Chapter 4

Pulling into the driveway, Max rolled his eyes after watching Key fix his hair every two minutes and stretched as soon as he stepped out of the car.

“Goodbye Max..” the voice from the car spoke.

“Uhh, see yah..” Max walked away quickly. Key followed Max into the house and didn’t care to close the door behind him not even noticing the black car pulling up beside the neighboring house. Kris sighed and stepped out of the car followed by Tao who pulled up his hood after glancing at the darkening sky.

“It’s going to rain.” Tao spoke glancing at the sky once more. The two boys hurriedly ran up to the open door and quickly checked to see if the coast was clear before quietly walking in. A couple creaks from the floor caused the boys’ hearts to beat faster and harder in their chests. Tao took a step in front of Kris and put a finger over his mouth while looking back at Kris.

Suddenly, a knife flew through the living room from the kitchen and came straight to Kris. Tao pushed Kris’ shoulders down and bent down barely missing the knife that stuck straight into the wall above their heads. Their hard breathing had made it hard to hear if anyone was walking towards them at the moment. Tao gripped Kris’ shoulder as he was still pushing him down and slowly peeked past the wall they had been crouched behind. He didn’t see anything but darkness as any inhabitants in the house had turned all the lights off. There was shuffling in the kitchen and then silence. Tao looked at Kris and motioned for him to follow him in proceeding to the kitchen through the other entrance around the stairs. Kris looked into the kitchen and squinted his eyes noticing that no one was in the kitchen anymore.

A pair of hands grabbed his waist from the back and he shot his elbow into the stomach of the person behind him who growled in pain. He looked over that person’s shoulder and noticed Tao was gone. After grabbing the collar of the man behind him and lifting the man slightly to eye level to look him angrily in the eye, his face slowly became one of relief.

“I almost killed you Key.” Kris placed him back on the ground as Key brushed off his one of a kind clothing.

“What are you doing here?” Key asked.

“More importantly…” A voice from behind them spoke. The two boys turned to look at Tao and the manager.

“….What is he doing?!!” The manager yelled from underneath Tao’s foot. Tao rolled his eyes and took his foot off of the manager’s chest. A flush in the hallway appeared and Max opened the bathroom door stopping to stare at all the people in his house.

“What…” Max started in confusion as he stepped into the living room where everyone was partially angrily and confused looking.

“Before anyone says anything…” Kris broke the silence. “Tao and I are here to help you.”

“Help us?” Max asked in a loud tone.

“Yes, we are here to help you guys get Yunho back; don’t ask us how we found out either. Tao and I have many past encounters with Shim and we can’t explain now, but we want to get revenge on Shim for what he has done and so here we are to help you get Yunho back and get revenge.” Max’s eyes became watery.

“You…have known Shim. He has done many more horrible things as well? What has he become over the years?” Max looked down and sniffled before jerking his head up to face Kris.

“We will allow you to come with us; we need all the help we can get in getting Yunho back. Shim has...become someone that I cannot bear to watch destroy the lives of others anymore. Our search starts tomorrow morning,” Max finished and walked back to his room. The manager spoke in a soft tone.

“Tao, Kris, Key, I will show you to the rooms you guys can sleep in. The three boys followed the manager up the stairs and into a fair sized room with a bunk bed and a mattress on the floor. “We weren’t expecting two more so make sure you figure out who sleeps where.” The manager spoke and walked down the stairs. Tao jumped into the top bunk with a blanket in hand that the other two had no idea where he had gotten it from and Key took the bottom bunk leaving Kris standing at the doorway. Kris sighed and brushed off some dust from the mattress and plopped himself on facing the ceiling. He thought about what would happen once Shim saw him and Tao. He knew he would protect the younger no matter what it took and Tao would do the same. It was not going to be easy but, you know, the road less traveled is bound to be the better one. His eyes slowly began to close as he drifted off into a deep sleep while ignoring the slight snoring coming from the bottom bunk diva.

...............

It was cold; darkness had swallowed any light that would have shown through the one window in the room that was now covered. Yunho found his eyes slowly opening to nothing, and had felt the shivers that ran throughout his body as he lay on the cold, damp ground beneath him. It was awfully quiet and the rigid breathing that escaped his mouth was the only thing to be heard. Yunho sat up in a slight panic and whirled his head around to see if there was anything he could look at. Nothing. Nothing was to be seen as he was engulfed in the darkness of the night. “I almost made it out”. Yunho thought to himself as he stood up. The door to the cell swung open and a rush of light came in, blinding Yunho causing him to look away.

“Sir, he is awake”. A voice called from the door entryway.

“Good, bring him out”.

Two men walked in and grabbed Yunho by his arms, leading him out of the cell. Yunho could now clearly make out the figures around him. It seemed Shim was walking ahead of him and the men without looking back even once. They walked through a long, poorly lit up hallway that seemed to go on forever until finally, they arrived at the bottom of a giant set of stairs that led into heights that Yunho could not see fully. It felt as even though the air had become much warmer, Yunho had still felt weak as the two men were practically dragging him up each on-going stair. When they arrived at the top of the stairs Shim pulled out a key in order to unlock the door at the top. When they entered the room Yunho’s eyes darted back and forth looking at all the photos on the wall of many different people.

“Well, how do you like it?” Shim asked as he turned to face Yunho with a slight smirk on his face. Yunho stared at the photos on the wall without acknowledging Shim.

“This is my amazing work room that no one like you has seen before, but….since you are the closest one to Max, I thought…..why not show off my plans??…you won’t be around much longer anyway”.

Yunho turned his focus towards Shim and spoke calmly. “I don’t care whatever you do to me; but don’t you dare…do anything to Max or anyone around him”. Shim frowned and turned away, walking to a certain section of the pictures on the wall. The two men led Yunho over to where Shim was standing and lifted up his hand with the ring on it.

“You know, Yunho, that with this ring I can control each and every move that you make with the press of a button; and I am ready to make good use of it.” Yunho scrunched his eyes closed.

“What exactly do you intend to use it for? Might as well tell me as I ‘won’t be around much longer anyway’?”

“Don’t quote me like that, what are you, Shakespeare?” Shim answered back followed with a slight punch to Yunho’s shoulder.

“Actually, I don’t intend on killing you but using you…didn’t I say that before?” Shim said with a roll of his eyes.

Suddenly a girl walked up from behind Shim. She was looking at the ground, and had a thin, feminine physique. He wanted to see her face; she slowly turned her head up at him… It was Heechul. Yunho quickly looked at the ground, his face turning red from embarrassment. Heechul walked over to stand behind Yunho..

“Once I have my plans all set up, and you are completely under my control, I will tell you my plans. There are too many risks of you getting away right now. He nodded at Heechul, and before Yunho could dodge he felt the cool metal of a taser at the back of his neck, and the shock of electricity running through him. He looked up at Shim, who smiled, and watched Yunho hit the floor, unconscious.

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So why do we always leave cliff hangers? BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME!!

<3 Let us know in the comments what you think? Arasso? :)