Porsche's Point of View:
Looming ominously in the aphotic sky, the full moon settled over the cracked school building decorated with spiderwebs and gloom. A few misty clouds covered the night's lantern, dimming any chance of useful vision. Even the windows only offered black voids. Everything from its physique to its nature was a warning sign to turn back before it was too late. But bravery didn't require sensibility.
In a row, Tine, Kinn, Sun, Type, and myself were facing the oldest building on campus. Crowds of students were cheering around us. Their encouragement concealed their sinister motives. I ground my feet into the grass, stabilizing my jittery legs. My throat was as dry as a desert, needing to be quenched. Peering at the doorknob ahead, I gulped.
Forget tying with Kinn or encountering my father's rage. This was the last place I wanted to be. Though I'd participated every year, it didn't make the event any less unnerving. I always encountered weird shit that kept me up at night for months afterwards.
"Hello, everyone! Tonight, the real tea of who is brave and who is cowardly on our campus will be revealed!" Techno announced. His cameraman panned the video to us, capturing our excitement involving tonight's festivities.
I stood at the end with Tine next to me. His fidgeting amplified my own nerves.
Rose-pink microphone in hand, Techno centered himself between the row and spoke to the camera. "For all you confused freshmen, I'll briefly explain why our MA champions from yesterday are here. Every year, the MA champions spend an hour at the most haunted building on campus. If anyone leaves before the hour is up, trust me, you don't want to know what happens."
I remembered when Kaonaw ran out of the building last year. The student body wasn't too kind to him after that. He eventually had to transfer.
Techno twirled his microphone and turned back to us. Smiling, he skipped over to Kinn.
There Kinn was, arms relaxed by his sides and gaze surveying the building as if it were a gas station he frequented. I locked my jaw in a fit of pique at the sight of his nonchalance.
"As a newcomer to BU, are you worried about tonight's turn out?" Techno asked, holding the speaker to Kinn's cherry-red lips.
Kinn grinned smugly at the camera and shrugged. "Worry isn't in my vocabulary," he said, confidence flickered in his tone.
That was right. Kinn never worried about anything. He didn't worry about others or himself because life always went his way. He probably spent his whole life in his palace of servants that told him how fucking perfect he was. Flawed was another word Kinn's vocabulary list didn't share.
Fucking egotistical bastard.
Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms over my chest and curtly spat the taste of disdain next to my foot.
Disinterested, Techno shifted his gaze down the line and focused on me. Beckoning his cameraman, he scurried to the end of victims.
"You've been to this building three times already. What're your thoughts about tonight?" he asked me.
At the anxiety of a camera in my face, my legs began to tremble.
Fuck this. Why does BU have this stupid event? I want to go home. I fucking hate ghosts.
"I can't wait to see a few old friends." I smiled, holding back the urge to run away.
"Old friends?" Techno frowned and clasped a surprised hand to his chest. "Does that mean you've seen the spirits?"
If white fog in front of a classroom door counts, then fuck yes.
"A few but nothing I couldn't handle," I said, nodding assuringly.
"Wow! Anyone would be lucky to be protected by you." Techno tilted his face to his camera. His cameraman nodded the camera in agreement. "Will you use this attitude for your Protectee tonight?"
Even if Kinn ran to me screaming and fell to his knees pleading, I'd never comfort him.
I scoffed. "Kinn seems fine on his own."
Plus, I was still pissed at him. Who the hell touched someone's scar without their permission? A person who felt entitled to anything he desired. A person that didn't care about someone's trauma.
"If anyone is bodyguarding tonight, it'll be me. I'm not the one with jelly legs," Kinn retorted.
Priming my lips, I gritted my teeth and leered at him. "Deep down, you're the scardest of anyone here. You're just better at being fake."
Kinn raised an eyebrow. His gaze swept down himself and then traveled down my body. "Body language can't lie. I'm the only one that's relaxed."
Go choke on your dad, asshole.
Techno squealed at his phone. "Guys! It's almost midnight!"
My eyes grew to the size of golfballs, burning at the failure to blink for a solid minute. Writhing in my chest, the blood thrilling in my veins raced everywhere but my head. The haggard building ahead was blurrily shifting in my vision. I was almost certain that I was going to drop on the spot. All I could think about were the malicious spirits ready to devour my vulnerability.
"Ready! Set! Go!" Techno signaled with his microphone that my fate wasn't my own for the next hour.
We dashed to the door. As everyone huddled inside, I mustered the courage to collect behind. I forced a step through the entryway and watched its darkness *engulf my feet. The haunting slam of the door caused me to jerk forward. Swallowing tightly, my eyes shifted to pinpoint familiar shapes in the entryway.
How the fuck am I supposed to see?
Almost everyone separated into different hallways like they were enjoying a house tour. A pale figure glowed a few meters from me. Growing accustomed to the hall's blackness, I recognized Kinn was loitering in the foyer as if he were waiting for something. He'd get his excitement soon enough.
Though I didn't want to be alone, I would've rather been accompanied by a ghost than by Kinn. It couldn't have been as malevolent as him. Pulling out my phone for a flashlight, I noticed the red battery sign in the right corner of my screen.
Shit! I forgot to charge it.
Biting my lip, I looked back at Kinn. No way. I bravely popped out my chest and crept down to an empty hallway. Its gloominess manipulated my heartbeat to pound in my ears. A gallery of windows displayed one side of the void. Faintly, the moon reflected light clinging to the panels.
The hairs on my neck shot up at the shuffling taunting behind me. I sharply checked back to be met with desolation.
Returning forward, I lost my breath at the sight of a white body facing me.
"Boo," Kinn whispered.
"Shit, Kinn! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I scolded, smacking his arm.
"I thought you weren't scared." Kinn chuckled.
"I'm not!" I lied. "You just startled me."
He nodded. "I'll just go then."
His threatening turn surged the need for company.
"Wait!" I snatched his arm. He traced back to me.
"You know ghosts don't exist, right?" Kinn asked like it was common sense.
"They do! I've seen one." Kinn probably thought I was a crazy person, but it was true. The memory still haunted me.
It was hard to make out the look on his face, but a black arch above his eye told me he was curious. I released his arm, knowing his interest would keep him.
"Oh?" Kinn enticed.
I gulped and gripped my arm, thumb assuaging my side. "When I was ten...I woke up at midnight to a woman looking down at me. She was a white fog." A shudder spooked at the heartstopping image terrorizing me.
"Your mind was probably playing tricks on you," Kinn reasoned. His tone didn't message disbelief but skepticism. He believed that I believed what I saw.
"I saw her with my own eyes. She was real," I insisted.
I hadn't told anyone else about my childhood nightmare. After the incident, I couldn't sleep without a light on for years. At first, my father had put his foot down and told me that a real man didn't fear the world just because he couldn't see it. My mom secretly gave me a nightlight, but the small light wasn't enough to calm my imagination. I woke up every day with tired limbs and heavy eyes.
Silently, Kinn approached a window and rested his hands on the bottom. There was something alluring about his vampiric features highlighted by the night's luminosity. His relaxed brows and plumped, rubied lips captivated his spell-casting composure. Even his widow's peak added its own special appeal that warned strangers he was a handsome predator.
Snapping out of my trance, I joined him at the window. His gaze admired the bleak sky. City life stole any chances of finding stars to wish upon. An air of openness replaced the high walls that sheltered his disposition. Kinn was exploring thoughts that I sensed he kept private. There were so many unknowns from him that beckoned me to uncover.
Cooled wind caressed shivers down my spine. Muscles stiffened, I loosely hugged myself.
"Kinn..." I murmured.
"Hm?"
"I think there's something here...I'm getting goosebumps," I said weakly.
Kinn cocked an eyebrow and peered at me quizzically. He titled his head and smirked at the ceiling. Pointing at it, he looked back at me with an arrogant smile. "It's the vent."
I glanced up to see that there was a vent over us. Cheeks growing hot, I nudged his shoulder and glared at him as he cackled beside me.
It might've been a vent this time, but one of these times, there would be a ghost that made Kinn piss his pants. As much as I didn't want to see one, I almost wished that one would appear just to shut him up.
"Ah!!!"
A shrill cry boomed down the hallway, daring to shake the glass we lingered. Alarmed, I grabbed Kinn's arm and jerked him towards me. "What was that?" I croaked.
"I don't know," Kinn said, not concerned.
The yelling grew louder. Shifting randomly in the black mess, I searched for the source of the voice. Suddenly, Tine came rushing out from the murky shadows with wide eyes and flying arms.
"Guys! Come quickly!" Tine said, not even halfway to us.
"What?" Kinn asked irritably.
"I heard a lady's voice in one of the classrooms. You've got to check with me!" Tine said frantically. He stopped when he was an earshot away and panted in place.
Fuck that!
I tightened my hold on Kinn's arm, pressing him into my chest and shook my head. "No way!" I protested. The fear from ten year old me clouded my mind, scampering my panicking heart.
"I can't do this alone. Please," Tine begged.
I didn't care how frightened Tine was or how skeptical Kinn was. The only way I was following Tine to that classroom was by someone dragging me by my fighting body.
"Okay," Kinn said. "But only to show that ghosts don't exist."
"Suit yourselves! I'm not going to be around any ghosts," I said. I pushed him towards Tine, resisting their instances.
"Fine, stay here. If a ghost comes to you, don't come crying to me," Kinn warned.
Long pieces of dangling, evil-black hair flashed in my memory. Gritting my teeth, I glared at Tine. This prick really had to come to me and Kinn, of all people. It must've been Kinn's fearlessness that drew him near.
Not another word, and I was ignoring the prodding butterflies in my stomach by following the dumbest nice person and dumbest brave person I'd ever met.
Room 113.
The door was already open, luring more flies in its webs. Kinn crept inside, fading into the darkness. Tine and I refused to enter. I didn't even bother to look past the opening.
Tine gulped and held my hand, gnawing his nails from his other hand. I gave his grip a light squeeze. I tried focusing on how cute Tine looked when he was nervous and not on the fact that at any moment, I could hear the hideous screams of a dead woman.
If Sarawat were here now, he would've slaughtered me on sight.
Kinn was lucky he hadn't seen any ghosts in his lifetime. The luxury of comfortable nights wasn't one that many were fortunate enough to enjoy. Try walking the streets at night without a flashlight. That took the courage of a damn soldier.
Kinn returned from the classroom with open arms. "See, it was nothing," he said. Glancing at our hands, he frowned. I shoved Tine's hand away.
"I swore there was something here earlier," Tine said. He scratched the back of his head and peered into the doorway. It was like he was disappointed that Kinn hadn't found anything.
"Well, whatever was here is gone now," Kinn said, only looking at me.
Is that supposed to comfort me?
Tine nodded. "Can I stick with you guys? This place is too spooky."
"No," Kinn said quickly.
Why not? Hadn't he seen that ghost hunters were best in groups of three?
"Come on," Tine pleaded. In Tine, I saw my younger self. I didn't want to deny relief to anyone that had been in my position.
"What's wrong with letting him tag along?" I asked.
"I just don't want him to." Kinn shrugged.
I eyed him suspiciously. There was no good reason for Kinn to be so adamant about Tine teaming up with us. He couldn't even make one up. Kinn just loved to take joy in people's suffering.
"Don't be a dick," I scolded him. "You can join us," I said to Tine.
"Thank you!" Tine grinned. I mirrored his smile, happy to have helped the little boy inside of myself.
To my surprise, Kinn didn't disapprove. Instead, he sighed and kept his big mouth shut.
Tine brushed past us and began making his way down the hallway. Kinn and I timidly followed. I had no idea where he wanted to take us. My hope was that he secretly knew a safe place for hiding that he'd yet to mention. Intuition told me he had no idea where the fuck he was going and was aimlessly sauntering to possessed classrooms.
In a short line, we trailed down the obscure walls of unknown objects and spectrums of gray. Just as I went to take another step, Kinn snatched my arm and gracefully swooped me into a nearby classroom. He flattened me against the wall next to the door, hovering over me. I was trapped between his arms, conscious of his warm abdomen pressing against mine. The weight of his body overpowered the chance of freedom.
"Hey!" I scolded.
"Hi," he said in a flirtatious tone. Kinn's face leaned a kiss away from mine, creating a familiar space between us that I didn't care to explore.
"What the hell are you doing?" I said. I clasped his firm chest, using all my strength in attempts to get him off me, but he wouldn't budge.
"Saving you."
From what?
"I don't need saving." If I needed saving from anyone, it was him.
"You don't want to be around Tine. His bad energy is summoning the spirits," Kinn said almost as seriously as the heft of his masculine scent.
I frowned. "What're you talking about? You said you didn't believe in ghosts!"
"I saw a white figure in Room 113. I'm starting to believe."
I couldn't tell if Kinn was being truthful or not, but I couldn't risk accompanying Tine with this information. Slightly, I crouched as my legs weakened. I tried keeping a strong composure, but my body's fragility was betraying me.
Standing like a naked person in the snow, I stared into Kinn's dark-coffee orbs in desperation for reassurance that the dark haired lady wasn't going to appear over his shoulder. I wanted his eyes to insist that my fears contradicted reality. But as I searched for promises of reassurance, I was met with barriers shielding emotions from entering and exiting.
"Porsche? Kinn?" Tine called out.
"Fuck! What're we going to do?" I said, panicky.
Kinn cupped his hand over my mouth and centered his finger over his chestnut lips. Disgusted, I grabbed his wrist in an attempt to pry him from me. He defiantly kept his hand pressed to my lips. At this point, I was practically making out with his hand. Releasing an irritated exhale, I bit his finger.
"Ow!" Kinn tore his hand away and glared at his finger. "You fucking bit me," he growled.
"Don't put your hand on my mouth," I said, satisfied.
Serves you right.
Hissing at the sting, Kinn waved his hand and directed his heated gaze to me. Smirking, I took the opportunity at his opening to break free of his abduction.
I peered around the classroom full of tables. At the back wall, shapes of beakers, flasks, and burners stood tall on the countertop. Glints of moonlight streaked the glasses. Eyeing the front, a large, white wall was plastered. Faintly, I could decipher some atomic symbols written on the side.
Kinn gandered to the board and plucked a marker from the stand. In giant letters, he wrote a sentence in English.
"What does that say?" I asked. English wasn't a subject I excelled in, despite the countless English tutors I'd suffered with.
"Read it."
I sounded out the words, wincing at my thick accent. Every word danced to my Thai tone in a way I knew didn't reflect the true pronunciation. "There is... no... happiness without...penis."
Huh?
"I don't understand." I frowned at the letters.
Kinn flashed a devilish smile and erased it. "Not important."
Sneering, I grabbed a marker and wrote a sentence of my own in English. It was one of the few phrases I'd bothered to remember.
Kinn read the sentence out loud. "Fuck you."
Kinn's gaze poured into mine as his tongue grazed his lips. "If you insist."
I chucked the marker at the chuckling teaser. Kinn blocked the arrow-like weapon, letting it click next to his feet.
"Wait," Kinn said.
I paused. "What?"
"Did you see that?" He frowned and looked past my shoulder.
"See what?"
Kinn pointed at the window. I turned around and scanned the glass framing the image of leaves rustling with the wind. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Turning back, I saw that Kinn had disappeared.
"Kinn...?"
I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, squeezing out the deep breaths I inhaled. Spinning in a circle, my gaze searched the taunting room of walls closing in on me. "Kinn, come back. This isn't funny!"
Nothing.
Soon, the room's darkness was swallowing me into its hungry cave, ready to feed off of my fright. I clung a hand to my chest, gasping for air.
Suddenly, heat embraced my back, and a pair of warm arms wrapped around my waist. Thoughtless, I yelled at the stranger holding me.
The intruder vibrated against me, whispering a familiar chuckle in my ear. Relief flooded back to me at the realization that it was only Kinn mocking me.
I slapped his hands pressed against my midriff. "What the fuck, Kinn?!"
"Hehehe."
"Let go of me!"
Kinn tightened his hold. Burying his nose in my hair, he sighed contently. Loudly, he swallowed and readjusted his hands firmly on my abs, stroking them with his thumb. I clutched his hands and rested against Kinn's comforting body. Hesitantly, I laid my head on his solid chest and indulged myself in his scent. I felt Kinn's heart wildly beating against my shoulder blade.
I thought he wasn't scared.
"H-hey," I murmured, lightly tugging at his fingers.
Kinn's soft lips suddenly attached to my neck, coating a puddle of his lust. I titled my head into his kiss, in shock of the intrusion. With no warning, a sharp pain sank into my neck.
"Ouch!"
I tore away from Kinn and held my throbbing injury. The bastard bit my neck. "You're fucking crazy!"
"That's for biting my finger." Leering at him, I watched Kinn prime his teeth with his tongue. He was too happy about this.
What is with him tonight?
"Did you leave a mark?"
I reached for my phone and used whatever battery was left to take a photo. To my relief, there were only tooth imprints that'd likely fade in a few minutes. I rubbed at the mark.
"I've got to take a leak," Kinn said.
"Then go to the bathroom."
Kinn nodded. "Do you know where one is?"
"Yeah, I'll show you." Kinn couldn't leave me alone if he needed guidance.
Purposely distancing from him, I escorted Kinn to the closest bathroom.
"I'll wait here," I said.
Kinn nodded and abandoned me in the hallway.
I squeezed my eyes shut and anxiously waited for his return.
"I don't know why you're afraid. If anything, ghosts should be scared of you," Kinn said.
Doesn't this idiot know it was bad luck to say shit like that?
I opened my eyes and sighed in ease at his presence.
"Well, I've never fought a ghost, and I have no intentions to either," I snapped.
"I'd love to see you fight a ghost. I think it'd be funny," Kinn teased.
"You're irritating."
"There you are!" Tine shouted.
I groaned. I didn't know why Tine annoyed me now, but he did.
The rest of the hour was spent with Tine trying to get us to pay homage to the spirits and Kinn playing pranks on him. When the horns outside blew, we knew we'd survived the school's sadistic challenge.
Author's Notes:
You may be thinking, "This is such a random and useless chapter. Why does this exist?" Now that Kinn and Porsche have new relationship dynamics, they need to explore those in a more forceful way. Porsche is angry with Kinn but has no choice but to face him. His fear outweighs his anger. Not only that, but it's a nice chapter for character-building. Lastly, so many chapters have been very stressful, especially for Porsche. We needed a more easygoing one to relax ourselves for a bit!
Novel Note: Funnily enough, I wrote out this idea before I'd read the novel. In the novel, Porsche is actually terrified of ghosts. Kinn acts as you'd expect him to.