The Sherlock House Preface

“What time is it?” Taemin turned toward Jonghyun arching his eyebrows questioningly.

“Time for you to get a watch, ha ha ha!”

“Not funny, Onew,” He spun around glaring in Onew’s direction, trying to look stern. He ended up looking ridiculous.

“Okay, okay,” Onew threw up his hands, his eyes wide, a look of mock fright on his face, “I’ll stop, I promise.”

“Really, what time is it?” Taemin asked again.

“Five minutes past last time,” Onew’s voice was high and mocking.

Taemin cut him short with another glare.

“Onew’s right, it’s been about five minutes since you asked last,” Jonghyun came to Onew’s defense.  

“I’m hungry, when are the camera men coming? Why aren’t they here yet?” Taemin sighed.

“Why do you ask so many questions?” Onew imitated Taemin’s sigh.

“Tell us a story, Key,” Taemin implored.

“Alright,” Key agreed, “Once upon a time there was a little boy named Taemin. He whined too much so monsters came and ate him. The end.”

“That’s a terrible story,” Taemin looked annoyed.  

“Why don’t we just stare up at the ceiling and think of something pleasant?” That suggestion came form Minho, who was lying on his back on the hard, cold stone floor.

“There’s nothing pleasant to think of.” Taemin lied down, copying Minho’s position perfectly.

“Maybe the camera people forgot about us.” This suggestion came from Key. He too lied down, staring up at the ceiling.

“They could have locked their keys in their car.” Onew suggested.

“Or maybe they got in a car accident and all died.” Jonghyun was the last to lie down.

“Is that supposed to sound morbid?” Key asked.

“Yes. You didn’t give me time to finish. And their guts are all smeared….”

“Okay, you’ve made it morbid enough, you can stop now!” Key sat up covering his ears with his hands.

Onew yawned causing the rest of them to yawn.

“Hey it’s a new version of Sherlock, I’m so tired, YEAH!” Jonghyun sang jokingly.

Key and Minho laughed softly. Taemin and Onew were too sleepy to respond.

Two hours later……………………….

Jonghyun sat up yawning. He blinked and looked around the room. It was dark now, the camera people hadn’t come. “Maybe they really are dead.” He said it in a mater-of-fact voice. “We should just go.” He got up and nudged Taemin’s shoulder. Taemin moaned softly and turned over, refusing to wake up. Key was awakened by Taemin’s soft moan.

“Oh my goodness, what time is it?” Key sat straight up looking around the darkened room franticly.

“Maybe it’s time for you to get a watch.” Onew was awake now, and he didn’t look too happy.

Key got up and slapped Taemin awake. “Get up, we’re not waiting for the camera men any longer.”

Onew grabbed Minho’s left wrist while Jonghyun grabbed his right. Together they began dragging him toward the entrance. Taemin finally roused enough to stumble after them. Key took up the rear, urging everyone to move faster.

“What’s the rush?” Taemin asked sleepily.

“I’ll buy you dinner if you can get out the door in five minutes or less.” Key knew that would make everyone move faster. Even Minho, who was only pretending to be asleep, jumped up and raced toward the front door. Being the most athletic he reached it first.

“It’s locked!” Minho announced. There was a panicked gasp from the rest of them.      

“Are you sure?” Key wasn’t convinced. He stepped up and gripped the doorknob with all his might. It wouldn’t budge.

“Oh no, we’re stuck!” Onew cried.

“What about dinner?” It hadn’t quite dawned on poor Taemin that they were stuck inside the building.

“Hey look, what’s this book?” Even with the waning light Jonghyun noticed a book lying on the floor in the corner. He picked it up and opened the cover.

“It isn’t time to read stories.” Minho said between frantic kicks as he unsuccessfully tried to bust the heavy, wooden door down.   

“Welcome to my domain

It’s where I reign

Give in

‘Cause I will win

You’ll never see the sun again

Welcome to the Sherlock House.” Jonghyun read aloud. It was a poem of some sort, a terrible, horrible poem.

“The Sherlock House,” They all gasped in unison.

“What are we going to do?” Taemin sobbed.