Don't Come Inside • Jungkook

xxii.

Jungkook stood at the door, eye against the peephole. He waited. Minutes went by, one and then two and then five and then ten.

Then.

A door shuddered for a moment as it was pulled from the inside but stuck, deadbolt still engaged or an ill-fitting door frame. The door swung inward. A man walked out. Mid-to-late twenties. Dressed casually, jeans and a jacket. Not going to work. Just going out.

Jungkook took a deep breath, and then he opened the door.

***

The girl unlocked the crawl space and made her way down to the third cell. She pulled a separate key out of her pocket and inserted it into the padlock. Almost immediately, the boy inside shoved the door open, but she was quick to move back, pressing her spine against the concrete, and when he lunged for her, she tased him until he was lying face-down on the concrete, his body convulsing and his fingers contracting erratically.

"What did you do to him?" one of the other boys asked, but she ignored him. He meant nothing to her. None of them did. Only Kookie.

She slipped the taser back into her pocket and grabbed the boy's ankles, one in each hand, and began to slowly drag him out of the crawlspace. She wasn't exceptionally strong, but she was strong for her size. The boy's body traveled with her, centimeter for centimeter, meter for meter. Soon, she was backing out into the basement, and then she was able to stand up straight, pulling the boy faster. Once they were both fully out of the crawlspace, she dropped his ankles and went over to the crawlspace, shutting the door and locking it, ignoring the panicked calls from inside.

Then she turned back to the boy and dragged him farther into the room, stopping once she'd pulled him up to the chair. She slipped her arms under his arms, lifting his upper body weight and throwing him into the seat. She immediately began securing him to the chair, using zip ties instead of tape. She'd been stupid to miss the pocket knife on the last one. She wouldn't mess up again.

She tested the ties, tightening them until they bit into his skin. She couldn't have one of them trying to escape again. She knew that Kookie hadn't liked it. He wasn't supposed to see that. Now he probably thought it was her fault that Taehyung was dead, even after she'd tried to explain to him.

She ran her hands through her hair, trying to make it straight. Her hair was naturally wavy, a  fact she despised. Kookie probably liked straight hair. She didn't want to show him her face yet. She was afraid he wouldn't think she was pretty. She wanted him to think that she was pretty. She'd always wanted to be pretty.

She tilted her head, her hair falling back into her face. A buzzer, it sounded like. Not for her apartment, for the building. The intercom.

She gave a final tug on the boy's restraints. Satisfied, she headed up the stairs, exiting first the closet and then her apartment, stopping in the lobby.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" the voice asked from the outside.

She cast a glance at the doors. They were primarily glass, which meant that she could see the visitor outside - and they could see in. She stayed hunched under the service counter. She didn't want to be seen. She didn't like strangers. She didn't like people intruding on her space. This building was her space. Her parents had left it to her in their will. The stranger wasn't supposed to come into her space. She didn't even like having the boys there, but she didn't have a choice. But she didn't want this person coming in. If she didn't respond, they might just try to come in anyway.

"Hello," she said back, holding down the speaker button. "I'm sorry, but this building is no longer leasing space."

"I didn't know anybody was still in this old place," the stranger replied, sounding surprised to hear her voice.

She didn't respond.

"I'm not looking to lease space, I actually was just here to deliver a package."

"Who is it addressed to?" the girl asked with a frown.

"Just the building. I wasn't sure if it was for a previous occupant or not. Would you mind signing for it, then? Since you're here?"

The girl hesitated. If she signed, she would have to go outside or let them in. If she didn't sign, they might not leave. They might keep bothering her. They might try to come inside.

Better to sign, then.

Always be in control. She had to always be in control of the situations or else they would be in control of her.

She backed up from the desk, standing up slowly and making her way to the door. Her heart sped up. She was nervous. She hadn't talked to anyone in a long time. Besides Kookie, that was. But he was different. He wasn't scary. Strangers were scary.

She opened the door a crack, only wide enough to fit her right hand through.

"Oh- all right, uh, just sign here please," the person said, holding a clipboard in front of her hand and slipping a pen in her grasp.

She scribbled the characters quickly, and a moment later, a small box was set in her hand. She slipped her hand back inside the door, locking it from the inside and ignoring whatever the person said next. She hurriedly retreated to her apartment, setting the box on the kitchen counter and staring at it for a long moment. She paced the length of the kitchen, turning abruptly at the refrigerator and again at the door. Should she open it? What was inside?

She decided to open the box. She was safe, the building was locked, her apartment was locked. Nothing could hurt her in here. So she could open the box, and it would be okay.

She pulled a short knife out of the drawer next to the refrigerator and slid the blade along the packing tape, unsealing the flaps. A moment later, she opened the box to find a tea packet.

She stared at the tea. She tried to figure out what it meant or what danger it represented. But she came to the conclusion that it was just tea. No danger. Just a random item. An excuse to send a package.

An excuse to get a signature.

***

"And?" Jungkook asked, pacing the living room as he pressed the phone against his ear. "Did you get a signature?"

"I did but I don't see why-"

"Please send me a picture of the signature," Jungkook said, breathless both from the pacing and from the anticipation.

"Fine but-"

"I paid you to deliver the package and get a signature, I need to verify that it was delivered to the correct person," Jungkook said, sensing the person's distrust, but he'd had no other option. He couldn't very well march on down to the post office for a number of reasons. Too much exposure, for one. And it would take too long. He needed the signature before tonight. He couldn't wait for another one of his friends to die. All he had to do was say her name.

He just needed her name.

"All right, give me a sec," the guy responded, hanging up on Jungkook. He took several steps to the edge of the living room, past the couch arm, his nose almost touching the wall. Then he spun on his left foot and took several steps to the polar opposite of the room, his toes just barely coming into contact with the kitchen tiles.

He paced the room several more times before a new notification popped up on his phone, and he opened it quickly, stuck in place as he opened up the image.

He stared at the signature.

전정국

Scribbled in an almost unreadable scrawl was his own name, recognizable only out of familiarity.

He'd wasted another day.

He was no closer to guessing her name.

He was still missing three characters.

And in several hours, another one of his friends would die.