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Old man Han’s home was dim inside, lacking the warmth of the sun’s radiance and a sweep of a broom too. He could not handle much of the housework because now and then his back would react from the pain of old age. It had been ironic since he could keep a mansion real clean but now he can’t even clean the floors of his simple hut.

“I’m sorry the house is a little bit…dirty. I haven’t been cleaning, please make yourselves comfortable” old man Han gestured them to sit.

“Little bit? More like really dirty!” Jonghyun whispered to Key trying his best not to be heard, he jumped when a spider suddenly came running on the floor and passed him.

“You know you shouldn’t  just watch on the floor but up there as well” Key pointed her index finger at the ceiling and Jonghyun looked up cringing, seeing lots of cobwebs means more spiders.

They all sat in wooden chairs and Onew is afraid that he’ll break the chair because of the creaking noises it makes as he shifts in his seat, Taemin however remained standing.

“I never thought that I would be retelling the same things that happened eleven years ago, didn’t the police finished this investigation years ago?” old man Han began and Onew began to explain, Taemin is leaning his shoulder against the wall and observed the house. It needed repainting and repairs, he thought of doing all of that for an old friend if Onew would let him stay for awhile, his eyes drifted to the cracked windows and felt pity, “What if  a thief barges in?” he asked himself but then there is nothing to steal in the old man’s home. Suddenly he regretted looking at the windows when he saw the mansion again, even though they are far away from it, the huge house seems to be visible in every house’s windows. He looked away in disgust and tried to divert his attention to the others, but as his eyes set on the mirror above the fireplace he almost choked. He saw a reflection of himself, hair wet with blood and his eyes were glimmering red with anger…he blinked and the reflection was gone only to be replaced with a chilly wind passing by his neck.

“You cannot escape…” he heard a whisper say to his ear and his heart started to ache in pain, he clutched his chest as his facial features changed from scared to a panicked one. The others didn’t notice since they were busy talking, Taemin all of a sudden excused himself to go the bathroom.

“That boy, he had been the most unfortunate kid I have known in my life” old man Han said with a sigh as he watched Taemin drift off.

“How come?” Onew asked becoming curious of Taemin, the boy’s past is a mystery after all to him.

“Well he grew up with no parents; I started working for the Claud family even before they became rich. Taemin and I divided the farm work you see, he was such an energetic and cheerful lad even though I pity him that he is in a state that a child shouldn’t be.” Old man Han began to tell his story about Taemin’s childhood.

“Can you tell us more about him?” Key requested and the old man nodded.

“I heard from the Clauds that he is adopted right when he was five and he had been a slave, that’s what they call him. The poor boy had experienced labor throughout his childhood but never once I heard him complain about his sufferings, when the pail is too heavy for him to carry he’d never ask for help and tries to think of a way to get water faster, when his clothes are torn and dirty he never asks for new ones because he’d be happy to have some hand me downs from the Claud’s youngest son. He was such an optimistic child yet I believed he deserves more, he should have been put to school instead in the farm to plow and harvest crops!” old man Han seemed to know a lot of Taemin that sparked the interest of the officers.

“You have been working for the Clauds for a long time, could you tell us about them? Each member of the family” Jonghyun asked and the old man released big sigh again.

“They are not the best people you would meet…” old man Han replied,” They have been poor yet proud I’m sure you’ve heard from the previous people you have asked about this! Well there was the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Claud that’s how I addressed them. Always having problems about money and how they could pull themselves out of their lot, and there is Mr. Claud’s mother, Dolores,  such a needy woman that nags a lot just like her husband Hank. Then there is Mrs. Claud’s sister Ellena, beautiful yet rumored to have a lot of affairs among men, she was criticized by her neighbors when she once went missing for a year but then the Clauds don’t tell much. She and Mrs. Claud are half Korean so she has these nice crescent eyes…hmm almost the same as yours young man.” Old man Han gazed at Jonghyun’s eyes and the police officer laughed inside hearing that his eyes just got complimented then old man Han started to talk again. “Then there was Dominick the only child of the couple, he’s just as young as Taemin, such a spoiled brat I tell you, he always picks on Taemin and blames him if he did any trouble. Then that day came when they mysteriously got rich all of a sudden and their attitudes towards others became worst. I might have been happy that my salary increased but how they treated me was not nice at all; well compared to how they treated Taemin…his was much worse. I really don’t know how they got rich all of a sudden, and I didn’t want to pry anymore either so I let my curiosity go, and then they died…all of them with their hearts missing and with holes in their chests…I may say they do deserved to die but not that way. I found them all sprawled on the floor dead already and it made my insides turn seeing their carpet drenched with their own blood! I didn’t see Taemin in the room and my instincts told me to run and report it to the police, and that’s what I did, but before I left that room I have felt something…an unwanted presence I couldn’t point out what it was! Probably it was my fear kicking in but…it seemed that something unnatural was in that room that gave me such a heavy feeling that disappeared once I got out of the mansion.”

Jonghyun was listening intently as if he was listening to a camp fire ghost story, Onew and Key digested all the information and both of them denied in their thoughts that something supernatural was involve in the crime. “There are just some creative murderers out there…” Onew thought to himself, Key had noticed that Taemin was gone for too long, her eyes searched the house and she could not hear any sound from the so called bathroom.

“The kid is gone” she muttered and the rest of the guys began to notice as well.

“You don’t think he escaped do you?” Jonghyun began to ask innocently and Onew had a worried expression on his face all of a sudden.

“I think the kid just misses his home, I think you should let him stroll for awhile…”old man Han said trying to understand Taemin’s situation.

“I’ll get him, he must have not gone very far” Key volunteered and rose from her seat when a hand grabbed hers, “You’re not going alone, and you might get lost” Jonghyun pulled her back worriedly.

“His right, you don’t know the way around here” Onew agreed with Jonghyun.

“I can take care of myself okay? Don’t worry I have good sense of direction and I could ask the people around and besides I have this!” Key showed tapped the gun strapped around her waist, Onew just stared uneasy at the gun while Jonghyun let go of her.

“Be careful okay? If we are not here when you come back, go wait for us in the car” with that said Key hurried out of the door.

~”Ugh!” Taemin grunted as he touched his aching head, he was stumbling unto the things that he passes by, he had ran out from the house not knowing where his feet is dragging him. He felt dizzy but he wouldn’t stop to rest, he needed to get out of there afraid to see the reflection in the mirror again.

“Uncle no!” he heard a boy screamed, but no one is in sight. He keeps hearing the voice of the boy’s scream in his mind, pleading for help.

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” Taemin screamed ordering the voices to go away; it’s driving him crazy knowing that he is the only one who can hear the cries. He almost slipped because of a pebble but he continued walking hoping he could get away from the voice, if he wasn’t sane enough, he thought of bashing his head to the ground so all of it would just stop. His headache worsened, the throbbing pain made him shut his eyes as a tear fell down his cheek, “Not this again! !” he cursed under his breath; he looked helpless walking on the barren road like a drunkard who couldn’t keep his balance.

“AAH!” he heard the boy scream again and Taemin opened his eyes in terror seeing the sight in front of him. He didn’t know why that the blazing sunlight awhile ago turned into a dark chilly night in seconds, he was in front of a barn and its doors flung open revealing the group of people inside, and there he saw the boy who’s scream he kept hearing throughout his entire life.

“No uncle! Please!” the boy struggled from his uncle’s grasp; he was being carried and got slammed to the wooden table because he kept wriggling like a worm. The little boy groaned in pain because of the impact, he was weakened and wasn’t able o protest when his uncle cuffed his wrists with the shackles that were attached to the wooden table, the boy’s legs were straightened and cuffed as well looking like he was a human crucifix.

“Shut up! You have already agreed to this! No turning back!” his uncle hissed, the boy then started to cry not because of the pain but for fear, he began to hear incoherent words from an old woman’s lips who was inches away from him. She was speaking too fast and the words that came out from were not comprehendible to the little boy.

Taemin didn’t like the atmosphere that was building up inside the barn, the wind had blown widely and colder and he wished he could help the boy, but he couldn’t even move from his spot. Almost like his feet were purposely glued for him to watch the terrible scene, then another old woman came with a knife on her hand, “Granny please no…” the boy pleaded hard for the old woman to softened on him and probably change her mind, but no.

The old woman grabbed his left hand and gave a cut on his palm, “Sorry, but we all have to make our sacrifice sometimes” the old woman said coldly, a long deep wound on his palm made the boy screech in pain, his blood overflowing while his granny let it drop on the silver basin she held, making sure not a drop goes to waste.

“NO! STOP THAT!” Taemin screamed in vain, no one hears him even the little boy, it was unfair that he could hear them and feel the tension but the little boy couldn’t even see him. The little boy felt like fainting, he had been losing a lot of blood, he wanted to scream again but his throat has gone dry.

“Mommy I’m scared…” another little boy from the corner of the barn tugged at his mother’s dress that was looking intently at the scene, “Are you sure that this is right?” a young woman asked the mother, fear prominent in her voice.

“It’s too late to stop it now when it has already started, besides…we want this right?” the mother said gripping the hand of the young woman beside her and just continued watching the scene.

The roof of the barn creaked as if a storm would come any time soon, “It’s here…be prepared” the old woman who had been muttering a spell warned the people in the barn, the little boy fluttered his eyelids forcing them to open. The cold strong breeze, the noises around him muted in an instant. The eerie silence pierced his ears…”Accept me…” he heard a cunning whisper in his ear and the boy screamed in terror making Taemin cover his ears and he began to flinch at every image that came popping in his mind, he wanted them badly to go away, he didn’t want to remember all that had happened that horrible night…that little boy, he didn’t want him to see him suffer any longer, he didn’t like seeing his young self, the past that started all of his misfortunes to come back and hunt him again. He didn’t want to remember the torture he had experienced.

The dead bodies of the people whom he had treated as family lay on the blood drenched carpet in the living room, Taemin saw his young self cower on the corner of the room hiding behind a big vase, he was alone yet it felt like someone else is there, an unnerving aura that he couldn’t point who owns it, it was there…as if looking at the dead bodies with glee…it was there, becoming one with the young boy.

“YAH! MOVE ASIDE IDIOT!” a guy driving a tow truck suddenly shouted at Taemin and gestured Taemin to move away from the road, he was after all in the middle of it, and if he doesn’t want to end up crushed he had to move. Taemin sighed; he had just experienced one of his horrible flashbacks. He didn’t realize that he had walked far away from old man Han’s home and when he tried to see where he had reached, his heart started to pound faster. His feet had brought him in front of the mansion, somewhere he wouldn’t want to be right now. Taemin felt eyes looking at him and immediately felt danger, he didn’t want to but he headed towards the mansion to hide, running at the back and stumbling to meet the entrance of the barn.

“Crap…” he muttered, he convinced himself that there is nothing there anymore, he needed to hide from whomever that is spying on him. Luckily the barn door was open as he hurriedly went inside and locked it, the stench of the old barn hurt his nose but he coped up with it as he hid behind a mountain of hay. He heard footsteps outside, he didn’t want to see who it was as the fear inside him started to build up even more, his headache gone but his bandaged arm started aching instead, the pain felt like a thousand knives kept slashing on his arm.

“Damn it not now!” he furrowed his eyebrows , his bandaged arm always hurt when he felt extreme nervousness and panic, and that’s what he is experiencing right now. He doesn’t know why but someone is just out there to get him, and that someone is just nearby waiting for him to come out and lunge at him to slit his throat, the same fear he felt when he was chased by the one who tried to murder him in juvenile hall.

“Go away leave me alone!” he thought as the pain in began to throb now, disorienting his thoughts. The pile of hay across him moved, he looked intensely at it expecting something to pop out, he heard a fierce growl, he knows it’s not just in his head anymore when the growls grew louder and dangerous.

Taemin never left his eyes at the pile of hay and never ignoring the footsteps he kept hearing from outside the barn, the bandage on his left arm loosened and he felt his breath hitch.

“No-no-no!” he panicked but he didn’t have time to fix his bandage when he heard a snarl and a large, wild dog jumped out from the pile of hay and attacked him. His left hand started to move on its own and caught the dog’s snout just before it could bite him, he twisted it and the dog whimpered in pain.

“TAEMIN!” the barn door opened revealing a fear stricken faced Key, she thought that the boy would have been hurt from the snarl she heard right before she entered, but from the looks of the dog that had attacked Taemin, she pitied the poor creature for its head hang loose from its neck, drenching Taemin’s hand with its blood.

The boy looked at the dog and scooted away from it seeing what he had done, he didn’t mean to kill it like that, and hell he didn’t even mean to harm it.

“Are you okay?” Key walked towards him and he nodded, “You’re hurt, let’s fix that wound and—“

“NO! I-I can fix it myself, don’t worry about me…” Taemin said not letting Key see his arm, he stood from the ground leaving the dead creature and walked passed Key, as the officer glanced at the dog she wondered how a scrawny boy like Taemin was able to snap the head of a wild dog.