Trigger warning: disturbing scenes
The central clock on the North Tower of Fairy town struck 12.
A man stood by the railing of the balcony gazing up at the star-sprinkled night sky and the waning moon. The tourist town had fallen asleep, barely a single soul moving within its streets. Not even the mewl of a stray cat, a hoot of an owl, or the creak of the cicadas. Everything forgot to squeak as a haunting chill befell them. An unnerving silence enveloped the town. A silence that didn't belong there.
The starry night reflected in his eyes as he breathed out, hot breath condensing in the cold. As he watched, the jewels that adorned the sky blinked out, one by one and before long, the sky was as dark as his soul. As dark as the obsidian in his eyes that gazed back at the lonely moon.
His fingers pulled away from the railing and he went back inside the building, his footsteps muted against the carpet on the floor. Inching quietly along the hallway, as smooth as a snake, he stalked towards a door he was all too familiar with.
He eyes the door and at his silent command, it slowly creaked open to let him in. Unhesitantly, he walked inside the room, his cold orbs raking over the place until his eyes fell on a room in the distance and the girl that laid on her bed inside, blissfully fast asleep.
His footsteps were slow. Heavy with anticipation as his heart raced inside his chest at an emotion he hadn't felt for in so long. Excitement.
He crouched down near the bed, his face inches from hers as their breaths mingled and flicker of strange fascination glimmered in his eyes.
"A messenger?"
Sia Winters didn't stir, too deep in sleep. Too oblivious to know who sat beside her. Too vulnerable to even defend herself from what awaited her.
"A personal tamer for me?" He mused, a vile grin pulling at his lips at the hilarity of the situation. A soft chuckle tumbled out of his lips.
"You're one daring woman, Queen Yama."
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Sia didn't know where she was or what she was. At the same time, she felt as if she knew where she was. It felt natural to be there. Too natural. But an increasing feeling of foreboding was surging into her veins, chilling her bones in the ominous silence. Her heart picked up its pace as her eyes stared straight at the greying walls blankly. Her mind was filled with an overwhelming feeling of emptiness as if someone had stripped her of the ability to feel.
Her fingers gripped a weighty stone slab in her hands, running along its rough surface. The sound of footsteps reached her ears and a moment later the creak of the door opening broke the ominous silence of the room.
"Ah, there you are, my love. I've been calling you for a while."
She didn't turn to the owner of the calm voice. She stared at the wall.
"Are you still mad at me?" The voice inquired, softly. She remained silent. The one behind her sighed, his breath resonating through the room. "You know that I only did that because I love you, don't you?" There were shuffling noises and she felt him walk close to her. "Why did you have to be so stubborn and reckless? I did it for your own good."
At her prolonged silence, his patience ran thin but still, he inhaled reigning in his patient, trying to make her understand his intentions. "Hey... are you still mad? I didn't want to do it. I swear to god, I didn't. But I had to. Please, you need to understand me, love."
She didn't move an inch, staring blankly as if the pleas of the one behind her didn't even reach her ears. His efforts went in vain and he released a prolonged breath.
"What do you want me to do? Tell me, I'll do anything for you." He implored. "Love, just tell me what you want."
There was a twitch of her fingers. An even longer stretch of silence. Finally, she raised her eyes from the wall up to the ceiling, his words seemingly having had an effect on her. She refused to face him but at last, her lips parted and a question spilled out of her mouth.
"Do you love me?"
When he finally received a response from her, he replied eagerly. "Of course, I love you—"
The stone slab in her hands made contact with his skull and a sickening crack reverberated through the room.
Crack!
A scream tore through the room only to be silenced by another crack. A nauseating crunch reverberated through the room as variants of crimson red painted the greying walls but the heavy thuds didn't cease as they became more and more violent until finally, it came to an end. Everything remained still.
The ghostly echoes of her maniacal laughter were all that remained after a while.
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When Jung Hoseok stepped out of his room, he was certainly not surprised to find Sia absent. That girl was late again and probably still asleep. Not attracted by the idea of having to wait for her, he moved to her room ready to knock when he found the door lying half-open. He frowned. What was this? Was she awake? Why had she left the door open?
Tentatively, he peeked inside calling out for her. "Winters? Are you awake?"
There was no reply. He looked around the hallway, just to make sure that she wasn't anywhere around. He called out again, brows furrowing in puzzlement. "Winters?"
She was nowhere out, that must definitely mean that she was still inside. Then why didn't she respond to his calls? Hoseok breathed out an annoyed puff of air. Didn't she close her door yesterday?
He called out to her once again but she wasn't answering. Deciding to go and find out why she had kept her door open, he stepped inside hesitantly. "Don't tell me you're still asleep, Winters." There was still no reply and he concluded that his guess was right. "I'm coming in! And don't blame me because you left your door open! Come on, you're asking to get robbed. What were you thinking about sleeping with your front door open? "
He spotted her room and gingerly, he walked up to it. "Winters, seriously I'm coming in. And if I find you still snoring on your bed, I swear I'm going to abandon your lazy—"
Hoseok paused as he spotted Sia on her bed, just like he anticipated, still in her pajamas having made no effort to get up from her bed but what made him stop wasn't that.
Sia was awake and she was staring straight at the ceiling, her eyes wide in terror?
Something was terribly amiss. He could feel it as he walked up to her bed and froze when he saw tears streaming down her face. She was tense and he could hear her irregular breathing as she stared fixated at a certain point on the ceiling. Eyes wide in a silent scream as she watched the horrors Hoseok couldn't see. At once, he knew what it was.
Sleep paralysis.
Hoseok was familiar with that phenomenon. He has experienced its effects before. He knew how it felt to have its suffocating arms subdue him to the bed as he tried to move, frightening visions that made him want to scream. Its invisible grip, however, restricted his throat and left him completely paralyzed.
Hoseok had to act quickly. He had to wake her up, without scaring her already frightened mind and for that, he needed to reassure her that she was safe and make her understand that whatever she was experiencing wasn't real.
He took her hands from under the sheets and gave them a light squeeze as he tried to gently coax her out of the nightmare. "Hey... Sia. Wake up. It's not real."
Sia struggled to snap out of it. Hoseok tried again, "Sia, it's not real. You're here. With me. You're safe..."
The difference was subtle at first but Hoseok could see her trying, "Wake up."
A second later, the first sign of movement came in the form of a twitching toe and then a sharp breath. Sia's eyes blinked and slowly she could move her head to the sides as she gasped for air, her fingers strengthening to a tight grip around his hand as if she was afraid if she let go, she would slip right back into the horrors of her mind. Sia's eyes raked over the room, searching every corner of the room fearfully for something until she realized there was nothing and relaxed. Finally, her coffee brown orbs came to rest on him. She released her hold on him, wiping away the tears. Quickly, rising up from the bed, Sia looked up to him with a scathing glare that made him recoil.
"Seriously?" She hissed, confusing Hoseok to the core and before he could say anything, she rushed past him, ramming her shoulders into his.
"Ouch!"
Hoseok stood shell-shocked as Sia breezed out of the room and the thunder of a door slamming shut echoed through the room. He winced as he watched bewildered.
What the heck just happened?
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A/n: Poor Hoseok...