Chapter six: Macavity

Donghae threw Ryeowook off his shoulder and let him slip through the ‘rabbit hole’.

“Go,” He softly ordered me next. But when I didn’t immediately move, he softly pushed my back. I crouched down and let myself slip through the hole. My legs barely had enough strength to stand when I reached the ground.

Kyuhyun grabbed my hand and pulled me away and not a second later, Donghae came through the hole. He first looked at me and Kyuhyun but he didn’t say anything then he looked down at Ryeowook and frowned. Ryeowook sat on the ground and looked into nothing. Ryeowook had been much more depended on Tiffany than the rest of us.

Ever since Jongwoon had died, he had been clingier and especially Tiffany had let him. And now, she was… gone.

I bit my lip and stared at Donghae who walked to Ryeowook. He crouched down in front of him and apparently, Leeteuk knew what to do because he helped Ryeowook onto Donghae’s back.

“Let’s go!” Donghae ordered and with Leeteuk upfront, Donghae and Ryeowook in the middle and Kyuhyun and I ending the line, we walked out of the little cave.

It was evening now. The sun was not visible anymore and the evening sky was blood red. It made me want to cry and throw a tantrum but it wasn’t the time for that right now, now, I had to be strong. So instead, I felt a sense of emptiness come over me.

I couldn’t feel anything and I didn’t want to feel anything.

In the distance I could hear yelling and stamping. I focused on Donghae who looked a bit distressed. He wasn’t sure what to do next, it was clearly visible on his face. Instead, Leeteuk took the lead and the rest of us followed.

I felt Kyuhyun’s occasional squeezes in my hand. It was as if he tried to reassure himself that I was still there.

We reached the end of the park. Donghae was already sweating while Ryeowook still laid motionless on his back. I bit my lip and then without even hesitating, I said: “Let me carry Ryeowook.”

Donghae turned around, his face confused and surprised at the same time but to my own surprise he hoisted Ryeowook on my back without even questioning me. Ryeowook wasn’t heavy at all, I had carried him often enough, but he didn’t give me any support, he just laid on me.

We all ran into a little alleyway. We didn’t stop and just kept running. The heavy and loud noise were left far behind us.

Eventually we stopped in a little corner after five minutes of running. I let Ryeowook down and sat down next to him while I watched Donghae walk from left to right. He checked every corner to make sure that there was no one who wanted to hurt us.

When he was reassured, Donghae walked back to us. With a concerned expression he looked down at me, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun.

I had placed my arm over Ryeowook’s shoulder and let him lay his head on my shoulder. Then I looked up and looked Donghae in the eye and for one second, just one second, I conveyed my sadness to him.

Donghae gulped, as if in guilt, and then he softly said: “I’m sorry for what happened.”

Kyuhyun, who tried to keep his tears at bay, sniffed: “It’s not your fault.”

I nodded in agreement, “Kyuhyun is right. It’s not your fault, it’s that priest’s fault.”

Ryeowook didn’t say anything, he just stared in front of him while Leeteuk leaned against a wall, his face a combination between pity and sadness.

We stayed silent for five minute. I listened to Kyuhyun’s sniffs and watched Ryeowook’s tears roll off his cheeks while he still sat there limply.

Then Leeteuk pushed his body off the wall and crouched down. Kyuhyun and I looked at him. “It’s time to go, we sat here for too long.”

“My thoughts exactly.” We all turned our heads to the right the moment we heard a voice that we didn’t recognize. There stood a group of seven people, their faces hidden by the shadows in the alley but as they walked closer, I saw that they were wearing scarfs to hide the lower half of their faces.

I quickly looked to the other side of the alley for an escape-route but there were the same kind of people. We were completely surrounded.

Donghae growled lowly when he realized the exact same thing and he muttered: “Should’ve been more careful.” Then he walked to the man who spoke and asked: “What do you want from us?”

The man had to smile under that scarf. You could clearly see it in his eyes and with the way he spoke to Donghae. “I want you to come with us quietly.”

Kyuhyun stood up, he had wiped his tears away and wore his emotionless mask again. “Who are you?” He demanded to know. “Because you’re not Templers and don’t even try to deny it!”

I helped Ryeowook stand up, I didn’t want to sit so vulnerable on the ground, while Leeteuk stood up too and he walked next to Kyuhyun. The three of them unconsciously made a wall between me and Ryeowook and the people in front of us.

Leeteuk narrowed his eyes: “Wait a minute… Don’t you guys belong to that underground group?”

The people in front of us stopped smiling and their expression became death-serious. And just as Leeteuk said the name, I felt an exploding pain on my neck.

And together with mind-blowing pain and the screams of my name, I heard Leeteuk’s voice uttering one word: “Macavity.”  

I woke up from a foul smell and a lot of screaming.

“YOU DON’T TREAT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT, YUNHO!”

“SHUT IT, KANGIN! I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT THEY WERE YOUR FRIENDS! THEY WERE JUST STRANGERS THAT WALKED INTO OUR TERRITORY!”

I groaned, my head rang and the voices seemed to echo through my head. It wasn’t exactly a pleasurable experience.

I felt someone through my hair and for just one second my heart took a leap because I had the naïve thought that it was Tiffany who did that. But then I realized that I couldn’t be Tiffany. Not anymore. Still I leaned into the hand. “How do you feel, Hyukjae?”

Of course, it was Donghae, “Like a horse trampled on my head after I woke up from a hangover.”

Donghae softly chuckled and pulled me into his arms. I leaned into his embrace and we listened to Kangin and the man that was supposedly Yunho screaming at each other.

“REALLY?! WHY DO YOU EVEN CALL YOURSELF A MEMBER OF MACAVITY’S GANG?! YOU’RE NOT EVEN HALF AS SMART AS HE IS!”

“DON’T PRETEND THAT YOU ARE THAT SMART! THE ONLY THING YOU DID, WHEN THEY TOOK LEETEUK, WAS DRINK AND CRY!”

“DON’T EVEN GO THERE!”

There were six men needed to keep Yunho and Kangin from getting at each other’s throats. I turned to Donghae and asked: “Who’s Macavity?”

It was Leeteuk who stood next to the couch, on which Donghae and I sat, that gave me the answer with a huge scowl on his face: “Macavity is the city’s most sought criminal. Nobody has ever seen him before but there are enough incidents that leads the city to believe that Macavity exists. And these dimwits here call themselves Macavity’s gang. Essentially, they oppose to everything that the church does but the public doesn’t like them because they are thieves and heretics.”

“So they’ve never seen Macavity either?”

“Nope.” Leeteuk answered and then he walked away to calm down Kangin.

Donghae and I watched him go. “You should’ve seen him when Kangin arrived one second too late at the scene and reintroduced himself as a member of the Macavity gang. He was furious.”

I chuckled before remembering what happened and concerned, I looked at him. “Did you get hurt?” I asked him while inspecting him for various wounds.

“No, only you did. One of the members hit you on the neck just one second before Kangin came dashing around the corner.” Donghae softly brushed my hair again with his hand but carefully avoided coming too close to my neck. “It will be sore for a couple of days.” He reminded me.

I nodded before looking around. “Where are we? And where are Kyuhyun and Ryeowook? And are Sungmin and Yesung here too?