Hierarchy

Carmen

The messenger was similar to the dullahan. A messenger of death. A creature that was ready to deliver the notes of peace to unsuspecting people. Like the serial killer. Like the sender of the letters. Whether being all the same or not, they were delivering the warnings of death impending. Warnings minutes to days too late. The grim reaper ready to impose people of their day. To ruin lives with fate. With destiny that was bound to come. Bound to come yet no one saw it coming. Yet, was it really meant to happen? Meant to happen so soon?
Jisung had thought about it after a while of thinking. Perhaps it was due to the fact of trying to think like Renjun earlier that afternoon. Trying to reconstruct meanings behind the evidence he had gathered. Getting into the blonds head and trying to understand things the way he did. It was all a lot of things to understand and process. Extremely opening to the eyes. The orange haired boy was sure that he spent the whole night just lying in bed and thinking about the serial killer; in the most poetic way he ever thought.
He went through as many smilies and metaphors as he could possibly think; going through his entire memory of descriptive words and illustrative sentences as he could. Honestly, the process was exhausting but at the same time, eye opening. The thought of thinking like Renjun had been a bit funny and ridiculous and funny before. But now, with everything, it was almost a wake up call. Jisung just didn't know what he was waking up from.
    The idea was starting to plague his mind more and more. Waking up, the concept reentered his mind once more. Keeping him more silent then usual, the dancer was going about his normal morning routine. His insightful mindset was getting overwhelming as he paused for times to just stop and think more thoroughly about it all. Of course, when it came to the investigation, he was more than happy to welcome it with open arms. But when his guardians had to burst in and yell him back into reality, it was less then ideal.
    And as he made his way to school, he tried to block it all out the his music. Trying to focus more and more on the flow of the beat, the lyrics; trying to freestyle some dance moves as he went. Just what he usually did on his usual commutes to school. Well, of course, getting a drink from the cafe along the way to. Greeting Taeil and continuing his walk. It was the best thing he could do when the empty feeling was consuming every single cell of his body.
    'Why is it so hard to distract myself?' The constant thought flashed in his head. 'Was this what it felt for Renjun? Always overthinking logically? Making things up that made sense?' Groaning, Jisung had failed once again to keep his mind off of things. It wasn't his fault really, if anything...... alright maybe it was in fact his fault.
    As he reached the school gates for another long week of classes, the dancer started to notice something. Something that was off with the student body. Going on until he found his way into the main foyer of the building. While dragging his shoes across the mat to clean them of snow. He found the other students sending stares his way.
    Not the hateful glares or flickering glances before. The ones that were obviously accusing him of murders and missing cases. The ones that loathed him with all their might, simply because he was the perfect scapegoat. The ones that just were irked by him in general, disliking his overall nature. The natural hate that would radiate off of them when he passed was. Almost non-existent.
    Sure, there was the few that still had their dislike strong and powerful when he walked by. Yet he found his spirits unusually lifted when noticing how light the whole atmosphere of the area was. As if they were back to the start of school, where no one knew who he was and honestly didn't care. Except this time they did. This time, they were staring at him in some sort of way. He didn't know what way just yet, but surely it was better then the glances and stares that he had got before.
    So he kept his cheery pace to his locker. Humming while taking out some textbooks and binders to start off his morning, Jisung tried not to think too much about what was going on. That's what he was going to do for the rest of the time, not think about what was going on as best as he could. To only let this mindset settle in his brain when the investigation was brought up.
    For when he closed his locker, the sixteen year old immediately started to hear the familiar chattering of Chenle and the other students. Just as they began to talk amongst themselves, the news scheduled it's appearance, per the usual schedule that seemed to be taking place these days.
    "Breaking News!"
    That couldn't be good. Jisung bit the inside of his cheek nervously and hovered next to a standing desk. As he predicted, the new report was anything but peachy keen.
    "Another murder has taken place in our town of Goldenleaf."
    Audible gasps started to sound off in the little swarm of students gathered near, and their conversations ended abruptly soon after to listen.
    "The victim was found dead in his apartment late last night. Police say the time of his death was approximately noon to early afternoon. Method of killing seems to be multiple small puncture wounds in his neck possibly by a needle. The man was said to be in his late forties, with a known criminal record of scamming and possible involvement in human trafficking schemes."
    A picture of the scene showed up on the screen. The body, covered by a blue tarp, was the least of anyone's worries. Instead, everyone was focused on the large V spray painted onto the wall and the smaller picture that showed a sticky note. With the exact same smiley stickers Jisung had gotten in his letters.
    "Once again, we can confirm that the elusive serial killer is the one to blame. If anyone has any anonymous types, please report it to the police department right away."
    Jisung could feel all the blood in his body pretty much drain out of him. He was surprised there was no large pool of dark red liquid around him as his hands trembled. So he was right. That person who was sending him the letters is the serial killer. Which means.......... which means.......
    "Hey."
    The whisper barely brushed against his ear. The voice sounded far away, detached from any world the dancer seemed to be in. The whisper came again.
    "Hey."
    A hand brushed against his arm, as if it was pulling him back into reality. Blinking a couple of times, Jisung shifted his gaze from the desktop to a familiar pair of eyes.
    Chenle, with eyes glazed over with concern, tightened his grip against his classmates arm. "Are you ok?"
    There was a moment where the orange haired boy had no answer. A few minutes of just staring at his smaller comrade. Consuming his thoughts and letting the loud voices of insight, question and worry become drowned by the warm tones of brown and the powerful emotions pushing them along. For a bit, he was able to ground himself more easier, go back to being himself so to say. He took a deep breath in.
    "Hide out at lunch, got it?"
    Gulping, Chenle only nodded. He offered a supportive smile before the bell rang, separating the two into their respective classes to continue their day- and dwell on the new event at hand.

"Another murder." Jisung repeated, for about the hundredth time that day. However, this time, he was able to say it out loud instead of in his mind. As he paced around the small area of the hide out, the taller teen couldn't stop thinking about the whole situation with the new information presented. It made his mind race; his heart beat quicken; his body tremble. The whole thing was carving him into a wreck of mind and soul.
Chenle, despite not being affected directly, was also a bit out of it. Where he would usually blabber on about something, or tease Jisung playfully about his actions- the green haired boy was leaning over the coffee table. With a marker in hand and their notebook in the other. The normally talkative kid was completely focused on creating a whole new evidence board with the new clues and insights they had whipped up two days previous.
Unlike the rest of the school, who were mostly situated in the courtyard minding their own business, these two were in the zone. An oddly familiar experience that pulsed in the dancers mind. Something that was being drowned out.
"The letter I had gotten," Stopping his little journey, he suddenly settled into the bean bag chair across from his classmate. "It said words like liar and killer. The victim had a criminal record of scamming and possible human trafficking. This means the writer of the letter knew beforehand that the victim was going to be murdered."
"Couldn't it have been a plan?" Chenle suggested, nonetheless writing down the possibility onto their chart. "The sticker was the same as the one on the letter. Which means the serial killer may be contacting you?"
A shiver ran down Jisung's spine, face scrunching up in discomfort as what felt like a million ants started to prickle at his back. He was gathering a cold sweat just thinking about it. "Sadly that could be the case." He chewed at his bottom lip anxiously. "The serial killer could be trying to frame me...."
Pausing his work, the older boy made a noise of disagreement. He turned to face the younger. "But isn't there easier ways then leaving notes? Like.... if they were trying to frame you, they would've had you in jail by now?" There was no response and Chenle shook his head. "Sorry that's ridiculous."
Confused, Jisung furrowed his eyebrows. "No.. that's pretty accurate to think about.."
Laughing nervously, the green haired teen looked back at the dancer. "You think? I was just guessing really."
"Yeah." Flushing a bit, he broke eye contact. "I mean, me being wrong about them trying to frame me. I think you were right to correct me."
An awkward silence hovered over them both. Chenle continued to work on the evidence board and Jisung tried to continue to think again. But honestly the nervous laugh he heard was just on repeat in his mind. There was a slight wonder if the older boy laughed like that towards anyone else. Or if he was the only one to hear it so far. Boy wouldn't that be an achievement. To be the first.
'No way...' He sighed a bit. 'Of course Jaemin and Jeno would've heard it. They were best friends and all....'
"Sooo...."
Snapping out of his thoughts once more, Jisung listened in to the next few bits of their conversation; ready to try and keep this conversation from becoming as awkward as how it had ended only seconds ago.
"That means the serial killer was giving you hints. Like... like they didn't want to kill the person?" That was a fairly new opinion to think about. "Warning you to stop them? A kind of rant or something?"
The orange haired boy tried to get back in the Renjun mindset. "Maybe they were validating their decision on killing that person? Or going to kill that person? If that were the case then that means we have...." An excitement started to rise in his chest. "That means that we've got our first lead! A lead that was not because of the evidence that the police had collected! That's amazing!"
Starting to get caught up in the excitement Jisung had, Chenle raised his voice as well. "So does that mean that the messenger could also be helping us get those leads? Because they mentioned the letters and analyzing them?"
The energy was starting to pick its pace.
"Yes!" Jisung started to bounce up and down. "They also said it before it was too late! That means they knew there was a limit! They could totally come in handy!!"
As their joy started to fill up the room, the two started to hop up and down in excitement. Their words only came out as cheers and laughs, both at the sudden epiphany they both had and their wacky behaviour. They spun around and danced as goofily as possible. It seemed they were getting very carried away with their antics as it wasn't celebrating their discovery and more like just having fun. A nice break to have when there was all the events that went on before. It was starting to feel familiar again.
And just when Jisung was about to think why. Why a warm feeling grew in his chest or why his cheeks were starting to ache from how much smiling he was doing. Why he was becoming so chummy with Chenle in only the span of a few days
A buzz started to sound on the coffee table.
Several distinct buzzes.
Stopping mid spin, the sixteen year old frowned slightly. "Must be Taeyong or Ten...." He swiftly approached to grab his phone. "Maybe I forgot something?" He turned the screen on.

HELP ME.