“Baekhyun, get up!” I heard a faint voice say, as if it were yelling at me from afar.

I blinked hard a few times, trying make out the image I was looking at. My ears were ringing and my head was pounding. What happened? What is this feeling in my chest? No... I recognize it. Fear. I'm afraid.

I took in a painful breath as I tried to recall what happened.

“Baekhyun, it’s following us! You need to get up!”

The boy I was looking at became clear. Chanyeol’s panicked face hovered over mine.
It clicked at that moment. I shot up back onto my feet, grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and ran as fast as I could down a dark path.

“How far is it?” I said between breaths, trying hard not to collapse from fear and exhaustion.

“I’m not sure. It sounds close, though.” I could tell Chanyeol was trying to remain strong, but we both knew that this was scarier than anything we could ever imagine.

Oh… yeah, let me introduce myself. My name is Byun Baekhyun. The tall, slightly dorky guy running by my side right now is my best friend Park Chanyeol. I’m not the type to get myself into life threatening situations like this but this all happened in a blur. It’s hard to explain how we ended up in this situation… but I’ll try my best to clue you in.

So it started out with this stupid rumour. It is high school after all, what else would you expect from a bunch of juvenile delinquents? Anyway, the rumour! Some students were talking about this labyrinth or some sort of chamber under the city. Personally I thought it was the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. Who would believe that? Well, apparently a lot of people.

So yeah, anyway… There was this student, his name was Kris or something like that. He was a foreign exchange student from China and he had also heard about this labyrinth. One day he declared he was going to go find this thing and everybody made a huge deal out of it. I’m not going to lie, this whole mystical thing intrigued me, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe it.

Oh yeah, how did we end up here? Well, that Kris kid I was talking about? Yeah… he left to go ‘find’ this labyrinth but he never returned. There are several different theories to explain his disappearance in the labyrinth but the most common ones are that he got lost, he got eaten by some sort of demon-beast-thing, or he got killed down there in an extreme event. Seriously, some people have insane imaginations. The funny thing is that nobody has proof that he even found it. I honestly think he just said this to create a scene then left back to China without telling anyone, causing an uproar in this school.

A few days after his disappearance, I was sitting down in the cafeteria minding my own business when…

“Yo! Baek! Did you hear about that exchange student?!” Chanyeol sat down next to me with an interested expression on his face.

I rolled my eyes, taking a bite from my sandwich, “Who hasn’t? The whole city is talking about it. Don’t tell me you believe this crap, too!” I mumbled with my mouth full.

He nodded his head, making his curly, brown hair flop around, “C’mon, you can’t say that this isn’t the most interesting story since the haunted hotel incident!”

I groaned, “Chanyeol! The hotel incident was just a huge prank created by a bunch of stupid teenagers!”

“I don’t think a group of teenagers could pull off something like that. I mean really, I know you like to think of a ‘logical explanation’,” He used his fingers to quote the last words as he attempted to imitate my voice, “but I think the most logical explanation is that the hotel is actually filled with demons and ghosts!”

Swallowing the food in my mouth before sighing, “First of all, I don’t sound like that. Second of all, you’re just being completely naïve. You’ll believe in anything you hear!”

Chanyeol scoffed, “I resent that. Why don’t I prove you wrong? I'll prove to you that this labyrinth exists!”

“And how exactly would you do that?” I said, disinterested, taking a sip from my water.

“Simple. We go find this labyrinth.”

I took a breath in, forgetting that I had water in my mouth. I achieved to get the liquid down without spitting any out but ended up coughing like a mad man.

“We’re going to do what?!” I said, still choking.

“You heard me! You need to stop being such an old grump and have some fun!”

“Noooo way!” I waved my hand furiously, “you are not getting me involved with this!”

Apparently my best friend is really good at getting his way. Or maybe I’m just a pushover. Either way, I was determined to prove Chanyeol wrong so he’ll give up this stupid fantasy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a closet geek when it comes to mystical and fantasy stuff like this. But not in real life, that’s just ridiculous. It is called ‘fantasy’ for a reason, right?

Next thing you know, we’re here… in the Labyrinth… running away from a crazy freaking monster. I don’t even know what it is but I just hope I’m lucky and don't get close enough to find out.

“Ch-Chan… I-I don’t know how much further I can go.” I clutched onto my stomach, as my lungs burned painfully. I could see pain in Chanyeol’s face too, but also determination as we ran along the stone floors of this cold and dark place.

“There! I see a door!” Chanyeol pointed to an old wooden looking door with an aged black metal doorknob.

I nodded my head and quickened my speed. We approached the door and I dared to glance back as Chanyeol fidgeted with the handle.

“It’s not opening!” Chanyeol was now ramming the side of his body into the door as beads of sweat flicked off of his hair.

“On the count of 3 we ram it down. 1… 2…” A loud roar shook the damp walls underground. Chanyeol and I glanced back, as we saw the great beast approaching.

“3!” Chanyeol finished. Fear and adrenaline completely taking over my body, I ran into the door with all of my might.

The door hit the ground with a loud crash and we rushed into the room, quickly picking the door back up and slamming it into its frame.

We both collapsed into a sweaty and breathless heap. I cringed as I heard the loud roar once again on the other side of the door, the sound resonating through the walls and causing the ground to rumble.

Chanyeol pulled me to his side and covered my ears. I gripped onto him for dear life. I could feel both of our bodies shaking violently out of fear. 

It seemed like hours before whatever that thing was finally shut up. The silence it left behind was horribly unnerving though, and I wondered if it was even still alive. It probably fell asleep on the other side of the door, waiting for us to come back out. Or maybe it left. I doubt we're that lucky though.

Chanyeol lowered his hand from my ear but I didn’t dare let go of him.

“B-Baekhyun?”

I looked up at the tall boy, who had tears in his eyes and sweat dripping down his face.

“I’m so sorry,” He whimpered, now crying into my shoulder, “I’m so sorry I got us into this mess. I’m such a bad friend. I’m sorry.”

“Shh, d-don’t cry. It’s okay. We’ll get out of here, I promise.” Could I really promise such a thing, though?