Paparazzi

Bite

Your eyes fluttered open. Heavy clouds blocked out the sunlight from your window, the soft, gentle sound of the rain hitting your window stirring you awake. You sat up rubbing your eyes, the sound of Hoseok's usual giggly voice outside your door wasn't there, leaving you in silence. Where is he?

Slowly crawling out of bed, you opened your bedroom door and looked into the main area. No trace of Hoseok coming home last night anywhere. Although it did hurt a little bit that he didn't come to you after a long day of practicing, which is usually what he did, you shook off the feeling. Your best friend was becoming famous. And that's what you wanted for him. But at what cost? It was a question you couldn't stop thinking about.

Getting your phone from your bag, you still had no texts from Hoseok. But feed about BTS was blowing up. You smiled a little, his group was gaining fans.

Your smile was replaced by a frown. Fan wars were beginning to arise. Hoping the boys wouldn't see it, you put your phone down. Rubbing your hands through your hair, a mix of emotions were piling up inside of you. But instead of crying, you forced yourself to smile.

Getting up and heading back to your room, you washed your face and brushed your teeth. Brushing out your hair and heaving a deep sigh. You had no plans today, and since it was raining you didn't feel like going out anywhere.

Magic Shop.

Walking out of your bathroom and staring at your phone on the counter. If nobody was gonna talk to you, then you might as well go to a cool little shop. Picking out an outfit, you changed, sliding on a hoodie over it. Slipping on shoes and grabbing your bag, putting your wallet into it and your phone.

You were about to leave when something caught the corner of your eye. Peeking at it, Hoseok's sweatshirt laid on the armrest of the couch. You debated taking it with you but decided against the decision. Exiting your apartment, you ran your fingers through your hair to smoothen it out more, sliding the hood over your head and pushing through the stair doors sliding down the railings of the stair cases. It was something you enjoyed doing.

Bursting out the other side into the lobby, you kept your head down as you passed by people. Partly skipping down the sidewalk towards the shop. The sign gently swinging from the rain and light wind. You scurried inside, closing the door. The sound of the bell ringing in your ear. "Hey! Welcome back!" The cashier smiled at you. Waving back at him, you slowly made your way to the ring section. "I thought we might've scared you off." The cashier laughed. You broke a chuckle and looked at him. "Takes a lot to scare me away from some place. I was hanging out with some friends yesterday." You turned your attention back to the rings. "Ah, that's fine! If you need anything just let me know. I'm up here all the time."

You were going to shift your attention to the rings when a question caught your mind. "How many hours do you work here?" You asked, looking back at the cashier who shrugged. "I'm here from 3 to 12." He answered casually. Your jaw dropped. "Wait what? 3am to 12am? That's only three hours of sleep!"

"I mean, I enjoy this little job. It pays well, and I enjoy talking to people who are interested in this stuff." He shrugged. You tilted your head a bit, you couldn't shove down the thought that he was partially crazy. "Do you have any side activities?" You wondered out loud. "No," he responded, "as you said, only three hours of sleep, I take in as much of it as possible."

A million questions roamed around your head, each one dangling in front of you wanting to be asked, but you didn't wanna overwhelm him with questions. "What's your name?" You decided to ask. His face brightened up. "Sookjae!" He smiled brightly. You figured nobody ever really asked his name which was why he was so excited about the question. The door opened and in came a sopping wet girl, her black hair hanging over her face, her school girl clothing drenched to the skin, her shoes making squishy water noises as she turned around to close the door. Books in her hands that had a failed attempt at being saved. "Goodness gracious Sy! How long were you in the rain? It's not even raining that hard!" Sookjae called out, the girl shivered as she slowly turned towards the cashier. "I didn't realize how far away the plaza was." She gulped. "Plaza?" You tilted your head. You had never heard of there being a plaza anywhere in this city. "Oh nothing...it's the main food area, we call it a plaza." Sookjae spoke calmly despite being in a stressed tone talking to the girl. "Go clean up, you have an appointment at eleven." Sookjae looked at the girl who quickly scurried past you.

Only something caught your eye.

Something was torn into the back of her arm, wet, fresh blood covered her arm. The center of the mess of blood, were teeth marks dug deep into her skin.

It looked a lot like a zombie bite.