BETRAYAL <NCT OT23>

T H R E E

⚠️TW ⚠️

Haechan woke up in confusion and annoyance as he heard a loud bang from his door, like someone's in a rush. He opened the door for that someone, frustration was drawn in his face but immediately faded away as he saw Jaemin in front of him, his skin was extremely pale, his behavior was very unusual. "Why? What happened?" It would clearly be seen on his face that he's not interested in what Jaemin will say. "Johnny hyung...."

"What about hyung-what is that smell?!" Haechan immediately covered his nose as an unusual smell entered his nostrils, he then looked at Jaemin who's expression is still the same, he led the older to the living room, where a disturbing and shocking thing was. Haechan was confused at his members, all of them were on the living room, facing the fridge? "What's wrong? We're out of foods? And what's that smell?" The clueless Haechan asked one of his members, Yangyang turned around, his face were as pale as Jaemin's.

"Johnny hyung's... Dead." Yangyang made way for Haechan since he asked him to, and his will to see the body, to tell that what they're saying is true became a regret. His hyung was lying on the floor, eyes wide open and some parts of his body were already rotten, the dried blood was everywhere too, from the sink to the fridge. "What happened to him?!" Haechan didn't hesitated to run towards the dead body, he couldn't stop himself from crying. "Please tell me what happened to Johnny hyung!"

"We also have no idea Hyuck..." Taeyong's eyes aren't lying, they're screaming pain. "Who did this to you hyung?" All of them were speechless, none of the members knew what happened to Johnny. "I'm sorry..." Taeyong began to speak, making the members turn to him, his eyes were flooded by tears, he was filled with guilt, regret and pain. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have slept so that I could protect you all! This is all my fault! Manager-nim's going to kill me-" He suddenly received a slap from Doyoung, his face showed them that he's mad at what Taeyong was talking about. "Will you stop it?! It's not your fault! Stop blaming yourself for everything that happened! Especially this! I am sure that all of this was just an accident."

"It would be better if we call an ambulance, or the manager." All of them went silent after Jeno spoke, they never thought of that idea until Jeno spoke. "Yeah, you're right... Guys call an ambulance please." All of them scattered from the kitchen to their respective rooms, only to find out that their phones were missing, like all of their phones. They went back to where the dead body was, their faces showed confusion. "What? Where's the phone?" Taeyong asked in frustration, all of them were not bringing any gadgets. "Hyung, we can't find them." Chenle answered, the leader looked at the other members, hopefully he can get at least one phone to call an ambulance. "All of our phones are gone, it might sound unbelievable but we last put it in our room." Taeyong rolled his eyes as he heard Yuta's statement. "Fine, I'll go get my phone." They stared at the dead body in front of them while waiting for their leader to come back downstairs, not knowing what to do.

They then turned around as he heard some footsteps on the stairs behind them, it was Taeyong's. "My phone isn't there too." Taeyong said in confusion and shock, it is impossible for their phone to disappear unless someone took and hid them somewhere. "Guys, look for our phones everywhere, someone must've hidden them." After Taeyong announced that, they all scattered again to find their lost phones, leaving Johnny for a while. Some went back to their rooms and searched for it everywhere they could dig, some went to the kitchen, others went to the living room, and it might sound ridiculous but some of the members went outside the house to find them, Kun alone went to the attic.

Renjun became curious about the basement since no one went inside there, and his instincts are telling him that the phones might be hidden inside the basement. "If our phones aren't inside, at least I tried and followed my instincts." Renjun stopped for a while. "Basements are really dark, I must bring a flashlight." Renjun didn't hesitated to go back and ask for a flashlight, which Taeyong immediately gave him too. He went back to where the basement was, as he was about to open the door, he heard Winwin's voice behind him. "You're not allowed to go there." That made Renjun confused, is there something hidden there? "What do you mean? I have to go there, someone must've put our phones inside there." Renjun got pulled back as he insisted to enter the said basement, Winwin stared darkly at him, making him feel a bit terrified. "The basement's pretty huge and dark, it's dangerous."

"How did you know? Did you got in there before? W-We never saw you enter this corner." Winwin looked away from the younger, then looked back with his the smile he usually give to the members. "I already checked them, no signs of our phones. We should go back." Renjun nodded hesitantly before he got pulled gently by the older.

The sun has already set, and still their phones are nowhere to be found, they had no choice but to bury the body on the park they once stayed for hours. The pain was shown in their faces as they stared at Johnny's body slowly being buried, they still can't believe what happened to him. "We should get inside, it's getting dark." They all agreed at Doyoung's words, except for Mark didn't, they tried to pull him, but he really wanted to stay where Johnny was laying down. "Johnny hyung doesn't want to be alone, let me stay for a while." Mark begged. But Doyoung also cared for his safety, so he convinced him to come with them, Mark then gave in. As they went inside, they immediately went to the kitchen and cleaned all the dried blood. They skipped their dinner because who on earth would want to eat after seeing an almost rotten dead body and smelling such a bad smell of it? They were very quiet, feeling deeply wounded because of Johnny's sudden death, they just went to sleep, and then they found his lifeless body lying on the kitchen.

"Let's watch some movies. I know that it's not yet the time, but maybe it would at least cheer us up?" Hendery broke the suffocating silence, everyone agreed though. They silently sat on the couch, the other half sat down on the floor, Jaehyun went to the kitchen to get some popcorns, Taeil is setting up the TV while Jaemin was the one who chose the movie. He chose "Despicable Me" to at least make them laugh a little, all of them were okay on the chosen movie so he immediately hit the play button. They were still silent, no giggles or chuckles can be heard, movie nights hit different when they're complete. "I miss him already." Ten broke the silence while the movie is still running, they all do though, but they just chose to stay silent. "What if we'll go out and seek for help? Maybe this house has neighbors." He added.

"He's right-" Jisung's words were cut off when the lights suddenly turned off, not just the lights but all of the running appliances in the house, looks like the electricity was turned off. Most of the members panicked, the others, especially the older ones comforted the younger ones. "Everybody! Stay calm! Let's stick together okay? The electricity will come back in a minute." Kun reassured them, they all held hands while closing their eyes, the others were calm, comforting the ones who are afraid of the dark. They remained silent while waiting for the lights to turn on again, it was so dark, that they can't even see their own members beside them. "Please don't leave your current spot, let's stay together until everything comes back to normal." Taeyong announced, everyone listened to him. Minutes later, in the middle of their silence, they heard something very loud, like something just fell from above.

"Whatever that is, we should stay together! Stay right here, don't stand up, understand?" Doyoung heard his members hum in response, it is clear in their voices that they were terrified. The lights suddenly turned on, making them feel relieved, the TV went back to normal, and... Someone's missing. "Wait, where's-"

"I'm right here, I knew where the main switch was attached so I crawled all the way there." Winwin began to spoke while walking downstairs. "Okay good! Let me count you all to make sure." Taeyong then stood up and began counting his members, he got shocked after, someone's missing. He counted again, but still 21 members including him. "Where's Yuta?" The others looked around as they also realized that Yuta was nowhere to be found. Taeil then ran outside, praying that the thing they heard earlier wasn't the person they're looking for. But his prayers were already too late. "Taeyong.... Taeyong! Yuta!!" Taeil began to panic, causing the others to run towards his direction.

"No..." Yuta's eyes were open wide, his skull was almost broken into pieces, making the tiny parts of his brain spill out. "I-I think we're being played by someone..." Yangyang broke the silence, after that, Hendery rushed to the gates, desperate to open them. "If so, then let's get out of here! We... Have... To... Ask at least... Someone for help." Hendery cried, he couldn't open the gates. "We should climb through the wall one by one!" Chenle shouted.

"We can't... There are thorns up there." Jisung said, the fear was heard in his voice. "So does that mean we have to bury him beside Johnny hyung?" Shotaro asked, they have no choice but to bury someone again at the place where Johnny was buried. "Yes Shotaro." Taeyong sighed.

After burying Yuta, they stayed at the place for hours, mourning and finding a way to escape the house.

And also finding the person who's responsible for his death.