Finally Found You (TayNew AU)

Chapter 9

The little boy was crying out loud, eyes tightly shut, hands covering his ears, trying his best to keep the voices at bay. He was fervently praying for his mommy or daddy or anyone to come and save him from the voices, to get him out there because he was getting more terrified the longer he was there.

'What if.... What if I can't find my way home? What if the shadows take me far away too? Just like.....' His thoughts were running wild but came to a sudden halt when he heard something akin to a whisper unlike the scary ones from before.

"Khun...." the soft voice called out. And suddenly the loud taunting noises ceased. He wasn't even aware that he stopped shouting back at the voices himself, allowing the soft sound to echo out more loudly in that cold, hollow, and dark place. The soft velvety voice ringed once more as if calling out to him.

"Khun...."

He looked around him to look for its source. Even though he was still afraid, he still went in search of it, mustering the courage to take those first few steps towards finding where that soothing voice came from.

After walking for a while, the boy saw this bright piercing light and a person's silhouette reaching a hand out towards him. The little boy hesitated, remembering his daddy telling him not to talk to strangers nor blindly follow someone he didn't know, but the person's gentle smile brought on this warmth to the little boy that he couldn't explain and he felt as if he was safe in their presence even before he knew their name.

The boy trudged forward but the light was too bright that he had to close his eyes. He could feel himself tremble a little bit, getting scared again of the unknown that was ahead of him.

'"No need to be afraid na. I'm here. I'm right here," the voice told him and he felt this sense of comfort envelope him as the person held his hand. Reassured by those words and by the simple touch, he gripped the other's hand tight, not wanting to let go, and dared to open his eyes to finally look towards the person in front of him.

"Tay....."

"Tay!"

Tay blinked his eyes into focus at his name being called. He was at the Chansook residence, lounging at the pair's backyard by the pool together with their other friends. He was there being coddled by his cousin Alice a week after the fainting incident at the parking lot.

"You were zoning out again. Are you alright? Should I call the family doctor?" she worried.

He's been off work for the better part of the week, having spent a day at the hospital and the remainder at home recuperating. When he was discharged, he felt that he was ready to get back to work but Alice felt she knew better and 'insisted' on him taking the rest of the week off.

"You better stay at home and rest or else you won't like what I might do if you don't so better listen to me Khun Tay Tawan Vihokratana," she said to him firmly. She said it wasn't but it sure felt like a threat to Tay.

Alice was the "mama bear" of the group, full of wisdom and maturity. She's usually carefree and lets the boys run wild but is always there to remind them to be careful and what not. She's also the first one to tell them 'I told you so' when the boys end up doing something stupid and do stuff against her better judgment. She is almost always right, though Tay and the others would never admit to it, except Arm of course, which was maybe how they'd all managed to stay alive through the years of recklessness and abandon that they did in their youth. When one gets sick or is going through something, she somehow could sniff it out and goes 'beast mode' and makes a big deal about it, just like what she's doing now.