dbsk_flashfic | the one left behind (drabble challenge 192: moon)

Title: the one left behind (drabble challenge 192: moon)
Author: cosmicanomaly
Word Count: 400 (two double-drabbles, I hope that's okay!)
Concrit: sure
Pairing: gen
A/N: meant to precede this. loosely connected snippets from an au verse i hope to write someday. (Yoochun is night).
Summary: he sees Yoochun in the dark.

the one left behind

There is a draft coming through the window, playing with his hair and stroking at his cheeks, and it makes him shiver in his place. Changmin isn't used to sleeping in the cold anymore. His fingers reach across the bed for his hoodie, but all they trace is the cool underside of the pillows.

He falls back onto the mattress with a sigh, clothes still on and leather shoes bound snug around his toes as he slides his eyes shut and breathes in the night.

His throat is raw from abuse, coarse remains of sandpapered flesh, and he knows that it needs some form of salvation, but he stays motionless nonetheless, stubborn. Getting a drink of water means getting out of bed, and all the fighting has sapped him dry.

The words are still echoing inside his head, grazing the edges of his mind with razor sharp barbs. He remembers what happened the last time he lost his temper like this, and he remembers the aftermath just as well. Bloodcurdling screams pierce through vivid imagination, and he feels the hair rise at the back of his head in bitter memory.

When he opens his eyes, all he sees is silence.

He wakes to the feel of cool water droplets pooling in an upturned palm, a distant hum of water washing away the moonlight. A few more minutes spent with his eyes still closed, and he registers the tell-tale sound of water hitting the hardwood floor. He lets out a tired breath of irritation before kicking off his blankets and rising up to close the window. There is nothing outside but black.

The heat is still simmering in his throat, burning, turning tissue into ash, and he needs water to put it out. Thunder strikes as he bumps into a wall, half-asleep - barely alive and barely breathing as he shuffles to the kitchen with his eyes still closed. He hasn’t felt this exhausted in years. The water feels like salve rushing down his throat, and he imagines drowning in his guilt.

He is walking back to his room when lightning strikes, illuminating Yoochun's dark glare as he stands just two feet before him.

Changmin’s heart stops beating. "The fuck-" and darkness falls once again and Yoochun is gone. When he reaches out, there is nothing there but night.

Changmin heaves violently onto the floor.

Yoochun has been dead for years.