These Scars

Chapter 3

Leo slowly opened the door as to not make a sound, hoping not to let whoever was on the other side know he was home. As soon as he had the door closed, Ken, with tear stains on his face and red eyes, came up to him.

"How is he? What happened? There was so much blood in th..." He trailed off seeing the blood that covered Leo's shirt and pants. "Oh my god," Ken said, bringing his hand to cover his mouth and sank to the floor. He began to cry once again.

Leo moved around him without saying a thing, walking straight to his room. He figured it would probably be better to talk to Ken once he was cleaned up.

When he had a fresh pair of jeans and a new black t-shirt on he walked back out to where Ken was crouching on the floor. Leo knelt down next to him, putting his arm around the younger's shoulders letting Ken lean on him.

"Hyung?" said a voice coming up behind them.

Leo turned to see Hyuk looking at them concerned and confused. "Why is Ken-hyung crying? Where's N-hyung?" With that question, Ken began to cry harder.

Leo pulled Ken up off the floor and walked him over to the couch "Go wake up Hongbin and Ravi. We need to talk." Leo told Hyuk.

Hyuk ignored the older request at first and asked, "Is N-hyung okay?"

Leo flinched at the question and thought, again, No, Hyuk, N-hyung is not okay, but out loud he simply gave his order again. This time, Hyuk went to wake up the others. It was almost 11 am but since N hadn't been there to wake everyone up, the three had slept in.

Ken was finally able to stifle his crying as the two tired boys, with Hyuk right behind them, came padding into the room. The four of them sat on the couch as Leo paced in front of them. Hongbin and Ravi came out of their sleep fogged haze when they realized that Ken had been crying.

"What's wrong?" What's going on?" Ravi asked concerned. Everyone looked at Leo expectantly.

"N is in the hospital. I took him there around two this morning." Leo stated, stopping his pacing and looking at the four younger boys sitting in front of him.

Hongbin sat up straighter worry flashing in his eyes. "Why? What happened?"

Leo's knees decided then that they couldn't support him anymore and he sunk to the floor, shoulder's hunched. "He hurt himself." Leo said almost too quietly for the others to hear, almost.

Ken burst out crying again and the other three just stared in shock. They sat in silence for a while, only the sounds of Ken's soft sobs being heard.

"I-is he okay?" Hyuk asked quietly.

Hearing those words for the third time that night made the wall Leo had put up to keep his emotions in, broke down, "No! He is not okay! He tried to kill himself! How could he be okay after that?! He tried to kill himself and it's our fault!" He hadn't realized that as he was speaking he had stood up, but as the realization of his words hit him he sank back to the ground.

"This is my fault," He whispered, rocking back and forth as he let the tears start to fall again. "I saw the signs. I saw how tired he always looked, how thin he was getting, and what did I do? Nothing. How could I do nothing? How could I?" Leo was now sobbing along with Ken, his face in his hands.

"Leo-hyung," Hongbin went over to try and comfort his friend, but his outstretched hand was promptly pushed away. Leo stood up.

"I have to go back to the hospital. This is my fault, I can't leave him there alone." He grabbed his jacket and wallet, before putting his shoes on and running out the door.

The other four didn't know what to do at the moment except stare after him in stunned silence. They had so much information they needed to process.

The first one to snap out of it was Ravi, going over to the phone to call their manager and explain, to the best of his ability, what happened. When he hung up he turned to the others, "Go get dressed, we are going to the hospital."