Harmless || Stray Kids ✔️

21

Chan

I lie awake, staring at the colorful lights above my bed. My fingers drum against my chest, helping my eyes stay open. I wanted to sleep, but I decided to listen instead.

Changbin's room was next to mine. Soon enough, one of us would be screaming or crying. Maybe both, though neither of us were that type of person. Even when I'm afraid, I swallow it back, hide it away.

I'm still trying to prepare myself. It's going to happen whether we like it or not. There was honestly only one problem...

What was my deepest fear?

I had a few. Being alone, my parents dying, haunted houses. What was my deepest though? Would it actually find my deepest fear or would it pick something I wouldn't expect?

A tiny knock on my bedroom door makes me sit up. I stand, opening it. Changbin stands there, his eyebrows pinched together.

"Hey, what's up?" I whisper, watching his fingers fiddle around.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Yeah, of course." I step aside, letting him through. He shuffles in, climbing under my covers. I join him, feeling our warmth connect. "You okay?"

A small chuckle escapes him. "Not really, if I'm being honest. How are you holding up?"

"Still here, aren't I?"

"...are we supposed to just wait?"

"That's what we've been doing."

"I know. I'm scared."

"Me too."

I find his hand underneath the blanket. He squeezes back gently. I turn to look at him, finding that he was doing the same as I had been before he got here. Staring up.

"What's your deepest fear?" I hesitate to ask, but it's best if we're prepared. We have to know.

"Being alone. Finding myself alone. Everyone I love is gone. Everyone around me is gone. Being the last person around, waiting until I get the guts to end it. If there's no one around, why stay?"

His answer hits a soft spot in my chest. That sounds terrifying. Waking up and suddenly being alone. The thought makes shivers crawl up my spine.

"What about you?"

I chew my bottom lip, peeling the skin.
"I don't know."

He looks at me with confusion. "You don't know? What do you mean?"

"I've thought about it, but I don't know. Yeah, there's a lot of underlying fears I have. My loved ones dying. Dying a painful death. Little stuff like bugs. I don't know what my phobia is, though. Something that would make my heart drop. Make me want to disappear."

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." It was supposed to come out as a joke, but neither of us laugh.

"Yeah."