cult.

TWO: two

renjun listlessly trudged down the school hallways the next morning. the night before he had been thinking of other ways to find mark, but not many of his ideas weren't good enough in his mind. all this plotting had certainly taken a toll on his sleep schedule, which was evident through his eyebags and mildly red eyes.

renjun stopped in front of his locker, staring at it for a few seconds. his eyelids began to feel heavy again, and he felt himself drift into sleep. as he began to subconsciously lean forward, he nearly banged his head against the metal lockers. he jolted awake from its coldness as he began to recompose himself to open his locker. he entered his combination before letting the handle of the lock rest on his ring finger.

when he opened his locker, his brows furrowed in confusion. a piece of old, yellow-tinted paper was attached to the inside of his locker door. he cautiously took it down, hesitant to open it. he looked around him for no real reason in particular before slowly opening it. the ink written on the sheet of paper was still somewhat fresh as it left some residue on renjun's fingers. the words were written over and over in the same position, almost illegible:

MIND YOU R BUSIN ESS

the menacing handwriting and scribbles didn't make this message any less threatening, sending him uneasy. he already had ideas of who this could be from. whoever those unknowns mark knew must go to this school. and if they had anything to do with his disappearance, renjun now knew that he was no longer safe in these halls.

"whatcha got there--?"

"HOLY SHIT!" renjun practically jumped from such a scare, hitting his side into the lockers. he winced in pain before checking to see that it was just jisung and donghyuck. behind them were jaemin, jeno, and chenle timidly following after.

"dude... it's just us." jisung assured. renjun could see the judgment in his eyes. the younger looked down at the sheet of paper. "what's that?"

renjun hesitantly handed over the letter to the two, his hands shaking. "i-it's...it's for... me..."

donghyuck took the sheet of paper in his hand, carefully examining it. the rest of the group peered over his shoulder to read it with him, sharing the same puzzled expression. jeno was the first to look up at him.
"why would someone send this to you?" his tone lacked concern. it sounded more as if he was irritated with whatever antics he anticipated of renjun.

"i... i just wanted to find mark...." he started. but before he could explain any further, the rest of the group gave him noises of disappointment.

"are you kidding me, renjun?"

"why would you-ugh!"

"we told you to-"

"renjun," jaemin stated as he tried not to sound too stern. "the cops are already on this. you don't have to--"

"why am i the only one who cares about where mark is! whoever knows what happened to him is in this school!" he lowered his voice at the last part, hoping that that person did not hear him. "do you know what this means?"

"no, renjun. we don't." donghyuck answered, clearly unamused. "and we don't need to. it's not our business."

"guys, we aren't safe here--"

"we are safe. you aren't because you're so fucking nosey all the time." donghyuck crumbled the sheet up in his hands, looking down at him with a look of disgust. "maybe that's why mark is gone. maybe he was sick of your nosey ass!"

renjun, along with a few others gaped at his comment. he wanted to take what he said out of his head. he felt a pang in his chest at such words, feeling a lump in his throat and tears threatening to escape.

"hyuck..." chenle warned but with more a hushed tone.

"t-take it back..." renjun demanded, clenching his fists to fight his own tears.

but donghyuck just threw the crumpled up paper in the opened locker and stormed off. jeno, jaemin, and jisung followed suit. chenle was about to trail behind them but had stopped himself just as he was about to pass him.

"please, renjun. just..." he gave him a fretful look. he almost seemed too nervous to look him directly in the eye.
"for your safety... just let it go..."

he passed him before renjun could say anything, leaving him on the brink of sobbing.