Sentience

52

The setting was up to Changmin's liking. Dark and creepy but none of those scared him; he preferred this anyway.

From the beginning, he went through the door of the haunted house, or more so, haunted basement, since Juyeon's team set it up in a basement of the campus; Changmin didn't waver. Sometimes, there was a moving white cloth that could be seen, a creepy sound that was supposed to be heard like a ghost's laughter and the poor ambience of light that could make one stagger while trailing the path.

But, Changmin just shrugged everything off.

Some more, he was here not to entertain his fear; he just needed somewhere to clear off his mind. Somewhere, nobody could see him clearly, so he could wear just any emotion on his face, either anger or sadness.

Huuuuu...

The mouth sound was heard from behind him, and Changmin whipped his head just to be greeted with darkness and a figure sprinting from left to right side. A soft scoff escaped his system as he raised a brow.

"Good job, ghost," he said, pulling out his phone and swiftly unlocking it; the brightness radiating all over his face.

Changmin couldn't stop the sigh from escaping, realizing that the small hope he planted at the deep of his heart was useless. He was hoping for a miracle to happen today; to see Belle at the festival. But, it seemed like he would need to bury it away.

Like the previous days, he still left her messages every single time, no matter what the context was. However, Belle was still the same; not responding to his messages. What differed this time was when Changmin scrolled back the chat bubbles, Arabelle had read all of them.

It pained him so much knowing that she left him hanging while she was all good with other people.

Huuuu....

Again the interruption.

The ghost was truly testing his patience. He had just met the right mood, almost shedding tears, but the supposed-to-be-scary sound had wiped the mood away.

But, Ji Changmin ignored it again. Because his focus suddenly fixated on the phone, the keyboard appeared at the bottom of the screen. And so, his fingers swiftly moved all over the keys.

It feels so much different, Belle. The festival is not as exciting as in previous years.

He sent it and continued trailing the path to the exit.

Huuuu....

"Shut up!" Changmin scolded the ghost, who was caught red-handed; awkwardly waving his hands in the air, as he was lost against Changmin's speed in turning his head. "Huh! You better do your job right! Make it worth every penny! You are not even scary!"

The ghost slowly dragged his hands back to his frame before he dashed out of Changmin's sight into his hideout.

"What kind of haunted house is this?" Changmin rolled his eyes, spitting his hatred. For him, this wasn't considered as scary, but maybe it was only him who thought that way. All because of the undefinable feelings welled up inside his chest.

It was then that Changmin finally stepped outside, being greeted by the bright light from the sun, which he needed to squint his eyes for a while; Juyeon was standing right at the exit, smirking while waving his hand at him.

The latter must have been so proud of himself, thinking that he had successfully hosted a haunted house.

"You must have had a great experience inside," Juyeon said, crossing his arms over his chest.