Silence

Silence Part 1

The thunder roars across the sky, making the little boy shudder in fear. He stands there near his house, right in front of the door, debating whether to enter with bruises all over his knees and mud smeared across what was his freshly washed t-shirt earlier that morning.

"E-euhan is going to be upset if she sees this," he mumbles to himself. His frail body trembles at just the thought of his stepmother's face.

Lightning strikes, causing the boy to flinch in fear. He runs inside the house, closing the door behind him, only to freeze when he sees Euhan standing there with the belt in her hand. His vision starts to blur at the sight of the same belt that was used last night, bringing back all those terrible memories.

"E-Euhan, please—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his stepmother grabs him by his small arms, which are already covered in bruises, mud, and rain.

"Shut up," she yells, seething with anger as she drags the boy upstairs.

Meanwhile, his dad is sitting in the living room, drinking while watching the same boring channel over and over again, trying to find comfort within himself while ignoring all the chaos around him.

The boy helplessly calls out for help.

"D-Dad, p-please! HELPPPPPPP!! N-nooo! LET ME GO! IT HURTS!"

He weeps and falls onto the ground, but that doesn't stop Euhan for even a second. She continues dragging the boy upstairs, not caring that he would end up even more bruised than he already is.

She drags his tiny body across the floorboards and toward the staircase, reopening all the old wounds he already had. Blood smears across the floorboards and staircase, making her even more enraged.

"YOU FKING FILTH!" she yells, her eyes turning what seemed to be bloodshot red as an evil smile appears on her face.

Taehyung looks down at the ground, unable to feel anything anymore. His body has already gone numb from the cold. He smiles to himself a little, wishing it wouldn't be as painful since he could barely feel the sensation in his body anymore.

He finally gets the courage to look up, but it's too late because Euhan is already standing in front of his room, smiling in a monstrous way.

Euhan throws the boy inside his room, slamming the door shut behind her.

N-N-NOO NOOOO! P-PLEASE LET ME GO!"

Taehyung screams at the top of his lungs in pain, causing his roommates to come running into his room.

"Tae, wake up! What's wrong?"

One of them shakes him violently, but when he's unable to wake him from another nightmare, he runs to the bathroom, grabs a little lukewarm water, and splashes it onto Taehyung's face while continuing to shake him.

Taehyung wakes up gasping for air, unable to breathe, his lips almost turning purple. At that moment, his best friend realizes what's happening and hurriedly rushes toward Taehyung's nightstand to find his inhaler.

He almost slips because of the amount of water on the floor, causing him to wobble a little. Quickly, he lifts Taehyung up, making him sit against his chest while continuously puffing air into him from the inhaler.

"Just breathe, okay. Breathe in and breathe out," his best friend says while rubbing Taehyung's back, trying to bring him back into consciousness.

After what feels like hours, Taehyung finally comes to his senses, slowly opening his eyes and looking at the mess around him and his best friend whose sitting at the edge of the bed, looking frightened. His vision is still slightly blurry as the remnants of the nightmare refuse to leave his mind completely, and tears already begin to swell in his mismatched eyes again because even now, even after waking up, his body still remembers the fear too clearly.

He didn't want to put his best friend through this every day, but what more could he do when he's already been to several doctors and none of them could identify what the issue was or why he kept having these terrible nightmares that felt so real every time they happened, like his mind was trying to drag him back into something he couldn't escape from.

Taehyung suddenly pulls his best friend into a tight hug, holding onto him a little longer than usual as he whispers, "Thank you so much for being there for me." He has said these words pretty much every time this happens, every time he wakes up like this, but this time he really wants it to mean more, because no one has ever been there for him like this before, and no one has ever stayed.

His best friend lightly slaps him on the shoulder, trying to shake off the tension. "Ahh shit, you scared the hell out of me, dude. I thought you were going to actually die on me," he says while still catching his breath from the panic.

Taehyung looks at him with warm, tired eyes and smiles softly, almost like nothing just happened. "If I wanted to, I wouldn't be here," he jokes lightly, but the words carry something underneath them that makes Yunho freeze for a second—something too calm, too quiet, like there is a half-truth hidden inside it that he doesn't want to fully understand.

Yunho knows that's just how Taehyung is though—always speaking like that, always smiling like that, always acting like someone who has no care in the world. But you would never know what he is hiding underneath all of that. Even though Taehyung hasn't said anything about his past, the nightmares alone speak louder than anything he could ever explain.

After meeting Taehyung, Yunho started believing that evil people truly exist, not just in stories but in real life too. Because someone like Taehyung shouldn't look so broken in moments like these—someone who looks so soft, so innocent, so gullible should not have eyes that carry that kind of emptiness after waking up.

Yunho sighs while getting up from the bed, but the moment he does, "BANG," he slips slightly on the wet floor and falls down with a groan of pain.

"Fuck, that hurts," he mutters while trying to sit up again, expecting Taehyung to help him. But when he looks up, he sees Taehyung already trying his best not to burst out laughing.

Yunho's breath catches slightly as he stares at him laughing—the way his laughter fills the room so easily, the morning sunlight hitting his side profile with his brown luscious hair and lighting up his boxy smile. Yunho quickly looks away while cursing under his breath, "F-fuck..."

His ears turn red instantly, and he can feel his heartbeat getting louder inside his chest, not understanding why something so simple is suddenly making him feel so flustered, so embarrassed, so aware of him in a way that feels dangerous.

"Will you quit laughing at me and just help already?" he says while looking down, his voice coming out softer than he intended, almost like he regrets saying it the moment it leaves his mouth.

It almost feels like he can hear his own heartbeat inside his ears, like something inside him is reacting too strongly to something that shouldn't matter this much.

Taehyung wipes his tears from laughing and gets up from the bed, finally calming down as he walks over to Yunho, who is still splayed on the ground like a helpless child, and helps him up while still letting out small giggles he can't fully control.

"I'm sorry, but it was hilarious," Taehyung says between laughs, trying to stop himself from laughing more than he already has. "Ahh, my stomach hurts from laughing. You're so funny, Yunho."

Yunho finally gathers the courage to look at him again, now standing just a few inches away from him, and he quickly tries to regain his composure. "HAHA, yeah, I know I'm funny," he says sarcastically, still avoiding direct eye contact.

Taehyung studies his face for a moment before gently helping him properly stand, checking him briefly as if making sure he isn't actually hurt, a small wave of guilt passing through him.

"Are you okay, Yunho?" he asks softly.

Yunho doesn't answer immediately. He just walks away slightly without looking back at him and says instead, "Make sure you clean your room and be careful. I'll make breakfast. We have class today, so let's hurry up, okay?"

Taehyung hums in response, still slightly smiling from earlier. "Okay. I'll be out in 20 minutes."