there was not a single sound coming from the seven boys who were staring at the lifeless body on the floor in horror. in fear of their lives, they one after one began sobbing quietly. they had no escape from whoever it was that had just killed a man...
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subin was sitting by the dinner table, peacefully drawing on a piece of paper that he had found laying around on the ground.
it almost felt like his heart had been smashed into billions of little pieces. if only he hadn't left seungwoo, maybe he would still be alive?
subin grabbed the pen tighter. it felt like everything was his fault. the others seemed to suspect him as well, seeing as he had kept close to seungwoo before his death.
and subin almost believed it himself. it was like he didn't even know what his own body was doing. but he was innocent. he knew that much.
"hey, subin? everything alright?" subin hadn't noticed the new presence in the room. "oh, hanse. you scared me" subin gave the older a faint smile before focusing on his drawing again.
"sorry. i just wanted to make sure that you are okay" hanse returned the smile he had received. subin let out a deep sigh. if he opened his mouth to talk he would definitely start crying.
hanse seemed to notice that. "come here" he pulled the youngest into a warm hug. subin buried his head in hanse's shoulder. he tried to hold his tears back, but it was no use. they rolled down his cheeks and soaked the hoodie hanse was wearing.
"i'm sorry," subin cried. "i should have stayed with him. it's all my fault, isn't it? for not keeping an eye on him and making sure that he's okay?"
"oh god, it's not your fault subin i promise! you took precautions and stayed away from seungwoo like all of us others! if that was the case, it would be everyone's fault, right?" hanse began playing with subin's hair while speaking, trying his best to calm the youngest down.
it took a little while, but eventually he managed to calm subin down. though only the slightest. subin couldn't help blaming himself.
he should have stayed by seungwoo's side.
but then he came to a realization. "how are you not sad about this?" he asked in between sniffles. he broke the hug while speaking. hanse looked a little uncomfortable when the question was dropped. "i am sad, of course. i'm just... i'm sad on the inside, i guess? i don't want to show it outwardly. i don't want to upset everyone else more so i just... keep it inside, you feel me?"
subin nodded, wiping away a few of his tears. "i see" his words made hanse let out a sigh. "you're suspecting me, aren't you?" he asked. subin kept his eyes fixated on the floor. "...maybe" was the response he gave.
"subin i promise you, i am innocent. i would never, NEVER, harm you guys in any way" hanse said, lifting subin's head to look the younger in the eyes. "that's what they all say..." subin trailed off, avoiding eye contact.
"i get it, you have no reason to trust me. i know i'm innocent though, and i stand by that" hanse let his hand drop. then, with a last goodbye, he left subin alone in the kitchen.
alone with the stench of death. subin hadn't actually realized how bad the kitchen smelled. for some reason they hadn't been bothered to move the dead bodies, which obviously came with a consequence.
"gross" subin muttered before standing up and tossing his drawing in the trash can. it was a drawing of the group, all together in front of the house they were all in at the moment. it only made him sad, therefore driving him to the decision of throwing it away.
then, after avoiding the living room the best he could, he found a room with a bed in it, locked the door and took a nap.
seungsik was hyperventilating, to put it shortly. he was sobbing so hard that his chest ached. he was unable to fill his lungs with enough air.
he had managed to find a way to sneak up on the roof, and he was now sitting up there, having his little attack.
he hadn't been able to stop crying ever since they found seungwoo's dead body. it just felt unreal.
he tried to do some breathing exercises, but it was no use. the tears would not stop dripping down his cheeks. so instead, he took the deepest breath he was able to - and then he just screamed.
he didn't care if everyone else heard him. he had to let all the pain he felt inside out in some way. though it felt a lot better, he was quite obviously still very saddened. but at least he was finally able to breathe better.
he took a few deep breaths. it was almost like he had forgotten what breathing properly was like. if someone had been close to him right now they would have thought he was insane, just loudly and rapidly breathing in and out.
"seungsik? where are you? are you alright?" seungsik stopped his intense breathing when he heard his name. it was chan. "i'm okay" seungsik yelled back, not even caring about the crack in his voice.
"where are you? what happened?" it sounded like chan was on the ground level. seungsik was quickly filled with suspicions. "i'm fine chan, i promise. i... i just slipped" he replied. he heard chan hum before it got all quiet again.
seungsik then sighed. maybe he should get off the roof. it probably wasn't smart staying up here, considering the fact that everyone in the house probably knew his location by now.
but just as seungsik stood up, he heard a noise behind him. he froze. "w-who's there?" he asked, too scared to turn around. his heart was beating rapidly, it almost felt like it was going to pop out of his chest.
when there was no response, seungsik mustered up enough courage to turn around, so he did - and let out a huge sigh of relief. behind him was a squirrel that looked just as frightened as he did. but before seungsik even had time to giggle at the little creature, he felt a strong force yank his arm.
someone pushed him towards the edge of the roof.
seungsik barely had time to process what was going on before he fell. he tried to grasp something, he desperately tried to hold on to something while screaming for help. but it was no use.
he was also unfortunately unable to see the person who pushed him, everything was too blurry. but he did recognize that hoodie.
it belonged to...
everything turned black.
the scream that came from seungsik was deafening. it made byungchan flinch. the only words he could make out from the screaming was "help, roof, pushed." after that it was all silent.
byungchan dropped the loom band he was making and ran over to the front door. it sounded like seungsik had been outside.
he met chan by the door. the older had a worried look on his face. it mirrored byungchan's. they were both frightened at what they might find. chan took a deep breath before opening the front door.
there was seungsik on the ground, bleeding from his head. "holy shit!" byungchan gasped, running over to seungsik to inspect if the other was actually alive.
there was no pulse. there was no heartbeat. seungsik was dead. there had been another murder in their house.
