The message came in right after I got out of the bath.

It says

31/10/2013    12.30 a.m.

Please. Cant u just go and cmfrt her?! Minnie gvng me a headache here!!

 

It was from Taemin. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and dialed his number.

“What’s up?” 

“Min Ji has been putting Ji Eun’s constant mumbling about screamers in her house and her sobbing and her screaming on loud speaker since 10 and I have a game tomorrow and I need rest and just for ’s sake, just go to her house and calm her down!” he shouted through the phone.

“Dude, calm down,” I placed my towel on a chair and proceeded to lie down on my bed.

“How can I calm down, you jerk?! You should just have finished the job last summer but no. You have this freaking self-complex that leads to me being tortured by a girl who has a phobia with Halloween!!”

Aish. I pushed the phone away. This kid is gonna make deaf.

“So do your effing job and go comfort her!” The call ended with a click.

I stared at the screen. Do my job and comfort her? As if that’s possible.

I turned to my side to get comfortable for sleep.

But before that, let’s have a bedtime story session together.

So, once upon a time, there’s a girl named J. She lived with her parents and unfortunately she has no siblings. Like all parents in the world, J’s parents are a bit weird. They have this ritual of watching extreme horror movies every Halloween night instead of entertaining children trick-or-treating (they ignored all door knocks).

Like all children, J is scared of ghost but since she has nobody to take comfort from besides her parents, she grew embarrassed of always knocking on their door on the night of 31^st October once she reached the age of 8. It was because back in school, they said kids who slept with their parents will grow retarded and stupid.

Too embarrassed to ask her parents for comfort, she asked the help of her best friend, K. Now, K is a good guy, handsome, a gentleman, so he offered. Thus, on the night of 31^st October, you will not fail to see K coming to J’s home with a sleeping bag in one hand and popcorn in the other. From just helping, it became a ritual and later, became a habit. One night, K promised J that he will never leave her side no matter what.

So yeah, like all stories, they lived happily ever after.

Man, I didn’t know I was a good story teller.

Jie, if you want to know, is just like J in the story. She’s freaking scared of ghost even though she’s nineteen and aware that it doesn’t exist and is only the play of the mind.

So you must be asking “will Jie survive the night?”

She’s nineteen. She’s old enough to try soju. She can drink beer if she wants too. She has seven months away from adulthood.  

She’ll survive.

I mean, she has to think, if she doesn’t get any sleep tonight, there’s a probability that she’ll become sick tomorrow from all the crying and fatigue.

And a sick Jie is not good.

I open my eyes at that thought. Damn you brain.

Even if she doesn’t get sick, she could go mental. Imagine you have to go visit her at the mental hospital. She can’t stop mumbling about Jack the Ripper or runners or Grimm Reaper.

Okay. I coughed and turned to the other side, trying to find a comfortable position.

Nah, Jie will be alright. She needs to grow up. She’ll be fine. Min Ji’s there for her right? And Amber will probably be annoyed with the constant text she keeps receiving.

What if Jie really got murdered by Freddie Krueger?

____________________________________________________________________

“ it,” I jumped down the wall of the Roi’s house.

Yes, I’m breaking in.

Well, not exactly. I’ve done this bunch of times.

I walked to the back of the house, where Jie’s room is situated.

Now, for those wondering, I’m just here to see if she’s still alive.

“Wow, it’s still here,” I smirked at the drain pipe that climbs up the wall of the house. Fortunately, its track was near Jie’s bedroom window.

I narrowed my eyes when I saw her window curtains were closed. Usually she’ll let it open because she hates total darkness.

“She can’t be asleep,” I kicked and pulled at the drain pipe, making sure it’s still sturdy.

And it is.

_________________________________________________________________________

Once arrived, I placed one foot on the window sill and with my right hand holding tight to the drain pipe, I leaned at knocked on her window.

I was answered with a small shriek.

“Minnie, Minnie, Minnie, he’s outside. Victor Crowley’s outside! Help me, Minnie!”

I sighed. Jie, Victor Crowley, if he does exist, only terrorize swamps.

I knocked again.

“Minnie! He’s knocking on the window again, help,” she was saying it in between sobs.

Okay, this is annoying me. It’s freaking cold outside and can’t she just open the freaking curtains?!

I knocked harder, now in a certain pattern that I’m sure, Jie knows best.

“Minnie, somebody’s knocking on the window like Jong In always does. Minnie, help me! Minnie? Hello? Hello, Minnie? Lee Min Ji, don’t leave me! Min Ji!” now she was crying.

Growing impatient because of the cold, I knocked again, almost slapping the glass.

“Who’s out there?” her voice was slow, almost to a whisper.

“Jie, if you don’t want to see gore outside your window next morning, you better open this window now,” I said, stressing on the last word.

“Who are you? You sound like Jong In and Jong In wouldn’t come,”

Ah, Jie, still blunt despite being damn scared of her life.

“Just open it. Now,” I said slowly this time, trying to coax her.

“No!” This woman is one stubborn one.

“Open it, Roi Ji Eu—“

A sound cut me off. It came from inside, like something heavy dropping from the ceiling. A shriek followed it.

Suddenly, the window opened.

“Woah,” I almost lose my balance and fell to my death if not for something pulling me inside.

I blinked. I was inside Jie’s room. I recognized the fraying H.O.T. poster on her door, the black puppy plushie I gave to her on the floor beside her bed, the picture of us on her bedside table, the furnitures, how messy the room was, everything. It was Jie’s room.

A sob caught me out of my reverie. Something small, shivering and warm was hugging my torso. Holding me freaking tight.

It was Jie. And she’s crying.

“Hey,” I greeted, placing both of my hands on her shoulder. I tried to push her a bit, to look at her.

She held me tighter. She shakes her head and buries her face to my chest. I realized my shirt was now wet.

“Just for tonight. Just stay with me for tonight,”

I sighed and s my hand over her shoulder, hugging her back.

“It’s gonna be alright. There’s no Victor Crowley, okay?”

Jie remained still, her sobs filling the room.

“I’m here, okay?”

No answer.

“Look, I’m going to kick all the zombies’ arses that come to knock your door down, okay?” I run my fingers through her hair. It always calms her down.

She nodded.

You know…

At this moment, the separation suddenly felt long. Like the last time I’ve ever smiled at her was like thousands of billions of years ago. Like all the laughter we shared was never there, like a distant memory.

And at that thought, I felt something eating me from the inside.

It hurts. It was slow and painful.

It was guilt.