“Bye!”

Byul waved after Jangmi as she left their room with a suitcase in hand. The door locked behind her with a click. She was going to be visiting her parents in Busan for a few days, meaning that Byul would have the apartment to herself for a while.

It seemed exciting at first to be alone for a little while, but Byul found herself already bored by 11PM. As she lounged on the sofa, she found herself mindlessly scrolling through her phone until she could think of something else to do. Sighing and tossing her phone to the side after giving up in a few minutes, Byul picked up the TV remote to direct her thoughts elsewhere instead.

It was getting late and Byul decided that watching the news would help her feel sleepy. For a while, she only half paid attention to news about the new recreational center in the city and the one about a new penguin in the zoo. Her attention lingered on the story about a lawyer that had been reported to be missing. There was a missing businessman as well. There were recurring disappearances in the city. None of them were connected. Their pictures were brought up on the screen with the newscaster advising citizens to call if anyone had any knowledge because the police were stuck with no leads and—

Suddenly the power cut off, plunging Byul into darkness. Her eyes were barely adjusting to the darkness and for a while all she saw was pitch black. It made no difference when she closed or opened her eyes. When Byul clicked on the remote, the TV refused to turn back on. There must have been a power outage in the city.

Byul stood to inch her way to the windows and pulled away the curtains. Strangely, the building beside her apartment was perfectly normal. There was a light on every floor.

All at once, Byul felt exposed. The news playing on the TV replayed in her mind. Disappearances. Never to be seen again. Simply given up on by the police. She remembered Sehun warning her that someone wanted her dead.

A creak interrupted the stark silence in the room so suddenly that Byul gasped in surprise. Her heart felt like it climbed up , but the sound was only her own foot stepping on a loose floorboard. She rushed towards the other wall to flick the light switches on though nothing seemed to be working. Her hands shook while she steadied herself against the wall.

There was a knock that echoed around the room. The source of it was unknown to her. After hurrying and locking the front door, Byul stepped away from it. The knocking wasn’t even coming from the door. It was coming from the walls.

Word that Kyungsoo was throwing another party had naturally drawn everybody to his residence. It was for no particular event—just a party. Sehun wondered sometimes if Kyungsoo even actually lived in the house or rather kept it around just for a place to throw his extravagant, no-purpose and random events.

“Look.” Chanyeol nudged him, pointing out the window to the backyard. “He has a piñata.”

“Wow, we haven’t seen a piñata since Kyungsoo sued Burger King for half a million.” Sehun had to squint to see it hanging below a tree.

It was the traditional rainbow-colored donkey. Kyungsoo only ever brought out a piñata when he was in a good mood. Its insides were always different. One time it was bacon strips. Last time was chocolate pudding. The whole sea of people who were watching were splattered with it. It was disgusting and sticky and hilarious.

When Sehun spotted Kyungsoo ghost by the crowd beside them, he immediately grabbed the shorter boy’s shoulder to get his attention. “Kyungsoo, I want to break the piñata this time,” he told him.

“No fair! I want to break it,” Chanyeol butted in, shoving Sehun an inch back.

Kyungsoo grinned devilishly and rubbed his chin. “What can you give me?”

Sehun stared. “Are you kidding? We have to give you something?”

“Well, do you want to break it or not?”

Chanyeol raised his hand even though it was just the two of them talking to Kyungsoo in that corner of the kitchen. “I can get you twins.”

Kyungsoo gaped at him in disbelief. “Twins?”

“Yes, twins. Really hot twins. They’ll do whatever you want,” Chanyeol explained, feeling like he’s already won because he stuck his tongue out at Sehun as if saying, Beat that.

“Twins?” Sehun scoffed. “I can give you at least twenty Amanda Seyfried movies on DVD complete with bonus footage and deleted scenes.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened twice their normal size. “...Even Mama Mia?”

“Mama Mia and Mean Girls.”

“Deal.”

Sehun and Kyungsoo shook on it.

Chanyeol immediately flipped out, almost spilling his drink with the way he was flailing his arms around. “What?! Hold on!”

“We shook on it, Chanyeol. Better luck next time.” Kyungsoo patted his arm before turning to Sehun and gesturing for him to follow him. “I’ll show you the bat.”

Pretty soon everyone was gathering in the backyard as soon as the buzz got around that Kyungsoo had already handed the infamous bat to someone—a bat that existed solely for the purpose of breaking Kyungsoo’s mystery piñatas. The mass of people had formed a circle around the piñata with Sehun in the center with the bat. Hooting and chants flooded the area like an arena as Sehun warmed himself up by practicing a few swings of the bat. He wasn’t given a blindfold. Kyungsoo believed that the blindfold wasn’t the point of the piñata. The point was to just break it open.

Sehun’s phone went off just as he took his place in front of the piñata. He could barely hear it ring above the noise. He quickly answered it through his earpiece without checking who called.

“This is Sehun. I’m busy at the moment. If you’re looking for an exterminator—”

“Sehun!”

“Byul, what’s up?” He bounced between his feet, gaze set on the innocently hanging piñata. He raised his elbows and got into position to hit it. The crowd went even wilder.

“Something’s wrong. The lights went off.”

“What?” Sehun dropped his arms, lowering the bat.

“Are you busy? It sounds like you’re at a party. You know what? Nevermind, I don't want to bother you—”

“No, wait.” Sehun wanted to yell at the top of his lungs and tell everyone at the party to shut up for a moment so he could hear Byul without having to press the Bluetooth chip closer in his ear. “Are you home?”

“Yes, I’m home. Someone’s knocking on my wall.”

Sehun swore under his breath, looking around him at the mass of party-goers who were just waiting for the piñata to be violently cracked open. Within the flood of faces, he spotted Chanyeol who was joining along with the noise and fist-pumping in the air.

Keeping his sight on him, Sehun walked right up to Chanyeol and handed him the bat. “Here. You hit it.”

Sehun registered the surprise written all over Chanyeol’s expression for a fraction of a second before he tore through the crowd to get to his car that was parked upfront. If Chanyeol said anything in return, he didn’t hear.

“Byul listen, I want you to hide somewhere dark away from the windows,” Sehun instructed, starting the engine as soon as he sat down.

“I’m trying to avoid the dark parts of my room. What are you talking about?”

“Just do it. I’ll be there soon. Stay quiet.” In no time, he was speeding down the road.

Upon finding that there was no one suspicious lingering around Byul’s apartment building, Sehun slipped inside. There was just some construction at the back, but nothing out of place. All the lights were out as she had said, giving him the feeling that he was in an abandoned building. Sehun climbed the stairs to Byul’s floor with a hand in his holster and fingers curled around his gun. He could have been walking into a trap for all he knew, but he knew he couldn’t leave Byul by herself no matter what lay in the darkness around him.

He stood in front of Byul’s door and paused for a moment to close his eyes and listen for any sounds. It was dead silent, as if no one was even in the building. Or maybe everyone was asleep. Grabbing a pin from inside his sleeve, Sehun used it to pick the lock to Byul’s door. After a series of pokes and turns, the door clicked to signal it was unlocked.

As the door swung open, a figure from inside the room revealed itself. Sehun’s hand automatically made a grab for his gun.

Byul was holding up a frying pan in the air. As soon as he realized it was just her, he lowered his hand. If he didn’t realize it was her a millisecond too late, Sehun would have shot her.

“What the hell are you doing?” His tone came off as annoyed towards Byul, but he really knew that he was more angry at himself for almost pointing a weapon at her.

“Defending myself,” Byul hissed. “I thought someone was trying to break in.”

“With a pan? This isn’t cartoons, you know. Why not a knife at least? Byul, I swear...” He shook his head to keep from going off on a rant about the way she chose to defend herself. Sehun stepped inside when Byul made space. She locked the door again once he was inside. “Stay behind me, alright?”

Sehun peeked outside the windows from the sides first. There was nothing around. No one seemed to have broken in as well. The knocking came back and Byul pointed to the wall.

“See? Do you hear that?”

“That’s a hammer. People are doing construction by the back.”

Byul visibly relaxed at the fact. For a while, she thought she was crazy and hearing strange sounds. “That still doesn’t explain why just my building’s lights are out.”

“Where’s the circuit breaker panel to this building?”

“Basement.”

Sehun drew together the curtains on the windows, filling the room with even more darkness again. The thought of a sniper waiting by the next building and watching Byul through the windows scared him. Maybe there was someone who wanted to cut off the electricity before reaching Byul. He figured he could meet the intruder on his way down the stairs if that was the case. It seemed like a one-man job because another person could have gotten to Byul by then.

“Alright, keep hiding. Stay away from the windows. I’m going to the basement to check. This might just be a normal blackout.”

“You’re leaving me?” The desperation was hanging off her voice.

“Relax. Go to your room and hide. I’ll just check out the basement for a minute.”

“But, Sehun…”

Byul was scared. Very scared. More than anything, she was scared of the dark. She hated not being able to see what was around her. She hated feeling blind. Byul felt that she was at her most vulnerable state in the dark. In fact, she had slept with a night light for as long as she could remember. In the dark, how could she defend herself if she couldn't see? It felt like being in a black hole—as if she existed in the middle of emptiness. She felt lost.