"A lake?" Jooheon repeated, moving closer to Hyungwon and giving Changkyun a look. "That's where you...where you saw Kihyun die?"
Hyungwon nodded. "I saw a lake, reflecting the moon."
Jooheon looked over at Changkyun, his brow furrowed. "There's a lake not too far from here. And it's not far from the institution, either. If he was killed there..."
"Then his body is probably in the lake," Changkyun finished grimly.
They were all quiet.
"What are we supposed to do?" Wonho asked, looking between Changkyun and Jooheon, who seemed to be in charge.
"We need to find him," Shownu answered, his voice calm and soothing for such a dark topic. "We need to recover the body."
Wonho flinched back. "That's crazy! How are we supposed to-"
"We need to bring him to peace," Shownu answered. "People who die a violent death that isn't resolved can't move on. Kihyun's spirit could be trapped at the bottom of a lake until the end of time."
The idea of Kihyun drowning infinitely made Wonho swallow, even if he didn't know the boy that well.
Even Minhyuk seemed perturbed at the thought.
"So we find this lake," Jooheon said, sucking in his bottom lip as he thought. "And then what? If we try to get the police involved, they'll think we did it."
Wonho looked over, his brows furrowed. "No, I'm sure they wouldn't suspect us. I mean, we didn't want to hurt him. Why would we kill him?"
Jooheon leveled an annoyed looked at Wonho. "I show overly aggressive symptoms. Shownu is basically schizophrenic. Changkyun believes in every type of monster, ever. Kihyun was paranoid about everyone and everything. Minhyuk alternates between depressive and manic cycles. Hyungwon has reoccurring nightmares of people's deaths."
"Kihyun's death," Hyungwon whispered to clarify.
Jooheon looked back at Wonho. "And you barely even know your own name. Still think the cops are going to believe us? Still think they won't just throw us back in M-wing?"
"I don't want to go back," someone murmured, and they all nodded with varying degrees of intensity.
"Who here can swim?" Shownu asked, looking around.
"You're joking, right?" Minhyuk asked, the color leeching from his face.
Shownu's silence was answer enough. Slowly, hands were raised. Jooheon was first, then Minhyuk with a frown, then Wonho, then Changkyun, who cast a glance at Hyungwon.
"I can also swim," Shownu said. "Which makes five of us. We're just going to have to search the lake ourselves. Hyungwon can stand watch on the shore. Then, when we find Kihyun, we need to bring him up."
Minhyuk cringed, imagining himself towing a dead body out of the water. Each of the other participants looked similarly ill. Only Hyungwon was unaffected, off in his own little world, a world that was quickly becoming his reality.
"What if we don't find him?" Wonho asked, swallowing. Everyone but Hyungwon looked at him because they all knew what he was really asking: What if Hyungwon is wrong? What if this is all a lie? What if Hyungwon's just crazy?
Shownu ignored Wonho, standing up. "Everybody get ready to go. We need to buy supplies. If you have money, grab it."
"C'mon," Changkyun said softly, rubbing Hyungwon's back and sliding his hand to Hyungwon's arm, pulling him lightly. "We should get changed."
"Oh, yeah," Jooheon said as the two stood up. "I've got some spare clothes for you guys. Let me grab them."
Changkyun nodded, and Hyungwon smiled. It was odd, Changkyun thought to himself, how healthy Hyungwon had seemed recently. He hadn't had any sudden collapses due to his narcolepsy, and he didn't seem as emotionally torn, minus the moment he'd witnessed in the bathroom.
Maybe it was because the world Hyungwon had been living in, one of unknown figures in the dark and death during the night, was becoming real for all of them. It was something he could share now instead of something that isolated him.
Or maybe it was simply because he felt like the others believed in him for the first time.
