(Warning! This chapter includes: kidnapping)
Katarzyna's POV:
Time skip to 11:00 the next morning
The soft sunlight reflecting on the white wall wakes me up. I open my eyes and look up at the painting frame leaning onto the white wall. Wow, it's a long time ago since I saw real sunlight. I think to myself as I blink a few times. I pull my right hand out from under the pink blanket and rub my eyes. The fresh wind blows gently over my body. Will the window with the bedsheets still be open? Brrr, a shiver passes through my body. But luckily I have the blanket protecting me from catching a cold. A cramp goes through my lower stomach. Fortunately, I already feel a lot more energetic than yesterday. Only what am I going to do next? A tickling sensation passes over my cheek. I run my right hand over the ticklish spot and feel something soft. My hand takes it off my face and hold it above me. Hmm...Black fluffy stuff, now what is that coming from? Whatever, I put my hand back under the blanket and continue daydreaming. Wait what? Blanket?! I sit up halfway and see that I am indeed lying under a pink blanket. Huh? How can that be possible? My mind goes back to last night. I'm sure I went to sleep without a blanket. Or wait a minute... there was something lying by my feet. I sit up a little straighter and see that the fluffy thing by my feet is gone. Maybe I pulled it over myself in my sleep? It's the only logical thing I'll be able to think of.
Time skip, later that day
I somehow must have fallen sleep because the next time I open my eyes I see nothing but black. I'm still laying down on my back thinking about what to do next. Shall I go back to Bang Chan's room and discover more of the papers? I still don't know what's in the painting frame and maybe it will be a clue to whatever is happening right now. But what if he's sleeping? I don't know if I can be silent enough and don't forget to mention, the painting is very close to his bed... I just stare at the sealing until I hear a church bell rinking outside. One...two...thr...? No just two times. So it's 2 o'clock at night. "Let's go" I whisper to myself as I sit up halfway. Oof my back hurts from the wooden floor. Carefully I bend over and craw head first from underneath the painting frame. I look around me to see that there is nobody there before I fully crawl from underneath the frame. My eyes move around the room inquisitively. The candle by the half-finished statue is still burning. But there is no one else to be seen or heard. Just me and me only. The coast seems safe and cautiously I take a deep breath and start taking small steps towards the candle light. Part of my body says 'do it' and the other half says 'Are you an idiot? This is life-threatening.' But still I sneak on until I reach the doorframe. I look down the hall and see the dim light of the other hall at the end of the curve. Shall I...? Yes fuck it.
I sprint forward and within two steps I reach the wall on the other side of the hall. I feel my heart pounding and know this is a stupid idea, but still I keep going. The adrenaline is too high to stop now. And rotting away behind that frame is not an option either. I put my left hand against the wall and walk towards the right side, the side where the dim light is coming from. Fortunately, I'm still just wearing my socks, making it easier for me to sneak without making any sounds. Just before turning the corner, I stop for a moment. In complete silence, I listen for any possible sound that might come from the other side of the corner. But no sound can be heard. A dead silence, one of those silences they say is too quiet. And so you have to be on your guard. Still, I place my left hand on the corner of the wall and take a step forward. At the same time, I turn to the left and look down the hall. No one to be seen here. Quickly I look to the right. And there is no trace of life there either. But just as I'm about to take a step to the left, a door near the left wall flies open. As fast as I can I shoot back to where I came from. With my back pressed against the wall facing the art room. In the dark part of the hall with my hands beside my body also pressed against the wall. Sweat forms on my forehead as I try to breathe as gently as possible. I push my head against the wall with my eyes squeezed shut, too afraid that someone will be in front of me if I open them. I hear a bang of the door banging against the wall. It is followed by a low "auwww." Huh, I've heard that somewhere before haven't I? "Walk" sounds a deep, intimidating and loud voice. In terror, I open my eyes. No, say it's not true. Say it's not true! I feel my heart rate go up and look cautiously towards the dim part of the hall. Suddenly, I see a shadow approaching that looks like three people. "Hyunjin hurry up or we'll eat llama meat tonight understood?!". It dawns on me, it is Minho's voice. Not to mention, Hyunjin is there too. And then suddenly they walk past me down the dim hall. From left to right. It's Minho and Hyunjin, but there's someone walking in the middle. Well, walking? Rather, the person is being dragged along backwards. In an instant, I can't see who it is. But the person looks down at the ground and holes with blood stains all over his white blouse. His hands are tied up on his back and gets roughly pulled on by Minho and Hyunjin. A black cloth covers his neck, mouth and a piece of his nose. "Now I will teach you what listening means!" Minho says as they pass me in the other part of the hall. I hold in my breath and just watch them pass by without noticing me. And just before they walk out of my vision the person in the middle looks up. Directly at my eyes. The look in his dark brown eyes makes me want to cry. He looks so helpless but at the same times his eyes look so thrust worthy. But the second he sees me, it seems like his eyes light up a bit. But I didn't saw it properly because they already passed me. Why did his eyes look like that? Why did it feel like I knew him? I'm still standing there, clamped against the wall. The only thing I can think about right now are his eyes, is it someone I know?
I drew a map so you can understand the situation better. The green spot's are the way Minho, Hyunjin and the mystery person walked. And the dark purple spots represent the path of Katarzyna.
A loud bang of a shutting door echoes through the hallway. For a second I just stand there thinking about what to do next. Which room did they leave? Carefully I take one step to the right, finally letting go of the wall behind me. For some reason most of my nerves are gone. I look to the left and the right. And luckily, no one is to be seen. Shall I go into the room? I take one more step to the left and I peek through the narrow doorway. It's completely dark in there, but it doesn't seem like there is anyone left in the room. My eyes catch a shiny gold object next to the door. It's the room tag. '301' it says. I look around me and notice a low-hanging chandelier. I walk towards it and if I stand on the tip of my toes I can just reach it. Gently, I grab a candle and remove it from the candlestick. 'Ouch' I pull my hand back in fear. That was candle wax... I look at my hand. Oof that will be a burn blister, I think to myself. Quickly I grab the candle again but a bit more carefully this time. As I walk back to the door of room 301 I listen carefully... no there really is no one there. I step into the room. Shall I turn on the light? No, they would see that outside the room. And closing the door makes far too much noise. I will have to make do with the candlelight for today.
Within a step, I am in the room and close the door behind me until there is only a crack open. The dim light from the corridor falls through the crack and creates a streak of light on the wall. Holding the long candle in both my hands, I step towards the streak of light. 'Oehh oehh oe oehh.' In shock, I remain standing like a statue. What was that? My heart is beating in my throat and the candle is shaking because of my trembling hands. 'Ahhw!' I wail by the burning hot candle wax dripping on both of my hands again. For a moment I wait there and just when I want to turn around, the same sound sounds again. 'Oehhh oehh oehh.' The sound comes from behind me, as if it's kind of muffled. 'Oehh oehh' it sounds again. At that moment I realise, it's just an owl. It's probably just sitting outside. I breathe a sigh of relief and feel my body settle down again. My attention returns to the streak of light. The light falls on a diagram hanging on the wall. Curious, I walk towards it. I hold the candle slightly higher to eye level so that I can read the schedule clearly. 'The big day' is written at the top. My eyes travel over the rows of crossed-out boxes. It looks like a countdown calendar. There are eight left open boxes with text in them. Starting at November 3th, today's date. And ending at November 11th. Then it suddenly dawns on me, yesterday. Yesterday I heard Hyunjin say 'nine more days.' Will this be Hyunjin's countdown calendar? I try to read what is written in the remaining boxes, but I can't see it clearly. I tilt my head slightly to read along with the skewed calendar. "Consultation Minho and Changbin 05:00 AM." Is the only sentence I can read of all the words there. And the date above it says 'November 7th' Uhm 5 o'clock, no idea what time it is now but I guess I have some time left. Again, I look around. Holding the candlelight, I shuffle through the Room. It's almost completely dark at the back of the room. After taking about 10 steps, I gently bump into something. I hold the candle slightly higher and shine over the object. It is a large, dark wooden desk with two leather desk chairs on either side. On the corner of the table were closed envelopes and a stack of papers. As much as I will want to, I cannot open the envelopes. Because then they will know someone has been there. Carefully, I remove the closed envelopes from the pile of documents. I turn the pile over and lift it. I hold it very close to my face and look curiously at what's on it.
'Oehh oehhh!' In terror, I throw the pile of paper out of my hand. The candle almost falls out of my hands as well, but luckily I manage to catch it. In miraculous ways, the candle still burns. 'That bloody night owl' I swear in a whisper as I look at all the documents slowly coming down to the floor like snow. I sigh again as I look around with a ton of rushing adrenaline still in my body. A big circle of four metres in diameter with me in the middle got filled with paper documents. I sigh again and look around me defeated. I almost forgot I'm supposed to be doing all this secretly. Oh wait, I need to be quick before someone may return to this room. I think to myself. Quickly I start cleaning up. Crouching on the floor, I grab all the papers together. The order of the papers is completely out of order. But if they just don't lie on the floor anymore, no one can know I did it. In this way, I try to reassure myself as I collect documents faster and faster. I'm almost done, I think to myself after about five minutes of picking up papers. But at that moment I pick up the last paper and turn it over. In thick black letters it reads 'Plan of action, Katarzyna Jazz.' A lump is stuck in my throat as my hands tremble. Maybe it's better for me that I haven't read the other papers I think to myself. Or is that even worse? My eyes flick to the bottom of the page. There are 3 more sentences written in small red letters. 'On behalf of Bang Chan for Hyunjin. This document is Private so do not read it if you are not the person in question. Date: October 15th.' I turn the page and read the number on the top of the page '303'. I want to read more of the page but they are all numbers. Really? I think to myself. They are using code language? Yeah what else did I expect, it's still a maffia's home. And just like that, I'm still standing there in the middle of the room turning pages of documents, searching for page's with actual letters. The candle already starts to get smaller by burning for so long. On the moment I'm about to give up, a sound from behind me comes closer. I remain completely silent for a small moment while trying to identify the sound. It isn't the bloody owl this time, no... it's... footsteps? For some reason I completely forget to take action for a few seconds... fuck, footsteps?! It's like my body turned the 'on' button on. Quickly I walk back to the desk and put the papers back in top of the desk. I need to hide... but where? Uhm, uhm... In panic I look around me. But then I see it, the cabinet. I almost run towards it and hide myself on the side of the cabinet. Facing the wall, standing opposite the door. With one tiny blow I blow out the candle. Or else they will for sure notice me standing here. I hold in my breath but hold my eyes wide open this time. And just at that moment, the door opens. But the shadow created on the wall in front of me is terrifying. What is that? It looks like a person but with the upper body of a bear. Some giant fluff monster looking creature shines inside the room with a pocket lamp. 'Hyunjin?' The fluffy monster asks. 'Babe? Are you in here?' He continues. Meanwhile he shines his pocket lamp through the room. I'm pressed against the side of the cabinet holding in my breath for way too long. At least it's a real person talking, so he isn't a real monster. But then, he shines the lamp right into my face. I close my eyes because of the burning, bright light, waiting for what comes next. But nothing happend. Instead of coming towards me, the fluffy monster just continue's shining through the room with his pocket lamp. Achting like he didn't even see me. 'Don't you fucking tell me that this is real. Don't you fucki...ahh!' The fluffy monster's words shoots through the darkness of the room, sharper than I've ever heard since I opened my eyes in this house. His voice sounds so loud and harsh. What will be the matter? Is he talking about me? Through the shadows, I see the creature crouching down and shining the lamp on the ground. 'Candle wax...candle wax on this fucking carpet!' For a moment, a wave of relief passes through me. Oh thank goodness he hasn't seen the scrambled documents yet. Even though the candle wax is probably my fault too. An angry, overly dramatic sigh sounds from the fluffy monster's side before he stands up again. Without saying or doing anything else, he walks out of the room again.