Pretty Odd ; NCT Dream

01

Mark walked down the creaking stairs of the dark and gloomy basement. Cold air hit him as soon as he entered the room, a contrast to the warm and bright hallway he had just been in moments before. The grey walls were slightly moist from the condensation with the floorboards battered, bruised and slightly damp. The metal chains were rattling against the wooden steps as he continued to walk, a mixture of the rattling and his footsteps echoing throughout the entire room. His mother stood at the top of the staircase with his father, worried expressions overtaking their faces as they watched their son slumped down to the bottom level.

"Honey?" His mother called out in that oh so sweet, caring tone of hers. Mark felt terrible for everything he was putting them through. The constant sleepless nights just to make sure Mark couldn't leave the house, trying their best to not anger or stress him out, and weren't allowing him to go to school. Hopefully, after this night, everything would become easier for them and maybe Mark could go back to living his normal, teenage boy life. "Do you need any help? I'm sure we can help you before-"

"Mum," Mark interrupted. "I assure you, I'm fine. I know what I'm doing and I have for the last couple of weeks. The last thing I need right now is you breathing down my neck constantly," he snapped through his gritted teeth and looped the chain around one of the metal poles. He could hear the little gasp she let out, even if it was only meant for her husband to hear. Perks of having enhanced hearing, I guess. He sighed to himself and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, mum. It's just- this is hard for me right now and I'm just a bit stressed out about it." 

"It's okay, baby. Look, I'm coming down and I'm helping you out," his mother commanded and just as she was about to enter the room, his father whispered something in her ear that Mark had so wished he didn't.

"Chunhwa, don't go down there," he muttered and stopped her from entering the room. "I want to help him as much as you do, but the moon will be out soon, he's irritable right now and we can't risk it. Mark knows what he is doing, we have to trust him," his father tried to reason.

"He is our son, Seojoon! We need to be there for him and help him through this process. We may not know much about it but the least we can do is be there to support him."

"No, mum, he's right," Mark said and yanked the chain, making sure it was nice and tight. He couldn't have it coming easily undone, knowing he'd be pulling at them the rest of the night. "You can't take the risk."

His mother hesitated before answering, "A-are you sure, Markie? If you need me to stay down there the rest of the night then I will, just say the word. I'll wait in the corner if I have to, as long as I'm helping you the best that I can."

Mark chuckled to himself and smiled lightly, despite his mother not actually being able to see his face. "No, it's better if you two stay upstairs. Make sure to lock the door, barricade it or whatever, I don't mind. Sprinkle mountain ash along the doorway, it should keep me from leaving the room just in case, but if you feel at any point that I'm about to get out then grab the shot-"

"No! We are not shooting you!" His father protested and Mark rolled his eyes.

"Not to kill me! Just to slow me down so you have enough time to run," Mark explained.

His parents were silent for a moment before his mother tutted to herself, "I still don't like this, I feel like I should be down there with you, Markie."

"I'll be okay, mum. I'm going to be okay, in the morning I'll more likely than not still be down here, waiting just to tell you I told you so," Mark smirked to himself. He clamped the lock down onto the chains wrapped around his one hand before moving onto the other and doing the same, throwing the keys across the room (well, just about). The ridges dug into his skin and were most likely bruising it badly, but soon enough, that single thought wouldn't even be on his mind.