dicey ↬ nomin

Ch.16

Jaemin sighed as he leaned against the counter in his working uniform. It was the night shift he was taking and he wasn't happy, to be honest. He hated the night shift and all the creepy demons he imagined in his head to be following him in the dark. His parents and his little sister were sitting on stools at the counter, keeping an eye on him as he was the only member of the staff still there. They stayed because they knew he'd be lonely.

"Okay sweetheart, we have to go now," his mum said as she picked up her handbag and took her daughter's hand. "Call us when your shift ends and I'll come to collect you."

"Thanks guys," Jaemin smiled and hugged his mum and dad and ruffled his sister's hair. "I'll see you later." He took their plates away and put them in the cleaning pile.

It was ten o'clock and he was alone in the pizza restaurant, left to his own devises, and had a few minutes left before he had to deliver a pizza - the last pizza - before he could go home. He sprawled out across the sofa in the waiting area and tried to picture the restaurant bustling with customers and chefs and waiters. He spun the key to lock up on his index finger, sighing at his luck. He had only ever had the latest shift once before, and this time he was also on delivery duty.

His mind wandered off to Jeno, who hadn't come to school in three days. He was probably still quite sick from the fever and what he assumed was the flu. It made Jaemin pout to picture Jeno when he was sick, looking like a shell of himself and half the person he enjoyed bickering with. He remembered how pained the boy looked before he passed out. It made him shudder to imagine himself in that state, although he had had the flu before - a milder version though.

When he thought about it, he did miss the presence at school. Jeno was always there, even when he didn't want to interact with him, but he was constantly there. He wanted to know how he was. Whenever he saw Chenle in the halls, he would ask him how Jeno was just in case anything had gone south. They may have been enemies, but that didn't mean Jaemin didn't have a heart.

His eyes flicked around the darkened parlour, waiting for a creepy pair of red eyes to appear and scare him into confessing to his sins, but no eyes appeared because he was just being a wimp. He made the mistake of watching a horror movie with Jisung last night, leaving him an emotionally scarred and raw boy. His life was never going to be the same, now that he had experienced the dark side of Stephen King's movies.

He checked his watch and decided to head to the destination of his last delivery. He grabbed the pizzas out of the oven and put them into boxes, holding them in his arms as he walked out and locked the building. He would go straight home after this, so he had his coat on and his bag over his shoulder while carrying the delivery boxes. If he remembered correctly, the delivery came from the outskirts of town.

The night was cold, bitter even, with a clear black sky and twinkling specks dotting the nothingness. His shoulders shook from the cold even though he had his coat on. He reached the edge of the town, where the shops ran out and the path continued along the road, lined by trees and weeds. The building was in view, causing Jaemin to look in curiosity.

It was the orphanage...

He remembered walking past it a few times when he was younger, having to pass it on his way to elementary school. He also remembered his classmates concocting ghost stories about the kids there, since most of them were victims of accidents and survivors of tragedies. They said that the ghosts of the children's parents would haunt any kids who bullied the orphans. He always thought it was a nice sentiment, that the parents would protect them even in death, but the kids still made fun of the orphans even though they spread such rumours.

He realised he had stopped walking so he pushed forward, feeling nothing but normal vibes from it. Most people said it gave them the creeps, but Jaemin couldn't feel any bad vibes at all, just familial ones. He walked up the driveway, seeing the lights still on.