Page 246 of Scarbound

Ji-Woo looked away.

“But,” the doctor continued, “he is stable right now.”

Duri released a breath.

The doctor finished packing his bag.

Noeul heard the sounds without understanding them. A zipper. Metal clicking together. Voices. His name. Everything seemed to arrive from very far away.

His body lay beneath the blanket, but it didn’t completely feel like his. Sometimes a sensation reached him several seconds after it happened. Sometimes it didn’t reach him at all.

Duri pulled the blanket slightly higher.

Noeul flinched.

Duri immediately stopped. “Sorry.”

Noeul stared at him.

“It’s just the blanket.”

The words meant nothing.

Duri let go of it.

Noeul’s gaze drifted back toward the wall. His thoughts came in fragments.

Don’t move.

A pause.

If I don’t move, nothing happens.

Another gap.

Stay still.

His fingers curled loosely into the blanket.

Disappear.

He didn’t know what he was trying to disappear from. Only that being very still felt important.

His name felt distant too. People kept saying it.

Noeul.

He knew, somehow, that it belonged to him. But it felt like the name of someone he used to know.

Ji-Woo stood at the foot of the bed. He hadn’t moved for several minutes. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, hands tucked beneath his biceps as though physically restraining himself.

Duri noticed. “Ji-Woo.”

“I’m fine.”

Too fast.

Duri didn’t challenge him. Not here.