Room:1046

The Static

Arthit and Kongpob jump away, when the door they are leaning on clatters violently as something tries to scrape its nails and dig through the door.

They stand still gaping at the door, hugging each other. Then suddenly it stops. The whole apartment goes radio silent.

Then they hear it, the muffled chats of people. It seems like two adults are arguing. It's incoherent and ambiguous, that they can't recognize who or what they are haggling about.

Everything goes quiet with a slap sound and a thud.

The silence is broken by a high pitched sound resembling what the old box TVs make when they are switched on.

Arthit extends his hand to the door knob.
"Oon...."

"It's alright, Kong. We can't sit here and wait for help. We have to do something."

"But P...."

"Do you have any better solution. 0062? I am all ears."

Kongpob slightly shook his head, looking down.

"Good, then problem solved."

Arthit slowly opens the door, grabbing a nearby vase, while Kongpob looks at his boyfriend with admiration.

Kongpob shines the flashlight into the thick darkness. He gasps at the deep scratches that crosscut the exterior of the door. Arthit stands still for a moment as well and heads towards the source of the noise.

They both now face the big screen TV, which is fuzzy white, filled with static in the otherwise ink black room. Arthit nervously eyes the viciously hissing TV and tries to shut the power off. Which turns futile.

He swallows hard and looks at Kongpob , eyes frightened, and waits for reassurance. Kongpob looks worried but with the last ounce of courage left in him, he goes around the couch and yanks the TV chord away. Everything goes black.

Then there is a pop sound, and a video starts playing. Kongpob freaks out and bolts to the awaiting arms of his lover.

The video which looks pretty old resembles a news report with no channel name or logo. It reports the news of a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that occurred in the region almost thirty years ago. Only one house collapsed killing 2 people, a young mother Som(24) and her daughter Neen(5). No other damages or casualties were reported. Their pictures were now displayed, which gave Arthit and Kongpob jitters.

Then there was a blood curdling scream, which brought them to the knees. It takes Kongpob a couple of seconds to wrap his head around of what happened next. Everything went in a blink of an eye.

One moment he is gripping his P's hand, the next moment Arthit is aggressively yanked off to the floor by something unseen. He screams as Arthit begins to get rashly hauled towards the bedroom, and is slammed into the wall.

Kongpob desperately scampers towards him, but before he could get a hold on his boyfriend, he is aggressively shoved away into the kitchen counter. He could feel the pain shooting through his left arm. Kongpob looks over unable to move.

Arthit is inside the room, at the far end, right opposite him. Kongpob gets distressed as his P is not moving, but staring at something inside the room, obscured from Kong's line of sight.

Kongpob didn't think twice before scrambling towards the room. As he was about to reach the threshold, a pale hand reaches across and slams shut the door with a bang in his face, sealing Arthit off from his view.

Kongpob tries to open the door, twisting the knob.
His mind is racing.
This is not the time to shut down. I have to get my P safe.
He chants in his mind. He starts pounding at the door, then throwing himself at it a couple of times, trying to break it open. Angry tears are flowing down his cheeks.

" Don't hurt him, please...I beg you...please leave him. Take me..take me instead....please let him go...let him go...."

He keeps hitting at the door and slides down it.
"Please....let him go...take me...." , his voice a mere whisper.

The house falls into an awful shocked silence.

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A/N
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