The day dawned bright and sunny as the sun spilled its rays into the room, invading every nook and corner.

The alarm clock set off, its sound echoing in the huge bedroom. At first D.O tried to ignore it, but the alarm went on and on, preventing him from drifting back to sleep.

D.O vexed with annoyance before jumping out of his bed and smashing the alarm clock into pieces with his bare fists. D.O was surprised at his strength but quickly shrugged it off when he thought that his strength just came out of his anger.

Anyways, this wasn’t the first time he had smashed his alarm clock. In fact, this had happened numerous times before. Therefore, he had to buy a new alarm clock every now and then.

Feeling really annoyed, D.O walked to the bathroom to wash up. But then his foot got caught in something.

He looked down and realized that it was his torn bag.

 That damn bag.

D.O could feel anger boiling up in him as he kicked his bag aside, sending it flying over to the other side of the room. He mentally scolded himself for not buying a new bag yesterday. It seemed that he would be using that torn bag today. Then he continued to the bathroom.

D.O’s morning had always been like this. Every morning, he would be awoken by the annoying alarm clock. When he was in a bad mood, the alarm clock would be smashed into pieces. Then he would wash up, went down for breakfast and had a fight with his parents before going to school.

However, D.O felt unusually happy today. His parents were not at home to yell at him and order him around.

D.O inhaled deeply.

Freedom at last.

He felt relieved as he knew that they wouldn’t be able to press on him as usual.  And there was one more reason that made him felt happy today. He was going to do the thing that he had wanted to do all long.

BREAKFREE!!!

He grinned from ear to ear just at the thought of it.

“Mr. D.O, it seems like you are in a good mood today, am I right?” The butler asked while pouring some juice into D.O’s glass. The he handed him the glass.

“Oh yes, I’m in a very, very good mood,” D.O replied, taking a sip of the orange juice, a smile lingering on the corners of his lips.

“Is there any special reason? I have never seen you being so happy before. Yah~ Tell me, did you find love?” The butler said, smirking.

“Ne… Wait, what? No no no, it is something better and bigger, hahaha.” D.O replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Mind to tell me about it?”

 “No.” D.O tried his best to suppress the smile that was threatening to creep up his face. “It’s private matter, you see.”

“Alright, then.” The butler gave him an understanding nod.

After the conversation, D.O took a look at his watch and rushed out of the door.

“Mr. Kim, I don’t think you have to pick me up today.” D.O turned back and called out to his driver.

“Why?” Mr. Kim looked curious. “I thought you hate walking?”

“No, I just discovered that I love walking recently.” D.O simply made up an excuse. “Bye!”

Before Mr. Kim had any time to reply, D.O ran out and slammed the door shut behind.

The school bell finally rang, signally the end of school for that day. With a smile plastered on his face, D.O stood up from his seat in excitement and rushed to the school gate.

Finally, the time had come.

Last night as he was about to sleep, a brilliant idea had popped into his mind.

That very morning after he had washed up, he had packed his belongings into a small suitcase and placed it beside the doorway that lead to the balcony. After school, he would climb up the tree that grew beside his balcony. The he would climb onto the balcony, grab his suitcase and run away.

It was quite simple actually. And he was going to do that now.

Just as he planned, D.O tiptoed into the backyard of his mansion and looked around carefully. After making sure that there was nobody around, he started to climb up the tree. Everything went smoothly. That was, until he was going to climb down the tree from the balcony.

A maid went into his room right at the moment, wanting to clean up the room. And that’s when they locked eyes.

OH .

In just a split second the maid started screaming and rushed out his room. D.O knew that she was going to get the butler, and he would be dead meat if he was caught.

Geez, can she just keep quiet? She’s screaming the whole place down. Just leave me in peace! D.O rolled his eyes as he climbed down he tree quickly and scampered out of the mansion.

The sounds of footsteps and shouting were clearly heard behind him. D.O didn’t need to turn around to know the exact number of people chasing him at the precise moment. The butler must have brought with him a bunch of his underlings to chase him.

 He could hear their footsteps drawing closer. D.O hated his short legs when encountering this type of situation. With his suitcase and schoolbag draped over his shoulders, his speed was greatly reduced.

D.O cursed under his breath. He ran without a destination, concentrating on throwing those people off his track.

After he turned a corner, he could sense that the group and speeding up and was going to catch up with him in no time. Just then, the legendary haunted house came into sight. D.O frowned and scolded himself mentally. Why had he run towards this direction?

D.O hesitated at first. This was not where he had planned to escape to. But he knew that he was running out of time. He opened the gate quickly, making a loud creaking sound. The gate seemed like it haven’t been opened for years.

He closed the gate as quickly as he opened it. He took a glance back to make sure that the group of people hadn’t reached him before sprinting into the house.

*****

“We are losing him! Run faster!” The butler shouted as they rounded a corner. “Where have he gone to?”

“I… I don’t know…” One of his men stammered.

“He must have ran that way, I think he took a corner again after this,” another man said with a proud expression on his face.

“Let’s go and don’t waste time,” The butler answered simply, signaling his men to follow him.

*****

----D.O POV----

I could hear the decaying tree branches creaking in the hissing wind. Everything was so much quieter around here. The colourful stone path that led to the main door was now overgrown with bushes and brambles. Thorns reached out as if to capture the unwary.

I straddled the gate, feeling so cold and funny to the touch, and made my way through the bushes and brambles that seemed to be reaching out to me. I don’t know how to explain this new feeling that had began to rise up inside of me; it was as if someone was calling out to me from inside the house.

I went forward until I was finally on the doorstep. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door and took my very first step in. The door creaked loudly as if it was welcoming me in.

I shivered without knowing the exact reason. The floorboards were all covered in dust. A cold shudder trickled down my spine. I steadied myself before glancing around nervously. The things that caught my eyes were the portraits of a family.

They must be the family that lived here previously. I thought to myself.

The portrait was held onto the wall by four last nails. The temperature was quite low although it was still summer. The sticky air inside was filled with loneliness alongside with a faint smell of death hanging in the surrounding darkness. The darkness that surrounded me was very thick and opaque. The only source of light came from the hesitant light that streamed in through a cracked window, casting eerie shadows on the walls.

Being plunged in darkness, I clenched my fists tightly. I could feel a presence somewhere nearby. I was not originally afraid of ghosts but I could see them. I had encountered various ghosts before and was quite used to it, but the eeriness of the house was already starting to freak me out.

As I walked forward, I couldn’t help but to feel that there was someone watching my every step and every movement. I wanted to turn back but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I kept going on when I reached a dark room. I held out my hand to the switch and pressed it but no avail as the light remained dead. The only thing that was different about this room was that this room was decorated with dull oil lanterns. And this room somehow looked like a kitchen.

My stomach started to feel queasy when the smell of rotten food penetrated my nostrils. I took out my torchlight and shone it onto a table that was in the middle of the room. I walked towards it and examined the table carefully, admiring the beautiful wood carvings carved on it.

As I was engrossed in examining the table, I felt something brushing pass my shoulder. Startled, I turned to look behind me, only to be shocked to see a face right in front of mine.

I tried my best not to scream and started to get dizzy. The world around me tilted and I was covered entirely in darkness and I felt myself falling. Before I lost my senses, I saw another face appearing beside the previous face.

 ---END OF POV---

Kai thought he heard something downstairs. Curious, he walked towards the source of the sound until he reached the kitchen. To his surprise, he saw someone who was around his age in the kitchen.

Kai frowned. It had been ten years ever since someone entered this house.

The boy turned around suddenly and his eyes widened instantly when he set eyes on him. His torchlight dropped to the ground and shattered. His face went slack, his mouth closed and opened like a goldfish. Kai could see that the blood had drained from the boy’s face.

Kai walked forward, examining him curiously.

Then Sehun came out of nowhere. He waved his hands in front of the boy’s face. The boy rolled backwards and closed as he slumped to the ground, but Kai caught him in time.

 Sehun nudged Kai’s elbow. “Yah! Who the heck is he?”

“Do I look like I recognize him?” Kai rolled his eyes at Sehun.

“How do I know?”

“I don’t care who he is but there’s one thing for sure.”

Kai raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Kris is going to be so, so mad at us.”

With this, they went silent and looked down at the boy in Kai’s arms.

A/N: Sorry for the late update~ Here it is! Enjoy~ <3