The hallway was immense. Every direction I looked I could not tell which way was the exit and where I would just get lost so I decided to just run as fast as I could in one of the directions and hope for the best.

The walls were bare for the most part, but the wallpaper did not make me feel anywhere near the city, if anything I felt like I was in a mansion more than a house.

At this point though I wasn’t in the mood to contemplate over the décor. I had only one destination and goal in mind. Get the hell out of this place.

I managed to find a set of stairs that went down, so I tumbled down them two at a time and somehow I managed to get down without having another episode like I did back at my house the last time I was awake.

How much time had passed anyways? Wouldn’t my parents’ friends be wondering why I never made it to their house? And how would I find my way home after leaving this place?

So many questions raced through my mind by this point that I didn’t notice the shadow that stopped in front of me.

I ran straight into what felt like a body.

My feet slipped from beneath me and I barely managed to catch my landing with my hands before my tail bone could slam into the wood floor.

“I see you’ve managed to make yourself comfortable already, running around the house as if it were yours.” I looked up, but didn’t have to take a moment to know whose voice that was. Let’s just say you don’t forget the sound of the voice that managed to threaten to kill you and call you a airhead.

Regularly I would have probably went on an angry rampage, but I just spared him one last glance before I pushed myself off the ground and broke out into a sprint again.

I ran down another hallway nearby until finally a door came into my view. I assumed I had found the front door so I unlocked the door and ran out, disregarding the fact that I had no shoes on.

Originally, I would keep going and not even bother any second doubts in my mind. But, once I saw the large dark gates in front of me and the long path beyond that that led through into a forest I stopped in my tracks.

My heart hammered against my rib cage. “Mi Kyung, I’m sorry but you can’t leave.” I turned around to see all six of the brothers before me I didn’t bother to worry over who had spoken. I really knew none of them. I only knew their names because of the rumors about them that spread around school.

They all might as well have been strangers. “You can’t keep me here.” The brother I recognized to be Junhyung stepped forward. “We’d rather not keep you here ourselves, but that is our only option for now. You saw something you weren’t supposed to and so we have to wait and keep you under surveillance until we know what to do about all of this.” None of the others disagreed with him.

Unconsciously my gaze shifted to Yoseob standing at the end of the line they had formed. His hands were folded together and he seemed to be listening to our conversation, but his stare was cast in another direction.

“What about school and I’m supposed to be staying with some family friends right now too? My disappearance will clearly not go unnoticed.” Doojoon seemed almost ready to respond to me. “You’ll go to school as you always do, but we will stay close to you. And concerning the family friends we’ve already handled them.”

I imagined Yoseob’s definition of “handling”. This heightened my worry. “Please don’t tell me that you… You know.” Kikwang smiled cheerfully, I had no clue how he could with how awful of a situation we were in. “Oh no! We didn’t kill them. We just used the influence of money to keep them silent. Just because this idiot tried to kill you doesn’t mean we are all like that.” HE pointed over at Yoseob.

Yoseob finally spoke from his still position. “I’m not an idiot and it’s not like I would so easily kill someone. It just seemed like the most necessary measure to take.”

I wasn’t exactly flattered that he considered my life to be so insignificant, but I wasn’t exactly focused on that. “You can’t make me stay. I’ll run away.” It seemed stupid to tell them my future plans to run away, but I wanted to assert some sort of power into my stance.

Hyunseung, one of the more quiet brothers gave his two cents on the matter finally. “You can try to run, but you’ll get lost in the forest.” Dongwoon, the youngest raised his hand as if that could change my mind. “Honestly, we don’t want to see you get lost. The forest is specifically constructed to continuously change, the only people who can navigate it is us. It’s always been like that.”

I was still really confused. I had no clue what was wrong with them or their weird forest, but the truth was crowding me. There was no getting away. I was stuck here until they allowed me to leave.

I’ve never been known to so easily give in, but I was also known for my common sense. I wouldn’t walk into my own suicide and get lost in that forest.

I looked around me and saw a dull front yard, almost dead the trees’ leaves were falling and the water fountain was empty and cracked. Then there were the brothers. They didn’t seem like they had plans to kill me, I was still wary of Yoseob though.

The options before me were very few though. Either I run and die or I stay and prolong my life long enough to figure something out. I suppose my choice was obvious. “Fine, I’ll stay.”

I locked myself in the room I had originally woke up in. It seemed like the best option to choose. In the situation I was in I figured it would be best to think tactfully like my parents would. Although every single moment I let my mind go a little a rush of confusion and anxiety surged through me.

I wasn’t even sure what day it was. Clearly it had to be the weekend. It was Friday the day Yoseob appeared in my room and it was late morning when I ran outside so most likely it was Saturday or Sunday.

A loud knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. I nearly jumped out of my position seated on the bed. “Mi Kyung it’s dinner time!” I recognized the voice as Dongwoon’s.

No matter how nice he or some of the others seemed to be I refused to succumb into receiving food from them. Not like I thought it would be poisoned or anything, but I wanted to try to hold onto any dignity or power of will I had left.

“I’m not hungry.” Disappointment was clear in his voice. “You should eat and keep yourself energized though. We have lots of good food that Doojoon made. I’m sure you would like it!”

I shook my head. Don’t fall into temptation Mi Kyung. “It’s alright, maybe later.” I knew there would be no later, but I had to give him some sort of hope.

“Ok then.” I figured he was about to walk away, but I stopped him before he could leave. “Dongwoon can I ask you something real quick?”

As if he had been waiting for me to say something he quickly responded. “What’s up?” I drew circles in my palm out of habit when I was nervous or lost in a train of thoughts. “What do you think will happen to me?”

“What do you mean?” I drew deeper circles into my hand. “Like when the decision is made.”

There was a bit of silence that made my mind spin with wild assumptions that I would be tortured to death or something, but his bright voice broke my thought nightmares. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. If it makes you feel any better I won’t let you die if that’s what you’re worried about.”

His voice was cheery that I could hardly detect any seriousness in his answer, but it made me release a breath from my lungs. “Um, thanks.” I imagined him smiling on the other side of the door. “No problem.”

His footsteps echoed away from the door. Maybe they weren’t all jerks.

I took this chance to look around the room. As before there was not anything really on the walls, it was a rather empty room. The only significant things in the room were the bookshelves and piles of albums stacked on the ground.

Hardly anything I knew. When I through the albums I didn’t recognize any of the singers, majority of them were American only a few I recognized. And the books were nothing much either. I wasn’t really an avid reader so most of the aspects of the room were un-relatable for me.

I had been searching around the room aimlessly so when a knock came from the door I was stirred out of my investigation. “Who is it?”

“You need to come out.” It was Yoseob. “I already said I’m not hungry.”

There was a scoff from the other side of the door. “I could hardly care whether you starve yourself to death. I would like to be in my bedroom.” I hit my forehead. Damn it I forgot this was his room.

I picked my shoes up from the ground then trudged over to the door. For the first time all day I unlocked it. The door opened itself, Yoseob stood like a wall on the other side. He brushed past me into his room and grabbed a book off his shelf. He threw himself onto the bed and began to read.

I stood there for a few seconds unsure where exactly I was supposed to go. Without looking up from his book he sighed. “Is there something I can help you with my esteemed guest?” The sarcasm in his voice was thick.

It took nearly all of my self-control to not slap him across the face. Although, I probably wouldn’t because of his lethal touch. “Well, I’m not exactly sure where I will be staying my honorable host.” If he wanted to play it that way.

“Hmm, you’ll figure it out.” I stared at him. Despite how I’ve seen him at school and passed him every single day on the way home from school I have never really got a good look at him.

He was annoyingly not bad looking. He had black hair that fell just above his eyebrows and dark eyes that could pierce holes through brick walls, and a lean stature although he was the shortest among his brothers. A lot of his attributes seemed dark and it wasn’t necessarily a judgmental opinion from me. He just came off, well, dark.

Yet, despite that he was paler than me, although I did spend a lot of my time outside.

Just from looking at him I could tell he wasn’t really the type to go take a stroll through the park. I suppose I wouldn’t either if I could kill just by touching someone. “How long were you planning to stand there and stare at me exactly?”

I scoffed. Don’t even bother sympathizing for this guy.  

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I sneered then my heel into the hallway, closing the door in the process. I curled my fingers into a clenched fist. “What a jackass.”

I looked around the hall, there were more rooms and I was assuming my bedroom would be one of the doors among these. I went to the room across the hall from Yoseob’s room. When I turned the knob it wasn’t locked so I opened it with ease.

I prayed this was my room and I hadn’t strolled right into one of the boys’ rooms, but it seemed lately I had struck a source of bad luck.

Kikwang sat in a bean bag chair playing a first person shooter game. He turned in surprise to see me standing in front of his door. “Oh Mi Kyung, what are you doing here?”

I rubbed my hands together in attempts to eliminate my nerves. “I’m kind of lost looking for my room.” He stood from the chair and snickered his face brightened in the most adorable way when he smiled. “That jerk kicked you out huh?”

I shrugged. “It was a mutual agreement. He wanted me out and I was repulsed by the idea of sleeping in his room.” That wasn’t exactly what went down, but it seemed like the cleverest thing to say.

Kikwang stepped into the hallway. “We expected as much so we moved your stuff into the room next door.” He pointed to the door next to Yoseob’s. I wasn’t exactly fond of being next door from him, but it was better than sleeping in his room.

“Thanks.” I trailed to the door with my shoes in hand, but stopped. I turned with accusing eyes. “How did you get my stuff?”

He smiled with a charming glint. “Well, if we were able to break into your house once I’m pretty sure we could do it twice to get your stuff. Don’t worry we didn’t pay attention to anything embarrassing.” My cheeks flushed at the thought of them touching my undergarments.

“Um, thanks.” I turned back to the door and opened it. I was about to step inside when Kikwang spoke out of nowhere. “Mi Kyung.”

I looked behind me to see that he had stepped further into the hallway. His face appeared a bit more serious. “Yoseob’s not that bad. He’s not a killer or anything. So please don’t misunderstand for what happened Friday. He just tends to do things without thinking, but he can actually be ok when you get to know him.”

Honestly, I wasn’t willing to get to know Yoseob or see his “ok” side, but the sincere look Kikwang gave me at that moment made me want to appease whatever worry there was in him. “It’s alright I don’t think he’s crazy. He just cares about his brothers.”

Ok, that was definitely not what I thought of him. But there was no way I planned on telling Kikwang the truth.

He smiled. “Yeah, that’s exactly it. I’m happy you understand.” My hand slipped off the knob and I walked into the room. I ce more to see Kikwang already in his room. Crinkled lines formed next to his eyes when he smiled. “Good night Mi Kyung.”

I smiled back, probably the first time I had smiled all day. “Good night Kikwang.”

When I finally closed my door I turned to see that all of my things were in a suit case and my phone was laid on my bed.

I plopped onto the bed and grabbed my phone. When I looked inside I saw just what I expected. No connection, meaning no phone calls. It was late Sunday night and the next day was school.

I set my alarm and set the phone on the table next to the bed. With a well-needed grunt I covered my eyes with the crook of my arm and closed my eyes.

I really am stuck here.

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