"Look! Look there! That' EXO's bus!"
In a white van, EXO's managers, BTS's managers, and one of SHINee's managers pull up the driveway to Bangtan Sonyeondan's temporary housing.
"Aish, the card scanner is busted," one of them says upon approaching the front door.
Inside, a manager kicks off his shoes in the mudroom and opens the door to the hall. "Why aren't these lights on?" He asks himself, then flips the switch, flooding the light fixtures on the ceiling with clean, white light.
They travel down to the next door, and it opens smoothly.
The manager in front gapes, and the one behind him pushes his way to the front to look. "Andwae, no way," he says. "What happened here?"
3:45 AM (3 ¼ Hours Till Sunrise)
Don't die, Taehyung, Tae tells himself. Don't give in. There are people who are still alive... still worth fighting for...
Focus, Taehyung! Focus!
You're surrounded, unarmed, and pinned down, not dead. Not dead until you give in. Not yet.
'Na-na nacheoreom haebwayo'
Oh get that babo song out of your head!
The cat's mouth and the invisible cat attached to the mouth begins slinking toward Taehyung. His mind races for an answer, a solution, anything.
'Na-na nacheoreom haebwayo'
That stupid song!
The cat fades fully into the visible realm, massive and muscular and built like a rock. It blinks once, revealing coloration on its eyelids that closely resembles its real eyes. Black stripes cover its body, like a tiger's patterning.
And of course, it never stops grinning.
Its lips are pulled back to the point of looking uncomfortable, painful even, just to show off those frightening incisors.
'Nae mameul heundeureo bwayo, oh'
Why does this keep coming back to me?
Now the cat is standing directly above Taehyung. The cat's breath is so close it makes Taehyung's bangs flutter.
The song has to mean something. It can't just be a warning. It can't.
The cat opens its jaw wide and leans down over Taehyung's exposed neck.
No amount of poring over the song changes what Taehyung knows or can do. Catching the cat's reflection- strong and lean- in the mirror, Taehyung laughs bitterly.
"Either you lost a lot of weight in the spirit world, or this is another illusion," he says.
The cat freezes.
"Oh?" Jin asks.
Confused, Taehyung looks back and forth from Jin to the cat above him. "I," he stutters. "I just, in the story, the one you told me, you said the cat 'grew demanding and fat' right? ...But here, right now, it's not, so I just thought-"
Taehyung trails off, unnerved by the lifeless stares and coy smiles beaming down on him from every face in the room. Even the cat steps back to watch him.
YOU ARE READING
Snowy Night | a BTS Horror Story
FanfictionA BTS fanfic (with guest stars from SHINee and EXO) that takes place on a dark and snowy night. The evening appears to be going according to plan, when they hear a scream upstairs. A murder? Or something far more sinister...
