The Monster From The Shadows

2. Worse Than Hell

Luhan is the one to wake Autumn up in the morning. He looks at her sympathetically upon seeing her messy hair and tired eyes. While he had never joined Exo, he knew of the bond that both Autumn and Zitao had developed for the boys. The decision had been nothing for him, as he had just said he'd join them because he was desperate for the torture to stop. He shivers at the thought. Of the different tools they used on him, the cruelty that didn't faze them....

"Are you okay?" Autumn asks, then yawns.

He wipes his mind and nods.

'No you're not.'

He mentally curses.

'Woah, language Lulu.'

'Sometimes I hate that you can use my power.'

'Sometimes I hate it too.'

Luhan let's out a small laugh.

"Come on and get dressed, we're gonna be late for school."

"Why are we going to school?!" she asks, throwing her hands in the air, "We all know how well that worked out last time!"

"We need an education Autumn," Luhan explains.

"I have an education!" she whines as she gets up.

"So you'd rather Zitao and I go alone?"

"No," she sighs, then gets up. Stretching, she makes her way out of the room so she can get into her uniform. He goes to the kitchen, where Mrs. Wu was already preparing their lunches.

"She up?" The woman asks, handing him a brown bag.

"Yeah," Luhan answers.

"You scared?"

He nods slowly, then hangs his head. As the oldest, he felt the need to always be strong in front of the others, whilst he was breaking down in the inside.

"You'll be fine," Mrs. Wu soothes, pulling him in for a hug and kissing the top of his head. He wraps his arms around her, grateful for something indefinitely familiar and comforting.

"I understand baby," she whispers in his hair, "But trust me, it'll be okay."

"I trust you Mrs. Wu," he responds, then pulls away upon hearing someone else enter the room. It was Zitao.

He was nervously fiddling with the cuffs of his uniform jacket, just as he did every morning. Autumn comes in after him and hands him both him and Luhan their bags. Now that she was more awake, she too looked nervous, worry lines etched on her face. Underneath her hair dye, Luhan was convinced she was growing grey hairs.

"You ready?" he asks. The two youngers nod and they leave the house. The leaves crunch under their feet as they walk.

"I still don't understand why we have to go," Autumn mumbles to herself.

"Mrs. Wu wants us to Autumn," Luhan replies, "She cares for us a lot."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Zitao comments, "Let's take the long way today."

Neither Luhan or Autumn protest to that, so they do. After they get out of the woods, the weave around buildings and take the back way to get to their school.

They are shocked to find a heavy police presence. Without a word, they all pull their hoods over their heads and their scarves up to cover their faces as they hurry into the building. They get to class just before the teacher walks in.

"Sorry that I'm late, class," he apologizes, slightly out of breath, "Let's get started."

"Sir, what's going on outside?" a girl blurts.

Their teacher sighs.

"This morning, police found a body in the convenience store down the street," he explains, then raises his hand to prevent further questions, "That's all I've been permitted to tell you for now other than to always travel in pairs around this area until further notice."

"Yes sir," the class choruses, with the exception of three people.

Luhan, Zitao, and Autumn look at each other, coming to a silent agreement. As soon as the chime comes, signaling that the class period had come to an end, they exit the class and hurry out of the school.

Luhan grabs the two youngers and pulls them to a more isolated area.

"Autumn, get yourself and Zitao out of here," he hurriedly whispers, "I'll walk home so it seems a bit more normal if anyone is watching us."

"Or it could give them an opportunity to grab you," she hisses back at him.

"I'll be fine."

"Luhan, if they see you, you won't make it back home," Zitao protests, "You heard what Kyuhyun said, The only reason Leeteuk let us go to begin with was because of something to do with Kris. And he's not with us at the moment."

Without asking, Autumn grabs both of them and teleports back outside Mrs. Wu's house. Luhan sighs, but follows them into the house.

"Why aren't you guys at school?" Mrs. Wu asks, surprise evident in her voice.

Luhan glances to Autumn and is grateful when she explains the situation.

"How are you sure it was them?" Mrs. Wu asks when Autumn finishes.

"There's only one convenience store on my route home from school," Autumn answers, "I stopped there last night. That fact that somebody was killed last night at the convenience store that I stopped at that's near our store is too many similarities to simply be coincidence."

Luhan glances at her. She looked extremely upset and was twisting a ring on her finger. He wasn't sure where she got the ring though.

"Okay," Mrs. Wu nods slowly, "You made the right decision in coming home then."

A moan gets all of their attention, causing them all to freeze. But not for long. Once the second moan comes, Autumn is already dashing toward Kris's room.

🔸🔸🔸🔸

He screams. He screams as the burning ropes of fire dig deeper and deeper into his already charred flesh. His power refuses to obey him, rather, it fans the flames so they become hotter and hotter.

He couldn't remember his name. He couldn't remember anything other than the pain. It seemed like it had always been there.

Through the agony his brain was processing, he wonders if this was what Hell felt like. And then he forms one last thought before he looses himself once again.

This is worse than Hell.

🐢🐢🐢
Authors note
OML I AM SO SORRY! I promised I'd update and that promise is way overdue. I currently have writers block, most of you probably know what that feels like. It totally sucks. I'm gonna keep writing through it though, so sorry if any chapters, including this one, are kinda slow.
Vote and Comment!