Mental Institute: BTS 101

"I didn't get any sleep,"

That night I didn't sleep well. I kept hearing noises coming from out of my room. It was strange and horrible. My room was too big for me to feel safe. I kept thinking that there was something hiding in my closet.

In this place they didn't use lightbulbs, but instead candles. I was handed one box of candles at the start of my stay that was meant to light up my whole room. But how was I able to do that? I wasn't even sure if they would give me another box if I used them all up. I would die from heart attack if I was left in the dark with nothing to help me see.

One of the things that I found strange at this place was how the weather never changed. Whether it was night or day, the sky was always grey and raining, with the lightning striking on the background. And then, there was this strange laughter I kept hearing through the hallways. It was more like a cackle echoing through the whole building.

Hearing the laughter again, I shivered and pulled up the blankets to my chin. On the left side I heard shuffling in front of my door and then a chain rattling as it dragged something across the floor. I gasped and pretended that I was asleep when I heard the door unlock.

Footsteps were audible and they became louder and clearer when I felt a presence of someone at the edge of my bed.

"Sarang-shii,"

It was a woman's voice. Pretending that her voice woke me up, I peeked at her with small eyes. She was wearing a black and white uniform, almost similar like a maid's one.

She glared at me and pulled the blankets down when I sat up. In her left hand she was holding a candle while her right hand was handing me a cup of tea.

"Medicine," she explained emotionless. I nodded and accepted it. Looking down at my cup, there was a tacky green liquid waiting to enter my body.

I gulped at the sight of it. It must taste bitter. It was the first time that I was receiving their medicine. It was said to help me cure my bad dreams, but I was more worried about the side effects of this. It didn't seem like it was that innocent, judging from the smell.

Pinching my nose, I gulped down the liquid under the watch of the maid. When I gave back the cup, she inspected it thoroughly to see if I took every drop of it.

It wasn't that bitter like I thought it would be but there was a burning sensation when it made its way through my throat.

I pulled a face and looked at her. "Good," she told me. Without saying much, she gave me a weak smile and exited my room closing the door behind her back. I gazed at the door for a moment, before I laid my head back on my cushion sighing.

There wasn't much to do and I wondered if I was allowed to explore this building. It seemed big and it wouldn't surprise me if there were others like me staying at this place. I mean, I saw that young men earlier. He must be a member of this house.

Pulling off the blanket from me, I placed my bare feet on the cold ground. With light footsteps and still dressed in my white nightgown, I opened the door and peeked into the hallway. There was no one to be seen, meaning that I wasn't prohibited from leaving my room.

Standing in the hallway, I noticed two staircases heading into opposite directions.

I decided to take the left one and quietly explored that side of the house on my own.

Not long after walking through a dark hallway, I noticed light at the end of it. There was also voices coming from that way.

Standing in front of the door, I lightly pushed the door ajar and peeked inside. There was a fire with seven young men gathered around. They were sitting in a circle, cracking jokes and laughing. The ginger-haired boy I saw earlier was one of them.
He had a wide smile on his face, unlike the scowl he had earlier.
The way how they seemed to interact with each other was warm. Almost family-like.

"One more time," the ginger-haired said.

"Why are you in Seoul? Try talking in Satoori," The one with black hair said as he wiped his nose and smirked.

They all broke into laughter and enjoyed each other's company.

"How about we escape for a while to go to Busan?" Another boy with black hair said, but soon he received a nudge against the back of his head.

"Think straight, do you think we can escape this prison?" The blond-haired guy smirked. He gulped from his bottle with strange liquid and then threw the empty bottle in the fire.

They watched as the fire grew stronger for a moment.

Why were they saying that this was a prison?

Feeling left out, I decided to enter the room and join them, but a hand stopped me from opening the door.

"What are you doing?" The creepy man asked as he gave me a lazy smirk.
I blinked and stepped back.
"Nothing,"

He eyed me for a moment before letting the door go.

"Then leave," he told me, "You don't have any bussiness here,"

Hearing the stern voice under his words, I quickly bowed and turned around to walk away. His gaze stung my back and I couldn't feel more relieved when I turned around the corner and was finally out of his sight.