Wonderland

It takes him a good four minutes of lying there before he remembers that the window in his room is covered by heavy black-out curtains, held firmly against the wall by his desk. He manages to get both eyes open after the revelation. The room he’s in is definitely not his own, too bright and with whiteboards on the wall detailing nurses and doctors assigned to patient ‘Lee’ of 517B.

He tries to sit up, bracing his arms and hissing when he notices the IV hooked into the crook of his arm conecting him to lines of fluids resting on a rack above his head. His brows furrow in annoyance at the equipment.

“Jihoon!” His father’s voice breaks the near silence in the room as the older man rounds the curtain cutting the hospital room in half. Seungkwan trails in after the man, screeching and almost dropping his coffee on the floor as he rushes to Jihoon’s side.

The days blur together after that first one. He remembers Seungkwan bringing him books or games or school work throughout the time he’s there, his father coming and sitting next to him and watching TV, even a couple of girls from his class coming to visit him with homemade food or gifts, but none of it really matters because there’s only one person he’s concerned with and they haven’t been in to see him even once.

When he arrives at school after his discharge, he rushes to the bathroom. Not the main bathroom, the one in the far hallway that’s barely ever used except for the few third years that would sneak in there to smoke during study period. The one where Minki and Jihoon would spend most of their mornings.

“Minki!” he yells when he steps in. The door bangs as it shuts, leaving the bathroom in eerie silence in its wake. He pushes each stall door open, frowning when they all swing open with no one inside. He props himself on the counter, deciding to wait as the first bell rings. It shouldn’t be long before Minki shows up after all.

But he doesn’t show up. The bell for first period release rings and no one has entered the bathroom. The bell for second period rings and no one comes in. The bell for second period release trills and still nothing. Jihoon chews his lip as third period passes and he makes his way to the cafeteria for lunch.

He finds Seungkwan at their usual table by himself and sets his stuff down, startling the younger. He scans the room, searching every face but no matter how hard he looks, Minki isn’t there.

“H-hyung, are you okay? What are you looking for?”

“Minki.” He doesn’t even look at Seungkwan as he picks up his bag again. “Kwannie, cover for me, I’m going to his house.”

Seungkwan’s eyes bulge as Jihoon starts towards the door. “W-wait, hyung, st-” Jihoon presses on through the crowd, ignoring Seungkwan completely.

He makes it to the back gate which has been broken for as long as Jihoon has been at the school and flags down a taxi, too impatient to take the bus like he usually would.

His feet tap against the floorboard as the car crawls through the city towards Minki’s house. Jihoon doesn’t even know what he’s going to say to him. He’s scared, honestly. All of the things that the doctors told him, things that Minki had told him, it all added up to one thing in Jihoon’s mind: Minki is sick. Very very sick. And as bad as Jihoon was during his hospital stay, Minki is ten, no, twenty times worse. Minki needs to get help and he needs it quickly.

He pays his tab as the taxi pulls up to the curb, not even waiting for his change as he rushes up the stairs of Minki’s apartment complex, feet slapping against the concrete loudly. But Minki isn’t home when he gets to the apartment. No one is. And no one will be if the “For Rent” sign in the window is any indication.

“They moved out a few days ago.” Jihoon turns at the voice, finding one of the maintenance workers leaning against the wall a little further downt he hall. “There was a death in the family, a boy about your age, and the parents couldn’t stand to be here anymore.”

Jihoon’s heart sinks and he feels bile in his throat as he nods and makes his way back downstairs. He doesn’t even make it to the ground floor before he collapses, sinking into himself as sobs rack his body. Minki is gone. Minki is dead and gone and Jihoon was too late to do anything bout it.

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