-nightmare on epex street-

chapter 15: diner boy

flashback

Mu pov

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a window. A really strange smell filled my nostrils, and I rolled onto my back in pain. I stared at the ceiling for a moment, and sitting a few minutes I remembered where I was. What I had done. Yewang.. I shot up and instantly regretted it, feeling a sharp sting in my lower back, forcing me back down. I looked to my right, and saw that Baekseung was no longer there. I very slowly stood up, and searched for my phone. Once I had my hands on it, I checked the time to see it was 5:50 p.m. , that's golden hour. I didn't bother checking my messages, instead, I looked out the window to the golden glow, and pink sky. It's so.... beautiful. I heard voices from downstairs, but paid no attention to them. Something about earlier stuck with me. I kept thinking of it, even though it was blurry, it felt like the perfect way to remember something like that. That's when I noticed that the bed was cleaned, everything that was just sprawled on it was now packed away somewhere. I opened up the window to let fresh air fill the bedroom, and I could swear I heard my name being said. I was about to head out, when I noticed a small book placed on the bedside table. Still being a bit out of it, I decided to be nosy, opening it up to find it was a dream journal. I knew that cause the first page read:

My dream journal

Quite obvious, it's in his room, so its definitely his... I flipped to the second page, and saw a sketch of a bird. The corner of the page said it was drawn a few months ago. And, more specifically, it was a crow. On the page beside it were some words, they read:

It flew at me again and bit me!

I flipped through the next several pages, and kept seeing plain sketches with only a few words to go with them, all had dates written from this year. Nothing caught my eye until I got to one of the final pages that were filled. It was a drawing of the diner, and I'm pretty sure the date at the bottom was the same as the day before we all went. The day before I met Amin. The picture showed the boy I had seen working there. He had a terrified expression, and it looked like he was pointing to something. It was definitely the most detailed one so far, and it felt eerie. There were no words next to it, but something from the other side had leaked through to this page, so I flipped it to see.

HE IS REAL I SAW HIM!! i talked amin and jeff and mu to go with me to the diner and he was there he is REAL!!

I closed the book, then placed it back on the table. I grabbed my phone, left his room, and made my way downstairs. I turned the corner, pet the cat, and left. I was then hit with the realization that I have now way of getting home. Crap. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, and was bombarded with several texts from Yewang. I nearly opened them before remembering earlier, the whole reason I came here in the first place. I sat down on the curb for several minutes, then ultimately decided to go back inside. I opened the door, and sat down in front of it. I saw Baekseung's sneakers say against the wall, so I know he's still here. I let my head fall against the wooden door behind me, and stared up at the ceiling for a long while. Footsteps. I heard light steps making their way towards me, and turning from the right was Baekseung. He was walking with his body severely hunched over, and a fluffy cat riding on his back. He looked at me, then at the cat, and then back at me. I guess he thought I left. "Oh!" He picked the cat off of him, and set him on the ground. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were still here! I-I thought you were gone hours ago!" He laughed a bit, and made his way towards me. "So, uh, why haven't you gone home?" He really doesn't know? I thought for a second, then said "Well, you drove me here..." At that, he looked very apologetic. Should I tell him about Yewang? Surely after..... everything.... I can trust him, right? "Shit, I'm so Sorry!" He smacked his own forehead. "I-I can take you now! Home I mean.." He shot up, and grabbed his keys. I should tell him. I really don't wanna go home yet. "WAIT!" I did not mean to tell like that! Why the hell did I shout at him? He looked at me, surprised. "I don't wanna go home yet.. Baekseung, c-can we just.. go somewhere else? I-I know it's late but I don't"- As my voice started to squeak, and go quiet, he cut me off. "Hey, hey it's okay! Where'd you wanna go? I'll take you there, just name it!" I looked into his eyes, such kind eyes. I thought for a few seconds, and figured "The diner is open, yeah?" His smile dropped slightly, but returned almost immediately. "Yes, it is. It's open 24 hours, wanna go there?" He said it so calmly. "Yes."

~

Nervous. From the moment we entered the diner, Baekseung seemed nervous. Paranoid, even. I kept seeing him look behind the counters as if he was looking for something, or I guess someone. After what I saw earlier in his book, I can't blame him. I glanced at a clock on the diner wall, and it read 8:02 p.m. . "What's wrong?" He said. That was my line! He's been acting weird this whole time, and now he's asking me that?! "It's Yewang." I leaned back in my seat, and looked over to the counters. The chime of the door could be heard, and a boy wearing the servers uniform entered. I looked back to Baekseung who had a questioning look on his face. I asked him, "What?" and shook my shoulders. He opened his mouth, "What do you mean? It's Yewang?" Oh shit! Did I say that out loud? Oops.. The server made his way to us, and just as I looked up at him, he turned around and nearly sprinted straight to the kitchen. "What's his deal?" Baekseung said what I was thinking, then we both turned to each other again. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question. What's up with you and you know who?" He winked at me. I got defensive "It's not like that!" "But you want it to be, don't you?" I sunk down in my seat, knowing deep down, he was right. "I sniff saw him wi- sniff with"- I started bawling my eyes out like a baby, but before I could continue having an actual breakdown, chime the diner door opened again, and somehow, for some reason, it was Yewang. "Shit, get down!" I whisper-yelled at Baekseung to hit the deck. He ducked down with me, and I moved myself to the seat next to him in hopes it would help hide me better. "He's here!" I whispered. I peeked out, and saw that Yewang wasn't alone. He was standing with the same boy I saw him with earlier. They both walked to the other side of the diner, out of sight. We both got back in our seats, sighing. Baekseung simply said "We can go. I don't mind." I nodded, but as I went to get up, the boy came in my view, and walked to the counters. I couldn't help but look at him. He's so much prettier than me. I instinctively looked at myself. Why the heck did I let my body get this big? This ugly? I looked back at him. He's so... thin.. He walked behind the counters as the shy diner boy came out of the kitchen. It's no wonder why Yewang woul- I watched him grab the diner boy, and kiss his lips behind the counter. I felt my mouth drop to my feet as I stated in complete disbelief. A tap on my shoulder, and an awing sound coming from Baekseung broke me out of my trance. I sat back down in my seat, and felt the biggest wave of relief wash over me. I caught Yewang in the corner, lightly grinning as he watched them kiss before he turned his head, and noticed I was also here. His eyebrows furrowed, and he walked over to me. "Yewang, I"- He pulled me into a tight and strong embrace, and said "Mu! You-you know you can't just.. If you're gonna go off on your ow, you've gotta tell me! I've been worrying all day!" I felt horrible. I couldn't even imagine. I made him worry this much, and for what? He pulled away, "It's alright, you're alright... You-you're alright, right?" I sniffled, but nodded. "Mhmm!" Baekseung stood up, eyed us, and said "So, you'll drive him home?" "Yes, I will." Yewang responded. "Okay then, I'll see you at school, aight?" I nodded, and waved goodbye to him as he left. The other two boys walked over to us, and the diner boy looked down, while the other one spoke. "Yewang, who's this?" I pointed towards me. "This is Mu, I've told you about him, remember?" Yewang said. The boy reached his hand out, and said "Nice to finally meet you, Mu. Yewang has told me all about you!" He smiled, and got a small punch from Yewang which made me giggle a bit. I looked at the diner boy, who was still looking down. The other one spoke up again "I'm Keum, Donghyun, if you will. This is Dawit, he's quite shy though.." He put his hand on the other boys shoulder. I got a good look at Dawit's face, and it was in fact him. I knew be was the one from Baekseung's dream, and yet I knew him from somewhere else too.

~

12:34 a.m. .
It's so late. I laid in bed, but I couldn't fall asleep. I heard my door creak open, but I was too weak to face it. I felt a light dip in the side of my bed, and then a big dip next to me. "Yewang?" I whispered, dead tired. "Mmmm" I smiled, and with the rest of my energy, I rolled into his arms. Eventually, I fell asleep.

a/n
thank you for reading! 💚