13 - dispirit

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chan was sipping on his bitter coffee in the kitchen

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chan was sipping on his bitter coffee in the kitchen.

he didn't want to move around the house too much, so therefore he decided to either stay in the kitchen or in the living room during the days.

and if he happened to die, his body would be found fairly quickly. chan sighed when the bitterness of the coffee filled his mouth again.

the milk had gone sour, so he was just drinking plain black coffee. not exactly his favorite, but it worked. he was currently also writing some sort of story. just sitting around got boring after ably a few minutes, so when he found papers and pens he decided to just write something.

maybe he could make a second career as an author if he somehow got away from the island alive.

chan chuckled at his own thoughts. he was being stupid.

he wasn't going to make it out alive.

only the murderer would.

"chan? are you okay?" chan was quick to lift his head when he heard byungchan's quiet voice. "yeah, i'm fine. why?" chan answered. "you were smiling creepily to yourself while crying. i was just concerned" byungchan gave chan a side smile.

chan hadn't even noticed the tears that were falling down his cheeks. he gave byungchan an apologetic look while wiping them away. "did you want anything?" he then asked.

"oh, yeah, actually not. i'm just checking up on everyone to make sure we are all alive," was the reply. "i'm going to take a bath now. be careful" byungchan added before leaving again. chan only nodded before turning his attention back to his papers.

he was writing about some teenagers that were out camping and one by one they disappeared. after writing three or four pages he realized that he was pretty much writing exactly what was happening on the island.

the teenagers that disappeared showed up dead at different locations with different threats about how they were all going to die. the threats weren't happening on the island of course, but people turning up dead every now and then had become part of their everyday lives.

they were somewhat used to it.

and it scared chan.

shivers went down his back when he realized that. they had all became numb to death. of course they were all wretched, but the feeling of complete shock wasn't really there anymore.

chan felt like the room was getting smaller. his lungs didn't want to cooperate, leaving him breathless. he leaned his face in his hands, trying to keep calm while the tears began to roll down his face again.

"hey, hey, calm down! breathe chan, breathe!" chan heard quick footsteps heading his way, then a warm hand on his back. "i-i'm trying, idiot" chan was able to get out through his unstable breathing.

subin chuckled slightly. "i don't know how to deal with these things, uhm... let's go outside and get some fresh air, okay?" he tried. chan nodded. if he got outside to the cold, maybe he would be able to cool down his unnaturally warm body.

subin grabbed his arm and led chan to the front door. they stepped outside, and chan finally felt like he could take a complete breath. he repeated the action multiple times, finally managing to calm down.

subin just sat beside him and watched. for a few minutes, everything was quiet. calm and quiet. something the remaining four hadn't felt in a while.

"thank you" chan's voice was a bit raspy, but he didn't really care. he really was thankful for the younger. "no worries. are you feeling better?" subin smiled. chan nodded and returned it.

then, the moment was ruined.

hanse's scream echoed inside the house. chan and subin only needed to spare eachother a glance before they were both on their way inside. "hanse?! hanse where are you?!" subin yelled while chan ran around the house to check.

"bathroom" was the only reply. both chan and subin were quick to run to the bathroom on their floor.

the same one byungchan was going to take a bath in only a few minutes prior.

the worry grew inside chan for every step closer they got to the bathroom. they saw hanse standing outside of it. looking like he was about to throw up and sob in a corner at the same time. "what's wrong?" chan asked, completely out of breath again.

"byungchan... he's dead" hanse whispered. he pushed the door open for the others to see. byungchan's body was completely underneath the water surface.

chan hurried over to the bathtub and lifted byungchan's head up. he looked surprisingly calm for a drowning accident. chan hurriedly checked his pulse; nothing.

"why didn't you get him out?! you could have helped us save him!" chan yelled at hanse, who still refused to look inside the bathroom. "i'm sorry! i panicked! i tried to pull him out but i'm not strong enough!" hanse's voice broke. he was crying.

subin was just standing by the doorway, looking the same as he always did; completely numb. tears were making their way down his cheeks, but his face was completely blank.

chan was still holding on to byungchan's body tightly. "can't we do cpr or something?! we can't just leave him to die!" he cried out. "we left everyone else to die..." subin mumbled. after realizing what he said he was quick to apologize and run away.

"hanse, please help me!" chan begged. "i-i can't. i'm sorry chan" with that, hanse was also gone.

chan felt completely defeated. byungchan was dead and no one cared to help.

in the midst of his silent panic attack, chan decided to leave byungchan's upper body out of the water. that way, it just looked like he was taking the bath he was originally planning to take.

chan was then quick to move over to the toilet to vomit. he wasn't sure where it came from, considering he never felt this nauseous seeing the others.

the others. it was only him, subin and hanse now.

chan stumbled up from the ground. he needed to talk to the other two. now.

finding them was easier than chan would have thought. they were both talking quietly and hugging in the staircase. they both stood up at the same time when they saw chan.

"you. you two are working together, aren't you?" chan spat out. subin glanced over at hanse, who just looked confused. "what? no! i would never do something like this! i was in my room watching tv before i had to go to the bathroom and found byungchan!" hanse defended himself.

"and i was with you, remember?" subin nodded. chan rolled his eyes. "yeah, but that was only three minutes or so before hanse 'found' byungchan. you both could have done it together and then you went to me to seem more innocent. you can't escape me, i know your secret now!" chan had no idea where the sudden accusations came from, but it somehow also made sense.

"i think you need to sleep. you've been through a lot already" subin decided, grabbing chan's arm with a tight grip. chan wanted to resist, but the thought of sleeping all his problems away did feel very tempting.

so, he followed subin to the closest room with a bed and was nicely tucked in. "sleep well, crazy man" subin said with a smile while exiting the room.

chan didn't even have time to answer before he fell asleep.




and so they were only three.

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