Triangle. |Stray Kids

Twenty.

It was as if they opened the hell's gate.

The second Chris's hands pushed the gate open, everything turned upside down. It happened so quickly and so blurred that they couldn't comprehend it. One second, they were standing to their feet, facing the gate. The next second, they were shoved backward by a strange powerful invisible force that felt like some wind. Something pushed them vigorously and blew them back.

The three teens were shoved quite far distance and away from each other. That wind played with them as if they were dead leaves. It swayed them in every direction before they drop to the solid ground painfully. They were groaning in pain while covering their heads and dropping them in their arms to protect themselves. Their screams and groans were mixed with the inhumane howl-like sounds that surrounded them and the loud roars of the thunder that started to echo once again.

They were being attacked by something they couldn't see. Things kept hitting their bodies from every direction and they started feeling weak as if their energy was being drained. Shivers crawled up their spines with each cold touch they feel, followed by a loud gasp escaping one of them. Soon, their screams, groans, and gasps turned fainter. They didn't have more energy to even wince.

The pain, wetness, and sound of thunderclaps brought Chris's focus back as he became alerted to his surroundings. The boy was sprawled on the floor with an odd angle that made his arm bend below him. Chris groaned loudly as he pulled his arm to its normal position. He thought he dislocated his shoulder joint. He turned on his back and opened his eyes to look up. The sky seemed extremely scary with those extra dark greyish clouds clashing, sending heavy painful raindrops to his aching body along with the blinding lightning and deafening thunder.

Chris's brain finally worked and he jerked upright. He was back on Lilly's rooftop and the storm was still raging. He jumped to his feet and looked behind him to find Lino in the same state, groaning and wincing in pain while holding his right knee. He guessed that's what he hurt when they were shoved by the odd forceful wind earlier.

Chris rushed to his friend and gave him his good hand to pull him to his feet. "Are you okay?" Chris asked him.

Lino pushed the drenched hair off his face and wiped it as if it would get dry. "I guess I sprained my knee." He groaned. "You?"

Chris squeezed his shoulder with his opposite hand. "I'm fine." He looked around them in search of their friend. "The hell! Where is Lilly?"

Ahead of them, there was the messed up triangle they made earlier. Rocks lost their orientation and were scattered on the floor randomly. The candles were surely off and dispersed too. Some were rolling here and there. Lino and Chris looked at their wrists to find the red wool threads still wrapping them but cut right after the knots.

They lifted their heads to look at each other again. Lino was about to talk but lost his words when he and Chris's eyes landed on the red threads dangling over their heads, stopping right in their eyes' levels. That wasn't possible! They were on the rooftop. There was nothing above them to dangle from.

The two boys gulped thickly and slowly and looked up to face one of the most terrifying scenes ever.

They both screamed and dropped to their backs, crawling backward from her.

Over their heads, there was Lilly. She was floating in the air parallel to the ground. She was on her back with her hair and limbs limply dangling from her body while her torso was straight. Her head was thrown back down and her eyes were closed. She wasn't conscious.

"L-Li-Lilly!" Chris hardly mumbled as he was still looking up at his friend that was floating midair.

As on cue, the lightning stroke one more time to illuminate the sky and show the boys something that was even scarier. It showed the hands that were lifting Lilly up in the air. Beneath Lilly, Lino and Chris could spot outlines of human beings that weren't totally visible to them, but surely their hands were what held Lilly up in the air like this. That happened for a fraction of a second before the thunder echoes one more time and immediately, Lilly dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

The two boys jolted and then looked at each other, silently questioning if they had to go to her. Still taken aback by the previous scene, their bodies were shaking but Chris was the first to attempt to move. Just as he stood up, Lilly's eyes opened and she pushed her body off the floor to sit upright.

"Lilly!" Chris called and rushed to her.

Lilly shoved her head in his direction in a slow, almost robotic, move. She looked at him blankly as if she couldn't exactly see him. Chris stopped in his tracks once she saw the empty look in her eyes.

That wasn't Lilly!

Lilly stood up to her feet and started walking slowly to the door. That made Lino's eyes widen. How could she be not hurt? She just dropped from at least two meters high! Lino stood behind Chris, watching Lilly heading to the rooftop's door with heavy steps as if she was sleepwalking. When she opened the door and stepped out, the two friends started following her cautiously.

Just before they step out, Chris looked over his shoulder to the far corner of the roof. He thought there was some shadow there. He scrunched his face while trying to figure out what was there, but then he let go of it since he needed to follow Lilly. He shook his head and walked out.

At that far corner of the rooftop, stood the adult Lilly with a shocked face and widened eyes.

Lilly was still watching what happened to her and her friends nine years ago. But right now, she wasn't watching something she could remember. Actually, that night nine years ago, Lilly lost some of her memories. She could clearly remember Chris pushing the gate open, then the next thing she remembers is that she was sitting on the front porch with her friends, snuggled to each other and wrapped with heavy blankets while the police and rescue team walked up and down her house frantically. But nothing in between.

Now she could understand why.

She was possessed.

That night, she was possessed for the first time.

The adult Lilly shook her thoughts away and rushed to the door to follow her teen self and her friends, hoping she would be finally able to solve the mystery of what happened inside her house that night. She was hoping she would be able to know what happened to her parents and why they had to leave this world on the same exact day.