The Second Life's

XXIII - Hunting Day (II)

The dark...

Chilling...

Everything feels very uncomfortable.

It was like going back to those dark moments.

A young man lay stiff in the midst of the gripping darkness. There was no sound, no light, it was like being in the middle of an uninhabited vacuum.

Only he's a.

The young man's consciousness was slow. He had no idea how long he had been in this place. He doesn't know where he is, what's going on around him, and who he is...

But he knew he was lying down. Lying stiff as his body had decomposed into a lump of flesh that resembled a corpse. He could not move every muscle in his body. He didn't even know if he was opening his eyes or closing his eyes.

All he knew was that he had lived like this for a long time. Lie down obediently like this.

An uncomfortable feeling flooded his chest. Maybe it was just an illusion because all he knew was that his body was not functioning normally at the moment. His chest could not possibly beat because he could feel that his body was almost petrified inedible with age.

He himself was also unclear as to why he could be this confident. Why did he know that his body resembled a corpse when he himself could not see what had happened to him.

Stuffy...

Perhaps it was also an illusion because he could not even listen to the sound of his breathing, but this uncomfortable feeling slowly reverberated to make him feel sore.

He doesn't know what happened to him. Why it felt so uncomfortable, he wasn't even sure if he was actually alive or not.

The young man's fragile consciousness swayed like a faint candle flame that would be extinguished with only a slight gust of it hitting him. One word flashed across the young man's consciousness.

Maybe this is 'deprivation'...

......................

A handsome young man lay on the bed with a peaceful expression like a prince sleeping in a fairy tale, but not long after that a frown formed on the young man's eyebrows accompanied by an increasingly agitated breath. Slowly drops of cold sweat began to flood the young man before the peace broke with a loud snort of gasping breaths.

Vendry opened his eyes with an indistinct expression of fear. The young man looked at the ceiling of the room with an unfocused blurry look, yet his breathing did not stop panting as if he had just faced a terrifying bad event.

The door of the room opened with rather sharp friction before a female voice broke the stiff air in the room.

"Vendry!"

The young man who was lying on the bed slightly moved his eyelids when he heard the new voice, but his two eyes were still staring at the ceiling of the room with sluggishness and unfocused still the same.

Slowly the sound of footsteps echoed louder and louder towards the mattress as the lights opened and instantly illuminated the darkened condition of the room to show what was happening with the occupants of the room.

Ella frowned with a touch of uneasiness as she looked at the fragile expression on the young man who had always stood like that iceberg in ordinary days.

Damnit... Relapsed again...

At first Ella was taking care of her work casually outside the room, but in the middle of her sense of leisure, the fingers that were typing on top of the laptop keyboard suddenly stopped as soon as his ears moved slightly and caught the wheezing sound coming from inside the room. The reminder instantly sounded the alarm in Ella's mind and made the young girl put down all her work and rush to open the door of the room.

And just as he had expected, the sound of gasping breath filled the room as if the occupants of the room were dying from a certain pain. Ella went straight to the sole source of the sound and opened the room light.

The lights that light up automatically reveal this scene.

In front of his eyes, Vendry was panting with a stifling wheezing sound. Vendry's gaze seemed to flutter like it was about to break with a light touch along with the sweat that had flooded the young man.

"Hush... Vendry's calm. It's me, everything's fine, honey."

The soft caress made the young man's eyes slightly move before his lips opened with an even more suffocating wheezing sound.

Slowly, Ella gently turned Vendry's face to look at her, "Relax Vendry. Everything's fine. Breathe slowly, do not be afraid that nothing will happen to you. Everything's fine..."

Vendry's lips twitched even more, yet the young man seemed to have found a trace of his consciousness and both of his blurred pupils slowly became focused towards Ella. Vendry's gaze emitted a flimsy confusion and foggy trace as if he didn't know what was happening.

"Hush... Yeah, everything's fine. You're safe here, honey. You're safe..."

The wheezing sound grew even more panicked as if the young man was anxious about something he did not know. Vendry's lips trembled and his gaze grew foggy with the radiance of restlessness and pure ignorance.

"Don't be afraid. You're very safe with me, honey. Nothing's gonna happen. Trust me, everything is fine. You'll be fine here. It was just a nightmare..."

Slowly Vendry's breath became more stable and consciousness had also gathered in his eyes. Vendry closed his eyes and took a slow breath before exhaling it and repeated this breathing technique over and over again to ease his anxiety. Beside Vendry, Ella did not stop caressing the young man's face and continued to whisper soothing words filled with gentleness and patience.

"really. Take your breath slowly and exhale. Look, everything's so easy. No one is sick."

Vendry slowly opened his eyes. Despite being conscious, however, the young man still showed a rare fragile expression. The pair of eyes that made the person enchanted was now misty with a pink trace in the corner.

"Don't be afraid. You're safe, everything's over. Nothing happened and now we're fine. It's safe here, my dear," Ella gently persuaded. The young girl who always appeared friendly and confident now showed an expression of distress with a smile that hid her sadness.

Vendry raised his hand and touched where Ella's hand was lodged in her face with a tremor that still left a sticky trace of her sweat.

"Same...?"

The sadness spread in Ella's heart. He still forcefully drew a calming smile and said, "Yes, safe. You're secure. We're safe now."

The stifling wheezing slowly faded into nothingness, yet Vendry's eyes grew even sadder. The young man showed an expression of pain as if he was recalling a nightmare that was slashing his heart.

"Same on.., but I still feel bad. Ella.. it felt very uncomfortable..," whispered Vendry with a constant vibration in her tone that sounded like tormented.

A drop of tears flowed from the corner of Vendry's eyes as if the young man was about to break in the next second.

Ella fell silent. He no longer tried to persuade the young man who was going through this phase of disorder and only gently wiped the tears flowing from the corner of Vendry's eyes.

"I knew. I always know.., but it's okay..."

"Don't be afraid, I'm here with you..."

"I'll always be here with you..."

......................

Vendry had fallen back into his sleep after the distraction session. Even though he slept, but the young man always pulled the corner of his lips with tension and wrinkles still bothering even in his sleep.

Ella sat down next to Vendry and sat leaning on the head of the bed. He gently continued to caress the young man's hair that was soaked in sweat without any disgust. Each of its caresses brings a comfortable touch of softness.

Ella looked at the sleeping face of Vendry who had those tear marks and sighed. He looked at the medicine lying on the bedside table with a glass of water that was already half-full.

"It seems that even this drug has begun to fail..."

"Huh... Vendry, what should I do for you..."