-Chapter 4-

Chills

“Luhan… who could Luhan be anyways…?” you silently murmur to yourself. You couldn’t deny that the page you found in your notebook with the name ‘Luhan’ sloppily etched from top to bottom had gotten to you- it made you feel uneasy and nervous; basically it creeped you out beyond belief. Over and over you kept telling yourself that this was just some type of sick, well-thought-out prank Sehun had pulled on you, but it just didn’t add up to you. Why on earth would he pull a prank like this on you in the first place?

You subtly looked off to the side to gaze up at your older brother Sehun who was walking mutely next to you. Now this was what you were used to- walking home with Sehun and not saying a single word to each other. However, something felt a bit off this time. There seemed to have been some type of unknown, unspoken tension that was in the air around you two. You obviously weren’t talking since you had a lot on your mind but for the first time, it looked as though Sehun was in the same position as you.

He was staring down at the ground as he walked and his eyebrows seemed to have been inadvertently knitted together and his mouth set into a hard line, giving you the idea that whatever it was that was on his mind was seriously bothering him. And for some reason, you felt as if Sehun was purposely ignoring you this time around.

Normally you would have felt at least a touch of concern for your brother since most things usually don’t get to him, but right now you already had too many things on your own plate and didn’t have time to deal with anyone else’s issues.

After a long and agonizingly quiet walk from school, you both finally made it home. You unlocked the door and walked inside. Immediately, the air around you turned significantly heavier. You paused for a moment and closed your eyes as you tried to quietly calm yourself down. No matter how many times it would happen, you could never get used to the sickening and unsettling feeling you would get right when you would enter your house.

Faintly, you could hear what sounded like footsteps marching above you on the second floor. Most likely, emanating from your room… Your hands clenched into tight fists as the sound continued on. You weren’t in the mood or in the right mindset for this thing to come after you again. (You never were, but right now you felt especially bitter towards it.)

“Jaeyun,” you suddenly heard. Your eyes shot open and you looked over your shoulder. Staring back at you was Sehun who you hadn’t even noticed standing behind you. You were surprised he was still standing at the door with you when normally he would have jetted up to his room after a long day of school. Sehun was staring back at you with slightly consuming eyes. You couldn’t read his expression to be able to tell what it was that he was feeling but you knew it definitely wasn’t positive.

“Come to my room. Right now.” He practically demanded in a stern tone. You vacantly stared at Sehun. You really weren’t expecting this sudden demand at a time like this but you didn’t have any time to think it through when Sehun heaved out a sigh and stomped towards you, snapping his arm forward to grab your wrist.

“Sehun, wait a second! Let go!” you protested, attempting to yank your arm out of Sehun’s persistent grasp as he dragged you up the stairs towards his room. Before you knew it, Sehun had shoved you into his room where he had promptly shut the door behind himself. “Sehun, what is this all about? You really hurt my wrist back there!” you said, massaging your now sore wrists.

Sehun remained silent as he stared you down. His daunting stare and unyielding demeanor was enough to wilt away at your sudden anger towards him and render you silent as well. “Sehun…?” you hesitantly uttered out. After another minute or so of this silent stare off, Sehun’s expression suddenly softened as he allowed another exasperated sigh to escape his lips.

“I shouldn’t be getting this angry about this…” he sighed to himself. He looked over at you once again, this time his stare much less threatening to you. “I… have a question to ask you Jaeyun.” He started.

“What is it?” you cautiously asked.

“Well, I was talking to Jongin; you know, my friend who’s in your class. And he said he saw a guy’s name written all over your notebook.” You tensed up as the memory of today’s incident quickly flashed into your head. “I think the name was Luhan wasn’t it?”

Almost instantly when the name came out of Sehun’s mouth, the entire room suddenly became considerably colder.

“Well, I was wondering why you would write his name all over your notebook.” The more Sehun pressed on about the subject, the colder the room got. You could feel small goose bumps arising throughout your body as you suddenly felt paralyzed by the sudden temperature change. You peered up at Sehun and it appeared as though he looked completely unfazed by the coldness. It almost looked as if he didn’t even feel the room getting colder.

“Jongin even joked around that maybe this Luhan guy might be your boyfriend.” The room was becoming unbearably chilly, to the point where you began to tremble a bit from the cold. Not only that but you felt as though something was now standing directly behind you, scrutinizing you from behind. You continued staring up at Sehun, tensing up your body slightly to bear through the chill. Sehun once again didn’t looked disturbed at all by the coldness. It seemed impossible though because it felt as though it was now less than 20 degrees in this room and Sehun was wearing short sleeves.  

“So what I want to know is, do you… have a boyfriend?” Sehun awkwardly asked you. Sehun finally focused his wandering eyes on you but the second he locked eyes with you, his eyes rounded in surprise. “J-Jaeyun, w-what…” Sehun was staring at you in disbelief with widened eyes and slacked jaw. Before you could say anything (which didn’t seem possible since you were too cold to speak), Sehun slowly lifted a finger up to point at you.

“Jaeyun… why can I see your breath…?”

You were suddenly hit with a numbing spell throughout your body as your heart halted to a startling stop. Your eyes trailed down, bit by bit, to stare downwards. To your horror, Sehun was right… Each time you exhaled a breath, a white puff of smoke blew out of your parted lips. Now you were completely sure why you were freezing cold and Sehun wasn’t.

It was because you were the only one in the room who was experiencing this immense coldness. Just like how you were the only one who had this unseen being standing behind you and watching you.

You knew fully well that it was because of this thing that you were feeling this painfully chilly spell. This had never happened to you before but you had a feeling that after uttering the name Luhan in this house, that must have set it off. It was clear to you now that if that was the case then Luhan… must be the spirit’s name. Was it possible that ‘Luhan’ was the one who wrote its name in your notebook?

You were awoken out of your disturbed daze when you heard Sehun take a step towards you. You took a step backwards, which was a move you regretted doing since it felt as though you were getting closer to the force standing behind you.

“I-I’m f-fine…” you stuttered. The coldness you were experiencing was clearly evident because of your shaky voice and slightly chattering teeth. You covered your mouth with your hand to stop the puff of white smoke from escaping past your lips again, wincing slightly at the pain the suddenly shot through your arm from your sore wrist.

“No… I don’t h-have a boyfriend…” you quickly and faintly said behind your hand.

“Oh, I see.” Sehun said. He rubbed the back of his own neck as he averted his eyes from you as relief seemed to have washed over himself. Thank goodness… he thought. “But, who’s Luhan anyways?” As if on cue from hearing its name, the spirit’s heavy force weighing down the air around you seemed to have gotten stronger. You felt your legs trembling and about to give way. This feeling was beginning to overpower you...

“I-I don’t know…” you swiftly replied, looking down at the ground. “I don’t know who Luhan i-“

Directly when the name had slipped out of your own mouth, an enormous feeling of lightheadedness and nausea crashed into you. Coupled with the paralyzing coldness surrounding your body and the terrifying pair of invisible eyes behind you, you felt yourself seconds away from fainting from the overwhelming forces piling onto you. You kneeled over and clenched your eyes shut as tears stung your eyes and threatened to spill out.

Muffled in the background, you could hear Sehun’s distant voice calling out to you and his footsteps hastily approaching you. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t speak. You couldn’t take it anymore. It felt like the whole world was quickly closing in on you. Until…

“Jaeyun”

Your eyes snapped wide open. It was the voice again. Luhan’s voice.

You involuntarily pushed past Sehun and out his bedroom door. As if you legs and body had a mind of its own, it led you down the stairs and towards your front door. Your mind was completely clouded with fear and ill feelings and only one thought filled your mind: you needed to get out of this house right now.

You made it downstairs and dashed around the corner towards your front door. Looking up, you abruptly skidded to an unexpected stop. You stood there completely frozen with your mouth agape, unable to push any air out of your lungs. Your hands were trembling, your legs were buckling and you felt a terror filled scream stuck in your throat and unable to come out.

Standing in front of the door, white and slightly transparent with a smile on his face… was the man in your dream.

It was unmistakably… the ghost of Luhan.