CREEPY-CRAWLIES ; yugbam

the room

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fire escape; gregory alan isakov

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the sun was just starting to set when bambam woke up.

five weeks. it had been five weeks since bambam came to raven house.

he was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, listening to ms. yang humming as she worked in the kitchen. she didn't know he was there, no one did—he had reluctantly muttered a silencing spell on his shoes before walking down the creaking steps. he was staring into the side room, pondering over why the piano keys were covered in dust and why the tarot cards were still sitting there, seemingly abandoned in a rush. he narrowed his eyes, trying to discern what tarot was flipped up. he didn't dare go any nearer—there was something about that room that made the rest of the boys at raven house stay far away.

he wanted to know why no one talked about it. he wanted to know why yugyeom coiled back from the room whenever he got too close, like a snake might suddenly appear from inside it and spit venom. he wanted to know why chris looked at the room with guilt, and sanha with pain.

"bam?"

only one person called bambam by that nickname, and only one person had such an uncareful and unsteady tread. the other mystery of raven house, kim yugyeom.

"yeah?", bambam asked, turning to look over at the zombie, who was tiredly rubbing at his sleep swollen eyes while walking down the stairs.

"you're always up so early", yugyeom mumbled. he sat down next to bambam, but trained his gaze as far from the corner room as possible.

bambam chuckled and shrugged. "i'm still adjusting to the sleep schedule."

yugyeom nodded absentmindedly. "i wish we had light charms. it would make it easier for you and hyunjin."

"s'okay", bambam replied. his fingers tapped on his knee, on the bit of exposed skin that shown through where his jeans had ripped. even this small action made him whince; the hole had been created that night. the memories of tripping over exposed roots and rocks as he ran desperately through the woods, sobs racking his body and tears tracking down his cheeks...

he pushed the memory away, trying to clear the expression of pain from his face. yugyeom always got so worried when bambam had his flashbacks, and if there was one thing bambam hated most, it was worrying his friend.

"why are you sitting here?", yugyeom asked. he glanced at the corner room but quickly looked away, turning his gaze to bambam's knee. he reached a hand over and played with the frayed edges of bambam's jeans, and the moment was so domestic and comfortable that bambam figured he shouldn't keep hiding his questions from yugyeom.

"i keep...wondering about that room", bambam replied, voice quiet as if he couldn't speak too loud for fear of waking some kind of monster.

yugyeom visibly tensed, moving his hand away from bambam's knee and bambam immediately regretted his comment. "i'm sorry-", bambam started but yugyeom calmed and shook his head, interrupting him. the zombie hybrid stood up, long limbs hanging at his sides.

"we can't go in", he said. he reached a hand forward, as if to reach into the room, but some invisible barrier stopped him before he could. he pressed his palm flat against it and then let his hand fall, eyes casting down to the ground.

bambam was familiar with the spell. a boundary charm, used to keep a witch safe while performing larger spells. if cast correctly, it was nearly impenetrable, and only the witch inside could reverse it.