Sudongtober 2020

“Please, Dongie? I promise it’ll be fun.” 

Handong crosses her arms. “Why is your idea of fun always something that ends up getting us in trouble?”

“Hey!” Siyeon protests, a pout already forming on her face. “It’s not always-...”

Yoohyeon chimes in before she can get too distracted by the tangent. “This one’s harmless. It’s not like anyone is keeping watch or anything, we’re not gonna get caught.”

“Famous last words…” Handong mutters, mostly to herself, tearing her gaze away to think over the offer again. She turns to Yubin accusingly, “and you’re okay with this?”

Handong’s frown deepens at the way Yubin doesn’t immediately respond, her eyes flitting around before landing on her girlfriend’s pleading expression. Yes, Siyeon has always been her weakness, but Yubin had long since accepted her role of keeping some of Siyeon’s more… adventurous ideas in check. 

“I mean… I’m kinda curious too, and-”

“Yubin.”

She panics a little, rushing out the next line. “-and! And Yoohyeon’s right, it’s not like anyone will catch us. No one steps foot anywhere near that place.”

Handong sighs. So much for counting on Yubin to be her fellow voice of reason. “Which just brings back my question of why we would want to go there in the first place.”

Shifting her weight to one side, Handong stares down the rest of the group, confident in her reasoning. There’s so much they could be doing during their rare get together instead of this. Lining up their work schedules to get the old friends a whole weekend together is never easy, and Handong would much prefer a nice relaxing get-away to catch up over some romp straight out of a teen B movie. 

That is, she’s confident, until Siyeon and Yoohyeon both unleash their puppy eyes on her. 

Did she mention that she often admires Yubin’s strength, to deal with even one of those faces as often as she has to as Siyeon’s partner? Because Handong thinks even she herself deserves an award for dealing with Yoohyeon’s, and they’re just best friends.

-----

The doubts come back in full force when they arrive, everyone stopping outside the car to take in the sight of the house. It’s presence is imposing, a large structure on the outskirts of the city, its age apparent in just about every aspect of its appearance. The rotting wood. The dark paint job that’s peeling in places. The sorry state of the windows - some broken or boarded over, and the surviving ones dirty enough to obscure any view of the inside.

Just the appearance alone would be enough to keep most people away. But add to it the stories of the house - the previous occupants supposedly murdered so many years ago, and the many stories of how it’s still haunted to this day - and one would think anyone with any sort of sense would heed the signs and find something else to do. 

But, no. Here Handong is, about to waltz right up to the place with her childhood friends. It’s exactly the sort of faux-rebellious outing she’d have expected of them back when they were all in their mid teens and that she thought they’d have outgrown by now. 

Regardless, they're here now. And while Handong might've disagreed with this plan from the start, she's never been one to back down from anything once she's committed. And true to that part of herself, she's the first take a deep breath, square her shoulders, and start her approach.

It's quickly apparent that she's not being followed. 

"Well?" Handong asks, turning around to be met by three sheepish expressions. "Are we doing this?"

They quickly bustle into action, grabbing at things and patting down pockets while Yubin mutters about making sure they’re prepared and a flashlight slips through Yoohyeon’s fingers in her haste. Siyeon follows suit, double checking for her things. But her wide eyes don’t leave the house. An apprehension settles into her expression, replacing the bubbling excitement she’d had for the entire drive to get here.

The sudden nervousness is palpable in the way it rolls off the three of them. Handong, however, just smirks. She figures it’s only fitting. Serves them right they’d be the nervous ones now, after dragging her into this.

Besides, she thinks, It’s not like anything’s actually gonna happen. 

-----

Part of Handong is loathe to admit it, but the trip is actually turning out rather fun. The trek through the overgrown lawn to reach the top of the hill already had them in the right headspace. They’d been quite the adventurous bunch as kids, and they felt themselves returning to those memories as they approached. By the time they made it to the front door, while still a bit intimidating, the house was easy to see as just another place to explore together. 

After all, when the four of them are together, they feel like nothing could ever hurt them. After fifteen years of friendship, fifteen years of hardships that they’ve overcome together, that feeling has only grown.

So it’s with that sense of giddiness and invincibility that they traipse through the house. Still with caution, yes, they’re nothing if not a respectful bunch that doesn’t want to trash the place. But instead of apprehension there’s an eagerness to discover any and every secret the old structure has to offer. 

Handong is almost in awe of the interior. It’s run down and clearly very old, the lack of someone to care for it over the years very apparent. But it’s not the same repellent feel of the exterior. Instead it’s intriguing. The decorations that are still recognizable speak to an extravagance that would have been absolutely gorgeous in its prime. And everywhere they look they find old paintings, worn books, an odd toy here or there, a strange out-of-date tool… so many things with stories to tell about who used to live here and what it might’ve been like in their time.

Honestly, Handong gets so taken in by the charm of it all, she forgets about all the stories. In fact, the very reason they were even here in the first place. They did supposedly come here because of the rumors of it being haunted, after all. And while they’ve found a lot of things that could speak to the lives of the previous inhabitants, there’s nothing of their deaths. Nothing to suggest their continued presence after their deaths.

That is, until the noises start getting louder.

Handong had expected weird sounds. It’s an old house. Creaks, squeaks, groans, and perhaps even the odd thing falling over are hardly a surprise. But a persistent rattling that’s getting closer? Even Handong feels her nerves start to rise. And if the way her grip on Handong’s arm tightens is any indicator, Yoohyeon does as well. 

“Alright, very funny you two! You got us, so quit it!” Handong calls out. They’d split into pairs a while ago, she should’ve known it was only a matter of time before Siyeon decided to take advantage of it.

“...-t out…” 

Handong furrows her eyebrows. 

“Did you hear that?” Yoohyeon whispers, panic rising in her tone. 

“Really Siyeon? ‘Get out?’ Couldn’t you at least be creative if you’re gonna be an ass?” Handong shouts back. 

“Dongie… that didn’t really sound like Siyeon to me.” Yoohyeon grips Handong’s arm even tighter as she says this, eyes searching the dark hallway frantically for any sign that this isn’t what she thinks this is. 

The rattling keeps getting louder and Handong actually is feeling pretty on edge now, but there’s no way-

“GET OUT!” 

A sudden gust of wind accompanies the loud definitely-not-made-by-Siyeon exclamation, and the rattling suddenly surrounds them. The two women shriek, jumping and taking off for the door together.

Naturally, everything comes to a sudden stop once they barrel into the other room and straight into the arms of a startled Yubin and Siyeon. Briefly, they get to laugh at the fear coming from Yoohyeon and Handong, lightly teasing them for getting scared by the old house. 

But it’s not long at all before the rattling starts up again. This time, accompanied by whispered words just too quiet to distinguish ass anything but gibberish, but definitely loud enough for them all to hear.

This time it ends with a sudden bang somewhere else in the house that makes them all jump, clinging to each other.

Their nerves are fried at this point, each of them tensed like a rubber band pulled to its breaking point. The silence is oppressive, making their senses strain to detect even the slightest disturbance. Whatever is hounding them hasn’t hurt them… yet. It’s not a chance they’d like to take anymore. 

Low, otherworldly laughter slowly fills the room. Getting louder and louder until it too stops suddenly. And then the doors start opening and slamming shut over and over, and that same voice from before shouts at them leave once again.

That’s it for the group. Screams leave their throats as they let go of each other and bolt for the door.

Except Handong.

Call her stupid, a fool. Maybe those are terms she deserves right now. But her instinct roots her to the spot, and she listens to it. Chaos continues to unfold around her, but still nothing hurts her. So she stands her ground. And it’s only a few moments before she’s rewarded with a return to calm as everything around her quiets back down. 

It's not really something Handong knows how to explain, even to herself. But she knows that, yes, she's scared. But she's not scared. The situation is new and uncertain. It's frightening. Despite that, she remains certain (okay, almost certain) that she’s safe. 

The… spirit, or whatever it is. The presence that tried to chase them out, Handong didn’t feel anything resembling malice. Honestly, even now, after everything’s quieted down again and the presence isn’t so strong, Handong just feels sad. It reminds her of days when she’d be so lonely it felt like her whole being ached for someone to be there with her, but when someone tried to approach all she could do in her pained state was push them away. 

Whatever’s in this house, whatever’s chasing them out, it certainly wants to be alone. But Handong thinks maybe what it needs is exactly the opposite.

A long moment of silence passes. And then another. And another. Feeling defeated, Handong turns towards the door, and just about jumps right out of her skin. The sight disappears as quickly as it’d come, leaving Handong questioning if maybe it all is just in her head. But she swears she was just face to face with a translucent woman. Specifically one that was scowling at her. 

Laughter echoes throughout the room as Handong twirls in search of the source. Much higher and less evil-sounding than before, the sound almost reminds Handong of a car idling, or a turkey gobbling. The absurdity of it is enough to make her lips quirk up. A ghost trying to be big and scary but sounding like that? If anything she feels herself relaxing a bit.

The feeling she’s getting from the presence is almost… playful, now. Fear no longer even exists in Handong’s mind, curiosity easily filling the space left behind. She starts to think she wouldn’t even get scared again if the presence tried.

The doors slam again in a cacophony of noise as a cold draft blows through the room. Handong shrinks in on herself a little. Okay, maybe there’s still a bit of fear there.

As if content with having proved its point, the quiet returns. Handong squares herself up, drawing to her full height in order to access her confidence much as she had right before leading everyone into the house several hours ago. Obviously she has to make the first move if she wants to get anywhere with whoever’s in this house. 

“Look,” Handong says loudly,  “I think we both know I’m not going anywhere. Come out!” 

She waits, eyes searching for any sort of sign her words are reaching a willing participant. After several agonizingly long beats, she gets what seems like a conversation that doesn’t include herself.

“‘Come out,’ she says,” the first voice says mockingly. “Come out and face me, like a maaaaan~” the first voice continues.

A second voice joins with laughter. “Yes, so brave, like a knight who’s come to strike us down.”

Handong tries to interject because that’s not it at all, but their laughter easily drowns out her attempts to be heard. 

“I’ll be the dragon,” the first voice exclaims, “think you can slay me, oh brave adventurer?”

“Please,” the other voice scoffs, “you’re nowhere near big enough to be a dragon.”

“Excuse me? And you are? You’re even shorter than me!”

“I am not!”

Handong falls silent as the bickering unfolds, the two ghosts slowly materializing into the forms of two women playfully jabbing at each other in front of her. They get closer and closer, their little fight getting more heated until they’re right up in each other’s faces. That’s when they apparently remember themselves and both turn back to look at their spectator.

Not sure how else to respond, Handong just waves politely. 

“Hi, I’m Handong.”

The ghosts share a look, first of confusion but then landing on a shrug. “Bora,” the ghost with the first voice she’d heard responds, before gesturing to the other woman, “and Gahyeon, my baby sister. Why are you still here? You’ve seen the spooky ghosts, haven’t you gotten what you came for?”

A beat of silence passes as Handong flounders with what to do next. She can’t really say she expected to get this far. How does she tactfully explain that she’s here because Bora tried to act mean and scare her away but all Handong wanted to do instead was give her a hug?

“That’s not-, we weren’t here for that. Just curious. We, well, at least I didn’t expect there to actually be someone here,” Handong admits.

Bora rolls her eyes. “Sure. Then why didn’t you run too? Trying to prove something I suppose?”

"No, I-... I want to talk with you."

Bora seems taken aback. Like she’s never heard that answer before, or at least not in this way. Handong really does just want to talk, so she hopes that’s what’s coming across to the woman. "With me? About what?"

"You're acting all mean and scary but… you're not. I wanna know why."

The ghost looks unimpressed at that, eyebrows raising slightly. "Why what? You want to know why I'm not mean? Have you maybe considered that not all ghosts have to be cranky old bullies?"

"No! I mean, yes. I mean… oh whatever. You know what I mean." Handong huffs at the smug smirk directed her way. "No. I want to know why you're so… sad." 

The mirth falls from Bora's face, making Handong's stomach drop almost as quickly. the atmosphere itself turns sour, oppressive, like the entire room's suddenly been draped in a wet blanket.

Bora's tone is guarded when she responds. "Perhaps, and this is a wild concept, I know… it has something to do with being dead?" 

Handong protests - she didn't mean it like that, nor to offend… but it's obvious she's worn out her welcome. Rather than listening, Bora disappears, fading away into nothingness as if she'd never existed at all.

Handong turns to Gahyeon, but she's no less cold in her demeanor. "I think it's time for you to go. Your friends are probably worried anyways." She too simply dissolves from view.

“Wait! No, come back!” Handong shouts, not caring about the footsteps behind her and that her friends certainly hear her. She just had to put her foot right in her mouth, didn’t she? “I’m sorry!”

Her friends surround her, grabbing at her and pulling her towards the door. Their worried voices all overlap as they each scold her simultaneously.

“What are you doing? Are you talking to it?”

“We made it all the way to the car before realizing you stayed why didn’t you follow-”

“Gave me a damn heart attack-”

Defeated, Handong lets them drag her back out to the car. On the outside the house still looks the same as when they arrived. But Handong no longer feels intimidated by it. Instead, looking at it gives her that same melancholic feeling she’d gotten from the ghost inside. A loneliness that beckons her to help despite the ghost’s outward efforts to scare her away. 

Maybe she really is a fool for it, but Handong knows this isn’t the last time she’ll be seeing this house.