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Chapter 16: Don’t Wanna Know

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“I can’t believe you did that.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just… No, you’re right. This was a terrible idea, but I didn’t think he would get so… sloppy.”

JB shifted the boy's weight on his shoulders, “That’s because you don’t know him at all. You may think you have some idea, but you’ve only been here for a few days. I’ve lived with him for years, and I still feel like I barely know him. This wasn’t just a terrible idea. It was extremely dangerous, and on top of that you lied to me about where you were. What if something really terrible had happened? What if-?”

“Okay, okay,” I said cutting off JB’s onslaught as we drug an unconscious Jinyoung through the front door, “I made a huge mistake, but I really am sorry.”

JB sighed and continued in a hushed tone, “I still don’t understand why you went there with him. You’re just lucky Irene’s already asleep on the couch, because if she were awake you’d have to hear her complaints about this too.”

“Hmm, he must be the lucky one, because it’s definitely not me,” I nodded my head in Jinyoung’s direction as JB helped me set him down on the hallway floor, “but, wait, how are we going to get him upstairs to the divan?”

“We aren’t. He’s not that lucky,” JB jammed a pillow into Jinyoung’s side either to steady him from falling over from his upright position against the wall or just to indirectly punch him. I wasn’t quite sure which it was. “Still I think anyone who has people worried sick about them is pretty lucky.”

I noticed JB look over at me as the dimly lit front hallway filled with an uncomfortable silence. I wanted to say something, anything, but there was no need. JB nudged me swiftly with his elbow.

“You look tired, and I, for one, definitely am. Let’s head upstairs.”

“Thanks, JB.”

“Don’t mention it.”

As we climbed the steps to the second floor, I fully expected JB to suggest I sleep in the practice room tonight instead of Jinyoung’s room, considering that Jinyoung was now using neither, but he only broke his silence once to say good night then continued up the stairs to the third floor alone. I let out a heavy sigh.

So much for keeping JB from worrying about me. God, I really mess everything up.

As I shuffled down the hall to Jinyoung’s door, however, my mind was pulled from self-pity to that same creeping sense of curiosity from the bar. My hand clutched the doorknob as my mind flashed to Jackson’s comment from earlier in the day.

“He could have dead bodies in there. He could be a hoarder for all you know. A hoarder of dead bodies.” Pssshhhh… that’s ridiculous… is what I want to think… but JB’s right. I really don’t know anything about him. Oh, well, there’s no point standing here and making myself crazy with the possibilities, and there’s no way in hell I’m falling asleep on that divan, so it’s either Jinyoung’s room or the hallway beside him.

I shivered at the thought.

Room it is.

As quietly as possible I opened the door (like all of the doors to bedrooms in this house it had no lock) and reached in my hand to find a light switch to flip. At first glance the room was strange, but not in the way J