If the world were to end in one minute, Moon Taeil’s choice of what to excel would be running for his life. That’s all he can do: run. There’s no place to hide his pale face from the world that’s about to crumble down like dry bread.

At the moment, Taeil wishes he could have continued running through the woods. He feels as if shattered glass is slowly being pressed through his heart. His conscience is ordering him to dash out of the cabin, but his body doesn’t react. All he can do is stare at the pile of scissors drenched in authentic blood. It’s as if Taeil can see his pale face through the reflection of the red droplets that lay on the silver of the scissors.

On the other hand, the murmurs and the gasps make him dizzy. His vision is only a shaky picture containing the bloody scissors and the abhorred stares from the people around him. What’s even worse is that the room is completely silent like an audio that is suddenly cut off.

Ten, Taeyong, and Jaehyun are more startled than they ever were—of course, with the exception of the incident three years ago. It’s almost like a bomb exploded in their stomachs because there’s no way the bloody scissors are a coincidence. There’s just no way. With shaking legs and shortened breaths, they eye each other continuously with shocked expressions. It is interesting how they are all thinking the exact same thing. All they question is if this is some type of game, prank, signal, or possibly . . . a threat.

What is going on?

Commotion rises like no other as Yuta asks Hansol to bring out the mop from the closet in the back room. The bloody scissors sit on the ground untouched with its noxious stench crawling through the air. Although they are still objects, they give an overwhelming aura that is indescribable. It is like a dark source of power suddenly everyone’s very soul. They are slaves to the aura of the bloody scissors.

Taeil’s palms sweat like no other. Afterall, there are no words to describe this situation from how unsettling it is. His trembling is starting to become a trait of his own because it’s never-ending. At the last second, all four of them are looking at each other, and they all have one thing in common: their boundless questions. Their eyes are enlarged, redder than the crimson blood itself, and their body hair is standing on end. They wonder if it’s truly possible for their hearts to beat this hastily. They wonder if this vigorous trembling has been listed as a firm trait of their very identities. Unfortunately, everything they wonder is legitimate.

“Um, okay,” Yuta begins his announcement as Hansol cleans the floor in front of him. “Why don’t we all calm down for a moment? This was probably someone’s idea of a stupid prank because Taeil would never do such a thing. Let’s just continue opening the presents, alright?” Boy, are the four glad that Yuta is there to clean up the case. Everyone in the room is convinced that the bloody scissors were a prank towards Taeil besides the four. But Ten, Taeil, Jaehyun, and Taeyong are not even one percent convinced that this is a prank although they wish it from the bottom of their hearts. Pranks are supposed to be somewhat humorous and quite lame at the same time, but this is too intense to be humorous or lame— at least to the four boys.

With this in mind, Taeyong’s sharp eyes spot a skinny figure in a gray hoodie beginning to take his or her leave. Taeyong guesses that this person is a male from just looking at the physical appearance. Honestly, it could be anyone of any kind, but this person is no-doubt a suspicious one as he bends his neck down while holding onto the edge of his hood; it is almost as if he were trying to cover his face. Without even knowing, Taeyong’s eyebrow twitches, something irking him inside. The person exits the cabin quickly yet carefully, hoping no one is watching.

There’s no sign of trust that comes from Camp Greystoke. This place comes with welcoming gear; it’s only natural to fall into its spell. The four would be idiotic to even think that nothing would come of the night at this camp. No one escapes this curse.

Taeil is more than feared for his life. The feeling of someone manipulating him is making his vision hasty. Some people glance at him from time to time as he stands very still in shock. It is like something inside his brain is knitting his thoughts into a scarf that will choke him as he wears it.

Taeil starts re-imagining Johnny’s death. The scent of the blood on the scissors only makes him suffocate as he recognizes the smell from that cabin three years ago. And there goes the image. The image no one wants to relive seeing: Johnny’s expression as he lay in the bathtub full of bloody water, his eyes open in fear. Taeil swears he saw the last bit of shock inside Johnny’s eyes, probably identical to the expression Johnny wore as he was stabbed with the pair of scissors, one full of fear and seemingly anger. But the one thing that stains Taeil’s brain is just the helplessness he saw in Johnny’s face.

Nevertheless, the party continues— a bit more on the edge at the moment because of the unexpected surprise in Taeil’s gift bag. The music is turned up high in volume after Yuta finishes opening his gifts. All the partiers scatter throughout the cabin, but Taeil stands still—a little bit too still. He doesn’t blink, and his body trembles like an earthquake is taking place in his very soul. He breaks out of his shocked state once he feels a gentle grab of his left arm. As a result, his head turns to the left to figure out who this hand belongs to.

It’s Ten. Jaehyun and Taeyong are running over right behind. Taeil is focused on Ten’s eyes where he sees his reflection which horrifies him: he looks like a disaster.

“Taeil!” Jaehyun shouts with a forthright tone to indicate that he’s full of questions. Unfortunately, Taeil’s answer box is completely empty. “What the hell is going on?” Jaehyun realizes that Taeil’s in too much of a traumatic state to even speak a syllable. He ends up toning down his panic once he sees this guy’s face. Taeil looks like he was back at that moment three years ago, panicking and basically screaming.

“Hey, do you have any idea, like at all, of what happened?” Ten questions with a gentle and soft voice that allows Taeil to comfortably answer. Ten always had this effect on someone. He makes people comfortable: a true gift indeed.

“Th-There was supposed to be a sh-shirt and a hat in there,” Taeil stutters in serious fright. Nothing can clear away the unbelievable amounts of fear that wants to break through his very stomach. Not one of the four was expecting anything of this day to happen. They tried so hard to erase the memories of the incident three years ago, and suddenly it just comes grabbing them—no, clawing at their faces—yet again. A few hours ago they thought that seeing each other again was the worst of the worst, but now, everything has become a torture house: being back at Camp Greystoke, Taeil running away, being in front of cabin 27, and the bloody scissors. They couldn’t even pick which out of the list is worse than the other.

“Someone put those in there,” Taeyong informs with eyes wide open and cautious of every surrounding. Everything has Taeyong becoming pale and apathetic. “Neither one of us would do such a thing. Someone else had to replace Taeil’s present with those scissors.” Jaehyun, Ten, and Taeil notice the shakiness of Taeyong’s voice; Taeyong is having a mental breakdown.

“But that means . . .,” Jaehyun begins and then pauses to gulp nervously before he says, “someone else knows you were there that night.” That is the moment in which each of the four freeze and don’t blink. A chill runs down each of their spines like a large, quick spider is inside their bodies. All they can hear is the ringing in their ears even though the music is blasting at the maximum volume. There is just a simple ring in their ears that they can’t erase. The image of Johnny lying in a pool of his own blood was something they never wanted to summon into their minds, but it is incontrollable. The image comes back, and they become dizzy.

They are done for.

They have sunk into a boundless tank of torture.

The four never knew who did it—who murdered Johnny. Or at least that’s what they wanted to believe. But of all things they can’t deny, it’s definitely that each of them were associated with Johnny Seo before he died. Johnny meant something to each of them which is a fact they can’t rip to shreds. It would be nice though, to rip that fact to shreds. It would be easier if they didn’t know him or didn’t find him that night.

But they don’t know whether each of them found him that night or already knew he was there.

“Does that mean I’m a target?” Taeil looks even more panicked, and the others didn’t even think that could be possible. Well, Taeil proved them wrong because he is a serious wreck at the moment; he’s like a ticking time bomb. He is hoping for someone to deny his question, but instead he is met with silence from the three. It is something he expected but wish could be changed.

He covers his mouth in disbelief with the back of his right hand, almost crying in desperation to escape this dark pit of misery, but it is too late because he’s already sunk way too deep in it. Each of the four can’t speak anymore. It would be insane if any of them could even bother saying a word.

In the end, the guests begin to leave as the night becomes pitch black (not that it hasn’t been from the start). A sense of relief rushes through the four’s locks of hair because of the thought of going back home. Home feels like the safest spot at the moment although home to each of them have different meanings.

Yuta gives everyone a farewell as they leave they main cabin which leaves the four and also Hansol as the last ones inside. The four’s hope meter slips down to the last level because of the simple yet frustrating fact that they have to clean up. Hansol was the one who set this entire surprise party up, and Yuta just happened to agree to stay afterwards to help clean. Leaving this damn place feels like a dream.

“Ten, can you take care of the trash?” Yuta calmly asks him with his sweet smile and voice that no one can possibly deny. Jaehyun picks up the plates, cups, and trash off the tables, Taeyong is removing all the decorations off of the walls, Taeil is cleaning the trash off of the floor, and Yuta and Hansol are popping all of the balloons. The four are all cleaning at a fast pace just to earn the reward of going home.

Ten courageously grabs the trash bags from the dark room full of trash in the back corner of the cabin and notices this horrid stench coming from one of the black bags. Once he lightly lifts the bag, he hears the jingles of metal clashing against each other and immediately knows what this gross stench is. The room suddenly gets ten times colder once he realizes the bloody scissors are right in his hands. He wants to scream and cry and rip his hair out, but he refrains from doing anything he desires. His hearts races to at least 150 beats per minute as he continues to carry the trash bag; he makes sure to keep it as far away from his body as possible.

“Ten, you okay in there?” Yuta questions him with wonder as he pops a yellow balloon in his hands which scares Ten to the max. Yuta was wondering what was taking the guy so long to throw away a couple of bags.

“Uh, yeah,” Ten eyes Yuta with a surprised expression as he holds the bag with the scissors in his hands. “Sorry about that. I was just . . . zoned out.” Ten looks uneasy and Yuta notices it.

“Why don’t I just do it? You seem exhausted. Partying got you tired?” Yuta jokes around, and Ten just gives him a firm smile that blocks Ten’s real expression in the inside: the one that wants to break down and sink to the bottom of a dark ocean. Yuta ends up taking the bags from Ten and heads outside in order to throw them in the trash cans. Afterwards, Ten looks down at his hands which are shaking tremendously to the point where he is becoming dizzy just from looking at them.

After thirty minutes of cleaning the cabin, it’s finally time for all of them to head back to their homes and sleep. Yuta says goodbye to Hansol as he stands by his car along with the four since Hansol parked in a different area in order to surprise him. Taeyong can see the two exchange smiles and laughs like they’re a couple, and he immediately finds a new subject to tease his best friend with. But he can barely think about anything like teasing at the moment because he is too immersed into going back home and trying to erase all the memories of the past hours.

Yuta and Taeyong climb onto the front seats while Jaehyun, Ten, and Taeil sit in the back just like they did when they traveled to this unexpected destination. Once Yuta begins driving, the amount of relief and satisfaction is so evident just from the four’s faces. They’ve never been so content about a car moving before.

Yuta taps on a bunch of buttons on his right just to turn on the radio and music begins playing. No one is talking, and there’s no other way to break the silence other than a simple tune.

But the song that is playing does not break the silence, it creates it—a heavy, dreary atmosphere that pries into each of the four’s souls. No one could forget this song. It was Johnny’s favorite.

Everyone freezes and all their relief vanishes. Johnny was always humming, singing, and even drumming his pencils to this song. He even sang it in front of their entire high school. No one could get the song out of his or her head once the news of his death became out in the open. But for the four guys, this song is a nightmare. It was like a devilish tune that had them at their knees.  

Jaehyun, Taeil, and Ten glance at each other with horrified eyes that showed each other that each of them was thinking the same thing. Taeyong sits stiffly, not moving a muscle. The next three minutes are like the marathon of nightmare imagery. Eventually the song finishes its tune of horror, and the atmosphere remains tense and stiff. Their mouths are dry, they're short of breath, and they can’t move even a centimeter just from hearing the song. Now they all see that this night was not like any other night. It feels like everything was set up at the expense to see them break down.

In the meantime, they see a neighborhood sign beneath the headlights of Yuta’s car and a sigh comes out of Taeil’s mouth just from seeing the sign. It is his neighborhood, and he is so thankful that his house is the first one. Yuta parks in his driveway, rolls down his window, and allows Taeil to climb out of the car. Taeil gives everyone one last glance that only they can understand. It sent the message of “I’m glad I’m not there anymore.”

“Happy birthday, Yuta,” Taeil says in a soft voice, a bit worried of what Yuta may think after what happened with his gift. “I’m sorry about what happened. I swear—“

“Don’t worry about it, Tae. Someone was probably being an and picked a gift bag to put those scissors in. Pranks are pranks,” Yuta shrugs and removes some bricks off of Taeil’s shoulders. Oh how they wish it was just a prank, but the obvious is hard to avoid. “Have a good night!” Yuta waves as Taeil enters his house a bit hastily.

“Thanks! You too!” Taeil farewells and closes the front door in satisfaction. But he’s met with one more worry: sleeping. There’s no way he can sleep after what happened. If he could sleep through the night, it’d be insane. Taeil is just happy to be home; it’s where he wanted to be this entire night.

Yuta begins driving to the next house, and it just so happens to be Ten’s. But Ten isn’t even half as glad as Taeil. He should be, but he’s not. He has no emotions anymore; it’s like all of his emotions have run out due to exhaustion. Ten leaves the car that happened to lead him into pure darkness, and he sees Taeyong’s face as he starts walking. Taeyong lightly smiles while lifting his right hand as a goodbye, and Ten does the same. Lastly, Ten walks inside his house with dropped shoulders, feeling his heart bursting into dust from what he just experienced. And he never wants to go through something like that ever again.

Jaehyun is next, and Yuta parks in front of the high-class home that belongs to the guy and his family. It is difficult to smile and say goodbye like Jaehyun usually does. Smiling is definitely on his list of impossibilities, but he does it anyway to cover up the secrets lying on his very tongue.

“See you later. Happy birthday!” Jaehyun climbs out of the car quickly and waves at both Yuta and Taeyong.

“Have a great night!” Yuta shouts before Jaehyun shuts the door. Those words were certainly not hitting Jaehyun because of how horrible this night was. It was a reminder of all the bad that’s happened, and he despises that. Taeyong waves with a half-smile, and Jaehyun does the same.

Last but not least, it is Taeyong’s turn, and boy does he not want to be alone. He has his own apartment—being alone is in his nature. But tonight, he doesn’t want to leave the car and go into his apartment alone. There’s a bathtub in there, there are scissors in there, and there’s no one to protect him. It’s just him. Even so, Yuta parks his car in front of Taeyong’s apartment building.

“Thanks for coming today, Taeyong! I finally got you to leave your apartment and I got you to dress up. I am pretty proud of myself.” Yuta pats his own back. “I am coming tomorrow like always and don’t you dare try locking me out again!” Yuta laughs with rainbows for eyes, but he notices Taeyong’s hesitance to open the car door. “You alright, man?”

“Um, yeah. I-I just—“ Taeyong stutters which is very odd to Yuta. This guys is never hesitant, not even with questions like which parent he likes better. “Happy birthday, Yuta.” Taeyong smiles as he congratulates with a warm, soft tone that has Yuta’s billion-dollar smile appear.

“Thanks, Taeyong. You have a good night and take a rest, okay?” Yuta holds onto Taeyong’s shoulder, hoping this guy won’t stay up to write his book and suffer.

Taeyong pulls the car door handle and pushes the door open, gulping harsly. His eyes are bigger than usual and he’s becoming cautious of all his surroundings. He doesn’t want to be alone and asking Yuta if he could stay the night would be a horrible option from how disorganized and messy the guy is. His room is like the inside of a trash can.

After typing in his passcode, the door opens and he walks inside with a heavy heart. Immediately, he flips all the lights on because the dark scares the life out of him. The light seems friendlier. He sees his computer desk on his right and he ignores Yuta’s words of “taking a rest.” There’s no way he can take a rest after tonight. Working on his book and staying up for a whole night seems like a more wonderful idea than sleeping. Images of Johnny will just come crawling into his brain after closing his eyes, and he definitely doesn’t want that.

Taeyong sits on the spinning chair at his desk and just the feeling of sitting satisfies him. Relief and relaxation calms him down after sitting. He taps the power button on his computer and the screen flashes on, but as a result, a loud, deep scream escapes his mouth.

He pushes his chair away from the computer harshly, his chest becomes tight, his breathing is choppy, his eyes are filled with tones of pink and red, and pupils are dilated to the maximum. He is about to scream a second time but all he can do is stare. Trembling can’t describe what his body is doing; he’s falling just from the amounts of shakiness in his legs. His chest is in pain from how fast his heart is racing. He’s losing control. He can’t handle the sight he’s seeing.

An image of Johnny in the bathtub full of water mixed with his own blood pops up on Taeyong’s screen. Johnny’s eyes are wide open and dead, his left leg sticks out of the tub because of how tall he is, and both of his arms are below the line of the water. Johnny wears a white t-shirt with holes right atop of his heart area from the stab he received.

It’s hard to believe that Taeyong was just at this cabin a few hours ago with the others. It’s hard to believe that he literally saw Johnny like this in person three years ago. But Taeyong isn’t so worried about the picture as much as he’s worried about the note added atop of the picture on a different window on the screen.

I KNOW ONE OF YOU DID IT.