He sat up abruptly as if waking from a dream. Instantly pain wretched through his body and he clutched his sides. He breathed in and out slowly until the pain subsided before raising his head to look around. Youngjae was most definitely not in the dorm. The room he was in was dark, only a couple of candles placed sporadically around the room providing any light. He slowly stood, the wooden floor beneath him creaking and groaning. He took a step one way, then the other, before realizing he had no idea where he wanted to go.

                “H-Hyung?” He called out, his voice shaking and unsure. For the life of him, Youngjae could not remember how he got here. He knew he went to sleep, the last sight he remembered being Jaebum moving about their shared room, before nodding off.

                “Jaebum-hyung?!” He called out again, this time shouting it. There was still no response. It was quiet enough that his small fidgets on his feet made the floor boards echo out, creaking under the movement. He was surprised that he was fully dressed, definitely not in the clothing he swore he’d fallen asleep in.

                Swallowing hard, he knelt down to pick up the nearest lit candle. Wandering in the dark wasn’t going to do him any good. His hands were shaking so much he couldn’t even grab the candle. Taking in a sharp breath, Youngjae grabbed his own wrist to steady himself. He counted to five, breathing in and out steadily. He couldn’t panic. He knew he must not panic.

                “Dream…this is a dream,” he muttered to himself over and over again. It would explain why he was dressed differently and why he wasn’t in his bed. It explained why this was most definitely not the dorm. The only other option was that the members were playing a really cruel prank on him.

                As he finally calmed himself, Youngjae released his wrist and was about to grab the candle when he noticed the red print left on his wrist. Curious, he brought it closer to inspect. It was red and looked like…no…Youngjae quickly looked to his opposite hand and shouted in surprise.

                The hand was covered in what he assumed was blood.

                His shout of surprise seemed to cue off something and the room instantly brightened, as if the candle light was intensified.

                All around Youngjae was blood. Blood on the floor, blood splattered on the walls, blood all over his hand and the sleeve of his shirt…

                And against the floor, right in front of him, was the crushed, practically slaughtered body of someone.

                Gagging, Youngjae stumbled back until his back met the opposing wall. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the sight, no matter how hard he tried to look away. He wanted to scream, but his voice seemed to catch in his throat. A deep sinking pit settled into his stomach and he felt his legs give out under him. With a loud thud he collapsed to the floor.

                He recognized who it was…he knew who it was…

                “Ohgodohgodohgod-!” Youngjae whispered frantically. He felt sick and dizzy. The half shredded face of his groupmate staring at him, the only good eye staring at him lifelessly.

                “B-Bam…Bambam…” He wretched and turned over to hack and cough. After dry heaving for a little, Youngjae glanced back at the broken body of Bambam. How had the younger boy gotten that way?

                “What...what is going on?!” His voice finally managed to scream out, “This is a nightmare! Wake me up!” He screamed, cowering down, and closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the sight of Bambam on the floor.

                “Young…jae-hyung?” A nervous voice whispered quietly, tremors apparent in its tone.

                He looked up sharply to see a door had opened a little bit. Someone was peering in at him, and Youngjae immediately knew who it was.

                “Yu-Yugyeom,” He managed to get to his feet, averting his gaze from Bambam, “D-Don’t come in here!” Before the youngest member could say anything else, Youngjae had bounded across the room and out the door.

                Yugyeom jumped back in surprise, eyes wide.

                “Hyung what’s going on? I woke up and heard you screaming-“

                “Bambam…Bambam is…” Youngjae couldn’t get the words out.

                “Youngjae! Yugyeom!” Another familiar voice called to them. From down the hall footsteps echoed louder and louder until they were greeted by the sight of their hyungs, Jinyoung and Mark. Youngjae let out a cry of relief at seeing them and rushed over, throwing his arms around Jinyoung before letting out the cry he’d been suppressing.

                “Are you okay?!”

                “…Bam…?” Yugyeom’s voice whispered. Youngjae turned and shouted at him to not look, but the youngest had already looked into the room Youngjae had just escaped. Mark came up behing him to look as well, despite Youngjae’s protests.

                “…wh…what…?” Mark stumbled back, hand coming up to cover his mouth as he gagged. The oldest turned around to lean on the wall for support, “what is going on?!”

                “…that’s Bam…hyung…?” Yugyeom’s eyes were wide. Jinyoung managed to get Youngjae to release him so he too could see what had the others in such a state, but before he got to the door Mark had spun around abruptly.

                He yanked Yugyeom back and slammed the door before Jinyoung could see the broken form of Bambam. Jinyoung took one look at Mark and said nothing further, biting his lip and trying to remain calm.

                “Bambam is dead,” he said quietly to which Mark nodded. He reached out to lay a hand on the older’s shoulders, both boys shaking. Near them Yugyeom let out a small cry before collapsing to the ground, holding his head as soft sobs emanated from his throat. Jinyoung sank next to the youngest and held him as he cried.

                “What’s happening here?!” Youngjae cried out, the feeling of dread and panic over taking him, “How did we get here?!”

                “Youngjae,” Jinyoung said warily, still comforting their maknae, “did you see what-“

                “No! I woke up and he was dead! Oh god! He’s on me!” Youngjae finally remembered the blood on his hand and clothing and proceeded to try and wipe it away on anything. It took Mark grabbing him and holding tight to calm Youngjae down, though he still struggled to get the blood off his sleeve, “Oh god…oh god…”

                The four took a moment to collect themselves. Youngjae, finally calming enough to focus, realized they were in a long dark corridor, candles lighting the hall from where they seemingly hung in mid-air. Wherever they were it was old, the floors and walls made of wood, and red drapery hung from the walls around them. At intermittent placement were other doors, some with windows though within the rooms it appeared too dark to see anything.

                Finally Jinyoung looked like he was about to speak when a creaking sound came from somewhere down the hall. Another creak, and another, and it became apparent it was something drawing closer to them. The four were on their feet, staring down the hall. After a few seconds they saw her. A girl in white, hair flowing around her, obscuring her face, was approaching them. The hair instantly stood on Youngjae’s neck and he fell back a step away from the girl. The others seemed to feel the same as they were following suit.

                She paused, turning her head up to stare at them with lifeless gray eyes. She brought one finger to her lips, as if telling them to hush, before a hideous grin spread over her features.

                “Run!” Not sure of who said that, Youngjae didn’t need to be told twice. The four of them turned to run opposite of the girl. A shrill cackle echoed down the hall as if chasing them as they ran as fast as they could. 

                He wasn’t watching where he was going. Suddenly a door opened right in front of him and Youngjae slammed into it, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. Youngjae was only vaguely aware that someone was grabbing him by the arm to haul him up to his feet again. An arm went around his waist and he was being half carried by someone.

                “C’mon, snap out of it,” Jackson’s voice said to him, “quick! In here!”

                Youngjae finally managed to refocus his vision to see Jackson next to him, supporting him and holding open a door. The others were quick to duck into the room Jackson had opened for them. The moment Jinyoung was in, Jackson tossed Youngjae over to him and shut the door behind them.

                “My head…” Youngjae groaned, hand coming up to touch his forehead. It came away covered in blood, “ugh…”

                “Come on, let me see,” Jinyoung turned his head up to inspect the wound while Jackson looked out the window of the door, body still pressed up against the door as if to bar anything from entering.

                The room they were in was the same as the one Youngjae had awoken in. He immediately felt panic well up again, but it faded soon after he realized the room was sans the blood and corpse of a friend the previous one had. He felt light headed and wanted to just curl up on the floor and close his eyes. For a moment he heard Jackson and Mark go back and forth with each other in English rapidly. Yugyeom had come to join Jinyoung and himself, the youngest still looking distraught and pale.

                “I’m telling you,” Jackson was speaking Korean again, “there’s something out there. You’re telling me you saw a girl, I saw a man or something like a man. I woke up hearing Bambam screaming,” his normally happy, energetic hyung was quiet now, nervous even, “I was in another room, so I looked out…someone had grabbed him. I tried to get out but the doors wouldn’t budge. He was struggling so hard, but whatever had him…I couldn’t get to him no matter how hard I tried…”Jackson’s hands were covered red welts and cuts, his knuckles in particular split and bleeding, “it wasn’t until just now that the door opened. Oh god,” He leaned heavily on the door, running his bruised hands over his face, “I heard Bambam screaming. And then…then it just stopped…”

                Youngjae felt sick to his stomach again and fell to his hands and knees as he felt another session of dry heaves coming.

                “We need to get out of here,” Jackson began speaking again, “I don’t know where we’re at, but we need to get out.”

                “How?” Jinyoung asked, still rubbing circles on Youngjae’s back.

                “I saw a light at the end of the hall briefly before Bambam was…” He shook his head as if to clear it before continuing, “it looked like daylight-URGH!” Jackson grunted in surprise when the door suddenly lurched as if something had rammed against it. Someone was banging on it hard enough that the door opened slightly. Had it not been for Jackson’s weight against it, the door surely would have flown open.

                Youngjae was pulled back to his feet again, this time by Yugyeom who was being pushed behind by Jinyoung, as if trying to hide the two younger members. Mark had also braced his body against the door, but the force of whatever was banging against it still strong enough to nearly throw both boys off it.

                “There!” Yugyeom called out, pointing upwards at a duct of sorts. It was big enough for them to crawl through. No other exits present, at least as far as Youngjae could tell, Jinyoung was already running to try and remove the covering. The two eldest were still holding the door, though Mark was scanning the room frantically. Fortunately Youngjae saw a piece of wood on the far side and ran for it, scooping it up in his hand. He tossed it to Mark who then proceeded to jam the item under the door, effectively acting as a stop of sorts.

                “Got it!” Yugyeom exclaimed. He’d been lifted onto Jinyoung’s shoulders to get to the grate on the air duct, the metal piece falling to the ground with a clatter.

                “Hurry!” Jinyoung pushed Yugyeom up and through the air duct. Jackson shouted for Mark to go next, to which the eldest protested but Jinyoung shouting at them to hurry once again prompted him to move, “get up there and help me get the others in!”

                Mark, using Jinyoung’s hands as a step, crawled into the space next. He reached down to help Jinyoung up, to which he shook his head.

                “Youngjae! Hurry up!”

                Youngjae turned to rush to them but a wave of dizziness suddenly overtook him. He stumbled, and ended up falling over his own feet onto the ground. He heard Jinyoung exclaim, but soon someone had grabbed Youngjae again.

                “I got him! Go!” Jackson cried out, helping Youngjae towards the vent. Mark pulled Jinyoung in and both were ready to receive Youngjae next. Youngjae’s vision cleared enough for him to see the door shake and move violently as whatever was behind it hit it harder and harder. The piece of wood Mark had used to jam it was coming dangerously loose.

                He was pulled up in, and he reached down to help Jackson next. The vent was just big enough for him to crouch down in. The older had backed up and made a running start, managing to get himself in. At that moment there was a loud crash: whatever it was had gotten in.

                “Go-oof!” Jackson’s voice was cut off as he was suddenly pulled down onto his stomach.

                “Hyung!” Youngjae grabbed his arm as he was pulled away back out of the vent. Jackson hung onto Youngjae’s arm as the younger reached back frantically to grab a hold of Mark who was trying to pull them both back further in.

                “AHHH!” Jackson screamed out in pain.

                “Jackson!” Youngjae tried desperately to pull him away from whatever it was that had a hold on him, but with one strong pull, Jackson slipped from his grasp, “HYUNG!”

                Youngjae fell back against Mark, the momentum sending them both onto their backs, Youngjae hitting his head against the top of the vent hard.

                In his haze he could hear Jackson’s screams, and the frenzied cries of the others.

                And then, there was silence.