***
"I just hope that he never knows the truth; what actually happened to him."
Flashback ~ six months ago
Dr. Namjoon was called immediately when a psychopathic patient was brought into the hospital. He was out of control. Even those six people were not enough to hold the man, as he continuously kept tussling to set himself free.
"What happened to him?" Namjoon asked the nurse as soon as he entered.
"Don't know sir. He's been like this since he was brought here."
"You can never hold me back! You'll die, do you hear me? YOU'LL DIE!!!!" He shrieked loudly and kept panting heavily as his eyes had gotten bloodshot.
"Give him the injection." Namjoon said after a brief silence and continued to do his job.
Outside, Hoseok and Emma were horrified to see their friend in such a terrible condition. They wondered what had gone so wrong that it had costed him such a high price. But all they could do was to pray for him to be okay.
After almost twelve hours, finally the doctor came out and asked them to follow him to his cabin.
"Doctor, how is he?" Hoseok asked after they were inside.
"Please take a seat. I've given him sedatives, he'll be asleep for awhile. I need to ask a few questions and you'll have to answer honestly." Namjoon waited for the response of the pair.
"Okay, but is he alright?"
"Did he have a rough childhood or past?" He asked, ignoring the question the girl just asked.
Hoseok looked at him briefly before stating, "Not really. But he used to be a little weird when he was young."
"Like?"
"His parents and my parents were quite close. I remember, when he was young, he had a habit of talking to himself. Not just talk; it was some sort of jumping from one character to another. Whenever asked, he used to say that he's talking to his friends. His parents didn't give that much of a thought as they thought that it was his some sort of skills in acting. Even in school plays, he used to give incredible performances. He could do any kind of role or all at once! The problem grew when he slowly began to isolate himself from everyone. He spent most of his time, talking to himself. He was so involved with himself that he didn't even eat with his parents. So they took him to a psychiatrist. He told them that it was not a big problem. All he needed was more time with his family. They followed his advice and for some time it was fine. But then his parents died in a car crash. He was in middle school then. And my parents adopted him as we were the only people they were close with. At first it was difficult for him to settle down. But eventually he opened up. Then he met Emma. We all became very good friends but his habit of talking to himself never went away. We thought of it in a funny way, nothing serious. But to our dismay, it took other forms. There were times when he would have very frequent mood swings. Then it was yesterday when he came to my place. He seemed quite disturbed but didn't even come inside. He just slipped a note in my hand, gave me a look and walked away."
"What did it say?"
"It said,
'Please save me. My friend is after me.'
I didn't know what to do. So I told Emma and we decided to bring him here. But the moment we entered, he went all crazy and........"
"I understood." The young doctor said before slipping into a deep thought.
"What happened to him doctor?" Emma spoke as soon as he responded.
Namjoon took a deep breath to gather some courage for what he was about to say.
"Your friend, Taehyung, has multiple personalities."
"Personality disorder?"
"We thought that too. But in his case, it's not a disorder. In fact, I doubt that he's not a psychiatric patient at all."
"Then how does this makes sense?"
"My other colleagues and I have come to the conclusion that he might be connected in a bridge across the multiverse."
"What?"
"You see, our universe is not the only universe. There are multiple universes which exist parallelly to ours; each in a parallel dimension, with an alternate reality. And in those parallel worlds, we all exist; the same us but our alternate ways of decision-making make each of our personalities different from the other. For example, in this universe, I might be a doctor; but in another, I might be killer. And Taehyung is like a bridge between these parallel dimensions. He has somehow communicated with his other selves from other dimensions whom he calls his friends, as you've said."
Hoseok and Emma were thunderstruck. They doubted either the doctor has gone crazy or their ears had started malfunctioning.
"But how's that even possible?"
"That's still a mystery. But it can be possible."
"How are you so sure that it's not a disorder?"
"Because in any kind of mental illness, patients' mind is either completely blank or filled with too much junk. They lose all the sense as their brain functions irregularly. But in his case, we've found that his brain was perfectly functional. But what knocked out our senses was when we found that each one of his personalities are being controlled by the same mind but with a different set up. And a person's mind cannot work with more than one set up. So tell me, what can explain his condition then? The answer is clear. It can't be from this world."
The two listeners went completely speechless. How could they never notice such a big issue going on with their best friend?
"What was the meaning of that note then?"
"Taehyung must have realised that whom he calls his friends are actually a threat to him. Our subconscious mind is always prepared to give us hints of any kind of unpleasant situations and so did his. What we have found is that Taehyung has three more personalities, apart from his real one in this world. We named one his cold personality, other one insecure personality, and the last one obsessive personality. Everytime his other personalities showed up, he would act differently. That's what you saw as mood swings. Our study implies that most of the times it would be his cold and insecure personalities. The third one rarely took control which was a good sign................until now. And that worries me the most."
"Why doctor?"
"His other personalities might not do that much of a harm but the obsessive one is dangerous. Today when you saw him, it was his obsessive personality. It is dominant, possessive and is controlled by a critical mindset. It can make him do anything if it does not get what it wants. It's psychopathic."
"Which means?"
"In one alternate universe, Taehyung is a psychopath. I'm afraid he's been involved into murders and even........................cannibalism. And if he takes full control on this Taehyung, the effect might get disastrous to the point his real personality might get lost somewhere in the multiverse and we might lose him forever." Their skin had turned white at the horrifying words of the doctor.
"Now we have a choice; to hand him in the lab. Only that they'll do no more than turn him into a laboratory rat."
"So, what do we do?" Emma asked with a quivering voice.
"We need to make him forget everything. He doesn't know much about his condition; he only thinks that they're some sort of virtual friends with whom he has been interacting. We need to make him believe that all of this is his hallucination since he has been in dilemma for his parents death. In this way, he would never know what truly happened to him and hence, his other personalities won't trigger him."
"You mean we lie to him?" Hoseok asked as his eyes got narrow.
"I know it's wrong. But this is the only way to save him. But you must remember, he should never know the truth. Just keep him away from all the things which might help him regain his memory." Namjoon finished his encounter with the duo as they all nodded to each other.
End of Flashback
"Hyung, I think that's enough." The man said irritatedly as he was handed the forty-ninth shirt.
"Oh come on! You have a date today evening. You gotta look dashing."
"I already am." Taehyung muttered while rolling his eyes.
"Yeah! I know. But today, you gotta look extra dashing." He blurted out with a wink.
Technically, Hoseok was obsessed to make his friend's date the best one ever. And hence, when he heard that his dumb dongseong didn't even bother to wear anything special for his evening, he went all crazy and immediately took him to a gucci store.
After another stroll of three complete hours, they finally settled with a nice outfit, just perfect for his big day.
"Trust me, you'll look breathtaking in that outfit. You really owe me a big treat."
"Yeah yeah, I know. I'll take you to Starbucks tomorrow." Taehyung said which made the older one smile widely like a little toddler.
All of a sudden someone bumped into them which caused Hoseok to fall roughly on his face. Taehyung quickly helped him out and shouted to the man who didn't even cared to stop and see the damage he had created; so he turned to Hoseok worriedly, "Are you okay hyung?"
"Don't worry. I'm fine." Hoseok spoke, but he noticed that his elbow was bleeding pretty bad.
'But you're wounded very badly. We need to go to the hospital.' That's what Taehyung wanted to say. But he was somehow caught off guard as his eyes refused to turn away from that thick oozing blood. He could feel the control over his body slowly slipping away from his mind. His own body seemed foreign to him and as much as he hated to admit it, something in him felt a strong craving for his own best friend. But he did know one thing, whatever those emotions were they were certainly not his.
"Tae!" An abrupt voice, which he assumed was Hoseok's, brought him back from where; he doesn't know.
"H-h-huh...?" He was startled, as cold sweat dripped from his forehead and lips kept quivering out of fright. "H-hyung, just g-go t-to a d-doctor. I gotta g-go." He tried to sound normal but his mind was too corrupted with the thoughts of that terrible thing he almost was about to do to this man. But Hoseok was not that naive as he could figure out his mental situation just by thoroughly reading his face. Still, he decided to let him go. 'I need to inform Dr. Kim about this,' he thought.
He rushed to his home, not knowing what had gotten into him all of a sudden. He knew that he shouldn't have left his hyung like that. But everything was creepying him out. Like why would he feel a sudden urge at the sight of blood? And within a second, the person whom he always looked upto, seemed to have turned into a bait? He felt disgusted even at the mere thought of it. But ever since that moment, he became restless. It felt like as if everything inside him was taking a new form, like a storm was raging inside. He clutched his head in frustration and began to pant heavily.
"Hey! You're supposed to return my money today. Where is it?" A sudden loud voice rang through his ears as his annoying neighbour appeared in his apartment. "You listening to me?"
"Jin hyung, please go away." He said, in between heavy breaths.
"Yah! I won't go without taking my money, you hear that!" The man shouted, stubborn to even move one step away.
"Please quiet down." He said in a low voice with his eyes shut tightly.
"Why should I? You're supposed to return my money within today! Give it now! Hey, I'm talking to you!"
He kept ranting but Taehyung's head was spinning as he desperately wanted him to leave.
"I SAID QUIET DOWNNN!!!!!" Before he could even realise what he was doing, his voice screeched with a loud roar. All of a sudden the whole environment became silent. Not long after he gained his conscience back, he felt something soft and thick in his right palms. Not knowing what it was, he opened his eyes to see the horror he had caused. His right hand had moved on its own and pierced through the guy's throat, making a dark red liquid to gush out of it and his mouth. His eyes widened and as he moved away his trembling hand, the figure dropped onto the ground and the soft thick thing in his palm revealed to be a portion the person's spinal cord which was torn apart by his very own hand! He let out a loud scream and threw up at the horribly disgusting sight of his neighbour.
Throughout his whole life, he could never even hurt a tiny ant, then how could he kill someone so monstrously? He could never even imagine that his day would turn out so unexpectedly heinous. He began to wipe his bloody hand vigorously with his shirt, praying that the dark stain of guilt would wash away, as a fountain of tears gushed through his eyes.
"Taehyung..............."
He shuddered as a sudden deep voice rang in his ears. "W-who are y-you?" He uttered almost inaudibly.
The voice just giggled softly. "You already forgot me? I'm you."
"No, it can't be. Your just another dillusion." He shut his eyes, and ears tightly with his hands, hoping that everything was just a nightmare.
"You thought forgetting everything will erase me? So, you believed what they wanted you to believe and made me more powerful.
~Don't be like a prey, be smooth like a, like a snake. Although I want to stray.~" The voice sang in a mysterious, sweet voice.
"What do you want?"
"What your friend wants, you know that very well........"
"Friend?" Taehyung went into a deep thought when a sharp pain aroused at the back of his head, blinding his vision. Within a few minutes, all his lost memories rushed through his head like a bullet and that's when he remembered everything which was meant to be erased. "No! Where are the others? What did you do to them?"
The voice sniggered wickedly before fading away completely.
He remembered everything but what confused him most is that how come his doctor never figure the truth and most importantly how could he forget everything? Only one person could answer his questions. Without any further delay he rushed to the residence of Kim Namjoon.
***
Hold your horses, for the final chappy will be out soon..............😉
but somewhat I feel sad as it's gonna end😞
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