vii. video confessions
( 2015 words ).

    ━━ THE WORLD HAD always been far too distant from lee eunbyul's grasp. no matter what feeble strings she grasped at, they would always slip around her fingers and entangle around her like a lifeless puppet on display.

no matter how much she convinced herself that she was in control, it was what eunbyul was farthest from.

the tearing feeling in her chest was more than enough proof of that.

especially when all her eyes could make sense of was the image of rotted skin burning into her retinas. eunbyul had somewhat gotten used to her own wound, it was bearable for the most part.

the gash of crimson on choi namra's arm, however, was not.

no matter how hard eunbyul looked at it, the bloody skin did not magically disappear at will, nor did the disheartened expression on the class president's face.

there was no warmth in their entwined hands. both were far too clammy to provide any source of heat.

lee eunbyul had led choi namra into the arms of death. into her own outstretched arms.

the noises outside of their small little bubble were muffled, distorted and tuned down for the sake of their sensitive hearing. how she managed to adapt to this terrifying power was still a mystery.

eunbyul couldn't make sense of anything cheongsan and suhyeok were arguing about, nor the severity of their verbal jabs.

her only focus was on the pale girl by her side, staring blankly at her empty hands.

"namra." eunbyul murmured quietly, and though it was a barely audible whisper, the class president was the only one who could hear her breaking voice.

the dark eyed girl hummed quietly, bringing her shaky gaze to the taller girl's eyes. they were pools of ink, small flickers of white and gold from the refractions of light glossing over her irises.

"what happened?"

there was a long, drawn-out silence where namra's face twisted into a grimace, her eyes darting from eunbyul's face to the boy she had arrived with. it took awhile for her to find the words she was looking for.

"gwinam bit me—but he could talk and..." she trailed off in slight horror at the expression on the taller teen's face.

eunbyul grit her teeth, grinding them together in anger as she imagined the face of the bully. it seemed he had given into the beast clawing it's way out of him, not that he was any human-like before.

her fingers tightened around the cool metal of the seat she was sitting on, picturing them wrapped around gwinam's throat, crushing his windpipe as he gasped for mercy and pleaded his apologies, skin turning purple and veins popping from the pressure until—eunbyul caught herself just as cheongsan stepped to intercept the two girls.

his back was to eunbyul, arms in a defensive position around a metal music stand, as if to cage her away from namra.

"what're you—" the raven haired girl began, the anger that had been churning in the pit of her stomach like lava cooling to a magma-like dread.

"she's dangerous." cheong-san breathed out, pointing at the class president, who was now exhaling and inhaling heavily through her nose. "get away from her, she was bitten."

there were reddish-purple veins decorating her pale skin, crawling up her face. her right eye was bloodshot, pupils dilated and set on eunbyul like a pinpoint. but they were open wide, scared like a deer caught in headlights, watching the class shudder away from her.

eunbyul's heart felt as though it was being shattered to pieces, like the glass of a flower vase cascading all over the floor after being pushed off the table. she tugged her body away from the taller boy, swallowing back her tears.

"so was i." she said thickly, turning to stand next to the class president. "am i dangerous too, cheongsan?"

cheongsan seemed to realize himself at last, lowering the stand in his grip. his glare faltered, and his mouth moved to correct his words. but eunbyul knew. she knew that all cheongsan could see in that moment was the monster she was becoming.

or at least, that's what she saw within his conflicted eyes.

"that's—that's different!" he sputtered. eunbyul felt like she couldn't breathe.

there was something weighing down against her chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs. 

eunbyul didn't give him a chance to elaborate, because looking into his guilt-ridden eyes made her chest ache. it made everything within her ache, boiling hatred filling her entire being because she had become the very thing she was running away from.

was this how her best friend felt, watching everyone he trusted turn their backs on him? did he, too, feel as terrible as eunbyul was feeling?

snatching a ribbon from the velvet curtains adorning the room, eunbyul tied one end around her wrist and the other around namra's. slightly dragging the pale girl, eunbyul wrapped the middle piece around a remaining jagged musical stand post.

"there." she snarled at him, hiding away the hurt in her voice. "now you have time to kill us when we turn."

cheongsan reeled back, hurt etched onto his features. eunbyul blinked back her guilt and steeled her resolve.

"i said i wasn't going to ki—" he began exasperatingly, stepping closer.

eunbyul held up a hand, telling him to stop where he was. "this time, it's not a request."

"back up," she added to him, looking everywhere but into his eyes. "we're dangerous, right?"

the teen's mouth opened and closed, trying to sputter out a response, but eunbyul left no room for argument. she turned away from him completely and faced namra.

"sit down, you look tired." gently, the blue eyed girl guided them both to the floor til she was sitting with her legs crossed, the metal pole against her back.

breathing out a shuddering sigh, eunbyul did her best to ignore the tennis ball sized lump in her throat and the aching pain in her chest.

at least this way, everyone had a reason to hate her. they wouldn't have to feel sorry for killing off the monster that she's always been, and that was better for everyone.

there was no guilt in weeding out the rotten from the ripe.

allowing namra to place her head atop her shoulder, eunbyul leaned into the girl, and the two clasped their entwined hands together, ignoring the lack of warmth in both their bodies.

if they really tried, they could imagine a small flicker of warmth in between that clammy cold nothingness of their fingers.

‎

‎

━━ AN ECHO IN her head awoke lee eunbyul from her fatigue-induced slumber, her entire body sore and aching.

namra had long woken up, her eyes focused on the window, and past it—the smoke polluted horizon.

the loud thumps of daesu slamming his fists repeatedly against the storage room had woken them, paired with the screeching of the zombie beneath the piano, it was no wonder their sleep didn't last.

namra turned her gaze to look back, and her eyes seemed to double in emotion, small flickers of color illuminating within her dark irises.

eunbyul silently followed her line of sight, only to find that the thumping had ceased and her classmates were passing around an old video recorder covered in bloody fingerprints.

jimin was the first to speak, her lip trembling and her eyes glittering with unshed tears.

next was hyoryung, then woojin, daesu, and on until the video camera had reached on-jo lastly.

their words were bittersweet, though smiles graced their dirty faces. the longer eunbyul looked at their smiles, the more she noticed the tear streaks and the wobble to their voice.

it was all a front.

but at the very least, they had hope; something to look ahead to in spite of the growing danger trailing behind them.

their words were a mixture of longing and despair, their eyes and tears communicating through the camera and striking small daggers within each of their hearts.

in that time, each had returned to their childhood, where they sorely missed their parents as they went off to school, or trembling faces and shaking bodies grabbing at the covers of their parents' bed in order to be held in their arms and lulled to sleep by their sweet reassurances after a nightmare.

they were teenagers after all. even they needed their parents to comfort them.

the video camera landed gently on eunbyul's lap.

looking up, the raven haired girl flinched as she met cheongsan's chocolaty brown gaze. there were flecks of earth dotting his irises.

he didn't say anything to her—he didn't need to. she gingerly took the camera in between her fingers, gazing at herself through the large projection from the lens.

there was blood splattering her face and neck, dirt matting the ends of her hair and her lips were cracked and coated in dry blood. there were dark circles underneath her reddish eyes, which had faded from a piercing blue to a blueish gray.

clearing her throat slightly, eunbyul pressed the small record button in the corner. she could feel everyone's eyes on her.

"han gyeongsu, i really miss you."

she wasn't going to mention her parents. they were gone, the farthest thing from her mind. eunbyul didn't think she had a single memory of being comforted by her parents.

they were just there. expecting eunbyul to just grow up to be slightly normal, at the very least.

the raven haired teen took a small, shaky breath.

"i get how you felt now, and i'm sorry you had to go through that. you know how much i loved you though, right?"

eunbyul suddenly understood the appeal of smiling without meaning it one bit. her heart was cracking to pieces slowly, but her lips curved up into a small grin when all she wanted to do was cry.

"i don't know if i can make any promises in this state, but know that i'm trying my best for you. miss you lots. bye, yeon."

she waved to the camera before stopping the recording, flipping the camera and placing it on the tiled floor. the room had lapsed into silence.

even from afar, eunbyul could spot the glisten of tears on cheongsan's face, even though he vigorously tried to wipe them away.

losing a best friend wasn't easy for them, but gradually, the thought of his smile became less and less painful to look back on.

gyeongsu had never been anyone to cry about, because people couldn't help but grin in his presence. though grief still injected its poison into their veins, the effect wore out quicker everytime.

he was there, even though she couldn't see or touch him.

but then again, when could eunbyul ever touch good things anyway, without them crumbling away into dust?

namra didn't pick up the video camera. eunbyul supposed she had nothing to say, too caught up in her own internal struggle.

she murmured words under her breath, and then glanced wildly around as though looking for something.

there was nothing.

the teens were silent.

only eunbyul and namra could hear the sounds of retching and gagging.

those belonging to eunji, who had just feasted upon a teacher's organs, and a few plump goldfish.

( until dusk ).

IM BACKKK!!!!!!

the absolute worst chapter i've written so far but i haven't updated for like half a year so it's better than nothing 😍

i'm so sorry for ur eyes to those who read this mess and sorry that it's so short i couldn't think of anything else to write and i accidentally mixed up the plot so i had to change the title last minute 😭

even tho this ch is complete ass pls give it some love so i can make a better ch next update 😣🙏

not edited so pls lmk if there are any spelling or grammar errors! also pls pls plssss don't b afraid to vote and comment, i love seeing what people think of the story!!

enjoy<33

( annie ).