Beau
Not even the noise-canceling headphones could drown out his shout. My fingers paused in flying over the keyboard but resumed when nothing else followed.
A moment later, he yelled again. I glanced up out of the blue-toned bubble the monitors always surrounded me with. He was not a peaceful sleeper. I normally ignored him, but tonight I couldn’t. Tonight he was annoying me more than usual.
Shoving back one side of the headphones, I listened anew.
“No,” he wailed, and something twisted in my gut.
I tossed the headphones onto my desk, moving out from behind my setup, adjusting the beanie I wore as I strode toward the bedroom. Pushing open the door without knocking, I folded my arms over my chest in the doorway.
“Hey,” I called.
He seemed too big for the bed as he thrashed around, breathing heavily and muttering too low for me to understand.
Sighing, I stepped into the dark room out of the light spilling in from the living room. His forehead was damp with a sheen of sweat, his messy dark hair matted in it.
“Wake up,” I intoned, still staring down.
His body stilled for a brief moment, making me think I’d managed to wake him. “I’m trying to work,” I bitched, turning away.
A keening sound filled the room, followed by a broken sob. Footsteps faltering, I turned back, realizing he was still trapped wherever he was. The pain etched in his features made my chest tight, and a sudden need to comfort had me leaning over him.
“Daeshim,” I called.
His face softened just a bit, and it made something inside me ease.
“Daeshim.” I called out to him again, this time reaching out to tap his cheek.
He moved so fast I didn’t even realize what was happening until I was on my back, pinned beneath him. The mattress was soft, but maybe it only felt that way because the body pinning me in place was rock hard.
“What the hell are you doing?” I grunted, trying to shove him off.
His eyes snapped open, but there was no one home. An uneasy feeling wormed around inside me, my fight-or-flight response coming in hot.
I shoved at his shoulders again, watching his face contort in menace. Daeshim was basically a gangster. A criminal and an asshole. He was also my roommate. I’d never been scared of him.
But as his hands shot out, locking around my neck to squeeze, fear bloomed.
I opened my mouth to yell at him, but all that came out was a strangled sound. Panic assaulted me, bursting over everything else and making me feel like I was fighting even though all my physical movements stopped.
Get it together! A voice demanded inside me, effectively stopping the absolute control of the panic.
Grunting, I twisted under him, but his weight pushed me harder into the bed.
Wheezing and eyes bulging, I grappled at his arms, digging my nails into them, trying to pry away his hands.
The set of his mouth was grim, and his eyes glittered with that creepy, empty, nobody’s-home look.
“Dae—” I wheezed, twisting and slapping his arm. “Daeshim.”
He blinked, and I was able to drag in some air before he started strangling me anew. He was in there.
I just have to—
The thought cut off as spots started to swim before my eyes. It was do or die. Literally.
Letting my body go lax under his, I put every last bit of effort into the fist I clenched at my side.
Then, just before this asshole overpowered me, I launched a right hook into the side of his head.
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