alone || yangyang

✂4

23-year old hit-and-run suspect found dead in his apartment after being questioned. The suspect's cause of death is an overdose of sleeping pills. He had left a note confessing to his crimes of accidentally killing his friend. His remains will be cremated and sent back to his family in T- 

Someone must have turned the TV off in the living room as the news was cut off. 

Yangyang could barely sleep that night. The hairs on the back of his neck stood as goosebumps formed on his arms every time he would think of it. He was so sure it happened correctly yet no one believed him. 

Maybe they were right. Maybe it was just him dreaming or the lack of sleep and stress getting to him. 

But there was this nagging feeling in him he couldn't shake off. The voice he heard  was so familiar yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He turned the shower off, stepping out to dry himself and get dressed. He stared at his dreary state in frustration. 

"Who would believe me at this point? Later on they'll be asking me to get help." He sighed. He gathered his discarded clothes and made his way to his room. 

"We can rely on you to do it though?"

"Don't worry, I'll help him get through it."

"Thanks. We never considered that it hit him this hard."

"He tends to keep it to himself. I think he doesn't want to worry us."

Yangyang opened the door, feigning a look of confusion as he stared at his two older friends. He tossed his clothes into his laundry bin and collapsed onto his bed. "What are you two doing here?"

"Oh, we were waiting for you." Xiaojun awkwardly answered. "I'm actually having a guest over for he next week and was wondering if Hendery can share the room with you."

"Fine by me." Yanyang muttered. 

"Yeah um... I'll be taking my leave. See you guys at dinner." Xiaojun excused himself, leaving the two alone in the room. Yangyang took his phone from the table and turned away from Hendery who sat on Te- Hendery's temporary bed.

"Hey bud." Hendery called. 

"Gonna talk me into seeing your therapist too?" Yangyang huffed, pulling the covers over him.

"You heard us." Hendery sighed, sitting at the edge of Yangyang's bed. "How much?"

"Enough to get the gist of it." Yangyang answered. He pulled his blanket over  him and scooted away from his older friend. "None of you want to believe me. It's better off if I do it alone."

"I believe you." Hendery asserted. "I believe everything you said. It told you that someone is watching, right? There handprints on the glass too."

"I never told you guys what it said-" Yangyang cut himself off, remembering what was written in the journal. 

I put everyone in danger, especially Yangyang and Hendery. 

"It happened to me too the other night when I went home. Nobody was home yet and I was in my room." Hendery said. "There was someone standing outside my window but when I went to check, there was nothing. Then when I turned to go back to my bed, it whispered into my ear."

Yangyang sat up, eyes wide and shining with hope as he grabbed Hendery's hands. "Please, I know it might be hard. Please just tell me everything you can remember about Ten that week. I'm so close to finding the answer." 

Hendery's lips pressed into a straight line. The boy thought for a bit before pulling his hands away from the younger. He took his phone from his pocket, unlocked it, and gave it to him. 

"He was insistent on spending the night at my house on the fifth. My family and I spent the weekend out of town for a wedding so I don't know what he did." Hendery explained, letting him read their past text messages. "That's when weird things started happening in my house. The night he died when he was being paranoid he kept talking about someone named Holly."

"It's not someone, it's something." Yangyang mumbled, grabbing his theory paper and the journal. "This is what I have so far."

"You're telling me he played hide and seek alone" Hendery read out loud.

"I did research on the ritual last night. In order to play the game he needs to be alone in the house to not put anyone else at risk, meaning he played at your house." Yangyang hypothesized. "He didn't end the game that night for some reason, and this resulted in the doll hunting him down."

"What does that have to do with us though?" Hendery questioned. "Hold up, are you saying some doll was driving the car that hit him?"

"Okay, first of all, no. I'm not that ambitious to jump to that kind of conclusion." Yangyang clarified. "What I'm trying to say is, what if the person who told him about the game set him up?"

"Bambam wouldn't do that though." Hendery disagreed.

"Bambam?"

"Ten's friend. I think he was here with Ten last month when you went to Jeju with Renjun. I overheard them talk about it." Hendery elaborated. "Why?"

Yangyang went to Ten's Instagram once more, tapping on the post he came across last night. He checked the likes and comments and found Bambam in it, further adding to their suspicion. 

"I think Bambam might have set him up."

"What would be his motive though? They were really close." Hendery reminded.

"I don't know but... what if we try to lure him out?" Yangyang suggested. "I'll make the same post as Ten and play the game. Let's see if he gets the idea."

"This is a bad idea. I won't allow it." Hendery refused. 

"Hendery."

"No." 

"Come on. It's worth a shot." Yangyang reasoned. 

"Until you die." Hendery emphasized. "It's all fun and games until someone dies."

"Hendery. Trust me please." Yangyang begged.

"I can trust you but not a demon doll." Hendery scoffed. "You can seriously die. As your friend I should care." 

"Hendery. Please. I'll be the one to do it."

"I swear you're the one who said that doing dangerous rituals like this is stupid and if it's death you ask for it's death you'll get." Hendery brought up, the pout on Yangyang's face growing more evident. "Fine, but if you die it's on you. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Great. So when's your house empty?" Yangyang asked.

"Liu Yangyang I swear-"

"Where am I supposed to play? The dorm?" Yangyang interjected. "I sleep here!"

"You're serious?" Hendery glared at him, eye twitching from irritation. "Halloween. My parents are going out of town."

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

A/N 

Another chapter filled with hints

this is gonna be a really short story (a countdown to Halloween) 

I'm actually excited to write the ending for this to see your reactions