared at Jake in thought, before tilting his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I think... sometimes the lines get blurry. If she were just a fraction of my imagination, that means I'm trying to help myself find her killer. But it feels like she's actively trying to help me." He whispered as he uncrossed his arms and played with the comforter, running his hands over it.

"How?"

"Sometimes she tells me that she's glad I remember her now, but she still hasn't disappeared. She tells me I need to help her... and then she shows me a memory."

"Is it always a new one? Something you don't remember?"

Jake shook his head. "After that day at the hospital I remember most of them. All of them, actually... but the ones that I've been seeing lately have to do with the landlord. Simple things like he's coming to fix the heater, or he's knocking at the door, or he's in the hallway. It's cohesive."

"What if it's you trying to actively help yourself remember? It would make sense if your condition is your memories trying to dig themselves out, wouldn't it?"

Jake continued to stare at the blanket as he tilted his head, thinking about Heeseung's words carefully.

Maybe it truly was himself. He could be somehow masking his grief with believing that she was more real than what she actually was. All those hints could easily just be his brain trying to give him clues and relating things to each other.