Paparazzi

Curse of 1893

You pushed the thought of the strange bite on the back of the girls arm to the back of your thought. This shop was weird, you had to admit. It made your thoughts wrangle together and become knotted in questions you found yourself repeating in your head.

Sookjae was a sweet fellow. Tall, broad shoulders, a more muscular built to him yet he was a soft boy, black hair that was cut right above the eyes that was brushed to the side. He had a welcoming presence that made you feel comfortable. He took you through the little gift shop, pointing out each objects beautiful part. You could tell he had such a passion for this.

He picked up a peacock feather, his smile wider than before. "This feather came from an old lady, she said she once owned a peacock and it dropped a feather before disappearing one day. She couldn't find it, and so this feather gave her to much painful memories of the peacock...so she gave it to us. She said we could sell it, but it must've been such a beautiful peacock...it gives me peace." Sookjae ran his finger across the feather. A small giggle escaped your lips. "Quite the story." Your eyes followed the feather as Sookjae gently set it back into its place. Your head turned, your eyes scanning the different rings on the shelves.

You stopped on the navy blue box.

"Sookjae?"

"Hm?"

"What is that?" You pointed at the box, he didn't even look at where your finger was pointed, instead, his eyes shot straight to the box. "Um...it's a box..."

"No silly, what's inside of it?" You dropped your arm back to your side, watching Sookjae shift uncomfortably. "It's nothing important. Nothing that bothers you."

"Then why can I not open it?" Crossing your arms, you tilted your head, he quickly turned around to you. "Because it's off limits. It's not for the public." He quickly said. "Then why have it out here? In front of the public?" You questioned. Sookjae glanced at the box, his gaze immediately going to the floor. "Because it's not allowed in the back rooms. Nobody wants it back there."

"Why not?"

"Because there's a curse in that box." A deep voice made you jump a bit, turning around, a smaller boy stood in the open doorway to the hall, leaning on his shoulder against the door frame with his arms crossed. Light brown hair shining in the light and dark brown eyes staring coldly back at you. A black T-shirt and black jeans, and shoes with even more black. He wore multiple chain bracelets on his arm. "A curse? Curses don't exist." You smirked. Only his dead cold irises staring dead at you wiped the smirk from your face as you tensed. "Of course not. Curse of 1893 wasn't a real thing or anything." He said sarcastically.

"Curse of 1893 was real?" Your eyes widened. It was something you only heard about in school. A zombie plague fell upon the earth, it nearly wiped out half the population. The cause? Nobody knows. Some say it was only a virus, others say it was a curse. The ones who speculate it was a curse say that it is because of writings found back then of the tragedy. Saying a rose started it. That a magical, powerful rose, sat at the center of human destruction.

However, roses weren't magical. It was just a flower.

Even though there's strange photos out there of a very certain rose glowing at night, photoshop was a thing these days.

"You bet it was. That thing wiped out everything. Animals and humans." The boy nodded. "It wasn't a flower, was it?" Your head tilted a bit. He nodded again.

Turning to the box, you gently bumped into Sookjae who had moved in front of you quickly, blocking you from the box, an angry glare replacing his soft expression. "Alright that's enough, Jinwu. I'm sorry, Y/N, he's a bit crazy in the head with guests. There is no curse inside the box, Curse of 1893 was a hoax to scare people." He gently put his hands on your shoulders, turning you around, he fixed his hands back onto your shoulders and lightly pushed you towards the door. "Thank you for coming to Magic Shop, goodbye." He opened the door and pushed you harder onto the sidewalk. The door slamming behind you.

What the hell?

Looking back at the door, your mouth parted in shock, everything had just happened so fast. The rain turned to a small drizzle, decorating your hair in water droplets. A hoax?

"Y/N!" A voice called out. You turned to look, Jungkook rolled up next to you on his scooter. "What are you doing in front of Magic Shop?" He asked. "You know Magic Shop?" You gasped a little.

"Yeah! Hoseok takes us every weekend, it's really fun. I bought a little dream catcher from there!" He smiled.

You chuckled a little, noticing cameras from behind a car pointed directly at you, you quickly threw your hood back over your head. "What are you doing out here?" You quickly asked to get things going. "Banana milk." He giggled shyly. You couldn't help but laugh. "Why didn't you just ask me to get you some? I could've headed to the store."

"I did ask you but you didn't respond." Jungkook shrugged. You tilted your head, pulling out your phone. 13 missed messages?

"I don't get any texts or calls when I'm in here."

Glancing back at the shop, you refocused on Jungkook. "Well uh, sorry. I was pretty distracted. How's Hoseok doing?" You crossed your arms a bit, rocking on your feet. "He's fine, he looks exhausted, but he won't say he is. He hasn't slept in twenty-four hours." Jungkook sighed, you felt your heart drop a bit. Hoseok was a hard worker, but he was way over working himself. "Is he sleeping now?" You felt obligated to ask.

"No, he's learning dance choreo right now." Jungkook spoke softly. You noticed the cameras move closer and you tensed up. "Well uh, tell him I said hi, and uh...tell him I hope he's doing okay, go get your banana milk." You forced a smile to which Jungkook smiled back and drove off on his scooter. The cameras quickly following after him. No privacy for that poor boy whatsoever. You growled to yourself, turning to look up at the sign.

Memories fade.

"Memories fade?" You raised an eyebrow in suspicion. The rain began to pour once again. Hugging yourself in your hoodie, you began to quickly walk back home as the rain began to drench you completely. Your thoughts once again knitting together in an endless loop of questions that had no answers.