Never mistake silence for weakness. No one plans a murder out loud.

Wouldn’t it be such delightful knowledge, this being just a simple nightmare? In the four’s minds, it definitely would. This is their last straw in the cup that held many. Their last straw was their last bet on keeping their calm and composure. They did well even if they broke down numerous times in the last few days, but now, this is different. Being in a mild state has finally come to an end, and it is time for them to break.

The four are standing in Taeyong’s apartment, stunned like they’ve been electrocuted. All the hairs on their frail bodies lift up from the shock, and goose bumps form after reading the last line: it’s one of you. Their hearts thunder—it would be strange if they didn’t hear each other’s heartbeats. They knew they had to be prepared for a note, but they did not figure that they had to be prepared for something this outlandish.

Being insane is the new norm, and it pains them to know that. After arriving at Camp Greystoke and dealing with various incidents that all had one thing in common: the death of a companion, it seems like there is an endless supply of insanity waiting at the door for them. And what is even more painful is not knowing when it will end.

“Oh my god.” Taeil is the first one to actually allow a sound to escape his throat. It is completely impossible to speak, but Taeil does anyway under his last breath that he can even exhale. He feels like vomiting all of his insides as his eyes begin to be contaminated by red. “No, no, no. Please, no!” His voice becomes heavy, shaking up the entire room after his meltdown. He covers his face with his pale, fragile hands, hiding the tears that insist on abandoning his eyes, but the sad part is that the tears will always come back.

Far from Taeil’s burst of emotions, the other three are quiet, but their fear is shown on their pretty, little faces. Jaehyun, the one who is supposed to be the strongest and the most composed, suddenly bites his lower lip and closes his eyes. He is about to break down and cry without even thinking of his reputation anymore. He can’t possibly feel the need to protect his tough image at the thought of a manipulative soul trying to play with his mind. After all the mess he went through at his basketball game, he doesn’t even understand how he can have another meltdown. It is like one after another, all starting from Yuta’s birthday party—no, it all started after he saw Johnny in that bathtub, blood poisoning the water he was thrown in.

Jaehyun attaches his back to the wall behind him and slides down until he feels the chills that transfer from the cold floor to his body. Once his whole face is buried behind his knees, thoughts run through his mind like they are screaming from the fun they are having, jumping and laughing at him. Insanity laughs at the soul.

“It’s one of you. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Ten’s voice breaks throughout his speech, but he manages to get his thought across. He is fidgety, and anyone could tell that he is about to explode from his impatience. His right foot is constantly tapping, his body keeps shaking, and he is pacing around left to right because he can’t control himself. His brain and heart can’t keep up to his boggled emotions. It just feels like the world is about to be run down in flames. A tear leaves Ten’s right eye, and once he feels it, more tears pour out from panic and fright. He clenches his teeth and tries to hold his voice back from his sobbing and all that comes out of his mouth is his short breaths.

Unlike the enjoyable insanity feeding off of Ten, Jaehyun, and Taeil’s fear, Taeyong stands there wide-eyed like he has been stunned into a statue with a shocked expression. It is unusual for Taeyong to freak out like the rest of them due to his wall that he’s tried so hard to build up for himself. He freaked out after the first note, but this note is conpletely different.  He has been working so hard not to show emotions like these after the incident, but now it is time for his hard work to be wasted. His hard work is thrown away like trash that was just waiting to be picked up and disposed of. The worst kind of state to be in is the quiet one during a room full of horror because no one can predict what he or she will do once broken.

“Someone knows that we were there that night,” Taeyong says under his breath, the phrase running through his brain on repeat. Even if his voice is quiet, everyone in the room has chills run down their spines. Now it is his turn to break down. He’s been trying to keep his panicked state on a low-key basis, but now everything is just pouring out. There is no time to control himself—he wants to scream. The facial expression that Taeyong shows is the worst the other three have ever seen. Ten stops his jittery feet, Taeil releases his hands that cover his face, and Jaehyun lifts his head. They have always wondered how Taeyong was able to keep calm throughout all of the incidents they’ve been through for the past two days, but now they wish he just stayed that way.

This mystery man came into his home once again—the one place he actually felt safe in. This man invaded his precious territory and made it burn into dust. Instead of the usual fear that ran through Taeyong’s veins whenever there was a situation relating to Johnny’s murder for the past days, Taeyong is now in rage. And when there is rage, someone has to be on the receiving end of this rage: someone to blame.

“We swore never to tell! We swore not to talk about it!” Taeyong pauses after his outburst and he runs his fingers through his black hair. He stares at each one of them, having no inner feelings anymore but one: fear that has been transformed into rage. Fear is taking over him like when he found the first note on his computer. This second note was much different than the first. It shows that it is very easy for this mystery man to just come into his home like it’s nothing. It shows that he can invade Taeyong’s everyday life as he pleases. It shows that there is someone who is playing with him. “Did one of you snitch?” He accuses so lightly with a devilish glare at each one of them: at Jaehyun who asked if he was okay when they first saw each other after three years, at Ten who he has been fond of for a very long time, and Taeil who tries to talk to him even if they experienced something so dreadful. Taeyong is not in his right mind, and he blames the people he could have trusted more.

“What did you just say?” Taeil reacts in disbelief, feeling as if he’s been accused for nothing, but for some reason, he concurs. No one else was there but them (at least that is what they believe). “H-How could you even say that?” Ten is even more shocked by Taeyong’s reaction to this whole mess. Ten has never—not once—seen Taeyong like this. It is like the real Taeyong suddenly vanished into thin air and was replaced by a demon.

“Tae-Taeyong, no one here would ever do that,” Ten says softly with a broken voice due to his crying. He wants to calm the guy down but it seems nearly impossible at this point. But there was someone who each of them should be more afraid of in this very room.

There sits Jaehyun with a glare as blood-lusted as Taeyong’s. He looks up at Taeyong as he sits against the wall with an aura of black and red shedding.

“You mother—“ Jaehyun shouts as he stands back up and grips onto Taeyong’s collar. Jaehyun is not feeling gracious as he is just as frightened as the rest. He can barely believe he is in this state, letting out all of his emotions. Not once has he grabbed someone’s collar from rage, but this time is the only time he is letting his true self show. Taeyong’s eyes grow wider than they already were, but they aren’t wide due to fear of Jaehyun punching him:  they are wide due to the same rage. It is like their anger is at the same wavelength. This is what fear does: it makes one angry, and anger produces blame and self-righteousness. “Do you think we’re ing idiots?! I can barely even say his name after all these years!”

“Then why?! Why the do you think we’re in this state now?!” Taeyong pulls off the guy’s hands through force and pushes him away with clear intention of starting a fight, but before anything worse happens, Ten holds him back and Taeil holds Jaehyun back.

“Guys, stop fighting! It won’t solve anything!” Ten cries as he wraps his arms around Taeyong’s torso. Taeil, even if he is weaker than Jaehyun by a hundred, he uses as much strength as he can to hold him back. “Don’t be stupid!” Once Taeyong hears Ten’s desperate cries, he gradually calms down his bloodlust. Ten and Taeil cannot believe that two calmest are suddenly becoming the most sensitive. Jaehyun slowly cools down as well. He has no idea why he even reacted that way; he’s never done that before. It is amazing what fear can do to someone’s personality: it brings out the worst.

“I-I’m sorry,” Taeyong apologizes sincerely, in shock from what just happened, and Ten releases him slowly. He doesn’t even know why he did that either; it was completely out of character for him. It just suddenly happened. It felt as if he was blinded by his own trauma that made him blame the others. “I—“

“Forget it,” Jaehyun spats out with no remorse as he peels Taeil off of him. Taeyong was lucky because Jaehyun’s strength is nowhere near comparable. Jaehyun would have knocked Taeyong’s teeth out if the fight went any further. Even if Jaehyun is angry with the guy, he can’t deny that he would never hurt him. He understands what Taeyong went through in the past, but that does not give him a ticket out of anything. “I’m going home.” Jaehyun declares, but unfortunately, Taeyong brought them all to his apartment with Yuta’s car. Jaehyun knows that going home is one of the most stupid things to do at the moment, but as of now, he feels like he needs to leave this hell hole.

“What? How?” Taeil asks, still shocked from the sudden fight that just took place. He has seen plenty of fights from high school, but this one made his nerves explode.

“By foot,” Jaehyun says as he calms himself down. The three can still see anger boiling his blood. He stomps to the door and pulls it open hastily. Honestly, he just wants to rest even after all these meltdowns. He went to a forbidden place, cabin 27, he met these three guys he swore never to see again, he received that basketball with that note—he just wants to be alone.

“Jaehyun! You can’t!” Ten shouts from worry of just going outside. Jaehyun stops his tracks as turns around from Ten’s sudden shout. “If you go outside— if you leave—“ He’s right, and Jaehyun can feel it from his intuition. Is he safe?

It is sad thinking that they can’t even feel safe inside and outside of their homes. But this is the fate set up for them.

He doesn’t listen and takes a few steps outside before noticing something completely wrong with the scene. Something is there that there wasn’t before he entered this apartment. His face becomes pale and his breathing rhythm is interrupted. His eyes are enlarged, and he feels the need to run inside. He isn’t far from the door frame, and he is just about to step back into Taeyong’s apartment due to even more fear. The three notice him suddenly stopping and question why he is. Goosebumps crawl up Jaehyun’s arms and legs once he slowly turns his head to the right to justify the chilling image he just saw.

Once he sees it, he steps to his left, backing up as much as he can.

“Jaehyun?” Ten says his name in worry.

“Are you okay?” Taeyong speaks next feeling afraid of what might he be staring at that is triggering this reaction.

Jaehyun breathes deeply before walking up closer.

There on the door frame is a folded note stabbed right in the center with a pair of black scissors. The scissors are jabbed completely through the folded note and into the white door frame, waiting for someone to pull it off.

Jaehyun, nervous to the maximum, takes two shaky steps closer to the note. He doesn’t want to open the note, but he knows that if he doesn’t, it would be a mistake. He reaches for the black scissors with his most shaky, yet tense right hand. The note feels like it is a bomb and if he doesn’t attempt to stop it, it will blow up in his face. He clenches his teeth and he reaches for the scissors, and he wraps his fingers around it to pull it out. His heartbeat accelerates from just this action—pulling out a pair of scissors. It sounds so simple, but it is probably one of the more difficult things he has ever done.

The three see a pair of scissors in his hand, and they become speechless and wide-eyed. Taeyong, especially, due to his own door frame being invaded by the worst of the worst. The scissors have a folded piece of paper through them which makes this situation entirely worse because there is probably something written in it. Jaehyun eyes each of the three with the most traumatized look once again.

The anonymous person was at this very doorstep while they were inside.

Each of them becomes more fragile by the second. They want to scream, run, and hide, but they can’t because this anonymous person has already made their own homes feel unsafe. Jaehyun steps inside with the pair of scissors while carefully sliding the note off its sharp blades. He unfolds the note with his trembling fingers while taking a huge gulp.

“Oh my god,” Jaehyun says after a huff before reading the note to the rest of them.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. — Plato, 20:17.”

“What does that even mean?” Ten, not being the most intelligent with quotes and riddles, becomes dumbfounded. “Why is he suddenly quoting someone else?”

“He wants to play with our minds,” Taeil states while holding his forehead from having a headache. “Wait, who is Plato anyway?”

“He’s a philosopher—a very important one. He had very controversial and flexible views of society’s knowledge and education,” Taeyong, being a writer, explains this philosopher respectfully. “He is also one of my favorites.” Taeyong gives himself the chills because this mystery man can’t just coincidentally use a quote from one of his favorite philosophers. It is completely out of the ordinary.

“Maybe the mystery guy is giving this note just for you, Taeyong,” Ten declares feeling shamed because he finds some relief in not having a note just for himself. “He might’ve used Plato for a reason.”

“Might’ve? No, it’s a definite reason,” Jaehyun adds in more chills down Taeyong’s spine like the guy hasn’t had enough. He hands the note to Taeyong for the guy to figure out what this note even means.

“He’s naming our life a tragedy because we’re afraid of the light,” Taeyong says with even more fear crawling down his arms and legs. He really can’t take this anymore. “The light means the outside. We’re afraid of stepping outside,” Taeyong guesses—no, he is sure. But for some reason, he feels as if the quote is not as important. Taeyong may not be as strong as Jaehyun, as flexible as Ten, or as vocally gifted as Taeil, but he sure has a brain. As a writer, he has a larger range of thoughts which means he has the potential to dissect this strange note. “Wait.” He pauses. The other three are constantly on their feet, hoping for an escape from this lovely nightmare. “P-Plato is all about education, right? And 20:17 must mean a time or something. In the 24-hour clock, it would be 8:17.”

“So, what are you trying to say?” Jaehyun asks in confusion to what the guy is implying.

“He wants us to go to our high school at 8:17pm,” Taeyong concludes which makes everyone feel the need to run from this insane idea.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Taeil is about to walk out of that door and jump off the staircase. None of them want to go back to their old high school, especially at night. That high school was the source of all their anxieties and all of their bad memories. They would never go back there voluntarily. They just wouldn’t. But now, what do they do? They can’t just ignore the message after all of these notes being sent to them in forms of technology or use of their personal lives.

“This is insane. Why the hell should we go back there?” Jaehyun is absolutely against this idea, especially because it doesn’t even say it directly on the note. Taeyong could be wrong for all they know. “And this is completely your guess, so it could be wrong.”

“No, this mystery man is too smart to give a message without direct meaning. He wrote this message because he knew Taeyong would be smart enough to get the idea from it,” Ten protests, still in shock from just the thought of going back there. There is no question as to why he would reject going back there. Instead of bad memories like the rest of them, Ten has the good ones: memories of his friendship with Johnny.

“It is almost time. What will happen if we don’t go?” Taeil questions something important to consider. The worst part about this is that they fear what will happen if they go, but also fear what will happen if they don’t. “What do we do?”

Out of all of the four, Taeyong has to have to worst memories of them all. High school was like a hell-hole for him. Every day, he dreaded arriving there and he wanted to leave as fast as he could. Every second of his time in a school, he hated. Not because of the continuous hours of studying or doing homework, but just the people—the people were the worst part of the whole educational system. If he had to choose anything he could change about his high school career, it would be the people.

“Of all the places this jackass picks, he picks the high school,” Taeyong frustratingly speaks due to this mystery man that is obviously playing with Taeyong the most. It is like he is the first victim to all of this guy’s games. It sickens him. Taeyong gives the note a disgusted yet angry expression that creates more flames in his soul. “I can’t believe he was right behind that door while we were in here.” Taeyong wants to throw up. He really can’t handle any more of this crap.

“How weird, he didn’t say any rules. Like, do we come alone? Can we bring stuff with us like weapons for protection? Usually someone would,” Ten adds important content to this simple, yet diverse note that is triggering their minds.

“I’ve noticed this, but the notes always say ‘one of you’ which means this guy doesn’t even know who actually did it either,” Taeil tries to play detective. The four have realized that panicking and screaming will get them nowhere; it is time to figure this whole thing out instead of whining. “So maybe he is trying to figure out who did it.”

“So he is aiming at us: the witnesses,” Jaehyun finishes Taeil off. The four eye each other in a sense of figuring out the situation, and they feels like they’ve gotten a basic image of how this mystery man thinks.

“And bringing weapons or anything at all will make him believe that one of us truly did it,” Taeyong concludes which leads him to the thought that they shouldn’t bring anything and just themselves. This is becoming way too real to comprehend for them. They never thought that they’d ever go back to that horrid school. It was like Johnny’s home-base.

They all eye each other nervously and take a huge gulp that feels like poison running down their throats.

All four of them sit in Taeyong’s car in silence. It is currently 7:50pm which means 8:17pm is getting closer and closer by the second. Their hearts beat rapidly and uncontrollably because of how nervous they are. They don’t know what to expect from this mystery guy. Obviously this guy isn’t fond of them, and they worry about what he might do out of the distaste for them. They never thought they’d ever have to prepare themselves for a situation like this one.

The sky is toning down its hues and is approaching a dark palette of colors which has them even more nervous. Their high school is not scary because of just the memories that are locked away in it, it is scary because it is abandoned. The school shut down after Johnny’s death—that was how impactful it was.

“Shouldn’t we get going? It is almost time,” Taeil says as near as silent because of his nerves building up inside of him. He sits next to Taeyong in the front while Jaehyun and Ten sit in the back. Taeyong really doesn’t want to go. His hesitance shines under the moonlight, and each of them can see it. Each of them knows what hardships Taeyong has gone through during high school; he was always a target of the worst rumors.

“Uh, y-yeah,” Taeyong speaks soullessly yet full of displeasure just at the thought of going back. His trembling hand wraps around his car key and he pushes his hand forward towards the keyhole. He doesn’t want to put it in, but he does anyway from the amount of stares he is getting from the other three. He turns the key to the right and he hears the car’s engine roar. “H-Here we go.”

The car begins to move, and they are heading towards the source of their insanity. If they could pinpoint the real area of where this whole monstrosity began, it would be the high school. This is where the four—no five, including Johnny—met, and it was definitely hard to call each other the term “friends.” They were never friends, just merely people they noticed while passing each other in the hallways. But once they all went to Camp Greystoke, they were then chained together forever.

The minutes in the car ride feel like hours because they keep eyeing the clock before them. It is currently 8:10pm, and they are getting closer to the school. At the corner of their eyes, they see a building; it is a rusty brown, tall, and obviously abandoned from the moss that grows on the corners of the rectangle-like structure. The grass looks uncut and it seems like no one has come to the school in years (three years, perhaps).

“We’re here,” Ten says with a shaky voice. He’s not ready just like the rest of them. He is not ready to remember all the great times he had with Johnny and he definitely does not want to remember the bad ones. The four never thought it would be so nerve-wracking to hear just two simple words.

As a result, Taeyong parks the car in the parking lot. It is currently 8:12pm which means they have exactly five minutes to get out and go inside. Jaehyun is completely speechless at this point. He doesn’t understand a single thing. The worst is that he has only five minutes to actually prepare himself.

“Whatever happens, we have to stick together,” Taeyong orders because he does not want to be responsible for any of this. He is the one who called out the meaning of the note, he is the one who drove them to this gate of hell, and he is the one who brought them to his apartment in the first place. He does not want to be responsible for someone who might get hurt. He twists his upper body to look at Jaehyun and Ten who look more stunned as of ever. “You hear me?” Taeyong sounds absolutely serious which makes this whole thing feel even more real. The other three nod in agreement and slowly climb out of the car. They walk towards the silent building which has their awful memories locked inside just like a box waiting to be unlocked. There is no turning back now; they must go through with this.

They step closer to the entrance and see that the door is slightly open, making this experience much more eerie. Everyone takes a breath and steps closer and closer. Taeyong is in the front and he pushes the door open fully, taking a peek inside the darkness that is waiting to consume them.

“I really don’t like this,” Taeil speaks while rubbing his arms as if he is cold, but the temperature is fine. The four are cold from the inside and out.

The four take a huge gulp before feeding themselves to the darkness. Luckily, they all have their phones and pull them out to create a flashlight for themselves. Their flashlights allow the opened lockers and the dusty floor shine under their radiance. What makes them flinch a bit is when they see a lone desk right in front of them, at least five steps away. The desk is weird enough, but what catches their eyes the most is the phone that sits on top of it.

All of a sudden, the phone begins to ring on full blast with none other than the one song they hate the most: Johnny’s favorite song. Each of them jump from the sudden outburst of the ringtone. All of them are shocked because Taeyong was right. The mystery man is waiting for them at this building, and they know it is him because this ringtone was not set up coincidentally.

“Do we just p-pick it up?” Ten questions in fright from who is calling. Jaehyun then pushes Taeyong forward as the candidate to pick up the phone which makes Taeyong in panic mode from the hasty push. Even so, Taeyong reaches for the phone and swipes the green phone button in order to accept the call. There is silence on the other line, and Taeyong doesn’t say a thing either and puts the phone on speaker.

“Lee Taeyong,” they hear a deep and husky voice from the other line. Taeyong feels like bugs are crawling up his back from hearing his name. His name shouldn’t be something he should be afraid of, but suddenly he is. “Jung Jaehyun,” the guy says next, voice obviously pitched on purpose in order to hide his real voice. Jaehyun’s eyes are terribly wide from hearing his name being called. “Moon Taeil.” Taeil knew his name was coming soon, but he couldn’t prepare himself from the chills that overcome him. “And Ten.” Ten hates hearing his name come from the mouth of an anonymous, evil soul.

“Who the hell are you?” Taeyong angrily speaks from finally meeting the person who seemingly knows they were there that night.

“Great job, Lee Taeyong. I knew you’d figure out my note. How smart, how lovely,” the mystery man comments which annoys the hell out of Taeyong. “Let’s make this short: if you do not follow my orders, I will kill you just like you killed him. I know one of you did it. I know one of you killed Johnny Seo.”

“How would you know—“

“Shut up! Do not interrupt me!” Taeyong gulps as he shuts up. “Lee Taeyong: A301, Jung Jaehyun: B211, Moon Taeil: C448, Ten: D313.  You will answer my questions, and one will be chosen.” The man hangs up the phone which has them speechless. They all remember the room they are supposed to go to, but they are afraid the follow his orders. This man is definitely not someone who they should mess with.

“He threatened to kill us!” Taeil whispers unintentionally as he freaks out. “Oh my god.”

“Let’s go. The sooner we answer his questions, the faster we get out of here,” Jaehyun states with pure sincerity because he just wants to get over this and go back to playing basketball. But as of now, living a normal life is completely impossible.

“He said one of us will be chosen. What does he mean by that?” Ten questions quietly because he feels as if they’re being watched.

“Whatever, let’s just go. I want to get out of here as much as you guys, so let’s follow his orders and get this over with.” Taeyong’s words are the complete opposite of how he actually feels. He wants to burst from all the anxiety and he wants to scream for help, but all of that is useless. This man literally threatened to kill them if they didn’t follow his orders, so the most logical thing at the moment is to go with what they got. “Let’s use the staircase.”

Each of them makes their way to the staircase feeling nauseous because they feel as if their lives are available for murder. They have no idea what is in store for them. This mystery man is completely insane, threatening the only witnesses of Johnny’s murder. But they have no time to argue: they must go through with this.

As they go up the stairs, Taeyong’s floor is first, Jaehyun’s is second, and so on. They don’t want to leave each other alone. Taeyong’s rule was to stick together, but now that rule has to be broken. They cannot defy the mystery man’s rules or else they will be the subject of the man’s killing.

“If something happens, make sure to pull out your phone and call. Once you get into the classrooms, I want you to open a window and if something is wrong, you scream. Got it?” Taeyong assures each one of them that there is a plan and if they are in trouble, they must go through with it.

Each is dropped off at their separate floors and heads into the classrooms that were chosen. They do not like the feeling of being alone in a place like this, especially with the guy who is willing to kill them. Taeyong arrives at his classroom, and he already knows which one this is. He enters carefully, and the first thing he eyes is the desk in the far corner of the room: Johnny’s desk. This was Taeyong and Johnny’s first classroom of their high school careers. This was also Taeyong’s worst year of his life.

In Jaehyun’s place, he walks inside his classroom and he sees all the desks except for one: Johnny’s desk. This classroom was for Jaehyun and Johnny’s second year of high school, a completely different one from Taeyong’s. The only difference was that the desk of Johnny’s was not there, leaving Jaehyun shivers and feelings scared for his life.

Taeil’s, perhaps, was not an actual classroom, but he knows this room way too well. This is one of the music rooms where he always was. There is a large piano at the center, rusty and out-of-tune. He used to be excited just to come to this room, but now, this room was nowhere near exciting and delightful.

Last but not least, Ten arrives at his classroom, but the only thing different between his and everyone else’s is that this classroom had no significance to him at all. It was completely random. He walks over to the windows and follows Taeyong’s plan of having one open. Jaehyun, Taeil, and Taeyong do the exact same thing and open one of their windows. Ten is shaking and shivering like there is no tomorrow, because honestly, there might not even be a tomorrow. He waits for something to happen, but nothing does, so he sits and waits.

Taeyong, Taeil, and Jaehyun receive a call from a blocked number. They are suspicious, but they pick up the call anyway. Ten? He doesn’t receive a call—not even one. He stands behind the window that he just opened and waits.

It is beautiful: the night sky. The stars shine as bright as they could ever shine, and the moon is almost full which makes him feel slightly happy even if he is in this building he never wanted to come back to. He gives a sigh of relaxation just from the alluring view.

But the view becomes something so dangerous and distracting once he feels a hand atop of his mouth, preventing him from screaming out to help his poor, little soul.

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