Saviors

23

"Jihyo Noona? Why are you calling me right now?"

   "Jihoon," her voice was urgent and harsh. She sounded scared as she whispered. "Someone's in my house right now," she choked down a little sob. "I'm hiding under my bed. I can hear him coming!" Jihoon could hear quiet crying on the other side of the phone call.

"Why didn't you call the cops?!"

"I did." She breathed out. "They won't get here in time, I can hear him opening the door!" Though her voice was quiet, he could still hear the urgency.

   "Jihyo Noona, get out of there right now." He commanded. There was silence on the other end. He heard her drop the phone. There were some muffled sounds. "Noona? Are you there? Noona? Noona!" The line went dead. "Shit!" Jihoon threw on his coat and stuffed his phone in his pocket. He moved to run out the door but Minghao stopped him.

"Jihoon Hyung-"

   "Not now Minghao, I need to go. I don't know when I'll be back." Jihoon ran out the door, ignoring his other members that were calling his name.

Jihoon ran frantically down the darkening street. "Shit shit shit!" He mumbled over and over. He needed to get to his sister's house now.

Jihoon pushed himself to go faster and faster. He skidded to a stop right before her house. Jihoon saw movement behind the window and quickly hid behind the porch, and, a little bit later, the door creaked open and a man stepped out. Jihoon didn't recognize him. He wasn't going to take any chances so he picked up a rock and swung it at the man's head when he came down the steps.

There was a sickening crack and the man crumpled. Jihoon dropped the rock and jumped back. What if he had killed him? He rushed back up to the man and checked for a pulse. Jihoon found one and sighed in relief.

He stepped around the body after tying him to a post and stepped inside. The house was dark and silent except for Jihoon's own breathing. Terror clawed at his chest. What happened to his sister? Was he too late? What was he too late for?

Jihoon took a deep breath and stepped onto the stairs. They creaked under even his weight. Slowly he climbed, dreading what he would find. He reached the top step and the creaking stopped. He steeled himself and reached for the bedroom handle. He heard a creak behind him. Had the man escaped?! Jihoon turned quickly and found himself staring into Minghao's eyes.

"M-Minghao. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were safe Hyung." He whispered.

"I can't very well send you back now. Don't- don't follow me into her room. I don't know what I'll find." Jihoon's voice sounded far away, unfamiliar to his own ears. Minghao nodded. Jihoon turned the handle and stepped inside.

The carpet squished under his feet and his heart drummed in his chest. He shut the door behind him. There was the overwhelming stench of copper coating everything in the room. Blood. The smell clogged his nose and he knew, he was too late. Jihoon flicked on the light.

Immediately he wished he hadn't. A sob rose in his chest as he took in the scene around him. Blood covered everything. It was soaked into the carpet. It smeared the walls. It dripped off the nightstand. Jihoon covered his mouth. Tears streaked his pale white face. A leg, under the bed. An arm, in the closet. A torso, under the window. Her head, resting by the bloody stump of a neck on the pillow, staining it a deep red.

Jihoon fell to his knees in the blood soaked carpet and cried out. His sister. His last living relative. She was dead. Brutally murdered. He sobbed, and heaved, and screamed. He dry heaved, but nothing came out. Jihoon heard his name being called from the closed door. He turned off the lights, unable to look at it anymore.

Jihoon crawled his way to the bed and picked up the head of his dead sister off the pillow. He clutched it to his chest and sobbed, rocking back and forth, traumatized. She was dead. She was dead. She was...

Dead.

The last of his family.

He was alone.

They were all gone.

All of them.

He faintly registered the sirens in the distance, and Minghao coming in. The light was flicked on, and there was a gasp. It was flicked off again. Someone came over to him and wrapped a skinny arm around his shaking shoulders. It was most likely Minghao.

Cops came.

They were too late.

Of course they were.

They pried him away from the head of his dead sister. He kicked. He screamed. He punched a couple of cops in the stomach. They dragged him away. Took him to some room. Asked him some questions. Minghao answered most of them. Jihoon could barely form more than a three word sentence.

He sat there. In his bloody clothes, refusing to take another pair to change into. Jihoon stared into the corner of the room. Tears rolled steadily down his cheeks. He faintly remembered Minghao crying as well, and hugging him. How could he have let this happen?

They arrested the man Jihoon had tied up. He didn't really care. They tried to keep him at the station, ask him more questions. He didn't want to. He wanted to go home. But where was home?

"A couple more questions Jihoon-ssi." He shook his head and stood up. Minghao stood up with him. "Jihoon-ssi? Please sit down." He shook his head again and started walking out the door. A man grabbed his arm.

"Don't touch him." Minghao growled, kicking the man in the stomach. "We don't want any of this in the papers." He said coldly.

As soon as they were out of the police department, Jihoon collapsed into Minghao's arms and started crying again. Minghao slung one arm over his shoulder and helped him home.

When they opened the door, everyone stared at them in shock. Soonyoung ran over and caught them as they fell. He muttered something that the tired ears of Minghao and Jihoon could not decipher.

   "Minghao, what happened?" Jun commanded. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, before giving up and breaking down, crying. He shook his head.