I. | Consentes.
Suicide Circle
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chapter one
consentes
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21:40, Seoul Metro Station platform.
It had just passed half-past nine when Park Chanyeol finally opened his eyes. The white lights illuminating the subway trains were a little too bright, a little too harsh for his sensitive dark brown orbs. Lifting his arm up to get a good look at the time on his wrist watch, he let out a sigh of relief. "It's still not here yet." He mumbled, stretching out his limbs in luxury as he lets the day's fatigue settle into the burn of his muscles. It had been a long day for him, and the thought of returning home to collapse onto the comfort of his cheap $100 mattress seemed a lot more tempting when compared to the cold metal bench he was sitting on. After a few minutes of silence, the train speeds up and slows down; doors open with a sharp swishing sound; people hurry off and on, laughter and gossip follow their footsteps.
There's always an entertaining crowd at this hour, in Chanyeol's opinion. Skinny, bright-eyed teenage girls hurry onto the train with their handbags dangling off their arms; an equally bright colored lipstick in their other hand, as they attempt to both apply a second layer of make-up and not fall over. On the other side, there's typsy old business men with red eyes and en faces, probably making their way home to loving wives and children. But for tonight, they weren't the ones catching the young detective's attention. As soon as the train departed, the faint sound of girlish giggling, and the clicking-and-clacking of heavy leather shoes were heard in the distance.
"Hehehe."
A large number of female school students all flooded into the platform from each of the exits, laughing along and singing happy tunes as if it was a normal day for them, but something about the whole situation confused the young detective. One by one, the girls all formed a long line next to the edge of the empty platform directly on top of the yellow safety line. By this time they had captured the attention of just about everyone in the station.
"Hehe."
All chatters and eye smiles, the girls then grabbed each others hands, holding them tightly while their eyes focused on the train tracks below them. A large gust of cold wind from the incoming train sent loose strands of hair and skirts a fly, as almost instantaneously the girls burst out into a loud chant.
"Now, one, and a two, and a three, synchronize!"
"And a one, and a two, and a three, cheat death!"
"Lets dial back all the pain, and we will be born again!"
And just as the train was about to pull in, each and every one of the 54 schoolgirls jumped onto the tracks, plunging into the concentrated darkness of not only the bottom of the train, but their spirits all the less. For Park Chanyeol, it was over before he could blink; because by then the girl's bones had broken, their skulls had been crushed, and their blood had splattered over the platform, coloring the once dirty, grey metal in a dazzling bright red.
The whole station emitted a chorus of screams. Women were breaking down, hitting at the ground with teary eyes and blood stained clothes. They were mourning over the passing of these teenagers. Teenagers they had never even met— Teenagers they never would have even cared about.
What is it with suicide that makes people so.. So vulnerable?
* * *
Of course being a detective had it's privileges, Chanyeol got to stay behind. Not that his fatigue didn't still bother him, but the sudden play of events had definitely caught his interest. Or maybe it just distracted him, he always did get distracted easily.
After Chanyeol and another handful of officers cleared out the station, the Seoul Forensics team quickly rushed in to examine the mess of flesh and bone. And the young detective saw this as the perfect opportunity to get a closer look at the incident. Biting down on his lip due to the strong smell of iron filling his nostrils, he peered over the edge of the platform, his eyes momentarily widening at the sight. It was horrendous. Truly, and utterly horrendous. There was not a single patch of land that hadn't been covered in a sickly dark red. Pieces of flesh stuck to the track work, half-cracked bones were sticking out of the bloody, clump of limp body parts, and he even spotted a severed-off ear dangling on the side of the platform beside him.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" He turned his head to the left, staring at the boy beside him in an attempt to match a name to a face. But it seemed as if his brain wasn't working properly. He really needed sleep.
"Byun Baekhyun." The other detective nodded, "Chief of police, Byun Baekhyun."
At the sound of Baekhyun's introduction, Chanyeol's eyes widened respectively, a formal bow soon following. "It's a pleasure. I'm Park Chanyeol, criminal investigator."
"I know, I've heard quite a lot about you. Rumor has it, that in just a few months you're already shooting up the rankings as one of the most talented rookies the department has ever seen." At the man's words, a small smile broke out on Chanyeol's face. He wasn't going to hide the fact that he was happy— thrilled, in a matter of a fact, that he had finally been recognised. It had been nine months since he was officially a detective. He spend long hours training, hours studying, and ever more hours just being well, nice. "Because a good officer is someone that's always friendly and honest." His deceased mother had once told him. Since that day, he had always vowed to make her proud. He would never fall into corruption like most police officers, he would give everything his all, and would never let go of the tail of success until he had climbed the ladder and became the chief of police. And even just simple, kind works of praise from someone— anyone, really made Chanyeol feel like all his effort was worthwhile.
Just as Chanyeol was about to thank Byun Baekhyun for his kind words, the soft, almost incoherent sound of flesh slapping on flesh echoed into his ears. He watched Baekhyun for a few seconds, trying to see if the Chief had heard the noise as well, but all Baekhyun did was smile at him warmly, as if he was waiting for Chanyeol to say something. Letting a confused frown morph his features, the brown-haired giant (compared to Baekhyun's rather short size) put his index finger over his lips, "Shhh..." He whispered, closing his eyes so he could focus on the sound a little bit more. Baekhyun did nothing but stare at his protege with puzzlement. And that's when he got it. Chanyeol's head darted up and down to stare at the mess of corpses. Forgetting the state of his clothes, or even the hard time he'd be giving the forensic team by adding extra fibers and such to the scene, but he then leapt over the edge of the platform and stood directly in the middle of the bodies, his dark brown eyes scanning his surroundings until he spotted it.
Something was clawing at the pile of bodies.
Something was buried under the corpses.
Something was— alive.
"A survivor!" Chanyeol screamed at the top of his lungs, legs unconsciously scrambling over to young teenager. In a matter of seconds, both the forensics team and the police squad had all gathered around the edges of the platform while Chanyeol propped the thin girl into his arms, carrying her bridal style over to Baekhyun who was crouched down over the edge of the platform with his arms outstretched, ready to grab her.
* * *
23:57, Seoul Metro Station platform.
"Can you tell us your name?" Baekhyun whispered, while the whole team literally surrounded the young girl, eyes wide and surprised. Chanyeol was even breaking a sweat just watching the girl, well— breathe. It wasn't logic to him. How could such a small, fragile schoolgirl like the one before him survive such an impact? He had researched cases of how fit, strong and muscular bodybuilders had been hit by a train and not survived. Was it luck? Did she just happen to fall into a pit of some sort? He sighed. He was too tired to think. It had been a long day for him, that had just gotten longer.
"Hello, Miss? Can you hear me?" Baekhyun kept trying, but despite his efforts, the woman just wouldn't reply. She kept turning her head left and right, mumbling to herself. "Why can't I die? Why can't I die? Why can't I die?" All of a sudden her arms started flailing, narrowly missing Baekhyun's left cheek, as her "chant" of some sort got louder, and deeper. The voice she was now letting out sounded far different to the one she had just shown them, it had dropped a few good octaves. "Why can't I die? Why can't I die?!" She spat through gritted teeth with what Chanyeol interpreted as malice. He was really getting disturbed now. And despite his attitude, he knew Baekhyun was getting disturbed all the same. Something definitely wasn't right with this woman.
"C-Chief," He just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "What's wrong with her?"
"Shock, most likely." A man on the other side of Baekhyun said. He had wide eyes and and ugly center-part. But he was something to look at, like a splash of color on a blank canvas. His name was Kyungsoo, or so Chanyeol thought. "She was supposed to be dead, after all."
At his last words the woman's back shot up, so she was practically sitting in Baekhyun's lap. "I was supposed to be dead!" She screamed no— screeched. The tone of her voice reminded Chanyeol of somebody running their fingernails on a chalkboard. It was loud, piercing and off-key.
"Why am I not dead?!!" She stood up; with dirty nails digging into her palm as she balled her fist so hard her fingers went white. Baekhyun stood up almost an instant the girl did. They were roughly the same height, the woman being only a few centimeters taller than the chief of police. But he wasn't to blame, the girl was a lot taller than most women of her age, or any age really.
"Miss, please calm down—" Baekhyun held his palms out, as if she was some wild beast that he was trying to contain. Chanyeol frowned. He didn't like it when officers would act far too superior.
"You're lucky to be alive.." He continued, this time reaching out to grab her shoulders, but with what looked like immaculate strength, she slapped his hands away and turned around, jumped down off the platform and broke out into a fast sprint down the tracks, away from all the commotion.
Chanyeol stood there flabbergasted as he watched the teenager disappear into the darkness of the night.
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