Jaebeom groaned as he stretched his back out. He swung his neck left and right to get the crick out after spending god knows how long hunched over reading a book on his bed. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, he sighed as he saw it was well past midnight – almost 3 a.m. now, and sighed.  Sitting up straighter, he looked across his bedroom to take stock of all the cats that had been displaced when he’d moved. One, two, three, four… ah, ok, Nora was out in the living room. Five cats accounted for…but one was still missing.

 

Jaeboem let out another frustrated sigh, running his hands through his hair and be his decision to get that sixth cat. Not that he’d had much choice really. This one had sunk his claws into Jaebeom’s heart and stayed there from the moment they’d run into each other. “Nevertheless,” Jaebeom thought, :why couldn’t this one have been a good, happy, indoor cat like the rest of his angels?:” He had set up a veritable cat paradise in his apartment, everything a feline could need was here, so why couldn’t this one just stay inside and stop making Jaebeom worry in the pitch dark of night? The outside world was dangerous, and Jaebeom couldn’t help but worry each and every time this cat disappeared into the night. He could never fully relaxing until all his cats were with him at home, safe and sound.

 

Absentmindedly, Jaebeom reaches for his phone only to see no missed calls and zero messages. Switching over to social media he scrolls half-heartedly, frowning seeing his various friends posting statuses and links to news articles about the serial killings that had been happening in the city over the past few months. Several young men had been brutally attacked and murdered all across the city at night. Some had been found dead in dark alleyways, others in public parks, and even some in their own apartments. The police had linked their deaths once they’d discovered a common trait among all the men – one finger was always cut clean from their bodies, nowhere to be found at the crime scene.

 

‘Mayor Urges Young Men To Stay Home Once Night Falls.’

 

‘Inside Sources State Murderer Leaves Bodies Mangled, Bloody Messes.’

 

‘10 WAYS TO KNOW IF SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS A SERIAL KILLER.’

 

Sick of all the gloom and doom, Jaebeom chucks his phone to the other side of the bed and then stares forlornly at the empty half; pillows neatly stacked and sheets tightly made as opposed to the expressionist sprawl of pillows, blankets, books, cats and notebooks on Jaebeom’s half of the bed.

 

“Aaaish – maybe I should go out and look for him…it’s getting really late,” Jaebeom mumbled as he rose from his bed. He couldn’t stand the stress of knowing his favorite kitten (sorry Nora) was out in the cold, dark, dangerous world alone.

 

Just as he grabbed a hoodie from his closet, he heard Nora start to meow loudly from the living room. What in the world—?

 

 

 

“Wae, wae, wae?”

 

Jaebeom padded into the living room to find Nora scratching at the patio door and meowing up a storm. He turns on a lamp and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a man’s shadow on the other side of the patio glass.

 

“AAHH! What the hell?!”

 

The shadow lifted its arm and pulled at the door handle only to find it locked. In frustration, the man started to paw at the handle and area around it, seemingly trying to budge it open through sheer determination. It was a remarkable parallel to Nora who was still scratching away on the other side of the door, their movements almost identical and focused on the same goal.

 

It was seeing this, the cat-human mirror show, that Jaebeom’s fear disappeared and his heart picked up for a different reason – his cat was home!

 

Now he moved swiftly to the patio door to unlock and pulled it open.

 

“Nyeongie, you’re home! I was so worried, aish you’re all dirty, you know how hard it is to clean stains off that fabric. Couldn’t you have been a little more careful?”

 

Jinyoung didn’t answer, choosing instead to step onto the small mat placed near the door and started stripping off his dirty clothes. He shrugged on the bathrobe hanging on a stand nearby before wordlessly heading towards the shower. Jaebeom picked up the discarded clothes and threw them into a black bag before cleaning up the surrounding area with a practiced ease.

 

 

 

He walked into their bedroom after discarding the bag with dirtied clothes into the trash can. Jaebeom could hear the shower running and briefly considered joining Jinyoung before being distracted by a small object on the bed.

 

That definitely wasn’t there a moment ago when he’d gotten up… maybe it was a cat toy one of the other 4 had thrown onto the bed while he, Nora and Jinyoung had been in the living room?

 

Jaebeom moved closer, squinting to fight against the room’s lighting that was more shadow than illumination thanks to the one valiant lamp lit in the far corner. Once he got a better look he sighed; yup, it was a cat toy alright, but it wasn’t any of his 4 angels that had thrown it there.

 

Grumbling about not wanting the cats’ gross little playthings on his sanitary bed, Jaebeom grabbed a tissue from the side table and picked up the severed finger. He takes it over to the dresser and opened the drawer all the cat toys were kept in.

 

In the very corner was a box labeled “Jinyoung’s favorites.” Opening it, Jaebeom nestled the newest addition among the other digits neatly laid out in the box.

 

Jaebeom spent a moment longer staring at the assortment, missing that the sound of the shower had stopped until he felt a weight settle along his back as Jinyoung hooked his chin on Jaeboem’s shoulder to join him in the perusal.

 

“I think this one is the prettiest one so far.”

 

“Mm... pianist. Tired… let’s go to bed.”

 

Jaebeom took one last look at the drawer before joining Jinyoung in bed, chuckling as he watched Jinyoung hiss and swat at the other cats trying to join the couple for nighttime cuddles. Once Jinyoung was satisfied he had established his dominance over the pack, he snuggled against Jaebeom with a purr.

 

Jaebeom also settled into bed, sleepy now that all his cats are home and he could relax.

 

“Glad you had fun today baby.”