The hallways were quiet, dense cobwebs forming in the rotting corners of the roof. Areum had already made it up 6 storeys but the higher she got, the further she got from help if something happened and paranoia was creeping in. Areum banged her head against the wall she was sitting against.
She gripped the knife with white knuckles, the deep cut on her hand setting her whole arm on fire. Areum closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she focused on the noises around her but everything seemed quiet.
Areum built up enough courage to quickly peek into the hallway.
Nothing.
All she saw was the sun rays bouncing off the tiles, small specs of dust floating peacefully in the air. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her, but she swore she saw someone in that hallway.
"Come on!" Areum banged her head against the wall again, trying to get her legs to move. "I need to get home." She cried, beating her thighs.
Areum sucked in a sharp breath before quickly crawling across the hallway, filled with apprehension that something had seen her, Areum curled up into a ball, burying her head between her knees and slapping her hands over her ears.
She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for something to drag her down the hallway to her death, but nothing happened and Areum slowly peeled her eyes open.
The flushed girl let out a nervous laugh as she picked up her knife. "Totally knew there was nothing there." She laughed as she walked onwards to the staircase.
Areum confidently marched her way up the stairs until a plump rat dashed its way across her path. Areum gasped, promptly stumbling backwards.
In the split second that Areum was filled with fear she forgot she was standing at the top of a staircase, Areum fell back further than she expected, and the second her ankle landed on the stair it gave way, snapping violently to the side. Her bodyweight followed her momentum, sending her tumbling down the stairs.
The final impact on the cold tiles at the bottom of the stairs knocked the air out of her lungs and she whimpered like a small pup as the ache from her ankle and throbs of discomfort from her shoulder clashed in her small body.
Areum's chest heaved for air as she jerked in pain. The pain was so immense that she began to feel nauseous, she cried out as her fingers kneaded against the tile.
She took a while to get her breath back and by that time the sun had set, leaving only the moonlight shining through the dirty windows to illuminate the hallways. She lifted herself up with her good arm, causing the cut in her palm to push against the dirty, cold tile.
Her back hit the wall with a thud causing her to grimace in distress. She ran her fingers over her shoulder and immediately felt the hard bump on it. Her arm was bent over her lap as she looked up the staircase. Should she go on? It would be quicker to go back down.
Areum shook her head softly, in this state she would only be more of a burden. At home, it would be easier to cover up her injuries if she hid away in her room.
Areum's lips were cracked and her throat was dry as she used her good leg to slide herself up the wall, using her good arm to keep the other arm in the bent position. Once she was standing straight she put weight on her twisted ankle, even with the little pressure she applied she still whimpered in pain.
It was bad.
Little by little, she lowered her arm, the pain causing tears to flood down her cheeks, her painful sobs carrying down the hallways. She finally stopped biting her lip when her arm laid numbly by her side.
Areum left her knife on the floor, knowing she wouldn't be able to pick up without the risk of tumbling over. She also knew she was extremely valuable in this state and if anything spotted her she wouldn't be able to defend herself anyway. Areum limped to the stairs, they looked much more intimidating than they did before.
Areum took her time climbing the stairs, not that she could go any faster, but she also wanted to keep as quiet as possible.
I'm coming home.
***
The sunlight beamed into the hallways, the birds chirped and the wind rustled through the bright green leaves. Areum thought everything was just a dream, the monsters, the tears, the hurt. Areum thought that when she opened her eyes she would be staring at her bedroom ceiling that had stickers scattered all over it and any minute now Yoori would burst into her room, yelling at Areum that she was late for school again.
Areum's eyes fluttered open to a dirty, white wall and she frowned. She couldn't stop herself from sobbing. She cried because she was in pain. She cried because she was tired. She cried because she missed her family. Areum cried because she was worried about Eunhyuk. Areum cried because of the mess she had gotten herself in and the state the world was in.
She had stopped for the night on the 11th floor to get some rest but she was sure she wouldn't wake up and was slightly disappointed she did.
After wiping away her tears, Areum wiggled her way up against the wall, taking deep breathes to try and control the pain. She began to limp her way to the next stairwell but the silhouette at the end of the long hallway caused her to freeze. Areum stumbled back, hiding behind the wall she had slept against.
All she could hear was her heartbeat picking up pace as she peeked into the hallway. It looked like a man, a burnt man. It was frozen, standing completely still. Its skin was black and charred. Areum's eyes trailed up the monster. It had feet like a horse, exceedingly muscular thighs and in its chest a bright, red beating heart.
Areum watched its chest slowly rise and fall. It was sleeping. Areum wondered how good its hearing was, but based on its flat ears it probably wasn't anything special. She could get past the hallway without waking it up, but what Areum didn't know was that the flask of water in the side pocket of her backpack had begun to slip out, and when Areum pulled back behind the wall to try and catch her breath, the flask tumbled to the floor.
The half-empty flask hit the tile floor with an ear-splitting CLANG and Areum's heart stopped as her stomach dropped into nothingness. Areum heard a loud swish and quickly peeked around the corner. The monster was gone, instead, there was just a cloud of dust being illuminated by the morning sun.
Areum seized the opportunity to quickly limp to the stairs, she thought there was a chance it was more afraid of her then she was of it, but she was wrong.
Before Areum could make to the stairs a strong gust of wind sent her barreling down the hallway. Areum slid over the tiles as she cried out in agony, her hand flying to her shoulder, trying to bring some comfort to it.
Areum stumbled to her feet, but it was barely a second before the monster flew past her, knocking her harshly to the floor again. Every dust particle in the hall had been uprooted by the monster's speed.
It was playing with her.
When Areum didn't stand up it flew past her again, this time digging its nails into Areum's collar bone, leaving a long, bloody wound from Areum's shoulder to her neck. Areum's hand attached itself to the wound, the blood gushing from it flowed into the cut on her hand then down her chest to the floor.
Areum clenched her jaw as the scratch mark began to burn. "Don't play with me." She whimpered, tears burning her eyes. The monster slowly walked into her view at the end of the hallway.
It stared at Areum with its white irises, Its head jerking to the side as it watched Areum suffer. "Don't play with me!" Areum howled but the monster continued to glare at her.
Areum was weak but she managed to fight her way to her feet. "Don't play with me! Just kill me you fucking jerk!" Areum spat, staring at the monster with intense, but teary eyes.
The monster slowly knelt, as if it was about to run a race and Areum couldn't help but weep, the last ounce of energy dissipating from her body.
Her eyes squeezed shut when she heard the loud swish. Areum's eyes peeled open when nothing happened to her only to see that her father had replaced the monster.
"Appa?" Her voice was small and hopeful. "Areum!" He cried and made his way towards her in a hurry. Areum stumbled backwards, fear lacing her features as she continued to grip her bleeding shoulder. Was it still messing with her? Could it really be a shapeshifter?
Areum's sudden movement away from him brought Gilseop to a shaky halt as he stared at her large and shaky eyes, then the blood soaking through her shirt.
"Youra..." Areum's mother's name fell effortlessly from his lips and Areum's defences came crashing down.
"Appa!" Areum cried, her face distorting in pain as she limped pathetically towards him. Gilseop ran to his daughter, his large stomach jiggling with every step.
He wrapped his precious little girl protectively in his arms, even though it hurt Areum refused to show her father how bad her injuries actually were.
Areum's father pulled away, placing his hand on her upper arms as he scanned her through his glasses. "You're bleeding so much." His voice shook in panic. "I'm okay, it doesn't hurt." Areum smiled reassuringly. She wasn't lying, the slight sting of the cut was a tickle compared to the throbbing of her shoulder and ankle.
The movement behind her father caught her attention and Areum peered behind him. There were two small children standing there, next to an old man in a wheelchair while Yoori stood behind them, staring worryingly at Areum. Hyunsu soon appeared, holding his side as he limped slightly, Areum swore she saw his eyes were just an abyss of black, but she wrote it off as hallucinations from blood loss.
Yoori rushed to Areum, her eyes scanning her top to bottom. Yoori was a paramedic and caught onto Areum's lies faster than Areum thought she would.
"You fell?" Yoori questioned, unbuttoning Areum's top buttons to expose her shoulder. "No." Areum's groaned as she struggled to breathe through the pain. She clumsily tried to button up her buttons with one hand, not willing to lift the other arm.
Yoori grabbed their father's arms, forcing him to move away with her. Gilseop looked at Yoori in shock as they backed away from Areum.
"Don't leave me!" Areum cried and started to limp after them. Yoori stopped, her eyes shooting to Areum's ankle, the bruising already peaking over her school socks. "You hurt your ankle too, and it looks like your shoulder is dislocated. Where did you fall?" Yoori asked, walking closer to Areum, Gilseop following close behind.
Areum let out a defeated cry, "I fell down the stairs on my way to the 7th floor." Yoori's eyes widened, "And you made it all the way up here by yourself?"
Areum nodded, not wanting to remember what she had been through. Yoori quickly wiped away her tears as Areum watched her in shock. The thought of what her little sister had just been through brought an unexplainable sadness washing over Yoori.
"We need to get you to the first floor," Yoori wrapped her arm around Areum's waist to support her but Areum quickly protested, pulling away from Yoori who looked at her with furrowed brows.
"I-I can't go back to the first floor." Areum cried. "We need to go home."
"Why? Did something happen?" Gilseop looked at Yoori with alarm in his eyes. "They said it was safe," Yoori quickly added.
"I think I'll lose my mind if I have to go back there, I just want to go home." Areum turned and began limping toward the stairs.
"Areum!" Yoori yelled. "We have no food!"
"I'll get food!" Areum yelled back with determination, as she continued to the stairs. She heard Yoori laugh, "In your state, you'll be dead before you even get home!"
Areum scuffed before she was suddenly lifted from the floor. She looked up at her father as he carried her back to the group of people and she tapped him weakly on the chest, her eyelids drooping in the comfort of his arms. "Appa, please. I just wanna go home." She whimpered. Gilseop smiled at Areum, "Rest Areum, everything will be okay." He comforted her, the rumbling of his voice in his chest forced her eyes to shut, her head falling against his chest.