Nadir ◈ Seungjin

5 ◈ Deep Down

The lights of the police department casted down on him, gently. Cascading like waterfalls tumbling over cliff rocks and sheer edges, spilling over all the illumination could reach into, filling up the container of the office space until the dim bulbs of the lighting fixtures above drowned him in their uncomfortable silence. Highlighting the other desk spaces. Providing to him, he was far alone underneath that spotlight. Due to Seungmin's unwavering insistence he would be fine on his own to finish up the last of his paperwork, Minho packed up long before the sun fell beneath the few window sills acting as horizons in the bland room, with his absence followed much of the other workers in the department. Save for a cleaner here or there. Save for the overworked lighting fixtures flickering painfully above his head.

Seungmin leaned back in the desk seat, gaze raking over the paperwork in front of him as he folded his arms over his chest. A protective motion, barricading his chest away from the droning air conditioner. A placid idle, simply a comfortable place to hold his arms so they didn't slack awkwardly anywhere else. In his mind, his thoughts allowed themselves to flow freely, This new case. Strange voices, break-ins, followed by a delirium style death. Basically, starvation, despite no signs of delirium before.

It almost lines up with what happened to Minho and I's apartment.

He shifted forward in the seat, eyebrows furrowing as he languidly moved to shuffled the loose papers around. Stacking them properly before sliding the individual inches of paper into their respective files, those files too eventually disappearing to their respective slots. Who would have thought the main job of a homicide detective would be endless paperwork? Both the sheets he stapled and the ones laying across the border of his keyboard. The opened laptop set on his desk gleaming a slight glow against the bright room, against his tired retinas after another night of sleepless hours shifting by, the screen flashing a pop-up announcing it's coming death if not plugged in.

Neglecting to turn the poor device off, Seungmin simply closed the laptop's screen and shoved it into one of the desk drawers. Locking it away.

Something is unsettling about the voice I heard too. Mimicking?

He grabbed the jacket off the back of his chair, delving into it's protection as a scowl deepened on his expression.

And why did they know our names?

Seungmin simply shook his head to knock the plaguing thoughts lingering in his mind. Needed or not to connect the dots of reason or evidence in his mind, he didn't want to continue remembering. He didn't want the venomous serpent slithering around his ankles continue to chase him through the office he left behind, silently hissing promises from the forked tongue of winding around him, tripping him, snagging him, and consuming him while he fell into the embrace of the dark. He didn't want the eyes to watch him anymore. Not as he exposed himself to it's grip, exiting through the main foyer of the department, giving gentle nods to the last few working the evening into early morning shifts to invite wandering ghosts to come play in, before finally stepping into the dark outside.

The crisp air chilled him down to the bone. Goosebumps dotting his skin softly, as if the night whispered gentle words to his ears, honeyed and dripping in the faint scent of rubbered tires congealed in rainbowed hues of the parking lot. Despite the heavy jacket covering his torso, he still shuddered lightly at it's perpetuating buzz. Benumbing in it's seize. His fingers, blushing and irritated as the falling sun's frost, curled into the pockets of that comforting jacket sitting atop his shoulders. Forcing his steps marching forward in lieu of the cold holding him down, the human skillfully weaved his way past the vehicles dotting the department's parking lot and continued his path  to the streets beyond.