Baekhyun and Kyungsoo have been friends for- how long now? Must have been at least ten years and they’re still close as ever. Right now, though, is the first time in a long while they’ve gone on a trip. The last time, they were both still in college, and now, they’re working adults – well, adults is quite a big word. They’re working though and could afford a little time off in the late days of spring.

They couldn’t very well leave Jongdae behind, as he’s been part of their group since a little later and, well, it’s always more fun with more people. It’s the reason Chanyeol is here too, even though Baekhyun was pretty unsure about that. Kyungsoo reassured him though, that he’d make sure Chanyeol wouldn’t be annoying. Impossible, Baekhyun had said, but Kyungsoo knows him better than that and apparently, he knew he had wanted to give the lanky man another chance. Not in the last place because he knows of Baekhyun’s little crush. However, he should also know it’s horrible to accept the endless teasing of the tall man… But well, Baekhyun thinks, if Kyungsoo says he’ll keep Chanyeol in check, then that’s what he’ll do.

They’re sitting in the main area of the wooden cabin in the woods, cans of beer scattered around them as they’re playing board games. Pretty innocent, you’d think, but that’s far from the truth. A score is being kept – Kyungsoo takes this much too seriously – and the one with the most losses at the end of the night will face severe punishment.

“Yah Chanyeol, you’re cheating!” Baekhyun says, exasperated as Chanyeol’s move makes him unable to make the move he planned to, but nobody seemed to have been paying attention. Or maybe nobody seems to think Chanyeol cheats at all. Added to it, Baekhyun doesn’t particularly notice how his tongue feels a little thick, but the others do.

“Sore loser?” Jongdae teases and Kyungsoo laughs as he draws another line behind Baekhyun’s name. He hasn’t even lost this game yet, though.

“Guys,” he protests, squinting at the board, but his brow furrows, “alright, alright I’ll give up this time.” This time? How many times did he already say that? He glances at Kyungsoo’s slip of paper and feels himself get uncomfortable. “Okay this can’t be right,” he says, but looks at the cans around him. If these are all his, he had way too much to drink – how did he not feel it coming? Sure his vision has been a little blurry for an hour or so, but that could also be because he should go to sleep sometime soon, right?

“Wow Baek, didn’t know it was this bad,” Jongdae says and rips the sheet of paper from Kyungsoo’s hand to examine it. “Shall I take this loss for you?” he proposes, but the cheeky smile on his face is all Baekhyun needs to know. It won’t make a difference now anyway.

“If anyone should, it’s me,” Chanyeol says, but his voice is quiet and it makes no sense, but Baekhyun can’t say anything makes sense to him as he’s pretty drunk.

“Ah off, I’ll go pack my things,” Baekhyun says – slurs, he realizes. In his right mind, he probably wouldn’t have cursed either. Did he do that before as well? He shakes his head as if to let the thoughts out of his mind and then stands up. As he does, he sees Chanyeol doesn’t have any lines behind his name and it somehow angers him. “He cheats,” he accuses, pointing a wobbly finger, but everyone else just laughs at him. How could they not?

The cool air outside makes Baekhyun shiver. Not because it’s actually cold, but because the alcohol heated him up pretty badly and the cool wind feels that much colder. How could he have been so stupid? Of course it’s Chanyeol – it has always been Chanyeol. Baekhyun shakes his head. Ever since they met, Chanyeol has been particularly difficult to him. He noticed soon enough that one little detail said too much, would haunt him forever.

He chuckles at himself when he remembers complaining to Kyungsoo how the lanky man always remembers too much. Baekhyun remembers how he even stayed up at night, just trying to remember what he said to Chanyeol, just so he’d know if there would be anything the other could use against him. He shakes his head, no use thinking about it now.

But it’s too late as he trips over the root of a large tree and the tent he held under his arm, flies forward. Baekhyun sees the ground come closer, but is unable to regain his balance. He curses right when his wrist breaks the fall and his arm is covered in dirt. He has the mind to think about whether this was caused by him being drunk, or thinking of Chanyeol too much, but brushes it off as he stands up painfully.

“Why do these things happen to me,” he asks out loud, as there’s nobody around anyway. The only sound he hears, are the crickets, though he knows they’ll quiet down for the night soon. He sighs when he looks at his arm, sees it’s not as bad as he figured it would be, but that’s only because he fell on the forest ground.

He bends over carefully to pick up the tent and dreads the moment he has to go set it up all by himself. And then he’ll have to pump up the air mattress and maybe then he can sleep. Sounds like an awful lot of work to be doing in the middle of the night, but Baekhyun has no other choice. He isn’t going to sleep outside of a tent, neither is he planning to sleep on the floor without at least some form of comfort.

But it takes ages. Well, hours, but it’s still too long to drunk Baekhyun’s liking. Occasionally, he groans when things don’t go right and to be honest, that’s all the time. The flashlight he set up, keeps falling over at the slightest gust of wind and it shrouds the world around him in darkness time and time again. It’s a good thing he brought a lot of water as it’s exhausting to do all of this alone. It also should help sobering up faster – Baekhyun isn’t quite sure of that at the moment.

As he’s busy, it’s easy to pretend he isn’t scared out here alone. All he has to do, is keep himself occupied and he won’t have to think, but he’s almost done and that’s scary. He crawls inside the tent to shove the air mattress in. He has a blanket, but now that he flopped on his belly and lies down finally, he doesn’t want to go grab it. He wants to close the tent though, at least, and he forces himself to turn back around one more time to zip the tent door closed. As if that will provide him with any form of protection.

It’s a good thing he is so tired, because he falls asleep right after he lies back down. There was no time for him to think about his safety anymore – if he would have started, there’d have been no stopping. The same goes for thoughts about Chanyeol, though he still seems to haunt him in his dreams.

Baekhyun jolts awake, but doesn’t dare to move. He hears footsteps close by – way to close by – and he doesn’t know whether it’s his mind playing tricks on him, or if it’s actually true. He holds his breath, to hear clearer, but wishes he didn’t. Someone is here, that much is certain and Baekhyun feels how cold sweat breaks out of every pore in his system. Someone is here, the thought makes his heart pound loudly in his chest and he knows his breathing isn’t quiet either. Whoever’s out there surely must know of his presence.

The footsteps near and Baekhyun feels how a tear slips from his wide-open eye. What should he do? Should he go outside and ask why the hell the guys followed him? He has half a mind to yell that it’s not funny, but he doesn’t dare to. His heartbeat sounds so loudly in his ears that he’s afraid it’s audible, even when he holds his breath for a few seconds. With the fear running through him, though, he can’t hold it for long.

For a little while, it’s like the person wandering around outside the tent, crouches down, as if examining something and Baekhyun wishes he could just die already. He can’t handle this and he’s sure he’ll get a heart-attack soon, but somehow, he holds on to life. Several times, he opens his mouth, wants to say leave, but doesn’t – he simply doesn’t dare to. Even though he knows the person outside must know he’s in there – why else would there be a tent? – but he still has the stupid thought that he shouldn’t give himself away.

But then, he hears the person gasp – and it is right beside Baekhyun’s face – as another pair of footsteps sounds. He can’t make out what happens next, he only hears growls, whines, howls, a massive struggle and then silence. For a good while, there’s silence around him, until he hears soft sobbing. The sound of someone crying ebbs away as the footsteps lead further back into the woods.

But Baekhyun still lies there, for the rest of the night. Eyes wide open, hand covering his mouth and drying tears down the sides of his face. Why does it take so long for the sun to rise? Why must it stay dark for such a long time? Why doesn’t he dare stand up and go outside? Will they come back? Why did it sound like animals fighting? Surely, Baekhyun heard footsteps, not paws, not the rhythmic sound of an animal walking by. Someone stopped by his tent and Baekhyun is not sure if he should have survived this at all.

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Well, here's the first chapter c: I hope you like it! Thank you so much for already subscribing and giving an upvote! <3 I hope it doesn't disappoint!