5/13
The one thing Soonyoung hated the most about living in the countryside was that he was the son of farmers, so he was expected to help out on the family farm. Being the son of farmers meant that he had to work out in the hot sun whenever he could. Since the town was in a state of emergency and school was shut down until further notice, he had to be outside every single day to work— after all, just because the town shut down, it didn't mean people stopped eating.
It had been about three weeks since the town shut down after Seungcheol disappeared, and according to his parents, Seokmin, Mingyu, and Minghao all had disappeared as well. They were there during the day, but then when the moon came up and went back down again, they were gone the next day. So, people avoided going outside during night since that was when it seemed like people were going missing. The people of the town knew that, but they still avoided going outside as much as possible. Soonyoung didn't think he would ever have to feel so cautious in his entire life.
The bodies of his friends still had yet to appear, which only set Soonyoung more on edge. While he worked, his mind would wander, and he would start freaking out thinking about how his friends' bodies were somewhere. Working hard on the farm didn't distract him from his thoughts, which really sucked for him because not only did he have to work, but he had work while he was miserable, making him twice as miserable.
One day, when the sun was especially bright and laughing, Jeonghan visited Soonyoung's family's farm. "What're you doing here, Jeonghan? You should be inside," Soonyoung immediately said.
"Nice to see you too," Jeonghan grimaced. "I just wanted to see how everyone was doing."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"Well... Yeah, but I was worried. I wanted to make sure no one else disappeared. It feels like it's only our class that's disappearing."
"What do you mean?" Soonyoung put down his gardening tools and fully faced Jeonghan while wiping the sweat from his brow.
"According to some of the parents in town, there have been no other disappearances except for us," Jeonghan explained. "The only people who disappeared are Chan, Vernon, Seungkwan, Seungcheol, Seokmin, Mingyu, and Minghao. No one else."
"Jeez, that's really weird... Maybe one of our teachers is doing this to us?"
"You really think our teachers hate us that much that they feel the need to kidnap us?"
"No," Soonyoung couldn't help but laugh.
The sun started laughing louder as well. Jeonghan and Soonyoung looked at the sun while shielding their eyes from the powerful rays. The sun continued to laugh loudly. It seemed to be staring at the two of them. Jeonghan took a step back. The sun's eyes didn't move.
"...Is the sun staring at you?" Jeonghan whispered, his eyes still on the sun.
"I really hope not," Soonyoung responded, his eyes also still on the sun.
The laughter from the sun continued for what seemed like ages, and it didn't let up in the slightest, not even after Jeonghan left. The sun only tired itself out when it started setting, and unfortunately for Soonyoung, he still had to get some work done. It was only when the sun completely set and the moon was in the sky that he was finally finished sowing the seeds for the latest crops. He looked up to see that his entire family had already gone inside. He frowned— after all the disappearances, you would think his parents would tell him to come back inside instead of letting him just work the farm by himself as the moon shone in the sky. Sighing, Soonyoung collected his tools and started making his way back to his home.
As he bent down to pick up his tools, he lost his footing, and the dibber scraped the back of his heel. Sooyoung muttered profanities to himself and checked his fresh wound, blood starting to seep out of the gash. He didn't want to get blood anywhere on the field, so he did his best to stop the bleeding by taking one of the gloves and pressing it against the wound. He would have to buy new gloves or wash the hell out of these ones once he got back home, and the thought of having to do that exhausted him further. With another heavy sigh, Soonyoung stood up with his tools and carefully started walking away from the fields.
The wind howled in his ears the further he got from the fields and the closer he got to his home, which was extremely weird because the wind was howling, but he didn't feel any wind rushing past him. He felt his body getting hotter, if anything. He whipped his head around to see what the hell it was howling past his ears, but he saw nothing behind him. He looked in front of him and took one step forward before he saw it.
"Don't tell me..." Soonyoung whispered to himself as the shifting body approached him.
The howls continued until he disappeared. His tools fell to the ground. The moon chuckled and bled. The phantom faded into the darkness of the night once again.
