Hunted [Chapter 6]
It takes us approximately 30 minutes to get from the shackle to the new place. It doesn't look too bad to be honest. I mean, sure the house looks like it's about to collapse and all, but at least we'll be spending our winter days in between brick walls.
We've kept our distance when we walked over here, just to be sure. Jiyong walked ahead of me in his almost too colourful clothes. You'd think people would stare at him and be suspicious, but it was the other way around. Every time people passed me, I felt like they knew who I was. Jiyong was practically hopping all the way, smiling at everyone he'd passed.
But now, Jiyong hands me his bags, opens the door of the building and tells me to follow him. Once inside I have to change to see anything because all the windows were closed off with planks. I look at Jiyong and I see he has changed as well, eyes glowing bright red.
"Follow me..." He says and walks towards the stairs. I do as I'm told.
"Ji?" I ask to get his attention. He doesn't stop climbing the stairs but turns his head around to look at me.
"Yeah?"
"Did you notices that, although we look different when we are like this, our 'abilities' are almost the same?" Now he stops and turns around completely, clearly a bit confused.
"How do you fi-" But I already know what he's about to ask so I interrupt him.
"Because you can see better in the dark but also in general, right?" He nods.
"You feel stronger and it's more difficult to stay calm when you're angry?" Nod.
"You're faster than you were?" He nods.
"I get where you're going, but let's continue this upstairs, there's something I have to tell you, okay?" He smiles slightly. Tell me something? Tell me what? I really don't like the sound of this. We continue walking, god how far do these stairs go? They are probably not that high, but my leg still hurts. The walk over here didn't help it to heal but it was okay, the stairs however...
Eventually we reach the top of the stairs. I'm tired and the pain in my leg is almost unbearable, but I try not to show it. Then again, Jiyong notices everything so who am I fooling. He looks at me worried, but I just smile.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not!" He walks towards me, takes my arm and puts it over his shoulder.
"Come on..." Jiyong pushes the closest door open and leads us inside. I can't believe my eyes. The room looks like an hotel room in use. There's a bed, a sofa, a table, chairs, a carpet, a cupboard, blankets,... For a few moments I forget the pain in my leg and look around.
"Woah..."
"I know right? It looks like we've just rented a room in a hotel... The only thing is, there's no heating... But hey, we even have a working bathroom!" Jiyong exclaims happy. He points over to a door.
"We have water, but we'll need to heat it with fire. But first things first, let us take a look at that leg of yours."
I sit down on the sofa and pull my jeans up and sure, the leg's bleeding again. Jiyong takes a look at it and starts to look around.
"What's wrong?" I ask. It looks like he's searching for something.
"I need a light, otherwise I won't be able to see what I'm doing..." What?
"I thought you could see in the dark, just like me??" He nods and sighs.
"That's what I wanted to tell you on the chairs... Okay, take my hand." He puts out his right hand. I take it but release it almost immediately.
"Ah, jeeeez! It's hot!" He pulls it back and nods again.
"Yep, every time I change my hands feel like they're on fire. That's why I handed over the bags, because they would just burn. I can touch most metals though, probably because they need higher temperatures to melt... Didn't you notice that I didn't touch you with my hands?" As I think of it, it does make sense now. So that's why he handed those bags over...
"Wait, why only your hands?"
"I... I don't know... But remember when I told you I had ran away from home? When I arrived at my hiding spot, it felt like my whole body was on fire... And it got me thinking... What if our 'powers' aren't truly developed yet?"
"... You've got a point there... Hey, what about fire?"
"Fire?" He looks at me like I just said the dumbest thing ever.
"Yeah, can you, you know... Touch it?" He looks pensive for a while.
"I don't know..." Maybe we should test it. I put my hands inside my coat's pockets, I'm fairly sure I have a lighter in there somewhere. I suddenly feel something metal-ish and take it out, and yes, there it is.
"Here, try it!" I put it on and the little flame lightens up the entire room. Jiyong looks at me with wide eyes.
"Are you nuts?! What if I can't?!"
"You'll notice that quite soon. Soon enough anyway. Come on, try it!" I bring the lighter closer to him. He slowly puts out his hand, doubt written on his face. After a few seconds, he puts his hand in the flame and doesn't take it out.
"Oh. My. God... No way..." He says what I think.
"Well? How does it feels?" I ask, my voice not higher than a whisper. Jiyong looks at his hand like it's an alien. His mouth hangs open a bit in disbelieve.
"A bit warm, but that's it..." Jiyong still looks like he's under some sort of spell. It makes me a bit uneasy so I close the lid of the lighter, putting out the flame while doing so. Jiyong's face changes back to 'normal' as he seems to snap out of it. He stands up and starts pacing around the room, thinking. I, In the meanwhile, patch up my leg with the bandage we (luckily) brought with us. With me putting down my jeans again, I can feel the sofa dip next to me.
"Hyunnie, what does this mean? What are we going to do now?" He asks me. It's the first time I've seen him looking so lost.
"I don't know... But we should get the other bags here..." I ready myself to stand up when Jiyong grabs my arm and looks me in the eye.
"No, it can wait 'till tomorrow. Can we just rest for now, with your leg and all?" It seems as if the reason to stay here is my leg, but there's something else as well. Jiyong looks tired, sad even.
"Hey, are you okay?" I ask him, putting my hand on his shoulder as I do. He turns his head, nods and tries to smile. But the smile doesn't reach his eyes.
"You sure?" And he nods again.
"Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all... Let's get some sleep..." He stands up and squeezes himself underneath my arm so I can lean on them. We make our way towards the bed. It's big enough for us both so I take the right side and Jiyong the other. I take the blanket and pull it so it covers us almost completely. We say our goodnights and Jiyong turns his back to me and I can see the red hair making place for the short blond. I change as well and the room goes black.
Going to sleep is the hardest thing to do. Being careful not to get caught isn't easy either, but at least your mind is busy with trying to stay as hidden as possible. Lying in your bed, trying to get some sleep however... You start to think about everything, your life, your parents... Daesung... But I try not to think about all those things as much as possible and focus on falling asleep.
And I almost succeed, until I can hear sniffing coming from my right side. I change back so I can see where the sound is coming from, although I pretty much already know. Jiyong is still facing the other side, but his shoulder is going up and down slightly. I put my hand on his shoulder and he immediately freezes. He probably thought that I was already asleep.
"Hey..." I whisper and squeezes his shoulder lightly to comfort him. He turns around and hides his head in my chest, sobbing now. I don't have to ask what's wrong, I can see that I'm not the only one who finds it hard not to think about the people we care about. I put my arms around his back and kiss his forehead. And there's only one thing I can do right now. And that's to lie.
"Everything is going to be alright..."
+++
I wake up to the sound of water running. I open my eyes and the room is lithe with tiny sunbeams that made their way through the cracks in the barricaded windows. I turn my head to find Jiyong gone. But the noise coming from the bathroom answers my question to where he is. I must have fell asleep at some point last night.
The door of the bathroom opens and reveals a Jiyong only covered in a bath towel. He looks at me and smiles.
"Good morning." He seems happy again, or at least happier. So I smile back at him.
"There's some hot water left if you want. It took a while to head it up only using a small fire made out of curtain fabric but..."
"Thanks" I say and get up. My leg doesn't hurt so much anymore.
After cleaning myself up, I get dressed to get ready to leave. We still need to get the rest of the bags here. I enter the bedroom again and see that Jiyong is already putting on his shoes.
"Ready to go?" He asks as I sit down next to him. I nod.
"Are you sure? I mean, with the leg..."
"The leg is fine." I try to assure him. He gets up to leave but after 2 or 3 steps he stops walking. His back is turned to me.
"Hyunnie, about last night... I... I'm sorry..." He says softly.
"Ji, you've done nothing to be sorry about... Listen, I'm here... Talk to me, okay? I know how you feel..." I stand up and put my hand on his shoulder, just like I did last night.
"Still, crying like that..."
"Hey, it's okay to cry. You're not a monster, you're only human and this is the proof!" He finally turns his head and although his eyes are wet, he smiles.
"Thank you."
+++
When we go outside, the first thing we notice is the sun. For the first time in weeks it's sunny. It's also not as cold as it was. Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily a good thing. More sunshine means more people outside. More people outside means the chances we'd get caught are higher as well. But Jiyong tells me I have to act more natural, greet the people. He has a point. I pretty much look like I did something wrong while Jiyong looks like a happy kid on his way to school.
Shit, school! We're supposed to be at school at this time. Whatever, I look older than I am anyway and Jiyong looks so much like a walking rainbow that the people he encounters are totally lost. I walk ahead this time. We're almost have way, people are shopping and look happier than they normally do. I smile and almost forget I have to be careful. Luckily, nobody's paying us any attention.
Suddenly, I see a guy standing in the middle of the street, his back turned to me. And I don't know why, but he kind of looks like Daesung, even if I can't see his face. I guess when you miss someone, you see them everywhere, even though they're not really there. I keep my eyes on him and continue walking. The guy turns around suddenly and I can't believe my eyes.
"Dae?"
A/N: Ah, another chapter... It takes a while for me to update, sorry (projects, exams and an illness doesn't help XD) So I updated what I already had (cliffhanger, sorry I know XD). What will happen?? XD
Sorry for the mistakes and happy reading!
Oh yes, it seems like I can reply on comments again (no idea why it didn't work in the first place XD).
Note to myself: Do not write fanfiction in a crowded classroom filled with boys XD