None of them can ever look at scissors the same again. It would've been easier if they hadn't heard those bloodcurdling screams. It would've been easier if they hadn't opened that door. It would've been easier if they showed up earlier in order to save him. But the world isn't a loving factory. Their fingers slipped from the little rock that kept them from falling off the cliff and into a black pit of misery and trauma. 

"Taeyong, can you stop working on your book for like one second?" Yuta whines with a draggy voice as he sits on Taeyong's beige couch watching the guy vigorously type down words on his laptop. Yuta sits on his knees, heels hitting his cheeks, with half his body lunging on the edge of the couch. Taeyong crosses his legs on his spinning chair, still typing letters without blinking. He doesn't take consideration of Yuta's request as he is too immersed in writing his book. He is a top author in his country. If he has time to listen to Yuta's requests, he is kidding himself. "Lee. Tae. Yong!" Yuta can't handle this anymore and stomps over to the outlet that Taeyong's computer connects to and unplugs the device with no remorse. Taeyong is met with a black screen, and his jaw drops five inches out of disbelief. He throws his hands in the air, eyes wide open and ready to kill.

"What the hell?!" Taeyong yells with a booming voice. Anger floods his veins from having his work disappear right before his eyes. If his computer would've shut down on him by itself, he would've just given an angry sigh, but now he has someone to blame for it shutting off. "Nakamoto Yuta, I will—"

"Ugh, Microsoft Word autosaves, okay?" Yuta rolls his eyes before sass bursts off his tongue. Afterall, Taeyong has been neglecting his presence ever since he's been working on his damn book. "I finally have you looking at me, so listen. I am having a birthday party tomorrow, and you are coming. I don't care whether or not you have to work on your book. I am not going to let you choose your book over me." Yuta crosses his arms as he talks to Taeyong with confidence and pride. "I am going to pick you up at 7pm, and we are going to this awesome place I found for the party."

"Since when do you have birthday parties?" That is the only question that comes out of Taeyong's mouth as he stares at Yuta with a dead expression. This guy has been awake for practically two nights working on his book; it would be a miracle if he could move his face muscles for an expression. 

"Since now, and guess what? I've invited all of our classmates from high school." Yuta gives Taeyong a bright smile as if the guy knows what he's thinking. "And especially him." Yuta lifts his eyebrows thrice to signal which guy he's thinking of. Taeyong's eyes pry open from knowing exactly who this fellow is thinking about, and his face reddens just from the thought.

"I-I have no idea who you're talking about!" Taeyong stutters, showing his embarrassment through his blushing face. This is Yuta's specialty: teasing. Taeyong's gotten used to it by now as they are best friends, but Yuta's strong points in teasing are breaking the victim by hitting the sensitive spots. Taeyong's embarrassment suddenly turns to irritation. "You didn't actually invite—"

"Bye bye, Lee Taeyong! See you tomorrow!" Yuta ruffles Taeyong's jet-black hair which leads to his disgusted face that he hasn't made in years. "Dude! You needa shower! I can actually feel the grease!" He complains, almost rubbing his entire right hand in Taeyong's face just to let him know that the guy hasn't taken a shower in two days. Taeyong is definitely not pleased with his behavior and gives a reticent huff before releasing his inner fumes.

"You better walk out the door right now or I'm going to—" Yuta runs out of Taeyong's apartment before Taeyong can even finish his sentence. This leaves Taeyong with his shutted off computer and his greasy hair. He has a moment of silence before sniffing his armpits which automatically presents an abhorred look on his face. "I really do need a shower."

As a result, Taeyong prepares his clothes and towel before stepping into the rather chilly bathroom. He hasn't taken a shower in two days and boy would he like to keep that record up. He debates whether he should close the door behind him or leave it open; both of them can bring misfortune. In the end, he decides to leave the door open to let the air in. He should be taking a shower but all he stares at is the bathtub. He attempts to shake off any past images that try to invade his brain and removes his clothing.

Stepping into the bathtub is one of the easiest things a human-being can do, but not for Taeyong. Stepping into a bathtub is one of the most difficult and painful. It would be at the top of his list if it was titled "Most Difficult Things." 

Taeyong takes a step inside of the tub with his shaky feet and racing heart, and he twists the faucet handle with much force. The water trickles through his hair and body, but it only reminds him of what happened three years ago: the water in the bathtub being violated with crimson blood. Just the remembrance makes his cold body shiver and shake under the boiling hot water coming from the shower head. The ice is still alive even if there's fire surrounding it.

With the mere goal of escaping this hell hole, he squirts shampoo onto his left hand and roughly draws his fingers through his hair. Every time he blinks, images of the horrifying scene attack his mind. He hurriedly washes the foam out of his black hair and twists the faucet handle to turn the water off. He escapes the bathroom, sweeping his clothes and towel off the counter, and runs into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. His back attaches to the door, and he pants with short breaths.

It's still too much for him to handle even after three whole years.

Even if Taeyong is not completely into birthday parties, he knows straight away that he has to show up with a colorful bag in his hands that is filled with something that he spent his money on. He stands in the middle of an aisle at the grocery store that has plenty of gift bags of all different sizes and colors. Yuta is going to pick him up in an hour, and it doesn't help that he has absolutely no idea what to get the guy for his birthday. Add that as the second most difficult thing on the list: finding a birthday present. Little does he know that there is a person behind him quite into the gift bags as well.

Yuta likes yellow, Taeyong thinks to himself and takes a medium-sized, yellow bag with pastel balloons and a brown teddy bear in the front. In addition, he pulls off some yellow tissue paper from the shelf and stuffs it in his cart. 

"L-Lee Taeyong?" He hears his name being called very questionably behind him and turns around to see who this deep voice belongs to. All Taeyong can do is stand there speechlessly with his eyes widened from the fact that this guy is standing in front of him right now.

"J-Jaehyun?" His voice is soft but very shocked. The two haven't seen each other since the day that happened. The last place they would ever think about meeting each other would be the grocery store looking for gift bags. 

"It's been a while," Jaehyun greets with an awkward smile because all they can think about is what happened three years ago. Both of their hearts race from their nerves piling up.

"Uh, yeah," Taeyong responds with a flat tone, his lips wanting to seal from the fear of bringing up the incident. The two know exactly what each other are thinking about, and it's not something they can discuss with an open heart. "So, are you buying a gift as well?" Taeyong strikes the conversation first, but he would rather have the conversation end quickly. All these two give each other are memories that neither of them want to recall. 

"Yeah, do you remember Nakamoto Yuta? He invited me to his birthday party, and I am doing last minute gift-shopping, haha," Jaehyun explains as calmly and naturally as possible; he's being so natural that Taeyong can tell it's forced. There’s no way Jaehyun can act normally without thinking of the incident, and Taeyong knows.

Not only does Taeyong see Jaehyun at the grocery store, but now he's going to see him at the party as well. Well, they were classmates, and Yuta did say that he invited all of their high school classmates. It still pains Taeyong for never telling Yuta about what happened three years ago. It’s not something that he can just say blatantly. It would poison Yuta’s brain, not help it. So, Taeyong keeps it to himself and continues to play his game of life with no lost dice.

But Taeyong is worried. If Yuta invited Jaehyun to the party, there is no way he wouldn’t invite the other two.

“Ah, same here. I’m going to the party too,” Taeyong says in a gravelly voice. He can already see the nervousness that shoots at Jaehyun from the slight twitch of his left eyebrow. Correspondingly, the two already plan out that they won’t be hanging out with each other while being there. “It’s nice seeing you again,” Taeyong can’t believe his own lie. If anything, it’s like death—not that his soul hasn’t died already. “I’ll see you at the party then.” He got out of it! If the conversation went any longer, he might’ve just collapsed right on the spot.

Taeyong wraps his shaky hands around the cart’s handle, showing his hesitance; Jaehyun notices it right away. Unlike Taeyong who always tries escaping hard situations, Jaehyun confronts them; and Taeyong is one of these difficult situations. Taeyong bows ninety degrees and starts pushing the cart forward without making eye contact towards Jaehyun.

“Taeyong. How have you been?” Taeyong can already picture the expression on Jaehyun's face without even making eye contact. It’s stern and serious like the expression one would give if he or she were completely concentrated on one thing.

Taeyong twists his upper body around to face Jaehyun again, not ready to see his unsmiling face. With an uncomfortable smile, forced as can ever be, he asserts, “Good! Just work and stuff. I’ve been writing a book—“

“No, Taeyong. How have you been?” Jaehyun’s head tilts down a little, and his eyes demonstrate the exact meaning of “this is not a joke.”

The most painful silence is the silence that takes over the room and creates a sulky mood. This second of sound absence has never been so long. Taeyong can only stare at Jaehyun with a heart rate of 100 beats per minute. It’s like being stared down by a lion. But this lion has quite a soft heart because in Jaehyun’s eyes, Taeyong can sense worry.

“I haven’t been able to step into a bathtub without being scared for my life. Showering is painful and difficult for me,” Taeyong answers honestly, eyes looking down, with no hesitance even though he uses a gloomy tone. Before Jaehyun can even respond to his answer, Taeyong turns back around and starts leaving the aisle with quick feet.

Same here.

“Taeyong! Time to go!” Yuta shouts from his rose-red car with open windows, right in front of Taeyong’s apartment building where there are plenty of other people. Now all of his neighbors know his name from the guy who shouted it at the top of his lungs in front of the building.

“Would you shut your -of-a-mouth, please?!” Taeyong is about to yell but decides that it is best to keep his temper at a minimum for tonight because it is Yuta’s birthday. Yuta knows exactly how Taeyong reacts when he shouts. Above all, that is the sweetest sentence Taeyong has ever said to him as a greeting.

Yuta is impressed with how much Taeyong has cleaned himself off. He’s been in sweatpants, graphic t-shirts, and hair that's shot in all directions for months. Now he’s wearing a long-sleeve, black collar shirt; and all the white buttons are there! They’re buttoned up too! Yuta is so proud. Taeyong is also impressed with Yuta because this guy is all dressed up for his birthday party. From his spiked-up, dark hair to the new, royal blue collar shirt and skinny jeans.

Taeyong climbs into the red car and onto the passenger seat with the yellow gift bag in his hands with his surprise present. Yuta can’t help but smile from Taeyong being thoughtful enough to even get him a present, but he isn’t expecting anything extraordinary because Taeyong has always at picking out presents. In reality, Taeyong just got the gift an hour ago.

“We are going to pick up a few people along the way. I am forcing them to come too, haha.” Yuta always puts on that happy, bright smile although he has devious intents. Taeyong bets that this dude didn’t even give the people he invited a choice.

Taeyong sighs with his eyes closed, ready to be done with life. That means he has to greet people, act nice, be friendly, and be someone he is totally not just to maintain a good first impression.

It only takes Yuta fifteen minutes to reach the first destination which is a wealthy-looking house on an enormous yard with perfect gardening. This makes Taeyong feel insecure from his apartment building that has wall paint cracking off. It’s hard to believe that this house is just fifteen minutes away. Yuta parks in the lengthy driveway, ready to step out of the car anytime soon.

“Well, there goes my self-esteem.” Yuta is thinking the exact same thing as he double checks if the address is correct on his phone (and it is). “Hard to believe we were in the same class in high school.”

“Who is it?” Yuta didn’t bother telling Taeyong who this wealthy guy is. Yuta pushes the door open and hops out of his car. Once he closes it, he bends down so Taeyong can see his face once he tells him that the person is,

“Jung Jaehyun.”

Taeyong’s eyes get three times as big—no, five times. There is a fine line between coincidences and being set up and Taeyong believes he’s being set up to a certain degree. After a few minutes, Jaehyun exits his house after Yuta knocks on the door, and they walk down the driveway to Yuta’s car which has a jittery 22-year-old sitting in the passenger’s seat. Taeyong sees Jaehyun's white, long sleeve shirt and black jeans which only signals that this guy is actually the Jung Jaehyun he's thinking of. He wishes that there was a different guy with the same name.

Jaehyun notices the figure in the car, and it’s only a few seconds before he realizes that it’s Lee Taeyong. Lee Taeyong, of all people that could’ve sat in that seat, it just had to be him. Too many dreadful images crowd their minds once they see each other’s faces.

“T-Taeyong?” His name is said in the exact same way Jaehyun said it at the grocery store. “Nice to see you again, haha.” Jaehyun’s acting friendly, and Taeyong can tell. That eye smile can find its way through an impossible maze.

“Hi, Jaehyun,” Taeyong replies with his forced smile as well. This is just great. There’s no way Taeyong’s getting out of this now.

“Great! You guys have talked before. We got two more people to pick up, so buckle up those seatbelts because it’s going to be a pretty long ride. Party starts at 9,” Yuta explains with his enthusiastic voice and charming smile that make Taeyong and Jaehyun feel slightly better about being in the car with him. Jaehyun's gift bag with tissue paper creates noises that make the situation even more unsettling. If Yuta wasn’t there with them, it’d be even more awkward than it already is which seems unimaginable.

Yuta begins driving to the next destination with the music from his phone blasting throughout the entire car to kill the silence. Taeyong still sits in the passenger seat while Jaehyun sits in the back where there are two more seats still available. Be that as it may, it is going to get a ton more awkward if there are more people Taeyong and Jaehyun are not familiar with.

Yuta parks his car in a new driveway, and thankfully, this house is much more ordinary than Jaehyun’s. It’s small and looks warm and cozy from its beige color. Yuta hops out of the car leaving the two souls inside without him. Now it just got a ton more displeasing. They don’t say a word—not one at all. The two just stay on their phones with nerves on high mode. In this case, these two aren’t even playing on their phones. They’re just scrolling through the pages of applications just to act like they’re occupying themselves.

Just a minute later, a person exits his home with Yuta, and they are both smiling with such happiness of seeing each other again. The person holds a blue bag with green tissue paper sticking out from the top. Taeyong and Jaehyun eye the person from inside the car and slightly squint so they can get a clearer view. This person has straight, brown hair and a gray t-shirt on with blue jeans. He walks with a tight posture and consistency: there is only one guy that they know that walks like this. As a result, their eyes are about to fall out of their faces because of realization.

“Moon,” Taeyong whispers first.

“Taeil,” Jaehyun whispers second.

They’re both in shock and they will be for ages.

Taeil paces down his driveway with Yuta only to see two familiar faces inside the car. He stops his tracks once he realizes who these people are. He made sure he wouldn’t see them ever again. His heart squeezes out of surprise and the hairs on his arms and legs stand up from his fear. His eyes have never been so wide, and he feels his life span shortening by the minute. Therefore, Yuta senses a problem with Taeil in a flash.

“Is everything alright?” Yuta questions without noticing that Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Taeil are having a complete widened-eye stare down. Jaehyun even scrunches up his white, long sleeves because he’s starting to sweat from the anxiety.

“Wh-What?” Taeil is snatched back into reality. “Y-Yeah! Of course. I just thought I forgot something,” Taeil covers up his unexpected stopping of his feet and shocked expression. His smile disguises the imbalance in his stomach once he climbs onto the backseat next to Jaehyun. He makes sure to sit a bit closer to the door than usual in order to sit a bit farther than Jaehyun as much as he can.

They haven’t seen Taeil since the incident. Of all things they can remember from that day, they’d probably pick out Taeil’s reaction to the horrific scene. It's an image they can never forget.

"Hey, Taeil. How's a going?" Jaehyun converses first while Taeyong just grins at Taeil.

"Uh, good! H-How about you?" Taeil's obviously not okay with this although he tries covering it up with his smiles and enthusastic voice.

"Great! It's nice seeing you again," Jaehyun says with care and sincerity, but Taeil knows what the guy's thinking and it's not a pretty sight.

Tension floods the inside of the car, and everyone gulps out of peer pressure. Soon enough, Yuta arrives at the next destination after jamming to a couple tunes just to lighten up the atmosphere. After parking the car in front of the next person’s house, he gives Taeyong a wink that throws him off.

“You are so going to thank me for this,” Yuta comments with a jovial tone that makes Taeyong extra nervous. Taeyong has way too many nerves right now that he can’t hold onto anymore. This guy can't be creating more. “I’ll be right back.” This guy is totally teasing him, and Taeyong knows exactly why. Taeyong suddenly believes he has the worst of luck. No! Worse than worst—It’s absolute devastation!

This can’t be happening.

Yuta knocks on the door of the ordinary, white house, and the door opens.

“Ten!” Yuta shouts on purpose just to tell Taeyong who this person is. He’s been teasing him about this guy for years, and it’s about time that Taeyong steps up his game. “How are you?”

“Yuta! I’m great. Happy birthday!” Ten greets with his oh-so charming smile that makes Taeyong’s heartbeat accelerate. Taeyong wants to bang his head on a table right now because he can’t handle any of this. He sees the plain, jet-black hoodie that Ten's got on and the blue skinny jeans. He is still the same guy that Taeyong's known since high school. “I got you this awesome present. I bet you’ll like it a lot.” Yuta makes a surprised, yet overjoyed expression as he accepts the box wrapped with yellow wrapping.

“Thanks so much! Come on! Get in the car, we gotta go!” Yuta runs first, signaling Ten to run to the car along with him. His black, wavy hair literally glistens under the sunlight that is currently going to disappear in a few hours.

Now it’s Ten’s turn to stop his tracks once he sees the three awfully familiar faces in the red car. If he opens that door and hops in, he’s going to hop into hell. His expression is probably the worst out of everyone. His eyes become slightly watery and red and his panting is loud and unsteady. His mouth becomes dry as his palms become sweaty. He would've never guessed that he'd be in such a situation out of the blue. Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Taeil can only stare at Ten with worried and full eyes. Ten is shaking, and so are they.

“What are you waiting for? Hop in!” Yuta calls out with a cheek-to-cheek smile that make Ten feel uneasy. He wants to back out but if he backs out now, he’d be more disrespectful than a person not using honorifics to a senior. Ten’s hands shake as he pulls the door open in order to get in. Sitting on a seat has never been so hard for him before until now. Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Taeil know exactly what each other are thinking right after Ten closes the door beside him. “Alright, time to go!”

Yuta drives with the music toned down a little because he hopes that the four will talk. Instead, the four are dead silent and not even looking each other’s way. Ten sits on the right, Taeil in the middle, and Jaehyun on the left. Ten looks out the right window, Taeil looks through the front window, and Jaehyun looks out the left. As for Taeyong, he’s playing with his phone in his hands, twisting and turning it with his trembling hands. He still can’t believe he’s in the same car as the other three. They haven’t seen each other in three years. This can’t be reality. This should be a dream, and boy does Taeyong wish that from the bottom of his heart.

But this is no dream.

This is a nightmare.

Thirty minutes has never felt so long before as Yuta drives to the party place. It feels like an hour—no, two—just to get there. It’s almost 9 o’clock, and Yuta is slowly getting pissed about traffic. If he shows up late to his own birthday party, he is going to flip.

“So, what do you guys do now? We were all high school students the last time we saw each other. Now we’re 22-23 and we probably got a lot of stuff on our hands,” Yuta keeps up a conversation just to take a few layers off this unbelievable awkwardness.

“I’m an athlete. I play basketball,” Jaehyun answers the question first with confidence and smiles just to kill the silence as well. Everyone is quite impressed with his career just from hearing two sentences of it. It’s quite extravagant.

“That’s awesome!” Yuta exclaims, eyeing him through the rear mirror.

“I am a vocal coach at MOB Entertainment,” Taeil answers as well with a giant smile like he usually does. His voice is as sweet as honey. No wonder he’s a vocal coach.

“I dance for a crew. You can call it a part-time job, haha,” Ten says with his high voice that can make anyone smile. It’s expected of Ten, at least in Taeyong’s mind. He remembers in high school that Ten was always dancing, even in the hallways. It’s not surprising that he is in an actual crew right now. “How about you, Taeyong?” Taeyong is surprised because he forgot about himself, and even more because Ten asked.

“Oh! I’m an author. I write books.” Taeyong smiles as he looks back at the three who just smile back at him. He turns his head back to the front, and his smile dies down. The tense atmosphere is killing him.

“I own a restaurant in downtown, so make sure you guys come! I’ll make you my best dish!” Yuta makes everyone chuckle before he calls out, “We’re here!”

There’s a dark blue sign with white lettering that looks strangely familiar to the four guys besides Yuta. As they approach the entrance closer, their eyes become bigger than they’ve ever become. Bigger than Taeyong’s when he saw Jaehyun at the store, bigger than Taeil’s when he saw Jaehyun and Taeyong in the car, and bigger than Ten’s when he saw all three of them. Their eyes are not large from surprise, they are large from the horror. This sign is difficult to forget. All of them are shaking, all of their hearts are beating faster than they should, all of their breaths are shortened, and all of their palms become sweaty. This is hell. This is absolute hell.

Camp Greystoke.

The place where Johnny was murdered.

Your feedback is a treasure!
Thank you so much for viewing! :)