After the teacher told us to unpack our stuffs at our assigned rooms, we walked towards the left side of the villa where our rooms are. I don’t know why but there is this eerie feeling that was radiated from the resort since I stepped on it. But then I thought that maybe it was just the resort since it was build long ago, so old building usually looks… old?

“Yah Luhan! Don’t just stand there, come and pick up your bag!” Minseok’s voice snapped me out.

“Okay!”

“What’s wrong Lu?” Yifan asked. I just gave him a smile that means there’s nothing wrong, he just nodded walked away after picking up his bag. Tao and Lay followed behind him, Xiumin and Chen is the next, leaving me behind.

“Yeah there’s nothing.” I muttered to myself as I follow the guys behind. It was a bit far from where we heard the announcement.

“Woah, our building is near the forest guys!”

“Yeah wow I don’t know which part of the forest that makes you amazed like that Tao.”

I chuckled at Jongdae’s sarcasm towards Tao’s overreacting. These two, when will they ever grow up.

Suddenly I felt the temperature around me just dropped, after I stepped on the stairs. It felt weird, knowing it was summer and all, but then I think maybe it was the shades that the forest made. Then I glanced towards the forest that was next to the building, and my eyes caught something.

Something that I saw was bearing his teeth, as if it was smiling at us, no, at me. I can feel the shivers that, that smile just gave me. It makes an unsettling feeling at the pit of my stomach, and goosebumps all over.

“Luhan!” again Minseok’s voice snapped me out. I turned my head towards him that was holding the door.

“Hurry up! It’s hot and Kris wants me to close the door!” he continued.

“O-Okay!” I replied. I glanced back where my eyes left, but there was nothing. Nothing except the vast forest. I quickly ran towards Minseok and closed the door behind me.

“Does Kris really scare you that much?” Minseok asked me with one of his eyebrows raised. I looked up to him, shook my head while panting.

“Okay then.” he went to where he putted his bag and started to unpack.

I turned around, back to the door and gulped. I’m imagining things again. It must be the heatwave of the summer. I thought as I walked away from the door and started to unpack with the others.

“Hey, the teachers told me that there’s a church behind this building, 10 minutes walk from here.” Yixing blurted breaking the silence beside the rustling sound of our unpacking doing.

“Let’s go there after we play in the forest!” Tao grinned.

“Yeah play hide and seek so that nobody will ever find us so we will be the forgotten students of Seoul High and then become ghosts that haunted the forest.” Chen’s sentence just sent shiver down to my spine as I remembered the smiling shadow at the forest not long ago.

“Chen!” Tao shrieked.

“What? Kung fu panda is afraid of ghost? Puh-lease.” Chen rolled his eyes as he received endless hit from Tao. For a moment it makes me forgot about the forest incident and just laughed at those two.

“Guys!” Yifan yelled. His voice succeeds in making the youngest two froze. I laughed at them that received deadly glare from Yifan, and then I felt someone poked on my shoulder. I turned my head and then saw Minseok with Yixing already changed into some comfortable shirt and jeans.

“So Lu, wanna join us?” Minseok asked.

“Where?”

“The church of course, I wanted to ask the priest over there to pray for me.” Yixing smiled as he walks towards the door.

I contemplated whether to stay in our room or walk with them towards the church near the forest. The vision of that shadow is still fresh in my mind, but then I decided to go with them. Maybe I could get rid of that stupid memory by praying, so that I can enjoy the summer holiday with my friends.

“Sure, wait let me change first.” I nodded and then grabbed my clothes to change.

After taking my shirt off, something caught my eyes. My eyes rounded, and I can feel chills ran down to my spine as I looked at my shirt. There was something, something on my shirt. The copper smell filled the room as the dark crimson red stains that were still fresh at the back of my white shirt. I turned my back against the mirror and roamed my eyes all over my reflection, no wounds, no cuts, no injuries.

I stood there frozen, while looking back at the stain. I shut my eyes tightly and took a deep breath, calming myself. When suddenly Minseok popped his head in the bathroom.

“Luhan? What took you so long? The other guys said that they’re com-wait is that blood?” he pointed at my shirt as I quickly hid it behind my back.

“N-no, it’s just dirt,” I smiled as I threw my shirt at the sink and let the water flow, soaking my shirt “and what’s with the other guys?” I continued. Minseok was still looking at the sink, but then turned his eyes towards me.

“They said that they’re coming along, so they asked me to ask you what took you so long. And Luhan, I don’t know why you’re lying just now about that blood stain, but we need to talk it later. Now hurry up those punks hated waiting, especially Kris.” after he said that, he left leaving me dumbfounded. He saw it.

If Minseok said that he wants to talk, it means that he’s serious, damn I hate the serious Baozhi.

I sighed as I turn the faucet off and hurried to change.  Not knowing what should I explain to Minseok about the blood stain. Even I don’t know how it got there.

“LUHAN!” Yifan yelled.

“COMING!” I yelled back, striding out from the bathroom.

“Hyung, I know you’re pretty and all, but don’t stand too long in front of the mirr-OUCH HYUNG!!” Chen yelped as he felt pain shot from his side.

“What did you say again?” I smirked.

“Y-You’re manly.” he stuttered as I let go of my mighty pinches.

“Good boy.” I patted his head as he shot laser-like glares towards Tao that was laughing his off.

We walked down the small path towards the church as we passed by the forest. Tao was busy pointing at some trees while Jongdae just sarcastically teasing him. Yixing was busy humming some song that was played in his headphones. Yifan and Minseok were conversing something while I just walked behind them, listening to what they’re conversing about. Truth to be told, I was trying to distract myself, I averted my gazes away from the forest, not wanting to saw something that I didn’t want to.

“I don’t know what makes me stay long enough with those idiots.” Yifan muttered as Minseok chuckled at his complaining about those two who was bickering at the back. I chuckled along, almost forgetting about what I was trying to do, and just enjoy the fresh air of summer.

“CHEN!” Tao loud voice just snapped all of us from our doings towards him.

Tao was crouching beside Jongdae that was sitting on the ground, looking almost fainted, well he collapsed because he almost fainted. We quickly walk towards them, shocked, and a bit confused because it may just be some joke that those two pulled. But it’s not, not when I can see cold sweats on Jongdae’s forehead, not when I saw his body was shivering, not when I saw fear in Jongdae’s eyes.

“What happened?” Yifan asked in worry as the youngest one who just shook his head.

I furrowed my brows as I once again look into Jongdae’s eyes. The fear was still there, and it was looking at something ahead of him. I followed his gaze towards the forest but saw nothing, then something popped out in my mind. Maybe he saw it too?

“Chen, take deep breath, Breathe in, breathe out.” Yixing soothed his back as Jongdae did as told. After he’s a lot calmer, Yifan decided to break the silence.

“You’re okay now?” softness was evident in his voice. Chen responded with a nod, but still the fear was evident in his eyes.

“Here.” Minseok offered him a bottle of water and Jongdae quickly gulped all.

“Chen what happened?” this time I asked. I wanted to prove my stupid thought wrong. I wanted to prove myself that all that happened a while ago was just some hallucination caused by the heat wave.

“H-Hyung… I-I saw something…” he gulped as he turned his gaze towards the forest again, all of us followed his gaze and back to him “i-it was standing over there, a-and smiled. Hyung t-there’s something over there and it was smiling at me! It was smiling at me!” he shrieked in fear as I froze on the spot. He… He saw it too…

“Chen calm down, you’re imagini-”

“Kris,” I cut him off as I crouched down next to Jongdae “it’s okay now Chen, come on let’s go to the church and pray.” I continued while patted his back.

“I’ll forgive you, because you’re older than me.” Kris whispered to me after we continued our walk towards the church. I chuckled at him, the incident where I cut him off really offended him.

“Kris, seriously you’re not being mature now.” Minseok blurted, he overheard us.

“Yeah, said the oldest one who acted like a five year old.” I rolled my eyes as we chuckled.

Not long after that we arrived at the church, I don’t know why but it felt like there’s a tension around us as we stepped inside the church. I turned around towards Jongdae that was a bit agitated, cold sweat was formed on his forehead, and pale looking face. He’s still afraid about the forest incident. Well, it’s not only me who noticed his situation right now, we all know. I sighed and walked towards him, and patted his head to calm him down.

Without any seconds I pulled my hand back. It’s a reflex when you touched something that is really, really cold.

“Chen? Are you okay? Your body is freezing.” I eyed him, waiting for some answers from him.

“Y-Yeah, I’m okay hyung. I just felt a little cold, maybe I’ll take some rest after this.” he forced a smile at me as I nodded.

Then we walked inside, and met the priest of the church as we greeted him. The priest smiled as he saw us, knowing that we wanted to pray. But when he laid his eyes on Jongdae, his smiles faltered a bit. I blinked, but then the smile was back again. I looked at Jongdae as he was looking out at the window, his eyes were… empty, like he was dazing off, but not thinking about anything.

I pulled his freezing hands towards the circle we made for praying. All of us wanted to pray and to be prayed, so we decided to make a circle and prayed together. From the corner of my eyes I can see Jongdae, feeling more agitated than before. When we’re done, Yixing asked the priest to pray for each of us. The priest agreed and told us to stand side by side as he started to pray for the oldest to the youngest, Minseok.

When after Yixing’s turn it was Jongdae’s. I can see that the tension around us become heavier ever since we stepped inside. When the priest touches his head, Jongdae started to shriek, like he was being touched by something that hurts. But then he stopped so that the priest can continue. But not long after that I can saw his body started to shiver.

“What’s wrong with Chen?” I heard Yifan asked, not knowing to who he was asking.

“AAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!” it was a scream, a scream that was full of pain, that was full of fear. A scream that was created by Jongdae as he collapsed to the ground, struggling to break free from the pain.

My eyes rounded at the sight, it’s like the priest was the one who caused all of the pain on him. All of us ran towards him, worried and afraid at the sight of what’s happening.

“What’s going on with him?!” Tao shrieked in fear as he quickly hold Jongdae’s arm.

“Hold him boys, hurry!” the priest spoke, as he continued to mumbling something under his breath that we cannot hear.

We don’t dare to speak nor ask, afraid that something might happen if we do. We do as told, pressing Jongdae down to stop him from moving. It’s not easy when the one you’re holding down was… was full of power and it took all 5 of us to hold his hands and feet down.

All of our eyes were glued on Jongdae as he kept on screaming and screaming. My eyes darted towards his eyes and saw those black orbs of his is full of pain yet hatred, it’s not the ones that belongs to Jongdae, as if it belongs to someone else, as if Jongdae was not being Jongdae right now.

But if he’s not Jongdae right now, then who is he?

“AAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!” again he screamed in pain, making us glared towards the priest that kept on mumbling. What the hell is he doing?!

But then the screaming stopped as the struggling force beneath us died down. Our head snapped towards Jongdae’s face and sighed in relieve, wait, he-

“He fainted, no need to worry. Take him back to your rooms and let him rest.” the priest said as if answering our panic or I’m-going-to-jump-at-you-after-doing-something-to-our-Chen expression that was written all over our faces and we *again* sighed in relieve.

“What happened to him?” Yifan asked, we all looked back towards the priest waiting for his explanations as we pulled Jongdae up to Minseok’s back.

“You kids went to the forest aren’t you?” we all looked confused at his question, but then we shook our heads.

“No?”

“No. But he said that he saw something in it. I thought maybe he was just tired or maybe it’s the heatwa-“

“He saw what?” the priest cut Yifan off mid-air, but no, he’s not being rude.

“Something? I don’t know bu-“ again it’s being cut off by the priest.

“He’s been possessed.”

Upon hearing his sentence all froze, shivers run down to our spine, Minseok that was trying to stand up just stopped. He almost tripped because Jongdae’s weight and his unbalanced body, but Yixing and Tao helped him.

“What?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

“He’s been possessed not long ago, but please calm down, he’s okay now. The entity that possessed him was gone.” The priest smiled, yeah he smiled as if nothing was wrong, like everything was okay. Can I punch him? I thought, but then I need to thank him because he saved my friend. Sorry for being ungrateful guys.

“What do you mean by possessed?” Yifan asked, as if interrogating.

“You kids shouldn’t go near the forest, but if you have to pass by the forest just don’t look into it, okay? And quickly go back to your rooms so that your friend can have some rest, he’s been struggling hard inside.” he patted Yifan on the shoulder and smiled, again.

“What will happen if we saw something?” I asked. I don’t know why I asked, but there’s something bugging my mind to find out. The image of a smiling shadow just popped back in my mind as I cringed.

“Just don’t look at the forest and walk straight back, God bless you.” the priest smiled and turned around, and disappears behind some room. Leaving me confused, it’s like having a burden but it’s getting heavier because he didn’t answer my question. Yes, I was afraid.

“Come on Luhan, we need to get Chen some rest.” Yifan patted me on the shoulder and I gave him a nod. Without we realizing the sky was almost dark already, the sun was gone, and all that left is the orange horizon in the sky. As we walked near the forest again, I felt chills as if someone was watching me, I looked around us feeling antsy.

“Someone’s watching us.” Yifan suddenly speaks up, all heads turned towards him, worried and confused.

“You feel it too?” I asked, now all heads turned towards me.

“Stop it you two.” Tao growled.

Then there’s a sound of a twig snapped, as all of our heads turned towards where the sound is from. The forest.

We all froze, looking into the deep forest as if our bodies were paralyzed. We can’t keep our eyes off from the darkness that was illuminated from the forest, as if something was dragging us.

Yixing was the first one who snapped out as he quickly nudged Minseok to snap him out as well. Then he quickly patted Tao’s head, Yifan’s shoulder, and then mine.

But before he reached my shoulder, something caught my eyes inside the forest. We all forgot about the warning that the priest told us. And soon I regretted so much, I wished that I was just having a nightmare, a bad dream, that I just going to wake up in my room, safe and sound.

Reality just laughed at me as he mocked me. There, in the forest, where we shouldn’t have looked at, there stood the same thing that I saw. And it was smiling at me, as if mocking me that everything I just thought was just a wishful thinking, that I can escape reality.

“Han? “

“Luhan?”

“Lu?”

“LUHAN!”

I snapped my heads towards Yifan as I blinked a few times.

“You okay?” Minseok asked me as he fixed Jongdae’s position on his back.

I gulped and nodded a few times and they sighed in relieve knowing that I’m okay and everything is okay. Yeah, only for them, NOT for me. When I was about to look back at where that smiling shadow is, Yifan pulled me by the shoulder as if telling me not to look back and continue to walk back.

But then everything went chaos.

I don’t know what was happening but Tao suddenly run, screaming in fear and Yifan run towards him trying to calm him down. When suddenly a thunder bolted out of nowhere as I looked up towards the grey sky.

I felt goosebumps all over me, as if there was someone behind that was towering me. Quickly I walk run towards Minseok and Yixing, run for my salvation as I was trying to shrug off those feeling. But then I saw fear in those two pair of eyes as if they felt it too. Once I reached them, Minseok told us to hold Jongdae behind his back, as we run together.

“I don’t give a crap!” Tao shrieked as he continued to pack his things once we’re back in our rooms.

“TAO!” Yifan yelled.

“Kris!” Minseok hissed as he tucked Jongdae under the bed sheet.

“What? Don’t ing hiss at me while that kid over there started to pack his things up, trying to run away from this hell hole in thunder strom!” Yifan snapped eyes full of anger because of Tao stubbornness, but then softens as he saw Jongdae’s sleeping face and muttered ‘sorry’ to Minseok as he smiled.

“Tao, stop it. Everything is okay now, you just have to wait until tomorrow and we all can get the hell out of here.” I said to him, as if reassuring myself.

“Yeah. Besides, Chen is okay now, and we’re not near the forest anymore, we’re all safe.” Yixing smiled, making me feel at ease a bit. Tao too felt the soothing aura that came from Yixing and nodded. Realized that he’s being selfish and stupid right now.

“Sorry.” he muttered.

“Yeah, say sorry to my shoes you .” Yifan snapped his head as we all laughed, forgetting what just happened a while ago.

“OW! Hey the dinner!”

“It’s been canceled you doofus.”

“Wha-why?” everybody just facepalmed themselves.

“If you want to get struck by lightning while eating then go ahead.”

“How did you know it’s been canceled?”

“The girls next door just told me. Thank God Xiumin brought some ramyuns.”

“Yeah, thank God I saved tonight’s dinner.”

We all laughed and started to cook ramyuns as we take turns to stir the pot. The ramyun is almost ready when Jongdae started to stir in his sleep, then he woke up due to the smell of ramyun and plopped himself in front of the pot with are-you-guys-done-yet-with-the-cooking-?-Because-I’m-hungry-right-now look.

We gave him a look, he looked like nothing happened as if he’s just woke up from sleeping all day. We secretly sighed in relieve because he’s okay now.

“Hey, where’s Lay?” Jongdae finally spoke up. We all looked up to him with a confused look, but then looked around to find the lost boy. Then we realized that the said boy was gone, we didn’t even notice that he’s gone since we started to cook the ramyuns.

“Xiumin where did he go?” Yifan asked, trying to sound calm.

“Huh? I didn’t even realize that he was gone!” not getting an answer from Minseok, he looked at me.

“I don’t know either.” I shook my head. When he was about to look at Tao someone spoke up.

“I’m here!” Yixing’s voice resonated from the bathroom, again we all sighed in relieve except for Jongdae who looked at us confused as hell.

“What took you so long in the bathroom?” Tao asked, but Yixing didn’t answer. Then it hit me as I quickly ran to the bathroom. The blood stained shirt that I left in the sink, is still right there soaking in blood mixed water.

When I opened the door, there’s Yixing who just stood in front of the mirror dazing off, or should I say soulless?

“Lay?” I called him, but then my eyes looked towards the sink and there’s nothing.

“Lay did you see my shirt?”

“Lay?” I shook his shoulder a little, trying to wake him up from his world.

“Huh? Yeah I helped you to wash it, it’s over there.” he pointed towards the wall behind him as I followed his finger.

“It’s… dirty I guess? We’re having ramyun?” he asked as I turned my gaze back to him.

“Y-Yeah thanks. I’m going to use the bathroom so would you-“

“Sure.” he smiled and walked out as I quickly shut the door, not forgetting to lock it.

My heart was beating hard as I looked back at the wall where Yixing put my shirt. All I can hear was my beating heart and choked breath. Yeah the shirt was clean, no more stain because it’s not even white anymore.

It’s… pink.

In a swift I pulled my shirt off from the hanger and started to wash the shirt all over again, trying to regain the white color back again.

“Luhan if you don't hurry up, Xiumin's gonna eat your portion!”

“Alright! Alright!"

After dinner, we all went straight to bed after washing up, not forgetting to brush our teeth. Well not exactly, we tried to play games, holding up some conversations that we failed to from the beginning, and stuffs to forget about the incident that happened a while ago, also trying to convince Jongdae that he's not having an amnesia. But then it all died down because Tao started to snuggle up beside Yifan and me *don't aww me*, so we all decided to go to bed. It's a freaking tiring day after all, a stormy night as well.

The group was divided into two because there's only two king sized beds because it's a freaking resort. Yifan, Tao, and Jongdae. As I'm with Yixing and Minseok.

It's a non-calm and soothing night because of the thunders and endless waters that was pouring from the dark sky, yet we managed to snuggle between the bed and the duvet without a flinch. Still I can feel some chills but I shrugged off the feeling as I went deeper into my sleep. I'm a man here for God's sake.

It was 2 a.m. in the morning and we still managed to sleep like the dead, but then some shuffling noises woke me up. I opened my eyes, trying to adjust the golden light from the bedside lamp and saw someone that was walking towards the bathroom with a towel and some toiletries like he's about to take a shower. Wait, bath? It's 2 freaking a.m. in the morning!

I did a double-take as I rub my eyes, chasing the sleepiness away but it was too late because the person just closed the bathroom door with a click. I turned around to find who's still sleeping and who's taking a freaking bath 2 a.m. in the morning.

The culprit was Zhang Hell-Xing. I mentally face palmed myself as I turned back to where my sleeping position was and continue to sleep. But some thing tugged me behind my mind, telling me that it's not normal for people to take a bath at this hour, in a cold stormy night that managed to occur in summer. There's something wro- my thoughts were cut off because of the sounds of the bell. The church's bell. As if on cue, all the weird thoughts were washed over by some rational thoughts of mine 'It's Lay that we're talking about here, he's always like this, doing something out of ordinary, Jesus.' So yeah, in the end I tucked myself under the duvet and drift off to the dreamland that I just left.

After some hours of sleep again, Minseok woke me up by nudging me non-stop and told me to go take a shower. I sat up as I straighten my body, and dragged myself out of bed to my bag, pulling out some clothes. All of them were already finished tidying up so I guess it was me against the shower. But then Xiumin's word just makes me wide awake.

"Yixing-ah, come on wake up. After Luhan's done showering, you have to quickly take a shower because Kris is not going to wait." the latter boy just hummed as I closed the bathroom door. Lay just take a bath a while ago, so I think he won't take a bath again because I bet he'll just going to tidy his things and wait for me at the front.

After taking some fresh shower, I brushed my teeth, and when I was about to open the door someone knocked the door on the other side.

“Lu? Are you done yet? They said that they wanted to go to the restaurant and have some breakfast before we leave the resort because last night we didn't managed to have some proper dinner, so they told us to be quick." Yixing's voice was resonated from the other side of the door.

“Okay, I just finished." I said while opening the bathroom door.

“Finally. They're outside, and Kris is waiting." he exclaimed as he slipped inside the bathroom and some familiar things with him.

"Wait, didn't you already take a bath?" I asked as I furrowed my brows. Yixing just looked at me as if I just grew some deer's horns on my head.

“Huh? No Lu, wanna smell me?" he asked as he raised his free hand and pushed his armpit towards me.

“Seriously, Lay I saw you walked towards the bathroom carrying some toiletries and a towel 2 a.m. in the morning."

"What? You must be dreaming, or maybe you haven't have a cup of coffee? Come on, I need to shower before Kris blows up again." he motioned away from the bathroom door and shut the door. Shivers ran down to my spine as the memory of someone walked towards the bathroom 1 a.m. in the morning replayed through my mind. If it's not Yixing then who is it? Wait, I was sure it was hi-

"GUYS!" Kris roared.

I quickly walked towards my bag, shrugged those thoughts off and started to pack my stuffs while waiting for Yixing to finish showering. After done with all of it, I walked towards the bathroom door and knocked the door.

“Lay? Are you done yet?" I asked, but there's no respond from the other side of the door.

"Lay?" I knocked again, seconds later I heard a faint 'okay' followed by some rustling sounds from inside. Suddenly the door opened, startled my being as I jumped back a little.

“Sorry, didn't know that you're still standing in front of the door." he grinned sheepishly as he quickly walked towards his bag. I was about to turn my body around, but something caught my eyes, again. My body went numb as chills ran down to all of my body.

Something was reflected in the mirror that was hanging on the wall in the bathroom. Something that shouldn't be reflected, something that shouldn't be there, something dark. It was that shadow again, the one that I saw in the forest, the one that makes me feel goosebumps everytime I thought about it, the one that smiled creepily at me.

It was there, in the corner of the bathroom, standing and looking straight at me from the mirror. Again, it was smiling at me. I blinked my eyes, wanting to make sure if it's reality but then it was gone again. I quickly closed the door and walked towards Yixing that was zipping his bag.

"L-Lay, let's go." I said as I pulled him towards the door, not forgetting our bags.

"FINALLY!" Yifan exclaimed as he raked his hair.

"Luhan hyung, don't forget about the room key." Jongdae nudged me as he pointed the room's door with his lower lips.

"Oh yeah." I turned around facing the door and pulled out the key. My hand reached the door handle to close the door but then I saw something, no, someone was sitting on the bed. I gasped, almost dropped the key as I held the door handle tightly. All those paranoia that I felt before were back, ruining my steady heartbeat.

It was a girl with a long black hair, that was sitting silently on the bed while holding something on her lap. When I was about to squint my eyes to look what it was, the girl snapped her head towards me. Quickly I shut the door in a swift that startled the guys behind me, making them curses something that a child shouldn't hear.

The soon scolded me, but I was too distracted by my efforts to chase out the image of the girl's empty eyes. It's empty empty eyes. I shivered at the image and quickly shrug it off, trying to immerse myself into Tao and Jongdae's bickering.

We walked down the wet path after last night's storm towards the restaurant. It's okay now, you're not going to go back in this hell hole anymore. You're safe, we're safe. I assured myself. Far away from the forest, far away from that room.

But that thing was never too far from me.

Author's Note:

Sorry guys, finally I managed to put it all in one chap. There’s something wrong with my AFF or maybe with my internet connection. I can’t post all of it in one chapter before, really I don’t know what’s wrong with it. I hope you guys didn't get confused with all of this.

Thank you so much for reading this fic, and I ‘m sorry if I really disappointed you guys. Really.