They ran.

    “Tae Yeon!!!” Kai reached the hall first. “ Stay here!” he shouted , clicking on his flashlight as he broke toward the staircase they’d used on their way up. Suho, Hyuna and Soo Yeon veered left, taking the other two lights with them. “ Tae yeon-ahh!!!!”

    On instinct Ga Yeon went after Kai, but he was already gone. She had no light and couldn’t see two inches in front of her. Behind her, the other had disappeared.

    Ga Yeon took off anyway, using her arms to feel her way out of the hall. “Tae Yeon!” Her foot ran out of floor. “Kai!”

    Heart pounding, Ga Yeon slid her hands along the wall. There was a door there. “Kai!”

    From downstairs, Ga Yeon could hear him shouting for his girlfriend. Ga Yeon fumbled for her phone and turn it on to reveal a faint glow. The door had to be somewhere!

    “Tae Yeon!” That was Hyuna. The burst of footstpes sounded like running. Another scream.

    Ga Yeon her phone in front of her as if it could protect her, almost with relief when she found the small knob. Fumbling, she yanked the door and staggered through – never saw the wall of shelves. Ga Yeon slammed into them, forehead and waist plowing in simultaneously. The impact stole her breath. Pain sang hard. She fell back, doubled over and tried to breathe. “What the-“

    Her hands shook. She lifted her hand to her face, her finger stilling at the stickiness. Blood. And everything started to spin.

    Ga Yeon gasped for air, gagged on the smell. Stale like before, rancid now. Copper. Ga Yeon went for the light from her phone, but realized she no longer held it.

    Darkness took everything. Ga Yeon lifted her hand but could see nothing. She dropped to her knee feeling her way through the grime for the opening. Behind her something moved.

    The bright flash blinded. Recoiling. Ga Yeon sat frozen, once again in the unsettling room with the dirt wall ang grimy windows, the phone discarded in the corner, the girl on the bed… the dark tangled hair.

Tae Yeon.

    And finally, the scream burned .

    Immediately something whooshed to her right, and the darkness let go. This time the stab of light did not come from the corners of her mind.

    “Oh my god- Ga Yeon.”

    “Sehun…” Ga Yeon managed, but the sound that crawled from was no more than a whisper. 

    Flashlight in hand, he lunged inside what looked like a large closet and reached for Ga Yeon.

    “Easy,” Sehun muttered , stepping beyond Ga Yeon, towards the walls of shelves that had not been there before. They hadn’t sure but Ga Yeon was sure about it. All the while Sehun don’t let go, kept his hand curled around her wrist.

    Then he blew her mind. Slipping his hand under the fourth shelf from the bottom, he pushed something, and the shelves creaked open, revealing the vat of darkness beyond.

    Ga Yeon’s heart slammed hard. “ Come on!” Sehun jerked his flashlight from Ga Yeon to illuminate the staircase. “Let’s get out of here.”

    Ga Yeon’s mind struggled to process everything. The staircase was secret, hidden. The heavy door must have closed after Kai ran through it, accidentally trapping her…

    Her legs was so weak, but she made it to the kitchen with the help from Sehun. They scrambled to the backyard where the moss swayed with breeze – and three girls stood watching. Ga Yeon stopped.

    “Tae Yeon.” She looked… fine. “What – “

     She and Hyuna beamed – Soo Yeon looked away.

     The dare Hyuna had given her friend hadn’t been for Tae Yeon at all. It had been Ga Yeon’s. She and Hyuna had planned everything, long before they’d reached the awful mansion. They goaded her, played her, gotten her to give them her flashlight.

       They’d closed the door to the secret staircase. They’d waited until she was inside the fake closet. They’d shut her in.

     “Ga Yeon!”

     Something dark and vicious took control of Ga Yeon. She spun toward Kai’s voice, found him emerging through the gaping darkness.

     “You’re okay!” he said vaulting through the window.

     Ga Yeon didn’t wait for him to reach her. She charged him, catching him off guard as she slammed her hand against his chest. “You knew!”

     The others she could understand. But him…

     “Easy.” He said, reaching for her hands.

     She twisted back from him, hating the tightness in her chest. “Game over,” she whispered.

     He went so very still, looking beyond Ga Yeon to where his girlfriend stood like a vision of saintliness. “No – “ he muttered.

     “Liar!”

     Kai shook his head, eyes darker than usual. “No, I swear!”

     “Bull” Ga Yeon’s hand form tight fists. She wanted to hit him. “You pretended to be my friend!”

      “Ga Yeon.” His voice was softer now, lower. “This isn’t what it looks like. You have  to – “

      “I don’t have to do anything.” Except leave. Thought Ga Yeon. She walked away without looking back.

     “Wait!” shout Kai from behind.

     Ga Yeon just keep going.

     “You can’t just – “

     This time Ga  Yeon did stop, spin. “Don’t.”

     From beneath sweep of bangs Ga Yeon had once fantasized about brushing from his forehead, he stared at Ga Yeon. “Let me take you home.”

     Ga Yeon laughed. She really did. “Not in this lifetime,”  she said as she noticed Tae Yeon strolling toward him.

She didn’t wait. She twisted back around and made her way to the street. The cars they’d comes in were by the cemetery around the corner.

     She walked in the opposite direction.

     Instinctively her hand went into her pocket, but her phone was not there.

     She was not going back for it.

     The shiny black Jaguar stopped Ga Yeon. One darkly tinted window lowered, and Aunt Hyeri looked like she’s ‘bout to cry.

     She also looked like she’d rolled straight from bed. “ Hey,” was all she said. Ga Yeon looked at her trying to smile. She don’t know what she felt. Surprise, maybe relief. She quickly enter the car.

     “How did you know?” asked Ga Yeon.

     Her smile was sad. “ Kai called me.”

     Ga Yeon simply nod. He must have called her the second I left the house. Thought Ga Yeon.

     “Come on, dear.” She said. “ Let’s get home.”