Chapter Text
Chapter One
The weather man had been way off in his prediction. Mild weather, yeah right, they were bordering on a heat wave, and it was only the start of summer. Arm hanging out the window, Felix leaned his head closer to the open window, trying to catch the breeze of the night that seemed non-existent. It sucked that Changbin’s car didn’t have a working AC, but even opening the windows did nothing to cool him down.
Not long ago they had driven off onto a side road, a road that had at one point been smooth concrete which was now riddled with cracks and potholes as nature tried to take over. The headlights were the only source of illumination as the streetlights of this area no got any electricity.
“How much further?” Han asked, poking his head up between the front seats, eagerly glancing out the windshield. Seungmin pulled his hyung back, muttering to him to keep his seat belt on just in case something were to happen.
“You asked that two seconds ago, Han. It’s still a few minutes-” Changbin started, his eyes focused on the nightmare of a road. Han whined, impatient.
“Why can’t you drive faster?”
“Because I don’t want to blow out a tire driving over this road. This vehicle wasn’t made for all terrain.”
“Not my fault your vehicle is a piece of crap.” Felix laughed at the comment, pulling his arm back in as he pulled his shirt away from his body which was too warm, sweat starting to collect at the small of his back.
Eventually, the road they were on opened up to a large area of what once used to be a parking lot. A large building loomed in the near distance, seeming to watch them as they drove up to what used to be the main entrance. Finding an acceptable spot to park, Changbin pulled the key from the ignition and everyone climbed out of the little beat up car. All four of them groaned as they got out and stretched their legs, having been too cramped for too long.
“Okay! Let’s see what we’re working with!” Han exclaimed as he handed a flashlight to Felix. Each of them had a small flashlight on hand, but Han’s was the only flashlight that came from a small camcorder that he carried with him, the little red eye blinking to life. Ever since they started their urban exploration adventures back in high school, his friend wanted to record their adventure as a way to go back and rewatch the fond memories.
The night was muggy and hot, but even the heat of the night didn’t prevent a cool sweat forming on the back of his neck, perhaps in anticipation of exploring as his fingers were also growing suddenly cold. Before them stood a large brick and concrete building, the majority of the windows missing glass, leaving black holes that seemed to stare at them in someway, as though the building had many eyes. Chains were wrapped around the main door handles, although a large, broken lock laid at the foot of the stairs and the door itself was slightly open, seeming to beckon them inside.
“Should we go through the front doors?” Seungmin asked, eyeing the door suspiciously. “Or try to find a different entrance?” They hadn’t been to this place before, although it had been abandoned for quite some time and was well within traveling vicinity; it wasn’t until recently that they learned the schedule to get around security and avoid getting caught. That was always one of the bigger issues when it came to urban exploration; several times they’d gotten in trouble for trespassing on private property and on two separate occasions, they'd ended up in the back of a police cruiser for their adventure.
“Let’s circle around,” Felix suggested. “And if there’s not a better entrance, then we go through the front doors.” The other three nodded in agreement.
“Works for me,” Seungmin muttered as he started to head to one side of the building. Two by two, they started to circle around the monstrosity of a building, their eyes and lights aimed at the tall grass, hoping to spot an obstacles or pitfalls that could trip them up.
Changbin glanced over his shoulder at Felix and asked, “So do Chan and Minho know that you’re came here?”
“No. I told them we were going to some escape room event. They won’t expect me home for at least a couple of hours. And they won’t find out anyway unless Jisung flaps his lips in their presence again-”
Han made a noise in protest. He turned the camera toward Felix, the small little light on the camera temporarily blinding him. “It was one time-”
Felix scoffed. “It was more than once, hyung. Try three times-”
"In my defense, I didn't even know they were home when we were talking about that abandoned factory."
Although they'd done some urban exploration back in high school, his brother's protective nature had always been there. But Felix found that once Minho started dating Chan, the protectiveness over Felix and his whereabouts doubled. More than a handful of times, he lied about his whereabouts to his brother and his brother's boyfriend; he knew well enough that they rarely approved of what him and his friends did for fun. But, it could be worse, as Felix reminded them; he could have a problem with drugs, but he'd missed that ship. Yet he didn't get any praise for that, only scolding for going on small adventures to places that were abandoned to time.
They didn’t find any better opening to get into the building, unless they wanted to squeeze in through a basement window, but more than once, they’d gone through another point of entry and encountered problems. Whether that being get stuck as one of them slid through the opening, or ended up in a basement that had been barricaded closed from forgotten furniture that was left to rot in the halls. They entered through the front doors and stood in what used to be the main lobby area. Swinging their flashlights around, they tried to get a good look of the interior and shone the lights down the hallways that branched off in three different directions.
“So, does anyone know the history of this place?” Changbin asked.
“Used to be a general hospital. Guess it burnt down at one point and they never kept up with the repairs after-”
Han scoffed, cutting Seungmin off. “Yeah, that’s the boring story. What I heard was there was a doctor here that preformed experiments on patients that families couldn’t afford the medical bills,” Han exclaimed, talking excitedly, “And that he was the one responsible for setting the fire to destroy any evidence of his cruelty to the patients.”
“...That is kinda dark..." Changbin muttered.
“I feel bad for his patients,” Felix said. “I mean, if any of what you just blabbered is true...it's really sad." He shone his flashlight around the space, stopping to read some of the faded signs that were above the main information desk.
Changbin swung his flashlight left and right. “Which way first?”
Seungmin and Han focused their gaze on the large sign that hung over the center of the room, above the main information desk which was shaped into an O. It was dusty, and some of the slides in the sign were missing. Some words were missing letters, but words were still readable, everything else could be left to guess what the words were.
“What sounds more interesting?” Han asked, turning his camera up to the sign briefly. “We can go to Oncology or Radiology. Ooh, how about Gynecology?”
"We could go in a clockwise fashion," Seungmin suggested. "I don't know the layout of the place, but I'm assuming there must be connecting hallways that will eventually lead in a big circle. Most hospitals seem to have that frame."
Slowly, they crept down the halls, The stairs up to the second floor were solid concrete, however some of the staircase was missing the banister entirely, so they were all pressed against the wall as they went up. From first looks, the second floor didn’t seem all that different, however it lacked the amount of graffiti that the main floor had, and some of the windows were actually still in tact. Room by room they went, looking at the strange equipment that was left behind in some rooms.
In one room sat an old examination table, the foot stirrups stuck and rusted into place. The table itself was still in relatively good condition despite the building crumbling around it. Han handed his camera over to Seungmin and hopped up onto the table, taking it as so far as to put his feet up in the stirrups.
“You’re a fucking dork, hyung,” Seungmin muttered, suppressing an honest chuckle. He handed the camera back to Han as he climbed off the table and they continued their way through the building. Felix couldn’t help but allow a sense of sorrow creep in especially when they came down a hall that had a trail of small handprints along the wall, small little murals of flowers and rainbows up and down the length of the hall.
They’d just been about to head past the hall that led down to the psychiatric unit for juveniles when Felix caught something out of the corner of his eye that made goosebumps crawl up his arms in the most unsettling way.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?” Seungmin asked, turning back on his heel to look at where Felix was looking. He took a few steps down the hall, his flashlight moving from left to right. Down at the far end of the hall, he caught a sudden shift in the shadows, like someone trying to hide. Felix’s heart jumped into his throat for a moment at the possibility they were being stalked. Grabbing Seungmin by the back of his shirt, he pulled his friend back closer to him.
“I think there might be someone else here.” With Han and Changbin too far up ahead, having their own conversation, Seungmin paused and glanced around, suddenly curious about Felix’s statement, trying to see what Felix saw.
“You sure? I haven’t heard anything. Place like this, we’d probably hear someone else walking around.” Seungmin continued down the hall after the other two, and after a moment of two, standing and staring at the darkness of the hall, Felix trailed after them. He tried to brush off the uncomfortable sensation that tickled the hairs on the back of his neck and gave him goosebumps on the back of his arms.
They'd entered another ward, but the sign above was long gone, and compared to other parts of the hospital, this ward seemed severally lacking in any furniture, debris, or other types of garbage. Felix entered one room, the large windows catching his attention; when he turned off his flashlight, cupped his hands against the glass and looked out, he had a glorious view over out over the surrounding forest. The sound of someone's foot scraping across the floor caught his attention and Felix turned on his heel, expecting to see one of his friends in the room. Instead, he was met with the silhouette of a stranger. This stranger was a man, built a bit taller than him with a lean body. Dressed all in black, in clothes that seemed business casual, Felix couldn't help but wonder who wears something so difficult to keep clean.
"...Hello..." Felix kept his voice neutral, trying his best to not allow his heart to beat faster in anxiety. So he hadn't been wrong, about someone else being in the building; Seungmin needed to get his eyes and ears checked. This stranger, for what seemed like an eternity, stared at him with such a stoic expression. Slowly, like a predator that plays with its prey, the darkly dressed man started to circle him, and Felix started to follow, slowly turning, following, not wanting to take his eyes off the man. In the very back of his mind, there was a little bit of him that was caught off guard by how handsome this man was. However, even if he was handsome, that didn't ease the way his stomach clenched at the sight of him-- his gut was clearly telling him something was amiss.
"...Can I help you with something?"
The man smirked at those words, his head tilting to the side, his eyes still roving over Felix with a possessiveness that turned his stomach. He stopped his circling, coming to stand right across from Felix and took his hands out of his pockets.
"There most certainly is something you can help me with."
His eyes turned pitch black and he lunged at Felix. Barely having a moment to react, Felix dropped his flashlight, his hands outstretched to stop his assailant, stumbling back a step as he tried to turn around and avoid the attack. His back roughly hit the wall before the weight, combined with the decrepit state of the place, sent them through the wall, tumbling the width of the hall before he careened over backward down a flight of stairs. Stars burst before his vision as his head hit the concrete of the stairs, his body screaming in pain and protest as he tumbled down them like a tossed Raggedy Ann doll. He finally landed on the floor below, the breath knocked from him as his back landed on the concrete, his shirt ridden up to expose his back to all the dry wall debris that littered the floor.
The dark hair man laughed, something manically, something almost inhuman sounding. One hand gripped Felix by the throat and he found his arms pinned to his sides by the stranger man’s legs while he used his free hand to pry open Felix’s mouth.
“Let…me…in…” the dark haired man growled, his voice becoming warped, demonic sounding, at the end of the statement. Felix groaned, trying to turn his head and free himself from the harsh grip on his chin, but this only made the dark haired man squeeze his throat, threatening worse. Blood started to pour from the man's mouth, however the blood was tarry and black, just like this man’s eyes. Felix closed his eyes and mouth, trying his best to hold his breath so he wouldn't inhale the bodily fluid, but still, he found some getting into his mouth and eyes.
And like the man's eyes, Felix's world suddenly went black.
He woke with a gasp, nearly smacking Han in the forehead as he bolted up into a sitting position. All three of his friends were huddled about him, all equally looking concerned. Confused, Felix glanced around, taking in that they were outside the hospital, at the base of the stairs that led to the main doors. Some time had passed, as the lingering heat from the sun finally died down and was replaced with a cool navy sky and a slight temperature drop, but a subtle warm breeze lingered. How long had he been out? When did they even get outside?
Felix glanced around, his head on a swivel, looking for the one that had attacked him. But as far as his eyes could see in the dark, and as much as they could make out from the surrounding shadows, it seemed to be just the four of them there.
"Where'd he go?"
"Where'd who go?" Han asked, his gaze also roaming around, trying to follow wherever Felix was looking.
"The guy that tackled me-"
"What guy?" Seungmin asked. "There's no one else here, Felix. Just us."
"The one who attacked me. The one with black hair-" Felix continued to glance around, not seeing anything out of place in their surroundings. The three of them exchanged glances with one another before turning their attention back to Felix, the expressions of concern seeming to deepen at hearing Felix's words.
"Are you sure you're okay, Felix?" Changbin asked. Gently, he rested a hand on Felix's elbow. "Maybe we should go to the hospital-"
“No," he said hastily, shaking off Changbin's touch. The last thing he wanted right now was to go to the hospital; it would set off a domino effect--going to the hospital would mean someone would contact Minho, which would result in both Minho and Chan coming to the hospital. Felix knew well enough that his brother strongly disapproved of the hobby of urban exploration, and he'd use whatever reason he'd see fit to keep Felix from it. "I’m okay, really. I don’t think we need to go to the hospital.”
“Are you sure?” Changbin asked, his brow furrowed in concern. “You went rolling down a flight of concrete stairs Felix. You're hallucinating strange men and you’re lucky you didn’t break your neck-”
“Yeah, you could have died!” Han exclaimed. He clutched onto Felix’s arm, pressing his cheek to Felix's shoulder affectionately. “Minho-hyung would absolutely kill us if something happened to you.”
Seungmin grabbed Felix by the chin, turning his head this way and that as he shone his flashlight into Felix's eyes. Felix squinted in the light, pulling back out of his friend's grip. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for a concussion. You most definitely have one, based on how your pupils are reacting slowly.”
“How would you know, Seungmin?" Han asked. "You’re not a doctor.”
"Not yet, but I'm studying to be one. So I do know some things, more than you're feeble brain."
Han gasped, dramatic but slightly but also slightly offended. "Hey, low blow, man. I thought we promised to stop making digs at each other's intelligence."
"Let's just get out of here," Changbin suggested, ignoring the other's bantering. He stood and offered his hand out to Felix, who took it gratefully.
The four of them loaded up back into Changbin’s car and headed back out onto the deteriorating road that led to the hospital and turned back onto the main road, rejoining the highway like they hadn’t just been trespassing on a building forgotten in time. The entire time, whatever conversation the others had, all fell on deaf ears as Felix tried to comprehend what had just happened to him.
So they saw him fall down the stairs, but they didn’t see the dark haired man that had tackled him and went rolling down the stairs with him? They didn’t see this same dark haired man spew some black bodily fluid into his mouth? Had the asbestos and mold in the building gotten to him and made him hallucinate? The more he tried to reason what had happened to him, the more questions he ended up with. It was starting to give him a headache, or maybe that was the concussion that Seungmin said he had?
Sure, his friend wasn’t a doctor, but compared to the others, he did know a thing or two when it came to health as he was studying for the MCAT exam. But if Felix were to mention again to any of them what he’d actually experienced, he knew for certain he’d get a range of concerned and “are you crazy” looks. Exhausted from the mental gymnastics, he slumped against the car window, grateful for the cool feel of the glass on his skin. He closed his eyes and tried his best to push away the events of the night, but his brain seemed to be in an state of shock or something, as all he could think was….what the hell had that been?