--

Baekhyun checked his phone in the morning as he got ready for school, stopping when he was met by a foreign address. He opened up his laptop and searched the address to see it was on the outskirts of town. His instinct screamed at him that this was a bad idea, that he should just let Chanyeol help him with his rent, but he pushed the feeling into the back of his mind while he made notes on his phone of how to get there by bus. There was a note of when the others would be working, and Baekhyun noted that it was right after his classes ended until dinner.

“That’s not so bad... gives me some time to do homework, and I can head out to my other job at night, too,” he said out loud with a smile. Maybe his luck was turning up for once.

--

“Where are you headed?” Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun packed up his things quickly, checking his phone for the time.

“I need to catch up on some homework, so I’ll see you later?” Baekhyun asked, swinging his backpack over his shoulder and giving him a questioning thumbs up.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you later,” Chanyeol said, blinking twice before Baekhyun disappeared from his sight.

--

It would take about forty-five minutes for the bus to reach the stop on the outskirts of town, and then another twenty minutes for Baekhyun to walk to the house. He did the calculations in his head twice, and then a third time because he started to confuse himself.

He watched as the other occupants of the bus got off at their respective stops, sometimes in a flood of people, and sometimes, only one person would go. There were a few people that got on at stops, but by the time they got to Baekhyun’s stop, he was the only one left.

“What’re you doing out here by yourself, sonny?” the old bus driver asked. “Ain’t nothing but fields and abandoned houses out there.”

“I’m helping restore a house, actually. Not too far from here,” Baekhyun said as he stepped off of the bus slowly.

“Is you, now? I know which one that is... You best rethink that idea, son. That house is nothing but bad news.”

Baekhyun felt a chill go down his spine as soon as he got off of the bus, and the doors closed behind him. He watched the bus drive off, and then he was alone at the edge of town. He could make out the house at the end of the path and gulped.

--

The feeling that somebody was watching him wasn’t strong at first. Baekhyun made it to the house to see a flurry of workers going in and out. The only noise was the sound of tools hammering and sawing. No one was saying anything.

The manager of the project spotted him and hurried up to him with a small bow. “You’re Baekhyun?” he asked, avoiding eye contact.

“Uh... yes. I am. Kim jon-”

“Yes, I know. Take a look through the house and get familiar with it first before I give you your tasks.” He hurried away before Baekhyun could say anything else, hovering over a table with the blue prints. Baekhyun swallowed and ignored the strange feeling in his chest, taking a hardhat from someone who offered it to him and thanked them before taking a look at the house from the front.

The white paint was peeling. There were a few holes in the roof, the patio had a few holes where the planks rotted and fell away. The circular attic window was broken. The withered remains of a garden was overrun with weeds, and the living room window needed replacing.

Baekhyun stepped inside, stepping out of the way of busy workers. No one was saying anything to each other beyond the bare necessities, something Baekhyun found odd, because everyone at his nightly construction job took to talking with each other to help pass the time as they worked.

The first room on his left was a dining room. There was only a table and a few chairs, all covered with a white sheet. The walls were bare and cracked. On his right was a living room. There was a couch and a chair across from a fireplace. No coffee table, and the mantle looked like it’d seen better days.

Baekhyun walked inside, past a drawer in the hallway with a cracked vase. At the end of the hallway was a staircase that looked whole for the most part. It had an iron handrail, and Baekhyun stopped to admire the detail in the craft. Past the stairs was the kitchen, but there were so many noises coming from there, Baekhyun opted to go see upstairs instead.

There were spots on the wall that were whiter than others, a sure sign that frames once hung there. At the top of the stairs, Baekhyun could see four doors. One was at the very end of the hallway, two on the right, one on the left with a small hallway closet.

He gently pushed open the doors to the room, peeking inside to see them completely empty. Baekhyun pushed open the door at the end to see there was a bed in the room, covered with a sheet. There was a dresser, a small vanity, and another door that Baekhyun assumed was the closet.

He closed the door to the room and turned around. Where was the way to the attic? He glanced up at the ceiling and noticed the trap door for it, but no string hanging down. Must’ve snapped off or something. This house looks pretty old, Baekhyun thought as he stared.

Then he felt it. Eyes watching him. He tore his eyes away from the ceiling and looked around. No one was on the second floor. The doors in front of him were closed. He glanced over his shoulder and felt his heart drop. The door to the master bedroom was open.

Baekhyun felt himself tremble slightly. He’d closed it. He definitely remembered closing it. “Maybe I didn’t close it all the way, and it opened by itself from all the noise,” Baekhyun said, reaching out to grab the doorknob and close the door again.

This time, he made sure it was completely closed before hurrying down to the manager outside of the house.

--

Compared to everyone else, Baekhyun had a relatively light workload. By the time it was time to pack up and go home, he’d barely even broken a sweat.

“Here you go,” the manager said, handing him an envelope with his name on it. Confused, Baekhyun took it and opened it up, eyes widening at the number of bills crammed inside.

“What? But I hardly even did anything and-”

“Will you be coming back tomorrow?” the manager asked, cutting him off.

“I- yeah. I mean, the house isn’t done yet, and-”

“Okay. Go before you miss the bus.”

--

When Baekhyun boarded the bus again, there was a different old man driving the bus. He didn’t say anything as Baekhyun got on, but there was a look on his face that made Baekhyun feel like he shouldn’t be there.

--