Baby Don't Stop

Chapter Sixteen

The silence.
The overbearing silence. It could fill a room and right now it filled Taeyong's head. There were so many little sounds that made the world not so lonely but now that they were gone Taeyong felt their absence. The sound of the wind, of the birds in the trees, of traffic in the distance, they were all just gone.
The overbearing silence. Its presence pushed down on his heart as he thought about what it meant.
His hearing was gone.
Taeyong tried to sit up quickly but everything hurt. He had bruises and cuts everywhere. His wrist was bent at an odd angle and both wrists were encrusted in dried blood from where he had tried to pull at his bonds.
He slowly was able to rest on one elbow as the balding man who had spoken earlier helped support him till he was sitting.
Taeyong had questions he wanted to ask but had no way to know how he would know the answers.
It didn't matter. He still had to find Ten. Who knows what Eunjin would do to him.
The man produced a first aid kit and started to pull out some bandages. He opened an alcohol wipe and dabbed at Taeyong's face softly where Taeyong could feel the cuts on his face. Slowly he moved down to the side of Taeyong's face where he wiped below Taeyong's ears. Taeyong reached to the back of his head where the pounding was and felt his hair matted in place from some cut on the back of his head.
He must look like such a mess right now. He felt like a mess too. The man pulled his attention from the cut's on Taeyong's face to his broken wrist. The man took two short planks of wood and placed them on either side of Taeyong's wrist. The man began to wrap an ace bandage around Taeyong's wrist. The people who had been huddled around him dispersed as they saw he was alright.
The man was speaking again but Taeyong didn't care. He couldn't hear him anyways. Once he finished wrapping Taeyong's hand Taeyong rolled over and tried to get his feet beneath him, but no sooner had he turned on his knees then he fell forward flat on his face.
Ouch, he grumbled. Although he couldn't tell if he spoke just in his head or if he said it out loud.
He tried to push himself back on his knees and yelped out in pain as he put pressure on his broken wrist. Taeyong tried to push himself up with just the other hand and was helped again by the balding man.
"Thank you." It was strange to only hear his inner voice when he spoke out loud. Almost like a part of himself was missing, and it was.
He couldn't dwell on that now.
Taeyong had to find Ten.
Taeyong put first one foot out then the other as he wobbled to his feet, his body threatening to pitch itself forward and into the pavement again. He reached out for something to stable himself as he stood. The balding man reached out his hand and Taeyong took it. He gave a greatful smile to the man before he let go and started to shake his way forward.
Taeyong's arm was softly grabbed. He turned and looked up into the eyes of the balding man. The man was speaking quickly and Taeyong wished to know what he was saying. The man pointed to his own ears and then pointed to Taeyong's.
Taeyong nodded, thinking that the man understood that he was deaf.
The balding man opened his mouth then closed it to think.
"I have to go." Taeyong hoped he wasn't shouting after all he couldn't hear how loud his surroundings were.
Taeyong looked up at the man. He hoped to communicate his need to go into the man's eyes. His eyes pleading with this man who had a kind face and soft eyes.
He stayed that way as the man spoke to him slowly.
Although Taeyong couldn't hear him the man said, "You are the idol that went missing, aren't you? Where is your friend? Or your boyfriend I guess. Is he still missing too?"
Taeyong continued to stare at the man. "I have to go." He hoped he said once again.
The man almost seemed to understand that Taeyong had to leave. He released his grip on Taeyong's arm. BeforeTaeyong left he reached back to his back pocket and produced an old baseball cap. He offered it to Taeyong to put on.
He took it gratefully and slipped it over his pounding head.
Taeyong turned and tried to run. He only made it a meter or so before he had to stop himself from falling. He regained his balance and tried again this time he had to work to keep himself from falling over as he jogged.
He no longer had the balance of his inner ear to depend on to keep himself upright. The world would tip before Taeyong would realize that he himself was tipping and tried to straighten himself upright.
Taeyong looked behind him to see the balding man staring at him from the distance. He had to keep going.
He turned away and went around the corner so the man was out of sight.
Taeyong leaned against the wall of the nearest building. He didn't even know where to start looking for Ten. He just knew that he couldn't rest until Ten was safe.
Eunjin wouldn't have wanted to leave Ten for long. She had to be somewhere nearby. Taeyong looked at the buildings around him. Where should he start looking?
He started to walk. He let his feet carry him while he concentrated on not falling. Few people passed him on the street and they didn't pay any mind to the bloodied boy with red hair and a broken hand who stumbled about. They all kept their heads down and passed him by quietly.
Taeyong let them. He hardly saw their faces and he didn't care. The only face he wanted to see was Ten's.
He wandered around the construction site for a while. As he walked his balance got better and better. His body was trying to vault him to the ground less and less.
As he walked one face stood out to him. It was a small girl in a cap and all black. She was carrying what looked like a lot of groceries. But that's now why she stood out to him. He had seen her before. Where had he seen her?
Taeyong racked his brain for a moment or two before it hit him like a ton of bricks. At the broadcast. She was the staff that he had asked if she had seen Ten and she said no.
What a coincidence that she would be in the same area where Taeyong was. He turned around and was going to confront her but decided it would be better if he just followed her. His gut was telling him that she had something to do with Ten's disappearance. But how?
Taeyong remembered that he had gotten knocked out while with Eunjin by someone he hadn't seen. Maybe it had been her. It would be worth following her and seeing if she lead him to Ten.
He was surprised she hadn't recognized him as she walked past when he had recognized her. She must be absorbed in her thoughts.
Taeyong tried to be stealthy but he couldn't tell if it was working on account of his ears being out of order.
The girl up ahead of him suddenly turned into a building on her left and Taeyong hurried after her. He didn't want to lose her in the maze of the building.
Taeyong only tripped once or twice over the pavement before he arrived at the building. He stared up at it in wonder. It was another broken down building. Damn, what was with Eunjin and the dank old places?
Why couldn't she just pick a nice hotel in the nice part of town and maybe order Taeyong some room service for all the trouble she put him through. He could really go for some fries right now.
Taeyong took a deep breath before quietly, fingers crossed he was being quiet, entering the building.
As he entered he almost stumbled into some debris on the floor. Taeyong looked around himself quickly. He took a couple steps forward and looked for the girl. He was in what looked like an old entry way for a hotel. It didn't look like it had been in working order for some time.
He didn't want to be caught unaware again but he had no clue where to-
Taeyong didn't know if it was because he lacked his hearing that maybe his other senses went into overdrive but he could feel the wind whoosh towards his head. He ducked quickly and turned around.
There was the small girl looking frightened and holding a bat.
Taeyong was shocked. He looked at her standing above him. "What are you doing?" he hoped he asked.
She didn't answer but instead swung the bat at Taeyong once more. He fell back on his butt quickly to avoid getting hit.
He tried to shout. "Stop!"
She swung again. He couldn't figure out why she kept swinging. He leaned back on one hand and forgetting that it was broken put weight on it. He turned around to it as he cried out in pain. Taeyong felt the strong wood of the bat across his back. He had to shift to reach out his other hand to steady himself.
He had to get away. She swung again and Taeyong reached out his hand to stop her swing. His arm felt so weak already he didn't know if he would be able to stop it.
But to his surprise he caught the bat and was able to keep his arm from collapsing under the pressure.
When Taeyong tried to yank the bat away from her she let him take it without a fight. He grasped it with his one hand and scrambled backwards with it till he was far enough away to stand. He looked back at her and she was holding something small. It glinted in the dim light of the abandoned building. A knife.
Taeyong was going to have to wrestle it from her without harming her, one handed, and deaf. He looked at the bat in his hand before deciding to throw it off to the side. He didn't want to hurt her. He barely knew her. She looked terrified but determined holding that knife.
She took a cautious step towards Taeyong. He mirrored her and took a step backwards. He didn't want to be anywhere near that knife until he had a solid plan.
As much as he wanted time to think about what to do that was not what the girl had in mind. She charged him, brandishing the knife in front of her.
Taeyong side stepped out of her way like a madidor in front of an angry bull. He managed to grab her arm that did not have the knife and yank her to him. He reached around her to grab at her other arm and try to wiggle the knife out of her grip.
She reached back the arm he had initially grabbed and brought it down into his stomach. Taeyong gasped as the pain radiated out. His grip on her knife arm loosening.
She turned around and tried to drive the knife into Taeyong. But he had already lost his balance from her jab and was halfway to the floor by the time her knife flew past his ear. Right in the spot where his stomach had been.
Taeyong realized she was aiming to kill. As Taeyong fell back on his butt once more he had nowhere to go. He reached out again as she came at him and this time he slapped her wrist causing her grip on the knife to be shaken just enough for him to pry it from her fingers.
Once Taeyong had the knife in his hands he looked at the girl.
Slowly, he got to his feet. He wanted to be prepared if she had any more tricks up her sleeve.
He wanted to make sure his question was heard so he struggled to speak clearly and loud enough.
"Where is Ten?"
The girl just glared at him as the two of them stood in the middle of the empty area.
Maybe he hadn't spoken loud enough? "Where is Ten?!" He said louder this time. "Take me to him!"
But still the girl said nothing. Maybe he didn't know anything. Maybe she was just a scared girl who had seen a bloodied person following her. Taeyong almost believed it. But there was something off, something wrong.
Taeyong tried to figure out what was bothering him quickly. Her bags. Where has her bags gone. He hadn't seen them when he walked in nor when they had fought. A frightened girl would not have hidden or placed the bags. They would have dropped them in the middle of the floor. No, something was definitely wrong here.
The seconds stretched into minutes and finally Taeyong couldn't take just standing their any longer. He charged up to her and grabbed the scruff of her collar. He knew he was shouting this time. She was wasting his time and he needed to find Ten.
"WHERE IS HE?!"