Chapter 11 (1/1)

--CHAPTER 11“Why doesn’t he just talk already?”“He’s stupid—that’s all it is.”If Baekhyun had to pick the hardest time of his life, he would have said it was middle school. It was the point where kids were in their adolescent age and for some reason, many things just couldn’t penetrate their growing minds and many concepts were just out of their reach. And one of those concepts—sadly for the growing and frail Baekhyun—was the fact that one boy in their school did not and could not talk at all.Why don’t they just understand that I can’t talk like the teachers understand, Baekhyun would wonder to himself as the larger boys would corner him in the far end of the school yard during their lunch hour. His brown eyes would expand to such a wide state as he warily gazed upon their dirty and uncaring faces.“Why doesn’t he just call for help if he’s going to look at us like he’s so scared?” one of the boys would ask with a conniving chuckle at the end of his inquiry.“I’m not like you,” Baekhyun would fervently try to sign at them in an effort to protect himself. Of course, they did not comprehend his sign language.The three boys looked at each other oddly and then back at Baekhyun. “What…” would escape their lips when they saw Baekhyun’s strange looking finger movements.Then Baekhyun would reach into his pocket of his black uniform slacks and pull out his small writing pad and a pen and quickly he scribbled the word, “Please.”“What is this?” the biggest of the boys asked with a sneer. “Is he trying to mess with us?”Baekhyun shook his head fast and full of emphasis. He wanted them to know that he wanted no problems with them and that it was not his fault that he couldn’t talk. He couldn’t help it… He just couldn’t.Despite Baekhyun trying to the best of his ability to get the boys to back off, they still enclosed on him and from there Baekhyun blacked himself out from the rest of the world. He tried not to feel the pain of their punches and kicks against his ribs and cheeks. All Baekhyun would think about was the far off worlds in his books and how much better those places would be than this place. At least in his books the characters would be able to fend for themselves. They had a voice; why didn’t he?If only Chanyeol was around. Not only would Chanyeol most likely have used his high-spirited attitude to stand up for Baekhyun, but Baekhyun would also have his voice. He would be able to tell them to stop. He wouldn’t have to face the hardships of what it was like to not have a voice while also having no one understand that fact.*~*~*~*“How’d you figure out our way out of that forest, anyhow, Cutie?” Jongdae eyed Baekhyun curiously as they found themselves leaving the depths of the dark forest and now entering into an area that looked like a landscape Baekhyun could have only seen in his wildest imaginings. All around them were many glowing objects that bounced and paraded around the air. The sky was darker now, quite like a night sky Baekhyun would have been familiar with in his home world and they could hear the sound of running water around them, though they weren’t sure where the source was. Baekhyun thought that the glowing orbs floating around were fireflies, but Chanyeol had informed him that they weren’t any insects of any sort, but they were happy thoughts. When Baekhyun thought about that, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of bliss as one orb flew just before his eyes while they were walking.After Jongdae asked his question, Baekhyun tilted his head and wondered. There wasn’t something that had actually told him which way to go, but he suddenly just felt a sense of where to go. Baekhyun didn’t know how to interpret it, but he took it as a sign from Tao who was grateful to finally have been understood. “Hm, I think it just came to me,” Baekhyun said with a keen smile.“That’s my Baek! He knows the answers, all right!” Chanyeol cheered as he looked to the smaller male walking next to him in a great light.Jongdae shrugged. “Okay then,” he sighed. He then looked around, looking at the glowing objects floating nearby and as he began to space out just a bit so his eyes focused only on one glowing ball in front of him, Jongdae asked, “How long do you think that guy had been making flower crowns for, anyway? Those bags under his eyes…”“A long time, I’m pretty sure,” Baekhyun said in an understanding tone. He then let out a heavy sigh. At this point, many things had been happening to him since he came to Chanyeol’s world. Many things besides encountering a beast, that is. Baekhyun had been told that he was brought here to take on such a thing as a beast that had been terrorizing Chanyeol’s world, but from one encounter back in the caves (and not actually seeing the thing), there had been no sign of the supposed beast. Was it even there or was this all a trick? And for a while Baekhyun had not been worried about what had been going on back in his own world—college, Minseok, his parents—and instead he had been swept in the thrill of all these new experiences. But now Baekhyun was growing a bit wary. What had been happening back there without him? Had anyone even noticed he was gone?“I’m hungry,” Jongdae had said quite loudly, breaking Baekhyun out of his reveries.“We’ll get something to eat eventually,” Chanyeol replied with only a slightly reassuring tone. Jongdae gave Chanyeol the sort of look that might have accused Chanyeol as some inconsiderate bastard, and all Chanyeol did was smirk back and stick his tongue out at the latter.“Is there even a beast?” Baekhyun then piped in. His question was unexpected and short and Chanyeol and Jongdae both turned around sharply to face him at the sound of it. Baekhyun’s brown eyes were filled with a strange look and it made Chanyeol feel slightly uncomfortable as Baekhyun looked at him.Jongdae turned to look at Chanyeol now as well with his lips cocked slightly to the side. Chanyeol was feeling the pressure under their gazes and now his eyebrows were arched in a worried expression. “Baek,” Chanyeol mumbled in a gentle tone. He stood still but when he looked at Baekhyun, he noticed that Baekhyun’s hands were at his sides, balled into fists and shaking ever-so slightly.Baekhyun bit his lip. His head lowered and he shook it so that the brown hair atop his head moved back and forth in a slow motion. “If there isn’t a real reason as to why I’m here, then why am I doing any of this?”“What…?” Jongdae was even taken aback by surprise by Baekhyun’s words. At least, as long as Jongdae’s known Baekhyun he had never heard the boy sound this negative. Was this regular of Baekhyun back in his own world, Jongdae wondered.“Baek, we’ll find it and stop it soon. There are many reasons why you’re here with us,” Chanyeol gradually raised his hands and tried to reach toward Baekhyun, but Baekhyun put his hands up and beckoned for Chanyeol to stop.“Is any of this even… real?” Baekhyun met his eyes with Chanyeol’s once more. He looked pained. What had gotten into him all of a sudden?Both Chanyeol and Jongdae tried to step forward to Baekhyun now, trying their best to reassure him, but they stopped as they noticed a tear—one small tear—fall from Baekhyun’s right eye. They stopped in their tracks and Chanyeol let out a small gasp at the sight.Baekhyun watched as the glowing orbs that represented the peoples’ happy thoughts began to disperse from the area behind Chanyeol and Jongdae. “I want to…” he began in a wavering tone. “I want to go home.” Suddenly, Baekhyun felt something—something sharp—claw at him and he felt his ankles being clasped and soon his whole legs. No one saw anything, but Baekhyun was quickly swept away. He had been carried off to only god knows where and now there was an empty space just in front of Jongdae and Chanyeol. They didn’t even hear a plea of help utter from Baekhyun’s lips just before he was stolen away.“Cutie?” Jongdae looked around as confused as ever. Chanyeol began to step forward and he looked around too.“Baek?” Chanyeol called not too loudly at first and then he began to call for Baekhyun more fervently. “Baek?!” he yelled loudly, stepping around and back and forth in a flustered fashion. His eyes were wide and his eyebrows expressed the fear and worry he was currently feeling. Chanyeol had never felt so worried before, and now that Baekhyun had suddenly disappeared in such an odd way, Chanyeol was beginning to not know how to handle himself.Baekhyun was gone from their midst and both Chanyeol and Jongdae had no idea where he had gone. Chanyeol fell onto his knees into the dirt below and he snarled through his teeth. “Why’d he start to doubt himself again?” he asked through a sneer. “Just why?”*~*~*~*Baekhyun found himself in the place he remembered from when he first travelled into Chanyeol’s world. It was completely black around him though when he held his hands out in front of himself, he could see them perfectly.“This is The Void, isn’t it?” Baekhyun murmured to himself.“It is,” a voice replied to him. Baekhyun did not know where the voice had come from even though he swung his head around in all directions to find the source. Baekhyun could not see anyone there with him.Instead of continuing to find where the voice had come from, Baekhyun decided it might have been best to communicate with it in this situation. “Why am I here?” he asked, more loudly than to himself this time.“It’s because you lost your confidence,” the reply came—it was firm and not particularly kind. “I don’t know why though,” the voice continued, “you were going so strong there for a while… Not just anyone can handle the inattentive Tao like you did. It was quite impressive.” Baekhyun could hear the mysterious voice sigh exasperatedly. The strange thing about this voice that Baekhyun was hearing was that it oddly sounded… familiar. It was kind of like he was hearing himself talk, then again he wasn’t. Baekhyun had no words to describe the phenomenon.Baekhyun tilted his head. “So, it’s not that you lose things in The Void, but you come to The Void if you lose things?” His brows furrowed as he thought about it.There was a pause in the darkness that made Baekhyun uncomfortable as it happened, and finally after a time the voice answered, “Sort of. I mean, if you’re dumb enough to stay in here long enough, you’re going to lose your sanity, right?” It sounded like the voice had laughed at its own joke. “Some cases are special, though. Not just anyone’s going to come here if they lose something.” Another pause came and as if the voice took in a breath of air before it spoke, there was the small sound of an inhale and it said, “It looks like you must be special.”Special? How so? Baekhyun wasn’t anyone or anything special. For a while, though, Baekhyun really did think he had some sort of special quality to him since Chanyeol had told him he was the only one who could take down the ominous beast. But when it came to that factor, nothing had been happening. Baekhyun didn’t see any beast he had to face—there was nothing that gave him a sign that he really was in this world for a purpose. Baekhyun was now at a loss as to why any of this was happening. In an odd way, he preferred that he’d be back in his own world where he was forever quiet and no one paid him any mind. He thought that maybe it would have been for the better that way. “How could I be special?” Baekhyun asked with a tiny roll of his eyes.“Well, it’s not every day that someone as spontaneous as Chanyeol goes and picks someone from another world to help him with his problems…” the voice seemed like it was thinking about what it had said for a moment. “Hm, that might seem like a spontaneous action, but I assure you that Chanyeol thought this one through.”“Did he?” Baekhyun asked in a plain tone. Maybe Chanyeol should have thought about it a little further.“Of course he did,” the voice said in a positive air. “What, are you starting to doubt him as well now?”Baekhyun shook his head. “No… I don’t think I am…”There was another pause which left Baekhyun looking around curiously. Was that all the voice had to say to him? “You know there are others who have lost things and have come to The Void before you,” the voice was back.“Really?” Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the statement.“Yeah. It’s not like you’re special in that aspect,” the voice chuckled again. It was sarcastic and Baekhyun couldn’t tell if that amused him or just annoyed him at this point. “Just turn around and you’ll see,” the voice said and Baekhyun imagined it was pointing him in a direction as he turned around.Baekhyun moved his body around and in the distance in the darkness he saw someone there. The figure had been sitting down and oddly enough, it looked like they had been sitting on a stool while holding a fishing pole that’s string was hanging in a small circle of water in the pitch black ground. Baekhyun didn’t think any further and he walked directly to the other being in the darkness, walking in a brisk fashion so he could meet them. There Baekhyun was met with a small man who had brown hair barely covering his forehead and his round eyes looked directly into the small bit of water in front of him. His frame was so small and Baekhyun couldn’t help but think he looked cuddly in the gray colored hoodie he had been wearing. “Uhm,” Baekhyun started softly, “excuse me.”The male sitting down slowly turned his head to look at Baekhyun and when his eyes met Baekhyun’s, they widened and his lips pursed into a small frown. “Wh- what is it?” he asked cautiously.“I’m just wondering who you are,” Baekhyun said not exactly knowing why he was saying anything to this person other than the fact that the voice had told him to talk to him.“Oh,” the man breathed out and turned back to looking into the water. “I’m Kyungsoo. What about you?”“Baekhyun. My name’s Baekhyun,” Baekhyun watched as Kyungsoo moved his fishing pole just a bit, but then set it back into place with a slightly disappointed look on his face. “What is it that you’re doing, Kyungsoo? Are you fishing?”Kyungsoo nodded. “I am, but I can’t seem to catch anything…” he breathed out heavily through his nostrils. “I’ve been trying to catch fish so I can cook them…” His eyelids lowered and it seemed like Kyungsoo had begun to think of many upsetting things all at once. “I haven’t cooked anything in a long time.”Baekhyun knelt down next to Kyungsoo so now he was looking up at the sitting man. “Is there a reason why you’re in The Void?”Kyungsoo’s eyes suddenly widened and his head sharply turned to face Baekhyun. His lips hung open and he made a small noise in the back of his throat that could have been interpreted as a whimper. “There is,” he replied and then he gulped. His hands began to shake as he held the pole, causing the pole to quake as well.As Baekhyun noticed how Kyungsoo was becoming at the mention of his purpose for being in The Void, he began to grow wary as well. Was it really something so awful that it made Kyungsoo become shaky on the thought of it? “Is it… okay for me to ask what the reason is?”“Uhm…” Kyungsoo tilted his head and looked to the side. “I suppose so… I haven’t actually ever told anyone about this…”Baekhyun was beginning to prepare himself for what Kyungsoo was about to say; it was most likely something very devastating.Kyungsoo took a deep breath—raising his small shoulders in the process—and he began to talk. “I once had a love. It was someone that I held very dear…” he paused and closed his eyes. “When he was alive, I thought I needed nothing else in the world. If I had him, then I was set.” As Kyungsoo spoke, his shoulders would raise as he started to shrink within himself. His lower lip quivered. “One day when I wasn’t looking… when I wasn’t there to stop him…” Kyungsoo whimpered under his breath and lowered his head so his chin nuzzled into his jacket collar. “I never knew anyone could die like that,” he said and Baekhyun inaudibly gasped at the words.“You lost someone you loved?” Baekhyun asked in a hesitant way. He felt sadness welling in him as Kyungsoo had told him what he was missing—though Kyungsoo wasn’t even explicit on the subject. It was still heart wrenching to see how broken the small man became when he thought about it and spoke of it.Kyungsoo nodded as a small moan escaped his lips. “I haven’t been able to get over it, you know? It has been a long time since it’s happened, though…” He adjusted the fishing rod in his hands so he had a better grip of it and began looking at the water once more. Kyungsoo sniffled a few times and his eyelids fluttered just two times and from there Kyungsoo began to regain himself. “I used to cook for him all the time…” he murmured partially to himself.Baekhyun peered at the way Kyungsoo shook where he sat and then breathed through his nose, making a small noise as he did so. When it came to what Baekhyun was missing compared to what Kyungsoo was missing, it was essentially nothing. Baekhyun would be able to regain his confidence—all he had to do was believe in himself and those around him—but Kyungsoo had lost someone. The one who he held the dearest to his heart was gone and ripped of life. As Baekhyun looked at it in this light, he began to realize that unlike Kyungsoo who lost the light of his life, he had much to look forward to. Despite not being friends with many people, Baekhyun did have his parents who loved him dearly and he did have his friend Minseok as well as his teacher Professor Leeteuk looking out for him. They probably noticed he was gone—he wouldn’t put that aside them any longer. There was also Chanyeol and Jongdae around now and those he’d been meeting along the way such as Yixing, Joonmyun, and Tao. Chanyeol’s smile and reassurance, though, was what seemed to be provoking Baekhyun to go further. Baekhyun didn’t know why but when Chanyeol would flash his wide eyes and toothy grin at him, he would feel a sense of hope. So why was it that he started doubting him? Simply because he hadn’t truly seen any evidence of a so-called beast? But Baekhyun realized that it didn’t matter because now that he was here in Chanyeol’s world—experiencing and seeing new things he never would have guessed could happen to a person like him—he was beginning to feel as happy as ever and the confidence he felt in him was not some false front he put on to make people believe that he didn’t mind being mute, but it was something genuine and real.Baekhyun raised his left hand and clapped it against Kyungsoo’s shoulder in a playful fashion. “You know, even if you haven’t cooked in a long time, I’d appreciate it if you maybe cooked for my friends and me. We’ve been pretty hungry lately,” he said with a small smile curled on his lips. “Especially Jongdae,” he added at the end.Kyungsoo glanced at the hand on his shoulder and then over to the smiling Baekhyun. “You’d really want that?” he asked with a lift of his dark eyebrows.Baekhyun nodded enthusiastically.As Baekhyun nodded, Kyungsoo felt a tug on his fishing pole which caused him to widen his eyes and jump a bit where he sat. His attention went fully onto holding the pole and with some effort and a little bit of pulling, Kyungsoo was able to reel in a fish. It wasn’t just a simple fish, but it was a rather large fish, looking like one that was as appetizing as any wild fish Baekhyun could have fished for in his own world. “Look! I caught one!” Kyungsoo cheered as he held the fish out in front of him—thumb and index finger keeping a hold on the line just some inches above where the fish had its mouth hanging on the end of the line.“Whoa!” Baekhyun was surprised by Kyungsoo’s great catch and his hands clapped together happily at the sight. He watched carefully as Kyungsoo removed the fish from the line and held it in his hands—the proportions of the large fish against Kyungsoo’s small body making it look a bit monstrous in size.“I’ve never caught a fish this big before! This is going to be fun to cook!” Kyungsoo’s eyes closed as he smiled toward Baekhyun. His expression when he was happy and excited was precious and Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel a warmth in his heart as he looked upon it.From there, Kyungsoo suddenly produced a small portable stove from under his stool—synonymous to one Baekhyun had seen used in camping—and a pan along with oils and seasonings he used to cook. There was a small knife as well that Kyungsoo used to cut the fish in a way that Baekhyun found to be expertly judging by how precisely and neatly done it was and Kyungsoo began to fry the fish in the pan. The smell of the frying fish began to waft into Baekhyun’s and Kyungsoo’s nostrils and they both sighed happily at the delightful scent, though Baekhyun thought that maybe he wouldn’t have been able to smell anything in a place such as The Void, but he did. Once it was done cooking and after Baekhyun and Kyungsoo traded some kind words about the smallest of aspects of their lives, Kyungsoo plated the fish on a plate he too suddenly revealed from beneath the stool and then presented the food to Baekhyun.“I hope you like it,” Kyungsoo said shyly with a small blush rising over his cheeks. “I’m not sure if it’s enough for you and your friends.”Baekhyun eyed the fish and noticed that it definitely was a large portion. “It will be enough, trust me,” he reassured Kyungsoo, putting Kyungsoo’s small worry at ease. Baekhyun stood up from kneeling on the floor, holding the plate carefully as he did so. “I should bring this to my friends before it gets cold or spoiled.”Kyungsoo nodded. “Of course,” his head lowered. It appeared that maybe he still wouldn’t be leaving The Void.“I think you’ll find yourself cooking more often, Kyungsoo. You’ll be happy…” Baekhyun trailed off as he gazed down at Kyungsoo.“Yes,” Kyungsoo quickly breathed out. “It’s just a little hard without him.”Baekhyun paused and stared at Kyungsoo for some moments. He wanted to know if there was anything else he could do to make Kyungsoo feel better, even if briefly. His lips then fell open as he thought about what he wanted to say and he wasn’t sure if this was possible, but he asked it anyway, “Do you want to leave with me?”Kyungsoo shook his head. “I can’t. Not yet, at least.” He smiled weakly.“Okay…” Baekhyun sighed. He supposed there wasn’t much he could do now, but he wouldn’t let that get his hopes down. He needed them if he wanted to see Chanyeol and Jongdae again. He turned around slowly while taking one last peak at Kyungsoo and saying “good-bye”—Kyungsoo replying very quietly—and then walking off into the darkness. Baekhyun was still carrying the plate of fried fish in his hands and the way he was travelling reminded him of when he met Yixing and had left—how it was dark but an image of another world began to appear before him.There Baekhyun saw the glowing orbs—the happy thoughts that were brighter than ever—and amidst the lights was a kneeling Chanyeol and a standing Jongdae who was trying to reassure Chanyeol who appeared to be a bit broken.Silly Chanyeol, Baekhyun thought. He didn’t need to worry. Baekhyun came back—this time with his confidence in tact and he even brought food to satisfy their aching stomachs.A/N: Ah, bully feels and squishy Kyungsoo o3oGuys, I graduate high school tomorrow! I'm pretty excited~~~Comments always welcome <3