-Chapter 23-

Denial

Sehun stepped through the door and was immediately hit with the scent of aged paper settled in air around him and the sound of utter silence, aside from the light whispers here and there and the sound of pages being flipped through books. There really was nothing that could compare to the unique atmosphere that libraries possessed. Sehun didn’t, or rather he couldn’t, stay immersed in his thoughts for too long though because he was too focused on the motives of him coming here in the first place. Looking around, he carefully scanned his surroundings and kept his ears open just in case he would pick up on any familiar voices.

“He said he would be here around this time…” He muttered to himself, slipping his cell phone out of his jacket’s pocket and skimming over his most recent text for what seemed like the hundredth time now. Stepping deeper inside the library and continuing his search, he finally stopped in his tracks when he finally saw the man he was looking for just a couple of feet away at the front library desk, conversing with the same panda eyed library worker Sehun had seen from before. “Finally found Jongdae.” He sighed. Without wasting any time, Sehun strode towards him.

“Really? The angry bird is finally coming back from his trip after what feels like ages?” Jongdae lightheartedly chuckled, to which Panda-Eyes (as Sehun now decided to call him) nodded and smiled eagerly in response.

“Yup, Yifan is finally returning from Canada! It’s about time- it was getting really lonely working here at the library alone.” Panda-Eyes pouted, then immediately bouncing back to his enthusiastic self. “He said he would be here later today to come visit us.” Panda-Eyes abruptly stopped talking when he saw Sehun almost discreetly approach them. “Can I help you? Do you need help finding a book?” Panda-Eyes diligently asked. Sehun felt himself cringe a bit at how heavy this man’s Chinese accent was.

“Ah, Sehun! You’re finally here!” Jongdae exclaimed, brightly smiling at the younger boy.

“You know this guy, Jongdae?” Panda-Eyes curiously asked with a tilt of the head.

Jongdae nodded. “This is my classmate Oh Sehun from school.” He replied. “I came here with him that one morning a few weeks ago, remember?” Jongdae then turned to Sehun. “Sehun, this is my friend Huang Zitao- Tao for short. He’s a high school foreign exchange student from China.” Tao gave Sehun a shy smile and politely bowed. Sehun wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or creeped out by how innocent and polite this guy was acting despite his mature and intimidating appearance. Sehun simply nodded at Tao, feeling himself too wrapped up in his thoughts to be concerned with making new friends at the moment.

“I’ll talk to you later, Tao.” Jongdae nodded to Tao, taking Sehun by the shoulder and leading him away.

“I’ll call you over when Yifan arrives!” Tao called out as the two descended away.

The two boys managed to snag an empty table in a very secluded and isolated corner of the library where they could talk in peace. Immediately after they were situated, Jongdae spoke. “Honestly speaking, I was a bit surprised when you randomly texted me to meet up with you today at the library. I didn’t even think you still had my number.” He chuckled. Jongdae’s smile seemed to have gradually faded away when he saw the blank, almost absent expression on Sehun’s face with darkened eyes cast down onto the table before him. Jongdae cleared his throat and leaned in a bit in his seat. “By any chance, did you set up this meeting because of…” he brought his voice down to just above a whisper. “…them?”

Sehun didn’t seem to react at all to Jongdae’s question, and for a while Jongdae was under the impression that perhaps Sehun just didn’t hear him. Jongdae was moments away from repeating himself until Sehun unexpectedly gave a weak nod to the older boy. Jongdae shut his mouth and averted his eyes, allowing the response to really soak into his head. “You were right…” Jongdae glanced up at Sehun, surprised by Sehun’s sudden words that cut right through the thick silence around them.

“I was… right…?” Jongdae slowly repeated in confusion.

“Yeah… you were.” Jongdae continued staring at Sehun until Sehun continued. “I didn’t believe it in the beginning in any way. Even after everything that happened to me after that, I still wasn't 100% sure of it. But, I know now that it’s all true- it’s all real… You were right. Everyone was right…”

“My house is haunted. And it’s haunted by those two…” Sehun swallowed hard. “Luhan and Yoona.” It didn’t feel right saying their names aloud like that; too much pain and agony would wash over him the moment their names left his mouth. “Things have been happening to my sister Jaeyun. Really horrible things… The most recent incident she was in even sent her to the hospital…” A chill instantly shot down Jongdae’s spine.

“It’s a terrible thing… but one good thing came out of that. While she was in the hospital, I talked to her. I talked to her about a lot of things, and those things were about her experiences in the house. She ended up telling me everything. How Luhan’s spirit had been watching her for years now, how he had recently reached out to her in order for her to finally notice him, how she’s been having dreams of him… how he told her he’d protect her… She even told me how she’s been trying to purposely communicate with him…”

“Hold on a second.” Jongdae intervened. Sehun looked up at him. “There are many things I could point out here, but the last statement struck me the most. Your sister; has she really been successfully communicating with him?” Sehun simply nodded, appearing to be a bit saddened by his answer to Jongdae’s question. “How on earth is she doing that??”

“She told me she lets him use a flashlight to answer questions she asks him. She would ask him a question, he’ll answer yes with one flash and no with two.” Sehun paused for a moment. “But more recently, she told me that she just hears his voice saying things to her and responding to her questions.”

“Without a flashlight?”

“Without a flashlight.”

Distress was completely evident in Jongdae’s face now as he ran his fingers through his own hair. “L-let me get this straight… She hears him now?”

“Yeah. Crystal clearly.” Sehun felt himself beginning to feel a bit unsettled the moment he took notice of how pale Jongdae’s face had become as the conversation had progressed.

“Sehun,” Jongdae started. Jongdae’s eyes were now glued to the table as he uneasily tapped his fingers on the table’s surface. “Do you understand how difficult it is for average people to be able to hear, let alone communicate with a spirit that easily? From just your words alone, you make it seem like Jaeyun is able to talk and hear Luhan as if he was just a living person in front of her. Attempting to communicate with a being on the ‘other side’ is one thing, but interacting with them on a daily basis with such ease is in a completely different ball park… Do you understand how serious this is, Sehun?”

Sehun didn’t say a word. He did know. Of course out of all people, Sehun would know the full extent of how bad this whole situation is getting for his little sister. But he didn’t want to openly admit it. He couldn’t take the weight that came with such acknowledgment…

“Why don’t you tell her to stop trying to talk to him?”

“Like I haven’t already.” Sehun snapped back much to Jongdae’s surprise. “She won’t do it… she’s… too attached to him to let him go that easily…” Jongdae pushed out a long sigh, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes.

“Unbelievable… This is really, really bad…” he whispered to himself. He figured he’d take a chance and ask another question. “Had she been experiencing anything with Yoona?”

“That’s the thing that’s been bothering me.” Sehun promptly said right after. “You told me before that the one who was the biggest threat was the murderer Yoona, and that we had to watch out for her. But not once has Jaeyun ever mentioned anything about Yoona when I was talking to her. In fact, she probably wouldn’t even know anything about Yoona’s presence if I hadn’t have told her about her.”

Jongdae arched an eyebrow at Sehun and took a moment to take all that information in, allowing it to stew in his head for a bit. “That’s… strange…” he finally said. “I know for sure that Yoona’s spirit still lingers around in that home though. So you’re telling me that she hadn’t made her presence known at all?” Sehun felt his body tense up at the question.

“Well actually… she has…” Sehun hesitantly said. “I’m not totally sure about this, but I think I’ve been hearing Yoona. Because for some reason I’ve been hearing a woman screaming in my house.” Once again, Jongdae looked completely blown away by the information given to him.

“­S-screaming?” Sehun nodded.

“I’ve been hearing it a lot just recently and at random moments too. There was one time when I actually heard the same female voice crying, and another time where I heard her say something. I really do think this all correlates to Yoona in some way. I’m assuming that since Jaeyun never mentioned Yoona, I’m probably the only one who hears her, for reason I’ll never know…”

“And all you ever hear from Yoona… are screams?” he carefully asked. Sehun nodded his head. Jongdae propped his elbows onto the table and put his head into his hands. “Oh no… you can’t be serious…!” Jongdae hissed to himself behind his hands.

“What’s wrong?” Sehun questioned. Jongdae didn’t respond to Sehun’s question until what felt like ages. Jongdae pulled his hands away from his face and stared down at the table in front of them.

“A female spirit that only screams, right?” he quietly said, so low that Sehun almost barely caught his words. “I know it sounds strange and out of the ordinary… but it’s actually quite common. There are many female spirits out there that are always screaming, and they have special names. Those types of spirits are called banshees.” Jongdae hesitantly peered up into Sehun’s eyes.

“A… banshee?” Sehun reiterated, finding the new word rolling off the tongue a bit awkwardly. Jongdae seemed both relieved and fearful that Sehun didn’t know what he was referring to.

“Yes, a banshee. Banshees are female spirits who only appear during… certain circumstances and when they do appear, all they can do is scream most of the time.”

“But, why do they scream? And what exactly are the circumstances that make them appear?” Sehun was now at the edge of his seat, the questions practically spilling out of him now. However, Jongdae wasn’t saying a word. “Jongdae, answer the question!” Sehun impatiently said. Jongdae closed his eyes and continued with the silence. “Jongdae! Just answer my ques-“

“Banshees appear… to warn people of an upcoming death.”

Sehun went numb. Did he hear him right? Replaying Jongdae’s words in his head, he didn’t seem to remember completely what he had just heard.

“Their wails are what they use to warn people. And they don't just scream to warn people of regular old deaths. They scream to warn people of deaths that involve murder.” Jongdae continued. He heaved out a heavy sigh. “Sehun… you know what this means, right…? You know that this could possibly mean that…”

“NO.” Sehun practically barked. “Don’t you say it… Don’t you dare say it!!!” Sehun’s hands resting on the table were now clenched into trembling fists. “There’s no way that could happen… I would never allow something like that to happen…!!!”

“Calm down Sehun…”

“Jaeyun recently had a close call because of that recent accident. S-she almost died, but she didn’t…! M-maybe that was what Yoona was trying to signal…!” Sehun hysterically blurted out. Jongdae stared onto Sehun with remorseful eyes, and reached a hand out to comfortingly pat Sehun’s arm.

“Banshees don’t scream to warn people of ‘close calls’. They know what’s going to come.” Sehun abruptly slapped Jongdae’s hand away and slammed his fist onto the table.

“You’re wrong…! I know you’re wrong!! I-it’s not going to h-happen..!!!” Jongdae was surprised when he caught the sight of tears built up in Sehun’s eyes and was threatening to spill out any second.

“Please Sehun… calm down. You’re denial is only making you even angrier.”

“What exactly are you trying to tell me here Jongdae…?” he unexpectedly piped up. “That Yoona is telling me ahead of time of what’s going to happen? That’s she’s telling me before hand, before she kills her??” A tear or two ran down Sehun’s cheek. “You never know who Yoona could be referring to though! It might not even be Jaeyun who’s the one who’s going to die. I-it could be me for all we know…!”

“Sehun.” Jongdae firmly said, silencing Sehun. “Be realistic here… I don’t like admitting it either and it pains me to say it… but you need to be truthful to yourself...” In a matter of seconds, it seemed like Sehun’s emotions hidden by anger were now coming out into the open in full force. He hung his head down low with a hand on his head. Jongdae silently watched onto Sehun, listening to Sehun’s restrained and choked up sobs.

“That can’t happen… it w-won’t h-happen…! I would rather die myself than to have her die…!”

“Sehun, don’t say such rash thi-“

“Jongdae!” Jongdae was suddenly woken back into reality and looked up. Off in the distance was Tao who was waving his arm at Jongdae with an enthusiastic grin upon his face. “Yifan is finally back! He’s here!!”

“I’ll be over there in a sec!” Jongdae nodded, managing to put on a fake smile for Tao. Looking back over at Sehun, his smile instantly vanished. “Sehun… I…”

“I’m leaving…” Sehun announced, pushing himself up off the chair and roughly rubbing his wet eyes.

“Huh, what? Now hold on a second Sehun.” Jongdae hastily said, stumbling out of his chair and walking over to Sehun’s side. But Sehun pushed past him and sped towards the exit despite Jongdae’s objections. Just a few steps away from the exit, Sehun was caught off guard when he had abruptly bumped shoulders with a stranger, causing him to stagger off to the side a few steps.

“Whoa there, watch your step.” The stranger said. Sehun snapped his head over to stare at the unknown man, but was startled to see that this man completely towered over him- more so than even his friend Chanyeol did. Sehun was so stricken that he didn’t even notice that Jongdae had finally caught up to him.

“Jongdae, see he’s finally here!” Tao smiled.

“Hey, long time no see Chen Chen.” The towering stranger smiled at Jongdae with a slight nod.

“Sehun, don’t just leave so abruptly like this.” Jongdae desperately pleaded, not seeming to notice the greeting. Sehun snapped back into reality and didn’t waste any time, sprinting out the door. Jongdae took a step forward with an outstretched arm but stopped with a sigh, finding it useless to do anything more. He sadly looked over at the man next to him. “Oh… hey Yifan, didn’t see you there…” he said, a bit unenthusiastically.

“Not really the enthusiasm I was looking for… and didn’t I already tell you to call me Kris. It suits me much more than Yifan.” Kris said. “And also, I couldn’t help but notice that friend of yours. What did you say his name was?”

“Sehun. Oh Sehun.”

“Sehun, huh.” Kris nodded to himself but moments later, he suddenly felt his body tense up. “Wait, hold on a second. Oh Sehun? He wouldn’t happen to be from the Oh family you told me about before, right? You know, that family that moved into that haunted house?”

“Yup, that’s him. But why are you so concerned about it though?” Jongdae was astonished seeing the panic that now covered Kris’ face. “Yifan, you alri-“

“Damn…” Kris suddenly cursed. “I didn’t think I would have to deal with something like this right when I came back to Korea…” Out of the blue, Kris his heel and dashed out the doorway. Scanning his surroundings outside, he cussed to himself once more when he saw that Sehun was no where to be found.

“I just missed him…! He walked right by me too!” he angrily whispered. “I need to find that boy. I need to find him, before it’s too late!”

`Author's Corner

Did this chapter make sense at all lol

Ok so ANNOUNCEMENT HERE!!!

I will be on HIATUS for a month starting July because I will be out of the country for a few weeks. I'm gonna be going to Japan just in case you were wondering. So yeah, no update until the end of July or beginning of August. Awww, I really don't wanna leave you guys hanging for so long but I have no other choice :'-( I'll be sure to hand write the other chapters while I'm away though~! 

So wait for me my beautiful readers!!!!!!