Girl in Red
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Girl in Red
Staring: Kang Seulyi (OC) x Kim Myungsoo (Infinite) / Hyunmi x Woohyun, Seongyeon x Sungyeol
Words: 5,486 words
Genre: Horror
Staring: Kang Seulyi (OC) x Kim Myungsoo (Infinite) / Hyunmi x Woohyun, Seongyeon x Sungyeol
Words: 5,486 words
Genre: Horror
Summer holiday was always the most exciting time of the year, and this year was no exception for Myungsoo. He managed to ask his girlfriend Seulyi to go on a private getaway by the beach. He asked Sungyeol if they could stay at his relative’s villa, and somehow, Sungyeol thought it would be a good idea to invite himself and other friends along. What was supposed to be a romantic trip for two became a trip for six.
They borrowed a big van as Woohyun took the steering wheel. Everyone either chatted or played games during the four hour trip.
“Look! There’s the beach!” Seulyi yelled, immediately taking her phone to record a video for her Instagram feed. She continued looking at it in awe.
The setting sun created a reddish glow in the sky, its lights casting off towards the ocean’s surface. The crystal clear waves became slightly red in color in return. The waves hugged the beach, splashing like it was about to rage in anger. It did not seem all too peaceful.
“And someone’s there!” Seongyeon pointed out, pressing her finger against the window to direct their attention to the person.
Hyunmi frowned and pushed herself closer to the window, as if it could give her better vision. “It looks like the sea could swallow her. Why is she walking there all alone?” She asked, thinking of safety precautions they would require.
“For the thrill? Maybe she’s bored,” Seulyi said, deciding to take another video of the girl. She was wearing a long red summer dress, the chiffon skirt flowing with the wind. She wasn’t bothered by the roaring waves, taking her time with the walk as she made footprints in the sand. It was quite a beautiful sight, actually.
“Is she wearing a red dress?” Woohyun suddenly asked, not looking away from the road before him.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, she must have heard about the legend,” he began, deliberately lowering the volume of the radio.
“What?” Hyunmi was the first to ask, sensing the strange atmosphere. She immediately retracted her feet to herself and scooped closer to him from the passenger’s seat. “What legend?”
“The legend about the girl in red. A few years ago, there was a boy and a girl who fell in love, but his parents didn’t like her. So they promised to meet up at this beach so they could elope together. He asked her to wear red, so he could easily recognize her. The girl was the first to arrive. She waited and waited, but the boy never came.”
“Was it also stormy and windy that night?” Seulyi asked, snickering at the cloche sounding horror tale.
“Yes, and the waves were splashing here and there. It was chaotic. The girl wasn’t careful enough, so the waves crashed and took her to the bottom of the sea. All they found later was the girl’s red dress that resurfaced on the beach,” Woohyun ended his tale, glancing once at his girlfriend to watch her reaction. Seeing her terrified face, he couldn’t help but grin at his victory.
“Whoa, so the dude stood her up?” Seongyeon asked.
“This makes no sense though. How can her dress resurface? Did she get taken by the sea and undress underwater or something?” Sungyeol asked, trying to find the logic.
“We don’t know. But it’s said that when someone wears red to the beach, it will anger the dead girl’s soul and she would drag you to the sea with her!” Woohyun said, rising his tone with the incline of the story’s .
Hyunmi was already wailing at this point as Sungyeol and Seongyeon tried discussing the logic of the story.
“Hey! What a coincidence! I brought a red dress with me!” Seulyi suddenly exclaimed, her lips curling up playfully.
“Please, don’t wear it,” Hyunmi chanted in repeat, placing her hands to cover her ears.
Woohyun chuckled once before he gently grabbed her hand in his. “Aw, did you really believe that? I was just kidding, you know,” he cooed, planting a soft peck against her hand.
“Kidding or not, I’m gonna wear the red dress. Let’s see if the ghost lady wants to meet me or not,” Seulyi said daringly, snickering a laugh to herself.
Myungsoo knew his girlfriend wasn’t the scaredy type; she was even willing to look for a ghost and secretly hoped she’d be able to see one in her house. He smiled and softly placed his hand on her head to lightly caress her hair.
“What if you anger her and get swallowed by the ocean?” he asked her, chuckling at her determination.
“Then we’ll run to the car and go back home. She can’t chase us when we’re not at the beach anymore,” Seulyi answered, a very simple and logical answer.
Myungsoo smiled, allowing her to have her own fun. He trailed his eyes back to the beach, watching the waves grow bigger in size as the night grew darker. The girl in red was long gone by then. And upon second glance, so were her footprints.
***
They didn’t take time to explore the villa upon arrival since it was already so late. They grabbed dinner from a nearby fast food chain and ate it in the car. Due to traffic and Mother Nature’s sudden decision to make it rain, it took much longer before arriving at the villa.
They didn’t stare at the villa’s amazing interior, only showing interest in the bedroom and the bed. Considering everyone was conveniently paired up, each couple shared a room.
Nothing happened that night, except for the howling storm that grew stronger by the hour. The calamity disappeared when the sun rose. The morning afterwards marked the actual beginning of their vacation.
“Are you really wearing that?” Myungsoo asked, still lying in bed as he propped his head against his hand, enjoying the view in front of him.
Seulyi slid out of her pyjamas and put on the red dress she promised to wear. The short length exposed more of her skin than he was used to seeing, but they’d be going to a beach where girls wore bikinis all the time. Who was he to complain about his girlfriend’s revealing wardrobe choices?
“Yes. I need to catch the ghost’s attention,” Seulyi said proudly, fixing her long hair before she twirled around to him, showing off her dress.
Myungsoo’s eyes raked over her body a little longer than intended, feeling unwanted thoughts enter his mind. He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, loving it when she let out a small squeal and plopped unto the space beside him.
“What about my attention?” He playfully asked her, wrapping his arms around her hips.
Seulyi chuckled, coyly fluttering her eyes to him. “I don’t need a red dress for that,” she said, tilting her head to kiss his lips.
One kiss led to another, and they were late for breakfast. The others did not feel the need to question their tardiness, having a good guess of the activity behind closed doors.
“Oh come on, a red dress?” Hyunmi whined as her friend was still fixing the strap on her shoulder.
“I need to greet the ghost,” Seulyi said casually, as if the ghost lady was a long time friend she hadn’t seen since birth.
“Don’t worry. Seulyi’s the only one wearing red, so she’s the only one who’s gonna get dragged to the ocean. It will probably haunt Myungsoo too since they sleep in one room, but we’re safe!” Sungyeol declared, laughing at his own joke as Myungsoo squinted his eyes.
“But Woohyun made everything up anyway, didn’t he?” Seongyeon reminded, and everyone now looked at Woohyun who started the entire story.
“Uhm…” He hesitantly glanced at Hyunmi, knowing her vacation would be ruined if she knew he didn’t entirely come up with it. He did read stuff about it, but they couldn’t possibly be true, could it?
“Yup, 100% made up,” he answered.
Myungsoo watched the others let out a deep breath of relief—except for Seulyi who pouted in disappointment— and made plans to head to the beach. He noticed that frown on Woohyun’s lips, one that sheepishly tried to keep a smile, but poorly hid his nervousness. Myungsoo wouldn’t have thought much about it, until he made another observation.
Nothing in the villa was red.
***
Myungsoo wasn’t really the type who would enter the water unless Seulyi made him. Considering she was preoccupied in her search for the ghost, he was free to leisure under the big beach umbrella.
“Come out and play, ghost!” Seulyi loudly yelled out to the ocean, forgetting there were other visitors around her.
They all gave her strange looks, even keeping their children away from the crazy lady in red. Myungsoo wasn’t sure why they looked so frightened; was it Seulyi’s behavior, or was there something else he did not know of? The way they hurried to pack up their things and leave was alarming enough for him to pay attention.
“You don’t get to see this everyday. I’m recording this,” Seongyeon said, holding her phone up to record Seulyi’s bold antics. She laughed, excited to make new memories on their trip that included embarrassing her friend.
But Myungsoo couldn’t laugh along. Even if he wanted to, his muscles were frozen in place without knowing why.
It didn’t stop Seulyi from taunting, and she walked deeper into the water, kicking around with the tip of her feet. “I’m wearing red. Come and get me!” She continued talking to the air and laughed to herself.
“You girlfriend’s crazy, Myungsoo,” Seongyeon said. She released her fingers from the record button and was about to post it when her friend called out to distract her.
“Yeon, come join us in the water!” Hyunmi yelled, waving her arm to invite her.
“Just a sec.”
“Nope, you’re coming right now!”
Seongyeon was surprised when Sungyeol suddenly appeared from the back, nimbly picking her up as he dashed to the water. In her limited time of panic, she threw her phone to Myungsoo who caught it with great precision.
He laughed as they continued to have fun and decided he’d be the one to watch over their stuff. He checked to see whether Seongyeon’s phone was fine, watching the video she just recorded.
“I’m wearing red. Come and get me!”
Myungsoo smiled, seeing Seulyi flutter her dress towards the ocean to show it off. She did look ridiculous, even waving towards an invisible person to come over.
Except that in the video, someone or something did respond.
Out of the water, a girl with long black hair in a red dress emerged. She walked towards Seulyi, her hand stretched out. It was the moment when Seulyi turned to him and Seongyeon, but he caught the sight of the girl reaching towards Seulyi’s shoulder before the video stopped.
It played on repeat, but the girl in red was no longer seen in the video.
Myungsoo put the phone down, feeling his heart race in horror. Could his eyes be playing a trick? Was he so paranoid he began to see things? He shook his head, once again watching the video. It was an ordinary video of Seulyi taunting the ocean. Nothing happened. Nothing appeared. Nothing chased her.
He accidentally clicked away before posting the video, instead pressing on other random story feeds from other people. He recognized this scenery. He recognized the beach. This beach. It was the video Seulyi recorded when they sighted the magnificent scenery for the first time from the car.
“And someone’s there!”
Seongyeon’s voice spoke through the phone’s speaker. Right, they saw that woman wearing a red dress walking on the beach. But as he looked at the video, no one was there, not even the traces of her footprints. It was as if the sea washed away any traces of the frightening phenomenon they witnessed.
The legend wasn’t a lie.
***
On the entire walk back to the villa, Myungsoo kept walking behind the rest. He stole occasional glances at Seulyi, wondering what happened. His inner self debated whether he should reveal his experience and risk scaring everyone, or keep it to himself and ponder on his inability to solve the problem. Maybe they should go back and end the trip, but they’d ask him why and he still wouldn’t be able to explain.
“Hey, what’s up? You’ve been unusually quiet,” Woohyun suddenly appeared beside him, jerking his arm to test whether his friend was still alive.
Myungsoo looked at him, tucking his lips together. His increasing dilemma grew stronger, but the need for a solution outweighed his other concern. He supposed he could ask his friend.
“That legend about not wearing red at the beach,” he began, watching the changing glint in Woohyun’s eyes, “Where did you hear it?”
“Uuhm… I read about it online when I was looking up this beach.”
Myungsoo swallowed, feeling his heart drumming as he continued. “Did anyone actually try to wear red to the beach?” He asked.
“I am not sure. I read some people disappeared, but I’m sure those were internet trolls,” Woohyun dismissed and started to laugh. But when noticing the other didn’t laugh along, he realized something was bad. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think those were internet trolls,” Myungsoo said, the color leaving his face as he felt a sudden chill run through his body. “I saw something.”
Woohyun knew Myungsoo wasn’t the type to joke around about this, feeling the intensity of his darkening gaze.
“When Seulyi taunted the ghost, Seongyeon recorded it on her phone. In the video, I saw a woman wearing a red dress appear from underwater. She approached Seulyi and laid a hand on her shoulder.”
Woohyun stared in disbelief, his eyes flickering in anticipation for a punchline. But Myungsoo was serious. “Where is this video?”
“The strange thing is, when the video replayed again, it wasn’t there! I only saw it once.”
“Maybe you’re too paranoid,” Woohyun said, adding a nervous chuckle to his words.
“Maybe I am. But I’m sure you must’ve noticed there is nothing red in the villa we stay at,” Myungsoo said, his shoulders tensed as he kept breathing heavily. “I don’t think the legend was a joke.”
Woohyun kept quiet as reality began to sink in. He wasn’t the type who would dismiss things and let it be until it was too late to fix it. He’d rather fix it as soon as possible.
“We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” he said, his eyes moving around in search for an answer. “I’ll think of an excuse.”
“And the others? Should we tell them?”
“No, it will only scare them. It’s better if we kept quiet.”
Myungsoo nodded, feeling the insides of his stomach twist around uncomfortably. Why couldn’t Seulyi play in the ocean like other normal people would?
He turned his head to peek a glance at the ocean—the ocean that was now painted in blood red.
***
During dinner at the villa, the two guys made no mention of the incident to keep everything in order. They paid extra attention to Seulyi, wondering whether they’d find anything out of the ordinary.
“How come the food’s so salty?” Sungyeol protested as he finished his second round of kimchi fried rice. This question was directed at chef Woohyun who prepared the main dish.
“He must be impatient to get married,” Seongyeon teased.
“No, he is impatient about what comes after marriage,” Seulyi corrected, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. There was nothing out of the ordinary in her usual dirty minded behavior.
Woohyun did not fall into her trap and kept smiling. “If you mean building a family with my girlfriend, slash soon to be wife, then yes, I look forward to it,” he said, placing his arm around Hyunmi to emphasize his point.
“Hm, Hyunmi can’t wait either,” Seulyi continued, her tone still kept at a low mysterious hum as she laughed at them.
“Hey! That was not supposed to be announced in public!” Hyunmi yelled in embarrassment, getting up from her seat to chase after her friend.
Seulyi laughed louder, quickly getting up as she took her empty plate with her. “Can’t hit me now. I’m off to go wash the dishes,” she made up an excuse and ran to the kitchen.
It was always amusing to friend. And they always said she was the dirty minded one. Seulyi shook her head and placed the dirty dishes in the sink. She the faucet, but nothing came out. She swung the handle several times, wondering if the thing was broken. She tried hitting it several times, hoping for water to appear.
“Baby.”
The sudden interruption made Seulyi jolt upwards, surprised to feel a pair of arms wrap itself around her waist. Knowing they were currently alone in the kitchen, she couldn’t help but smile bashfully.
“Did something happen?” Myungsoo asked, resting his head against her shoulder, his breath right next to her ears.
“The sink isn’t working. I can’t wash the dishes. I can’t even wash my hands!” Seulyi remarked, holding her hands up to show some pieces of rice remaining.
It made Myungsoo chuckle, but the jolly sound morphed into a nervous silence. Could it be caused by whatever he saw earlier? He had to come up with an excuse soon. They had to leave first thing in the morning.
“Can’t you take off the red dress?” He asked, his plea sounding more desperate than intended.
Seulyi misunderstood his actual intention and thought he was fooling around with her again, as they usually would when no one else was there. “Right here? Right now?” She asked, though her fake surprise didn’t show much objection.
He immediately knew what she was thinking, and figured this could work as an excuse. The red dress seemed to be the problem, so he had to get rid of it. The best way to make Seulyi get rid of the dress was by…
“Not here,” he whispered, slowly trailing kisses down from her cheek, to her neck, and then her shoulder. Her body tensed with every lip contact, and he knew she would happily oblige.
He lowered one strap to continue planting a kiss lower down her neck, but noticed something odd. There were red marks pressed against her skin, almost like sunburn. It formed the shape of fingers.
He gasped sharply. The image of the video flashed by his mind. He recalled the girl in red emerging to touch Seulyi’s shoulder. He didn’t think it would leave physical evidence, but he was wrong. He wasn’t imagining. He had to move quicker.
“Change out of that dress first, and we’ll see what happens then,” he whispered to her, trying his best to hide the trembling fear in his voice or the panic in his beating heart. Myungsoo tried to maintain his seductive voice to prevent Seulyi from thinking of other possibilities.
There was a second of delay before she turned around with a half smile plastered on her face. Her eyes weren’t as excited as he thought she’d be, looking at him almost lifeless and out of energy before she nodded.
“Let me take a shower first,” she told him and left the kitchen.
When the door closed behind her, the sink began running all of a sudden.
***
Myungsoo ended up washing the dishes, feeling the chills run over his body everytime his hands were submerged by the water. He couldn't help imaging a pair of hands would appear from the water, grabbing him when he least expected it.
He shook the thoughts away, quickly placing the final plate back in the dryer rack. He then walked outside and saw his friends tidying up the dining room. Watching the TV in the dark lit living room was his girlfriend.
“Seulyi, weren’t you going to take a shower?” Myungsoo asked, baffled.
She turned around, still remaining calm as she placed the remote controller beside her. “I got distracted. Seems there will be a big storm for the next few days.”
“The weather?” Myungsoo asked, getting more confused. He turned to the TV, seeing it was filled with static black and white speckles. He couldn’t fathom why she chose to keep the entire room dark, perhaps another pursuit to call out the dead. He wondered how many ghosts were lurking beside her in the darkness, unseen to the eye. He wondered whether the girl in red would be there among them.
Seulyi suddenly got up, feeling no rush as she smiled at him. She then headed upstairs to take the shower that was long overdue.
“What happened?” Myungsoo asked, turning to his friends who were still at the dining table, chatting with one another.
“We thought she was fighting with you since she was unusually quiet. She started watching TV,” Seongyeon said, not knowing half the story.
Myungsoo had a bad feeling, and quickly rushed upstairs to find her. As he ran, the bathroom door suddenly opened, and both he and Seulyi screamed at the same time when they nearly bumped against each other in the corridor.
He stared at her, studying her wet hair in towel as she wore the same red dress as before. She smelled of fresh flowers, the scent of her usual soap. Something strange was happening.
“Have you been showering the entire time?” He asked her, trying to maintain the cool on his facial expression.
“Yeah! That’s what you told me to do. I somehow can’t find my other clothes though. Maybe the others are playing a prank on me,” Seulyi said.
Myungsoo swallowed hard and grabbed her by the shoulder, trying to calm himself before he questioned again. “How long were you in there?”
“Fifteen minutes? Half hour?” Seulyi guessed, giving him quizzical eyes.
Myungsoo released her, running his fingers through his hair. If Seulyi had been here the entire time, who was watching the TV? Who was the one foretelling him of a bad weather, preventing them from going home?
As his gut feeling furtively whispered the answer to him, Myungsoo noticed something else. The red mark around Seulyi’s shoulder changed. It was no longer a faint brush of cresting fingertips. It was an imprint of an entire hand now, making its way towards her neck and shoulders, almost choking her.
Before he could scramble his thoughts together, the girls downstairs began to scream. This couldn’t be good. Myungsoo held Seulyi’s hands and was about to head downstairs when the girls came running up.
“What happened?” Seulyi asked, her eyes trailing over the living room. The floor was covered in large puddles of water. They grew bigger in size as more water entered the house, soon burying the first floor at ankle length.
“You were right. There will be a storm, so big it even floods the house’s interior,” Seongyeon spoke, heaving a sigh at the outcome.
“Big storm?” Seulyi cocked her head sideways, probably trying to remember when she said it. But she wouldn’t be able to remember. It wasn’t her.
“This villa is save. Why is it suddenly flooding inside?” Myungsoo asked.
“Beats me. But it seems we can’t go home anytime soon,” Seongyeon said, frowning at the depressing outcome.
Myungsoo’s face grew pale, knowing exactly what was the case. The same way the water faucet could be controlled, this spirit managed to submerge the house in water. Because water was the medium where she could move through. She might be swimming closer to them now and none of them would’ve known.
Except Myungsoo who noticed the ripple of movements in the water, heading closer to the stairs where they were at. He grew more alarmed, knowing it could only mean one thing.
The girl in red was after Seulyi.
***
Myungsoo couldn’t get it out of his head. What was the girl in red’s purpose? Did she try to kill Seulyi? Or try to bring Seulyi closer to the ocean? Even Woohyun wasn’t sure how the rest of the legend went, or which part of it was believable.
Since they were stuck anyway, he thought it would be better for them to try and get some sleep. The more time they’d spent being unconscious, the less time they’d encounter the evil spirit.
His arm hugged around Seulyi’s body, feeling the rising and deflating of her stomach along to her calm breathing. She had zero awareness of the incident. Myungsoo knew she wouldn’t be afraid, but he was afraid of the actions she would pursue afterwards. Knowing her curiosity, she might just willingly take a swim in the ocean wearing a red bikini.
He closed his eyes, wondering what to do tomorrow. Even in his wake he could hear the sound of rustling waves, the faint echo of footsteps in the puddle. Only this time, the sound came from inside the room.
He opened his eyes again, jolting up to see the entire floor submerged in water. His head scanned around to find its source, and when he laid his eyes on Seulyi, he finally found it.
Next to the bed, the silhouette of a tall woman stood idle. Her long black hair covered her face, the red dress being the only color visible in sight. She did not move, only keeping her gaze towards a sleeping Seulyi. Upon closer inspection, her face was deformed and entirely dehydrated, her skin wrinkled like an old tree branch. She had no lips, the same wrinkled skin covering its place.
Myungsoo desperately prayed for the creature to stay idle, to not inch closer, but how wrong he was. It moved towards them.
“Seulyi!” He called, quickly shaking his girlfriend from her sleep. He couldn’t fend it off anymore. There was a bigger chance to protect her if she knew and did her part.
The girl in red closed in on them, the water splashing with every movement she made. She slowly raised her arm, the long and deteriorated fingers reaching out to them.
Myungsoo’s beating heart continued to race, panicked, confused, and frightened. His entire body was shaking when he exerted more force to wake his girlfriend up. The creature was coming closer, and he could see the decomposed fingers in his line of vision. Her presence brought along a chill he couldn’t explain. The blanch fingertip was only a hairline away from touching the sleeping girl.
“Seulyi!”
Her eyes opened, and Myungsoo held his breath when the creature froze in place. He did not dare to blink, afraid what would happen in that one second of blindness. But when he lost to his resolve and blinked, the creature was gone without a trace.
“What’s wrong?” Seulyi asked, staring at him weirdly.
Myungsoo’s breath became a heavy lump of air, the fear still imminent in his heart. The creature would follow them the longer they stayed at the villa.
“We need to go. Something’s after us,” he spoke with a trembling crescendo, his hand gripping unto hers tightly.
Seulyi frowned at him, waiting several seconds before her lips curved into a smile, laughing at him instead. “Are you trying to scare me because I didn’t manage to meet the ghost?”
“No, Seulyi. I am serious. I saw it.” He swallowed, digging his fingers deeper into her skin. “It was after you.”
“Then let it come to me,” Seulyi said daringly, throwing the blanket away from herself. She shifted her body and placed her foot on the floor. She flinched, feeling the cold water beneath her feet. After a closer inspection, she noticed the entire room was wet. She turned to him, completely surprised.
“You weren’t kidding.”
Myungsoo tapped her arm, looking at the red dress she wore. “Change your clothes, and then we’ll leave. We need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Okay.” The rest of her clothes were gone earlier, and she wondered whether it had resurfaced by now.
“I’ll get the others,” Myungsoo told her, heading to the light switch to turn the lights on.
When the bright illumination filled the darkness, their heart stopped beating for a second. The sight awaiting them was beyond shocking. The puddle wasn’t ordinary water, it was blood. They were submerged in blood.
The two exchanged a look in silence, both at a loss for words. After a small nod from her, Myungsoo decided to follow along with the plan.
The bloody water streamed through the corridor as well. He made his way through, holding his disgust as he bonked his hand against every door.
“Wake up! We need to leave!” He yelled, making as much noise as possible to wake everyone up as precious seconds ticked by. The doors opened, revealing the rest who were confused and frightened at the sight of the red water.
“What is going on here?” Sungyeol asked.
“Seulyi taunted the ghost by wearing a red dress, and now it’s after us,” Myungsoo said in one breath. There was no time to explain when his entire mind was jumbled up.
“Turns out the story I told you all about wasn’t fictional after all,” Woohyun said, his expression hardened when he set eyes on his surrounding. He held Hyunmi close to him, knowing she was already on the verge of crying in fear.
“Okay, so all we need to do is leave this place, right?” Seongyeon asked, staring at Sungyeol who promptly nodded. Whether or not the villa belonged to his relative, that was a matter for later.
“Where is Seulyi? Is she safe?” Hyunmi asked quietly, the words too difficult to form in fear that something unwanted had happened.
They stared at Myungsoo, his face growing pale.
“You left her alone?” Woohyun asked in disbelief. The ghost was after Seulyi. And yet, Myungsoo foolishly left her alone.
“She was changing…”
“Number one rule in a horror situation, never leave a person alons,” Seongyeon reminded, increasing the guilt in Myungsoo’s heart.
He wasted no second and returned to the room, slamming the door open with a loud bang. The room was still bright. Seulyi stood in front of her suitcase, her back faced to him. The red dress was still on her.
“Seulyi, why haven’t you changed?” He asked, slowly entering the room. He placed a hand on her shoulder, surprised by the the cold temperature of her icy skin. The bloody water wasn’t good for them.
She didn’t say a thing, only staring at her suitcase in silence. He followed her gaze, noting the entire suitcase was filled with water. There was nothing else for her to wear even if her clothes had returned.
“That’s okay. Let’s just get out of here quickly,” he said, grabbing their luggage. Then he grabbed her hand, once again flinching at the coldness he wasn’t used to. He dismissed the odd feeling, leading her downstairs where others were already loading their stuff back in the car.
“Are you sure you can drive?” Hyunmi asked her boyfriend. She looked at the time on her phone. It was inconveniently 4:44 AM, the symbolic number of death. She released a long sigh of agony, nervously biting her lips at the entire situation.
“I can manage. We’ll get out of here soon,” he told her with a sheepish smile, it was enough to reassure everything would be fine. Enough to hide his own worries and fears. “Get in, guys.”
Myungsoo helped Seulyi get into the car, wanting to pull her closer to him. But Seulyi was still as daring as always, choosing to sit close to the window, not bothered by the possibility a creature was chasing after her.
“Everyone ready? Let’s leave,” Woohyun called, starting the car.
Myungsoo hoped this was the right decision. That this would end the chasing once and for all. He turned around to watch the villa becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. They soon passed the same road again, seeing the sight of the ocean beach where they first saw the girl in red.
“The water’s red,” Seulyi remarked, her eyes fixing on the scenery.
Myungsoo stared at his girlfriend, finding her unusually silent. He thought she was trying to cope with what happened, but perhaps he had been wrong. Perhaps there was more to it. Perhaps he had made the greatest mistake of all.
“Hey,” he called out.
She slowly turned around to him, her face blank.
His eyes briefly scanned over her. The red dress looked beautiful on her, like a sinister bride of death. It matched the red mark on her body, the one that was now shaped like two hands entirely constricting her neck from both sides.
He felt a bad omen. Something was amiss. He needed to know. Finding the lost voice in him, he boldly asked a question he hoped to never pose.
“Where’s Seulyi?”
The girl in red twisted her lips into a sinister arch.
Seulyi was gone.
Fin.
I really reaally did my best, but.... horror is really the one thing I absolutely cannot write. If I try to make it scarier, I get scared myself. hahahaha. So, uhm... I slipped in some mmmm parts for you so hopefully you still like it. Thank you for letting me experiment with it. And yes it is a cliffhanger ending. hueheheh.. But I'm not satisfied with this. I'm thinking I should write you another one. A cute horror romance story. Maybe I will.... XD
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