It Follows {Book One}

21

Saturday, August 25
6 days

•Jisung•

Loud yelling filled the store. At one point, Chenle had sprinted past him, calling for someone that Jisung couldn't make out. 
 
His head rolled to the side.

He could hear everything that went on, though it all sounded like it was underwater. His head felt like a dumbbell.

When Chenle ran by him again, someone else was at his heels. Jisung still didn't know what was going on, so he slowly forced himself into a sitting position. His muscles ached. He imagined this was what being drunk would feel like.

The distorted voices bounced around in his head as Jisung strained to listen. He heard both Johnny and Donghyuck's voices, Chenle's popping in every so often. Donghyuck was crying and he wasn't sure exactly what Johnny was saying, and he also couldn't tell if he was angry or just upset. Maybe both.

After only a few minutes, Chenle shuffled back into the room, holding Donghyuck's hand and guiding him to Chenle's makeshift bed that was beside Jisung. Johnny followed soon after. His face was twisted in worry, concern, anger, disbelief, and so many other emotions that Jisung wondered how he didn't explode. 

"What happened?" Jisung managed to say, despite feeling like his mouth was full of cotton. Chenle looked at him with wide eyes and nodded towards Donghyuck, mouthing something that looked like 'later'. Across the room, Johnny settled into the floor. He hadn't said a word, and Jisung was left to lie there confused.

Chenle held Donghyuck in his arms, silently comforting the elder as he cried. 

Why was Chenle comforting him? Where was Mark? Jisung had never once seen Donghyuck go to anyone besides Mark—aside from Taeil and maybe Johnny—and suddenly he was crying into Chenle's shirt? It didn't make any sense.

As Jisung was going over all the possible scenarios that could have caused this, Donghyuck's sniffling faded into silence. Jisung turned to see if Donghyuck was asleep so he could ask Chenle what had happened, but groaned when he found that both of them had fallen asleep.

He decided to shove his curiosity to the side for the time being and try to get some sleep. He turned on his side and inches closer to Chenle, gripping his arm against his chest. He didn't mind Donghyuck, who was also holding on to him, if anything, it comforted him even more.

He stayed like that for what felt like hours, but Jisung couldn't sleep. Instead, he listened to the sound of his own heartbeat, which seemed louder than usual. But again, lately he had been more aware of certain things he never used to pay attention to.

Johnny's breath suddenly hitched, then silence. Jisung felt panic rising in his chest as Johnny shot up beside him, frantically trying to get in a breath of air. He wheezed, and Jisung squeezed his eyes shut and tried as hard as he could to block out the awful sounds.

He tried to sit up, but his muscles tightened and a searing pain shot through his body. He squeezed Chenle's hand beside him, hoping he would wake up and help, but he didn't move. 

He could hear Chenle groan beside him, but he didn't wake up. Jisung tried tugging at his arm, but his own felt like jelly so all he could manage was a gentle pull.

Jisung had never felt so useless, so helpless without Taeyong.

He had been annoyed that Taeyong never left him alone. He was always around to pester him, and at the time, all Jisung wanted was to have a few hours to himself. He wanted to walk around without getting bombarded with 'do you feel okay?' and 'Jisung, come get some water, we don't need you getting dehydrated'. But now, Taeyong was all he wanted. He knew everyone was lying to him, he had overheard Kun and Yuta's conversation about his parents death. He was upset about it, but he didn't want anyone to know that he knew. He cried the first night, and Chenle had found him in the box fort before Renjun had destroyed it during one of his meltdowns the morning before he died.

Jisung squeezed his eyes shut when Johnny hit the ground, which was then followed by silence.

He could feel Johnny's presence, only a few feet in front of him, and Jisung was terrified to open his eyes. He already knew what he would see. 

"Chenle." He finally managed to say, while prying his eyes open. He focused on Chenle, trying hard to keep his eyes from wandering anywhere else. His voice was hoarse, and just saying one word seemed to tear up his throat. Jisung found out Taeyong had passed when he stopped bringing him water, and then it was Kun. And now, after only a day, Yuta had taken his place. Jisung squeezed Chenle's hand. "Please wake up."

"Shut up." Chenle grumbled. His eyes remained closed, and Jisung glared.

"Johnny. I think he's dead.."

"What?" Chenle shot up, looking wildly around the room. He sighed and gestured at Johnny's body lying still at their feet.

"This close? Right in front of my salad?"

Jisung would've been mad at how little Chenle seemed to care. But then again, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. They were all dying. Most of them already had. The fact that Jisung couldn't remember who was dead and who was alive told him all he needed to know. That it didn't matter.