-Chapter 11-

I'll Protect You

Wordlessly, you sat in a wodden chair in front of your bedroom window. You weren’t sure how you got there or why you were even bothering to gaze out at the outside world behind the glass barrier in the first place, but you somehow had an unexplainable burning urge to do so. Looking at the streets below, you found yourself paying close attention to the littlest, insignificant things- the way the clouds smoothly glided across the blue sky, the way a bird here and there would momentarily touchdown on your lawn, twitch its head this way and that for just a moment and flap away, even the way the greenery in front of your house would sway in perfect unison with the wind that blew past it.

You weren’t sure why, but you enjoyed staring at the leaves rustling along with the wind the most. You found it amazing how no matter how brutal the gust of wind would be when it crashed into the bundle of leaves; it would always bear through it and immediately spring back into place. It amazed you but then again…

You really had no idea why this caught your attention.

Minutes seemed to have ticked by in a snap but you were too preoccupied with staring out the window to notice. Sorrow and longing began to gradually blossom within you the longer you stared out. Without even becoming aware of it, two arms had encircled your waist from behind and a chin delicately rested on your shoulder.

Without even turning your head, you knew that the person who held onto you right now was Luhan. Luhan also looked outside the window along with you but after a minute or so turned his attention to your reflection on the window. A tender smile spread across his radiant face when he caught a glimpse of your beautiful face mirrored on the glass.

“Your beauty never ceases to amaze me, Jaeyun.” Luhan lightly chuckled. With just his voice alone, you began to feel the grief you felt before being lifted off of your shoulders. You were filled with joy once more in Luhan’s presence but unlike the other times… you didn’t feel yourself smiling. In fact, you felt something actually running down your cheek. It couldn’t be… were you…

Crying?

You were with Luhan. You should be happy, even overjoyed. You could feel delight being in Luhan’s arm ready to burst in your chest and yet… tears were streaming down your cheeks… You figured it was out of happiness but these tears felt…

Painful in some unexplainable way…

In the blink of an eye, you were staring wide eyed at a dark wall, lying on your side with your blanket spread sloppily over your rigid body. Your whole body was trembling with beads of sweat trickling down your forehead. Once your sense of hearing was beginning to gradually come back to you, you realized that your breaths were very irregular and choked up. Not only that, but your eyes felt incredibly swollen. You were a bit startled when you felt something warm run out the corner of your eye, down the bridge of your nose and onto your pillow with a faint thud.

You were crying outside of your dream as well…

Before you could bring a weak hand up to wipe your blurry eyes, your breath was caught in your throat when you felt the bed from behind you dip down with a low squeak. The bed behind you continued plunging downwards until you felt what was unmistakably a hand firmly touch your head from behind. You could feel your hairs standing on end with the unknown hand securely positioned on the back of your head. The grip was firm- practically unfaltering.

Finally, the hand released some of its tension and pulled away. Ever so faintly, you could feel light fingers running down the crown of your head and down your long hair. The hand went back up to the top of your head and continued the process over and over again almost as if it was attempting to your hair. You laid there, not daring to move a muscle or even allow a breath to escape your lips.

“Don’t cry.”

An electric shock ran through every nerve of your body. It was Luhan’s voice. It sounded so far yet so close all at the same time.

“I’ll always stay with you. I’ll protect you.”

He’ll protect me.

You couldn’t deny that you could feel fear shaking you from the inside but you knew there was nothing to be scared of. You were with Luhan after all. Luhan wouldn’t do anything to you. Luhan wouldn’t let anything happen to you. As long as Luhan was with you… there was nothing to be afraid of…

AAAHHHHHHH

Sehun’s eyes sky rocketed open. There it was again- the screaming woman’s voice. He stared petrified up at his ceiling, completely glued to his bed with the sound of his ramming heart beating against his chest and the screaming filling his ears.

The screaming wasn’t stopping. Not only that… but he heard loud, rapid banging.

in a deep breath, Sehun jumped out of his bed and practically exploded out of his bedroom door. Frantically looking around and attempting to adjust his eyes to the darkness in an attempt to see something, his eyes immediately locked onto your bedroom door. Sehun stared at the door in complete horror, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Your bedroom door was shaking vigorously and behind it, Sehun could hear muffled bangs on the door and screaming. “Jaeyun!” Sehun ran over to the door and stared fearfully at the doorknob that was shaking up and down along with the door, before grabbing hold of it. Sehun twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. But just when Sehun opened the door just an inch wide, the door slammed shut in his face as if someone smashed it shut from the other side.

Sehun was baffled for a split second before pushing open the door again. Once again, the door crashed closed. Sehun desperately tried to push open the door once he heard the banging and bloodcurdling screams getting louder. “JAEYUN! OPEN THE DOOR!!” Sehun screamed at the top of his lungs, now using his entire body to push the door open. Whatever was closing the door was now pushing with just as much strength on the other side.

The woman’s scream was now all Sehun could hear. It filled the air around him, it filled his mind. Every part of him was filled with the scream.

In a flash, Sehun lost his footing and flew back against the wall behind him and the door was finally belted shut. All at once, the banging and the screaming ceased once the door was finally closed. Sehun flinched back and clenched his eyes shut when his surroundings were suddenly engulfed in light.

“Sehun!” Sehun swiveled his head to the side and saw his mother worriedly running over to his side. She cupped Sehun’s face in her fragile hands and looked him straight in the eyes with knitted eyebrows that clearly illustrated concern. “Sehun are you alright? We both heard you yelling.” Sehun looked past his mother and saw his father standing a few feet away with his hand lingering on the light switch with an equally worried expression on his face.

“Sehun, please say something to me!” his mother pressed on, gripping his shoulder and shaking him slightly.

“J-Jaeyun! It’s Jaeyun!” was all Sehun could utter out as he pulled his mother’s hands away and ran towards your door. Grabbing your door handle, he pushed the door open with as much force as he could muster up. Sehun unexpectedly stumbled into the room once he had fully opened the door.

Disregarding the door, Sehun snapped his head to the left and right to look around the room. “Sehun, what on earth is going on?” Sehun’s father questioned as he and Sehun’s mother quickly advanced into the room.

“Jaeyun… she…!”

“She’s asleep.” His mother quietly said with a hand on his shoulder and pointing at your sleeping figure in your bed. Sehun was rendered absolutely speechless staring down at you who was fast sleep wrapped in your blanket. “Honestly Sehun, your sister needs her sleep for school tomorrow. It’s too late at night to be playing these types of games.”

Sehun looked over at his mom with parted lips, ready to jump in with a counter but words were literally caught in his throat, leaving him speechless. Before he knew it, his mother and father whispered a quick goodnight to him and had sauntered out of the room, leaving him standing alone in your room.

Slowly, Sehun turned his head to gaze down at you once more. His legs seemed to have a mind of its own as he found himself walking to your bedside and kneeling down. He stared blankly at your sleeping face. His mind was utterly reduced to mush as he stared into your hooded eyes. He brought a hand up to lightly push a strand of hair out of his face. “Jaeyun…” he quietly murmured. Gazing at you so close from such an angle, Sehun’s mind gradually began to fill up with memories the two of you had shared as children. Back when you were both so happy, back when you both didn’t have a care in the world, back when you and Sehun were…

Sehun quickly averted his eyes from you. He bit his lips and closed his eyes as he tried to mentally rid himself of that certain memory from worming its way back into his head. Expelling a sigh Sehun stood up on his feet. Turning away from you, he headed towards his door. However, Sehun’s pace began to progressively slow down until he was standing completely still in front of your door. Sehun slowly reach up and swung the door over to get a good look at it. A chill ran down Sehun’s spine at what he saw on the door.

Carved all over the now beaten up door… were scratch marks.