Introductions

Kim Jongin wakes up and expects the aroma of fresh home-made blueberry pancakes, soon followed by the sound of a game- supposedly soccer or football- that lightly blasts from the television speakers that are merely two sets of stairs under his feet. He expects the chirps of the covey just beyond his bedroom window, the feel of his legs entangled in his bed sheets, the call of his name by the ones known as little sisters in most real-life family situations.

When he wakes up in a darkened room with messy red bed sheets and the crawl of dust in his throat, he immediately shoots up and hacks a couple of coughs. He rubs his eyes when the memory his him, and he suddenly remembers why he isn’t in his room.

He’s dead, and he knows it.

He remembers it as if it were in the pit of his stomach- almost literally- and he leans forward as his mind flashes back to the scene of his death.

The week of the transition of summer to fall, or ‘The Week of Hell,’ as Jongin would like to call it. The worst six days of his life that should have been seven, if it weren’t for the quick and remarkable digestion of his intake. The girl, no names given, that breaks up with him is the start of it all. It all rolls down to being too distracted on the job, taking the wrong route home, and the sudden call of an inadvertent car crash of his best friend Lee Taemin who dies twenty-three hours just before Jongin himself.

He remembers it clearly; the way he doesn’t even cry about it. The way he picks out a neat outfit in his closet. The way he doesn’t even bother to write farewell letters because he was so sure that this wouldn’t work; that he would wake up in the hospital with his worried parents hovering over his tired body and the smell of morphine lingering on his nose. Nobody is home, mom and dad are at his little sisters ballet recital, and it’s only him with a big bottle of pills sitting on his clean and tidy bed.

He chokes on the water and it slightly burns going down his throat. The feeling is weird, but it’s not painful at all. In fact, he knew to wear himself out before he did this. He would fall asleep when he felt full and satisfied and there would be no pain.

It’s almost scary about how calming it was. There is no pain. There is no fear. There is nothing. Almost as if nothing happened.

He can’t even think straight when he wakes up, so he doesn’t bother asking questions. Instead, he gets out of bed and walks slowly to the paint-peeled door. It creaks open, and the sudden light in his eyes makes him slightly revert back into the dark. Adjusting to it, he takes one final step from inside to out and inhales the warm muggy air.

Everything looks different and it’s nothing like the past. It seems like he’s in some sort of abandoned motel, other than the fact that there are people hanging out in the front near the sign. He’s a bit confused, but he soon registers the fact that they’re probably just like him. These people are also dead.

He makes his way downstairs and turns into a room with many wooden tables and a bar. Everything looks so monochromatic compared to the sunny light that the outside had brought. There aren’t many people, but a group of seven that sit at one of the larger tables most certainly stands out to him. He trudges in and sits at the bar to which a nice woman with long brunette hair and dark curled lashes takes his order. He admits to her that he does not have any money, but the woman just smiles sweetly and whips around with a plate of bacon and eggs.

“It’s on the house,” she says, finally putting a glass of water in front of him. Jongin nods and actually feels a bit guilty; nonetheless, he digs in.

The group of boys who sit behind him are whispering, not doing very well at hiding their voices. He picks up their talking, chewing his food silently.

“He’s certainly taking this smoothly.”

“Yeah. The last guy I saw who woke up here was screaming. Left town in less than an hour.”

“It’s kinda weird if you ask me, but I guess it’s cool too?”

“Lay, you’re not making any sense.”

“How do you think he did it?”

“No idea. I can’t find any marks on him. Should we ask?”

“Chen!”

“What?”

“That’s rude!” A slap, soon followed by a squeak.

“How? It’s not like I’m asking about his size, so shouldn’t we ask? Poor guy looks lonely.”

Jongin finishes enough of his plate to his liking and pushes it away. The lady comes over and sweeps it up with a kind smile, and he gladly returns it.

“Yeah, go. Go go go.”

“I’m not gonna do it! He looks scary-“

“Fine. Chanyeol, you do it.”

“What? But-“

“Shut up and go.”

A loud sigh is given by one of the boys, and Jongin can hear the legs of the chair scrape against the cement flooring as he makes his way over near him. Surely, there is a boy suddenly leaning on the counter next to him with messy chestnut hair. His ears are rather large as well, and Jongin resists the urge to make a face. He has dirt on his chin and cheek.

Said boy stares at the other with a pout of concentration. He examines his face thoroughly; then his neck, hair, and shoulders. He grabs Jongin’s arms and studies his wrists. He sighs again, this time in defeat, and drops his arms. It shocks Jongin when he hears how low his voice actually was.

“How’d you do it?”

A slap to the face from the table behind him, along with a few groans. One of them laughs rather oddly.

Jongin turns in his chair slightly to sneak a glance at the table before looking back at the boy.

“Overdose.”

“I told you!” One of the boys hisses. The boy laughing laughs even harder, and one of them whines, handing the other a bit of cash.

The boy in front of him smiles, holding out a hand. “My name’s Chanyeol. You got a name?”

Jongin takes his hand and shakes it. “Jongin.”

Chanyeol nods and releases his hold. He brings up a hand and motions to follow him, leaning off the counter and walking back to the group of people. Jongin eventually hops off the stool and makes his way over, grabbing a chair from one of the other tables and sitting next to both Chanyeol and the boy who was laughing. He doesn’t seem like the one to laugh so much either, and it kind of freaks Jongin out.

One of the boys across from him stretches and groans. “Introductions!” he breathes out, showing off his rather plump cheeks and cat-like eyes with a grin. He leans forward and points to himself.

“Welcome to the afterlife specifically made for people who have committed suicide. My name is Minseok,” he says happily. He points to the boy next to him, going down the line. “That’s Lay. Kris. Tao. Of course you know Chanyeol. That’s Joonmoney and Chen.”

“Joonmyun,” the boy next to Chen corrects. “Joonmyun.”

Minseok giggles and the one known as Joonmyun leans into Chen’s shoulder. Jongin sees the way Chen inhales the other’s scent and presses his lips to his head; they’re a couple, he assumes.

Minseok checks his watch, but it doesn’t seem to be working. With a sigh, he looks away and gets up out of his seat, and Lay looks up at him with questioning eyes.

“The sun’s going to set soon,” he announces. A few of the others nod and get up out of their seat as well, and Chanyeol gathers his jacket and looks over to Jongin.

“You coming?” he asks, and Jongin stares at him for a second before he slowly nods and follows after him. Minseok waves to the workers at the bar and drops a few bucks on the counter, and soon everyone is out of the lunch room.

They make their way to a dark grey truck that seems a bit too old for Jongin’s liking, but he climbs into the back truck anyways. Minseok takes the wheel and Lay sticks with him in the passenger seat. Joonmyun and Chen sit behind them, and the trunk’s space is taken up by Jongin, Chanyeol, Kris and Tao.

“We really need a new ride,” Kris speaks about five minutes into the ride. The sky is growing darker in shades of red and orange, and Chen, Joonmyun, and Lay are all singing along to the songs that Chanyeol plays on his acoustic guitar. Their heads peek out of the back window as Lay just leans back in his seat, and Minseok just smiles all the way. Jongin would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it.

The truck begins to slow down as the sky gets darker and they near an old building with various broken windows. The whole thing screams ghosts and horror, and Tao finds himself clinging to Kris’ arm tightly as they pile out of the truck.

Chanyeol calls out to the group from a few meters away, waving the flashlight in his hand. Minseok is first to jog over to him, and the light in his hand brightens the object he’s gesturing to.

It’s a rather large vehicle- a two-story bus with faded slate-blue paint and windows that seem almost perfectly clean. Everyone huddles in the front, and Minseok has to sit on the hood of the darn thing to get everyone’s attention.

He points to Chen and Lay and directs them to the entrance of the bus. “You two go check out the inside,” he orders, and the two immediately agree and begin searching. He then points to Chanyeol, Kris and Tao. “You two will check out the inside of the building.”

Tao whimpers, but the tallest of the three rubs his shoulder reassuringly and soon the trio are off. The only two left are Joonmyun and Jongin, three counting Minseok himself who smiles and jumps down from the hood.

He motions to follow him, handing the two a flashlight. They step carefully around the bus, examining the outside for anything that may seem to somehow downgrade the vehicle. When they find that the only real damage is a dent on the side just behind the wheel, Minseok sighs with relief and they’re back in the front.

“Must have just got here,” he says. “It looks super clean. We’re lucky.”

Joonmyun nods. “It looks like a tour bus or something. Except, I don’t see any specific logos…” Jongin blinks and furrows his eyebrows.

“What do you mean, ‘Just got here’?” he asks. Minseok makes an ‘o’ with his mouth, rubbing his hands together from the cold air.

“Sometimes, things from the real world pop up here out of nowhere.” He shrugs. “Kind of like it’s treating this world as storage. Get it?” The other hums as he nods.

“If we’re lucky, we get some cool stuff.” Joonmyun pats the bus’ hood. “Like this. Looks pretty new.”

Chen and Lay step out of the bus, shining their lights in an angle so that the five of them are visible in the dark. When the streetlight flickers and they all turn on, the flash lights are turned off and Chen speaks with his hands on his hips.

“It’s actually really nice,” he admits. “It was made as a home, I assume. There’s like, four beds on the top floor and a sofa bed on the bottom.”

Lay nods. “Cool if you ask me. The key’s in there too, so we don’t have to worry about hotwiring or anything.”

Minseok squeals happily and Jongin can’t help but smile. Said boy puts his arm around Jongin’s shoulders and steps into the bus. Letting go, he hops into the dusty driver seat and starts it up.

By some miracle, the vehicle starts up. He flicks a switch linked to the visor board, and the whole bus is suddenly brightened with lights that hang from the top edges.

The three who went off to explore the building return with a couple of items. Chanyeol is holding a large disc, Tao has a bag full of canned beans and fruits, and Kris is holding what seemed to be a knife.

All eight settle into the bottom of the bus and dust off the soot and grime that take their place on the sheets of the sofa and tables and chairs. Chanyeol put the record onto a player lying around, and the calming jazz music added to the quiet atmosphere.

Kris gets curious, so he opens the knife and nearly jumps. It had an odd shape, having two handles and a small blade that looked as if it were meant for carving. He twists it in his hand and flips the handle open and close, suddenly fondling with it and dropping it between his legs. Tao, who is sitting on his right leg, immediately confiscates the item and closes it, putting it in his pocket.

“Don’t mess with butterfly knives,” he warns. “I don’t trust you with sharp objects.”

Kris nearly pouts but pushes the disappointed feeling aside. Jongin looks at the two with the tilt of his head, and nostalgic feelings rush into him.

He wonders if his girlfriend missed him; did she? Where was Taemin? Was he in a different world than him? How was his little sister- his mother- his father- how did they all react?

He sinks further into the sofa and leans on his cheek.

He wonders if his room was cleared out, if he had a funeral yet, anything. He thinks about everything.

“How did you guys die?”

The question slips out of his mind, and he can’t take it back. He’s surprised by his words and a few of the others seem surprised too, but the tension is soon softened.

“Well,” Minseok starts. “Isn’t it kinda the same for all of us? We all got tired of everything. I think I was first to die- 1998 maybe?” He lifts up his arms and turns his wrists, showing a deep pink scar on each wrist. “I actually used cold water instead of hot and made the whole process a lot worse than it should have been.” He laughs lightly. “Wish I would’ve known better. The pain was agonizing.”

Lay nods his head. “I followed after him,” he says. “I grieved for like, a week. You can’t see it, but my head took a toll.” He rubs the top of his head shyly. “I jumped from a freeway bridge and now poof,” His fingers wiggle for effect. “Here I am.”

Jongin raises an eyebrow. “You two knew each other?”

“Totally,” Minseok raises his arms and puts them behind his head. “You should’ve seen us. Took us like a month to find each other. When I found out he offed after me, I nearly had a heart attack.”

Jongin gapes. “You’ve been here for over ten years?”

Minseok nods, pouting his lips a bit. “I’m not old. It’s not like we age here anyways.”

Lay rubs Minseoks knee with a smile and Jongin nods in understanding. He turns his head to Kris and Tao.

Tao looks at Kris and bites his lip. He stretches his neck upward to reveal a solid purplish-red line at his neck, his fingers tracing over it slightly.

“I died in like, 2007 I think.” He blinks. “Parents were total s. Took control of my life. I was supposed to marry my dad’s bosses daughter, but I was against it.” He crinkled his nose. “Disgusting .”

Kris laughs but doesn’t show much glee. Tao chuckles in return, leaning his head into the curve of the other’s neck.

“Took a rope from the storage room and hung myself at their bedroom door.” He shrugged. “Wish I could’ve seen their reactions.”

Jongin smiles a little, not really sure for what. Kris straightens up in his spot and adjusts the boy on his leg slightly before he begins his story.

“I got humiliated by this girl who I thought liked me around like… 2008 or something,” he sighed. “Rumors are bad, kids. Don’t do that .” He runs his hand through his hair, clearing his throat slightly and rubbing it. “Swallowed half a jug of bleach. Burned like hell too.” Chen claps and Minseok slaps his arm, telling him to stop being rude. He frowns, but eventually speaks up as well.

“My name is Chen,” he begins. Joonmyun nudges him and mutters into his ear.

“This isn’t rehab, dummy.” Chen grins again before continuing.

“I died in 2012. My family had money problems, so I thought it would be best if I just killed myself. You know. They wouldn’t have to pay for me or anything.” He shrugged. “I didn’t really matter to them anyways.”

Joonmyun furrows his eyebrows with an upset pout, but the other squeezes his shoulder. He then clears his throat.

“Stepped past the yellow line in the subway station and bam.” He leaned back. “I’m suddenly roommates with this guy.” Chen nudges Joonmyun with the same grin, and the other giggles. He then lifts up his fringe out of the view of his forehead and shows his left temple. A large jagged scar runs along it. “That was the main impact.”

This time, Kris claps and everyone laughs. Minseok breathes out.

“It’s amazing how we can all talk about this like it’s no big deal,” he admits.
“Well, what’s done is done, right?” Chanyeol smiles, strumming his guitar lightly to the tune of the music. Joonmyun claps his hands together twice and leans forward.

“I died in 2010,” he begins. “My dad was like, famous for this big company and my mom was famous for her fashion designing,” he expresses with his hands. “So you could say I lived with a very wealthy family. But here’s the thing- I didn’t want to be considered a rich snob. Everyone in school treated me as if I were some sort of rich prince who took advantage of everything. I got annoyed, so here I am.” He stretched his neck upwards. “I hung myself, too. Like Tao.”

Chen smiles. “That is why we like to call him Joonmoney. He still manages to make money, even in the afterlife. It’s like a curse or something,” he giggles, and the rest laugh along with him. Everyone then awkwardly looks in Chanyeol’s direction who seems to be looking down at the floor, not strumming his guitar anymore.

Chanyeol coughs and starts. “I died in the early 2013.” He sighs. “My…best friend. Killed himself after years of emotional problems.”

“Does that mean he’s here?” Jongin questions, and Chanyeol nods.

“I’m sure he’s here. I offed when I found out he died a few hours earlier.”

Jongin bites his lip. “That’s what happened to me,” he says. “My best friend died. I offed a few hours later.”

Chanyeol raises his eyebrow. “So your friend is here, too?” Jongin smiles and shakes his head sadly. He rubs his arm, breathing calmly and slowly.

“He didn’t kill himself,” he breathed out. “He would never. He died in a car crash.” This time, Chanyeol is gnawing on his lip unsure of what to say.

It’s a bit quiet again, but Chanyeol eventually begins strumming his guitar as Chen hums to liven up the atmosphere.

“I’m the same as you. Swallowed a whole bottle of pills n’ fell to the floor. I was alive when they began pumping out the drugs, but my body was already put to a stop. I died as soon as I was in the hospital.”

Kris whistles and Tao nods, already falling asleep from the late night and music. “That must’ve been a close one.” He states, and Chanyeol nods in agreement.

The next few minutes consist of guitar strumming and soft humming. Minseok stands up and sighs.

“The couples can sleep upstairs. If anyone is willing to sleep with friends, that’s fine too. The beds are actually big enough for two, maybe three if you kind of just pile atop each other, but…” he shrugs. “I need my space, so…”

Kris has to wake Tao up, and the boy arises with tired eyes from leaning off the couch. The taller helps him up and pushes him towards the ladder, muttering directions for him to climb up it as the two disappear. The other couple soon make their way up as well, and Chanyeol shrugs.

“There’s two more beds up there. I call one.” He says, rushing up. He peeks down from above with a smile. “Want me to save you a spot?”

Jongin nods quickly and looks at Lay who looks too lost to even comprehend what the two are saying. He gives him an apologetic look and the other shakes his head, patting the sofa that he was sitting on softly. Jongin smiles at him as he makes his way up. Minseok locks the bus door and sets the chair back as he settled into it. Everyone is tucked into bed with various thin sheets and jackets, giving them warmth, and Minseok calls out a ‘Good Night’ before he flips the switch and all the lights are off.                                                                                          

--

A week later, the boys are driving down a deserted road with little to no cars passing by. It’s scorching hot- Lay has to nearly hang his entire body out the window (but not without Minseok scolding him), and the bus would be out of gas it weren’t for the spare cases of oil in the underside.

Jongin yawns, feeling tired from the heat. Chanyeol pats his back and tosses him a bottle of water, ignoring the many bottles of water already scattered onto the floor.

Chen switches spots with Minseok for now to let the poor boy rest, said boy nearly crawling onto the middle of the pathway and lying there face down. Tao grins happily, and Kris reaches out a hand to stop the record player from playing.

“That thing’s been playing for hours…” he groaned. He fans himself angrily, and Tao doesn’t hesitate to place sloppy kisses all over his cheeks, jawline, and neck. Chanyeol makes a noise between a groan and a gurgle and looks away with a pout.

“There there,” Jongin places his hand on his back. “No need to be jealous.”

Chanyeol doesn’t respond but continues to scowl out the window. Tao grabs a beer from the cooler and takes a huge gulp.

It’s at that moment when Joonmyun pounds on a window from the other side, calling out for Chen to stop the bus. He speeds out the bus and everyone makes their way to the right side, peering out the window to see what all the commotion was about.

Joonmyun stands in front of two boys, one with messy bleach blond hair and a tall slender body, the other with brown hair and petite features. The dark-haired boy makes a lot of gestures to the other two, rapidly talking. The blond haired boy looks blank, unsure of what to do, but the smaller just nods and nods.

The two look at each other, then back at Joonmyun with a tight nod. The boy smiles and motions for them to follow him, and they make their way around to the front and pile in.

Minseok raises an eyebrow and immediately jumps forward, standing in the center of the hall when the three make their way in. The smallest looks quite shocked; needless to say, so does the other. Joonmyun grins happily, and it’s almost horrifying seeing how he’s introducing these poor innocent and confused people suddenly to the group.

The leader, Minseok, goes up to Joonmyun and whispers into his ear. The two exchange some information, shaking their heads and nodding in agreement or understanding every once in a while, and Minseok finally smiles welcomingly at the two. He stands in front of them with his arm stretched out in front of him, and the two shake it accordingly.

“Hello, my name is Minseok,” he says. “Are you two new here?”

The smaller nods slowly. Lay comes out from behind Minseok and offers them a seat on the sofa, to which the two gladly take. Minseok sits on the table in front of it for leverage and claps his hands together.

“Well, as you two know…” he explains, looking around at the others.  His eyes then focus back onto the two who are already on the edge of their seats. He gives them a reassuring smile. “As you two may or may not know, this is the afterlife. Or, kind of I guess.” His eyebrows scrunch up together in thought. “This is the place people go after they commit…suicide.”

The two look mortified and Jongin feels bad for them. They probably had no idea.

“You two did commit suicide. Did you not?”

They look at each other and eventually calm down. They look down at the floor and fiddle with their fingers.

“We believe so,” the smaller says. “I didn’t think it would really…” he clears his throat and shuffles in his seat.

Minseok leans forward and puts a hand on his knee. “May we have your guys’ names?”

“Luhan,” he says. He leans against the taller. “This is Sehun.”

Kris leans forward, sitting backwards in a chair with his arms on the back, and takes a gulp of his beer. He sighs and Tao grabs it from him, giving him a look before he himself drinks the cold substance. Chanyeol offers Jongin a drink, but he shakes his head and holds up a coke instead. Lay offers the two water and they gladly accept it.

“Nice to meet you two,” The leader says. “You have the choice to go on your own,” he gestures outside. “Or to stay with us.”

Luhan looks up at Sehun questioningly, and the other tilts his head. He his lips after drinking a sip of water and turns back to Minseok.

“Is there any way to get out of here?”

Jongin raises his eyebrows. He had never thought about it that way. Was there really a way to get out of this place? He looks towards Minseok for some sort of answer, but the boy just presses his lips together and shakes his head.

“I don’t think so,” he admits with a sigh. “I’ve been here for over a decade. I’ve heard rumors about people being given a second chance, but there’s no proof to it at all.” Sehun lowers his head in shame, and Chen pats his back.

“It’s…” he stops himself. After collecting a few thoughts, he resumes his speaking. “It’s not all that bad here. It’s always good to hang with some friends, right?”

Sehun glances out the window at the barren hot land outside. Chen clears his throat and takes a sip of his coke, rushing back to the driver’s seat of the bus.

Minseok gives the two boys a look, and they both nod.

“We’ll stay with you guys,” Luhan agrees. “It’ll be much easier than getting around by ourselves. Especially considering where we are…” he frowns. Joonmyun laughs and plops in the seat next to him.

“What were you guys doing out here anyways?” he asks. Luhan smiles shyly and looks away from him.

“We were told there was civilization this way,” he says. “So we started walking.”

“Yeah, civilization my ,” Tao mutters. Minseok shoots him a glare, and the boy looks up as if he did nothing wrong. “What? There isn’t anything here! Whoever told him that is obviously retarded.”

Kris snorts and Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “Rude,” he sighs and looks to the two new boys. The bus starts up and he has to speak over the roar of the engine for just a bit before it cooled down. “Whoever told you that must have meant travelling by vehicle, not foot. It’s practically suicide to walk that long on such a hot day.” Jongin smirked at the irony and swirled his drink around in his hand.

“Wouldn’t want to get sunburnt, either.” Lay speaks up. “I remember one time, Chanyeol forgot to put on sunscreen while we were at the beach. He fell asleep with a hat on his head. By the end of the day, his face was pale white compared to his body.”

Jongin snickers and Chanyeol slaps his arm. He looks to the two new boys who are smiling from the information they received.

Minseok sighs and gets up from his seat. “I’ll help you two get settled,” he says. “There’s plenty of space still in the bus. Are you two…?” he motions with his finger between the two.

Sehun nods. “Yeah.”

“Alright,” he offers to get their bags and begins to climb up the ladder. The two scurry off behind them, giving Chanyeol the chance to finally lean towards Jongin in the booth they were sitting at.

“Couple suicide?” he mutters. Jongin slightly smirks, finally stealing a gulp of Chanyeol’s beer.

“Looks like it.”

--

The group sits outside of their bus, sprawled out around a bonfire in the dead of night approximately one week later. Luhan and Sehun are both finally settled in for good, Luhan himself getting fairly along with Minseok and Lay. Jongin notices how Sehun tends to stray from too much socialization by relaxing by himself, sometimes even sitting next to Jongin since the boy’s actions aren’t too different than his. The tanned boy leans back in his lounge chair and smiles softly at the other boys who are singing and laughing all together.

Sehun sits on the floor next to him, picking at the sand on the ground. He watches as it slips past his fingers and back onto the pile he made, only to pick it back up again and repeat the process. Unsatisfied with his little game, he sighs and leans against the side of Jongin’s chair.

The others are too engrossed with their own laughter and conversations to be paying attention to the two reserved boys. Sehun hums lightly as Jongin taps his fingers on his right thigh, both with their eyes closed.

Sehun doesn’t need to turn his head for Jongin to know that he’s talking to him. The boy peers one eye open and looks down at the top of the blond boy’s head curiously.

“It certainly is better here than I expected,” the younger sighs. “I feel free. You know?” The boy lifts up his alcoholic beverage and holds it at his lips. “It’s actually nice.”

“Yeah,” Jongin breathed out. “I know.”

Everything is silenced for a short minute, despite the roar of cheers and laughter in the background. Sehun waves his drink around in his hand and takes a couple more sips before handing it off to Jongin.

“Hey…How did you die?” The blond boy asks. Jongin raises an eyebrow at the question, not exactly sure of how to put it in words. He thinks for a couple of seconds before he replies.

“Overdose.” He says for the second time he’s been in the world. Sehun hums in response. “How about you two?”

“Drowning,” he shrugs. “I personally didn’t think it would work, but… here we are.”

Jongin huffs out a chuckle. “Romantic. Two lovers ending their lives for each other.” He glances at the other for any sort of negative reaction. “No offense.”

“None taken,” he says. His eyes are glued on the boy just across the fire from him, smiling and laughing along with the others as they all take another drink. Jongin frowns.

“Why’d you do it, then?” he asks. Sehun smiles at the question.

“It wasn’t that bad, actually.” He says. “But Luhan… he took it differently.” Jongin glances at the boy in concentration. “When he said he couldn’t take the negativity anymore, I couldn’t help but believe it myself…So when he brought up the subject of running away, I went along with it.”

The other stays quiet as if waiting for any sort of talking. Sehun finishes his beer.

“I can still taste the salt.” He confesses. He brings his arm over the arm of the chair, tilting his head to get some sort of angle of the other’s face. “What about you? Do you…miss them?”

“Of course I do,” he says calmly. “I would’ve never went along with it if it weren’t for my best friend triggering it all.”

Sehun raises an eyebrow just as Chen and Chanyeol throw paintballs into the fire. They cheer at the sudden raise of the flames, the fire changing colors based on the color of the paint.

“So he’s not here?”

Jongin shakes his head sadly for the second time. “Nope.” The blond boy looks away dolefully. Luhan looks beyond the fire and waves at Sehun happily, motioning him to come over. Sehun looks over to Jongin and the boy just smiles, nodding his head towards Luhan.

“Go on,” he says calmly. “Don’t want to keep him waiting.”

The other nods and stands to his feet, automatically walking over to Luhan where the others make room for him to sit. They whistle and howl when the smaller plants a kiss to the other’s lips, and Jongin’s words linger on his mouth.

“Waiting…”

--

Jongin almost forgets he’s dead when he hears birds chirping early in the morning, but that quickly changes upon the sound of a few voices. His eyes open slowly, rubbing the corners of them to rid of the little amount of crust, and sits up to find Chanyeol lazily spread out upon most of the bed. He has to move his leg out of the way to even get up, nearly hitting his head on one of the wall cabinets in the process.

Tao and Kris are both sound asleep together, Luhan taking up one of the other beds along with Chen in another. Jongin peeks out of the window curtains with a squint, and it almost makes him laugh at how he’d nearly hissed at just seeing the sunlight.

Three boys stand outside- Joonmyun, Minseok and Sehun- and the three are stretching in the hot sun. Jongin snorts at them, he thinks they look silly, yet he makes his way down the ladder anyways.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees Lay sprawled out across the middle of the hallway floor, but he manages to step across the boy just before his foot hit his side. He grits his teeth and steps as quietly as possible. When he accidentally hits the record player and music starts playing, he flails about just to try and stop it in panic.

When the music finally does stop, he stares wide-eyed at Lay who seems to still be in deep sleep. He sighs in relief, making his way to the front of the bus and out the door.

Joonmyun and Minseok are rotating their arms ever so efficiently as Sehun snickers at how dumb the two look at a distance. The tanned boy places a hand on his shoulder, grinning all the same.

“Jongin!” Minseok smiles when he sees the boy. They stop their morning exercises (for now).“Awake now? It’s almost noon.”

“Is it?” Jongin moves towards the other and shifts his body weight. The other nods.

“Joonmyun,” he calls out. The boy looks up from his nails. “Could you wake the others up for me?”

Almost immediately, the boy shoots into the bus and leaves the door open. He climbs into the driver’s seat, brings his hands up, and Jongin just barely has the chance to cover his ears before the other slams his hands on the horn.

The bus roars at least five times before a loud screech is heard from the top floor of the bus. The boy twirls out of the seat and climbs up the ladder,

The curtains are pulled open, and everyone eventually piles out of the bus with tired, cranky faces. Tao looks almost still asleep, leaning on Kris’ shoulder, whereas Chanyeol has to squint like he’s never seen the sun before.

“Alright,” Minseok sighs with his hands on his hips. “You boys know what day it is today?”

Everyone looks at each other worriedly, shaking their heads. Minseok frowns.

“It’s-“ he stops, frown growing deeper. He looks around the group of boys, moving a few of them to the side. “Where’s Lay?”

Chanyeol leans back into the bus. “He’s sleeping on the floor.”

With a huff, Minseok moves Chanyeol away and steps onto the bus. He bends down in the middle of the hallway and grabs his dear friend by the wrists, pulling him out forcefully. Lay stirs awake and yelps when his head hits the door lever, tumbling down the opening steps. The leader pats his back and mutters an apology before standing up straight with a big smile on his face.

“It’s Lay’s birthday!”

Everyone is lost in ooos and ahhs as Lay looks up at the boy from the floor with dirt smudged on his cheek. “It’s my birthday?” he asks, squinting. The thought registers in his mind nearly ten dreadful seconds later, and he nearly shoots up from the floor with wide eyes and mouth agape.

“It’s my birthday!” he cheers, hands in the air. “My birthday! Minnie, how old am I?!” he shakes the other.

Minseok frowns. “Thirty-six.” Lay swears he almost has a heart attack right then and there.

Someone from the group bursts out with a short laugh. “HAH!”

Rolling his eyes, Minseok pats his shocked friends shoulder. “But for the sake of this non-aging world we live in now, we’ll say you’re twenty.”

The boy’s hands are back in the air. “I can drink in Korea!”

“You’ve been able to drink for fifteen years…”

“Seventeen, actually. I’m a Chinese citizen, remember?”

Tao squints. “No one cares how old you are here. You could be an infant and drink all the booze you’d want.”

“Could we please stop talking about alcohol?” Kris groans, rubbing his head. Jongin pats the hung-over boy’s back.

“So what are we gonna do?” Jongin asks. Minseok looks at Lay questioningly, the boy taking a while to realize that everyone is waiting for an answer from him himself.

“Oh, well,” he thinks. “We can go to…to an amusement park!”

“That’s childish.” Kris sneers.

“I don’t care.”

“Amusement park it is!” Minseok turns around, “All into the bus now, come on.”

--

“This is sad.”

That is the first thing that Jongin says when they step into the entrance of the amusement park. There’s nobody there, the rides are all rusty, and no one’s even working. Despite all that, Lay looks like he’s having the time of his life.

“I think it’s abandoned,” Luhan confesses with a frown. Chanyeol’s eyes widen when he touches one of the stuffed bears at the shooting ranges, the whole thing falling apart when it lands at his feet.

“Look, there’s candy,” Tao says as he picks up a box from behind one of the booth counters. A scream, a rather girly one, emits from one of the boys and Jongin decides that it came from Kris who seems all but happy to find a dead roach on one of the candy bars.

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Lay shrugs. “As long as I’m with you guys…”

It’s suddenly quiet, but Joonmyun clears his throat.

“I have an idea,” he announces. “Why don’t we all split up? There’s bound to be something fun around here, right? We’ll all meet back at the front of the Ferris wheel in exactly fifteen minutes to report our findings.”

“We can also use the time to get along with the others,” Minseok suggests. “I’ll let Lay pick the groups.”

“I’ll go with y-“

“You can’t go with me.”

Lay furrows his eyebrows. “Why not?”

Minseok rubs his hands together, trying to stay at least a bit warm from the sudden drop of temperature. “That’s totally against the whole entire exercise,” he says. “Pick people who need some bonding. There’s ten people, so there should be groups of two.”

Nodding, Lay analyzes the boys around him with narrowed eyes. He hums in thought and eventually points to each person he picks.

“Chen and Tao, Chanyeol and Luhan, Sehun and Joonmoney-“

“Myun.”

“Minnie and Kris, and I’ll go with Jongin.”

Sehun glares at Chanyeol before releasing Luhans hand, shuffling unwillingly towards Joonmyun. Everyone awkwardly stands next to their team members, Tao looking the most irritated and Chen horrified.

“Alright, we leave…” Minseok checks his new watch. “…Now!”

Everybody turns around, Jongin walking next to Lay towards some of the gift shops and booths. Lay hums a tune in his head as he walks.

“You don’t talk much,” he sighs. Jongin presses his lips together with a slow nod.

“Yeah…”

“Why not?” he asks. The other shrugs. “Are you shy?”

“No, I just really don’t have anything to say,” he confesses. “I’m really not all that interesting.”

“Not even,” the other exaggerates. “C’mon. What did you like to do? Or, what do you like to do?”

Jongin thinks hard enough to go back to when he was alive. In all reality, he didn’t focus on his past as much as he initially thought he would.

“I danced a lot with my friend Taemin,” he says. “You know. Stuff like that.”

Lay smirked and glanced back at him. “Any girlfriends? Or maybe if you’re like the others, then…”

Jongin quickly shakes his head. “No, no, I’m not gay.” He laughs awkwardly. “My girlfriend broke up with me a little while before I offed.”

The wavy haired boy nodded. “I see…” he muttered. They walked into one of the shops, Lay smacking the entrance bell and making it ring. He motioned to the left and began searching for anything of use from isle one.

“Is that really why you did it? It doesn’t really seem…”

“Yeah,” Jongin let out a sigh mixed with a laugh. “People make mistakes.”

Lay chuckles, squinting at the items on the counters with Jongin.

“What about you? Girlfriends? Boyfriends?”

Lay his lips and inspects a jar of blueberries, immediately grimacing at the smell. He quickly screws the lid back on and puts it back on the shelf.

“There’s someone I’m fond of, but I’m not sure if he’d like like me.” He admits. “It doesn’t really bother me though. The fact that we’re friends makes me happy.”

“That’s understand-“

“Sh,” Lay pulls him down and peers around the shelf. Shuffling could be heard, along with the sound of crunching glass and a squeak. Someone hisses.

“, my arm,” an unfamiliar voice says. “Wait, look, there’s an entrance right there! Why didn’t we just walk in from there?”

“I didn’t see it,” another says. Jongin moves a few cans away from his view as quietly as possible to get a peek at the new visitors. There’s two of them, two boys with backpacks and messy hair. One of them looks into a small mirror at the front check out, only earning a sigh from the other.

“You look fine. Come on, I’m starving…” The one with the blue shirt says. It’s a bit worn out, but Jongin almost freaks out when he recognizes the small cheerful penguin on it. It’s almost embarrassing at how much he smiled at the character. The boy begins searching the shelves from the other side of the store with his friend, pulling his backpack around and ping it to put any items of need into it.

Lay steps back just a few step before he accidentally bumps into Jongin. The other hits his head on the metal shelving with a loud bang, one of the boys on the other side dropping a can and picking up a glass shard out of self-defense.

“Who’s there!?” the other wearing red and grey plaid shouts out. Jongin covers his mouth out of panic.

What he doesn’t expect is for Lay to furrow his eyebrows and stand, walking out from behind the racks. He holds his hands up, almost as if in surrender, and walks forward. Jongin only peers from behind the shelving, not wanting to be seen.

Pororo shirt boy points the shard at him. “Who are you?” he asks. “What do you want?”

“Uh,” he stops walking. “Nothing. I was just looking around, and…”

Pororo boys’ cold dark eyes land on Jongin just as he peers over the corner, making the other almost faint from sight. Never had he thought that a small innocent looking boy would somehow scare him. He wore a Pororo shirt for christs sake.

Yet the boy remained intimidating.

“Who’s your friend?” he says, nodding over to Jongin. Lay glances behind him and motions for Jongin to step out. The boy does so, cautiously moving towards the group.

The other boy lowers Pororo boy’s arms, muttering something into his hear. The boy calms, but he doesn’t drop the piece of glass.

“It’s like were in a zombie movie,” Jongin mutters to Lay. The other snorts, both of their hands still up. The one with the plaid shirt motions for them to lower their arms, so they do.

“What are you two doing here?” Pororo boy asks. Jongin raises an eyebrow at how much his attitude contradicted with his looks.

“We’re just looking around for interesting stuff,” Jongin defends. “Why? What are you two doing here?”

“Same,” Plaid boy nods. “We were looking around for people, too…we managed to get so far into the middle of nowhere, and now we’re just lost. We can’t even find a place to stay-”

Lay almost beams at that comment. “Oh! Would you like to come with us?”

“What?”

“Would you like to stay with us?”

The two boys look at each other with odd expressions. Slowly, they turn their heads back to Lay and Jongin.

“It wouldn’t be bad, but…”

Lay blinks. “What? But what?”

Plaid boy crosses his arms. “We don’t know you guys.”

“Oh! Yes, yes, my name is Lay and this is Jonginnie-“

“Jongin,”

“Whatever, but we have this group of people we hang out with just to get by in this world and it’s really nice,” the boy rambles on and on. The two others stare blankly at him for a while, and Jongin has to tap the boy’s shoulder for him to stop. Lay looks at Jongin questioningly, but the tanned boy just shakes his head and looks back to the others.

“What are your names?”

Pororo boy eyes the two. “I’m D.O., this is Baekhyun.”

Lay makes an ‘o’ shape with his mouth. Jongin extends his hand out to the two and the one known as Baekhyun shakes it. The other just stares at him, and Jongin eventually pulls his hand back.

Lay looks troubled just as Jongin says it’s time to head back to the group. When Jongin asks what’s wrong, he shakes his head.

“It’s just…” he turns so that he’s facing Baekhyun as he’s walking. “Your name seems so…familiar…”

Baekhyun shrugs and the three continues walking. Eventually, they arrive back at the Ferris wheel and Minseok jogs up to them.

“There you,” he pauses when he sees the other two. “are…”

Minseok grabs Lay and leans towards him. “Who are they?”

Lay smiles. “New people.”

The others all walk up from behind to examine the two new boys, both D.O. and Baekhyun awkwardly shuffling back from being too close to the others. Minseok claps his hands together, standing in between the two groups.

“Alright everyone, it looks like we have-“

A loud gasp comes from the back of the larger group. Chanyeol moves the others out of the way and wobbles his way to the front.

“B…Baekhyun…?!”

Said boy’s eyes widen in shock at the giant, and Jongin already registers the situation into his head.

“Park Chanyeol!”

8,026 words. 8,026 WORDS OF INTRODUCTIONS, AND KYUNGSOO ISN'T EVEN INTRODUCED UNTIL THE LAST PARTS OF THE CHAPTER.

IN FACT, HE'S NOT EVEN PROPERLY INTRODUCED.

Hope you had fun reading through my mistakes.