⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING: bullying and minor violence

 

*Two Months Before*

 

Torture was the only word to describe what Chani was going through right now. As he barely had time to catch his breath while rounding a corner, he thought of how he hated doing this every day.

Chani wasn’t at fault for being chased by the four bullies, but they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

“Kang Chani! Stop running!” one of the taller kids demanded. With burning lungs, Chani continued his escape without looking back. “Hey! You are really going to pay for that!” he heard the leader shout.

They were all frustrated- Chani always slipped away and the bullies wouldn’t stop chasing Chani.

When they saw the boy dive around a building, the bullies were sure they had caught up with him for sure. However, there were only people walking down the sidewalks normally and cars driving past on the road. Chani was nowhere in sight.

Confused as to where to go and what to do about the situation, the leader threw down his book bag in rage. His loyal helpers picked it back up and decided to get Chani to be their errand boy tomorrow.

With the absence of the rowdy boys, the area was safe. Chani held his scraped knee which he had injured by jumping into a store with no doors. He had landed roughly by tripping as he hid behind a display table. The store owner had realized what was going on when he discovered Chani on the ground and saw the boys outside.

Chani bowed in gratitude and left quietly.

………….

It was nearing sundown as Chani neared a rickety house. From the looks of it, someone had built a European-style home on the outskirts of town and left it there to rot. Chani felt bad for the house but even worse for his own miserable situation.

He was curious and approached the structure in awe.

His face scrunched when the smell of dirt and moldy timbers hit his nose upon getting closer. A series of creaks resounded with his every step up the porch steps and toward the front door.

Dusty, inviting windows allowed him only a blurry glimpse of the interior. Covered in a year’s worth of cobwebs, furniture and trash littered the floor of the entrance. Chani trailed his eyes across the mess which spread far beyond what was visible of the other rooms.

If he ever needed a quick place to hide from the bullies, this would be just the right spot. Then, a thought dawned on him- a terrible and reckless thought.

………….

Chani didn’t get home until after dark. Youngbin emerged from the kitchen when he heard the front door close.

“You better have a good reason for being… late…” he slowly stopped upon seeing the filthy state Chani’s clothes were in. “Chani! What happened?!” ‘Darn, here he goes again,’ Chani thought to himself.

Youngbin was soon examining his little brother with great concern on his face. Chani rolled his eyes and ripped his arm away from Youngbin’s grasp, “I’m fine!”

Surprised, the oldest gawked without words as Chani stomped off to his room and locked the door.

………….

There was a notebook on the desk, a Chani sitting at the desk, and a pencil in Chani’s hand. Tapping his chin thoughtfully, he concentrated his stare to the ceiling.

‘I should make a checklist. Every successful plan starts with that,’ he mused and drew a series of boxes in a vertical line down the page.

‘Now, what would work to hinder them from getting past the front door of that house?’ Nothing. The bullies would probably be able to easily break down the door and also break Chani. Hitting the side of his head with the pencil, Chani furiously tried to think of an idea. After five minutes of no luck, his eyes had begun to droop and he was soon drooling on his written plan.

………….

He was falling. Chani opened his eyes in confusion. Everything was still dark, but he could tell that he was about to hit the ground. Closing his eyes, he held his arms in front of his face to break the fall.

When he should have collided with the ground, he opened his eyes again because he was suspended in motion. Then, he began upwards as if he was in a video which was being rewound.

There was a time skip in his consciousness to where he felt like he had just woken up, but he was standing before the door of the abandoned house. He opened the door automatically with his hand and walked through only to fall again.

The same loop kept repeating over and over until Chani woke up for real in frustration. His mind was spinning and confusion took over. When he realized that he wasn’t in the strange dream anymore, he felt at ease.

‘Bingo!’ A great idea had just appeared to him in the form of a dream.

Chani quickly drew a rough and partially made up floor plan on another sheet of paper. With a red marker, he made X’s all over the floor of the plan. He proceeded to add some additional ideas that he was lead to from the dream.

………….

A week later, Chani looked over his work with satisfaction. It had taken a while to complete, but his determination had kept him going. There was now no floor at all in the abandoned house. An empty gap revealed the foundation of the house which had gone past two basements.

Chani thought it was weird as he had never heard of two basements. However, this house had them.

The first basement did not have a dirt floor. Instead, floorboards covered it and Chani had decided to see what was under them.

The second basement was actually the foundation which had old drain tunnels connecting to it. Without a good mask, Chani would have to wait to explore any further.

………….

School went on terribly as usual as Chani tried to get through each day. The bullies kept chasing him after class, and he kept hiding without getting caught.

Saturday was not his lucky day.

He had been walking down the sidewalk to meet his friends and go watch a movie.

Without notice, he tripped over something- a foot. His eyebrow painfully made contact with the concrete. He grunted loudly as a heavy weight then crushed his ribs, making the air leave his lungs.

He heard the leader of the bullies speak, “Well, look who we found. If it isn’t the elusive Chani.”