T H R E E

               The girls' scream attracts all attention towards them; every head is turned and silence spreads throughout the hallway. Jennie widens her eyes as several students run to the group of girls to check up on them, then she turns her head around only to realize that Jisoo has disappeared. She puts her hand on her cheek and blinks a few times, speechless. Her feet start guiding her through the halls, directing her body to walk back to her own classroom.

               Rosé turns her head towards the doorway once she hears the high-pitched screaming. She makes a face and slowly walks to the exit, but stops nearly right when she bumps into Jennie. She raises only one of her eyebrows and was about to speak, only to notice Jennie's blank facial expression. Instead of giving her a face and reprimanding her quietly, Jennie only looks up and excuses herself to walk past Rosé as if they hadn't touched at all. Rosé turns back to look at the latter go and then peeks out the door and looks at the ceiling.

               "That's strange."

               Rosé nearly jumps upon hearing the voice behind her. It was Jungkook, again, who had sneaked up right after her without her being aware of him.

               "Jungkook... Why do you appear at the worst times..." Rosé brings her hand to her chest.

               "But a light bulb never breaks like that. How unfortunate for those girls. Did they receive a burn or scratch or anything?"

               "You're asking like I would know everything..."

               "You do though! You're like really smart and you always ace those tests and everything..."

               Rosé sends him a glare, and a message that this is not the time.

               But he finishes anyway, "At times..."

               Once class starts again, the teacher announces that Jisoo was sent home early for feeling unwell. Jennie suddenly fills up with disappointment (lowkey) because tomorrow isn't a weekday; Jennie won't able to see Jisoo at all.

--

               The sound of raindrops hitting the roof gradually grows louder and louder as every second pasts. The clear skies of the night are replaced by dark, gray clouds of condensed precipitation, just waiting to fall, and a crack of lightning bursts from the sky. A very abrupt, deafening sound of thunderclap breaks through the tapping sound of harsh, heavy rain. The start of the storm comes very well prepared.

               She squeezes her eyes shut and rolls to the other side of her bed, then she rubs her eyes and sits up slowly. She turns her head, with barely-opened eyes and messy hair; including of facial expressions all related to sleep, she looks at her digital alarm clock with an apparent drowsiness; the grogginess makes her vision blurry and limited, but she could still make out her surroundings; it is obvious the storm is the reason why she woke up.

               3:37 AM

               She runs her hand through her hair and rubs her face, then she sits there, wondering why and of all times, why she'd be awake now. It has occurred to her that the raindrops would help her sleep, but the itch in to have a drink of water outweighed the work of having to move. And so, she gets out of bed quietly and steps out of her room, careful enough not to wake anyone else.

               Jennie doesn't remember whether or not she's been awake a few times just to get a cup of water at this time. The reason being is because the shadows of the night made the rest of the house look intimidating. The harsh wind blows outside while the coolness indoors give chills upon her skin. She swears the transition towards winter has not even started, yet the weather tells her otherwise; she still wears a tank top and shorts to sleep.

               Currently, the way to the house seems unfamiliar to her. She has walked cautiously down the corridor to the dining room, passing by every door silently in the dark with the cold floor in contact with her bare feet. All doors are closed, but Jennie wants to keep it that way; she doesn't turn on the lights either, in case she catches anyone else awake, and that's exactly what she doesn't want.

               Why am I walking for so long?

               She looks around, then looks behind her, but sees nothing abnormal. Is she even moving? She wonders that herself, but she knows her feet are actually taking multiple steps at a time.

               However, when she turns her head forward again, she actually approaches the end of the hallway, only to stop to look at an unknown painting that she has never seen before. It is a huge painting that covers the entire wall showing a girl writing on a piece of paper with stacks of books all around her on the same desk she's sitting at along with an arm that is pointing right at her from behind. Jennie makes a face and looks at the painting weirdly.

               Was this painting always here?

               She has never noticed it before nor has she ever seen it, but she spots a gold border plaque just below the portrait and bends lower to read it.

               "A Well-Meaning Hell"

               Jennie squints her eyes a little and looks at the rest of the painting skeptically. She believes it is her first time seeing such a painting, yet she doesn't really know herself. It's the grogginess and her reflexes aren't as sharp since she just woke up. But this is the path of the house that she usually takes towards the dining room right? She doesn't think that her father would be interested in a kind of drawing like this. The facial expression of the girl in the painting was unreadable since it was a still shot. And she doesn't know who the painting of the girl could be.

               A bolt of lightning flashes through the circular window at the very top of the wall, making the inside of the corridor lit and then dark again, and it is followed by a loud thunder booming through the walls. Jennie twitches her shoulders a bit and decides that she's spent too much time necessary out of her room. She takes a step back and was about to turn back around until she hears an eerie whisper just right behind her.

               "Jennie..."

               Her eyebrows twitch and furrow, just before she turns around very slowly to take a look...

               Nothing.

               Nothing out of the ordinary. The house is still dark, and all doors are still closed.

               This had better not be a prank Rosé is pulling on me, I swear to God...

               She purses her lips and quicken her pace to find the dining room.

               Why am I even getting lost in my own house?

               But she can't help to feel how unfamiliar the house feels at this time. Maybe it's because it's 3 o'clock in the morning and that she hasn't really explored the house at this time, but on a stormy night, the entire mansion changed to her. As ridiculous as it sounds, she can't find her way to the dining room just to go grab a cup of water.

               "... Jen. . . Nie..."

               It is that same distorted voice that Jennie kept hearing, yet she can't tell which direction it is coming from. She looks around her surroundings again, but she does not see anything out of place.

               Then, the door to her left in front of her opens just slightly, creaking loudly with the doorknob just turning by itself. The span of her attention catches it and she freaks out a little on the inside, holding still of her movements while widening both her eyes just slightly.

               O... Kay... That did not just happen... She tells herself mentally.

               But it would be a lie if she says that what is beyond the door did not pique her curiosity; she wants to just push the door open and just see what is on the other side.

               "There aren't any ghosts or anything that exist. Surely there can't be anything harmful on the other side of the door right? Just a butler or a maid's room..." Jennie says to herself again; physically, this time.

               She extends her hand towards the door and was about to push it until —

               "Jennie?"

               Jennie jumps up and jerks her head towards the direction of the voice, "Oh my — "

               "Jennie? Why're you up so late?" The whisper comes from a figure just a few feet across from her.

               "Why're you even asking me that? It's none of your business."

               "Can't I ask? It's almost 4 in the morning," the other girl frowns.