The Calm After the Storm || Hyunlix

Help Needed

                                           "Something is happening"

     Felix informed Hyunjin of what their situation was and how they would need to be living from there on. He only had one bed and offered it to Hyunjin, but he declined, suggesting he should sleep on the couch.

     Felix was worried about Hyunjin being alone throughout the night, and honestly, Hyunjin was too. But there was nothing he could do about it since he really didn't want to take Felix's bed away from him. Felix took some blankets and pillows and set them neatly on the couch for when Hyunjin was ready to go to sleep. Then Felix had to come up with something else for them to do while they wait for the night to come. "Do you have any fruit?" Hyunjin asked after washing his hands in the bathroom. "I have some watermelon in the fridge." Felix answers, pointing towards the kitchen from the couch. Hyunjin walks over to the fridge and opens the door, taking out a small bowl of cut up watermelon and grabbing a fork.

     Hyunjin walks over to the couch and sits beside Felix, placing the bowl on the table in front of the two of them and biting a half of a piece of watermelon. "Do you want to maybe call the others over to hang out?" Felix suggests, and Hyunjin feels a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Hyunjin and Felix had 6 other chaotic friends that always brought the mood up if needed.

     Hyunjin turned to Felix and silently nodded, receiving a big smile from the freckled boy. Hyunjin's good mood faltered as he felt someone breathing down his neck, he cast a glance over at Felix to see he was on the phone talking and definitely wasn't behind him. Hyunjin immediately slid his hands over the back of his neck and tucked his head between his knees, practically curling up into a ball on the couch.

     Seeing this Felix got off the phone quickly and scooted closer to Hyunjin, rubbing his back and trying to give comfort to him even though he didn't know what was wrong. "Is it happening right now?" Felix asked, patting his back slowly. "It's right behind me." Hyunjin said, his words muffled since he had his head buried in his knees. Felix turns around to look behind him but turns back seeing as though there was no-one there.

     "It's okay they'll be here soon." Felix says, softly, waiting for Hyunjin to calm down. Felix had called Chan and informed him of Hyunjin's situation, asking him if he and the others could come over to hang out. Of course, he couldn't say no. He told Felix Seungmin was already with him and he'd tell the others too. A few moments later Hyunjin is sitting up with Felix, the two still sitting close together, Felix still rubbing his back in hope of helping Hyunjin release any tension.

     A few minutes of trying to keep Hyunjin in his calm state the doorbell rang. Felix moved his hand off of Hyunjin's back and went to go open the door but forgot to prepare himself. The moment Felix opened the door it was like a stampede ran him over. 6 pairs of feet threw off their shoes and ran straight over to Hyunjin, some of them standing in front of him or sitting beside him.

     Felix turns around to face all of them. "Okay." Felix says to catch their attention. "So, who's gonna talk the most?" He asks. Everyone immediately points at Changbin and he looks around with his eyes wide. "Yah!" He yells, holding a fist up in the air. Felix walks over to Changbin and grabs his fist, dragging him to the door and waiting for him to put his shoes on. "Where are you guys going?" Chan asks, seeing as the others, including Hyunjin, also looked up thinking the same thing.

     "I was thinking we could have a movie night; we're going to the store to get some snacks." Felix explained quickly. The others nodded in approval, and continued doing anything they could to keep Hyunjin preoccupied.

     As Felix and Changbin were walking down the aisle of the store, Felix went on his phone and ordered sushi for everyone since he knew Hyunjin liked it. "So can you tell me what really happened?" Changbin asked as Felix tucked his phone away in his pocket. "What do you mean?" Felix asked back. "Chan only told us that Hyunjin was upset, and you wanted us to come over." Changbin started. "It seemed like there was more to it." Felix looks at him, recalling everything that happened to the moment Hyunjin arrived, to the moment Changbin and the others did.

     "Well," Felix said, trying to remember everything that happened. "I was laying in my bed listening to music when I heard my doorbell ring. I took my earplugs out and went to open the door, confused because I wasn't expecting anyone today. When I opened the door, I saw Hyunjin standing there with red eyes that were about to close any second. So, I pulled him inside and sat him down on the couch to talk to him." Felix said, grabbing a couple of things off the shelves and waiting for Changbin to process what he has said so far. When Changbin nods signaling that he understands Felix continues.

     "I asked him why he came, and he told he wanted to stay with me for a little bit. I wanted to know if he was okay, so I asked him why and he told me he was scared." Felix paused. "That he felt like he was being watched... that he felt so alone." He said. "So, I'm gonna let him stay with me for a while." Felix finished. "Can I tell the others?" Changbin asked, and Felix nodded. Changbin and Felix paused and stepped to the side of the aisle, pulling out their phones.

     Changbin made a group chat with everyone but Chan and Hyunjin and texted everything that Felix had told him. he got a few short replies like, "okay" and "thanks for telling us" But that's about it. Felix texted Chan to figure out how Hyunjin was doing. "How's Hyunjin doing?" He texted Chan. "He has lifted his hands to his ears a couple times when we were all quiet but that's about it." Chan answered a few moments later. "That's good." Felix texted back and saw as Chan gave his reply a thumbs up.

     The two had been shopping for at least 10 minutes and Felix thought they had enough so they paid for the food and headed home. When they got back Felix and Changbin kicked off their shoes and the others came over to help set up the snacks while Hyunjin and Jisung stayed on the couch.

     Felix saw they had already gotten the sushi he ordered earlier so they placed chips, chicken, more watermelon, and kimchi. It was a weird assortment of snacks but that was normal for them. Felix went over to the couch and sat down. Chan sat with Seungmin, Jisung sat with Minho, Changbin sat with Jeongin, and Felix sat with Hyunjin.

     Jisung snatched the remote and turned on a movie, everyone grabbing snacks once and a while from the table in the middle of the room. Felix noticed that Hyunjin was barely eating anything, he grabbed a few pieces of sushi and watermelon, but for someone that actually looked sick he thought Hyunjin would eat more.

     "...Hey, can you guys turn down the volume...?" Hyunjin asked quietly. They paused the movie, but Hyunjin still asked them one more time. "Hyunjin, we paused the movie. It's not playing" Minho said, looking at Felix. "Is this...?" Chan whispered, hoping Hyunjin couldn't hear him over whatever sound that was playing in his ears.

     Felix nodded, uncertain, but what else could it be? Hyunjin quickly clasp his hands over his ears, whimpering like it almost caused him pain. "It hurts." Hyunjin sniffled. Hyunjin wasn't exaggerating, to be honest it sounded like thunderclap was being played inside his head. And it was so loud it hurt. "Guys." Seungmin said to catch their attention. "Something is happening." He said, pointing to the ground that was now shaking under them.

     Jisung ran to the window and stuck his head outside, not caring if his head got drenched in rain. "No other houses are moving." He said. Just then, Hyunjin let out the most blood curdling scream the boys had ever heard. They had no choice but to slide their hands over their ears as well. "Guys, look!" Minho yelled over Hyunjin's screams. Felix snapped his head over to Hyunjin and watched as thick red blood started to trickle through his fingers and run down his arm. "He's hurting himself!" Jeongin yelled.

     Felix was shifting from one stance to the next trying to decide what to do, then in one swift movement, Felix ran over in front of Hyunjin and snatched his hands off of his ears. Watching as more blood that Hyunjin was stopping by covering his ears, fell down the sides of his neck. Jisung, as clumsy as he is, tumbled over on the shaking ground and Minho had to go and help him up.

     Hyunjin's screaming got louder than ever for a few seconds, then... he blacked out.