“Alright, this isn’t working,” Nayeon muttered, before Chaeyoung could take her turn. “This is a stupid idea.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re jealous,” Sana remarked. Nayeon looked offended at Sana’s comment, brow furrowing.

“What are you talking about?” Nayeon questioned, eyes boring into the blonde girl, who appeared to be trying to look completely innocent. “We’re just not making any progress here. We'll get all the way around the circle and we still won't know who's possessed.”

“If we keep going maybe you’ll get a kiss from Jeongyeonie,” Sana winked, smiling devilishly. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" 

Nayeon looked like she was about to strangle the younger girl. Her nose was scrunched up and her face was reddening. Jeongyeon looked extremely embarrassed beside Nayeon, opening to say something, but Chaeyoung interupted her before she had the chance. 

“You…” Chaeyoung’s voice trailed off, and Sana’s head snapped in her direction. Chaeyoung reached out a finger and pointed it at the older girls' face. “It’s Sana.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, regarding Sana. Dahyun turned her head to look at Sana and gaped, looking at her with wild eyes.

Sana looked around at all the faces on her and laughed. “Man, you should see the looks on all of your faces! Classic. Okay, okay, you caught me. Good job, Chaengie,” she replied, cocking her head slightly and regarding her with the same expression Not-Mina had given her earlier in the bedroom, looking at her like she was a piece of meat.

Dahyun scooched away from Sana until her back was against Nayeon and she began whispering the Lord’s Prayer under her breath.

“So we figured it out, thanks to Chaeng,” Jihyo replied, eyeing Sana, er, Not-Sana, nervously. The ghost had done a spot on imitation so far, but now that she had been called out the blonde girl was noticeably holding herself differently. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned back. 

“Chaengie’s one lucky girl, I got to kiss her not once, but twice,” Sana giggled, winking at the short haired brunette, who clenched her teeth and tried not to look mortified. Tzuyu shot Chaeyoung a questioning glance but then everything seemed to click. Ah, so that’s what tipped Chaeyoung off about Mina being possessed in the first place. A kiss would do it.  

“It’s time for you to leave,” Mina commanded, voice dangerously low. It was almost intimidating. Chaeyoung looked in surprise at the dark-haired girl next to her, whose eyes were narrowed. She had moved forward a bit, closer to Sana.  

“Ah, Mina,” Not-Sana replied, smiling across the circle at the younger girl. “We haven’t properly been introduced, I mean, not really. I got to know you, really well,” the way Sana’s voice emphasized the world “really” made Chaeyoung cringe, “but you haven’t gotten to know me.”

Mina’s brows furrowed, and she looked like she was about to run across the circle and strangle Sana. Jihyo, sensing Mina’s anger, placed a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder, ready to hold her back if she made any dashes towards Sana. After all, this wasn't really Sana. Sana might have liked to stir the pot occassionally, but not like this. Chaeyoung had almost never seen Mina angry before, but now she looked furious.

“A deal’s a deal, we found you fair and square so now you can leave us alone,” Jeongyeon yelled, she too looked like she was struggling to contain her anger. Her hands were balled into fists.

Not-Sana pouted, looking at Dahyun. “You really want me to go?” she asked sweetly.

Dahyun nodded her head over and over, grasping her cross necklace tightly while practically pushing back onto Nayeon’s lap. 

“Fine,” Not-Sana whined. “I stay true to my word. I hope you all learned something from this," she looked at Chaeyoung and Mina pointedly. "I’ll be going now. Enjoy the rest of your night,” she winked and then her eyes rolled back, just as Mina’s did earlier. Her small body fell backwards and landed with a small thud against her sleeping bag. The ghost emerged again, and Nayeon let out a shriek and clung onto Jeongyeon’s arm without thought. Jeongyeon pulled Nayeon closer as the black figure flew towards them, over their heads and then back into the basement.

After a couple seconds of silence, Tzuyu and Dahyun both scrambled to Sana’s side, feeling the girls’ cheeks and forehead with the backs of their hands. She felt feverishly warm to the touch, but she was breathing. Jeongyeon and Nayeon looked at each other, realizing they were both in each other’s arms and immediately let each other go, looking embarrassed.

“Alright, I’m leaving. We got footage of a ghost, that's all we need. Everyone, pack up your things. Let’s go,” Nayeon instructed, standing up and beginning to roll up her sleeping bag. No one argued with her this time.

“What about Sana?” Dahyun asked, looking up with large eyes at Nayeon.

“We can carry her into the truck,” Nayeon suggested, finishing tying up her sleeping bag as quickly as possible.

Mina was having trouble gripping the strings to tie up her sleeping bag, as if her hands didn’t want to work properly. She was trembling, Chaeyoung realized. Chaeyoung kneeled down to help the older girl with her sleeping bag, and Mina let out a quiet “thank you,” but avoided eye contact with Chaeyoung. Once all the sleeping bags were packed away, Tzuyu, Jeongyeon and Jihyo moved to lift a still unconscious Sana together, Jihyo holding up her feet, Tzuyu holding up her body, and Jeongyeon keeping her head stable. With an effort, the three girls moved slowly towards the front door, which Dahyun was holding open.

The three of them moved out the door, with Nayeon and Momo carrying armfuls of equipment and sleeping bags right behind them. Chaeyoung and Mina were the last to leave the house. Chaeyoung moved to follow Momo and Nayeon, but stopped when she realized Mina wasn’t right behind her. She turned back to see the older girl standing with her arms crossed, looking back in the direction of the upstairs bedroom. “Mina, are you coming?” Chaeyoung called.

Mina blinked for a second, nodded her head, and began walking forward towards Chaeyoung. The younger girl reached to hold her hand automatically, but stopped when Mina flinched at her touch. The two walked out the front door side by side, Chaeyoung pulling it closed behind her. They walked down the steps of the front porch in silence.  

“I’m so sorry Chaeng,” Mina whispered, almost making Chaeyoung stumble. They both continued walking though, wanting to put distance between them and the house.

“What are you apologizing for?” Chaeyoung asked, turning to look at Mina. Mina was staring straight ahead, and so Chaeyoung could only make out the girl’s photogenic side profile in the darkness.

“You know.” Mina didn’t add anything else. She bit her lip and looked at her feet as they stepped forward.

“It wasn’t you,” Chaeyoung pointed out, trying to sound as gentle as possible. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” When Mina didn’t respond, Chaeyoung grabbed her right arm. “It’s not your fault.”

Mina only sighed. “I shouldn’t have had those thoughts in the first place,” she admitted.

They were drawing nearer to the property line now, and Momo and Nayeon were getting farther and farther away. “Don’t say that,” Chaeyoung urged. She could tell Mina was about to cry based on the way her voice had wavered. “Please, don’t think that.”

Chaeyoung could hear a sniffle coming from the older girl. As soon as they crossed the property fence she pulled Mina aside, forcing the older girl to look at her directly. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Mina. It was stupid that we came here in the first place. Jeong and I had to summon the ghost...we acted like it was all a joke. We hurt you, because we were foolish. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Mina said nothing, but her sniffling had stopped.

“Chaeng, Mina, hurry up, I wanna get the hell out of here! And Sana’s awake too,” Nayeon called from where the truck was parked. Everyone else had packed away their things and squeezed inside. They somehow managed to fit all nine of them in a truck designed for six.

“Let’s just pretend this never happened, okay?” Chaeng begged, taking Mina’s hands. “Let’s forget about it all. Let’s go back to how it was before.” Before. The word hung in the air for a moment; fantastic and beautiful, comforting, before it disappeared into the darkness.

Mina sighed. “Okay,” she replied. “I’ll try.”

“Okay,” Chaeng nodded her head. That was enough. That’s all she could expect of the other girl now. Chaeyoung squeezed Mina’s hands and began pulling her in the direction of the truck. They put their backpacks and sleeping bags in the trunk, careful not to disturb Momo, who was already curled up in a ball there, fast asleep. Mina, despite everything, smiled at the older blonde girl fondly.

Chaeyoung squeezed in the front passenger seat next to Jihyo, while Mina climbed in back next to Jeongyeon. Sana was sprawled across Dahyun and Tzuyu, playing with Dahyun’s hair mindlessly. She looked like she was going to be okay. They were all going to be okay.

“You know, Jeongyeon,” Mina began. Jeongyeon turned to face the dark haired girl, pushing up her glasses. “This really was your worst idea ever.” Mina smiled.

Jeongyeon couldn’t help but smile sheepishly back, covering her own face with her hands in shame. “I’ll admit, it was a pretty bad idea. But hey, I think we all earned some jokbal.”

“Jokbal?” Momo’s head popped up from the trunk so that only her eyes were visible and everyone laughed.

“Tomorrow,” Jeongyeon promised. “After a day of rest. The jokbal’s on me. You all earned it.”

______

That's it! Twice's time in Bolte Manor is finished.....or is it? Find out in the sequel to this fic called "I Walk the Line".