FIREFALL, OR IN EXO WONDERLAND ▷ COMPLETE

Let Out the Beast

CHAPTER 25: LET OUT THE BEAST

Lay was busy studying the map that Xiumin had drawn. Waa~! He couldn't believe it. So, this was the map to the Castle of Hearts? With the massive amount of knowledge in his head, he knew that it was real. Xiumin sure had a photographic memory!

Lay had done his job today. Kris was healed from his lacerated back and broken ribs while Xiumin... Xiumin... He's a special case. There was nothing wrong with Xiumin now. Maybe it's true that he was too tired after escaping from his captors that he went cold and pale and stuff. Or maybe it was an alibi to make up for his irresponsibility during a time of chaos. Or was it only the objectivity of Lay's inquisitive mind? Now, his 'investigation' was straying off the track. Fine, Lay. Why don't you just imagine Xiumin as the culprit while you're at it? Lay doused his thoughts and medical apparatus in carbolic acid to disinfect them.

A few people were still inside the Scientists' Domain because the rest were busy watching D.O teaching Kris how to master the element of earth. The view might be interesting to watch. But he had to finish his work first. He wiped the scalpels clean with a piece of tissue paper. Luhan's grim face was reflected on the shiny metal blade.

"Yah, Luhan! What's with that face?" Lay glanced at the hatter tapping his fingers on the table behind a glass wall behind him.

"Are you going to leave me alone, too? Everyone? When they go to the Castle of Hearts, will they leave me behind this glass? Will they forget me? Won't they give me more tea? Won't they drink with me?" Luhan tapped his table louder. It sounded more like pounding than tapping.

"I—I—I'm not sure." Lay averted Luhan's gaze and placed the scalpels in a green box stained in dried blood. It was annoying how the box clung to his palms everytime he lifted it. He kept the box in a cabinet on his left. Luhan's big melancholic eyes reminded him of jaded abandoned porcelain dolls seeking for their blameworthy owners. With this kind of gaze, the hatter remained mute on his armchair.

The time when the hatter stop ranting was the best time to leave.

Lay tip-toed to the end of the room and placed his hands on the door, positioned to escape as fast as he could do. Let there be a creak.

"Halt."

Lay stopped, glanced back and saw Luhan staring again, this time his eyes were tinged with crimson red. His fingernails were considerably chipped after tapping his table non-stop with great strength. "Lay, disinfect your hands." he said, an unnatural smile fracturing his porcelain face. "You don't know the history of the blood on that box. You don't know the scalpel as much as I do."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'll show to you later." a caffeinated Luhan waved his unsteady hands. His words came out as unnatural as his plastered smile. "Go, now. Bye. Bye. Bye."

"Okay, gege." Lay walked out of the room and slammed the door to close it. But before he could leave, several images were burned into his mind. Still, he swore that those flashes were not his memories. They belonged to someone else:

Bright round lights hovered over his tired eyes. Frightening faces hid behind rectangular masks. The faces whispered to each other. His arms and legs were bound. And there was the sweet scent of chloroform...

A female voice spoke.

"Stay strong, Han. Mama will love you always!"

A male voice cut in.

"Let him be, that crazy child—"

"No way!" Lay gave his cheeks a pinch to jolt himself up from the parade of moving pictures and eerie sounds. That's what you get for hanging out with a mad hatter for too long. Had the prolonged inhalation of carbolic acid vapours caused him to hallucinate? Checking in progress. He opened the door and looked back inside the forbidden room.