Baby Don't Stop

Chapter Fifteen

             Ten didn't really care how long he had been sitting in that seat. He passed out periodically. His mind was an empty shell. He didn't eat and he didn't drink. He just sat there with his hands tied to the chair and he was hunched over because he no longer had the will to keep himself upright.
            One of the times he was slumped over Eunjin came into the room. Ten could hear her chipper voice but nothing registered anymore. He didn't comprehend.
            "Hello Ten! It is a beautiful day and guess what?! I brought cake. To celebrate!" She paused for a moment. It was then that Ten felt the hand under his chin and his face being lifted up to look at Eunjin.
            "Ten. I am talking to you. That means you look at me." Her hands which had been soft started to grip into Ten's skin. But he couldn't even feel the pain of her nails over the pain that leached from his heart. The absolute ripping and tearing that Ten could feel was all he ever wanted to feel again. He never wanted to leave this state of loss and grief.
            Ten's unfocused eyes and lolling head seemed only to aggravate Eunjin. The days were dull without Taeyong's smile and Ten couldn't think about the fact that he was never going to see his smile again.
            He didn't even get to say goodbye. He didn't get to tell Taeyong how thankful he was for all that Taeyong had done and all that he was to Ten. He didn't get to tell him he love him.
            Eunjin threw Ten's head away from her. It fell down and hung there.
            Eunjin came in several more times but each time was the same as the first. Ten couldn't find it in himself to say or do anything. Much less feel anything.
            Ten knew that he was going to die if he didn't eat or drink something. But somehow the idea didn't seem to bother Ten. If anything it inspired the first emotion since the emptiness of the grief had settled in. Hope. Hope for the end. Hope to see Taeyong again. Hope to leave this cruel place.

                   —————•••—————

            When Taeyong finally comes to consciousness the world around him is silent and black. Pain thuds all over his body. Everywhere hurts. Where is he? Why is everything so dark and quiet? What happened?
            Taeyong tries to move his hands and feet. But there is a sharp pain and he succumbs to unconsciousness.

***

            When Taeyong wakes again the world is dark but not quite as black as before. He groans but something feels off. Something isn't right but he can't tell what. He also has this feeling, this feeling of urgency. Of needed to go and do something fast. The problem was his head is pounding and he is having trouble thinking.
            Where is he? Taeyong squints his eyes and tries to make out his surroundings. All he can see are vauge blurry shapes. Nothing is clear and when he shakes his head it makes him dizzy enough that he dares not try it again. He lays there trying to use his other senses to figure out where he is. He still can't hear anything. But the stone under his hands feels cold and dry. Wait, stone?
            His hands try to reach out from behind his back but as soon as he moves his fingers the world around him goes dark again and he is unconscious.

***

            Taeyong is startled awake for the third time by some foreboding feeling he didn't know where he is but wherever it was, no one knew he is here or that he is stuck. He starts to shout for help.
            "Hello?! Anyone there?" something is wrong with his voice. It's off somehow, different. He still tries to yell some more. "Hello! I need help! Help!"
            As he continues to yell he lets his mind trace back and see if he can't place what had brought him here. He remembered Ten. Ten was- missing? But had Taeyong found him?
            Suddenly Taeyong's memory comes back in broken flashes. Eunjin in front of him. Waking up on the floor of the apartment. Running for his life. And finally the feeling of the building coming down around him as he jumped for the door in front of him in his last ditch effort to escape.
            He must be in the rubble of the building. He squints around him some more. He can almost see the space around him. It looked like he was crammed in a space no bigger than a trunk where a support beam had stopped the rubble around him from crushing him. He could do nothing more that lay there and keep yelling into the nothing and hope that at some point someone heard him.
            He must be close to the edge. He had almost been at the door when the countdown ended and then the blast from the collapsing building had thrust his body further toward the door.
            That's all he can remember. He must have gotten knocked out.
            He is still shouting for help and the time passes by slowly as if every second demanded a minute and that within that minute every ach and pain wanted to be felt.