#horrorish

‘Hello. I… hmm,’ you greeted the man behind the bars as soon as your elbow found its place on the broad ledge of the stall. You leaned closer to the iron on instinct trying to identify the shape in the void but no matter how narrow your almond-shaped eyes became you remained clueless about the line of his chin, the colour of his hair or the glint in his eyes. So with a resigned sigh and a voice as firm as rock, you got your concentration back on your endless mission instead. ‘I was wondering whether you could tell…’

‘The deal is simple, darling. You shall give me your most precious thing in exchange for your heart’s true desire,’ the man replied in a low voice before you could have finished your question. He then came out of the shadow, hands buried under the counter as if he had hidden something dangerous or scary and your eyes widened as your gaze stuck on his face. He wore a rigid mask, a white one that turned him into a man without emotions. His numb words sent an icy shiver down your spine.

‘I’m afraid I don’t understand,’ you said as you took a small step backwards. In other circumstances, you would have bet that this guy found your jittery reaction pretty hilarious but standing in front of a potential serial killer, you simply lost your sense of humour. From the way he leaned closer, you were absolutely sure that he enjoyed himself. It made you wonder whether it was too late to run away.

‘Your heart’s true desire. You can have it. I can give it to you,’ he said in the very same, calm tone. You couldn’t help but take another shaky step backwards. You had seen enough horror movies to know that a suspicious guy might be dangerous as well. ‘Don’t be so shy, darling. Why would you deny yourself his presence, his love when you could easily get both and more?’ he asked forcing you to stop. With your heart in your throat, you looked down on your watch before your gaze returned to the man. It was obvious, this time you simply couldn’t cheat death. Even your magical object had its limits.

Yet, you were in a room consumed by void. It was your only chance if you didn’t want to sit in the corner for twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes.

‘How?’ you asked as you raised your left brow and crossed your arms in front of your chest. After that one peculiar world full of mighty gods and goddesses, you were curious whether this universe had its own magic, too. Could this man be a magician like Harry Potter or something? Could he really fulfil your greatest wishes? Could he give you what you were craving for?

You fought against your common sense as you once again put your elbow onto the ledge licking your bottom lip in frustration. Why on Earth did it take him so long to answer your question when he was the one who came up with a topic that piqued your curiosity in the first place?

‘Give me the one thing that is more precious to you then anything else in the world,’ he proposed putting his bare hands onto the counter. For some reason, you felt relieved when you noticed the sunkissed tone of his skin. Maybe because deep down you hoped that it was one of your friends hiding under the mask.

You felt dizzy when the first memory popped up in your head ever so gently like a soft breeze on a summer morning. There had been firm arms around your waist rocking you back and forth while mellow lips had burned sloppy kisses onto your skin. Then, the picture changed and you had faced Jin whose eager eyes had been fixed on your cleavage. He couldn’t have torn his gaze apart from the silver necklace he had given you for your first anniversary. It had been truly mesmerizing.

You didn’t even realized that you were crying until a warm drop fell onto your skin bringing you back to the present world. It was extremely painful yet inevitable, handing over the heart-shaped jewelry to the merchant. But in the long run, you knew that it was worth it.

After the man took the necklace, you waited and waited slowly running out of patience but nothing happened.

‘What’s wrong?’ you asked smashing your palms on the ledge with fire in your eyes. The man didn’t flinched a bit.

‘The key to Jin is already in Jungkook’s hand. All you have to do is finding him before it’s too late,’ he enlightened you on his annoyingly calm voice before he leaned backwards melting into the darkness. The deal was done and no matter how hard you tried or how noisy you were, no one listened. As if the merchant had become thin air when you were absolutely sure that it wasn’t possible. He watched you and he enjoyed your uncertainty.

‘But how could I possibly…’ find him in a place like this - you started to complain when a mysterious door opened up on your left only a few metres from you, filling the whole room with light.

With a determined nod and clenched fists, you chose to follow the path.

After the first sixty minutes, you had to admit that this cryptic building was way bigger than you thought especially because you wandered down the appointed hallway for hours before you found the first split on the wall that was actually larger than your foot. Obviously, it was far from a standard size door or even from a window but at least you could finally see the noisy rooms around you. The whispering voices had started to eat your brain.

As you leaned closer to the hole, you fixed your gaze on the man who sat on the worn-out armchair. It was hard to identify him since the only thing you could see was his messy hair and tensed shoulder but you were determined to find the key to your happiness so you didn’t give up. You screamed and shouted until your throat went dry and your desperate cry only faded away when the fire exploded into the man’s face. Even though the flames were dreadfully close, he didn’t move, not even an inch.

You were shocked, eyes blurred with salty tears. And it got worse as time passed by and you witnessed two other catastrophes. You had to watch Jimin drowning under heavy layers of water and Hoseok sinking into tons and tons of chocolate bars. It was insane.

By the time you found Jungkook, you were emotionally overwhelmed therefore you barely recognized him behind the wooden door. Truth to tell, you didn’t even noticed that you had reached the end of this infinite nightmare until your forehead crashed into something firm and muscly.

You gulped when your eyes met with Jungkook’s and you also almost broke into tears when you realized that he was okay. He was pretty much alive observing you from your head to your toes as if he couldn’t believe what was in front of him either. You let out a frustrated sigh then jumped into his arms without thinking, enveloping his body in a bear hug. You were so damn glad that he didn’t suffer the same fate as the others.

‘So…’ you started when you drew yourself apart from him scratching your nape out of emberrasment. You had to clear your throat multiple times to find your voice especially after you saw how red Jungkook’s ears had become. To melt his anxiety away, you took a small step backwards before you broke the unpleasant silence into pieces. ‘That man with his white mask and the magic shop told me that you have the key to my heart’s true desire,’ you explained under one breath. Now, it was your turn. You were the one who became ruby red because of the craziness that came out of your mouth but there was no other way. If the merchant had said the truth, Jungkook had the key to your happiness.

You cast down your eyes chewing your bottom lip before you put your thoughts into a faint yet coherent question: ‘Is it true?’

‘I have a key,’ the boy answered mimicking your shy gestures. He had absolutely no idea how excited his reply made you or how your silly heart refused to beat for a mere second as your eyes filled with hope. If he had been able to look at you instead of the wall above your messy hair, he would have seen the whole universe in your eyes - not just this one but all of them.

‘Awesome,’ was all you could say before the lights went out and the ground started to shake under your feet. You lost your balance pretty soon while on the other hand, Jungkook managed to keep his by clinging onto the dirty wall with all his might. Crawling, you wished that he would hold you close or at least would try to save your ass that crashed into the firm surface over and over again. You were sure that you got some nasty bruises by the time your friend found you in the dark.

‘No, not again,’ he whispered with bated breath right after the first light had returned. In its constant fight for dominance, you felt as if you were in a rave party. Sometimes you saw, sometimes you didn’t, not even the tip of your nose.

Jungkook grabbed your hand and forced you to run as if you both had been in great danger therefore you let him show you the way. Well, it took you only two minutes to realize that once you slowed down your speed, the floor disappeared under your boots. After this first-handed life and death experience, you didn’t stop running even though your muscles hurt like they had never before.

‘What the hell was this?’ you asked hysterically, totally out of control when you were finally safe and your burning limbs could actually collapse without causing the end of the both of you. Your body broke out in a sweat, skin sticky because of the dirt you were laying in. Although you tried, you couldn’t find enough energy to turn towards your friend therefore your eyes stuck on the ceiling instead of the panting Jungkook.

‘This place. It’s a living maze that apparently tries to kill everyone who dares to cross the threshold,’ he explained between two deeper breaths, fingers running through his dark locks. Yet, you refused to believe him because why on Earth would anyone build a murderous house in any universe?

‘It’s nonsense.’

‘Well, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true,’ he declared firmly knowing no opposition. He was angry and devastated, full of regrets since deep down he knew that it was all his fault. As your faint memories had already told you, Jungkook was the one who had asked the seven of you to accompany him to the Land of true happiness as the founded leaflet had called this haunted place advertising your doom with pink hearts and joyful faces.

You didn’t know what to say.

Breathing in and out as slow as it was humanly possible, you leaned the back of your head against the wall as if you could have disappeared from this world concentrating hard enough. The mute atmosphere was heavy and it choked you with its imaginary hands.

‘Come! I want to show you something,’ Jungkook said when your head fell forwards after long hours of silence. As weird as it sounded, in that moment you could have fallen asleep without counting sheeps since you were tired of waiting, of losing, of keeping the track of these crazy realities that drifted you further and further from your home. You missed your ordinary life in your ordinary flat among your extraordinary friends.

You let out an exhausted sigh when Jungkook took your hand pulling you up and brought you to the place where Jin had disappeared.

Memories came to life at the moment your eyes stuck on the case all broken and destroyed laying on the ground on the top of a sand pile and you couldn’t help but stop, confusion written all over your face. You remembered the baby pink Smeraldo flower inside the gilded case that you had been given Jin for his birthday, confessing the true feelings of this you without putting your hopeless love into words. This you had never had the courage to say it out loud, the sweet I love you hidden deep in her heart, divesting herself of the happiness she might have found in Jin’s loving arms. The risk had been too big, she simply couldn’t have taken it.

‘It’s his, right?’ you asked as you walked towards the broken object and sat on your heels beside the sand. When your fingertips touched the edge of the case, you were shaking like those leaves that were unable to resist the will of the wind. It was painful seeing the once beautiful object like this because for some reason it felt as if Jin had thrown your alter ego’s feelings out of the window.

Jungkook nodded then sat down on the other side of the pile.

‘Do you want to know what’s my heart’s true desire?’ he asked a bit unsure. Although your silence didn’t stop him from answering his own question that you wished was only rhetorical. You had already seen enough to know that conversations like this always ended with heartbreaks. ‘I wanted you to love me as much as you loved him in secret.’

He then scratched his nape out of embarrassment laughing on his foolishness, gaze fixed on your finger resting on the broken glass.

‘I…’

‘Please, don’t,’ he said with a sorrowful smile while he was drawing unrecognizable characters into the sand before he swept them away as if he could have erased his fond feelings with a single motion. Your brows knitted to each other as you were watching him processing your silent rejection. ‘I’ve already figured that much out that this key won’t help. You’re not gonna fall in love with me the moment I’ll hand it over, are you?’

It wasn’t a question as he looked at you from under his dark lashes.

‘Sorry. I…’ you started trying to lessen his pain when he brushed your clumsy but honest apology off. He knew that one couldn’t change another’s heart by force.

‘This whole place was a trap for people like me. Sorry for bringing you all here,’ he begged for your forgiveness but refused it when you actually gave him without a second thought. Although you tried to wrap your arms around his figure, he pushed you away turning his back on you and the case. ‘Jin’s death is my fault. He vanished because I’d lost myself in this sick love that I thought was real,’ he told you resting his forehead on his knees.

You embraced him anyway.

‘It’s okay. Everything is okay,’ you whispered rocking him back and forth as Jin had done to you whenever you had needed comfort. You felt Jungkook’s muscles loosen up under your arms.

It happened unexpectedly - the waterfall right behind your back opened up with a faint noise showing you two the way as that mysterious door had done. You took a sharp intake of breath, lungs burning from misgiving when Jungkook stood up and forced you to do the same. He led you to the darkness with unsteady steps and your brows knitted as you recognized the hidden path and the keyhole that was waiting for something small to fill it up.

The click of the lock echoed in the void.

‘Congratulation, little ones,’ said a familiar voice in that annoyingly calm tone that dressed your entire body into goosebumps. In the middle of the room, there was a man waiting for you patiently and at the moment you faced him from behind Jungkook’s back, you saw the merchant or at least the very same, white mask under the black hood. ‘You’re free now.’

‘What?’

‘You managed to fight your own demon,’ he replied without the slightest sign of hesitation. Although you couldn’t quite decipher who he was talking to or even looking at, a part of you suspected that it was all about Jungkook feelings for you. After all, the waterfall had split up when he had accepted your heart’s only desire. It was Jin and not him. ‘It’s your reward.’

‘What about the others?’ Jungkook asked and your eyes wandered in the stilled air as the temperature started to fall.

‘They’re blinded by phantom feelings. I can’t let them go,’ was the only explanation the man told you and your friend confusing the both of you as you leaned your forehead against Jungkook’s spine. His muscles were tense and his obvious anger mixed with utter uneasiness tugged your stomach smashing and clenching your organs.

‘It’s insane,’ you whined digging your nails deep into the boy’s tee out of frustration. You didn’t want to die, not like the others had, drowning and burning to ashes, not again. Yet, if this Jungkook was a bit akin to yours, he would have never left without his friends which meant that there was a freakin’ huge chance that he would turn down the man’s offer of a free pass.

You gulped and looked at your magical watch at the moment the merchant put your thoughts into a coherent sentence. As if he could read your mind or the signs: Jungkook’s feelings, mimics and gestures.

‘Go or stay but don’t you dare take my generosity for granted! After all, I’m the one who saved your soul,’ the man snapped at him raising his voice.

You let your friend’s tee go and took a step backwards.

Truth to tell, you missed Jungkook’s answer because you were too afraid legs shaking like jelly, too dull and out of it counting your remaining seconds. Yet, when the lights went out and the ground shook under your feet you knew that he had made the wrong decision.

Three seconds - Jungkook called for you but you clenched your lips in silence walking as far from him as possible.

Two seconds - your back crashed into something firm and you lost your balance falling onto your knees. The pain was intense, almost unbearable as if you had fallen onto spiky thorns and broken glass.

One second - you tried to convince yourself that this one wasn’t your fight, that you had other things, more important things to care about yet a bitchy voice in your head put all the blame on you for acting cowardly.

You whispered an apology between light sobs as you heard Jungkook crying out your name. He sounded desperate, devastated even. But you pushed the forth button anyway.