maze of memories. | lmh + hjs ✓

t w e n t y - s i x

warning: self harm and blood

"m-minho..." jisung choked out, glancing up. his gaze turned cold as soon as he stuttered his name out. "leave." he spat, shakily getting to his feet and backing away.

"j-jisung... put it down." minho softly replied, gaze fixated on the silver object that was tightly clutched in the other's hand. "put the knife down. right now."

"no." jisung whispered. it was almost too quiet to be heard over the roar of the storm, but minho heard it anyways, and it broke his heart. "why are you doing this? jisung, drop it. now!"

"i said no!" the blade of the small pocketknife was pressed against his wrist, the slight pressure pushing a few drops of blood to the surface of his skin. laughing, jisung applied more pressure, letting the blood flow freely and be washed away by the pouring rain.

"what are you going to do now, minho? you were the one who called me a disgusting hybrid. look where we are now. i'm doing you a favor. stop being a fake and leaving."

"jisung, i'm going to stop you." minho calmly stated, but before he could take his first step, jisung cried out. "if you come, i'll stab myself. so you better stay there." he could barely speak due to the mixture of heaving sobs and aggressive shivering that was wracking through his body, but his pained whispers were more than enough to reach the latter's ears.

minho froze, one foot in front of the other. "jisung... i could never mean anything i said back there, i'm sorry, i was angry and i'm not the most mentally stable right now and nor are you... just put it down and come here." he attempted to coax the other out of hurting himself, but it was to no avail.

"i forgive you." jisung said, but it was cold and emotionless. the blood had begun to flow faster, and the ground beneath jisung's wrist was now a sickening red against the wet soil of the forest floor. "but if you are really sorry, then you would leave me."

"what do you mean? why do you think this is a good idea? who told you that this was a good idea?" minho snapped back, patience being pushed to the limit. he knew that yelling at the boy would do no one any good but the fear and panic was rushing through his body faster than he could keep up with.

"the voices... they told me it was a good idea." jisung stated calmly.

"what...? what voices? what are you talking about-"

"your voice... and mine." jisung whispered. "my voice saying things i never remember saying."

he shakily let the blade of the knife relax, bringing it up. he smiled sadly. "mother would always..." at those words, jisung recoiled at himself, tensing up and tightening his grip on the knife. his wrist was already steadily bleeding, but he didn't care.

"mom..." jisung let a sob wrack through his body and he fell to his knees. "i don't... who are you?" a pained scream wrenched itself out of his throat, rushing out like the flood of strange moments of time that were flowing through jisung's brain.

minho frantically tried to stop the latter's tears. "jisung, look at me."

the steady voice broke his train of thought and jisung very slowly brought his teary eyes up to meet minho's.

"you'll be ok." minho whispered. "so put that down and come here, everything's going to be okay." jisung held his gaze, trembling. "that's what everyone said." the utter confusion and pain concealed in those words broke minho's heart as jisung panted under the heavy rain.

he brought his hand up, not breaking eye contact with minho. in a flash, the blade met skin and a flash of red gushed out of jisung's left wrist.

"STOP!" minho screamed as he watched the blade that was laced with blood fall gently onto the sickeningly red soil. the boy rushed forward, stumbling as he knelt down in front of jisung.