(A/N: trigger warning: rape, suicide, death, abuse, alcoholism
I will put this again before the paragraphs the trigger appears in)
"Can we stop somewhere? It's getting dark and I don't feel like dealing with whatever nocturnal fucks are creeping around here." Baekyun whined as he dragged his feet down the hallway.
"I agree. We should rest before we move up to the other floors." Kyungsoo nods.
"Since when do you agree with Baekhyun?" Tao teases, earning a glare from Kyungsoo.
Lay hears the conversation from the front of the group, but doesn't say anything. Instead he opens a door to his left and inspects the room inside. "Let's stop here then." He decides, opening the door wider and motioning with his head for the rest of us to enter.
The room itself looks like it was apart of the surgical doctor's ward. A single hospital bed lies besides the wall to the right of the door. "Dibs!" Baekyun cries gleefully before jumping onto it and stretching himself out contently. "Move over." Chanyeol chuckles as he pushes Baekhyun against the wall to make room for himself. "No, you're too big!" The smaller whines as he unsuccessfully tries to push the giant off.
Lay, Suho, Xiumin, and Chen decide to inspect the medical cabinets to the left of the room. The rest bunker down under the window by the wall directly in front of the door. As Jongin passes by me, I can feel him trace a finger over the small of my back, subtly enough not to be noticed by the others but sinister enough to be felt by me. I glance at him, and wish I hadn't when I see his sickening smirk.
"Natalie, come here." Lay calls. I walk over to see him holding a bottle of amphetamines that are used by more creative doctors.
"What does this do?" Lay asks, throwing the bottle up and then catching it in his right hand.
"It stimulates the central nervous system."
"I see." Lay says, looking at the label of the bottle and then putting it down again.
"Honey, come sit." Chen holds out his hand for me to take. He leads me over to where the others are, and I sit down between Luhan and himself. Xiumin joins us shortly after, sitting himself down next to Chen. The two lean against each other, and are soon softly snoring. Baekhyun and Chanyeol have fallen asleep on the hospital bed (Baekhyun having giving up his attempts to push Chanyeol off and instead just sleeping on top of him), and Tao has fallen asleep next to Kris, with the latter looking like he'll soon follow. Kyungsoo is nestled by the corner of the wall with Jongin next to him. The taller had tried to cuddle him, but was rejected by the smaller. Now him and Sehun are dozing off next to each other, using each other to lean against. Aside from Lay and Suho, only Luhan is still awake. His eyes seem distant and sad, and the moonlight flowing through the window only makes this more apparent. Neither of us say anything. Even if we wanted to, it wouldn't be a good idea with Suho and Lay still awake. And so we remain silent, until Suho finally lays himself down on the floor in the middle of the room, and Lay lies next to him, laying on his side and playing with his hair until they both pass out.
"They're quite strange, aren't they?" Luhan says quietly, loud enough to be heard by me but not enough to wake the others.
"Are they together? I can't tell anymore."
"Yes. They don't often act like it though. Suho doesn't like to expose his weaknesses. Even if it means hiding his love."
"He doesn't seem like he's capable of love if I'm honest."
"Of course he is. He's human, after all."
"I'm beginning to doubt that any of you are."
Luhan chuckles bitterly, "Humans are such narrow-minded creatures. We've designed an image of what we should be, what traits we all need to have, and when someone doesn't match we outcast them. When someone isn't how we think we should be, we disown them from our race. We call them monsters, abominations, and we lock them away for the rest of their lives."
I'm silent for a moment before answering. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I know, Natalie. But I also know how you view him," he motions towards Suho, "and him," he motions towards Jongin. "It's understandable why you view them as monsters. They don't exactly show their best sides. But they weren't always like that."
"What do you mean?"
"Each of us are here because we had no other option. We've become sinners, yes, and we've done unspeakable things. But we were once pure, and we were once innocent. There was a time when we were children just like everyone else."
"Tell me about that time."
