Handfuls of small vibrant pills tumbled out onto his palm, earnest and expectant. He knocked them back with a glass of water, sunk back onto the bouncy mattress and allowed the drowsiness to consume him.
Heavy shades of damask spilled in through the thinly curtained windows, engulfing the room in light. But he paid no attention to the streams of sun hitting his face and simply slunk into a deep, heavy slumber.
A billow of thick smoke flooded into his sight. The raven haired male simply stood in obscurity, fear lathering his veins and heart. Echoes of an ethereal, mellifluous voice reverberated in his ears.
His being was afloat, consumed by sweet poisonous fumes and utter contentment. It was...peaceful. He squeezed his eyes shut. A burst of overwhelming white light smothered him from head to toe, thrusting him forward onto a breezy meadow of daisies.
He tumbled over on his side with a groan. Brushing a hand through his freshly combed ebony locks, he sprawled on the carpet of neatly trimmed grass and glanced upon the warm skies. It was beautiful. He felt free.
The boy smiled as a shadow gradually came hovering above him.
"Wonwoo," greeted the blonde man, manifesting before him with a radiant smile and a plucked daisy sitting between his dainty fingers.
"Mingyu," he whispered, eyeing the other with awe and wonder in his eyes.
Mingyu was a lovely bubbly chatterbox of a young man, with myriads of constellations in his eyes and strangely airbrushed features. He often appeared in Wonwoo's dreams to fuss over him, trilling like a bird and prattling with that beautiful voice which one could listen to forever.
He was perfection.
The blonde tucked the tiny flower behind Wonwoo's ear and smiled fondly.
"I'm seeing you a lot these days," he commented.
"Well, I've been sleeping alot."
"Again?"
Silence.
"Didn't I tell you to stop taking those awful pills?" the warning came out stern and firm.
With a retaliating huff, Wonwoo switched his gaze to a side and ignored the statement. "I just want to be with you."
Mingyu scrunched his face in displeasure at the display of stubbornness. Fiddling with a blade of grass between his hands, he tipped his head back and broke out into a string of melodious tunes; his aria smooth and strong and etched into the ripples of the breeze, like a musical piece as old as time.
The raven haired male winced. "Stop."
With a gust of wind, they were angrily swept away from the greens and hurled onto an old dusty pavement, where the roads were winding and lonely. Wilting trees hung along the edges of the sidewalk and crisp dried leaves crunched beneath their feet.
Wonwoo whipped around warily with a frown of distaste.
"I don't like this place," he remarked.
But the blonde merely inched closer towards him without a word, interlocking their fingers and allowing their breaths to mingle. "Kiss me."
Wonwoo complied readily, gingerly pressing in for a kiss while savouring the sweet ambrosial taste intruding his mouth. He could feel it; a force struggling to yank his soul out of his flesh, suffocating him with an odd sense of calmness. And he gasped, breaking away from the latter to catch his breath with eyes blown wide open.
Mingyu stared at him mournfully.
"I told you, Wonwoo. If you keep entering the dream realm, you'll eventually merge with this world and you won't be able to walk back."
"But I want to stay with you."
The blonde shook his head, fading into the wind as clouds of dull grey fogged his senses. "No. You don't belong here."
Wonwoo stumbled around in a frantic search for the other. Mingyu, he shouted. But he was chasing the ends of his tail, until reality broke through his visions and settled at the back of his throat. Sharp gushes of pain tore through his limbs.
Gritting his teeth, he snatched up the prescription bottle and downed the rest of the contents, feeling positively faint. Swimming in dizzy spells, he collapsed into a bundle of limbs on the mattress and soon succumbed to the compelling forces of sleep.
Darkness dipped into his visions. He clenched his teeth, thrashing about in the void. The clouds began drifting apart like curtains and he entered into a strange deserted world with fine particles obscuring his sight. His youthful obsidian orbs darted around desperately; the mellow tones of his voice intertwining with the swirls of the breeze.
"Mingyu!" he bellowed, "Stop pushing me away. You can never make me leave!"
He was surrounded by towering abandoned buildings, grains of sand dusting his bare feet and a thick stench of marijuana in the air. Rainfall began washing over unsympathetically. The raven haired male bolted down the streets, yelling with all the breath in his lungs for Mingyu until his steps came to an eventual halt.
The road seemed to lament on a stretch of wasteland, spurring deep into the depths of eternity with no return. And there stood the blonde, basking in the depressing ambiance with a lit cigarette sandwiched between his fingers; his beautiful empty eyes flashing over the desolating wet skies.
"You have no idea what you are doing, kid," Mingyu muttered.
"Take me with you."
"It's not paradise here, Wonwoo."
"I don't need paradise," he snapped, "I just need you."
He could not decipher the look on Mingyu's bewitching features, but it strangely resembled despair. The blonde chucked his cigarette onto the gravel, pulling the crimson hood of his jacket over his head. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he began steadily pacing along the road.
"Stay close."
Wonwoo brightened up instantaneously, sprinting towards the other with a skip of excitement. The rain gradually subsided, leaving behind the earthy scent of fresh grass and tar in the air. He craned his neck to glance over his shoulder one last time, unable to shake off this strange feeling stirring inside of him.
He found happiness. He found bliss, with Mingyu.
And this felt right.
He was going to spend the remnants of his days in eternal happiness. Maybe something was amiss. But that's okay. He didn't need anything else. He just wanted to feel alive. Wonwoo smiled, feeling hopeful, and linked his arm with Mingyu's. They ambled down the lane in silence until they reached a crossroad, and Mingyu turned to capture his eyes in a smouldering intense gaze.
"I love you," he whispered.
Panic began surging through Wonwoo's body. Mingyu was fading into pellucidity, enveloped by the seams of his dreams. He reached out frantically to catch him but everything fell apart into pitch black darkness, abruptly cutting him off from the world.
His breathing stilled and his arm hung off the edge of the bed, limp and lifeless.
