we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part twenty-two

⇉ the one with gut feelings.

part twenty-two

"That place... that place is not what everyone thinks it is."

"Hyung? Are you okay?" The young boy draws closer cautiously, concern for his older brother flashing in his chocolate orbs. "Mom said you should rest-"

"No." His brother raises his hands to his hair, clutching his locks so tightly that the boy is afraid that he's going to rip them right out. "No, you have to listen to me. They're testing on people. They know, they know it f*cks us up and yet-"

The boy flinches at the profane word, surprised to hear it coming from his brother's lips. "Do you want water? I can bring you-"

"I don't care about the f*cking water!" The older brother lashes out, and his younger sibling flinches again. The younger brother draws back, a little scared. This is not the dependable, caring, teasing elder brother he once knew. The person standing in this room right now is unrecognizable to him.

"Hyung, I'm not sure... I'm not sure what you mean."

"Look at this." He pulls out a tiny tube container from his pocket, slim and short. "This is what they gave us. In the food. And I didn't realize what it was doing until it was too late." He heaves a shuddering breath. "Monsters. Monsters, all of them."

The younger brother stares at the thick, viscous, iridescently silver liquid inside the tiny clear flask. "It's pretty," is all he can say, lamely.

His brother's expression hardens, and he slumps into a sitting position on the room's bed. "Bro," he begins, in a much softer voice that doesn't match his current visage. "Have you ever wished to have superpowers?"

The boy stiffens, taken aback by the sudden question. "Hasn't everyone?" he replies lightheartedly.

But it's evident that his brother doesn't share his amusement. "I had them."

"Had what?"

"Powers."

There is a moment of silence. And then the younger brother bursts into laughter. He laughs and laughs, a little hysterical when he finally straightens because there is something seriously wrong with his older brother. His gut is telling him that something is really off. "Hyung, please. That's not a good joke."

"I wasn't supposed to remember," his brother whispers to himself, hardly noticing his younger sibling anymore. "I wasn't supposed to remember, but I do."

"Hyung-"

"I shouldn't remember!" A loud crash sounds against the floor when the lamp is smashed. The older stares at it detachedly, as if he cannot comprehend what he just did. There is silence for another long moment, and then:

"Mom!" The younger brother runs to the kitchen, calling for his parent. He's anxious, hoping that his mother can calm down his brother; fix him somehow.

But even as he lays sleepless in bed that night, he doesn't hear the front door open softly and close. He doesn't think to check the window to see the retreating figure. He doesn't think to enter his brother's room to check his bed and he completely ignores his gut, screaming at him that what happened today matters much more than he thinks.

He doesn't think much of anything that night. He should've.

▸

"Jaemin? Are you listening to me?"