I opened my eyes and looked at my digital clock. 5 am. When did I fall asleep? I threw back the covers of my bed and realized that Jonghyun must have tucked me into bed. I crept to my door and opened it slowly, wincing when it creaked loudly.

I stepped into the hallway and slowly walked across the hall to Jonghyun's room. His door was ajar. I peeked in the little crack in the door into the room and found that Jonghyun wasn't in his bed. I opened the door wider and stepped in the room, turning on the lights.

The bed was empty and neatly made. That's something uncharacteristic of Jonghyun; he is the messiet person on the planet.

I padded back into the hallway and went downstairs, the only light coming from Jonghyun's room. I the lights in the hallway that leads to the kitchen and went in. Jonghyun loves midnight snacks, if there is anywhere he could be in the middle of the night, he would be there.

The kitchen was also empty and the house was eerily quiet.

I looked everywhere in the house and found nothing. Not a note telling me about his whereabouts or any hint that could possibly help me figure where he could be at this time. I tried calling but it instantly went to voice mail. I left a couple of messages but he never returned my calls. I tried calling my parents, and the same thing happened. It's probably nothing, I tried to convince myself. It's probably just a prank. But I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that something is going on.

All I could do now is go back to sleep and hope that he comes back in the morning. I turned off all the lights and crept back upstairs. The hairs on the back of my neck raised, and suddenly I felt like I was being watched. I tried to shake off the feeling and just go to bed. I'm just being paranoid because Jonghyun isn't here. But he'll be back. He'll be back in the morning, I thought to myself. I kept repeating these words over and over until I reached my bedroom door. I stepped into the room and shut the door, and, almost as a second thought, turned back and locked it. An hour went by and sleep didn't come, but then gradually I started getting drowsy and drifted to sleep.

This time, I dreamed.

Everything was dark, and I was cold and alone. I tried to scream, but my mouth wouldn't open. That was when I realized that my mouth was taped shut and my arms and legs were bound. The only thing covering me was a dirty rag. I tried to squint in the darkness to at least make out where I was, but I saw nothing. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps, and they were gradually getting louder as they came closer. I froze, not knowing what to do. I struggled against whatever bound my arms and legs to no avail. I heard whispers. I strained my ears to try to hear what they were saying but it seemed that they were a good distance away.

 

The whispers were closer now, and I can kind of make out what they were saying. I heard my name being whispered, again and again. I thought maybe I misheard, but the whispers are even closer now, and I am sure that they're whispering my name, whoever they are.

"SeoYeon...SeoYeon... Seoyeon... SeoYeon."

"Mmmmmm!!! Mmmmm!!!" I tried to scream, but my lips were taped shut. Tightly.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed, and I jumped in surprise. I tried to scream again, but my voice was muffled. The hand was squeezing tighter and tighter, but oddly, it wasn't painful at all. I didn't feel any pain.

Suddenly, lights went on and I was blinded by the brightness. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the lights, I looked around the room I was in. It was a huge white room. Everything was white, and people dressed in black where lined up against the walls. Among the unfamiliar faces, I saw my parents and Jonghyun. I tried to scream, to reach out for them, but I couldn't even move an inch. Something struck my head and I hit the ground. Hard. But again, I felt no pain whatsoever. A hand pulled my hair and brought me to a sitting position on the ground, and the people lined up on the walls, including my parents and Jonghyun, advanced slowly toward me. Their faces were expressionless, their eyes were distant. They looked almost... dead. Someone holding a beautiful sword came forward until he stood right in front of me, raised the hand that was holding the sword...

And struck.

I woke up, breathing heavily, wrapped up in a tangle of blankets and sweat. I looked around. I was in my room. It's morning now. Everything looked the same. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and got up, suddenly the dream flooded back into my mind. It was just a dream. It means nothing. Jonghyun is back and my parents are still in Hawaii. It was probably just because I woke up and didn't find Jonghyun. Everything will be alright. Everything is the same.

Right?

I walked over to my bedroom door, unlocked it, and stepped out into the hallway. I ran to Jongyun's room, it was still empty, and the bed was still neatly made. I went downstairs and checked the livingroom, the kitchen, the bathrooms, the gaming room, and the dining room.

He was not there.

"Jonghyun!" I yelled. "Stop playing around! It's not funny anymore!"

I half-expected Jonghyun to turn up from the corner and laugh at me and call me a scaredy cat, and I would've said that I was not and that I knew what he was doing all along.

But he didn't.

I tried calling his phone and my parents' phones, but it went straight to voicemail. I left a couple of messages, asking Jonghyun where he was and asking my parents if they knew anything and why they weren't picking up their phones.

It was time to get ready for school. I padded up the stairs and into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I emerged from the bathroom and went into my room to get dressed. I pulled out my uniform from the closet and put it on, then I brushed my hair in front of the mirror and put it into a ponytail.

I went outside and started walking to school. I usually walk because the school is only half a mile away.

"SeoYeon! Wait!"

I turned around to see my best friend, Haneul, running to catch up with me. I hugged her tightly, feeling comforted. For a second, all these bizarre events that happened and that strange dream seemed so distant, as if they were all in a dream I've just woken up from.

"What's wrong?" Hanuel asked, a concerned look on her face.

"I'll tell you later," I said. "Let's get to school, we don't wanna be late."

We walked to school and chatted about everything and nothing. We went to our first class, biology, and sat down in our assigned seats. The teacher walks in, and I see someone lurking in the doorway. I can't tell if it's a girl or a guy. I can't even see their face.

"Hello, class. Take your seats right now. Before we begin, I want to introduce you to the new transfer student. Shinwoo, come on in."

The new student, Shinwoo, stepped in, and I got a better look at him. I gasped and almost fell out of my chair. My heart started beating fast, I felt like it was going to break my rib cage.

It was him. The mysterious boy from the party.

His hair was long, chin length, and he wore thick, geek glasses that perfectly complimented his facial features.

"Class, this is Shinwoo. He is better known as CNU, though," the teacher announced.

Everyone stared at him, including me. He had that unique look that attracts you to him whether you wanted it or not. I looked around and saw that all the girls had a sort of dreamy expression on their faces as they stared at him. I felt a pang of annoyance but quickly waved it away.

He took the only empty seat in the class, which was in front of me. He walked silently without even giving me a second glance. It was as if he didn't recognize me. I smiled at him but he seemed to look right through me. Well, that's a first. I was never ignored by a guy before. Not that I care, anyway.

I pretended like I didn't know him, too, and looked away.

But I still couldn't shake that nagging feeling that something was seriously wrong, judging from the strange events from this morning. Jonghyun's sudden disappearance, that very strange, and rather scary, dream, and now Shinwoo's reappearance. There's, however, nothing wrong with Shinwoo's reappearance, what feels wrong is that fact that he's acting like a complete stranger. Well, techinically, he is a stranger, but he's acting like we've never met before.

I remembered again how he whispered in my ear, complimenting my dress. His breath, strangely cold, tickling my ear. His hands wrapped firmly around my waist. It all looked so... intimate. He looked at me in a way that no one else did before. Like he knew something.

Something about me.

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Thanks for reading!!! Like I said, this is my first fanfiction ever and it's not the best, but I hope you guys like it. Thoughts and opinions are appreciated!!!! ^____^