The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

20

Just as Minho had stated, three sky-high walls and a large pile of rubble enclosed a field of tall grass with an abandoned shed in the centre. The shed was as miniscule as Mel had remembered hers being with patches of rusted sheets of steel vainly used to cover any holes in the wood-rotten frame. Two square holes replaced the windows that were now nothing more than cloudy, shattered pieces of glass hidden in the grass.

Mel was hesitant to approach it, knowing that there was a chance they weren’t the only people, only creatures to find this desolate Pen.

It’s wretched state earned a bitter taste in her mouth and pulled at the heart. She knew after finding Seungmin that there was a high chance there were more groups of people but it was clear that this Pen had been abandoned for years even though it had only been months since the two of them escaped their respective Pens. And the thought of that sent shivers down her spine.

“Don’t you think it’s a little odd?” Seungmin muttered to Mel, eyes focused on the shed. She could instantly tell he was just as hesitant as her. While Minho, Jeongin and Brea marched ahead, wading through the grass eagerly to check out the area, they both stayed behind, simply observing the remnants of a civilisation.

Melody knew exactly what he meant but she still glanced at him with a raise of her eyebrow, saying, “what do you mean?”

“Sure we were tired last night but don’t you think we would have been able to see a Pen from kilometres away? I mean, the walls are so tall and distinguishable. How did we not see this?” He paused, folding his arms across his chest and narrowing his eyes in confusion. “And how if it was so close to us, why did it take them so long to find it?”

Mel tittered, “I think you’re focused on the wrong thing, Seungmin. Everything about this place just screams eerie and grim and get-out-of-here-right-now.” She shuddered. “I don’t like the look of this place.”

“I was just trying to ease into the absurdity of it all. Trust me, felt shivers down my spine as soon as we stepped into this place,” he explained. “You smell that awful stench too, right?”

“It’s hard to ignore.”

“Doesn’t this all seem familiar to you? Or is it just me?”

“It’s a Pen, Seungmin. We lived in one up until a few months ago. Of course it’s familiar. It’s so familiar and yet equally foreign.”

“It’s not foreign at all to me. Everything about it: the appearance, the state, the stench, it’s all too familiar but I just can’t put my finger on it. Something about all of this, Melody. Something about this whole scene, every single part of it. I recall all of it for some reason but that memory is all of a sudden so vague. As though someone locked up that part of my brain.”

“So what? Are you trying to say you’ve been here before? When could you have come here? Didn’t you say you only left your Pen a few weeks before I did? Did you find this place during those weeks.”

He shook his head, “it’s not that. I haven’t been here before. At least I don’t think so, I just… I can’t pinpoint why this is all so familiar but I’ve just…” he turned to her, sighing. “I know I’m going to sound crazy when I say this but please just believe me.”

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, a confused look taking over her face as she mumbled, “I haven’t known you for a long time but I’ve known you long enough to know you aren’t insane. Whatever it is, just say it. I believe you.”

He ran a hand through his hair, heaving yet another sigh, “I’ve seen this before. Maybe not here, maybe it wasn’t exactly here. But I’ve seen something identical to this before. I know I have. I just don’t know why.”

“Maybe it was one of those dreams from the creators. A vision, perhaps.”

“No,” he was quick to disagree. “I have seen this. It isn’t a dream, it’s a memory.”

She examined his face, immediately noticing how stressed out all of this was making him and seeing that only made her heart sink. She knew he was telling the truth but wished he wasn’t. Mel could tell just from the atmosphere that something unimaginable happened here. Something she wasn’t sure she wanted to discover.

“Fine then,” she shrugged. “Let’s search around this area. Maybe that way it will bring back the memory and we will be able to figure out what happened here.”

“I can’t, I won’t. Like you said, I don’t like the look of this place. Not at all.”

It was her turn to sigh. Taking a closer look at the Pen, she glanced back at Seungmin.

“I’ll look around for you then. I’ll find whatever is stressing you out and I’ll bring it back here. One way or another, I’m not leaving this place until I know what happened.”