It has passed roughly an hour since you last were up. There has not been a single drop of rain in forever. Dawn has yet to hatch; the night still thrives through the morning abyss with its strength left from the heavy hour. As time has passed, nothing has occurred, or yet you would think.

A light knock echos through the walls of your house, breaking the taciturnity. Both of you stay settle in your rooms, not moving a muscle. Another knock strikes your front door with a loud thud. A gap of silence occurs. N tosses and turns in bed, anxiously. Another bash sparks the door. He scrunches his face and blinks a couple of times.  Slowly, he brings himself up with his arms. He plants his hands behind his back, giving his upper body support. N tightly digs his fingers into the sides of his pillow. He keeps his mouth shut and stays on guard. He tries to look around the room, though the room keeps its black cloak on. For a moment he lays there almost drifting off. Suddenly, a thick slam from the bottom of the stairs s him up. In a flash, his head jerks straight towards the entrance of the bedroom. He quickly flings the covers off him and gets out of the bed. He staggeringly reaches the door of the bedroom and pulls the knob open. He clenches the door frame as he stays put for a second, trying to hear if the sound will happen again. Not a sound.

He whispers to himself, “That sounded frightening. I should go tell Hope… I don’t want to disturb her though.”, N takes a breath, “ I don’t like this-this makes me feel uneasy.”. N pushes himself off the door frame and heads back to his bed. The knock disintegrates the absence of sound once again. In fear, he leaves the flashlight in the bedroom and bolts to the door. Taking a step into the hallway, his shoulders remain tight and his legs stay tense. “That was definitely a knock.”, he runs to the end of the ravine to your bedroom. N hits your door with full force. Unable to function easily in his blind state, he rubs his hands around the door as if he only has seconds left. He gets a grasp on the knob and swooshes it out of his way. He rushes over to the side of your bed and pats the covers, trying to feel where you are. He spreads his hands across the sheets, suddenly he finds your arm and gets ahold of it.

Shaking your shoulder desperately, he whimpers, “Hope. Hope. There’s someone out there. I keep hearing the door.”. You feel the top of your arm locked in place, vibrating rapidly.

You hesitantly look up and see black space everywhere, “N-N? Is that you?! Is this your hand?”

“This is me, yes. There’s someone outside, I keep hearing this knocking. Do you know who it is? It’s really freaky.”

“...No.”

Knocking? At this time? Who would-

“It’s been reoccuring a lot. It’s like they won’t leave.”, N’s words get a little shaky.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“You want me to go down, is that what you’re saying?”

If that’s what you’re saying then no way.

“I was thinking both of us. It’s not safe for one of us to go down there.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go?”

You can just tell by his tone of voice that he doesn't want to check. “Let’s go.”, you insist. “Take the flashlight though.”, you both walk out of your room with fake confidence. You stand out in the hallway, while N grabs the flashlight from his room. A beam of light blinks on from the corner of his door. The two of you give each other a nod and head to the beginning of the steps with the little light source. As you both walk down the stairs, the knocking starts up again, but non-stop. “It’s getting more fierce, I’m going back up.”, you turn around and leap up a step behind him.

N whispers, “You’ll be fine, I’m right by your side.”

“But what if there’s a wacko at the door!?”

“Shh, it may be, but we’ve got to at least check what we’re dealing with.”

Eeh, I don’t want to know.

“What if they have a weapon, have you thought of that?”

“Uh-urm, well…”, N stays silent.

“We are completely left in the dark right now.”

Literally.

“Well, I’ll be fine. Not you, but I’ll be fine. Just stand here. I’ll go up to the door while you stay here on the last step.”

“But-”, you stand there ready to flee.

N heads to the front door with the flashlight, dangling from his ring finger. “Here I go.”, he murmurs to himself. As he fiddles with the knob from the inside, the outside sounds mute. For a second, N lingers his hand over the doorknob and just stares. He then tugs the knob towards him, flinging the door inward. N’s whole face turns white. The flashlight slides right off his finger and stamps the ground, turning it off.

A man wearing strings around his neck, pushes his body up on N and cages him with his arms, “Mom!”

You blankly watch the two men stand there speechless. All you see are their dark silhouettes. The light from the lampposts outside shine in from the door, thankfully the light barely passes N.

“N-Hyung!”, another man jumps to him, then follows another right behind him. The three men make a clump around N as though he is their everything. The last man watches them in awe; his eyes sparkle at the sight of N.

“You’ve got us dead scared N. Never do that.”, spills Ravi.

“Yeah!”, Hyuk echos.

“I will never let you go mom! You ain’t going anywhere!”, Ken squeezes N even tighter, pouting his lips.

Ravi and Hyuk back up. “You-you guys… how-”, N goes on in shock.

While Ken keeps his arms still clenched around N’s waist, he hums, “A nice bus driver told us that a man just like us was with this other girl and she told us where her house was, and now we’re here.”

N simply cannot keep his mouth closed from his open smile, “I’m so glad to see you guys again, man I was so worried.” Ken then releases. “But, Ken, how did you know I didn’t go further than the bus stop?”

“We didn’t!”, Ken grins.

N responds with a deadpan tone, “Um, Ken. Then how did you know to wait there if you didn’t know?”

Leo moves to the side of the outdoor steps to get a better sight of N, “He found this”. Leo stretches his hand out, revealing a notebook. From the inside, you gasp.

That’s about the size of the notebook I bought at the school store earlier today!? I thought I took it? Wait a moment, I dropped it at the bus stop? Oh, that’s where it went! I totally forgot I dropped it. Wow, now I feel like it was a good thing that I forgot it.

N takes the notebook out of Leo’s hand. He tilts his head to the side and flips the pages, “This is from Nhox.”

“That’s why we were holding onto it. We were thinking that the owner was going to retrieve it, so we waited at the bench.”, Hyuk agrees.

N lifts his head and looks past Hyuk, Ravi, and Ken, landing his eyes on Leo’s other hand. “Hope’s hat!”

These people have my beanie too?!

Leo squints his eyes at the beanie. Confused, he hands over the hat to N.

N jiggles the beanie in his hand, “This is her’s!”

“You know who this belongs to, Hyung? We saw it in the bus when we got on. To clear things up for you, we decided to take a nap at the bus stop until we spotted someone. The bus came and from there, we didn’t intend to get on, but when the bus driver opened the door, she got up from the driver’s seat and told us, ‘No way, I thought I just drove someone just like you fellas awhile ago. Am I seeing doubles?’. We told her that we were trying to look for you and she said that she saw you go home with a young woman. At first we were a little on edge, as if you left us for a girl. But then we knew you would never do that. We started to worry even more for you N-Hyung. We couldn't quite understand why you would have left us. The bus driver said that you were a very nice person to her, and she said that she would give us a free ride since you lifted her spirits or something, I don’t know. Seemed like she was flattered, heh. Anyway, she dropped us off here about ten minutes ago and we’ve been knocking on this door for what seems like hours.”, Ravi rants.

“Sorry, I would have come down in a heartbeat if I knew it was you guys. I for sure thought there was going to be a robber right past this door. Then again, a robber wouldn’t knock on the door. But that’s not the point. It was just plain weird.”

“Well, we’re together now, that’s all that matters.”

“You guys can step in… Hope!”

M-m, I am not budging.

You hold onto one of the polls like a koala.

“Hope! Come out from the stairs, introduce yourself... hold on.”, N puts your beanie and notebook under one of his arms and then crouches down to pick up the flashlight. He turns it on and flashes it to the back of the room. A circular beam of light strikes you, making you feel hopeless. The most irritating thing is that you cannot see them, but they can see you. You gradually let go of the poll and walk a bit forward.

I’ve got to say something, they’re staring at me and there’s no way out. They’re waiting for me to speak.

“Hi.”, you gulp. Taking the neckline of your pajama top, you lift it over your face and tighten your toes.

“Aww, she’s cute.”, Ravi grins tiredly, “Hey, don’t be scared.”, he says gently.

You keep your shirt over your face. Meanwhile, Hyuk feels around the entrance wall. His hand comes across the light switch and he flicks it right up. The whole room becomes bright. A chill goes through N and you.

“Light? The light’s back on?”, N questions.

Hyuk raises his lower eyelid, “What do you mean the light’s on? Of course it is.”

“We lost power earlier, but it seems to be on now. I don’t know how long it’s been on, but that’s good.”

“Oh.”

Through the fabric of your sweater, you can tell the room is completely exposed now. You let the collar of your pajama top down and open your eyes wide.

They look so tall… And majestic… standing right before me… And, they look as though they have been stitched up… those clothes… their eyes filled with horror… just like N’s were... they look harmful, but oddly pleasing… I can’t take my eyes off…

    You inhale and lift your collar back up, over your face, “Forgive me for staring.”

    “I don’t mind.”, Ravi comments.

N gives him the evil eye. “Hope, could you reveal your face. It’ll be better that way. It’s kind of awkward talking to fabric.”, N jokes.

    You let out a joyful puff. “Oh, N.”, you murmur as you uncover your face.

    “That’s better.”, he smirks. “Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hyuk, this is Hope. Hope, This is Hyuk, Ravi, Ken, and Leo.”.

    You mouth to N, “Are they dolls too.”, he gives a small nod. You crunch your lips together right before you speak, “Um-I didn’t mean to take away your other-urm, you’re… um, well I don’t know what he is to you, but I didn’t mean to take him away.”, your eyebrows swoop together, “He just fell at my feet and I was running out of time since the bus came and-”, you babble, “I really thought he was at his last breath.”, you wander your eyes to the ground as your eyelashes hide your damp eyes, you take a pause. You regain your thought, “Then, he suddenly broke out of harm’s way by himself, and looked perfectly fine, like he was pure. And then I felt safe… and at home. I don’t know why or how, but it was amazing. I can’t explain what I witnessed. I could just shed a tear. He then saw me as a blessing. I could tell he needed me at the moment, and honestly I feel like I need him now.”, you look up at them, “I need to help him-all of you get back your dear one, no matter what it takes!”, you tug on the side of your pajamas, tightly, “And I swear you all won’t be disappointed! I’ve purposely been put in this situation and I’ve got to go with it now. It may be some sort of test, I don't know, or just a strange mishap, but Imma make this the best I can.”. You spread your arms with a warm welcome, “I greet you all to my home.”

    N drops your notebook and beanie. For a minute, the five men stand there in silence.  

N then dashes his arms under yours, lifting you up high, “You really felt that way! Ah stop, you’re making me blush.”

“Now I feel like I need to hug someone.”, Ken fidgets in place. He grabs the closest thing near him. Leo intensively gasps. Unable to recline, he stays still and fire rises in his eyes.

    Ravi interrupts, “Hey, N… I just realized you’re wearing the same pants as her.”

    “Hmm?”, N levels you to the ground and turns his back, “Oh, these? They’re all I could find. She let me change out of my sopping wet clothes. There weren’t many options since I barely could see a thing earlier, but I like these. They’re growing on me.”

    “Whelp they definitely fit you.”

    It does.

    You choke on your laugh before it can be heard.

    N’s eyebrows become firm, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

    Ravi exchanges looks to you, “Not to cause any trouble, but do you have any change of clothes for us?”

    “Oh yes, of course. I was going to insist on it. I’m going to bed now, but just don’t wreck anything. N, uh… you be in charge of them. Goodnight.”, you slightly bow your head to them.

    “He already is in charge of us.”, Ken remarks.

    Wait, really? Cute.

    N smirks, “Yep, and it’s fun, ha.”

    “Well, see you guys in the morning”

Even though it already is.

You awkwardly walk behind N, in front of the others, to pick up your notebook and beanie. Then you head to your room to get comfy in the covers.

“She seems nice.”, Hyuk mentions.

N puts both hands on his hips, ruffling the sides of his white t-shirt, and begins to instruct the dolls, “Okay so…”, he looks off to the distance to regain thought, “Alright there’s two other bedrooms besides Hope’s. I’ve already settled in her parent’s room. There’s also a guest bedroom. There’s five of us, including myself, so three of us in one room and two in another. Her parent’s room has a queen sized bed, which would be manageable with three people and the guest’s bedroom I’m guessing is only a twin bed, so two of us there… Hyuk.”

“Yeah”, Hyuk raises his head to him.

“You’ll be sleeping with Ravi in the guest bedroom. You’re both the youngest so that’s fair.”

Ravi eyeballs Hyuk and then gently nods to him, “I’m cool with that.”

“Leo, Ken, and I are going to share the queen bed.”

“Okay.”, Ken responds.

“That’s pretty much it. Uh, but there’s only two pillows in the queen bed sooo, hmm… whoever takes a shower first gets the pillow.”, N smiles.

“Oh I’m getting that!”, Ken leaps with no hesitation straight up the stairs. In the upstairs hallway, he fumbles through the doors until he finds the restroom. As expected, drizzling sounds come from above not long after Ken reaches the shower..

“Sorry Leo.”

Leo faintly notes, “It’s fine.”

“Hyuk, Ravi, your room should be the second door down on the left. We’ll be the door right across yours. Hope’s the end door. The first doors as you walk in are the restroom on the left and a closet on the right. If you guys ever need anything come to me. Try not to disturb Hope. Also, I don’t know if you guys are hungry or thirsty. She said that we are welcome to search through her kitchen. It’s right here.”, N motions to the right of the entrance room,  “Oh, and last thing, no harming Hope.”, he commands, “ She’s all we’ve got right now. I know it’ll be a struggle not to, but let’s not think that way. Just go on normally and hope for everything to stay as it is.”

“We’ve got it.”, Ravi speaks for everyone.

“As of that, I’ll be heading upstairs now.”, N yawns as he touches the pole behind him. “There are clothes in our room, so you and Hyuk can come in to take some. I didn’t have a good look at the clothes since I only had a small flashlight when I was up there, but now since we have power, I’m sure you’ll be able to find more.”, He disappears to the second floor. Leo goes up behind him, with Ravi and Hyuk following too. The carpeted floor tickles their feet as they move through the hallway.

“Ah, this feels nice…”, Ravi breathes.

“Right?!”, N blurts.

Ravi shuffles his feet, “Can I sleep on the floor?”

“Heh, your room’s right here.”, N points to the left door.

“I think I’m going to take a shower next while you guys are going shopping for clothes. I take the shortest showers out of all of you, so the shower will be open soon. Ken must have finished by now. I don’t hear anything and the bathroom door’s open. Hyuk, you get dibs on which side of the bed. See ya.”, Ravi passes by Hyuk and enters the shower.

N opens his door with Leo right by his side. On the bed, Ken is sitting cross-legged with midnight shorts, waiting there like a puppy for it’s companion. His makeup is fully gone and his hair is perfectly cleansed; fluffed up over his brows. Ken, wearing your mom’s black t-shirt with “queen” written in pink cursive across the bust, gushes, “My pillow.”, as he grabs the pillow behind him and grasps it against his chest.

“I drooled on that one.”, N points out.

Ken immediately throws the pillow out of reach, “Ew! Gross Hyung! I don’t want it anymore.”

“Just kidding.” N laughs. “Hey, seems like you’ve found a pair of clothes.”

Ken retrieves the pillow from the end of the covers, “Yeah”

“You sure you’re not going to be cold in shorts?”

“I like these. I’m pretty sure these aren’t for nighttime, but I don’t care. These fit well.”

N walks over to the cabinets and discovers your dad’s stash, “Leo, her dad’s clothes are in here. What are you feeling like?”

Leo walks over and reaches into the pile, pulling out a light gray long sleeve and a pair of navy plaid pajama pants. “I’ll take these.”, he softly announces. The shower becomes quiet. “I’m going to go take a shower now. I’ll like the right side of the bed, closest to the door.”

“Wait, Leo, Ken’s already staying on the far side, and I really should be on the closest side since what if something happens? I’ve got to have quick access out. Is middle alright?”

“Yeah.”, Leo responds.

“Thanks, I know the middle’s the worst place, ha. It’ll be fine. It’s only one night. You can share my pillow if you'd like.”

“Hmm?  No, that’s fine.”, Leo looks away from N with his sharp eyes, smoked with gray eyeshadow. He scratches his arm in slight panic.

“Aren’t you going to go take a shower?”

“...”, Leo zips out the door with his new clothes.

N lets out a yawn and raises his hands up in the air. He puts his hands over his eyes, while bending backwards. He lets out a little huff, “Hmft, I’m so tired.”, he wipes his hands off his face and goes over to the light switch next to the door and flicks it down. He then sits on top of the covers with Ken.

“N?”

“M-hm”

“Are we going to get Hongbin tomorrow, I mean today?”

“I haven’t really thought much about it. Well, no. I’ve been thinking about it non-stop, Hongbin’s consumed all my thoughts, but I haven’t been really thinking about it. We’ll have to search through the whole campus I’m guessing. I just don’t know.”

“That’ll take forever.”

“I know.”

“Hongbin-ah, hang in there.”, Ken pridefully says before putting his pillow underneath his head and lifting the covers.

N fixes himself in the covers as well, “He must be thinking of us too.”, N slides his body towards the inside of the bed to look at him.

“Yeah”, Ken responds faintly as he drifts off.

Leo comes back and finds the room in shadows.

“Leo?”, N whispers with delight as he turns towards the door.

“Yes?”, Leo whispers back.

“Oh, you are here.”

Leo makes a silhouette at the door from the light coming from the restroom. A dark figure is seen passing by him in the hallway.

“Did you find the toothbrushes?”

“Ravi showed me. Hyuk’s taking a shower now.”

“That’s good.”, N pushes the covers off his side of the bed and stands up. “Here, you can get in.”

    Leo moves himself to the center of the bed. He eyeballs a sleeping Ken to the left of him and then meets N’s eyes. “Hey, N, what time is it?”

    “I’ve yet to check. Should I run downstairs to check the kitchen clock?”

    “No, that’s okay. I was just wondering… but that’s too much. It’s okay.”

    “Actually, I’m dying to know too. But… eh, like you said. I’m already comfy in bed so why bother?”, N flips himself to the outside of the bed, away from Leo.

    Just before Leo decides to go to sleep, his eyes land on N’s neck. He becomes fixated on the deep circular mark.“Are you in pain?”

    “Mm, no.”, N sighs in a daze, with his eyes closed.

    “It looks painful, you’re puncture. I can tell you’re in pain, N. You can stop the act.”

    “It’s making me ache like crazy.”, N lets out. “I’ve been keeping my thoughts caged all this time. It hurts… a lot.”, N flips over to Leo. “But I don’t want Hope or you guys worrying for me.”

    “...”. Leo stares at his concerned leader. “Turn around.”

    “Why?”, N pauses. “It hurts to keep turning. I think I’ll just stay put for the rest of the night.”

    “Turn around.”, Leo persists.

    “Uh-”, N gives up and uses the rest of his strength to flip over.

    N grumbles tiredly, “I don’t know why you would want me t-”, Leo’s hands suddenly press up on his neck and shoulders. N’s eyes get wide. “Le-”

    “...”

    “What are-”

Leo keeps massaging his neck.

“...”, N smiles and becomes at ease.

“You know, you’ve got to speak when you’re not feeling well, Hyung”, Leo presses harder, “You make me worry when you don’t speak.”

N keeps his eyes shut and almost lets out a chuckle, “Yeah well you don’t speak enough.”

“...”

“I’m sorry Leo. I should have said something earlier.”

“Mm-hm.”, Leo softly responds.

“...”

They both keep silent for awhile, then Leo whimpers, “N?”. He releases.

“...”

“Goodnight”

“...”

Leo squirms in place, trying to get comfortable. He then grabs the covers closer to his chin and settles in.

From across the room, Hyuk’s shadow is seen crossing the hallway to his room. He is wearing a white t-shirt, much like N’s, but scoop neck style, and wearing navy shorts. He opens his door and flicks the light switch up and finds Ravi sitting on the bed with an oversized light gray hoodie, covering his dark shorts, having one hand leaning on the night table.

“Hyuk, which side did you pick?”

“The outside. You can have the wall side. I’ll probably move around a bit before settling down. Also, I don’t want you to fall again.”

“Fall?!”

“You always move in bed!”

“I do?!”

“Haha, always.”

“...”

“Anyway, just do whatever you want, but I feel like that’ll be best.”

“Okay. Did you find everything? I showed Leo, but not you.”

“Oh, yeah, I did.”, Hyuk nods as he switches the light off and gets in bed.

Ravi flips his hood on and cuddles up with the covers, against the wall. “Goodnight.”

The younger replies, “Goodnight”, and the house is now quiet once again.

The moon is still fairly high in the nighttime sky. The night feels like it is awfully taking a long time to get through. About an hour and a half has passed. Out of nowhere, you hear a deep ear-scraping scream from across the hall. Your heart thumps you right up.

Oh my gosh, is that ONE OF THEM?! WHAT’S HAPPENING OUT THERE?!