Ava leaned against the wall behind her and gasped as the pain invaded her face. It hurt so bad, tears stung her eyes.

The hand still holding hers suddenly let go, but only to pull her forward and then shove her harder against the wall. Any breath she had gained back, immediately left her lungs at the force of the push.

A hand pressed against , making her claustrophobia come to life. She tried to pull the hand away but with the sudden attack, Ava's limbs felt limp, and her hands were ineffectual against the strong one currently choking her.

"You better listen well. I don't like repeating myself." The voice came again out of the darkness. 

Ava was only barely conscious of the words spoken to her. The voice seemed to be coming from a long ways away now, and she was starting to see black spots in her vision, as she tried to catch a breath in vain.

Finally, when she was on the cusp of backing out, the hand loosened and she felt the person back away from her.

Her legs lost all their strength and with nothing holding her up, she slid down the wall until she was just a heap of arms and legs on the floor.

She lied there, unable to move and only half-conscience, with no sense of time. It could've been two minutes or ten ; she had no idea.

Eventually though, she started to hear noises around her. It took her another moment or two before she realized that another group of people had entered the ghost house.

She was thankful for the darkness that hid her from the eyes of the visitors. She was sure that if they could have seen her, they would've been shocked out of their minds to see someone lying on the floor in the middle of an amusement park attraction.

She wondered what the members were thinking right now. They had come here to have fun and get to know one another and here she was separated from them. They might think she had just snuck off to avoid them or something. Or at least that's what a certain moody maknae might think.

She groaned. That's just what she needed. Something else to make him dislike her more. As if she didn't already have a whole heap of things that he hated her for.

She felt a little stronger, so she used her arms to push herself up, bit by bit, until she was standing with the support of the wall.

As she stood there, letting a little more strength enter her legs so she could walk herself out of here, she thought about her attacker.

The person had been feminine, at least the voice had sounded feminine, and they weren't too tall. Maybe 5'7 or so. Of course, there were short males too, but she thought it had been a girl.

Had she just been beat up by that special sort of fan, a seseang? If she was correct, they were fierce. No playacting here. They had meant business.

She shuddered, remembering the creepy voice. Apparently you didn't have to walk around outside at night in bad parts of town to be assaulted. It could happen during the day in a secured park surrounded by hundreds of people.

She took a deep breath and felt along the wall to her right in the direction of the walkway through the house. After a minute, her hands encountered nothing but air so she figured she was now in the walkway. She turned right and knew she was right when suddenly there was a flicker of light.

She walked through the rest of the house but didn't pay attention to anything. Her mind was such a jumble of thoughts, she couldn't focus on what she was seeing.

The walkway suddenly made a turn and she blinked at the sudden sunlight. The end of the ghost house apparently.

She pushed open the screen door and stepped outside.

Arms suddenly looped around her and she struggled in panic before she heard familiar voices. She looked up and encountered seven faces etched with worry.

"Noona, where were you? You suddenly disappeared! I was worried!" 

She looked up into Jooheon's worried eyes and then heard gasps.

"What happened to you, Noona?" Shownu pushed to the front of the group and Jooheon moved back out of his way. "It looks like someone hit you! Are you all right?!" He reached up a little hesitantly and gently touched her cheek. "And your neck! I can see fingerprints!" His fingers moved to her neck and lightly touched the skin there as well.

The touch felt so soft that she closed her eyes so she could feel it better. It reminded her of her brothers and in turn, of home too.

She felt a stab of homesickness hit her stomach. Her brothers did just like Shownu was doing. They were all so protective of her, any time she had gotten hurt, even the tiniest bit, they would be there to see if she was okay and take care of her. She felt tears well up.

She opened her eyes and looked directly into a pair of dark ones. Changkyun's eyes. They held worry and they were staring at her very intently.

She felt surprise at discovering that he was worried about her. She felt a warmth too. Maybe he didn't hate her as much as he acted like he did, she thought.

At that thought, the tears spilled over and she quickly turned away, beyond embarrassed. 

She couldn't run away and hide like she wanted to do because there were too many of them to get past. She leaned against the building instead, with her back facing the members.

The seven members stood there, still mostly in shock at seeing her appearance, and watched as her shoulders shook from sobs she tried to keep silent.

Hyungwon and Wonho exchanged helpless looks. What did you do for a crying female? They were clueless, so they just stood silently and watched her.

Minhyuk but his lip and almost cried himself. He didn't know what had happened to her exactly but it had been awful, judging by the angry red marks on her face and neck. 

Shownu, being the leader, suddenly felt like her older brother, and wanted to find whoever had done this and hold them up by the scruff of their neck and throw a few punches. His fists clenched as he imagined doing just that.

Jooheon and Kihyun had both crept a little closer to Ava. They were trying to decide whether one of them should grab her and hold her to them or to just give her moral support by being nearby, when sudden voices were heard coming from the ghost house. More visitors had made it through to the end.

The older six were looking at each other in panic, trying to come up with a plan, when the youngest suddenly pushed his way to the front and grabbed Ava's hand.

He pulled her behind him and quickly went around the corner. Once there, he faced the wall and took her in his arms and pressed her face close to his chest. 

She pushed against the solid chest, not knowing who it was who had grabbed her this time. She looked up and saw the face that stared down at her. Her heart beat faster and she felt her face heat up, though since it had to be red from her crying, it probably looked no different than it had a second ago.

She looked back down and saw the maknae's chest just inches from her face, so she closed her eyes again.

Changkyun pressed her face against him as he heard voices coming closer. 

A group of about twenty people walked by, chattering excitedly to each other. 

Thankfully, they seemed pretty deep in conversation so Changkyun didn't have to explain to them all what he was doing in plain sight of anyone.

Of course, he really wasn't doing anything except holding a girl who was upset, but sometimes people saw what they wanted to see. And, he was a celebrity, so if anyone recognized him and worse, saw him with a girl, the results would be horrific.

Ava relaxed in his arms and actually leaned into him. He felt so safe, as if he was an island of calm during a storm, and she felt like staying there forever. His hands were warm against her back and they started to rub circles there.

They just stood there in silence, while she her sobs slowed, before stopping altogether.

The other six members suddenly burst around the corner and stopped in their tracks at the sight that met their eyes.

~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, Ava was the proud owner of a brand new Samsung phone. One of them had mentioned something about texting or calling one of them if she were in trouble and she realized she didn't yet have a cell phone.

They had all insisted on going immediately to find her a phone . They had also insisted on pitching in on the cost. They had all been so interested in looking at the latest models that had been released, that it had taken them an hour to decide on the phone that they had felt would be the best for her.

On the ride back to the apartment complex, Ava was silent and the members stared at her, still wondering who had hurt her.

As soon, as they reached the fifteenth floor, Shownu steered her down the hall towards their apartment. He needed answers on the person who had taken her and he needed them now, not later.

Inside, they gently pushed her into one of the armchairs before they each found a spot also and sat down.

Shownu cleared his throat. "Noona, I know you may not want to remember what happened but we need to know so we can tell the police. We also need to know because we don't want you to be hurt again."

She tiredly lifted her eyes. " Someone grabbed me inside the ghost house and pushed me up against a wall."

"Is there anything about the person that you remember, Noona? Height, , accent?" Kihyun asked this time.

She shrugged. She felt so utterly worn out she was having trouble stringing  two thoughts together.

" I think it was a female, maybe around 5' 7." Her voice got quieter. " I think it might've been a sesaeng."

~~~~~~~~

Hi, guys. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :) I am so utterly tired right now that pretty soon, I'm going to be the one not capable of stringing two thoughts together ;)

Please comment and let me know how you guys are liking the story so far!