cult.

THREE: one

as his study period approached, renjun found himself headed to the library. he'd always go down there with mark and the rest of the group. but now, mark wasn't here and he didn't even feel like associating himself with the rest of his friends at the moment. he wondered why he was even headed to the library when he knew they would all be there anyway. but still, he needed some peace and quiet to take his mind off of his situation for the time being. and the library seemed like a good place to do so if he just stayed to himself.

surprisingly, he couldn't see any of them in the library. he briefly tried to find a reason why they wouldn't be there, but he soon reminded himself that he should keep his mind off of them.

he turned the corner to find something to read in the science fiction section. he began skimming through the titles until he found something that interested him. that's when he heard familiar voices about a few isles down. he peeked through gaps in the bookshelves to see who they were. as he had guessed, it was jeno, jaemin, chenle, donghyuck, and jisung. however, he couldn't really get a good look at any of them. he couldn't see their faces, but he did see the lower half of their heads and down.

he unintentionally scrunched his nose up in disgust before turning to walk away. but as soon as he heard his name in their conversation, renjun froze in his tracks.

"no, i don't care." he gathered that this was jeno speaking.

"but guys--"

"chenle, do you think we give a shit about him?" that one was donghyuck. "we don't, so just drop it already."

there were a few more intelligible words spoken, but he remained hidden in case he could understand the next thing.

"it's what he would've wanted..." he heard chenle defend himself. he could hear the desperation in his voice and see his lips curl into a frown.

"don't speak on his behalf," said jaemin, seemingly less calm than usual. "hand it over."

there was a long wave of silence before he heard chenle's backpack slide off of his shoulder. he saw him zip open his bag, slowly fishing for something inside. he pulled out a white slip of paper--taking a closer look, renjun realized that it was actually an envelope. he noticed that there was something written on the front, but he couldn't make out what it was.

"here..." chenle gave one of them the envelope, looking down as he zipped his bag shut.

and then, another pause. renjun watched as jaemin began to tear the envelope in two, and soon into fourths. he then handed the scraps over to another person, who he guessed to be jeno.

"you guys stay in the library... i'm gonna take care of this...." as he guessed, it was jeno. he saw him begin to walk away from the group, so renjun began to head out of the library in panic before he could even run into him.
he dashed his way through the door before turning a corner where he was sure he would not be found.

as he caught his breath, he tried to decipher what that conversation he heard could possibly mean. he began to speculate on the letter, wondering who even gave it chenle. and he wanted to know what was in there so badly... but that chance was gone. it was ripped to shreds and the rest of the group would make sure that no one could decode any of its messages-- well, that's what renjun gathered at least. he wondered why it was so important to get rid of in the first place.

unexpectedly, renjun felt a body brush against his shoulder causing him to aggressively flinch. he yelled out in fear, almost certain that it was jeno. he didn't want to deal with him if he found out that he had been eavesdropping on the conversation in the library.

"you okay?"

however, it wasn't anyone he knew at all. it was in fact a young girl who looked as though she were a sophomore. he had to catch his breath and calm down his heartrate in order to answer her, but it seemed so hard to do so. he felt his chest tighten up and his hands getting clammier.

"uh... hello?"

he didn't know what to do. everything felt like it was closing in on him. it was as if he had no corners to turn to. he felt that there was no one left that he could turn to, and that's what made him feel like he was dying. mark was missing, his friends never listened to him anymore.... and them keeping secrets from him did not make him feel any better about himself.

there was no one left. and that was horrific enough for him.