I couldn’t focus on my work anymore after I had that weird dream. The students in my classes all seemed so different.  My colleagues changed so much and they avoid me even more than they did. I felt even more lonely these days then before I went to that mansion. Even though I know it wasn’t a dream I keep pretending it was.

All this time I haven’t got any signals that this all really happened. Still I am scared so badly that this creepy butler will return again.

After a long and tired day I walk home and take a deep breath before I turn around the corner into the street. I grin remember the street name every time I walk in here. Guess I was destined to start living as a creep as soon as I lived on myself.

I still remember  the day I got the chance to leave my parents’ house. I was so excited to have a house for myself, but the first night it was storming and raining so bad my window broke already.

Avenue 13^th Alley… this name wasn’t right from the beginning, but I never believed in spiritual and ghostly stuff, until I returned from that mansion. Things still changed in a way I don’t know how.

“Mister” I hear a young voice behind me. When I turn around I see a young girl around 10 standing in front of me. Her eyes gentle, but with a lonely gloomy look in them. Her skin white as snow and her hair pitch black glowing in the sunset. Her lips deep red and a slightly soft smile is on her lips.

She is dressed in a white dress revealing slim and white legs in it. Small black shoes appear to be a little old-fashioned. I found myself feeling uncomfortable in front of her and I take a small step backwards.

“ There is a letter for you, Mister” she says, still in the same emotionless tone as she called me earlier. She holds up a small letter and I recognize the red seal on the envelope right away.

“I don’t think this is mine”  I say, not wanting to get another letter. “Mr. Jung sent me personally to give you this”  the girl says with a slightly changing tone in her voice. “I think it’s better if you take this letter from me” the girl says when I don’t respond to her question.

With a shaking hand I take the letter from her hands, regretting it already the second I touch it.

When I look up from staring at the letter I see the girl disappeared. I look around , but there is no girl walking in the streets. The same unpleasant feeling I felt back in the mansion returns and I feel all the hair on my body standing straight.

I put the hands in my pockets and walk home a little faster, hiding my face in my scarf safely.

As soon as I reach home I drop the letter on the table and walk straight to my bed.

The tiredness took over my body and I just want to sleep. Without changing I drop my jacket and scarf on the floor, take of my shoes, not even untying my  laces and I jump in my bed.

When I finally feel the warmth of the blanket covering me I feel the ease returning in my body and I slumber in a deep sleep.

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Where am I? It’s the first thing I think when I open my eyes. A white room, with a single white bed. I turn around and gasp when I see the black chair standing the middle of the room. I slowly get up and I feel my whole body shaking. The back of the chair is facing me and I feel like someone is sitting in the chair, which I can’t see.

A cold breeze brings me a shiver running down from head till toe.

“Have you finally woken up?”  A calm very well-known young men’s voice is heard and I feel my body frozen on the floor. The chair turns around and before I realize I stare into the eyes of the lord I fear so much: Jung Yunho.

“It’s been a while” he says while he pushes himself up and takes a step closer. So close I can fee his warmth on my body again. I very unpleasant and well-known feeling is felt as he puts his hand on my shoulder. “There is no escape, Jaejoong” I hear his scary too gentle voice.

Without realizing I close my eyes once his long fingers  trail down my neck and leave a trail of warmth on my cold neck.

He pushes me into another room, as white and empty as the one I woke up in.

This room only has a white elm rocking chair, the wind softly blowing making the chair  softly rock with a fearing cracking sound.

“Wait on the elm rocking chair and don’t open your eyes until I count to seven” Yunho says and he walks to the side of the room.

With shaking legs I sit myself down in the chair and bend backwards till I feel the wood in my back. I put my arms in my lap and I close my eyes with a deep uneven breath.

I feel so cold I don’t dare to move, too afraid my skin will freeze in a second. My hot skin burning in the cold, feeling the dewdrops in my neck running down. The cold freezing makes them feel like ice running down. I try to gasp and scream for help, but no sound is coming out my mouth. The voice stuck in my dry mouth, my sharp painful throbbing throat. Once I try to gasp again there is no more sound.

I try to scream to the extent I lost my voice. I try to remove my hands, but in between my fingers I feel the entangled spider webs, which will haunt me forever. The cold breeze makes the treads move in between my fingers softly, leaving goose bumps all over my body as I feel a soft moving on my arm. Knowing on its size it’s a Tarantula, moving his way up from my hands to who knows where.

“One” once again this nerve wrecking counting is heard. This time a bit more calm feeling inside. Somehow I feel like I know what will happen.

“Two” just another number is what I think myself. I softly take a deep breath as I feel the Tarantula moving its way up my shoulder.

“Three” a soft breeze is felt on my cheeks as I shiver in the cold, again feeling a warm hand on my shoulder. All I hear is soft breath of someone behind me. All I feel is are the small hairy paws of the spider in my bare neck. I bite my own teeth trying hard to control the panic running through my body.

“Four” I hear a gentle voice saying close to my ear. A soft little blow afterwards and the goose bumps run down my body in a shiver.

“Five” I hear and I feel a warm body softly leaning over me, a warm hand caressing my cold cheek. His hands, they are warm, yet I still don’t know if it just his hands being warm or if my skin is really like ice and feeling cold.

“Six” the finger trailing my lips and I open them in reflect. A soft finger slides my mouth and I feel a warm liquid entering my mouth. The bitter taste makes me gulp in disgust, tasting the liquid going down my throat. The strong smell of blood enters my nose.

“Seven” I shiver at the idea of what I just gulped down and I feel a ray of panic when I feel a hairy paw of the Tarantula on my cheek, another on my ear lobe.

“Open your eyes” I hear Yunho saying in a gentle voice again.

Without realizing I open them. In front of me a small table, this for sure wasn’t there when I entered the room and sat down in the rocking chair.

In the middle of the table there is a hourglass located, slowly counting down.

“It’s counting down backwards to 9095” Yunho says leaving me in shock how close he is to my ear.

Peeking to my side I see the Tarantula is gone and lay dead on the floor next to me.

“W-what does 9095 m-mean?” I ask, but there is no answer.

When I look away from the hourglass Yunho is gone and the room is empty. I stare down to my hands and I remove them from all the spider webs entangled in my fingers.

I walk up to the door I came from and I try to open it. Once I put the handle down an electric shock runs down my body, but the door won’t open.

When I turned around the room reduced half its size. A shock of panic runs down and I rush down the handle again, another electric shock.

The room reduced half the size again. I stare around in shock and see the only thing standing in front of me is the table with the hourglass just counting down.

Down to what? Counting down to 9095. “What does it mean?” I whisper in myself again.

I try to reach for the doorknob again, another shock feeling the wall hitting my back and I am pushed between the door and wall. My body starts shaking from panic.

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I scream as I wake up in my bed. My body is wet from all the sweat and my bed is drenched in sweat drops.

I look around finding myself in my own room, with my own things and my own clothes on.

No spiders on my shoulder, no spider webs on my fingers, no rocking chair.

I get out of bed and rub my head.

All I see is the letter on my table which I haven’t opened yet. “It was just a dream, because of that letter Jaejoong” I try to pep talk myself.

My body is frozen as soon as I see the item standing on my table.

A small wooden plate with a hourglass. The small text makes the shivers running up and down my body.

“The hourglass that started counting down backwards to 9095”