Chapter Four
Tuesday; First day Part 2

Where is the sun at? Chanyeol silently asked himself as he tilted his head towards the dark clouded sky. It looked like the clouds were suffocating the sun behind its doom and gloom. Why is it so dark in the first place? Just a few minutes ago Chanyeol could’ve sworn it was bright and sunny with a nice breeze blowing to cool down the hot summer air. But now it felt like a blizzard was rushing in, sending goose bumps all along Chanyeol’s skin.

“Hello?” He called out, noticing for the first time where he was. The streets where abandoned, filled with debris and cracked asphalt. The houses that lined each side of the street where half crumbled, some barely even considered a house anymore while others were on the brink of falling apart. It was like Chanyeol had just stepped into a horror movie and any minute now a masked killer was going to come out of one of the broken houses with a chainsaw and cut him straight down the middle.

Chanyeol cringed at the mental image he had given himself before the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise, followed by an ear piercing shriek of a child. Usually Chanyeol would’ve run for the safest place he could think of, but how could he do that, if he didn’t even know where he was or if there was even a safe place to begin with? So instead he stood there, frozen to the spot in the middle of the road he found himself at.

The shriek seemed to go on forever, until it morphed into one clear word, “Help!”

Instinct took over and the next moment Chanyeol found himself running to the cry for help. He didn’t know where he was going; all he could think about was how scared and terrified a child must be feeling, being in such a place, and how a child was even there to begin with. How long he was running for, Chanyeol had no clue. But after what seemed like forever he finally came to a chilling halt in front of a burning house.

Smoke was everywhere, forcing Chanyeol to wonder how he hadn’t noticed it before. But there wasn’t enough time to actually think of an answer cause the next moment he saw a kid running into the burning house, another cry for help coming from somewhere inside in the house. “Wait, don’t go in there!” Chanyeol found himself shouting after the kid while running into the house behind him.

The kid didn’t look back, as if he couldn’t hear Chanyeol’s shouts of protest. Instead he kept running, disappearing behind a spinning door that seemed to lead from the main room to a side hall. Chanyeol couldn’t see a thing in front of him as he struggled to run after the boy. The smoke was thick and pitch black, snaking its way into Chanyeol’s throat and stinging his eyes.

Quickly Chanyeol dropped to his knees and began crawling. If he remembered anything at the moment it was two things, one was there were now two kids in this burning house, and two was that smoke floated and never sank; the closer to the ground he was, the better.

“Hello?!” Chanyeol shouted as he finally made his way through the door, only to jump back as a huge flame lashed out in his direction. “,” He cursed before falling into a fit of coughing. His lungs were burning, his eyes we’re leaking with tears from the pain caused by the smoke. “Is everyone okay?!” He decided to worry about himself later as he ripped the bottom of his shirt and covered his mouth with it before standing up and rushing through the door once more. Only this time, the flames seemed to have retreated to somewhere else in the house, leaving only burnt wood and thick smoke in its wake.

Just as Chanyeol took a step onto the stairs he heard the cry again, this time louder and clearer, “Help me! Pl-“ When the sound was cut off, sudden panic flooded Chanyeol’s body. Quickly, he began ignoring the remaining smoke as he rushed up the stairs. Chanyeol was taken aback with the realization that there was only one door at the top of the stairs, very far end of the hall. The door was charred and smoke was floating from the other side. But what was even odder was the fact that the whole upstairs looked to be untouched by the fire and smoke, albeit for the little bit of smoke coming from under the door, but that vanished within seconds of appearing.

“What the hell?”

Before he got time to actually process what was going on, the same ear piercing shriek filled the air, only this time it was filled with pain. Chanyeol shook his head and ran to the door, and ran, and ran, and ran. With every step, the door seemed to get further and further away. “Stop!” He found himself yelling at the door as he pushed his legs to go faster. As if the door was teasing him, it started to get even further quicker than it had been before, until Chanyeol couldn’t get his legs to go any faster and a sore ache began taking over his muscles.  

“NO!”

Quickly Chanyeol’s head snapped up and he was met by a blinding light and judging looks. It took a few minutes for his mind to clear up and reality to set in. Slowly, while rubbing his eyes Chanyeol looked around him, soaking up the sights of his fellow classmates and the classroom along with its uncomfortable wooden desks, high windows, and unpleasant blackboard.  

He had fallen asleep; it was only a dream- no, a nightmare. It was his teacher clearing his throat that caught Chanyeol’s attention and forced him to look up at the front of the class. His eyes widened as the situation he was in finally registered.

Standing with his arms crossed and an angry scowl on his face was the math teacher. But standing next to him was a boy with purple-ish tinted hair, pale peach skin, and soft yet blank brown eyes, wearing an obviously new uniform. Chanyeol sat there staring at the boy in embarrassment. Great, leave it to him to pull such a stunt in front of what he supposed was a new transfer student. The boy on the other hand had his gaze directed out the window, almost as if he hadn’t even noticed what just happened.

His teacher cleared his throat again and Chanyeol finally broke away from his embarrassing staring and looked at the teacher again, swiftly standing up and bowing a full ninety degrees, “I’m so sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”

Mr. Jung simply nodded his head and turned back to the boy, a smile tugging at his lips, “I’m terribly sorry about that, he’s not usually asleep and shouting in the middle of class,” Chanyeol watched as Mr. Jung quickly glanced at him then back at the boy, “Go ahead and take a seat wherever you’d like and after I explain the lesson, I’ll come get you caught up with us.” The boy looked up at the teacher and nodded his head before taking the first empty seat right in front of the teacher’s desk, all without looking at anyone.

As soon as everyone turned back to the teacher Chanyeol felt a sharp jab at his ribs. He grunted and grabbed his ribs before turning to his right, coming face to face with none other than his seatmate Luhan. “Uh, ouch?!” He hissed in a whisper.

Luhan sat there with a satisfied smile, “Oh good, it did hurt after all.” Chanyeol couldn’t help but roll his eyes with a smile; unable to get mad at the girly looking blonde deer he called his best friend. “So, care to explain your wild dream?”

The mention of his dream made Chanyeol slump into his seat and turn to the front with furrowed brows. “I don’t know… but one thing I do know is it felt nothing like a dream. It was … so real…”

Chanyeol bit his lip as he decided to let the conversation die with that and tried his best to focus on the teachers words, glad that Luhan wasn’t going to push the matter any further.

Baekhyun began aimlessly flipping through the pages of his math book, not really paying attention to the contents it held. This was his last class before he was able to leave and go home. Which just so happened to be all that he wanted at the moment. There were so many people at this school that peaked Baekhyun’s interest and honestly, he wanted nothing more than to strike up a conversation with some of them. But Junmyeon’s words kept echoing in his head. If you don’t talk, they won’t know. His cousin always said that whenever they moved to a new place. A little part of Baekhyun wondered if his cousin ever thought about how hard that would be on him. After all, Baekhyun was a social butterfly wither either of them admitted it or not. If it wasn’t for the whole ‘stay under the radar’ then Baekhyun was more than sure that he was be friends with everyone in each of his schools, previously, present, and future.

The teacher; Mr. Jung, was going on about a test they would be having in three days, and although Baekhyun wanted to pay attention and maybe prepare himself for a test he knew the teacher wasn’t going to make him take, he just couldn’t. His mind kept trailing back to the memory he was trying his best to bury. That woman’s voice wouldn’t quit repeating itself in his head. She’s dead… she’s dead… she’s dead. Why couldn’t she have kept that piece of information to herself and grew up then died with it?

Baekhyun was already at the back of the book and the teacher was still explaining things to the class, giving Baekhyun time to let his mind wander further. Maybe Junmyeon would agree to going to Itaewon for American food, just this once for dinner. But before he could even finish his plot of how to get him to agree just this once, there was a soft tap on his shoulder.

Reflex kicked in and Baekhyun found himself almost on the floor as he jumped away from the sudden touch, his hands barely grabbing at the table in time. His heart was racing by the time he decided to straighten up and turn to the person the tap belonged to. In front of him was a boy with shaggy brown hair and kind eyes, along with a dimple smile to complete his inviting expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just trying to introduce myself, I’m Yixing.” Yixing outstretched his hand toward Baekhyun who just continued to stare dumbfound at the other boy, still trying to regain his usual heart rate.

When it was obvious that Yixing wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon Baekhyun took an unnoticeable deep breath and nodded at the boy, “Er, hi.” Then slowly he grabbed Yixing’s hand with his own and shook. He didn’t miss the slight twinkle in Yiixng’s eyes as he pulled his hand away, surprised.

“I like your hair!” Then he was turning on his heels and heading back to what Baekhyun assumed was his own seat and buried his face into his math book.

That… wasn’t weird at all?

Baekhyun shook his head and turned back to his book, aware of eyes locked onto the back of his head, as if they were drilling holes into him. Other times, Baekhyun would probably have gotten up and excused himself from the class, but he didn’t sense any threat, and the feeling of him captivating someone else’s attention was actually a bit exciting. So he took another deep breath and went to the beginning of the book, starting all over again as he began flipping through the pages like before.  

When the bell finally rung Baekhyun was already standing and stretching his arms above his head. “Baekhyun?” At the sound of his name Baekhyun whipped around in shock, only to puff out his cheeks in anger and slap his cousin’s arm.

“Damnit Junmyeon, I almost pissed my pants because of you!” He said with another slap as Junmyeon just swatted at his hand and laughed with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I-“ He stopped as he laughed at Baekhyun’s childish pout, “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself? Plus, won’t others know your name now? Get used to it.”

Baekhyun huffed then turned his back to Junmyeon and scooped all his belongings into his arms, walking away with his chin in the air, aware of Junmyeon following close behind him. “So,” the older started, “how was your first day of school?” Still ignoring him Baekhyun just opted to giving Junmyeon a ‘hmph’ and walked up to his locker, opening it -with a bit of difficulty- then tossed his books into his bag and then slung the bag over his shoulder and shut the locker, finally deciding then to turn to Junmyeon.

“Get me American for dinner and we can talk about it then.” He was about to smile but the hesitation in his cousin’s face made sure that wouldn’t happen. “Oh what now?”

Baekhyun watched as Junmyeon rubbed the back of his neck and looked around them before leaning in closer to Baekhyun, “We have…” He looked around again and lowered his voice, “a bit of a problem.”

Not sure how he should react, Baekhyun only stood there staring at his cousin. “What?” His voice was filled with annoyance, mostly because Junmyeon had just indirectly said no American food and a little bit of worry at this so called ‘problem’.

“Well… uh… let’s get to the car first.”

Without much of a choice Baekhyun nodded and followed Junmyeon to the car, quickly tossing his bag into the back then climbing into the passenger side seat, turning side ways to face his cousin full on. “Out with it,” He demanded.

Junmyeon shook his head and rolled his eyes at his cousin’s impatience and started the car, pulling away from the school before answering, “It seems the fact we’re back in Korea has… made it around.”

“WHAT?!”

Accidently slamming on the breaks he jerked his head away from the other, “God Baekhyun,” Junmyeon muttered as he rubbed his ears and glared at Baekhyun from the corner of his eye, “I’m right next to you, you don’t need to yell.” Baekhyun mumbled a quick but not so sincere apology, causing Junmyeon to once again roll his eyes at his cousin. “I’m not a miracle worker here; I did what needed to be done. So to say the least, we’re still safe.”

“… For now, you mean.”

Slowly, Junmyeon nodded. “Yes, for now.” It was silent as Baekhyun settled into his seat and let it all sink in, “I found out earlier that they have people in just about every city looking, but as far as I am aware of, they’re a bunch of idiots searching in the wrong areas.”

Baekhyun let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding until then, “Well, least that’s one thing we can always count on.” Junmyeon snorted in agreement. Without really knowing what else to talk about, Baekhyun leaned his seat back to a laying down position and shifted till he got comfortable, “Wake me when we’re there.” Then closed his eyes, not waiting for the others reply.

“Should we be concerned as to why you randomly walked up to the new kid?” Luhan questioned Yixing as the three of them were walking to Chanyeol’s house. The said boy was walking behind the two, his bottom lip still between his teeth while he still couldn’t quite shake the nightmare from his head. But at the mention of the new kid Chanyeol raised his head and focused in on the two boy’s conversation.

Yixing shrugged and twirled his house keys around his finger, “He had nice hair. When people have that nice of hair, it’s an insult not to let them know that their doing a good job.” Both boys looked at Yixing with raised curious eyebrows then looked at each other, the question both of them wanted to know but didn’t voice floated between their shared gazes, ‘How the hell we’re they friends with this weirdo?’.

With that they let the conversation end, only for Luhan to bring up another. “Oh hey Chanyeol, whose car is that in your drive?” The blonde boy pointed towards it when Chanyeol’s house came into sight.

Chanyeol tilted his head to the side and looked at the navy blue BMW parked in his drive, “Oh!” He straightened his head as they walked onto his front porch, “Remember how I had to clean that garage room? Well yeah, the people who moved in, I’m guessing that’s their car.” He shrugged as he pushed the door open, followed in by the two others then the soft click of the door closing.

“Really? What are they like?” Yixing questioned s they rounded the corner into the kitchen, smiling at his mother who waved happily at them. “Hey Miss. Park!” Luhan said as he hugged the woman.

“Hey Luhan and Yixing! How was China?” She asked while wrapping an arm around Luhan then squeezed his shoulder before letting go.

Luhan smiled big, “Aside from family, it was lonely. I really missed your cooking mom!”

Chanyeol snorted and muttered under his breath, “ kisser,” Then continued to grab a bag of chips and a two liter of soda.

Ignoring his comment Luhan remained smiling as Chanyeol’s mother laughed and shook her head, “Then how about you and Yixing stay for dinner tonight? Of course there might be two other people joining,” It was obvious his mother was contemplating the situation in her head, but as if summoned by the mention of their presence, the back door swung open and in came the two said men.

“No sir, we’ll call back when we have more information.” Mr. Wang said just before he rounded the corner and entered the kitchen with Mr. Kyung following close behind. At the sight of the four others in the room, both men froze and quickly plastered smiles onto their faces. “Sorry about that.” Mr. Wang said as he glanced around the kitchen.

“I’m Mr. Kyung and this is Mr. Wang, we’re staying in the uh … guest room.” He with that plastered smile and looked at each Luhan and Yixing.

“I’m Yixing and this is Luhan, we live on the other side of town.” Yixing said with his own plastered smile. Chanyeol had a strong feeling that Yixing was feeling intimidated by their size and a large part of him wondered why Yixing was lying about where they lived, but he said nothing when Luhan just smiled naturally and nodded his head with a quick ‘hi!’.

Tense silence filled the small kitchen as Chanyeol’s mother continued to ignore the four men in the house and worked her way around, grabbing various foods and spices. Yixing and Luhan were still eye-locked with the two men as Chanyeol took that chance to open the bag of chips and plop one into his mouth.

Suddenly Mr. Wang’s face brightened and an ‘Oh,’ sound escaped his now relaxed face as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a photograph. “You all go to the same school, correct?” They –now Chanyeol included- nodded their heads as they focused on what was in Mr. Wang’s hand. “Alright, perfect.”

“There’s a boy whose name is Byun Baekhyun, he’s my boss’s son, seven years ago he was kidnapped and we’re trying to find him. Maybe you’ve seen him at your school? Can you look at this and let us know later if you think you’ve seen him?” All three boys nodded their heads again as Mr. Wang handed the photo over to Chanyeol then both him and Mr. Kyung left the house, back to the garage room.

“Well that wasn’t weir-“

“Park Chanyeol I don’t want to hear the rest of that sentence, understand? Now, you guys get out of my kitchen before I chase you out. Oh and dinner will be done in about an hour or so, so let your parents know you’ll be staying.” Yixing and Luhan nodded with smiles and each grabbed one of Chanyeol’s wrists and dragged him out of the kitchen and up to his room.

Chanyeol grumbled once they were in his room and shut the door, tossing the photo towards his desk. “How dare you both, just… how dare you. I don’t even know what to sa-“

“Hey isn’t that the new kid?”

Is threre really any words to explain how sorry I am for such a long wait?
THIS MIGHT TURN OUT TO BE A DOUBLE UPDATE, if I can get the next chapter finished and edited within the next few hours. 
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I will try my best to not take as long updating anymore since it's finally summer, but I will make no promises. Sorry,
 

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