❤︎₊ ⊹

the girl, named hayoon, sits in front of her tv. unlike everyone else in her town, she preferred to celebrate the month of halloween in the company of her own house. her parents were away for the weekend and she decided that it’d be nicer to watch her marathon of scary movies on a bigger screen than the one at her college dorm.

today she was starting with the conjuring. unlike everyone else, she didn’t get scared of ghosts. it was real occurrences that scared her, like the move the strangers. god those movies sent a chill down her spine. she was fixing herself a bowl of popcorn when her phone started ringing.

No Caller ID

hayoon thought it might be a spam or a prank call, so she ignored it. she didn’t want to waste her words over something like that. her moment of peace only lasted for 5 seconds before the call rang again.

hayoon rolls her eyes and hangs up, thinking they’d stop after a second time.

they don’t.

the call rings again, immediately after she hangs up.

“who is this?” she huffs into the phone, annoyed by the repeated call.

there’s silence on the other phone before a deep, contorted voice responds. “i don’t know, you tell me hayoon.”

it’s obviously someone she knows. she assumes it’s one of her friends who knows she’s alone watching horror movies tonight.

“very funny. i’m hanging up now.” hayoon smiles, shaking her head as she hangs up. she immediately texts the group chat with all of her friends in it.

hayoon: who’s prank calling me?

the phone rings again. still no caller id.

hayoon picks up.

“you’re not gonna scare me.” hayoon is known in her friend group for not being scared easily. it’s funny they would even try.

“would you like to bet on that?” the deep voice comes from the phone. hayoon wonders how her friend got their voice to change. they must’ve downloaded some software.

“sure,” hayoon laughs, “you better be ready to pay up. i bet 100 bucks.”

“how about we bet your life. if you win, i’ll let you live. if you lose… well… i get to cut you up into tiny little pieces.”

hayoon looks at the phone with disgust. her friends wouldn’t joke like that… nor would they sound so excited about it. just then, her friends sent a message through the group chat.

lee: neither of us called you?

hayoon squints her eyes as she reads the text, before putting the phone up to her ear.

“i’ll ask you one more time. who is this?”

“the last person you’ll see before you die.”

hayoon hears a crash coming from the back of the house, causing her to jump. she hangs up immediately and calls 911. as the line rings, she moves to grab a knife before peaking her head around the corner.

“this is 911, where is your emergency?”

“133 merkel drive. someone’s been threatening me and i think they just broke in.”

“alright, i’m dispatching officers to you right now. if it’s safe to do so, leave your home.”

hayoon nods, as if the operator can see her through the phone. she makes her way to the front door, only for it to slam open. she screams as she’s met face to face with a ghost mask. her phone drops to the floor as she turns to run, but the masked man is already behind her.

he stabs her once, twice, again, again, again, and again before he decides that’s enough. hayoon lies on the floor, hands on her wounds as she bleeds out. when the cops arrive, the culprit is already gone, and hayoon has already passed away.

the college cafeteria seems deserted as you stroll in with your friends. with the exception of a few others and the workers, the 4 of you were the only ones in sight.

“damn it’s dead in here.” jake mutters, looking around.

sunoo shrugs, “i’m not complaining. no lines and ample seating arrangements. it’s like heaven.”

you walk ahead of them with jungwon, the two of you having your own conversation.

“okay so halloween weekend. we’re behind on our costume this year.” your head is turned towards jungwon, trusting that your body knows where you’re going as you’ve been in the cafeteria enough to memorize everything.

“ugh… well youre the one who denied being harley quinn and joker.”

you can’t believe he even suggested that in the first place and snap your icy gaze to his own.

“that’s so overused. i see harley quinn every year.”

jungwon sighs, tired of having this conversation for the past month.

“how about… curious george and that banana man.” you are obviously gonna claim being george, but jungwon doesn’t seem to hate the idea.

he laughs at the fact you couldn’t remember ted’s name. “maybe. if we can’t think of anything else. i’d rather not wear a full yellow outfit and only be referred to as banana man.”

you ponder over different ideas as the four of you grab your food. “how about barnacle boy and mermaid man?”

“you know what… yeah. i’d be down to wear some spandex.”

you’re honestly surprised that’s the first thing he thinks of. he doesn’t want to look like a banana, but wearing spandex is fine. either way, you’re just happy the two of you finally agreed on something.

“see why didn’t we do this last year?” jungwon has always been your best friend, and every year the two of you make a point to match costumes.

“because your ex-boyfriend had a stick up his ass.”

it’s no secret jungwon didn’t like your ex. honestly, you're surprised the two of them didn’t get into a brawl from how much they hated each other.

“right…” honestly you forgot about that. to be fair, if jungwon ever got a girlfriend, you are sure he would have to do the same thing.

“alright you two, i’m feeling left out.” sunoo steps between the two of you as jake appears beside jungwon.

“sorry, we were getting our costumes in order, considering the party is this weekend.” jungwon leads the group to one of the many vacant tables, making sure to save a spot for you like he always does. you miss the way his eyes seem to follow you with a kind of endearment.

sunoo doesn’t miss it, in fact he’s the one jungwon confided in. he sees the not-so-sneaky glances that linger for too long. he just wishes jungwon would confess already. it’s been two years.

“guys!” the last of your little group joins the party as she not so subtly enters the room. paying no mind to the empty cafeteria, jiwoo scrambles her way towards the four of you while waving her phone.

“what’s up jiwoo?” jake squints his eyes at the moving phone, which is impossible to see with how fast she is swinging it around.

“did y’all hear about the girl who got murdered?”

all four of you drop your spoons as your facial expressions are wiped from your faces. you almost think jiwoo is messing with you, but she looks too serious. despite that, you have a hard time thinking that’s true.

“who was it?” jake asks, already feeling a deep ache in his chest from his own sympathy.

“her name is hayoon. i never really saw her around, but apparently she went to this college.”

sunoo looks down at the table, a grimace on his face as he visibly shivers. “i never talked to her, but we had a class together last semester. she seemed cool from what i could tell.”

the five of you unanimously decide to have a moment of silence for her. the heaviness of the situation weighs on you like an anchor.

“did they say who killed her?” jungwon asks as he grabs his phone out of his pocket, probably to look up the case. it’s useless because jiwoo’s dad is a cop, so she’s managed to get all of the newest details by bothering him enough.

“no…” jiwoo looks down, her shoulders following suit, “it was bad. she was stabbed so much that some of her organs were spilling out.”

That was not an image you wanted in your head.

“god that’s awful.” jungwon mutters, shaking his head.

the image you’ve crafted in your mind manages to make you feel disgusted. “i don’t know how anyone could ever do that to someone.”

you sigh. the four of you are now simply moving your food around with no appetite to eat it now. how are you even supposed to go about your day when something that depressing happened?

“sorry guys. i probably should’ve waited to tell you. just be careful.” jiwoo takes a seat beside sunoo.

you wave her apology off as it isn’t needed.

“and… i don’t think my dad's gonna let me go this weekend. maybe if they catch that sick fuck i'll be able to go.”

although it seems self-conceited, the four of you groan.

“you have to go.” jake grabs her hand, basically pleading with her. her dad's a cop for fucks sake, there’s no getting through to him.

jiwoo simply shrugs, not feeling the need to fight with her dad over a murder that happened a few blocks away. you love her dad, he’s always been like a second father to you. when you had a tough time breaking up with niki, her dad had been the one to remind you to stick to your guns… or jiwoo’s gun, since she actually has one. he could be overprotective at times. one time, he found out jiwoo was at a frat party and shut the whole thing down. that was horrific for you, so you couldn’t imagine the embarrassment jiwoo faced.

your phone starts vibrating, but you ignore it as you see the screen detail No Caller ID.

as the weekend was approaching, the five of you had given up hope for jiwoo going out with the group. the police had no leads as to who could’ve murdered that poor girl.

Incoming Facetime: jiwoo <3 +4

speak of the devil.

you’re apparently the last one to pick up, as everyone, with the exception of jiwoo is sitting patiently with only their faces in frame. you laugh because jake’s eyes are going from what you’re assuming is his gaming screen to the call.

“okay now tell us jiwoo.” jungwon urges. he can’t keep his curiosity down.

“i just want to let you guys know… another student from our college got killed two nights ago.”

your jaw drops. why’s it so soon? could this be a serial killer? in this small campus town, there’s absolutely no way.

“who was it?” jake asks, always the one who worries whether or not he knows the victim.

“his name is lee heeseung i think.”

you freeze. jake freezes as well.

“this is hitting a little too close to home,” jake mumbles. his eyes are no longer in frame, but you can tell by his shaky voice that he knew heeseung somehow. jake was a social butterfly, so it’s no surprise he could’ve known a victim.

“are you okay jake?” you ask, wishing you could be there to comfort him right now.

“yeah,” he pauses, “yeah. i’m just gonna go.”

“let us know if we can do anything for you jake.” sunoo manages to say before jake leaves. he leaves a silence behind as the four of you process the information. allowing jake to have his alone time, there’s only one person on your mind now.

niki.

lee heeseung was his roommate. you feel like you took a punch to the heart. although niki is your ex, you can’t help but worry about him in this moment.

you break the silence with a sigh. “i’m gonna go as well. i need to check up on someone who knows the victim." you don’t wait to hear their prying questions before hanging up.

you have to unblock niki to even call him. the whole reason you blocked him in the first place was because he wouldn't stop calling you and leaving cryptic messages. yet here you were, calling him. it’s been almost a year, so he should be over you.

the line rings, a good sign, you think.

“h-hello?” his deep, sultry voice takes your voice away. you haven’t heard it in so long. when too much silence has passed on the phone, you decide to speak.

“hey,” you clear your throat of its awkwardness and hesitation, “it’s y/n.”

“oh.”

you start pacing the room, waiting for niki to say something more than “oh.” he doesn’t, so you have to take the lead.

“sorry, i didn’t mean to call you out of the blue. i just heard the news about your roommate and wanted to check up on you.” you start to pace around your room, not sure what to do with yourself now.

“thanks y/n,” he pauses, “actually… it’s been hard. there’s not really anyone to talk to about it.”

you’re having a hard time thinking of what to say next. you start regretting calling him, like what did you expect? you’re his ex now. do you even have the right to try and comfort him?

you offer the only thing that you’re capable of, “is there anything i can do to help.”

“honestly…” niki pauses. he seems to be thinking about whether or not he should say what’s on his mind.

“do you think you could spend the night for a few days?” the tremble in his voice mixed with uncertainty is the only reason you don’t say no immediately. sensing your reluctance, he adds, “i’m just scared this killer is going to come after me next.”

you contemplate the idea. he has a valid point, and let’s say he was the next victim on the list… then you’d never forgive yourself. you sigh as you look at the time. the clock reads 8 p.m.

“alright. i’ll pack some clothes and head over to your apartment.”

you hear his breath catch, “thank you.”

you hum in response before hanging up. you guess this is what you’re doing now. you decide not to let your friends know, at least not right now. you’d get endless messages about how it’s a bad idea. maybe it is, but you still care about him. it’s impossible to ignore him when he needs you.

you’re deliberately slow at packing your clothes, trying to delay the reunion as much as possible. you’re unsure how many clothes to pack, so you grab a wide variety. you assume the maximum number of days you could handle was three and go from there.

the walk from your apartment to his own is short. the breeze blows through your hair as you walk with your arms crossed. it’s slightly chilly now that the sun is down, but you typically love this time of the year. if only it weren’t overcast with murder. you once again get a call.

No Caller ID

you glance around the buildings and see no one in sight. odd. this is the second time someone’s tried to call you. this time, you pick up.

“hello?”

“would you like to play a game?” a deep, menacing voice comes through the phone. you roll your eyes, continuing to walk to niki’s apartment.

“is that all? if so, i’m hanging up.” you were too old for these childish games.

“wait, wait.” you can hear the mysterious person’s distorted chuckle.

“i’m waiting,” you throw your hand up as if they can see you.

“would you like to know who i am?” from what you can tell, the humor in his voice has left.

you debate it. “i don’t really care either way.” you shrug. you’re only 3 more minutes away from the apartment. it’s within sight.

“would you care if i told you we were heading to the same place?”

this gets you to stop. you scoff, “and how would you know where i’m going?” you glance around again. is this some stalker?

“let’s just say, i have a special interest in the person you’re going to see.”

you laugh a bit and continue walking, “is that what this is? listen, if you’re some girl interested in niki we’re still broken up. no need to involve me.”

you hang up as you’re approaching the apartment's entrance. people truly are insane. just as you reach out your arm to open the door, you see the reflection of a ghost face mask appear in the reflection. all you see is the gleam of something shiny in the glass door before you dodge to the left to avoid the knife swinging down in the person's right hand.

you scream as you make a break for it. with your trembling hands, you call niki. he’s the closest one to you, and the cops might take too long. you’re dodging in between buildings, making left turns and right turns. as you run, you’re scanning the area, tons of bricks. you grab one as you continue to run. niki finally picks up.

“y/n?” you’re relieved to hear his voice for once.

“call 911, i’m in some alley way by your apartment. there’s some guy trying to kill me.”

“what?” niki practically shouts.

“please hurry.” you choke on your words, refusing to cry just yet.

“okay, i’ll call them right now. i’m heading down.” the phone clicks off.

for once, you’re glad your parents forced you into track at a young age.

you slow your pace, listening for anyone who might be around or for the person following you. you hear footsteps around the alley, causing you to hide behind one of the dumpsters.

your heart beats at the speed of light. you put your fingers against your jugular vein to feel the heartbeat and try to calm it.

“let’s try this again. would you like to play a game?” the distorted voice has its seductive and playful tone again.

you’re tempted to shout back ‘fuck you,’ but you hold back for survival's sake.

you’re as still as you can be. the dumpster smells like piss. the psychopath is still walking, searching for you.

when he jogs past you, your eyes follow his passing figure, almost like you’re the one hunting him. he’s lucky you weren’t prepared for an attack because you’d of tried to attack him back.

when his footsteps disappear, you run in the opposite direction. you’re grabbing your phone again, about to call niki again, when you run into a hard wall, except it’s not a wall.

you scream. it’s the loudest you think you’ve ever screamed, but it gets muffled by a hand.

“shh!” niki slams the two of you against another alley way. he removes his hand the moment he notices you stop screaming. considering everything, you stopped screaming pretty quickly. he glances around before grabbing your hand and jogging away from where you just revealed your location. you follow him with a sense of security that you didn’t have when you were alone. as you follow him you notice the gun in his other hand. your eyes widen.

“niki a gun?” you whisper, still shocked about how he is casually walking around with a gun.

“can you blame me? my roommate got murdered.” he pauses, “i think it’s come in handy.” he gestures around with the gun in his hand. you’ve got to give it to him; it is helpful in this situation.

“no…” you leave it at that.

when you hear the police sirens surrounding the building, another sense of security comes with the sound. you’re shocked to know that even without the police arriving, niki came with a sense of unrivaled protection.

“they’re probably going to question the two of us, but hopefully they got here in time to catch the guy.” niki squeezes your hand, trying to reassure you.

they didn’t catch the guy.

the moment replays over and over again in your head as you sit on niki's couch. all you can do is stare ahead as you recall the image staring at you through the glass door. the police had hounded you about what they now call “ghost face” looked like. he was taller than you, but that’s all you got. probably right-handed, as is everyone else in the country.

your nerves are shot. it’s almost as if nothing is sending any impulses through your body. all you feel is a sense of coldness. like your body has frozen over.

niki walks back into the living room, but you don’t even notice him until he presses the hot mug into your hands. you look at him, eyes still wide and full of shock.

niki loves this look on your face. in fact, it’s taking everything in him not to wear a shit eating grin. he’s so glad he didn’t kill you just for this moment right here. what’s better than seeing the fear on someone’s face before they die? watching his victims realize there’s no way out? simply watching the woman he loves try to process her emotions. having her need him despite being the reason she’s in this mess. if he keeps thinking about it he might reveal himself. he can’t help that you turn him on.

“thank you, niki.” you stare down at the tea in the mug. now that niki’s shown himself again, it’s hard for you to close within yourself again. niki nods in response before kneeling beside you. he rests his hand on your knee.

“how’re you feeling?” niki genuinely wants to help you, albeit for his own corrupt reasoning.

you take a deep breath, allowing yourself to feel your body calm down. “i think i’m still just processing it.” you look at niki, searching his eyes for some answer as to why this is happening.

niki has you right where he wants you.

“do you want help taking your mind off of it?” he’s looking up at you, his eyes seeming to shine with mischievousness. you know what he means, and honestly… that might just be what you need. you’re in such a haze you don’t even realize that you nod your head until niki takes the hot tea from your hands.

you feel the couch dip behind you before you feel niki’s soft lips at your neck. his lips move across your skin, occasionally letting his tongue slip out to create a trail of his saliva across your neck. when he starts to suck on your neck, you can’t help closing your eyes as you lean back against him slightly. with niki’s help, your body is already releasing the tension built up within. your shoulders drop as your mouth drops open slightly. niki has always known exactly what to do for you.

his hands slide down your waist with a ghost-like touch. he traps the hem of your t-shirt between his fingers, seeming to savor the fabric before reaching his arms under and unclasping your bra. you feel your nipples harden in anticipation before he even shows them attention.

right as he moves his hands to wrap around you to cup your breasts, your phone rings. your eyes snap open, pushing niki’s hands away as you stare at your phone, expecting to see the unknown caller. it’s only jungwon.

a breath of relief is released as you grab your phone, completely forgetting niki right behind you. you miss how niki’s fists clench so tight that his knuckles turn white.

“y/n, thank god.” you can hear the panic in jungwon’s voice dissipate once he realizes you’re ok.

“i’m guessing you heard?” faced with jungwon’s worry, your stress seems to start crushing back down on you.

niki moves from behind you, sliding off the couch to busy himself off to the side, he’s eavesdropping, of course. you only spare him a glance. niki’s own heart seems to accelerate in irritation as you speak to jungwon, explaining everything. when you mention his name, his ears perk up.

“i know jungwon,” another glance towards niki, “it’s only for a couple of days.” you’re doing that cricket movement with your feet, which you only do when you’re flustered.

niki rolls his eyes. he was supposed to be the one messing with your emotions. he always knew jungwon had a crush on you. he’d follow you around like a lost puppy. now, niki finally has a chance to get you alone, and jungwon still manages to insert himself. you won’t be needing jungwon for much longer either way.

“don’t be rude.” you rub your shoulder, as if trying to wipe off the stress you’ve been through.

“it’s niki. don’t you remember how degrading he was to you? how about his stalker behavior when you broke up with him?” jungwon releases a heavy sigh, probably running his hands down his face.

“i know, i know. we’re both just shaken up and i didn’t want him to be alone. besides, i’d probably be dead if it weren’t for niki.” you’ve moved onto nervously playing with your fingers.

niki resists the urge to say “damn straight” because you would be dead if niki hadn’t decided to spare you. you owe him your life, your very life belongs to him. you should really start acting like it.

almost like you have instincts that solely notify you about niki, you glance over at him. those instincts cause you to pause as you let your gaze linger. he seems off… tense.

“jungwon,” you can’t help the soft smile that comes naturally when you speak to jungwon “i’m safe. i’ll see you soon, we’re going to a party this weekend anyway.”

niki seems to perk up at that. this is the first he’s hearing of this, and it’s perfect. what a nice opportunity these stupid students are giving him. there’s a murderer going around, and yet a party is still happening. the students here are making it too easy.

you finally hang up on jungwon despite his objection. when you look back at niki, you’re a little too aware of what was happening before jungwon called. your hand instinctively rubs against the part of your neck that niki overloaded with attention.

it’s too quiet between the two of you, so you look away. despite nearly being murdered, the only thing that’s causing you stress is niki leaning against the door frame as he stares at you.

“niki!” you yell towards his room. your arms are crossed as you’re staring at your suitcase. you had packed everything last night, deciding after 2 days had passed, it was time for you to go back to your apartment. now, your suitcase lies empty and open on the couch.

“yes?” niki saunters his way over to you with two mugs in his hand.

“where are my clothes?” you turn your body towards him, uncrossing your hands to gesture at the evident gap in your suitcase where your clothes had originally been.

niki glances over at the suitcase, resisting the urge to laugh at how your frustration is evident in your pouting face. niki shrugs, “i put them in the washing machine.” he hands over one of the mugs in his hands to you.

by the caramel and nutty smell, you note that he made your coffee exactly how you like it. your heart instantly warms, the tension in between your brows relaxing.

“you didn’t have to do that. i have a washing machine in my apartment, besides, you knew i was leaving today.” you sigh as you stare into the coffee.

niki takes a sip of his own, “i’m sorry, really. it was just a habit because that’s what i used to do.”

when you look up from your coffee, you find that niki is now looking into his coffee. he almost looks like a beaten puppy, and it causes an uncomfortable feeling to settle in your chest. you decide to drop the issue, just so that you and niki don’t have to deal with any further turmoil of what your relationship used to be like.

you finally take a sip of your own coffee. “it’s fine, i’ll just have to come by and get my clothes another day. i’m going to a party tonight, so i won’t be able to get them tonight.”

niki’s eyes run across your body. he’s studying you, memorizing every part of your features. the curves of your body, the way your hair settles atop your head, how your eyes are spaced apart from one another, and where your eyelashes are clustered. he wants to memorize it all… so he can compare them to how you’ll look after someone else gets killed. you mistake his stare as sexual, despite how a chill runs down your spine.

“alright,” you clasp your hands together, “i’ve gotta go!” you chug your coffee despite how it slightly burns your tongue and throat.

you hand the mug back to niki, muttering a quiet “thank you,” before grabbing your purse.

“see you soon niki!”

and niki just watches you leave because he knows you’ll be back. you’ll always come back.

when you get to your apartment, it feels a bit too empty. even though it was only three days, you’ve grown accustomed to someone else being in your space. with everything going on, it’s hard to be alone, but you couldn’t spend another day with niki without making some sort of mistake. with a sigh, you set down your purse and decide to get ready for the party tonight.

you facetime your group as you walk over to the vanity in your room. sunoo answers first.

“shot! shot! shot!” he yells through the phone. from what you can tell, he’s in his kitchen.

“wait!” you yell back, rushing to your kitchen to grab your bottle of vodka. when you grab it, sunoo’s already taken his.

“i hope you know you’re taking another shot with me now.” you stare at your phone, raising the bottle of vodka to show sunoo.

“not my fault you’re so slow.” sunoo shrugs before prepping another shot. when the two of you notice that you’re both ready, a shot goes down the hatch.

you laugh as jake joins the call. “y’all are already pregaming?” jake seems to pout. “ugh. jay’s making me help him set everything up, so i haven’t even had a single drop of alcohol.”

you smile at jake before wiggling your eyebrows, “who says you can’t take a shot while working?”

although it was unplanned, each of you took a shot every time someone new joined the call. safe to say you needed to slow down. your lips were already starting to tingle as you did your makeup.

“jay’s making me go get ice, so i’ll see you guys at the party.” jake dips out of the call right as you hear jay yell for him.

“guys please be careful.” jiwoo sits on her bed, her head resting on of of her palms as she watches the three of you get ready. “especially you, y/n, we don’t know if the culprit is aiming for you.”

it seems, despite the drinking, you can’t escape the chill that follows you. a reminder that you almost died. jungwon notices the change in attitude from the phone.

“don’t worry, i won’t let y/n out of my sight. after all, she’s the barnacle boy to my mermaid man.”

you smile, hoping jungwon knows you appreciate him. you take another shot to ease the nerves.

niki lies in the back of jake’s car, waiting for him to park. it’s stuffy in the mask, but the thrill this gives him is worth it. he can already imagine the look on your face when you realize none of your so-called friends are safe. when you realize you will have no one left.

honestly, jake didn’t do anything to niki. he simply just happened to be friends with the wrong person. although, niki does find his optimism annoying. as the car reared to a stop, niki’s grip on the knife tightened. when jake exits the car, niki finally grabs the burner phone in his pocket before calling.

jake, who had been quick at grabbing the ice from the ice machine, felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. thinking it was jay, he tosses the bag of ice over his shoulder before answering.

“what now jay?”

“this isn’t jay.” a deep distorted voice spoke through the phone. jake’s heart dropped. jake recalls this is exactly what happened to you. when jake looks back at his phone, he notices there is no caller id. he immediately hangs up, frantically looking left and right before making a beeline to his car. his hands shake as he locks the door and puts the keys in the ignition. his hands are barely able to type the number for the police before shiny metal appears, making a deep cut across his wrist, so fast jake doesn’t process it at first.

his wide eyes shoot to the backseat where a man in a ghost face tilts his head, seeming to say “hello.” the man in the ghost face mask is fast as he works while jake is still in shock and frozen. the knife meets jake’s neck in a swift motion, before blood pours out.

niki watches as jake panics, grabbing at his throat. since he managed to hit the artery, jake’s body was already locking itself up. he’d be dead within 2 minutes if he’s lucky, 5 minutes if not. maybe niki spared him a gruesome death because he was a good friend to you, but you didn’t need jake anymore. niki reaches over jake, ignoring his critical state, to turn off the car. it’ll buy him more time as he has to find some way to get back to jay’s house.

honestly, it was stupid of him to ride in jake’s car, but he couldn’t help it. from what you used to tell him about jake, he was a scaredy cat who wasn’t that aware of his surroundings. it was fitting.

you and jungwon couldn’t help laughing at each other in your ridiculous costumes, mainly because of the spandex. your hair swayed along with you, jungwon stabilizing you as you walked.

“jungwon!” you cackle, “you were supposed to bring the invisible boat-mobile.”

jungwon’s cheeks had reddened at how close your head was to his own as you laughed, stumbling all over the place. he loved your laugh. he was worried about you after what happened this week, so he couldn’t help feeling light as he watched you laugh. you had always been so fearless, and even when you weren’t, you bounced back quickly. he admired that about you, no, he loved that about you.

“i thought you said you needed to walk the shots off.” jungwon ties your hair behind you as the wind blows it around.

you pause, causing jungwon to wait for you on the sidewalk. “you’re right, i forgot.” the dopey smile you give him sets his heart aflame. his head shakes at your cuteness.

“here.” jungwon squats down, arms spread wide with his back to you. the stance looks so awkward and uncomfortable, you can’t help feeling giddy as you step over to him.

“don’t drop me.” you warn. you wrap your arms around him first before you wrap your legs around him. as soon as he knows you’re secured, he bounces you up to put you in the perfect position.

“i won’t drop you.” he promises. his hold is secure. recently you’ve been relying on many people, but you’ve never regretted relying on jungwon. he was safe. stable.

your heart stutters as you look at jungwon.

it’s just the alcohol, you reason.

it’s hard not to nod off on his back, your head bobbing against his shoulder with every step. jay’s house is only a few blocks away, but you're still shocked by jungwon’s stamina. his pace hasn’t slowed despite carrying you, if anything, he’s moving faster now that he’s not having to drag you along.

“so, how was it with niki the past few days?” jungwon doesn’t even hesitate to ask. he tore open that can of worms.

you shrug against him. “pretty normal. he’s the same old niki.”

“of course he is,” jungwon mumbles. “at least he’s not acting like a changed man.”

“ah,” you hold a finger up, “actually he was quieter than usual, but maybe that's cause we’re both shaken up.”

“i’d say his being quiet is a win for us both.”

jungwon ducks his head as you land a soft smack on top of it.

“don’t be mean.” as jay’s house comes into view, you pat jungwon’s shoulder to alert him that you’re ready to get down.

you can see sunoo from the front, before he even sees you, you’re waving your hand back and forth high in the air.

“sunoo!” jungwon calls, getting sunoo to look directly at the two of you. jungwon makes a quick waving motion, which sunoo returns.

“hey! you guys were so slow,” sunoo complains while scanning the two of you. a look of confusion appears. “where’s jake?”

you and jungwon look at each other before looking back at sunoo.

“shouldn’t he of been here in the first place? he lives here.” jungwon asks, grabbing hold of your hand to squeeze it, knowing you’ll start working yourself up.

“jay said he went to get ice, but ditched him. i assumed he met up with you guys.” sunoo sticks his lips out, contemplating where to go from here. “he’s probably hooking up with some girl he invited, i’ll go risk walking in on a few people to find him.”

sunoo winks at jungwon, noticing his hand in yours, before walking away in his vanellope costume. jungwon’s ears redden as he walks away.

you look up at jungwon, eyes glossing over as the worry hits you.

as jungwon stares at your wide eyes, he can’t help wanting to comfort you. “i’m sure he’s fine. he couldn’t have gone anywhere far in the first place.”

you nod, more so just to show that you heard jungwon.

“i’ll call him real quick,” jungwon decides, pulling out his phone. your gaze doesn’t leave his phone, waiting to hear your puppy-like friend's voice. anything that could indicate that jake’s okay.

he doesn’t pick up. jungwon tries to hide his worry. “i have his location, let’s just check that.”

jungwon angles his phone so that you could see it as he opens the location app. jake has been on a street near a gas station for an hour. you’re sobered immediately. your worry takes the front seat.

“we need to go see if he’s okay.” your stare is intense as you look at jungwon.

“okay, but we didn’t bring my car.” jungwon looks around the yard. you start to regret every decision leading up to this.

jungwon notices your frantic eyes as you start picking at your nails and skin.

“i’ll just go find jay and get his keys, stay here.” you watch as jungwon runs into the house. your foot starts tapping against the ground, not able to sit still.

you decide to call sunoo in the meantime, but he doesn’t pick up. probably too busy looking for jake despite the fact he probably isn’t even in the house. you sigh, running a hand through your hair. you almost debate running to jake alone, but jungwon escapes the house with keys jingling.

“let’s go.”

you don’t have to be told twice.

niki was stalking the house. it took him thirty minutes to get back here, but it was perfect timing. you and jungwon had just arrived. unfortunately, there was no way jungwon was going to leave your side. he had that annoying quality. as he watched sunoo walk into the house alone, he knew he just needed to find a way around the house where no one would see him.

as it gets harder to kill the victims, niki’s thrill increases. this is an opportunity for him. he has to wait for you and jungwon to leave, probably noticing jake’s absence, before he can move from his current position.

sunoo went straight into the house, trying not to be stopped by familiar faces who were drunk and ready to talk. he was trying to stay calm, but it’s a little hard when both of your friends look like their souls were drained from them. first, sunoo slammed into the empty bathroom. he even was thorough enough to check behind the shower curtain. as he continued onto the rooms in the house, he made sure to scan the many faces that he was pushing through.

as each room passed without jake, sunoo progressively became more worried. jake wasn’t the type to bail out on a party, or much of anything for that matter. it got to the point that he had to start asking people he knew jake hung out with if they had seen him. everyone drew a blank. it was almost as if jake had just up and disappeared, but sunoo had a feeling it was much more than that.

thirty minutes had already passed by the time he walked outside to find you and jungwon again. however, the two of you were gone. sunoo looked at his phone, noticing a missed call from you, but right as he hit the call button, an impactful punch connected with his cheek. sunoo met the grass, catching himself with his hands.

“what the fuck?” as sunoo looked back up towards whatever had struck him, he was met with a guy in a ghost mask. the air escaped sunoo. his breath caught in his throat before a scream escaped. he watched, crawling backwards and away from the masked figure, as the scream caused the figure to lunge.

sunoo rolled out of the way, being missed by the figure by a second. it wasn’t enough though. ghost Face grabbed him by the leg and dragged him further away from prying eyes. the phone was left behind, and so was any chance that anyone heard him over the blaring music.

sunoo struggled against the iron grip, screaming and pleading for help. when niki figured he was far enough, he let go of sunoo’s ankle. he wasn’t expecting sunoo to put up much of a fight, but sunoo had gotten up quickly. sunoo grabbed the first thing he could find, a shovel left behind in the grass. right when he grabbed hold of it, he swung.

luckily, niki saw it coming, and although he was fast enough to turn around- he wasn’t fast enough for it not to hit the back of his head. he felt the impact mixed with a little agitation. that was gonna be a bitch to deal with.

niki turned around quickly, grabbing hold of the middle part of the shovel. a tug of war ensued between the two of them, but niki had enough experience to know what to do in situations like this. right when sunoo put all his effort into pulling the shovel towards himself again, niki let go. the shovel landed on sunoo as his head slammed into a tree.

with sunoo still reeling from the pain and disorientation, niki grabbed the knife out of his pocket before lunging forward and cutting deep into sunoo’s stomach.

sunoo’s scream of horror and anguish only fueled niki. niki grabbed sunoo’s head- slamming it back into the bricks over and over again until his head was raw. until niki could barely register his own pain radiating through his skull. then he left- leaving sunoo’s dying body alone in the cold.

“oh my god that’s jake’s car!” you point, resisting the urge to grab ahold of the steering wheel and cut through the grass.

jungwon was silent as he slowly pulled into the small parking area, where the ice machine was. as he looked over at jake’s car, he couldn’t believe his eyes. he was going to be sick. as he turned his head away from the horrific scene he locked eyes with your panicked and frantic ones.

“don’t look.” jungwon moved so that his body blocked the car, but it wasn’t enough to stop you from exiting the car and running over to jake’s drivers side door.

at first, you told yourself it was fake. no one would mutilate your friend the way they had. your precious, bright, and loving friend whose smile never faded. it faded now. his eyes were still wide from horror. his hands rigid and constricted to his sides, unmoving. his skin deathly pale, as if death himself took every last part of jake. everything. leaving you with nothing. nothing except his wet and cold blood that had barely started to dry, which you were now bathing in after you had opened the door to grab jake. finally, his throat. you held his head and body against yours, making sure not to detach the head. the throat had been slit so far back that you worried any ounce of movement would hurt your poor friend's body more.

as jungwon called the cops, you wailed.

“no!” you screamed into the universe. “bring him back,” you cried, bargaining with any being of power that would listen. any being that could bring jake’s warmth back.

his body remained cold and unresponsive as you sat on the pavement, screaming and crying while cradling your best friend's body.

“please.” you whimpered, choking on your sobs.

as the cops showed up, jungwon placed a hand on your shaking shoulder. your cries turned silent, but your body still felt the impact of grief. he died scared and alone; you could never forgive yourself.

you could barely even process anything around you now. the world didn’t slow down for you when jake died. there was nothing to comfort you. nothing that could help you grieve as you left the scene to find out about the loss of another friend, sunoo.

it felt like a curse. what did you ever do to deserve this? why couldn’t you be the one who was punished? sunoo and jake… two completely different personalities, yet the ones who lit up a room the most. if you closed your eyes, you could hear their laughs, echoing in your mind. sometimes you’d sit like that, eyes closed as you tried to hold onto any part of them you could. memories did wonders until you realized you could never make any more with them.

cops having to ground you to reality each time an event happened, you felt less than human. like you could only go through the motions of living.

jungwon had left you alone in your apartment, hesitant to leave, but you had pleaded with him. you needed time. you needed to be unaware of what was around you.

your alone time didn’t last long. niki had shown up around 1 am, frantic as he took the image of you in. you still had the bloody costume on, unable to do anything but stare at the wall. he wouldn’t leave you in that state.

you could barely process the words niki said, something about being safe. niki helped do everything you couldn’t, slowly and carefully taking your bloodied clothes off, setting you inside a warm bath and washing you, and tucking you into bed. he tried to feed you, but you couldn’t stomach anything, shaking your head every time the spoon full of soup met your lips.

when niki had started to leave the room, you finally spoke. “please,” a strangled noise escaped your throat “don’t leave me.” you choked out, a tear already sliding down your face.

as soon as niki turned around, reaching out to hug you, you cried once more.

“it’s all my fault,” you confessed in between sobs, “if they weren’t friends with me, they’d still be alive.”

“shhh,” niki rubbed circles on your back. he chose not to lie to you today. after all, the only crime the two had to pay for was knowing you.

you sat there together for what felt like hours, only pulling back to look at niki with worry.

“you can’t be here. what if they come after you? i can’t lose anyone else. no one else should die because of me.” you try to push niki away, but he only holds you closer.

“nothing will happen to me y/n, i promise.” he holds you tighter, “i’ll stay right by your side, okay?” he felt you nod against his shoulder, fingers entangled in his shirt.

as time passed, you felt hollow. you couldn’t cry anymore. “i held his body.” you announced, breaking the cold silence with your hoarse voice. niki moved slightly, allowing you to move out of his arms and sit across from him. “i can’t stop thinking about how he felt, how he looked,” you shake your head, “i can’t help, but hope it was quick for jake. that he got a mercy that sunoo-” your voice cracks, threatening to let out a sob, “wasn’t given. am i a bad person for that?” you look at niki, searching his eyes for some sort of answer.

niki shakes his head, calm and collected. he’s your anchor, tying to down to the world. “you’ve been through a lot y/n, let’s try to get you to sleep.”

it was hard to sleep, the image of your best friend's neck and the picture of sunoo’s face appeared every time you closed your eyes. most of the night, you had only been resting your eyes, but when you managed to fall asleep, you’d wake in a panic. the image of the masked killer haunted you even through sleep. the entire night was spent with niki soothing you as he ran his fingers through your hair. his touch was the only thing that tied you to reality.

you woke up ragged and surprised that you actually managed to pass out last night. as reality settled upon you, tears escaped. it was easier to sleep, to be unaware of the emptiness of life. every minute of consciousness was a reminder that you were unaccompanied by two of your friends.

niki had already gotten out of bed, making tea as he waited for you. it took you an hour to get out of bed, but you managed to with a new sense of purpose. your steps were heavy as you walked to niki, grasping his hand for some contact. anything to remind you that you weren’t alone.

“niki. i need your gun.” you said it confidently, without hesitation. it sounded like a command set in stone.

niki thought he had misheard you, until he looked into your tired eyes. unlike the dullness in them last night, there was a fire in them.

“why do you need a gun?” niki left the hot water on the stove as he turned to face you completely.

“i want to kill that fucker.” you were burning with rage, with a loss that couldn’t be settled. you wanted it settled.

niki almost couldn’t believe what you were saying. you didn’t know it, but you were telling niki that you wanted to kill him. he had to resist the urge to laugh. going to the perpetrator for help to kill himself, what stupidity.

“listen y/n,” he almost convinced you to seek therapy, but it dawned on him how hot you were when the anger controlled you. what would it be like to see you try to kill someone? then, an idea ran through his head. he could just frame someone else.

you had looked up at him, impatient as you waited for his response.

“i’ll give you the gun if you can prove that you can defend yourself.”

you stared at him, eyes narrowing in challenge. you stepped closer to niki, daring him to try something. and try he would.

niki grabs your wrists, which you try pulling back to no avail. he spins you, your back pressing against his as your wrists become tied behind you.

“i’m not seeing any proof so far,” he whispers into your ear. the warmth of his breath lingers even as the distance between the two of you increases.

you move your hands in a circular motion, one wrist able to get free while the other stays in niki’s grasp. you spin around fast, and as you do so, niki releases you only to pull you close by your waist. you’re close, too close. as niki looks down at you, your noses touch. you close your eyes as you take a deep breath, taking in his cologne. it washes over you as you lean forward, breaking the distance as your lips touch.

a hunger overtakes the two of you. from prying eyes, it would look as though the two of you were taking each other's aggression out on one another. niki hand slides up your back and grabs the back of your head. he pulls your hair, forcing your head to tilt up towards him even more. he bites your lip as he does so, slamming your back against the counter. his other hand grips your waist tight as you roam your hands all over niki’s body. when niki decides your waist isn’t enough, one of his hands starts to palm your boob, sending another electric shock through your body. you moan into his lips as you feel his dick harden beneath his jeans. your nails start to leave marks on niki’s back, craving more.

niki works on marking your neck, leaving you in a daze you don’t want to come out of. you feel entangled with niki, a haze of pleasure letting him do whatever he wanted with your body. so when he moves you to the bed, working your clothes off of yourself, you can only think of how badly you wanted him.

“look how wet you are for me,” niki smirks, sending a shiver through your body as his thumb slides down your clit over your panties.

“niki,” you whimper, wanting to feel any part of him inside you.

he chuckles in response before ripping the last barrier of clothing off of you. he spreads your thighs wide, fighting how your thighs try to close in anticipation, trying to create some friction. he doesn’t let you, instead, he takes care of it himself. his thumb rubs your bud in circles. you close your eyes, moving a bit to urge him to go faster. he groans as your pussy takes his fingers eagerly, the wetness coating his fingers.

“god,” his head looks up at the ceiling before focusing back to you.

he finds your spot easily, like it hasn’t been a year since the two of you had done anything with each other. you ride his fingers like they’re your salvation. right as the rhythm matches your moans, niki pulls his fingers out and licks your clit. you don’t know how to respond to the absence, but niki solves that quickly by inserting his entire length into you.

as you gasp, niki grunts. “you take me so well.”

his pace is slow at first, letting you adjust. the two of you pant as he quickens his pace. you can’t control the moans that escape your mouth as you reach your climax. niki can tell, he knows everything about you.

the two of you meet each other in the middle, niki filling you up as you do.

when he pulls out, the two of you are a panting mess. you almost can’t believe what just happened and you don’t get the time to because you hear continuous banging on the door.

niki groans at the disturbance, while your first response is to quickly get yourself together. you quickly get dressed and brush through your hair with your hands.

you stumble into the door in a hurry to open it, leaving niki behind. as you fling the door open, you’re met with jungwon, who immediately scans your body for any signs of damage.

“i’ve been calling you all morning.” jungwon pants, catching his breath. he must’ve ran here because you can see the small trace of sweat on his forehead.

your brows furrow, “i haven’t gotten any calls.”

“well, i called you…” his eyes lower to your neck. his eyes widen in shock, instantly moving to trace his delicate fingers over the marks on your neck. “what happened? are you okay?” jungwon asks, panicked as he takes in the red marks all over your neck.

niki rounds the corner right as jungwon asks. when jungwon looks up to see niki, his brows instantly furrow as his eyes seem to narrow. he understands instantly.

“taking advantage of a grieving ex huh?” he spits, “didn’t know you’d stoop that low.”

you gasp, snapping your head between the two men. niki simply rolls his eyes, “says the one who wasn’t here for her.”

jungwon clenches his fist, taking a deep breath. he looks disheveled as well.

you move yourself directed between the two of them. “stop it. we’ve all been through enough.” you glance at niki, but your gaze lingers on jungwon, your eyes softening as they do. you mouth a quick “i’m sorry,” to him before telling the two of them to go to the living room.

you have to reheat the water that niki left for tea. how were you supposed to juggle the two of them? you sigh, remembering to grab your phone in your room. when you grab it, you realize the whole time it had been off and that was why jungwon’s calls never reached you. you don’t remember turning it off, but you brush it off as not being in your right mind last night.

you ignore the various messages before landing on a notification of a voicemail from an unknown caller. it seems as though the world freezes as you stare at your phone, clicking the voice memo.

“i hope you enjoyed my present y/n.” your heart drops, before the anger resurfaces. you click on the name, hearing it ring in two different places.

niki had to be careful. jungwon was unrelenting with his glare, his eyes never leaving niki. eventually jungwon had gotten tired of staring at niki’s face and started to ignore him completely, giving niki the opportunity to slip a certain burner phone into jungwon’s bag.

niki had to bite his cheek to stop himself from smiling. as he leaned back into the couch. he simply ignored jungwon now, waiting for you to get back before he accused jungwon of having something in his bag.

that never happened because, as niki sat back and waited, a phone in the bag started ringing.

with confusion written on jungwon’s face, he grabbed his bag before taking out the ringing phone. he glanced around before answering.

niki himself was confused as well. nobody should have that number. he watched jungwon in curiosity.

“hello? whose phone is this?” jungwon started.

you appeared in the door frame, horror written on your face as you stared at jungwon with the phone in his hand. your arms go numb, dropping to your side as your hand drops the phone.

niki glanced in between the two of you, he couldn’t even stop the small puff of air that escaped him as he laughed at the situation.

“what’s going on?” niki looked in between the two of you, putting on an innocent act.

“run niki!” you scream as you rush back into the kitchen to grab a knife.

jungwon follows you, hands up as you point the knife at him. he was still confused.

“y/n, what’s wrong?”

your hand shakes as you look at the man who you thought was your best friend. was it all a lie? why? your head was spinning, trying to put the information together.

“you killed them.” your voice came out shaky, devoid of all its confidence.

“killed who? y/n, calm down… i don’t know what you’re talking about.” jungwon’s eyes focused on you, fearing that you might be having something sort of episode.

“sunoo, jake, heeseung, that girl…” your eyes narrow as you say their names aloud. “you killed them all.” you shook your head, scoffing, muttering a small “i can’t believe i was so stupid.”

“y/n please, it wasn’t me. please just listen to me.” jungwon pleaded. the face of your most trusted friend was right in front of you, but you didn't know what to believe anymore.

“turn yourself in jungwon.” it was all you could give him, but his pleading eyes were blown out of sight as a gun went off. your jaw dropped as you met eyes with niki, holding a gun.

“y/n, y/n, y/n. you show too much mercy,” niki criticized.

you could only stare at jungwon’s dead body, shot through the head. you didn’t know what to feel.

“w-why’d you shoot him?” your attention settles on niki.

niki tilts his head at you, slowly bringing out the knife behind his back. it still had blood on it. you glance down at jungwon again, shaking your head before focusing on niki again.

you scream for help as you rush towards the door. niki is quick as he pulls you back by your arm. you quickly yank your arm away, reaching for the door. your met with a searing pain that radiates up your arm. the gunshot processes as you stare at your bleeding arm. you cover the wound with your other hand, with niki pointing the gun at you, you freeze.

he motions for you to sit on the floor by jerking the gun towards it. you have no choice but to listen- hoping the authorities will hear the shooting and arrive.

“the cops might take their time getting here because i gave them a nice present. i think the beloved daughter of the station would do the trick. don’t you agree?” niki squats down in front of you, the gun tilting your chin up. a tear falls down your cheek.

you glance down at the gun, “what do you want from me?” a new feeling you’ve never experienced surfaces. pure hatred courses through your veins, mixing with the pain of your arm. the effects of the pain and blood loss cause an overwhelmingly dizzying sensation.

“i want you, all of you,” niki admits, keeping his gun below your chin as he nibbles on your ear.

“fuck you,” you spit.

niki pulls back, smirking at your defiance. “you know, this wouldn’t have happened if you had just gotten back with me in the first place.” he pauses, watching the guilt overtake you. “i was going to kill you, but when you reached out to me again… i knew the only ones keeping you away from me were those annoying friends of yours.” he bites his lip, “you only have me now.” he breathes you in, carefully watching you.

when he moves the gun away from your body, you lean back and kick his arm. the gun flies across the room. your eyes widen as you dart for the gun. niki, who was fairly surprised, barely has time to grab your ankle. you try kicking back and forth to get him off of you, but he only starts to pull you closer to him. you’re clawing the floor, searching for something to hold onto. niki is finally lying atop of you, straddling you as he shakes his head.

“you’re being very, very naughty. we don’t have time for all that.”

you squirm from beneath him, clawing at every part of his body.

“you look so beautiful like this. i can actually say i’ve seen every part of you. nobody knows you like i do.” niki smirks as he looks down at you.

you glance downwards, punching where his dick should be. niki toppled over immediately, clutching his dick with a groan.

“you bitch.” he grunts.

you run towards where the gun disappeared to, but the gun was nowhere in sight. when you glance back, niki is already advancing towards you.

“baby, let’s just stop all this fighting,” he sighs.

you’re scanning the room for the gun, seeing it under the couch. as niki hurries to you, you dive towards the couch. just as your fingers hover over the gun, niki yanks you away. he appears at your throat in a matter of seconds, yanking you up by your neck. you’re clawing his hands as panic truly sets in. despite his hands starting to bleed he doesn’t let go.

“please,” you try to say, but it only comes out as a croak.

“it’s okay y/n. we can work on your behavior together, maybe then you’ll learn to appreciate me.” niki is calm as his grip tightens.

a combination of pain, blood loss, and loss of oxygen sends your mind spiraling. your vision goes in and out as you stare at niki. the last thing you think is that maybe you’ll be able to see your friends again.

dusk has long passed its peak, having crept up on you and your friend as you destroyed the closet for clothes. the moon, abnormally large tonight, is shining through your bedroom window. you’re grabbing a black outfit, as it’s the easiest to throw on when you’re in a rush. the black skirt is a little shorter than last october, but you don’t have time to worry about that.

“you always take so long to get ready y/n.” your best friend, yunhee sits on your bed, flexing and unflexing her legs as she looks at her nails. unlike yours, hers were decorated with halloween images- pumpkins, bats, ghosts.

“i know, i’m sorry! i just needed to take a shower before we left, so i got a little behind.” you’re quickly throwing on some deodorant and accessories as yunhee watches. “by the way, are carnivals normally this late at night?”

“yeah, for sure!”

you narrow your eyes at her, lifting one brow as you question whether or not she’s right.

“maybe when they’re open until 11, but opening at 12 a.m.? there’s no way, what about all of the kids that go to carnivals?” you finish your outfit with a pair of converse, opting away from the platform boots that would surely hurt your feet walking around at the carnival.

“they probably are open earlier for kids, but at night maybe they do something special for adults,” she wiggles her eyebrows, “it is almost halloween after all.”

you sigh, “i swear if they pull out some freaky ass stripper shit i’m gonna kill you.”

yunhee cackles, “we’re not going to a strip club, chill out!” she holds her hands up, “i wouldn’t complain though. imagine a hot male clown.”

you visibly shiver, “hell no. i thought nothing could be worse than a clown, but the image you just put in my head proves me wrong.”

“whatever,” yunhee smiles, pushing you out of your room. you barely manage to grab your wallet as she shoves you out.

“what’s this place called again?” you ask, turning off all the lights in your house before the two of you finally head out the door.

“uhhh… phantasm i think.” she’s already unlocking her car, making sure to actually unlock your door as well before you can try to yank her passenger door handle off.

you roll your eyes, “how creative.”

“oh hush, this is gonna be fun. they have a mirror maze, which i know you'll love.” yunhee knows you very well. it helps that the two of you like the majority of the same things. like the windows down on a fall night, letting the cool breeze hit your face to remind you it’s your favorite season.

“more like i love seeing people run straight into a mirror.” you laugh, recalling how yunhee almost broke her nose the last time. she wanted to lead, so that’s her own fault.

“yeah well, this time you’re going ahead of me.”

the carnival is only 10 minutes away from your house, so the drive is extremely short. yunhee barely has enough time to play any songs. of course, given that it’s october, she carefully selects a song from her fall playlist.

the closer the two of you get to the destination, the more the two of you become wary. despite it only being a 10-minute drive, the long and straight ongoing road the two of you took seemed to take you into an unknown area. there were no signs of the suburbs that surrounded your own neighborhood, and no signs of the city that was just right beside it. instead, the area was replaced with endless trees that spanned for miles. the trees were so tall that you wouldn’t of been able to see anything but the sky if it wasn’t fall. with all of the leaves either falling off or already off of the branches, you were able to see into the woods. as you got even closer to the destination, you could faintly see the lights from the carnival…. in the middle of the woods.

“girl, where the hell are we going?” unlike yunhee, you weren’t thrill-seeking. you hated horror movies, haunted houses, and abandoned buildings. you didn’t think you needed to add carnivals in the woods to that list, but alas, here you are.

she’s slowly pulling into a gravel lot, with only a few cars. “i’m sure it’s fine. if it looks boring, then we can just leave.”

“i’m not worried about it being boring, i’m more worried about being murdered in the middle of the woods.” you begrudgingly leave the car with yunhee, scanning the area around you to make sure no one’s about to stalk you.

“no one’s gonna murder you,” yunhee walks ahead of you, using her phone's flashlight to illuminate the path ahead.

“that’s what they always say in horror movies.” you walk along with her, shaking out all of your uneasiness. you’re clenching your teeth out of fear that maybe this isn’t what you’d thought it would be.

yunhee shakes her head, smiling a bit. she enjoys watching you get scared over nothing. “how would you know? you don’t even watch scary movies.”

“i’ve watched enough…” you mumble.

luckily, as the two of you got closer, you could see that the carnival actually had a decent amount of people. you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

“see,” yunhee says, brushing off your worries as the two of you line up at the ticket booth.

“hi! welcome to phantasm!”

you smile at the worker, glancing at his red and black uniform with a name tag that reads ‘sunoo.’

“hi! here’s two tickets for us.” yunhee hands the tickets underneath the plexiglass screen. yunhee had won these tickets at some baseball game, so the two of you wouldn’t lose anything if you left right now. however, yunhee loved things like this, and you like anything fall-related.

“alright i just need to stamp your hand real quick.” the worker named sunoo glanced between the two of you. when you looked at him closer, you got an odd feeling. there was just something about his eyes that didn’t seem right. the pain from his stamping your hand pulled you out of your thoughts.

you hiss as you pull your hand away, “did that hurt for you too?” you rub where the stamp is on your hand, still feeling the stinging sensation.

yunhee shrugs, “a little. maybe it’s the ink they use.”

you don’t recall any ink stinging, but then again, a sharpie mark can burn if you put light against it, so you never know. maybe you’re just being a little paranoid. you ignore the feeling that you’re being watched. you seriously need to chill out, everything’s fine.

“okay… so what’s first?” you’re practically itching for a distraction.

“let’s go on some of the rides!” yunhee grabs you by the wrist as she rushes over to one of the tilt-a-whirls. you manage to dodge one of the clowns that yunhee almost made you bump into. you miss the way that the clown's smile is abnormally wide and unrelenting.

the two of you are about to go onto the ride, when the ride operator stops the two of you. “sorry miss, you need to go get a new stamp. it’s the wrong color.”

you look at yunhee’s stamp compared to yours. hers is a black color, whereas yours is a deep red.

“seriously?” yunhee asks, scoffing at the absurdity. the worker, named sunghoon, just shrugs.

“we got stamped by the same person at the front, though.” you add in, hoping that your statement would help. it didn’t. the man just shrugs again, uninterested in anything the two of you have to say.

yunhee sighs, “fine. i’ll go get another stamp.”

you move to go with her, but yunhee stops you, “just stay here, it’ll be quick.”

you watch her retreating form before turning back towards sunghoon.

“are you gonna ride or not?”

you try not to react, his attitude really lighting a flame under your ass. before you can cuss him out, despite him just doing his job, another man saves him.

“we can ride together, right?” you notice his wavy black hair before anything else. then you notice how it seems like the air shifts when he’s around. how he commands everything around him. he’s talking to the worker, who shows him a much better attitude.

“yes you can.” sunghoon no longer seems uninterested; in fact, he’s smirking as he looks between the two of you. you roll your eyes because it’s the only thing you can think to do in the presence of that smirk.

the guy finally turns to look at you. his cat eyes capture yours, and you’re unsure if you can look away. they’re as black as obsidian and shine like it, too. he’s so handsome it’s cruel.

his eyes get smaller as he smiles at you, “is that alright with you? my friend ditched me for the kissing booth.”

you want to say no so that you can actually wait for your friend, but what comes out of your mouth is “sure.”

“perfect!” his eyes darken a bit, and you almost regret saying yes. this night has just been weird, maybe that’s why you’re overanalyzing everything. despite your slight unease, you let him lead you into one of the seat-like contraptions.

“my name's jungwon, by the way.” he flashes you a pearly white smile, one that makes you want to let your guard down. when you first saw him, you were too busy admiring him to realize you never got his name until now.

“oh right, my name's y/n.” his eyes linger on you, causing you to shift in the circular seat.

“just to warn you, i like to go fast.” his eyes sparkle with mischief as he grabs the wheel, prepared to spin as soon as the ride starts.

you let yourself relax and give him a small laugh, “well good because i like to go even faster.”

jungwon obviously took that as a challenge. as soon as the ride started, the two of you were working together to spin the wheel at a speed unknown to man. you don’t know what happens, but the two of you end up going so fast you start seeing figures pop up in the blur of the background each time you spin around. you swear someone is somehow messing with you. it feels like you’ve been spinning for ages. your body starts to get sluggish as you realize you’re feeling a little nauseous. you never get dizzy, never. it’s something you pride yourself on, but for some reason, the spinning has gotten to you. your head feels as if it’s still spinning when you walk out of the ride.

you close your eyes, trying to get your body back on track, but it only causes you to stumble. jungwon’s hands softly touch your arm and shoulder to stabilize you.

“are you okay?” his presence only seems to make the dizziness worse. it seems to give you a fever, heating your body as if he’s an oven. not meant to comfort you, but to burn you alive.

you try to step away from him, anyway to get away from the heat that seems to radiate off of him and into you. jungwon only gets closer.

“here let’s get you sitting down,” the one good idea jungwon has had in the span of what you think is ten minutes.

all you feel is your feet moving along with his before your bottom hits a cool bench. you almost moan at the contrast in temperature compared to how you were feeling.

“here’s some water.”

you gratefully take the water bottle from him, twisting off the sealed cap before chugging it. you feel like you're finally able to breathe again once the water cools your temperature.

“thank you.” you manage to get out, finally able to focus on the world again. when you look at jungwon, he is unnervingly indifferent. again, just observing you as you observe him.

you try to ease the awkwardness between the two of you. “you definitely win. i swear i don’t usually get that dizzy.”

his facial expression finally changes into something different. he shrugs, smirking as if he knows something you don’t.

“i tried to tell you.” he squats down, resting his hand on your knee. you immediately get up, putting a boundary between the two of you.

“i should go find my friend.” you stabilize yourself, finally feeling able to walk around.

jungwon smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “yeah, you go do that.”

as you make your way back to the front, where she should be, you notice how the carnival looks a lot less busy now. it’s only been 10 minutes, right? your body seems to sense something before you do. your heart's already starting to accelerate, and in turn, your breathing quickens, preparing you for fight or flight. as you arrive at the front with your friend nowhere in sight, your mouth dries.

“it’s okay, she probably went back to the car real quick,” you reassure yourself, trying not to make a big deal out of nothing. you pull out your phone and try to call her, only to get no response. you’ve already been waiting for five minutes, and despite thinking the ride was only a few minutes, it had taken away forty minutes' worth. you’re starting to get antsy.

you take a deep breath. despite not wanting to walk in the dark woods alone, you’re going to have to. she could just be asleep in the car waiting.

as you pass the ticket booth, you notice the guy named sunoo is gone, and nobody has replaced him. you can’t help quickening your pace.

“god this feels just like a fucking horror movie.”

you finally get to the exit, or at least you thought you did. you’re a bit disoriented as you stare at the spot ahead of you that you could’ve sworn you just walked away from. you try again, only to end up in the exact same spot. your hands start to shake as your heart drops.

“this isn’t possible,” you mumble.

“you think it’s possible to leave?” you hear a chuckle coming from behind you. “that’s cute.”

when you turn around, jungwon is standing in the middle of the park entrance. instead of the casual outfit he was wearing when you first saw him, now he was wearing a red coat with a black top hat.

“w-what?” you stare at him, wondering how he managed to change and if he’s able to leave the carnival.

“the show's just starting y/n, and the star of the show can’t be late.” jungwon’s obsidian eyes overtake the whites of his eyes for a moment. he is shaking with excitement while you’re trembling in fear.

jungwon starts to slowly walk to you, so slow that you could walk away and still get away from him. the scary part was that he was walking at that pace, and your gut was telling you that you'd never get away. you’d be damned if you didn’t try.

“fuck that.” you immediately dart in the opposite direction of jungwon.

you can hear him as you run away, “this is going to be so much fun.” he shouts one more thingat you before you're unable to hear him. "you captivate me!"

the carnival becomes alive. the lights have a mind of their own as they shut off behind you. you realize they tell you where jungwon is. the carnival music now has an eerie, almost broken kind of tune that only unsettles you more.

where all the people went you don't know, but now it was only you and this crazy dude. it was taking everything in you not to have a panic attack.

"think, think, think. if i can't get out right now… i just need to hide." you're taking in the carnival around you, trying to find a place to hide when you come across the maze of mirrors. part of you, maybe your instincts, tells you not to do it, but since it's the only covered area closest to you, you're willing to take the risk.

if you’re able to get further in then he won’t be able to see your reflection. hopefully that means he won’t even try going in the maze. it’d stall him too much. those thoughts alone lead you through the mirror maze.

as fast as you're going, it’s hard to stay as quiet as possible without slamming into the endless images of yourself. any other circumstance, you would love to be in this maze, but the possibility of dying makes the endless maze seem horrific.

you finally make it to what you assume would be far enough, and you crumble into yourself, thinking that maybe if you make yourself small, there’s a less likely chance that someone would sense your presence.

now that you’re sitting staring at your disheveled and terrified self, it occurs to you that now would be a great time to call for help.

the reminder that yunhee hasn’t texted you back causes another set of panic and questions. with even more added on, your mind threatens to send you into a spiral you may not be able to come back from. you have to push those thoughts to the back of your mind. you can’t help yunhee if you can’t help yourself.

you hold your breath to create utter silence. your senses are in overdrive, trying to sense a threat nearby. you try to will your ears to hear past their normal capacity. without any clear threat, you finally draw out your phone and dial emergency services.

it’s ringing.

not just in front of you where your phone is, but outside towards the entrance.

your heart seems to pound even harder as you try to stand again without making any noise. you can see that the phone call has been picked up, and thinking that it’s at least better if they know where you are, you put it up to your ear.

“oh y/n y/n y/n. trying to call someone else?” your body freezes up, your sympathetic nervous system firing endlessly. unlike before, the perception of danger freezes you over. you’re trembling. you can’t even manage to put the phone down. it’s almost as if your body thinks that if you’re still enough, then they can’t perceive you.

“don’t you know by now? you’re mine.” the phone call ends. he’s hung up on you.

instead, jungwon prefers to speak to you directly.

“the mirror maze, huh? i knew you were the one for me. you’re making this so fun,” you hear his chipper voice ringing, bouncing back between the reflective mirrors.

you catch a glimpse of black hair in one of the mirrors.

already?

finally, your body moves after sensing that the danger is heading towards you.

you’re holding your hands out, trying to move through the maze as efficiently as possible.

you hit one mirror, then another, and another until you move to the next set. this continues. unlike other mirror mazes, this one is an actual maze and isn’t a simple entrance and exit. while trying to navigate the exit, you’re also trying not to go the opposite direction where jungwon would be.

if you weren’t so focused on survival, the horror of someone hunting you on top of seeing dozens of yourself staring back at you would send you into psychosis.

you spot movement that doesn’t belong to you in one of the mirrors beside you. you move faster, but it doesn't do you any good. even worse than being surrounded by yourself, you’re also surrounded by jungwon. you’re glancing at all of them, trying to determine which one is the real him.

“found you.” all of his reflections smile, but his eyes seem inhuman. his face might portray excitement, but his eyes appear dead.

at this point, you’re desperate for any way out. instead of moving ahead with intention, you’re slamming yourself into many different mirrors until you nearly fall through an opening. you continue like this, and you finally see the exit.

you’re so relieved at this small sight of freedom that you run at full speed, forgetting about the illusion of mirrors.

CRACK

you fall back, your hand darting to your nose as the pain radiates through your skull. as your eyes tear up from the impact, your shaky hand lowers itself in front of you to reveal blood. you’re trying to collect yourself, trying not to give up here and now. instead of doing either of those, your body shakes from the sobbing that is released. you manage to get up, despite new thoughts running through your head.

just give up. you can’t escape anyways. just get it over with.

the body’s need for survival is a crazy thing.

if you can’t escape him, then you’ll kill him. there’s a kitchen area near the tilt-a-whirl, so you just need to make it there.

“ohhh,” jungwon moans. fucking sadist. “it’s invigorating that you’re so strong-willed. i love that about you.”

as you step out of the maze, you hear glass breaking behind you. you don’t even have to turn around to know he’s given up on finding you in there.

you just have to make it to the kitchen before him.

you break out in a sprint that’s so fast it almost has you tripping because your legs can barely keep up with themselves. each impact your foot makes on the ground causes the pain in your nose to intensify from the bouncing.

“y/n, why don’t you just give up? i can fix that nose for you if you want! personally, i think your blood looks beautiful on you, but a swollen and bruised nose might not be ideal.”

he is shouting, so he’s not super close to you, but he’s close enough that it’s clear and loud. you ignore him.

“don’t ignore me y/n, you don’t want to make me mad.” you can hear his annoyance. it’s enough to where you turn your head behind you and see him running towards you.

“leave me alone!” you scream, the desperation in the statement hurting your vocal cords.

you finally manage to make it to the kitchen, sliding across the counter to get there. you’re scrambling around, slamming open cabinets to find a knife or some kind of weapon. you’re finally able to spot a set of them towards the back.

you urgently grab the largest one, the knife shaking in your hand. you’ve never even tried to harm someone, and part of you is scared you’ll accidentally injure yourself.

“y/n.” jungwon is leaning against the counter that you slid over, simply watching you. you hold the knife up. “oh y/n. that’s cute, really,” he chuckles, but it’s void of amusement.

“let me leave.” your voice is shaky. you try to clear your throat silently.

jungwon shakes his head as he pushes himself off the counter. “you’re the only one i want, though.” he steps closer as you debate whether to run again or stand your ground.

“don’t come near me!” you scream, backing up slightly. “i’ll kill you.”

jungwon looks at the knife and how it’s trembling in your hand before looking at you again. he continues to step closer to you. when he’s close enough that alarms blare through your body, you lunge forward.

jungwon moves quickly, grabbing your waist and spinning you around to where your back is towards him. he grabs the hand with the knife in it, but not before getting a clean cut that sends blood running down his arm. you hear him hiss from behind you, but you’re too busy thrashing around to notice the change of attitude from him.

jungwon slams your hand against the metal countertop so hard it almost breaks. the pain radiates up your arm, and you lose control of your own hand, causing you to drop the knife.

“stop being such a brat.” he grits out.

“go to hell,” you spit, throwing your head back. despite being shorter than him, you give him a matching wound on his nose from the impact of the back of your skull. he doesn’t let go, if anything, his grip becomes painfully tight.

“already been there.”

you’re hardly able to become even more panicked, but as he grabs the back of your head, you seem to know you’re nearing your end. you decide to close your eyes right before your head is flung against the counter. you feel the impact as your head feels like it has been split in two. feel the amount of pain makes you dizzy. so dizzy it seems you barely process your body slacken. you can barely hold open your eyes.

you try to say a quick “fuck you,” but all that comes out is an inaudible mumble.

you hear jungwon sigh. “it didn’t need to be that violent. i didn’t want to ruin your pretty little face.”

you wake up with a mind-numbing headache. it was almost impossible to open your eyes because when you did, you could feel the pain radiate into your eye sockets.

god.

you were dizzy too.

what the fuck happened?

it was hard to concentrate with the chronic migraine on top of the sharp pain anytime you moved any part of your body. or… tried to.

why couldn’t you move?

when you finally manage to get ahold of yourself enough to look around you, you notice you’re strapped down in a chair, the leather cuffs of your wrist and ankles not tight enough to cut off any circulation, but tight enough to cause some discomfort.

despite your body hardly being able to muster any energy to make small movements, it still managed to react to being trapped in the chair. the nausea hits you first, followed by the tremors.

you couldn’t even remember what happened towards the end of the chase, but you knew it had to be bad, otherwise you wouldn’t be in misery sitting in the chair. you couldn’t quite understand why or how you were still alive.

part of you just wanted this to be over with. you were so tired.

as soon as that thought left your mind, your eyes started to close involuntarily.

“nope. you don’t get to go until i know you’re stuck with me.”

shut up, you manage to think. his voice was just so annoying right now.

you hear him snap his fingers, which instantly relieves the majority of your pain. it does nothing for your exhaustion.

you keep your eyes closed, hoping maybe he will just go away. instead, he runs his index finger along your face, tracing the outline.

“my pretty y/n. you don’t know how happy this makes me,” he whispers next to your ear, causing your body to react. he notices the way you slightly jerk away from his voice.

“the show starts soon,” he bites your ear, “break a leg.” he cackles, laughing like a maniac as he walks out of the room once more.

he’s been talking about a show this whole time, but you have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. last time you checked, nobody was here.

“fuck this.” you mutter to yourself. your pride was starting to get to you, being the only thing left for you to feel. you wouldn’t let that sick fuck have his way with you.

now that you weren’t in constant pain, you could gather your thoughts. first, you scanned the room. nothing was within reach. you could try to break the chair like in those movies, but how accurate are those movies? you debate falling forward in the chair and using the slight movement you could achieve with your feet and ankles to slide yourself across the floor. the problem with that is that you’d still be stuck just in a worse position. okay you’re going to have to think of something else. it just had to be leather restraints. you could totally get out of zip ties. you slide your legs up and down, testing out the mobility you have. well… at least there’s that.

you lean back in the chair, carefully not to fall as you lift the front two legs of the chair off the floor. you carefully slide your legs with the restraints out from under the chair legs. you hold back the urge to cheer when you manage to successfully free your legs.

maybe you could just walk out awkwardly with the chair attached to your arms, but if you had to run, then you wouldn’t get very far. this time, you awkwardly shuffle around the room to find anything to help cut the restraints on your arms. it occurs to you then that you could literally use your teeth to undo the leather clasp.

“fucking idiot,” you mumble.

once you’re finally free, you don’t know what to do with yourself. there seems to only be one door, and there’s no windows, but jungwon just left that way and who's to say he wasn’t nearby. you’ll just have to be sneaky. you try to make your steps quiet, making sure to approach the door slowly. you can’t hear anything when you press your ear against the door, so you decide to open the door as slowly as you can and only enough to peek out through the small gap. you don’t see him, and you let out a breath of relief. however, when you step out into the new room, its appearance starts to change. part of you wonders if jungwon drugged you on top of everything else.

he didn’t, though you might have taken that over what’s actually happening. your clothes seemed to of changed into something a lot more revealing, making sure to accentuate the curves of your body. it felt suffocating. the room around you appears to melt as a new room is revealed.

you’re on a stage and in front of you, there are countless empty seats, the decor following the same theme as the carnival.

“how nice of my assistant to join me!” jungwon’s grin is almost too big for his face, similar to the unnatural smile of the cheshire cat.

you’re uncertain of what’s going on, and quite frankly, you’re terrified of jungwon. if he could do all of this, what couldn’t he do. if he truly had magic… was there actually any possible chance at escape?

“y/n come on over and hop into this box.”

your mind is too preoccupied to put up any fight against him, so, almost trance-like, you do as he says.

as you pass by him, he whispers, “good girl,” clearly satisfied by your obedience.

he helps you step into the box, which lies on a rolling table. in need of some comfort, you search for the eyes of anyone in the room, but you only see jungwon. for once, when you meet his eyes, they are not devoid of emotion. sure there’s his usual excitement, but he also seems to want to soothe you. his eyes are communicating with you, almost as if he’s saying, “trust me.”

it’s not like you had any choice, but it does manage to calm you a bit. your body has been in a constant state of fight or flight, and a little reassurance from jungwon was enough to slow your heart rate, just a little.

when you see jungwon pull out a saw, you almost laugh at your own stupidity. this is what happens when you trust a psychopath. when he starts to saw the now closed box, you’re squirming around. getting sawed in half was never your idea of a good way to die.

as you watch the saw get lower, you don’t feel anything pierce you. in fact, you feel perfectly normal… all things considered. jungwon puts down the saw and starts to roll the table. you're only able to see that your feet are hanging out of the other box for a split second. enough to make you kick your legs, or think you’re kicking your legs.

the applause from the crowd cuts your panic off. since when were there people? you can’t see anything from over the box, but jungwon finishes this trick up quickly.

“i can’t tire my new assistant out too quickly. i’m sure you all enjoyed the chase from earlier as well, so let’s send her off with one last trick.” jungwon easily riles up the crowd, he's a natural.

the first thing you do when jungwon helps you out of the box is look at the crowd. you regret it. the crowd isn’t full of normal people who could potentially save you; it’s filled with monsters. some people look normal, but their eyes are fully black. others are simply a different species. your last wish for freedom is snuffed out like a match.

jungwon leads you to one last box, this one meant to cover you completely. instead of fighting, you’re so tired of fighting, you accept whatever fate jungwon has laid out for you. you’re shut in the box, and it’s pitch black.

“and now for her disappearing act!”

you hear nothing after that. it’s so quiet that it starts to drive you crazy. it’s so dark that you can even see your own limbs. you clap your hands together, but you still can’t hear anything. you’re in a void. are you actually dead? it’s utter hell. the longer you’re in here, the more you feel as if you’re slowly losing your mind. you don’t know how long it’s been. it couldn’t have been that long, right? if you’re stuck like this forever… you don’t think you could take it. being conscious and aware, but not able to use any of your senses except touch. even then, all you can actually feel is your own body, you couldn’t even find where the box had been around you.

“you can come out now y/n.”

your eyes widen as noise and light come back through the box again. you rush towards it, not wanting to be stuck wherever you are ever again. you were so fast in getting out that you tumbled into jungwon.

he chuckles, it’s deep and hollow. “well hello there.”

you look up at him, you want to glare, but all you can manage is desperation. “never do that trick ever again.”

jungwon looks up, seeming to consider it. “unfortunately i don’t think i can grant you that wish.” he watches you, observing everything about you with an unreadable expression. “looks like you’re realizing there’s no way out.”

is that what it is? panicking doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, maybe you got used to it. as for escaping… if jungwon really does have magic… it is certainly nearly impossible.

“i wouldn’t think about that if i were you. seeing as you loved the void, i could keep you there forever instead.”

that catches your attention, you immediately meet his eyes, which seem to switch from pure black to a dark brown color.

“do you actually have… magic?” it seems like a stupid question to ask.

jungwon seems to like that question, a small smirk brightening up his face as he moves his fingers to reveal a string of light. it moves from his fingers to around your body, you feel its warmth as it ties you around him.

you immediately push away, irritated at his nerve.

“jungwon… i don’t want to be here. you can’t keep me here.” you try reasoning with him, seeing as nothing else works. maybe you can appeal to the part of jungwon that could calm you down, despite being the reason you were put in this position.

jungwon sighs, “oh, but i can. you already performed your role y/n. i only need to do one more thing to keep you in it.”

you back away from him even further, “my role?”

“my assistant, of course. the carnival does some interesting things to the mind once it’s reborn.” jungwon walks closer to you, and you notice he’s holding a glowing dagger.

“did i say you couldn’t keep me here?” you laugh nervously, “i meant that i wanted to walk around the carnival.” your eyes dart towards the door. jungwon notices. when you dart to it, he grabs you, spinning you around. it’s so quick you almost don’t process the dagger and it's light seeping into you.

“it’s over.” you think to yourself. the worst part is seeing jungwon looking down at you with a smile the entire time.

you awake with a jolt, gasping for air.

jungwon caresses your face, and oddly enough, you don’t feel the need to pull away. you’re unnaturally calm.

it’s as if there are two versions of you fighting over what you should feel and think.

“it’ll be a little disorienting for a while, but i like you, so i’ll help you get settled.” he kisses you, washing away the parts of you trying to convince yourself to hate him.

you don’t kiss back, debating what to do instead. when he pulls away, all you can do is stare at each other.

“you’ll get there, after all, there’s nowhere else you can go anymore.” he pats your shoulder before helping you up.

you glance down at your chest, which no longer has a wound despite blood coating the area around it.

“i got you a gift to celebrate your new life.” jungwon opens the door to reveal a familiar face.

“yunhee?” you gasp. despite the stoicism you seem to be overrun by, you’re able to feel pain deep in your chest.

jungwon rolls his eyes, regretting his decision already. he just thought it’d be funny to laugh at what yunhee became.

“see, yunhee’s already adapted to her role well.” she’s almost unrecognizable under her clown makeup; it scares you. yunhee doesn’t even seem to process what’s happening in front of her; she’s constantly laughing.

when you walk up to her, she boops your nose. you flinch; you were never a fan of clowns.

“are…” you don’t know what to say. “are you okay?”

“of course, silly!” she honks a horn at you, which slightly annoys you.

you turn towards jungwon, your anger rising. you ignore the part of you that wants to please jungwon.

“to be honest… i don’t really talk to the clowns much, but every carnival needs them.” jungwon shrugs. he shrugs as if he didn’t just uproot your life. as if he didn’t ruin your friend's life.

you slap him. the noise echoes in the room, even yunhee gets the hint to leave.

jungwon holds his cheek and scoffs. “and here i thought you’d love to see your friend again.” jungwon’s eyes are filled with anger as well.

“it’s enough that you ruin my life for whatever sick reason, but yunhee could’ve been left alone,” you spit at jungwon, and he immediately wipes it off of his cheek.

“you know, when you’re like this, you remind me a lot of myself.” jungwon smirks, ignoring your outburst.

you punch him. you don’t care anymore.

“go on, let it out.” he stands there with his arms open.

you pound on his chest over and over again until your arms feel numb. until you’re sure there’s nothing else you could do. you fall to the floor and cry. you cry for your old life, and over the new one you’re forced to live.

jungwon wraps his arms around you, before moving your hair to the side and kissing the back of your neck.

“i’ll forgive you this time, but never do that again,” he whispers.

you nod. allowing yourself to forget about your past. it hurts less that way, it’s more bearable that way. you lean your back into jungwon as he strokes your hair.

“it’ll be okay y/n. you know i’ll always be here for you.”

you swear you could hear a pin drop as jake leans over and rests his head on his steering wheel. the silence manages to sober you up a little as you notice the air shift. you expected jake to be shocked, but you didn’t expect him to look so tortured. his shoulders hung low as his hair covered his face. he sat like that, breathing in and out for a few minutes.

“let’s not talk about this right now y/n.” he slowly sits up, his hand moving to the gear to put it back into drive.

you just stare at him. at the face of someone who looks like they’ve been beaten over and over again in the heart. and you know that you’re the cause. your heart doesn’t drop; it slowly sinks to the floor as you sit with the unease and guilt. all you said was that you liked him, and you practically killed him. shouldn’t your liking him be a good thing?

“okay.” you mumble, having no problem facing the window this time. as you stare at the buildings passing you by, thinking about how all you ever manage to do is hurt jake, you let a tear stream down your face. then another, and another. before you know it, you’re holding yourself tightly to hide how much your body shakes with your cries.

you awake with a somber feeling. last night's events still in your head. you feel slightly sick, but it’s not as bad as the disappointment you feel. it rests like a hollowness in your chest as you think about jake.

he’s beside you even now, sleeping in a chair. even when you’re able to return his feelings, all you’re capable of doing is hurting him. it seems as though you know what he’s felt the past week because you care so much about him, you’re almost in agony. you want to reach out to him, but maybe it’s for the best if you don’t.

you try not to wake him as you get up and place a blanket on him. you can’t believe he slept in a chair like that. his neck is going to kill him when he wakes up. you take a little extra time to look at his sleeping face, and he looks relaxed for the first time this week. even with him right in front of you, you miss him.

finally, you tear yourself away and head into the kitchen. you’re debating what to cook when you see the box of lucky charms out. jake must’ve been hungry last night. a wave of guilt passes through you like a spirit that lingers. to make up for being a nuisance, you decide to make some breakfast for the two of you.

jake wakes up to a stiff neck and some pain in his back. the discomfort eases a bit as he does his morning stretch of his muscles, his back popping as he does so. even after he stretches his neck, it still aches.

now that he has gotten most of the discomfort out of his body, he has to deal with the one in his head from last night. jake wasn’t mad at you, not even close. he was mad at himself. he couldn’t believe that he let himself get his hopes up when you were just a drunk girl who was probably confused. he recalls the taste of your lips, the slight hint of peach from the seltzers you had downed. he couldn’t stop thinking about how you moaned into him, quiet enough that it almost seemed like a secret shared between the two of you. god how much he wanted to lean the seat back right then and there, but he couldn’t. for a moment, he had forgotten that you were drunk, so caught up in his own dreams that he almost made the biggest mistake of his life.

last night, he had everything he had ever wanted. you right next to him, wanting him, liking him, but you were drunk. he didn’t know how he was going to face you, but he knew he needed to.

he set the blanket you had covered him with onto your empty bed before he quietly walked out of your room. he could hear sizzling coming from the kitchen, along with the smell of bacon. his stomach grumbled in response. if the smell didn’t hint to him what you were doing, he found out soon after as he rounded the corner to see you facing the stove, tossing around scrambled eggs as the bacon cooked beside you. you were so focused, you didn’t even notice the presence behind you.

part of the bacon grease catapulted its way onto your forearm, causing you to hiss and step away from the source of your pain. jake was immediately at your side, gently grabbing your arm to make sure you were okay. you couldn’t help but jump from the shock of jake being awake already. your face already started to flush as you thought about last night's antics. you definitely kissed him, and you definitely didn’t regret it. in fact, with him this close to you… you kinda wanted a repeat. you’re staring at jake’s lips as they move, opening and then pressing together. you slowly move from his lips to his eyes.

“sorry, what?”

“are you okay?”

you honestly forgot that you had burned yourself merely five seconds ago. granted, it was only a small splash of grease.

“oh… yeah i’m okay, no biggie.” you shrug your shoulders, dreading the absence of his warm hands on your arm. even worse than the loss of his touch was the silence that hung in the air between you two. you clear your throat.

“we should talk… over breakfast.” you fidget with your hands. without the alcohol flowing through your system, it was hard to be confident and vulnerable.

jake nods as he steps away, taking a seat at the bar table. he can’t help but tap on the table as he waits for the food to be done. the tension in the air was eating him alive, his leg bouncing up and down as he tried to collect himself. 'god what is she going to say?' he thinks to himself. he almost wants to beat you to it.

instead, he chooses to look at your backside and how it moves as you move the bacon around. how you making sure to make some of the bacon less crispy because that’s how he likes it. he’s surprised you remember, but then again, he used to pitch a fit anytime you helped with breakfast and made the bacon crispy as hell.

“alright, breakfast is served.” you were so proud of your cooking job, and it showed in your smile. jake could see the joy inside them as you handed him his plate.

you sobered up real quick, though, realizing now you had to actually talk to jake about your feelings.

“look,” the two of you say at the same time, eyes widening as they meet.

“let me go first.” jake practically begs, not wanting you to ridicule him for the kiss. he can’t take the embarrassment of that as well as the rejection.

you hesitantly nod, really wanting to be the one to go first. you try your hardest not to bounce your leg from your nerves, but you can’t seem to sit still.

“i’m sorry. i shouldn’t have kissed you without permission.” you can tell jake isn’t his typical self. he’s making an effort not to grab your hand to apologize, like he normally does. he’s a very touchy person, but now he’s drawn a line for himself, and it hurts you.

this time, you take the step. you grab his hand and rub your thumb against his hand.

jake’s head jerks up, confusion written over his furrowed brows.

“you don’t need to apologize jake.” you pause, trying to find a way to say what you need to. “i don’t know if you still feel the same, but i meant it when i said i like you. like, really like you.” you look away, not able to keep the courage up after confessing. how jake was able to do it, you don’t know, but now your heart is beating in your chest despite the relief of getting your feelings off your chest.

jake moves quickly. he’s beside you before you even notice he got up. he takes hold of your chin, turning your head gently despite his urgency.

“please tell me that one more time,” he almost sounds breathless with how desperate he is.

“i like you jake.”

jake licks his lips, “can i kiss you?” you barely manage a nervous nod before his lips come crashing down onto yours.

his hand slides from your back up to your head, stabilizing you as his lips overtake your own. unlike the one in the car, he is unrelenting. it feels as if his kiss is bringing you back to life. the sensation of his lips against yours just fits perfectly. as the kiss becomes slower, yet more passionate and aggressive, your back hits the kitchen counter. you hardly even manage to acknowledge its presence behind you when jake manages to take your hips in his hands and lift you up onto it. when he looks at you it isn’t just lust swimming in his eyes, but need. as if now that he’s finally got you, he can’t get enough, and he would never want to let go.

“are you okay?” he asks, his eyes darting to any part of your body that could possibly tell him you’re uncomfortable.

you nod your head, “i’m okay.” you take hold of his shirt to pull him closer to you. instead of going back to kissing you like you expected, he tilts his head down to your neck and makes smack pecks across it before deciding which spot he wants to focus on. your eyes close instinctively, trying to savor the feeling of his lips on the soft spot of your neck. jake, seeing your response as your body relaxes even more into him, smiles. you can feel his breath on your sensitive skin before he pulls back to look at you.

you almost take off jake’s shirt, but he stops you.

“i want to take things slow. i know i got a little carried away when i kissed you,” he smiles sheepishly, “i couldn’t help it, but i want to do right by you.” his warm hands clasp yours as you scoot off the countertop.

“alright, i can do slow.” the stare down the two of you have is slightly intense. “but don’t keep me waiting for too long.”

you hated slow.

only an hour had passed where the two of you had kissed and here you were wondering whether or not he thought the two of you were in a relationship. obviously you want to be, but you need him to ask you before you can go around labeling whatever the two of you have.

okay. maybe you’re being crazy. you literally just confessed, but to be fair, usually when two people like each other, they start dating.

jake seems completely fine. he’s taken your couch as his own as he plays out sprawled across it and you. his head rests upon a pillow laid atop your thighs, and his hand is intertwined with yours. despite going slow, he sure is a clingy man. you can tell he enjoys it, though, because sometimes the joy shows in how his feet kick or he hides his wide smile into the pillow. you’re favorite was when he would turn to look at you, simply smiling before going back to watching the movie.

“okay serious question.” you had only slightly paid attention to the movie up till now.

jake’s head turns to meet your own.

“so, the guy coming to save them couldn’t go save them as fast because you have to descend slowly when you dive. however, when they fell with the cage, they obviously didn’t do that slowly, so wouldn’t they of died from that.”

jake laughs, “how would they die from that?”

“i thought like, you explode right?”

jake simply blinks as he contemplates what to say next.

“no, the worst thing is probably bursting your eardrums.” jake pats your own hand like he was sorry he had to break the news to you.

“that’s it? i thought they always made a big deal because you’d die.”

“you’re probably thinking about when they ascend because you can die from that.” jake has already started playing with your fingers absentmindedly. now that you’re asking questions about the movie, he’s solely focused on you. seeing him like this, being with him like this, seems unreal.

“okay well… how come they’re not suffering from some hearing issues?” you think you’ve got him there. movies can be so unrealistic.

“i mean… considering they’re underwater, i think it’d be hard to tell if they can hear or not. their hearing is also probably the least of their worries in that situation.”

you pause, trying to think of something else to say. you can’t, so instead you groan. “why do you always have to be right?”

“would you like me to lie?” jake smiles and you know he's messing with you, but he almost seems genuine when he asks that.

“no,” you move your legs so that jake has to sit up, “that’s almost in line with going easy on me in a game, which you know is a pet peeve.”

“oh trust me i know. one game of kings corner with you almost killed me because of that peeve.” now that jake’s sitting up, he angles his body towards you.

“anyways…” you decide now’s a good time to change the subject. “would you be willing to come to the art department after your class this week? i may have used you as inspiration for one of my designs, and i want to make sure i get the measurements right.” you’re honestly kind of nervous for his response.

jake smirks, tilting his head to the side. “inspiration, huh? so you think about me often?”

you grab the pillow from behind you and hit him with it. “it’s hard not to when you’re this annoying.” you can’t help the smile that jake always manages to draw out of you.

jake rolls his eyes, “yes i’ll stop by after class one day. just let me know when.”

“this is actually great! i’ve been wanting to show you the building since it seems your vibe.”

jake smiles again, and you can tell he’s thinking something like “see, you do think of me.”

he doesn’t even have to say it out loud for you to roll your eyes. “how’s your senior project going?”

jake looks up, a habit he has when he’s thinking, “i’m in cahoots with the cafe owner, so the stressful part is over with. i just haven’t been able to speak with any property owners about placement and whether to buy or rent.”

you ponder for a minute, “is the cafe hiring you to make a new building for them then?”

jake nods, still thinking about the legal aspects he shouldn’t have to deal with.

“maybe you should focus on your job instead of everyone else’s,” you say it in a sing-song voice, trying not to seem pushy.

“i know, i know. i just like to be ahead of everything, so i know how the layout will turn out.”

“well at least you’re ahead of me. it took me so long to get started on mine.”

“well, i’ve had a whole year to think about businesses and building in korea, so i’d say you’re going a bit faster than me.”

you nod your head, agreeing with him, “i’m always faster than you.”

“not always,” jake mumbles, shaking his head.

you take note of it. “oh really now? name one time i was slower at something than you.” you cross your arms, expecting him to admit he was wrong.

instead, jake tilts his head at you- almost like it should be obvious. you tilt your head back at him.

“i obviously fell for you faster than you fell for me.” despite saying something so cheesy, he remains unaffected. in fact, he looks proud that he was faster than you at something, but you can’t give him credit for that.

“no way, nope. i totally felt attracted to you when i got here from the airport, so i don’t count that.”

jake seems to take note of that, but saves it for later because that’s not what he meant.

“no y/n. i fell for you all the way back in second grade.”

you’re taken aback by how you had no idea about this till now. so all of the times you complained to jake about boys…

you whack him in the head.

jake jerks his head away from you as his nose scrunches up. “what was that for?”

“you should’ve told me! i complained about being single all the time.”

you swear you see a gleam across jake’s eyes.

“did you like me?” he practically shouts.

you look away, “no, at least i never allowed myself to think of you that way.”

jake’s excitement dies down quickly, and it’s replaced by his pouting.

“so why should i of told you?”

“because maybe i finally would’ve considered it a possibility.” you shrug, thinking that there was no way you wouldn’t like jake if you thought dating your best friend was a possibility.

“yeah well i didn’t think there was a need to risk our friendship because i’d have you either way,” he pauses, “at least until you got a boyfriend. then i realized I couldn’t have you all to myself as just a friend.”

even though it was years ago, you feel bad looking at him now. he did always follow you around. jake notices your change of demeanor and takes that time to peck you on the lips.

“but it’s okay because i have you all to myself now.”