HOSTAGES

Chapter 13: What does it mean?

So, here we all are, standing around the table in the kitchen. We're staring down at the little mysterious black box, wondering what's inside - deja vu. I decided to speak up in this intense staring competition with the box. "Got any ideas of what could be inside?" I asked. All attention was now drawn away from the box and directed at me. "Maybe pictures like the last time," Jin Oppa said. He shrugged his shoulders and as he spoke he had a certain kind of seriousness in his tone that I've never heard before - that kinda sent chills down my spine. "Could be," Yoongi Oppa added. "Why don't we shake it and hear what's inside," said Taehyung Oppa, picking the box up and holding it up to his ear. He started shaking it. It was as if everything happened in slow motion. Panic arose in me, because it could be a bomb inside there. I feel like the rest of them were catching on to what I was thinking, because their sudden changes in facial expressions were proof enough. And everything that happened next was just in a mere matter of seconds. I leaned over to the opposite side of the table where he stood and grabbed the box from his grasp. Jimin Oppa hit him behind the head. 

"What if it's a bomb, stupid!? Think," Hoseok oppa quipped at him, poking at Taehyung Oppa's head. "I didn't think of that," he said with a sheepish smile. "Clearly, tell me what's new," Jungkook Oppa said, grinning at his own statement. "Well, it didn't explode, so it's not a bomb. What did you hear inside?" I asked curiously as I kept the little box in my grasp. "I heard something small moving inside, like something plastic, because of the sound it made when it hit the walls of the box," he said. Small and plastic? We all looked at each other with the same thoughts in mind. "USB," Yoongi Oppa suddenly blurted. "What?" Namjoon inquired with a face masked with full blown confusion from the sudden remark. "Think about it, what's a small enough 'plastic-thing' that can fit inside that box?" he questioned, pointing at the small rectangular object in my hands. "Let's hope your right," I said, looking at the man standing next me. I lifted the lid off the box. As I put the lid down, the room became eerily quiet. "You're right," I said, looking down at the little silver and black USB. In addition, underneath, it was a neatly folded piece of paper. To be honest, I was expecting something extreme and gory inside like a severed finger or something, but I pushed that thought away. I took out the little plastic USB and gave it to Jin Oppa to hold onto.

I reached in and took out the neatly folded note, not knowing what I should expect it to say. I set the little black box down on the kitchen table and put my undivided attention back on the little note in my shaky palms. "Who wants to read it?" I asked with a small, almost inaudible, shaky voice. "I'll do it," Namjoon Oppa volunteered and took the piece of paper from my hands. I unknowingly moved slightly closer to Yoongi Oppa, scared of what the note could say. He probably noticed, swung his arm around my shoulders and squeezed them in reassurance. I looked up at him. He had just showed me his gummy smile, which made me smile at him in return. Both of us turned our attention back to see Namjoon opening the letter slowly and carefully; he made sure not to tear it, knowing his history. I slightly giggled to myself at the thought. We stared at him in suspense as he read the note. "SO, WHAT DOES IT SAY!" We all yell at him in unison. He turned the letter to face us, so we could read what's on it.

THERE'S A VIDEO ON THE USB WATCH IT.

M.A

Is all that read on the letter. Our eyes trailed off to Jin Oppa, who still had the USB in his hands. "Well, let's see shall we," Jin Oppa said, while striding into the living room where the laptop stood - on the table where we left it. We all watched him as he put the USB in the input on the laptop. He moved the mouse slowly on the one and only file on the USB, then, he turned to us. "Ready to see this is?"

One by one, everyone nodded then turned to me to see what I would say. "Ready," I said in a small voice, making quick eye contact with everyone before putting all my attention on the laptop screen. I was still holding onto Yoongi Oppa's hand that was slung around my shoulder.  Jin Oppa clicked on the screen. The video opened as it revealed a dark picture, before a masked figure dressed in all-black stepped out of the shadows. From the way this mysterious person is built, you can tell it was a man. The broad shoulders and height was enough to come to this conclusion.