The girl in the house • Chaesoo

11

Rosé waited for the knife to come, to cut her up into pieces, to feel the steel in her chest. But it didn't come. Instead, she was being pulled up by someone and felt two arms on her waist, hugging her.

"Jesus Christ, are you okay? I bet you were terrified." Someone's soothing voice said whilst she rubbed her back. Rosé tried to answer, to say she was fine but she choked up and broke down. The stranger patted her back reassuringly whispering kind words in her ear.

"Shhh, it's gone now. She's gone. It's okay. You're okay. It'll be fine, I promise." They murmured to her.

"I was... I was so terrified. She cut my dad up and said I was nothing. Then tried to kill me. It was frightening. If you didn't come, I would be lying there on the floor dead." Rosé sobbed in their neck.

"I'm so sorry Chaeng. And just for the record, you're not nothing. You're everything to me. To Jennie. To Jisoo even though I hate her guts because she's damn suspicious. We love you and accept you for who you are. And your mom can go and suck a dick if she doesn't realize that."

Rosé nods wiping away the tears. She looked around but her mom was nowhere to be found. She noticed she was somewhere else, not in her house. The walls were cracked, with some ugly drawings on them and there was a hole in the floor. The light was barely lit.

"Where am I?" Rosé asked. The stranger shrugged. "Good question to which I don't know the answer."

The stranger's voice was familiar to Rosé but she couldn't quite replace it with where she heard it before. She tried to look at their face but it was... all a blur.

"Do I know you?" She questions them.

"Maybe or maybe not. Maybe we met in our lives or maybe we didn't and you're just dreaming right now." They answered her mysteriously.

The stranger started to walk down the hallway.

"Are you coming or should I drag you?" They asked over their shoulder.

Chaeyoung gulped then she followed them wordlessly. Chaeyoung felt like she was walking for centuries when that mysterious stranger finally stopped.

They opened a door that led to a garden. Comparing the garden to the previous room, this was more organized and better.

"Tea or coffee?" The stranger asked.

"Tea is fine," Chaeyoung replied. The stranger hummed as they put a tea kettle on a hook, poured water in it, and started a fire.

The stranger sat down on one of the two, what seemed like a folding chair that used to be on the beaches. They pointed to next to them.

"Please take a seat." They smiled. Chaeyoung went beside them and took a seat.

"Are you real?" Rosé questioned. The other one shrugged. "Anything is possible. But yes, I'm real."

"Have we met before?" The tea kettle whistled and the stranger took off the hook. They poured the hot water into two ceramic mugs which contained tea bags.

"As I told you before. Maybe or maybe not. Possibly, you're dreaming. But maybe you're not dreaming. You have to figure it out." They held the mug in front of them. "Here, take it. It's good when it's still hot."

Rosé took it from them and sipped from it. It tasted like...safeness, peacefulness, and carefree. If those had a taste after all. She felt safe in the warmth of the fire and sitting next to the stranger. They sat in silence.

"I have to tell you something." The stranger turned to her. Rosé gazed at them, signaling them to continue.

"Becareful of some people. You don't know who's a threat and who's not. Don't give them your trust so easily, they will tear you apart when you least expect it. When you have your guard down. They will backstab you. And then, you will be on the ground, bleeding to death." Rosé looked at them, clearly confused by what they meant. But the stranger didn't pay any attention to it and turned back gazing into the fire, sipping on their tea like they just didn't say anything at all.

"What's your name?" Rosé asked the stranger. The stranger spared a glace in her direction then back to the fire.

"You can call me L." What a strange name. She thought.

"L? You have quite an interesting name I must say." The stranger laughed.

"It sure is. But it's comfortable and isn't complex at all. It doesn't have a meaning, it's just a syllable. You don't forget it easily."

They looked at their wrist, revealing a watch. "You should go." They said.

And then, Rosé woke up in her room. She craned her neck to look around. She was in her yesterday's clothes. Rosé stood up from her bed and walked down the stairs. Everything seemed normal.

"Mom? Dad?" She shouted. Nobody answered. Probably they are still working. She went into the kitchen to fetch herself a glass of water only to stop dead in her tracks. The kitchen was completely red. The whole wall - not just the wall -, everything was covered in blood. Maybe not everything seemed normal.

Rosé quickly tore up the front door and went outside the street. But where the street was supposed to be, there was just a cemetery. It was chilly, dark, and foggy.

She pulled her phone out, searched through her contacts, and clicked on Jisoo's name. After the 7th ring, it went to a voicemail.

"Hey, this is Bond. James Bond. Okay, it's really Kim. Jisoo Kim. If you got this voicemail, it means I'm on a mission to save the world - that means, I'll contact you tomorrow if I can. If not, I'm dead by now. Nyeongan!"

Chaeyoung cursed under her breath and ended the call. She opened her messages to text Jisoo.
+++
Chu💖

Sleep tight princess, love you❤️

Seen on Friday 0:16

Pasta💕
Hi Chu! Please call me as soon as you can if you received this. It's important.
+++

Chaeyoung heaved a sigh and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She decided to go inside the cemetery even though it wasn't such a good idea in her opinion. She opened the heavy iron gate and stepped inside. It was just full of tombstones and creepy stuff. She saw a figure in the distance, so she went towards that, hoping they will help her out. When she was near, she noticed it wasn't someone but herself. Specifically, her dead body is tied up in a chair. Her face was full of cuts and bruises, her upper body completely bloody, and her lips were sealed. After that, there wasn't any skin on her face just meat. Then she - the nearly dead Rosé - lifted her head and looked straight into her eyes. They were completely empty like someone sucked the life out of her. And Rosé - the present Rosé - started to run toward the iron gate but it wasn't there just a whole cemetery. Nothing but a cemetery around her. She broke down and started to cry. She was scared, tired. Rosé just wanted her family and friends back.

"Yah Chaeyoung-ah." Said a voice out of the blue. It was barely a whisper but she heard it. "Chaeyoung-ah wake up!" She tried to focus on that voice, tried to open her eyes and wake up, to escape all of this hell-hole. And then she found herself lying in her bed, all sweaty, Lisa on her side with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Are you all right? You had a nightmare. You kept screaming and crying in your sleep."

Chaeyoung sighed and hugged Lisa.

"I'm all right now. Thank you." She whispered. Lisa hugged her back.

"I'm here Rosie."
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Elyn: welcome back to me I guess :)