Felix didn't know what to do.
Police sirens broke through the ringing in his ears. His hand felt sticky and his mind felt slow and his heart would not still; it rattled in his chest as his eyes remained pinned on the stranger. His skin was sickly white, pale, as blood seeped through the wound in his side.
"We...We need...to go." The stranger struggled to squeeze each word out, the excruciating pain stealing his voice. Felix opened his mouth to speak but he felt like his airways were shut.
What had just happened?
There were two corpses in the floor. The white tiles had red smeared and pooled across them. Someone was bleeding to death right in front of him.
Then two words came through his foggy mind, clear and true.
The hospital.
Felix couldn't let the stranger die; they had to move. Would the police take them to the hospital? They would sort everything out right? Would Felix get in trouble for the two dead people in the shop? What would his boss think? Would he lose his job?
"Felix." The word escaped the stranger's lips as no more than a plea.
"H--how do you know my name?" Felix asked, breath short. The stranger grit his teeth and pressed his hand harder onto his side.
"Name tag."
Oh. Felix felt stupid.
"We have—to—go." The stranger sounded desperate. "Please."
Felix didn't know what it was. The fact that the stranger had saved his life, or the fact that he was dying on the floor, the very essence of his life leaking out of him, or if it was the fact that the fluorescent lights made him look ten times worse that he was. Or maybe he actually did look that bad. Felix didn't know.
He clamored to his feet, his knees feeling weak like they had been replaced with bags of water, and bent over. The stranger made a tremendous effort to sit up, to meet Felix halfway, but his arm gave out from underneath him. Felix caught him before he could hit the floor, his arms feeling weak but holding strong.
The stranger grunted as Felix pulled him to his feet, his side smarting. Felix continuously muttered I'm sorry under his breath, feeling remorse for being the cause of this pain.
Blue and red lights could be seen flashing down the street.
"Let's go." His teeth were gritted. "Now."
Felix made his way over the two dead bodies, overwhelmed, but feeling a sense of urgency that was emanating from the stranger he had leaning on his left side. There was a back door, an exit that would lead into the alleyway, and they could make their way somewhere from there.
Felix didn't want to be associated with this. He couldn't be found here. It would ruin his life that had just now barely begun. He had finals to pass, family members to prove wrong. He could not let this tarnish his reputation.
With the stranger on his side, with blood covering his uniform, he walked with an uneven gait as he left the mess of a parlor behind, sirens still echoing loudly through the area.
~~
There was only one problem Felix faced as he stumbled through dark alleyways.
He had no idea where he was going.
The stranger was no help; he had lost consciousness a while back. Even Felix was no help to himself because he could not get his thoughts sorted. It was a mess. He wanted to go back to the dorm and sleep and pretend like this was all some bad dream.
Felix dropped the stranger. Quite literally.
He hit the pavement with a thud and Felix sank to the ground next to him, his head between his hands, fingers in his hair.
He needed to get the wound dressed. He needed to get him taken care of so he wouldn't die. The thought of the person next to him dying made his stomach churn for the billionth time that evening.
Felix simply did not know what to do.
Normally, he would have called Minho. But his phone was still in the shop and—
The stranger.
Did he have a phone?
Felix pulled his hands away from his head and reached for his pockets, wondering if he had a phone, if he could use it. One phone call and he could get things sorted, he could—
"Hey!" The voice was loud in the silence of the night and scared the ever living shit out of Felix. He pulled his hand out of the stranger's front pocket as fast as he could as the backlit figure approached, moving faster by the second.
"What?" Felix asked.
"What do you think you're doing?" As the man got closer, Felix saw he had a somewhat narrow face, but his eyes looked far too pure for him to be threatening. And yet...
"I'm.." Felix had no idea what to say. "I'm trying to get my good friend here home. He, you know, drank too much."
"I know that's not true. Both of you are covered in blood." The words came out with a sneer. "And Changbin isn't your friend."
Changbin...? Was that the stranger's name?
"I'm—"
"If you don't explain in the next five seconds, I will not hesitate to shoot you." His hand reached behind him.
His eyes were a lie. This man was not pure.
Felix swallowed. "Are you his—"
"Five, four, three, two—"
"I was working at the Creamy Banana and there were these two guys there robbing the place and then Changbin just came in there and fucking shot them but he got stabbed in the process and I'm lost and I'm not sure where to go." The words came out in a very long sentence that nearly got jumbled together.
The man's expression changed. The hostility left his stance as he dropped to his knees, rolling Changbin over onto his back. He was muttering cuss words under his breath, and his voice sounded oh so very thick.
Felix felt out of place. It really did seem as though these two were friends, because it is nearly impossible to fake a look of pure worry and concern that well.
"Who are you?" Felix asked.
"I need to get him back." He said, eyes scanning the body. Felix frowned at his question being ignored. "Will you help me carry him?"
Felix nodded, but he was really very confused. He didn't know what was going on. He still stood, taking on half Changbin's weight as his friend took the other half. It was uncomfortable, but then again how much worse could it get? Felix was covered in blood; he had it on his face from where he was clutching his head no less than five minutes ago, and his bones ached from carrying Changbin this far. Logically, the level of discomfort couldn't get any higher.
He glanced over and met the fierce gaze of Changbin's friend.
"We'll be there in fifteen minutes, and you better start praying that the cops don't see us, otherwise we're all going to jail."
~~
It was a flurry of activity. As soon as they opened the door to the small apartment and stepped across the threshold, the friend was rushing towards the kitchen. He used his arm to sweep all of the food and dishes off of the marble island. Some hit the floor and broke, others just clattered.
"Get him up there."
They lifted. It was disturbing how Changbin's head was lulling around, his body completely relaxed but still heavy. Once they had him up there, the friend grabbed a pair of scissors out of one of the many drawers and started cutting his shirt. It fell away and Felix clamped a hand over his mouth.
The wound was appalling.
It was small, but it was obvious that it went deeper than Felix suspected. Blood was still leaking from it, going down Changbin's side and onto the counter they had put him on.
"Fuck." The friend muttered under his breath. He looked up at Felix.
"Go to the bathroom. It's down the hall, second door on the right. Get me a towel and a wet washcloth."
Felix peeled his attention away from the wound and hurried out of the kitchen. The apartment was small and it didn't take long for him to find the bathroom. He pushed the door open and looked into the small closet they had in there, grabbing a towel and a washcloth. He closed the closet, his fingers fumbling. He could hear his own heartbeat as he turned to the sink and wet the cloth.
He was back in the kitchen mere seconds later. The friend was holding, much to Felix's dismay, alcohol, a needle, and thread.
Oh golly.
Felix was going to be sick.
He gave the towel and washcloth to the friend, wanting nothing more than to turn around and leave the room, but being unable to tear his eyes away from the disaster in front of him.
This happened because of Felix. Changbin got hurt because—
He poured alcohol on the wound.
Changbin winced even though he was unconscious, his face morphing into something that held so much pain.
It was Felix's fault.
Felix pressed his lips together. The friend took the washcloth and gently cleaned the skin around the stab wound, which only made it slightly better. It was still an ugly sight to see.
"I'm going to sew it shut. It's going to hurt like hell. If he wakes up... knock him out."
"What the—you want me to—"
But he had already stuck the needle into his skin. Felix felt himself go lightheaded.
How did he do this so easily? It was a matter of life or death, but why didn't they just go to the hospital? Why were they so afraid of the police?
More blood was trying to ooze out as he worked. Felix was terrified Changbin would regain consciousness and have to endure every agonizing moment of.. of..
Felix was really starting to feel woozy.
"For Christ's sake." His friend muttered. "How the hell did he even let this happen?"
That was a punch to the stomach. Guilt curled inside of him.
Please don't wake up Changbin. Please. Not until tomorrow.
Felix stood there, one arm across his stomach, the other one covering his mouth. The moments stretched into hours as the needle went into his skin, and then out, and then back it, the thread keeping his skin together, closing the wound.
Felix pinned his eyes on a spot on the floor, counting his breaths. He did not feel good. He did not trust himself to not hurl his guts up right then and there.
One, two, three, four—all the way in, fill the lungs all the way—five, six, seven, eight—
"Yo."
Felix looked up. The sink was running and the friend was washing his hands. Changbin was still unconscious (Thank God) and there was a bandage—where did that come from?—covering his side.
"I have an idea of who you are, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure. What's your name?"
Felix unclamped his hand from his mouth. "I'm Felix."
The friend nodded. "That's what I thought." He dried his hands off on his pants. "You can take a shower here, I have some clothes you can borrow. After that you should sleep and when you wake up hopefully Changbin will be awake. Then we can talk."
Felix liked the sound of a shower, almost more than he liked the idea of sleep. So he nodded, agreeing, going along with what they say because he could see no other logical way to work this situation out.
He started to walk back towards the bathroom, his feet moving slow and sluggishly. Then he realized...
"Who are you?" He turned and looked over his shoulder. The friend was in the living room grabbing a pillow, likely to put it under Changbin's head so it would be at least a little bit more comfortable for him.
"I'm Jisung, Changbin's friend." He flashed a smile with the words.
Felix didn't know what to say and he kind of just wanted to sleep so he simply said, "Nice," and trudged into the bathroom, ready to wash the day's filthy events off of his skin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An:
Wassup lmao I was bored so I wrote this im sorry it's shit i kinda want to continue writing this ehehehe
Updates on my life:
I'm now taking antidepressants
I'm about to be released from therapy
I have an absolutely amazing boyfriend who I love so much and have loved for six months now :')
Thank you for reading see you peeps later ✌🏻