The thick louring shadows hovered above the building. Slowly eating the light out until there is nothing to be seen but unfathomable darkness that looms at the end of their tails. He came as he promised them. Sooner than they expected. At a great moment, they saw his ominous gleam—a brooding glint of crimson blood, they knew for a fact it wasn't good. He stared right from the top, glaring down at their shameless souls. His red glittering owl eyes, on the hunt for little mice.
The time was ticking fast, so damn fast they didn't notice it burning, devouring the rope until there is nothing to hold. They should have known it initially. The lunar eclipse has begun; from the wide void, they caught a scarcely audible susurration of synchronized tongues whispering like the shrill note of bees when they pivoted around you before they launch an attack.
"What was that?" Dr. Park asked, discountenanced by the disturbing sound. He listened closely, silencing his breathing to clear out the words but they were in a different language. It's some sort of imprecation. Whatever in hell it is called, it makes him shiver and creates deep fear in his quivering soul.
Dr. Park decided it must stop. It's awfully grating like the group of rats having a small yet forever ongoing argument about who should take the last bite of cheese. Something an individual gets tired of but not the clever black-furred chittering creatures.
"I think it's coming from the woods," Taehyung replied, also baffled by foreign phrases. The men exchanged looks, communicating through their deep gazes. The noise hung in for more minutes, it was getting more disturbing the longer it clings to their ears. It sounded so close, so close like they were just whispering right in their ears and they felt the lightest brush of hot breath against their cheeks—though, no one was there, but the silhouettes of their form.
Dr. Park knew he should do something with the commotion, or nobody else will. "I'll go check it out," he said, but before he could take a step, a strong grip held him by the arm. He turned around to the person with a questioning look which hardly makes a difference from his usual inquisitive eyes.
Do-Hyun gave him a stern look. "No, you're not going in there. We have no idea what kind of beast is out there... Or a speaking devil... It'll be better if it's just a beast although it won't change the situation, you can easily escape from it. But you can never please a devil in form."
"We have to stick to each other and get this done, only then it'll stop."
"Now... Come on, let's do this."
That night, they prayed fervently holding tight to the protection Do-Hyun gave them. It is nothing close to a weapon but can surely drive evil entities away, that's what he told them and they believed him. The cold string of beads wrapped around their knuckles as their lips whisper the prayer to the metal cross.
Whilst he read the prayer aloud, there come a loud creaking and sputtering of electricity and the voices grew louder and more dominant than they first heard them. Min Yoongi's flagitious laughter echoed throughout the room and banged down the great walls. The noises were trying to ruin their focus. Do-Hyun can barely speak from all the irritating sounds rotating from wall to wall and leaping toward the hard bricks.
“Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee bands of enemies.”Do-Hyun held the cross up, wrapping his long fingers around the wood firmly. Min Yoongi growled and snarled like a savage dog, pulling on the ropes in his wrist in desperation to escape. He's drooling saliva of some kind of hungry beast.
“The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the offspring of David,
hath conquered.” Lights began flickering on and out aggressively like a dying firefly in begging to end the unbearable suffering.
"May Thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us."
"As great as our hope in Thee." There heard a loud crackled and spat out sparks.
"We drive you from us,
whoever you may be,
unclean spirits,
all satanic powers,
all infernal invaders,
all wicked legions,
assemblies and sects—" The lightbulbs exploded and splintered into tiny worthless junk and the whole place was plunged into pitch blackness.
They stopped. The room suddenly went cold.
They thought they heard something rustling about the dark. It was quiet. Dr. Park saw something moving, not just one, there are dozen of them darting like hanging monkeys, although he couldn't tell utterly what are they. But there is surely something moving in there. It's nothing of hallucinations and mind-made-image-trick-to-vision, he's certain of it. His heart told him so.
There was an odious staunch smell of dampness and mustiness in the air. Taehyung scrunched up his nose at the stink smell of urine and rotten fish invading his nostrils. They couldn't see anything at all nor they can tell the difference between open eyes and the opaqueness they see when it was clipped together. It seems just wandering off the muddied cave and expecting to bump into something grotesque, or even worse, a nightmare.
Dr. Park remembered the flashlight inside his pocket. He took it and clicked the switch and came immediately the faintest light broke through the darkness. The battery is almost drained and he could scarcely make out anything in the dim light. The voices are gone. It was so silent that Dr. Park imagined that he could hear the occasional tinkle of falling glass. The sounds were steady and relentless, ting-ting-ting on the hard concrete floor.
He thought he heard a soft sob behind his head. For a second he thought it was a rat—but no, it's definitely not a sound a rat makes and absolutely not a gnat either. It's something bigger than a rat and a gnat. He flashed the lights to Do-Hyun whose face had never had an expression on it. Then, he turned to look at Taehyung and Seokjin, and neither of them has tears in their eyes but Seokjin rather has an annoyed look on his incredibly handsome face. For a minute Dr. Park thought he was dreaming but the sobs were yet to be heard.
He points the light on the bed and there he confirmed it wasn't a mouse, instead, a beautiful scarlet lad with a pale face and impeccable delicate features. Dr. Park trod cautiously toward him and felt someone grab him as though to stop him, he looks at the person and wagged his arm to remove the person's grip around him. He doesn't feel scared. Not a little bit, not even a single motes do he feel the cold dread dropping by him. Yoongi doesn't frighten him anymore, so he was sure he was safe to be close to him now.
The man whimpered helplessly as tears raced down his cheeks like a waterfall and the bite of pain sizzled in his throat. Dr. Park wiped his tears and held him close. No words were spoken only with his tender touch and soporific warmth did Yoongi feel safe again. The great fear that was smothering him, playing with his life like he was a circus bear somehow left when he felt the familiar muscular arms around his waist.
"Stay away from him, Dr. Park. Stay away now," The priest demands.
"Sometimes devils do not always show themselves as the toughest and strongest being on this land; sometimes they tend to make themselves appear the weakest and pitiful creatures, and so with it, they make themselves stronger with every lie and every people they deceive."
"They're called liars and wicked for a reason. Not because they're created to be evil—but because they act evil."
The crying stopped. Dr. Park shivered and he heard a low growl coming from the latter; he instantly pulled away. The man snarls and attempted to grab him. Do-Hyun held up the cross in front of him and the possessed boy lowered his head like he was scared.
"You can't fool us, you unrighteous devil," said the priest.
"Tell me your name," he commands him. The boy made no reply. He purrs and his eyes wander every corner of the wall as though haunting for flies. Gazing vigilantly at the smoggy darkness, Dr. Park was nearly convinced there are things lurking behind the semi-dark thick velvet. Some things that are unprepossessing to fell gaze into. Park cannot stop the train of thoughts running through his head. Glowing eyes, sharp teeth, hairy body, monstrous face; it was as if the young man reads his mind as a devilish smirk hovered in the corner of his lips.
He knew to himself he should not fear, there is nothing to be afraid of, but his mind strongly disagreed with what his heart told.
"In the name of Christ, I command you to say your name!" The priest repeated, his voice had become increasingly sharp, almost strident. Without the boy's notice, he opened the bottle of holy water he had in his hand and splashed it on his dirty form, sizzling and burning on his skin, the young man let out a deep, ululating yowl.
"There are many of us!" He wailed in a gruff voice that belongs to a person in his fifties above rather than a teen in his twenties excruciating years. They exchanges look. A look of shock and concern dappled their faces. The boy continues to cry in agony and some parts of his body were burned and glistened in red, it stings and bites like a sharp mouth of a gnat sipping under his nerves.
"How many are you inside that body?" asked the priest again.
The boy stopped. There was a silence for a moment—and then, very slowly... He lifts his head and had a frightening grin on his face that doesn't reach his eyes. "Rats and marbles that rolled on the floor. Each one cost and each one had once a holder," another voice spoke, it was flat and barely audible.
He looks around through the darkness and he began to count.
"One,"
"Two," Taehyung looks over his shoulder, he follows his eyes, expecting to see someone or something standing behind him. But there wasn't, and he realized that he wasn't staring behind him but directly at him.
"Three,"
"Four." He giggled pleasantly to himself.
"Five." They shivered.
"Six,"
"Seven—"
"Stop, he was just playing with us. He's just trying to scare us, trick our minds, and trap us in our own fear. And that is something he can't do, at least not tonight."
Taehyung wants to believe Do-Hyun but the tiny spark of fear inside his chest had now exploded into a wild flare and there is nothing he can do about it but watch himself burn and later turn into ashes with the monster being his last memory. He's aware of his dramatic thoughts, something he hates about himself was his craven mind being the master in control of his mentality.
"Fine, don't tell me but I can assure you that this is going to be your last eve here before I throw you back to where you belong, you selfish brute," said the priest.
"...A filthy creature like you has no place on this land," he added and flipped on pages before stopping on that one sepia page with letters stroked delicately with dark bold ink. He reads the prayer.
A strong wind blew, scratching their cheeks and wailing filling their ears. The cries of madness and stroke of the deadly sharp fingers of the invisible beast in the whirling gust scrape against their skin.
The boy was raving and hurled profanity toward them. His mouth was unstoppable, spitting and deluging with every kind of unintelligible word and curse.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" He screams and growls from the back of his throat. The things were flying in the mid-air and the men had to hold against the wall to prevent themselves from falling. The wind smites them and becomes stronger than they imagine a forming storm could be. Taehyung could think of nothing else but the worst.
"Jesus Christ commands you!"
"The lord commands you!" The priest's voice was almost inaudible through the wild blow of wind. It got louder and louder, syncopated with the beats of their heart.
The bed creaks and he pulled on the ropes with all his might. With inhuman strength, the ropes cut one by one. An ear-tearing scream shrilled in their ears and just like that, the light from the flashlight died like someone took out the battery with their own hands and they wade with blind blackness.
Dr. Park quickly tap on the flashlight, with his cold tremulous hands he shook it in hopes it spouts a light, but it was as dead as the night. He tried again, and for his second try, it lighted. He points the light towards the bed. The place where the boy had laid before was empty and cold, and the ropes hang loosely above the floor. He was gone. Taehyung shivered.
Dr. Park looks around. Yoongi is nowhere to be seen like he just disappeared in the wind. It was so quiet that they thought they could hear the wind whispering in their ears as if to warn them to leave the room immediately for the danger had lurked in the shadows.
Taehyung felt uneasy. A feeling of terror started crawling from his feet to his arms causing the hair on his body to stand on end like quills. His whole body was rigid as though someone was blowing ice on him.
Something scuttled in the dark. It wasn't a mouse, the shadow was bigger than it and the shape looks like a person, it couldn't be a mouse. They listened; It tap-tap-tap like the flapping wings of a moth.
Suddenly, like a savage beast, the boy leaped in front of him, screaming. And a loud thud like a falling object banged in the space as his body dropped in front of Taehyung's feet.
Dr. Park hurried and dropped to the floor beside the unconscious boy. Taehyung's face was frozen in shock. His heart was beating wildly Teahyung was afraid it burst out of his chest. He almost forgot to breathe for a moment until a voice broke through the silence veneer.
"Taehyung, are you okay?" Taehyung looked at Seokjin. His face was blank like a clean sheet and his eyes reveal no emotion. He couldn't speak, his jaw was locked apart he couldn't shut it. Subconsciously, he nodded his head. That's all he thinks he can do at the moment.
No, he wasn't okay. He feels different. His body feels odd. So strange Taehyung could not describe it. His vision whirled and the next thing he knew, he had collapsed on the floor next to Yoongi.