The Monster From The Nightmares

25. Secrets

Jongin's hand slapping over her mouth cuts off her cry of alarm.

"Shh, do you really want them to know you went to the basement?"Jongin hisses. She freezes. How did he know?

"You're lucky that everybody rarely, if ever, checks the security footage down there," he comments coldly as he pulls away.

She looks at him. His bronze skin was slick with sweat and he was wearing sweats. He had probably been dancing.

"Are you going to tell?" she asks after a brief while. He rolls his eyes and scoffs.

"If I were going to do that, why would I come in to give you a reassurance of safety?"

"That was supposed to be a reassurance?"

"Whatever. Suho and Yixing are looking for you. I've been stalling, but you better have a good excuse."

"Shit!" she exclaims, then teleports to the living room, where she knew the older boys would probably be. She was right.

"Autumn, where were you?" Yixing asks, standing up.

"Sorry, I went for a walk. When I got back I decided to take a shower, but I found out I was on my period and I had to go to a pharmacy to get tampons--"

"Okay, don't need to know more," Suho interrupts hurriedly, clearly uncomfortable.

Autumn adds in a small chuckle to make is seem believable.

"So what'd you need me for?"

"We're going to test out your time ability," Yixing explains.

"I'm bringing Z back?!" she asks excitedly.

Yixing shakes his head, "Not yet. We're going to test it on Kyungsoo and bring his memory of Jongin back."

Her eyes widen.

"Does Jongin know?" she asks in a whisper.

"No, we don't want him to be disappointed if it doesn't work," Suho sighs, "If it does, it's going to be his birthday gift."

"Kyungsoo agreed?" she asks slowly.

"I did."

She lets out a small shriek and whirls to see Kyungsoo standing up from the couch.

"How long...?"

"I've been here the whole time Autumn, you just didn't turn around to see me," he snaps, then sighs, "Sorry, I'm nervous. I don't really want to die again."

"It's safe Kyungsoo," Yixing reassures, "She's done this hundreds of times on forest animals. But, if you want, I can have Xiumin come in and numb your body so if you do die you don't feel it."

Kyungsoo sighs again.

"I'll be fine. Just hurry up and do it so I don't loose my nerve."

"Lay down on the couch and close your eyes," Yixing instructs. Kyungsoo obeys.

"Suho, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asks in an almost silent whisper, "What if I fail and I hurt him."

"You won't, now just do it," Suho answers.

She gulps and walks over to Kyungsoo. She places two fingers on his temple and one on his chin. She glances at Yixing nervously. He gives an encouraging smile and nods her on.

She takes a deep breath and wills herself to see his timeline.

It was horrifying. She struggles to keep herself there and not screw up. But as she rushes through his childhood, all she sees is the blood covered ground and people running. All she hears are loud blasts that seemed to make her hearing stop working.

Just as she exits, she feels the world begin to shake.

She closes her eyes as she breezes through, not wanting to see anymore than she had to. She opens her eyes when she hears a soft crying.

A younger Jongin was before her, curled up in the white sheets of a bed. He was so small and frail. She thought he was a sad sight. He was trembling, it took her a few seconds to realize he was scared.

"I brought food," Kyungsoo says.

Jongin jerks up, wiping away his tears. Around his wrist was a rough looking metal cuff, she could see his tan skin was chafing.

Jongin is trembling horribly as Kyungsoo sits down on his bed, placing the food in the younger boys lap. Kyungsoo then reaches over and touches Jongin's face gently.

She skips ahead to the last memory of Jongin she can find, the day before Kyungsoo is killed.

Autumn gasps as she falls out of the time line and onto the floor. She can't breath, her chest hurt.

"Autumn, calm down," Yixing calls through the water rushing to her head, "It's okay. You did it..."

Her lungs open up. She gets one good breath before her world goes black.

🔹🔹🔹🔹

Jongin collapses after he finishes the last dance. His stomach growls, demanding food. He promptly ignores it and curls up on the floor, closing his eyes. He just wanted to sleep.

"Jongin," someone asks, he groans in response.

"Do you want me to help you to your room?" the person asks.

"No, I just want to rest for a few minutes," he mumbles.

The person leans down and wraps Jongin's arm around his shoulders, then proceeds to lift him up. The person's body was freezing.

"Xiumin," Jongin whines tiredly, "I just wanna dance."

"And you need to just sleep," the older boy grunts.

"Xiu, please don't make me," Jongin begs, "I don't want to have the nightmares."

"You're having the nightmares again?" Xiumin asks.

"Mhm, they came back when Kyungsoo died. They got worse after he didn't remember me," Jongin answers in a mumble. He was already half asleep.

They arrive at Yixing's room, where Jongin was still staying. Xiumin gently lays Jongin down and takes off his shoes. Jongin tries to get up, but Xiumin easily overpowers him and forces to lie back down.

"You need to sleep Jongin," Xiumin tells him.

"Please don't make me," Jongin pleads one last time.

Xiumin shakes his head, "You need to. I'll ask Autumn is she can come in and try to make them go away."

But Jongin doesn't hear him. His eyes are closed and his face is furrowed. His hell had begun.

Xiumin sighs and leaves. He runs into Yixing carrying a passed out Autumn.

"Jongin's having the nightmares again. That's why he hasn't been sleeping."

"I know," Yixing sighs, "That's why I only make him go to sleep when he can't stand anymore."

"He needs Kyungsoo."

"And he'll get him soon."

Yixing smiles his dimples showing.