FEAR | stray kids

IV - phantom shadows

"'Vampires going missing.'" Jisung read the title of the page aloud. The laptop that sat in front of them suddenly didn't seem to hold the simple answer he'd been hoping for.

"Are we gonna have to put you on house arrest?" Minho muttered. "Ooh, how about we get one of those security systems from spy films?"

"You're phrasing it as if it's a case of kidnapping." Jisung replied.

"Well it didn't look like Chan was about to leave of his own accord in the security footage. It makes sense."

"Why didn't Chan tell us, though?" Changbin asked. "He could've at least told you, Jisung. I mean, this article is dated a week ago."

"More importantly..." Jisung said as a thought occurred to him. "How did Hyunjin get taken right under our noses? He was in the dorm, in the same room as me!"

"And why didn't they take you as well?" Changbin added onto the ever growing list of questions.

"This turned out to be a real shitshow." Minho moaned. "We've gotta figure all this out now."

"We can do it." Jisung said, with little conviction. "We have to. We'll find them."

"Do vampires have a good sense of smell?" Minho suddenly said.

"I can smell blood, why?"

"Dunno, thought maybe you'd be able to sniff them out or something."

"Jeez, I'm not a dog! And all blood smells the same to me so it wouldn't work anyway."

"Guys, you need to read the comments on the article." Changbin said. "They don't make any sense."

who cares? if they went missing they're clearly weak. we don't need vampires like that.

my friend went missing and was really stressed the week before he disappeared. he said he had the feeling like he was being followed all the time.

this won't affect deliveries, will it?

"They seem normal to me..." Jisung said.

"Look further down." Changbin pointed at a comment. "This one."

i think i'm going to be taken. i am over three hundred years old, after all.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jisung wondered.

"I don't know. But it just seemed odd to me."

"Three hundred years old... That is very old. But I don't get it..."

"Man, I don't have the brainpower for this." Minho sighed. "I'm gonna go shower, maybe it'll clear my head. We can look at it again afterwards."

"I'm gonna grab dinner, then." Changbin said. "Will you eat when the kitchen is empty, Jisung?"

"Yeah, but right now I think I'll look at more things on this website. Just to find out more." Jisung said, hoping that maybe there was advice on how to control the bloodlust. It was building up once again, difficult to ignore.

He didn't want to eat, but it might become unavoidable if he kept going on like this.

-

Jeongin shovelled down his dinner, trying to ignore the scene in front of him. Felix sat across from him, eating ramen so slowly it was questionable if he was even awake. A steaming cup of coffee had so far been left untouched.