District Nine

Grow Up

Mentally and physically exhausted, getting caught with giving up
The end is up to you, where is your destination?

~

The two boys were standing in the middle of a maze of grey hedges. Hedges that were so high and perfectly square that they almost looked like walls. Grey concrete walls. Sometimes it's hard to really make out your surroundings anymore when you are trapped in the middle of a maze. Especially when all you see is grey. Maybe there really was nothing but grey left. Maybe the whole world was confined within these grey walls. It's hard to tell that there is more to the world than what you see when you are stuck in the midle of a maze.

There was blood on their hands. Then again, maybe it was just the dark red juice of fresh berries, the only colourful stain on an otherwise completely white canvas. If it weren't for them, it would be easy to assume, that the world was in monochrome colours entirely. Only black and white. And grey. Grey everywhere. Felix wiped his red-stained hands on his white pants several times, but the red colour clung to his skin. No matter how hard Felix tried, he couldn't rub it off, he only spread it around, painting his pants with red stains as well. There was blood on his hands. Changbin was oddly relaxed in comparison to Felix. Unbothered by the red sprinkles on his clothes and his skin. He was just standing there, giving Felix a concerned look. As if he was weird for being bothered by the colour. When Felix noticed Changbin's staring at him he let his arms drop to his sides as well. For a moment they locked eyes until Changbin turned away first. He was looking around them, inspecting the grey walls that trapped them from the sides. Felix followed his gaze, really scanning his surroundings for the first time. He tried to find something he could focus his attention on, but all he saw was grey. An endless maze of grey walls. And Changbin right in the middle of it. Red stains on him.

"How do we get out of here again?", Felix heard himself whisper before the question had even fully manifested in his head. Until he said it, he hadn't completely realised, that he had no idea where he was or how to get out again. Hadn't they been picking berries just a moment ago?

"If we just keep walking around we have to find an exit sooner or later, right?", Changbin shrugged his shoulders and started walking the next second, without a warning. Felix stumbled over his own feet trying to catch up to him, but the more he hurried the more distance Changbin seemed to be putting in between them. Even though he was walking so calmly, arms swinging with every step while Felix was almost out of breath already. He was running to catch up to him. He had just remembered something important that he needed to tell Changbin. To escape a labyrinth you need to keep turning right all the time until you find an exit.

Still feeling somewhat dizzy Felix sat up in his bed. A knock on his door had ripped him out of his sleep and also out of a dream. He couldn't really remember what it had been about and the more he tried to focus on it the more it slipped through his hands. But it left him feeling desperate for something. As if there was something important that he really needed to remember but just couldn't. It took him a moment longer than usual to really wake up. Just a week or so ago he had always woken up around the same time from a dreamless slumber without any problems. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of weird how with no longer taking his medications his dreams had also started to come back. Maybe there was some kind of correlation. As a child, Felix had still dreamt a lot and really vividly. Back then the world had been more colourful and his fantasy almost too much for his little brain to contain all of it. Now he had started dreaming again. Honestly, Felix could probably have continued without it. He was already confused enough without weird dreams leaving him feeling lightheaded in the early morning.

"Are you okay?" Only upon hearing the voice Felix noticed the person standing in his doorframe, watching him with a curious smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Seungmin had the almost creepy ability to practically make himself invisible and then pop up out of nowhere again when he was ready for people to notice his presence. Now he was full on smiling at Felix. A huge grin that shone with the same intensity as the fake sun. Felix wondered whether the real one was just as bright. He took a moment to think about Seungmin's question. He felt okay. A little tired maybe, head spinning with fragments from a dream already half-forgotten. But he didn't feel as drained and unable to get himself moving as he had the day before. With Seungmin waiting for him patiently he was actually motivated to get up.