‘…and today, a unique phenomenon will occur. According to scientists and astrologers, the planets will align at exactly 7 pm today! A lot of people are skeptical…’

Ah, I can’t be late again. Kris will kill me. I turn off the TV and hurriedly exit my room.

As I walk briskly from the dorm I lived in towards the bus stop just a few minutes away, the wind greets me with a cold touch to my face.

I live near the beach area, so the air is always fresh and cool around here. And me, I love the wind. Most people would be complaining about how freezing it is outside, but I don’t mind at all. The wind and I are best friends.

I arrive at the bus stop, which, luckily, only has two people waiting for their own buses. I hate having to shove and push my way through people just to get into the bus.

Bus 121. Bus 121. Bus 121.

I always forget which bus to take. Bus 121 and Bus 211 and Bus 112 all pass by here. It gets so confusing!

Ah, here it is! And not too many people on board either! Lucky!

I quickly hop onto the bus and grab a seat. I glance at my watch.

5 : 45 PM

Great. A few more minutes to spare.

Kris’ condo unit isn’t far from here. It’ll take me roughly 5 minutes to get there. Just enough time.

As I arrive at Kris’ condo unit grounds, someone yells my name.

“Luhan! Wait up!”

I look around to see that it was Tao. I guess he must have been running, the way he’s panting. His jet-black hair was plastered against his forehead. He slows to a jog and then puts his arm around me, putting all his weight on me.

“Tao! We haven’t even started practice yet and you’re already this tired.”

“Ha! This is nothing! Ah, I’m sorry! I’m all sweaty!”

“No problem. Come on, let’s head up. And you should drink some water!”

Tao was a really nice kid. Most people would be afraid or intimidated by him at first. His glare can kill. Trust me. He’s also very well built, though lean, because he practices different kinds of martial arts. He’s great with a sword and a bo staff and I don’t know what else. I’ve seen him practice his art a lot of times. I love watching him do it. Makes me envious, though, because he seems like a video game character come to life. He may be the youngest in our group but I’ve never doubted for one second that he can take care of himself.

“Luhan? Let’s go?”

He was staring at me. What was I doing spacing out?

“Ah, yeah. Let’s.”

We pass through the gates of the compound and head straight for the 2^ndbuilding on the left. Kris’ was on the 6^th floor.

As the elevator doors open, the music emanating from Kris’ room was instantly audible.

“I guess they’ve already started, huh?” Tao said, pushing the button of the doorbell.

“I don’t think they’re going to hear—” I said but I was cut off when the door opens and Kris was on the other side of the threshold. The music stopped playing.

“Come on in! I thought you were going to be late again, Luhan!”

“Not anymore!” I laugh nervously. Kris can be really intimidating sometimes. He rarely smiles. And I mean it.

“Kris. I, uhh, got you this.” Tao holds out a small plastic bag. I can’t see what’s inside but Kris’ face lights up as soon as he sets his eyes on it.

“You did not!” he says to Tao, snatching the bag away from him.

“I did. I happened to pass by the same street yesterday.. so I thought…”

Tao’s the only person I know who has managed to pierce through Kris’ shell.

“Thanks so much, Tao!” Kris hugs him and I swear I saw Tao blush.

“Is that Lay?”

Xiu Min’s voice rang out.

So I guess Xiu’s already here.

I enter the condo and find Xiu in front of Kris’ sound system. The furniture was pushed aside so that there was a huge space in the middle for dancing.

“Where’s Lay and Chen?” I say, looking around the room.

“Oh, it’s you, Luhan! They’re still not here. Which is weird… Lay is ALWAYS punctual… I need him to tell me where the CD is. He was the last one to use it.”

I shrug and move on to the middle of the dance space. I practice some of the moves a little when the doorbell rings.

“Open up! Hurry!”

It sounded like Lay, and he sounded urgent.

Kris and Tao hurry towards the door and as soon as they open it, Lay comes rushing inside, Chen’s arm slung around Lay’s shoulder.

“What happened?” I asked. Chen was having difficulty walking. I immediately assisted him by slinging his other arm on my shoulders.

“He hurt his knee on the way here. Luckily I had just arrived at the front gate, too.” Lay said, helping Chen sit on the toilet bowl. He immediately opened the small medicine box on the counter.

“Anything I can help?” I said feebly. Kris, Tao and Xiu were by the door, peeking in.

“Thanks, Luhan. But I’ll be okay. Lay’s good at this kinds of things!” Chen smiles and then winces as Lay applied medicine on his wound. “Hey, not so sudden!”

“Oh, shush and man up!” Lay says, concentrating on Chen’s wound. “You don’t want an infection, do you?”

“Come on guys, give them some space! Let’s start practicing our routine now!” Kris says, heading for the living room.

I exit the bathroom and headed for the living room with the others.

“I hope Chen can still dance. We don’t have room for any mistakes.” Kris turns on the sound system and the music starts to fill the room again.

“Cut him some slack. He just hurt himself.” Tao said and Kris’ face immediately relaxed.

I’m starting to see a pattern here. I wonder why I’ve never noticed it before.

“What’s with the goofy smile, Han?” Xiu said, taking his place in the center of the dance space.

“What? Oh, nothing. Let’s get started shall we?” I say, a little too quickly.

“GUYS!” Lay’s shout emanates from the bathroom.

Kris groans. “What now? Xiu, check it out will you?”

Xiu sighs and heads for the bathroom. After a few seconds, he comes back urging the rest of us to come see what’s happened.

As we approach the bathroom, Chen steps out. He was walking normally and the right leg of his pants was rolled up so that you could see his wound. But the problem was, there was no wound. Lay exits the bathroom next and his mouth was open, forming a small ‘o’.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. I was going to apply some medicine on his leg when suddenly his wound started…” Lay didn’t continue. He sounded as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“My wound started stitching itself up. I could feel it!” Chen said. He was a bit more ecstatic than Lay. Clearly, he wasn’t freaked out by this. “I might be some kind of… mutant!”

“You can’t be serious. If you guys are playing a trick to get out of practice, it’s not working!” Kris was starting to lose his temper.

I look down at my watch. 6:58 PM.

We’ve lost too much time.

“Kris, Chen must be saying the truth. I saw the wound when he came in. It was real.” Tao sounded level headed. I wasn’t. I saw the wound as well. Wounds don’t just heal themselves like that.

“So, what are you trying to say?” Xiu said, his voice a little bit shaky. He put his hand on the wall as if to support himself. The moment he did, he gave a loud yelp and retrieved his hand. Where his hand had made contact, a small patch of ice had formed.

“What’s going on?” Kris’ voice sounded urgent. Tao didn’t say anything but backed away slowly. He hit a table, which made a flower vase on top of it fall. His quick reflexes allowed him to turn around and reach out for it but before he could catch it, the vase stopped mid air then returned to the table on its own, back to where it was before Tao hit the table.

What’s happening…?

“Okay, this is getting… What the—!” Kris, in the middle of speaking, suddenly started floating inches and inches away from the floor. “Hey, someone get me down!”

Lay lunged forward and held on to Kris’ leg, trying to anchor him back to the room.

Then that’s when I heard it. In my head.

We need… need you… Come… Please, come…

I clutched my head. It was starting to hurt so much. The voice kept resounding in my head. Then Chen’s own voice added to the noise. He was screaming. I opened my eyes a bit. I saw Chen’s hand discharging electricity. Xiumin was backed up against the wall, Tao was helping Lay bring Kris back down to the ground.

As for me, I was on my knees, clutching my head.

What’s going on…?

…Help us…

And the next thing I noticed was that everything around us started getting dark. Then there was nothing.