Hypnagogia

Reality// DISTRACTION

"Sometimes I wonder where you live, but than I remember with enough effort I can find out myself!"
"I try my hardest to go around the school to find pieces of you, so than I can feel like I was there with you the whole time."
"I have a big surprise! I learned how to get into lockers!!
It really is a momentous occasion cause now I can inhale your intoxicating scent."
"You may be wondering where one of your shirts went,
I have to borrow it for a while if you don't mind.
I just can't concentrate without you!"
"There are times where I wish you were just friends with me.
Maybe than we could fall in love even more. We would spend so much time together."
"I found the address to your house! Yippee to me!!
Now I can find out what you are doing when you are at home!
The more I know, the more I can connect!"
"Today I've been learning how to pick locks, so I can be closer to you.
I won't make you uncomfortable though. I'll only visit you when you're sleeping.
But you'll never know when so you don't have to worry about any certain day."

It had been a week since the two started the hunt for their suspect. Donghyuck had collected loads of footnotes regarding books of the nonfiction and fiction genre. Renjun had underlined and highlighted the most important ideas he could find from the scripts that were faxed to him. And they both used what they collected on the letters that kept coming in throughout the search.
Along with this, Donghyuck found himself going into the VR more often. Going as far as to visit in intervals through the day, very much differentiating from his old schedule of having one large visit than not coming until the clock hit three o'clock the next day. He wouldn't admit to it, but these letters were really making him anxious about being anywhere alone. Turning to Jaemin for some sense of company and comfort was the best solution he could find. This definitely was the case when the letters were starting to talk about breaking into his own house.
Deep down, Donghyuck was festering with anger. He was itching to find out who this person was and get some sort of revenge against them. Whether it be outing them to the staff with fool proof evidence or just finding a way to humiliate or scare the stalker them self. It wasn't that affective to his new constant fear of being alone however, because of this he kept using the VR as a reliant distraction. Plus, it was a good way to not know if your stalker was watching you.
This time around, they were at the library again, doing the same thing as usual. There was a point where some of the students got fairly curious over why the kid, who never usually does his work, would end up doing a shit ton of work now. Donghyuck had to block it out still, they were nothing close to finding out if this person was even a boy or a girl much less who they were in general. He scrutinized the current manga in his hands, surrounding a boy and this crazy girl who worked together to win a game of some sorts. The lack of words this time around was not of help to him. The tan skinned teen mindlessly kept his eyes trained on the one panel.
'Jaemin was not outside today,' He traced his finger along the page. 'Did he go back to volleyball now? Was that a long enough break? I wonder if this exhaustion business is finally over and he learned his lesson or something.'
A voice in the back of his head started to mumble, like it has through the past few days. He ignored it like usual, not wanting to keep worrying over the problem he had to tackle. Instead he kept thinking about how Jaemin was doing. He had been nervous to approach him ever since the pink haired boy caught him sneaking out. Well, half caught him. Donghyuck was able to lie and get out of giving a bad impression his crush. But he didn't exactly know if Jaemin ended up finding out in the end or not. Either way, he thought maybe it's best not to trouble the star student when he already had so much on his plate.
    Otherwise, he had also been talking to Jeno more often. Mostly regarding Jaemin's health, but there were times when the lean athlete just came about to start up some small talk, ask about the homework (which in reality was a horrible choice since he doesn't even know what the class teaches). His classmate acted rather open in talking about things that seemed to be secrets more or less. What Donghyuck thought to be more interesting was how Jeno gave the impression of a fairly dense, absent minded jock when he spilled out all of his feelings- as if he had completely forgot the identity of the person he says these things too. A rather stereotypical observation, the rumour mill of a student had to admit, but a scarily accurate one to say the least. In a way, the gesture flattered Donghyuck- to be trusted to an extent that Jeno kept revealing sides of himself that not many would see.
'It's a good way to get closer to Jaemin, kind of. Hmmmmm I wonder-'
    BOOM
    A large explosion like sound bounced back and forth, the loud noise instinctively making Donghyuck cover his ears. His gaze snapped upwards to catch Renjun's stone cold eyes glaring right at him, it almost felt like the smaller kid was just staring through him. Right below his chin were another stack of books, which made Donghyuck raise an eyebrow critically. "There's more? It's already been a week, don't we have enough."
"Actually," Renjun smiled wryly. "We could have finished this in the first two days, you just happened to be too distracted to do anything." He smile dropped so fast Donghyuck thought that it may have just been a hallucination. "I get why you fail so easily now without worrying about your grades."
He shrugged, leaning backwards and grinning. "One of my many talents pure boy."
"You've literally recorded notes for only five books!"
"And all you have doing is look at youtube video scripts. Now tell me, which one sounds more important?"
"Mine!" Renjun bristled, grinding his teeth. "Not only have I been highlighting important details in the scripts that regard any stalker like attitudes; but I have also been setting up new plans for cameras and started an anonymous petition just to find out the majority student body's penmanship!!" His eyes were hooded with pent up anger and there were obvious dark rings under, they actually had been there for quite a while. But Donghyuck only noticed then.
"Sheesh" He leaned back and casually flipped the book he was 'studying' closed. "You look tired, maybe you should take a break."
"Oh like you have been?" Renjun snapped, "Perhaps you would do this work if I did happen to take a break?" Already knowing Donghyuck would shake his head, the blond huffed and snatched the book away just to shove another one towards him. "Not in a million years would you be able to do anything by yourself."
The undisciplined boy opened his mouth, a stinging retort rising up his throat.
"You're the one complaining about this stalker intruding your personal life anyways. Shouldn't that mean that you should be pestering me to keep working?" Renjun didn't let Donghyuck respond. "We can take a break today alright, but nothing is going to happen regarding this little problem of yours until you either finish this stack of books or get someone else's help."
Donghyuck was never one to waste time on decisions, and this time definitely wasn't going to be the first. With a swift motion, he got up and grabbed his coat to walk out into the brisk air.
"Don't talk to me until you've made your decision!!"
He snorted and blocked out whatever monologue his friend had left in him by simply putting in his AirPods. Blasting his music on shuffle, he continued to walk out of the school and down the empty side of town. So he could get to his house and just play his game.