causerie ⋆ kang daniel

⇝ six

suggestion: listen to
[Don't Listen] by Seventeen

According to the brochure Daniel was reading, the theme of the haunted house is 'the abandoned hospital'; it's set up like a maze and the people basically have to find their way out of this place. From the comments of the previous people who went inside, they said this takes almost an hour to walk out. They said the inside is nothing like what we've seen before; it's horrifying; and there are chances of people getting split up during the time they're inside. Nice enough, the staff will give you a button at the entrance, where you can press and a staff will come over to escort you out of the place if you think you can't take the horror anymore.

Most girls were crying after they came out from the exit. Wow, I wonder what kind of experience this will be. The staff recommended at least four people to go in the maze at once, so we paired up with two other couples.

I was scared, Daniel was hyped.

Man, he sure has a strong heart.

=

Off we went, the entrance of this hospital was already filled with eerie music and cold winds. There were lots of blood stains and messed up bandages on the floor. Okay, this part was alright for me, I didn't panic.

Daniel and I, plus the two other couples, walked down the hallway, following the signs on the way. Once we hit the corner, some cracks of the ceiling fell off and one girl screamed. We continued walking to toward the emergency room, which had an alcohol smell. The racks on the two sides were occupied with human skulls and body parts, but I have a high tolerance for this kind of stuff, so I was okay, though the girls in front of me wanted to puke.

We walked out of the emergency room and entered the ward, only to notice two people wrapped up in sloppy bandages making weird noises; they sounded like they were in deep pain. One of them stared deadly at me as I walked past. I held on to the bottom of Daniel's shirt tightly, wishing that the guy would stop looking at me with those void eyes. Daniel recognized the grasp on his shirt and turned to face me.

"Eunhye ah, are you alright? We can always exit if you don't feel like staying in here." He watched me with a worried look.

I gave him a reassuring nod, "I can take this, don't worry."

"Tell me if you don't feel well."

After our short conversation inside the ward, we realized that the other two couples were out of sight, or they're just gone.

"Oh my god, where's the rest of the group?" I panicked and asked Daniel.

He shrugged, "I guess we are separated."

I stared at Daniel powerlessly, this is not okay. The less the people there are, the less you feel alive, and the more you fear the place. There were still faint whispers and screams in the background, I grabbed Daniel's shirt even more tightly. "Daniel... I'm scared... Can I hold--"

Before I could finish my sentence, he took my hand into his. "I am here, Eunhye, I'm here."

I firmly held onto his hand and there was no way of me letting go. We proceeded our journey in the gloomy hospital and came across another room; the doors were wide open and it looked too petrifying to go in, so we decided to avoid that room.

We walked for about fifty minutes already, and I thought that it was close for us go reach the end. Slowly walking down the hall, the atmosphere was too quiet; something was just not right, my sixth instinct was telling me that.

And damn I was right.

A woman with tangled, long black hair wearing dirty hospital clothes appeared out of nowhere and ran towards us at an incredibly fast speed. I froze on the spot, too shocked to do anything or react. Daniel held my hand more tightly and started running. The dim light was getting brighter and brighter, and that was the end. We had finished the maze.

Daniel practically had to escort me out from the exit; I stood there with empty eyes and somewhat shaking legs.

"Eunhye..." Daniel called out my name. I didn't know what to do, the fear from a few minutes ago crushed over me; I can't get rid of the woman's face in my head. Tears started to come out from my eyes slowly, and that was when I felt the warmth embraced me. I wrapped my arms around Daniel's waist and nuzzled my head on his chest; I hugged him like there was no tomorrow. He gently patted my back, whispering 'don't worry' over and over again.

I won't worry about anything as long as you're next to me.

Daniel let go of me for a short while and I was confused, but I realized that he was trying to wipe my tears carefully with his thumb. He stared at me with a very serious face; a side of him that I had never seen before.

"It's okay, I'm here." He brought me back to his chest and stroked my hair. The soft touches and words slowly calmed me down.

I indulge in the tone of his voice; I want to get drunk in his eyes. How can a person be like this? It's as if he's the stormy sea when he makes fun of you, but he's also the lightest breeze that brings you to the moon and back to Earth on your feet.

I think it was a few minutes later where I finally let go of Daniel. My eyes were kind of swollen, and being the tease Kang Daniel, he had to say something about it.

"Now you're more like a panda huh."

"Daniel..." I made a face and looked at him.

"Alright alright, you wanna go get some food? Like pizza or sushi? We still have some time before the fireworks start."

"Yes, but first, to the carousel!" I tried to lighten up the mood because first, I don't wanna be all crying and stuff; it's a day to have fun and enjoy. And second, I don't want Daniel to worry about me.

=

a/n: the idea of the haunted house was inspired by the haunted hospital in japan at Fuji-Q. also, i'm currently watching this horror film called 'sinister'. my friend recommended to me and he said it was REALLY good