✓LOVER BOY | hwang hyunjin

32. An Emergency

The forest was in a middle of bleakness that even the flashlights seemed to fail at perforating.

Jinho and Yeseul together made their way over the trodden down path. Every hoot of the owl, or a leaf falling made enough sound of paranoia to flush out the blood from the faces of the two. Yeseul skipped ahead, nudging Jinho by her elbow. "Where is this mysterious place you found? I feel like you're trying to take me to be a prey for the wild."

Jinho swallowed hard. He stopped, looking around at the thick trunks of the trees. "The cabin was near a tree painted red." Yeseul sighed hard. Hard enough to show her annoyance.

"Are you seriously taking me to a cabin? What if it belongs to a weirdo?"

The guy wordlessly resumed the walk. "It was isolated." He walked faster. "Hey, I think I see it."

Yeseul squinted her eyes at the far end of the dense darkness. She made out a outline of a crooked house. "Oh hell no..." she whispered, running up to keep up with her brother.

"I'll kill you so fast if someone shows up in that house." Jinho snickered at this threat.

"Ghosts? Skinwalkers? Trolls? Start making your guesses." Jinho looked down at his watch. Bright neon digits lit up. 1:24AM.

"Or worse. Serial killers, and hungry bears."

"We'll just take a look around. I've always wanted to visit such left behind places."

"You're a psychopath for this."

The two neared the cabin. The trees were cut down in the place circling the house. They didn't have much to hide behind if someone suddenly decided to peek from behind a curtain. An odd looking mailbox stood near the descending path. It was rusted. The red paint had flacked over the years. Yeseul leaned down, her flashlight on the inside. She didn't expect to see anything, but there sat a bundle of unopened envelopes. She pulled it, but a flick at her hair made her stop. "What?" She looked at Jinho.

"We're not here to disrespect privacy."

"Hypocrite much?" She pulled the bundle, taking one to look at the scribbled information.

11th February, 2021

That was last year.

She took another one.

11th February, 2020

This was spooky enough. Yeseul pushed back the envelopes, and left to look for her brother who suddenly had vanished. "Jinho?" She flashed the lights around the house. The temperature suddenly seemed to drop. Yeseul could swear she felt sick from fear.

"Come here!" A voice called. Yeseul quickly followed. She ran from the narrow side of the house, soon reaching the backyard. There was a clustered mess of random things over the ground. She saw Jinho examining a children's swing. "This looks so old."

"No shit."

"What if we look inside?" Jinho had this mischievous look over his face. Yeseul didn't like it one bit.

"No."

"Oh come on!" He stood up, hands in pockets. He passed by her. "You can follow me." Yeseul did, but she stopped at the end of the stairs.

Jinho walked up the creaking steps. His shoes were loud against the wooden board beneath. His heart felt heavy as he put his hand on the door knob, slowly turning it. It wouldn't budge. "This is locked."

"Let's go then."

"It wasn't when I came earlier."

"What the hell? You're scaring me." Yeseul joined the guy to investigate. She too tried her hand on the door. It was surely locked. "You said this place was isolated." This time she whispered.