Surprisingly, her roommate’s singing, the bird tapping its beak against the window, the open-exhaust motorcycles running up and down the streets and everything in between those noises weren’t the reason why she woke up from her peaceful, sweet nap.

It was her phone vibrating under pillow that forced her to crack an eye open. Groggy and still far from being awake, she picked up the call with both of her eyes closed and without bothering to look at the caller ID.

“He –“

“Jisoo!” shouted the person. She had a mini heart attack. She was jerked awake immediately, sitting upright on her bed and cursing under her breathe as her phone slipped in between her fingers. She caught it before it could fall. “- don’t even care that you’re late, but I just hope you’ll be fashionably late, huh? Jisoo, hey, Kim Jisoo!”

She rubbed her temple, reality snapping her back. She pressed her phone against the side of her face and let out a groan as  reply. “I overslept. I’m sorry. Yeah, I know. I’ll go change now.” She ended the call before Nayeon ended up being the reason if Jisoo were to be deaf.

Jisoo got up from her bed and yawned. Sleep was still on her mind. And in her system. She tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but to no such avail.  She walked sluggishly towards her closet, keeping in mind that they had talked about this Halloween party for over a month now and Jisoo had promised over and over to go. She couldn’t back out now.

It wasn’t in Jisoo’s nature to be in debt anyway, so she forced some energy to course through her body. She thinks she’ll make it there in thirty minutes, twenty-five if she stopped moving so sloppily.

When she was finished, with ten more minutes to spare, she had to knock a hundred million times on her roommate’s door before it opened. Chaeyoung took off her earphones and looked at Jisoo from head to toe. “Heading out?” she does not miss the surprise behind her tone, but Jisoo didn’t blame her. She was the type to stay in the apartment whenever she could, and whenever she had the chance to tell Chaeyoung to buy something for her, she’d always take it.

“Mandatory Halloween party.” Jisoo said, and her younger roommate nodded as if those three words explained everything. “I’ve no costume. I got too lazy, I’ll be back around midnight.”

Chaeyoung laughed a little. “Midnight? Oh come on! Now that you’re actually going out, you should enjoy. I’ll lock up at three.”

Jisoo frowned, thoughts flying. She didn't want to be out so late, even though it was Saturday. “Fine, two.”

“Two-thirty.” She smiled brightly before pushing Jisoo backwards. “Go, have fun. The night is young! See ya!”

The moment she stepped out of the building, the first thought that crossed her mind was to go back inside. The chilly October air nipped at her nose and the tips of her finger were already turning blue by being exposed to the cold. She placed her hands deep inside the pocket of her coat, wishing she brought a thicker one. Never mind that this coat matched her eyes and her shoes! She was practically freezing.

But Jisoo’s phone kept vibrating. She clucked her tongue against the roof of before breaking into a jog towards the venue, fully aware that Nayeon and her other friends would have her head if she was another minute late.

Jisoo started speed walking, looking around for something or someone suspicious. The streets were so quiet; it was almost eerie. She was being cautious, and she was a little scared. She should have told them to pick her up. Two cars have passed her and neither were taxis, but the nightclub the party was at was near her apartment building. Just eight more minutes or so and she’ll be there.

Her fingers were flying across her cellphone’s screen, hastily replying to Nayeon and Bona’s texts.

Almost there. Meet me outside, ok?

A dog howling somewhere to her right caught her completely off-guard. She was so surprised at how near the sound was, she tripped over her own two feet and the cold, wet pavement welcomed her with open arms.

She landed knee first when she slipped.

“Damn,” she hissed through gritted teeth. Her knees felt numb for a moment or two, and the base of her foot was pulsating in pain inside her boots. Jisoo sat up straight, then tried to stand. It wasn’t at all easy, even though she felt like nothing was fractured, broken or sprained. “Just a little bite more,” she told herself as she tried to limp forward.

It worked, and the pain in her foot was already beginning to subside. The fall must’ve just shocked it. Jisoo held onto the walls of the buildings, limping as she went. She bent her knee more and more because the pain seemed to lessen when she did.

She looked up to see that it was a full moon. On Halloween. How fitting. She could hear that damned dog howling agian, the leaves rustling against the wind and broken windows with no locks somewhere afar, closing and opening by themselves.

And then a bloodcurdling scream was what she heard next.

She covered her ears and instinctively shut her eyes in fear. She could hear muffled footsteps coming her way. She opened her eyes and surveyed the streets; it was empty. Not a soul in sight. She held her hands away from ears and listened.

Another scream. Nearer this time.

Jisoo took a peek around the corner of a building. She pressed her side against the wall and widened her eyes at the scene she saw.

Two girls were running, screaming as they did. They held each other’s hands and their tears glistened against their cheeks under the moonlight. They kept looking back behind them, the expression on their fear-stricken faces getting worse with every turn of the head.

They were running right towards her, a mob of shadows following them. They weren’t running, these shadows, but they weren’t exactly walking either. They were more like teetering from side to side but they did it in an incredible and ridiculous fast pace that they almost caught up to the girls in no time.

When one of the girls looked back again, she let out another scream and ran faster. Pulling the other girl with her.

Then the shadows stepped under the lights of the lampposts and Jisoo felt her blood freeze.

“What the actual –“ she wasted no time in running away, towards the nightclub, to her friends, before one of them catches sight of her. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real!” She kept chanting out loud as she tried to run consistently. She couldn’t, the pain on her knee magnified when she did.

She kept her right leg bent and her left leg straight, limping like that until she heard a loud crash behind her.

She glanced back and di