MAKNAE [twd] *editing*

【59】

"This place is huge, I've gotten lost at least three times," Julie whispers as we walk behind Jessie.

"Why have you been going everywhere? Are you trying to snoop?" Daniel wonders, raising his eyebrows to her.

"I just wanted to see the place," she defends, "With my dad and James out there and Aunt Sasha on the wall.. I felt useless without a job."

"Yeah.. I don't have a job either," Ben frowns.

"None of us do," Daniel deflects, seeing the frown on Ben's face, "It's not something we can really choose, okay? It's nothing you did."

I glance up to Taeyang with guilt. He had a job. Here I was being a nuisance and blocking him from working.

"Carl's already inside with the others, just a second," Jessie smiles, opening up the door.

A younger boy runs through the house, the sudden sound causing me to jump as he snatches a plate from the counter and grins.

"Sam don't eat all of that, you'll spoil your dinner," Jessie scolds as she walks to the stairs.

"Okay, mom!" Sam yells, though he took the entire plate with him.

"Ron! The others are here!" Jessie calls up the stairs.

Within seconds, another guy is bustling down, a smile on his face. Jessie pats his shoulder and chases after Sam, yelling about 'I saw that, punk!'.

Ron glances to the pair, a scoff of a laugh escaping his mouth as he walks to us.

"Hey, I'm Ron," he greets, "Everyone is upstairs if you wanna.."

"Yeah, sure," Daniel takes the lead, falling in step beside Ron as the rest of us follow.

"I was telling Carl that we all hang out here. But, uh, there's a lot more now so we might need to find a new spot," Ron laughs.

"We multiplied the numbers," Daniel nods with a grin.

"You did! But, that's good. It's nice to have more than two people to talk to nowadays."

Ron steps into the bedroom and I could already tell it would be cramped with all of us there- something that only sent my nerves higher than they already were. Ben follows, a sound of awe coming from him as he sees the posters and gaming set up Ron had. Daniel and Jae trade a look before following close behind Ben, leaving just Julie, Taeyang, and I outside the door.

"I don't know if I can do this," Julie voices my thoughts.

"Why not?" Taeyang frowns.

"It's stupid," she shakes her head.

She slumps away from the door, leaning on the wall instead.

"My dad and boyfriend are out there on a run. My aunt is guarding the wall that these people weren't even doing beforehand. I'm supposed to sit back and play video games? This is all stupid," she rants.

"No," Taeyang disagrees, "This is normal."

"Normal is out there. This is a fairytale, Taeyang," she says, crossing her arms, "Normal is using a real weapon out there and not playing pretend with a controller."

"Julie," Taeyang sighs.

"I'm going to talk to Deanna. I want to guard the wall with Aunt Sasha. I'll see you guys at home," she says, scurrying back down the stairs despite Taeyang's call of her name.

I watch her go, wishing I could run with her.

"Come on," Taeyang tugs my hand, "This is a step."