Baekhyun POV

Lately I’ve been having the same dream. The river is flowing and the sun is shining. I’m chasing birds next to an expansive forest with a soft breeze. An moment later, I’m running up to a little house on the hill; small, brown, dusty, but nonetheless inviting. As I approach the large wooden door, it silently opens as if it's inviting my curiosity. Although the hut appears quite small and humble on the outside, the interior is lavishly decorated with candles and jewels and is at least twice as large as its perceived size. 

I proceed to walk around the house cautiously; hands shaking slightly. I wonder if the owners are home. Various odd belongings are scattered around the expansive room, many halves laying about. Half of a globe, half of a bust of a man, half of a dictionary. In the middle of the room is a large, wooden dining table with empty vases arranged neatly in the center. Aside from the dull vases placed on the table, there are eight velvet chairs tucked underneath. In front of each chair the table is set.  However, there are no plates. Only a single piece of silverware which alternates around the table, next to a filled glass. I look around the table; fork, knife, spoon, fork, knife, spoon, fork… then nothing. The last seat is only accompanied by an empty glass. 

I move to the next room, and notice a stairway in between. Looking up the staircase, I see that it leads straight into a wall. There is no second floor to this hut, reminding myself that it really is quite small and of course the staircase would not continue. The larger room is dimly lit and carpeted, strangely discomposing. Across from myself is the entrance to chimney that doesn’t seem to begin, alike the staircase. To either side of me are bookshelves filled with random books and memorabilia. Most of which are untitled and have no text inside. Those that have titles, consist of foreignly arranged letters which form into nonsensical sentences. The inside text is no different. Sitting on the second shelf in front of other empty books is a framed photo depicting a married couple and their three children. Each child is nicely dressed in slacks and suspenders with matching blond haircuts smoothed down on their small heads. The mother is wearing a plain, white, collared dress with roughly shortened sleeves. I cannot see the father’s face. It is there but I am unable to recognize the existing features. Almost as if the faces were placed out of focus when the picture was taken. However, this is not the case…  simply my eyes are unable to focus. As my eyes begin to strain I give up on the photo and move along. 

Unlike the former, this room has windows. I pull the curtain aside to reveal the beautiful meadow and playful birds from before but instead am faced with pitch black. “It cannot possibly be night already.”  I think to myself. I’ve only been wandering around for a few minutes at most. I run back to the other room and notice two windows which I don’t remember having seen before. Opening the curtains quickly I am surprised to see that it has returned to daytime. Same green hill, same meadow, same river, same birds. Had it ever changed? There is no longer any silverware set on the table which is now left with empty glasses and smashed vases. Scared enough to run, I whip open the door only to face the same darkness I had encountered earlier at the window. Before I can close the door I fall backwards as a giant cuckoo bird jumps out from the empty void that had replaced my happy meadow. 

“Byun Baekhyun! Byun Baekhyun! It’s time to wake up, Byun Baekhyun!”

I jolted awake from the cuckoo bird… no… my alarm clock. The ringtone is a birthday gift from my cousin who was able to convince my idol G-Dragon after a lot of begging and whining to record a wake up call for me at his fan-meet. It was exciting at first, but it’s appeared in my dreams a few times. Even so, I’m reluctant to change it. After shaking off that oddly unsettling dream I skip down the steps to my kitchen. My breakfast is sitting on the table but I guess Mom has already left. Thankfully it’s still warm. 

Lately I’ve been having the same strange dream with the odd hut and the meadow. I wonder if it has any meaning. Maybe I’ll ask that Kibum kid if I decide to go to school. He seems kinda off so he might know about that kinda thing. My best friend Jonghyun had told me about him earlier and how he is into all kinds of spiritual nonsense. Of course, this all depends if I want to go to school today. After finishing up my breakfast and scraping the remaining egg off my plate I sit down at the table once again. 

I’ve slowly been losing motivation to go to school, for multiple reasons. Last year my uncle Kris went missing. At first we all went looking for him in every place we could think of, but after a while my sister and I have given up. On the other hand, it’s been about eight months and my mom is still searching relentlessly. To me it’s kinda like emptying out a book bag to look for my favorite pencil and after not finding it, I check it a few more times. Packing and unpacking, just in case it’s lodged some weird place or I happened to miss it. However instead of stopping there, I decide to check it another 99,997 times just in case. If it’s not there the first 99,999 times it’s simply not going to appear just because I decide to check it one more time. Because my mom’s been out there looking for my uncle I’ve been left alone most of the time. It was my mom, sister, and I… That was until my sister turned eighteen and left for college. And waaay before that it was my mom, sister, dad, and I. However my dad left us when I was ten. We don’t really know the reason why and simply don’t talk about it. I’m not even sure if mom knows why, but it doesn’t matter. I won’t ask. All that matters to me is that he’s not here and now I’m alone. Even I don’t always know if I’m mad anymore. Sometimes I miss him, but I tell myself I shouldn’t. Anyways, I do enjoy the loneliness occasionally. No one to tell me what I can and cannot do, no one bothering me to clean up (I still do anyways,) and my favorite: no one there to make me go to school. 

I reach for the remote and the TV flicks on. Flipping through the channels I hesitate when I see the news. There is a big flashing announcement in red on the screen. The reporter was explaining a really weird story. They had found a new species of human? This was no ordinary discovery, the species is inhabiting earth right now. “No way.” I flip back to the channel selection guide and make sure this wasn’t just one of those fake documentaries I watch on YouTube occasionally. There isn’t just one news channel reporting, all of them are. In disbelief I pull my iPhone out and search it up on Google. So many results and pictures of some kid. Is this really a thing? My phone began blowing up from texts between my friends. I’m surprised when my phone starts buzzing in my hand as I’m trying to scroll through the messages which piled up when I was asleep. The caller ID reads “Kim Jonghyun.” 

Instantly I pick up the phone to hear my best friend screaming 

“BYUN BAEKHYUN! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU?!” 

I quickly held the ear a reasonable distance away from my ear so it wouldn’t burst from his deep but surprisingly loud voice. “At home…” I continue to speak into the phone from a distance.  

“Dude… You have to come to school… now.” he replied in a much more hushed although anxious tone. I could tell he was serious. This was no joke after all.

“W-Why…” I retort. 

Why do I need to go to school all of a sudden? He knows I’m not willing enough for that. 

After a moment of silence over the phone he responds... 

“Listen, I can’t say right now… Not here. I’ll tell you over text” almost at a whisper. Then the line went dead. 

A few seconds later I receive the text from Jonghyun. “You know abt the other species thing right?” 

“Of course”  I barely know anything… I respond hesitantly. Why would I have to go to school because of that weird incident. Don’t they discover weird things all the time? 

For a while all I see on my screen are bubbles signifying that Jonghyun is still typing. A new message appears on my screen. 

“These weird men wearing suits showed up at school today. Right now they’re testing evryone for a gene or smth. Apparently there are ppl who are a part of the species or w/e and don’t even know it dude. They said if u don’t show up for testing you’ll become a “suspicious figure” and “avoiding the gvrnment.”” 

Oh god… I can feel my shaking hands as I comb back my silver hair. I need to run. 

Not stopping to reply to Jonghyun, I quickly slip my shoes on, grab my keys and burst out the door, tripping on the heel of my shoe. My eyes dart around the driveway in search for my bike, I spot it laying on the grass covered lawn. I spring towards the bike, slipping a bit on the grass.

Fumbling with my keys, I hop on my bike and start riding as fast as I can in one direction. Once I reach the end of the block I realize I’m going the wrong way. Crap. I turn around and pedal towards the school. Will they be angry? What do I do? What if my friends end up being one of them. This is all so surreal. 

Once I arrive at the school I park my bike at the rack and head towards the entrance. Which class would I be in now? Calc? It must be calc. Wow… I’m super late. I wonder if they’ll still give me a tardy…  I laugh to myself.  

As I reach my classroom I hesitate a bit and remain outside. Should I go in? I came all the way here… The men are in there which means I’d have to do testing right away and I might have to explain my tardiness… Jonghyun spotted me through the window and gave me a intensely pressuring stare. Reluctantly I open the door and am instantly greeted with the eyes of everyone in the room as they turn to face me. Slowly I step into the classroom making eye contact with Jonghyun. He seems distressed.

“Mr. Byun Baekhyun?” 

One of the suited men inquired with an intimidating tone.     “Yeah… That’s me…” I replied nervously. 

There’s no point in lying at this point anyways. Will they take me for showing up late? If they take me away what will they tell my mom? I wonder as I move to my seat. This is pretty scary. Scarier than when Jonghyun dared me to jump off the balcony next to his second story window in exchange for a few dollars. I wouldn’t be able to run now. I just sat quietly. Lots of students passed through the big, heavy door which led to the testing room. That used to be my third period history classroom.. 

When my name was called I practically shot up out of my seat and walked into the used-to-be inviting classroom. The tall bookshelves that were filled with textbooks and various learning materials was replaced with a large metal box b with samples. The remaining space in the classroom was occupied with adults. Even the teacher’s desk was removed. In the center of the packed classroom was a long, metal chair which resembled one of those old electric ones. Aren’t those illegal? I tensed up as the man from earlier ushered me towards the chair. 

“Do you know why you’re here?” A tall man with broad shoulders stepped forwards. He was wearing the same matching suit as the rest of the men. 

“Sorta...” I tried to act as honestly and nonchalant as possible so that he couldn’t suspect my nervousness. Not that it mattered…  I know this is a testing area at least… 

“No need to be afraid.”  

I was surprised when the intimidating man reassured me. 

“This is just standard government protocol. Your friends have been tested too.” 

I wonder if Jonghyun has been tested yet… 

“We need to test you for a gene. Most people don’t know that just because one doesn’t have ears and a tail doesn’t mean they aren’t one of them. If they have the gene they have the potential.”     The man spoke with a tone of hatred in his voice. What would happen if I tested positive? I’d still be the same person wouldn’t I? I need to relax… I don’t have the gene. I tried to reassure myself. 

A sullen woman in a business suit and skirt approached me, sliding her long, black hair behind her ear with slim fingers. With each step her heels clicked against the dull, hard floor. As she reached the metal chair and myself, the woman leaned forward to meet my gaze. 

“I’m required to ask you a few questions before we get started…” her voice sounded cold and unchanging as if she had said it hundreds of times before… Which she probably has. 

“If you answer honestly we can move through the testing smoothly and quickly.” 

Without introducing herself, the pretty woman began asking me questions about my life. At first the questions made sense, such as my hobbies and interests. However as time passed they slowly progressed into weirder questions. Mostly small things about my personality and family history. The rest I could make no sense of. The woman announced she was finished with her questions and motioned for a different woman in a nurse scrub to come over.

“We will now proceed to extracting blood samples for gene testing. Please remain seated until we receive clear results.” 

This woman hadn’t bothered to introduce herself either. Instead of black hair, her hair was brown and a tad shorter in length. The nurse’s soft locks were tied into pigtails on each side of her head, although uneven. This allowed for a clear view of the blue-rimmed glasses resting soundly on her slightly pointy ears. I can’t see most of her face through her mask but her eyes seem much kinder than the previous woman, which put me at a sort of ease.

The air became dense as the woman pulled out a concerningly large needle and moved her chair to meet where I was sitting.     “Please lift your arm, this will only take a second.” 

Her voice was not as kind as her eyes. 

Willingly I lifted my arm and was met immediately with a sharp, piercing pain underneath. After a couple seconds the pain in my arm subsided and only soreness remained. 

Without a word, the brunette stood up and took the sample to a group of people on the other side of the room for analyzation. In the time I was waiting for the nurses to process my sample I gazed around the room. When I looked back at my chair I noticed there were metal cuffs embedded inside the arms of the contraption. Why are there cuffs? Why would they need cuffs? Why is it taking such a long time to test me? The other students seemed to move pretty quickly along… After what felt like years of staring at nothing, the nurse from earlier returned to my chair. The faint kindness and sparkle in her eyes had faded. When I asked about my results I got no reply, only a blank stare. Looking around the room for someone else I noticed all the eyes looking at me shared the same expression; cold, dead and unfazed. The air seems still and then the black haired woman spoke. 

“If you get out of that chair we will not hesitate to kill you.” Her eyes are the same as the rest of the adults in the room.

I did as I was told and didn’t dare to budge. As I had worried about only a moment prior, the cuffs from earlier shot out of the chair and around my wrists tightly. The last face I saw was that of the blue-rimmed woman and with the flip of a switch I felt nothing. 

2,837 words