The Raven Hotel | Jikook |

Chapter 7: Don't Leave

Once Jungkook was finally done with his second meal, he was finally stuffed. He set the dirty dishes outside on the ground and finally returned to the bed. At a moment like this, Jungkook was starting to realize that his hands were no longer cold and his head no longer began to pound in sync with the thunder outside. He was finally able to walk around and stretch.

"Now... time to speak with that... man..." Jungkook thought and looked over to the telephone that was knocked onto the ground. His hands fixed over the phone and picked it up as he then read out Jimin's number on the list of staff numbers. Jungkook was proud of himself; he was able to gain his energy back slowly and talk to the man that scared him. At first, he didn't expect that he would have the confidence to do so, but finally, he surprised himself at the end.

Jungkook set the telephone over the nightstand and began to mark Jimin's number into the phone until he awaited the call. He held the handle of the phone to his ear and listened, pending the same raspy yet, eerie voice that terrified him. As he awaited the other line to pick up, he listened to the thunder clash just beyond the windows to his room.

"Come on... pick up already..." Jungkook spoke to himself when suddenly, he heard a loud crash from the floor above him. The boy quickly shot his glance skyward seconds after the crash and kept his face pointed upwards. "So there are people in this building... shocking..." Jungkook added on when suddenly, he heard the opposite line pick up.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Jimin finally answered. The sound to his gentle yet hollow voice left Jungkook speechless at first. It was as if he was being stared at once again, yet, he was the only one in the room. It was a feeling so strong, Jungkook knew that no matter what, Jimin always carried that feeling around with him whether or not he was far from the boy.

"Hi... it's me, Jungkook... I... I-I wanted to tell you that I received a note..." Jungkook managed to say into a slight stutter at first.

"A note?" Jimin inquired, which sounded as if he curled his lip at the end of the question. Jungkook could just see it now, a twisted smile must have formed underneath the mask Jimin wore and that only caused his heart to drop. Just before, he believed he could confront the man through the phone at least, but now that he held the phone against his ear, he never wanted to back out of something so badly.

"Y-Yes..."

"What about this note?"

"It... it had words spelled out as if it was a warning. It spelled out, 'Don't Leave', and it's very concerning!" Jungkook spoke up and felt a little more at ease once he raised his voice to the man. In a way, he found it very uplifting, but along the way, it only left him more anxious when silence followed after. "H-Hello...?"

The other line was silent. Not another sound was heard from Jimin and even the soft and subtle sound of breathing couldn't be heard. It sounded as if the line was cut off, but Jungkook was still on the call.

"I understand..." Jimin finally replied after a minute of complete silence that choked Jungkook as he waited. "Do you have any idea where this note came from?"

"It was... next to my bowl of seaweed soup..." Jungkook assured and with that, silence ensued once more. "Listen, I just want you to know that I don't want any trouble! I'm not feeling well... and.. and I just want to go as soon as the weather clears up! So, could you please... stop giving me a hard time!"

With that, he suddenly heard a chuckle coming from Jimin, yet, this chuckle was hollow and cryptic. The sound of it was enough to make Jungkook's heart pound but not in a good way. The helpless lamb suddenly began to tremble to himself as Jimin's chuckles finally faded once more.

"A hard time? I failed to realize how much of a hard time I'm giving you. So if you will, please, enlighten me, Mr. Jeon~"

"That's what I'm talking about... you intimidate me, Jimin..." suddenly, Jimin grew silent. The sound of his own name uttered from the mouth of another was enough to silence him. Once Jungkook replayed his words in his head, he suddenly realized what he said. "I-I meant, sir! Anyway, I-" In seconds, the other line to his call cut off. That caused Jungkook's heart to drop as he frantically held onto the wire to the telephone. "H-Hello? Hello?!"

Jungkook quickly set the phone down to its base and stared at it further. Thinking about what he said and questioned what made Jimin hang up. Was it just the knowledge of others knowing his name? Jungkook couldn't tell why it seemed to bother the masked man so much until he recalled Seokjin panicking each time Jungkook said that very name.

Just when the boy stared at the telephone a few seconds later, the lights to his own room began to flicker. This caused Jungkook to reach for the phone to call Seokjin at the front desk when suddenly, the lights went out. The young boy was left in darkness and all he could hear was the pouring rain outside. He couldn't tell what time it was at the moment or check for the sun outside, all there was were the grey skies that made every afternoon seem like the late evening. Now that the room was pitch black, lightning flashed and only lit up the dark for a quick second. Leaving Jungkook's gaze to scatter around in hopes he wouldn't see the man that he feared around the corner.

Carefully, Jungkook crawled further into the bed and covered his body with the red comforter. He longed to call Seokjin through the telephone, but the lights were out and he couldn't see the list of numbers to call so he could contact the attendant. Jungkook was alone in the dark and that just caused him to feel more anxious than he was on the phone with Jimin.

"He won't... he won't show up, he only appears in my nightmares, there's no way he would be in the same room as me right now! It's just my mind playing games with me. Jimin could be a normal man, I just made him out to be a scary guy!" Jungkook assured himself and hugged the extra pillow he always placed vertically. "I'm overreacting... the lights are just off! There is nothing to be afraid of now... it's just the dark... I can sleep through this until the lights come back on. What more could I possibly do?" The boy kept thinking to himself to ease his anxious mind until his breathing became steady. Eventually, Jungkook was in a deep sleep through the light outage to avoid thinking about things that could scare him.

"Did you really think you could leave?"

A raspy yet heavy voice called out to him in his sleep. This made Jungkook's eyes pull awake within the darkness to see a figure just standing across the room. Standing still and gawking at the boy just laying over the bed.

"Even the thought of it, humors me... you can't think of leaving now, why so soon? Why now?"

Further the voice spoke into whispers as Jungkook's body was frozen in place. Was this another sleep paralysis messing with his head? He heard Jimin's voice fall into whispers that oddly carried an echo with many smaller voices repeating after him. Jungkook breathed heavily as he closed his eyes tightly and tried to move his fingers once more in hopes he could awaken from this state. But was it truly another sleep paralysis?

"I want to make this simple for you, boy... so listen closely..."

Jimin softly whispered as his voice managed to speak louder within Jungkook's mind. Just then, Jungkook opened his eyes to see the figure of the man slowly approach him from the right side of the bed. Slowly, the figure crawled onto the bed and finally made it over the boy's body. Completely towering over him. In that moment, Jungkook could only see the fainted red flare beaming within the googles of the mask where his eyes should be. The red crimson hue became vibrant as if Jimin's eyes beamed in that color just underneath the mask.

With such a strong force, Jungkook felt the cold leather gloves latch onto his wrists so abruptly. The boy's hands were thrown over his head and locked against the bed as he dared to look into the red glowing eyes of the man that towered over him. He longed to scream, but as he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

"Let this be known... that if you leave..."

Jimin whispered and slowly moved his head in, making the cold side of the beak to his plague doctor mask touch the cheek of the boy as he got closer.

"You will die..."