The wheel felt good in your grip and you felt excitement buzz through you as you controlled the car through the busy streets. It drove so nicely. You had only ever driven cheap second hand cars or the van when Yugyeom or Jackson weren't there too. This was a new experience for you. 

You felt giddy, almost childlike and Taehyung noticed, an amused and questioning look crossing his face.

    "You ok there? Something tells me you're going to drive my car at full throttle the moment we get off these busy streets." 

"S-sorry, its just I haven't driven in so long, let alone a nice car. I love driving." You admitted sheepishly, focusing back on the road. 

He nodded and turned his attention to outside his window, blindly watching everything blur past. 

You noticed the camera sat on his lap, a chunky old model that looked like on of those you would need a darkroom for. 

Curious, you decided to ask him about it. 

"What's that camera you have there? It looks quite old..." 

Taehyung glanced at the object that rested on his thighs and back up to the road in front. 

"It's a Nikon F5, an SLR. One of those you can use a darkroom for-" you had been right, "to process the photos. I know its pretty outdated but I like the way the photos come out," he began to stutter slightly realising something, "I uh, hope you don't mind. I bring it everywhere with me." 

"It's no problem at all, I think its cool, taking pictures. I'm just worried that you might damage it though..." 

His head snapped over to you, a sudden mirth sparkling in his usually dark eyes. 

"Do you like photography too?" He quizzed, suddenly enthusiastic at what you said. 

"Um yeah, I don't know much and I'm not great at taking professional pictures but I enjoy taking them anyway. I love that you can capture moments and keep them with you forever, but what I love more is having a physical photo to keep," you confessed, still a bit shocked at the male's sudden excitement. Could you blame him though? You had been the same about the car.

He sent you a smile of childish delight. 

"You're right. People take millions of photos each day on their phones, but I've always thought, do any of them cherish each and every picture? I don't believe so. Having a camera and taking care of each picture you take is something special," Taehyung expressed looking down at his camera fondly. "With pictures, you can capture a fleeting moment and make it eternal."

"Do you have any photos I can look at now? Or once we arrive?" You asked glancing over at him. 

He looked up at you with slightly wider eyes, not expecting you to ask that. 

"Of course, well, not now. I haven't got any on me and the film in this camera is blank so I could show you when we get back? Or another time?"

"Sure," you smiled back at him. 

Taehyung felt elated that he could share his passion with someone. Usually no one would take any interest in his work, much less him, but the fact that you merely asked to look at his photos made his heart warm. 

"So," Taehyung turned his attention to you with a curious gaze, resting his elbow on the window to support the back of his head with his hand. "What made you take up a job like this?" He asked, changing the topic.

It was an innocent enough of a question. 

You spared him a glance before answering with a bit of sass, "Wouldn't you like to know?" 

"Yes, that's why I asked," He smirked cheekily. You bit your lip in thought, wondering whether to give him the full story. You did.

"Mr Shihyuk took me in when I was little," you began, avoiding the part about your dead mother, "I never knew what he did for a living at first until one day I snuck into his office and found books on ghosts, spirits, satanist rituals, mythology, possession, you name it. Though at the time I was just learning to read so I wasn't too sure about what I was actually looking at," you chuckled slightly. You were surprised that you still held Taehyung's full attention thinking that he might have grown bored already, but he still watched you silently, waiting for you to continue. 

"Of course, I asked him about it the next day but he was worried that I was too young and would get nightmares or something, so he kept it from me and scolded me. That was until I saw him and his co-workers bring in a struggling man one day, handcuffed and wailing like a banshee, tied him to a chair surrounded with weird black ritual markings on the floor," your voice dropped a bit.

"And?" Taehyung urged you on, quite interested in the rest. You gave him a look as if you ask, 'do you really want to know?' and he just waited for you to explain. 

"What was 'strange' about this man, was that his neck twisted in a 180 degree angle, and he was still walking." 

"That must have been quite traumatic..." Taehyung muttered, turning his lost gaze out the windscreen, a ghost of a knowing smile dancing on his lips.

Within an hour, you arrived at a smaller residential part of the city, driving by family homes and neatly cut gardens. 

You pulled up on the curb, just a few minutes away from the navigator's instructions and killed the engine. 

"Well, apparently this is it," you said quietly, glancing around the area.

You reached over Taehyung to grab your small bag from the glove box only to brush against his hand as he went to do the same. Cold.

"Yah! Why are you always so cold!?" you blurted snatching your hand back.

"Because I'm a walking corpse," he winked before stepping out of the Volvo, his camera dangling around his neck. You could only stare at him with your mouth agape. 

He did not just say that! 

"You can't say stuff like that," you grumbled to yourself as you followed suit grabbing the keys and your bag and double checking on the talisman in your pocket. You slung the small backpack onto your shoulder and locked the car chucking the keys at Taehyung who caught them with ease. 

"The car drives nicely, no?" 

"Yes, it does. In fact, you better watch out I don't rob it from you," you grinned evilly.

He scoffed. "Hand over some money and I'll let you have it for free."

"What? That doesn't even make sense!" 

You bickered and joked as the two of you walked side by side through the residential street towards your destination. It was strange how quickly you had grown comfortable in Taehyung's presence so quickly, the boy must have grown on you a little during the drive. At first he had made you a little unnerved being around him, but conversing with him during that trip made you ease up slightly. 

You suddenly did a double take as you saw a sign nailed into a brick wall of a front garden that had a bell go off in your head.

Engraved on the sign was 'The Jung Residence'.

No way. You inwardly gasped.

No way was this a mere coincidence that this out of the blue job had landed you in front of your second case's home.

Perhaps is wasn't the same 'Jung'. Just like Soyeon and Jungkook had the same last name but weren't related, maybe this house was home to an entirely different family than Jung Hoseok's.

A huge part of you wanted to march up and knock on the front door, but you had a job to do first. Plus what would you say? 

"Petal?" The annoying nickname snapped you from your thoughts.

"Hmm? Y-yeah I'm coming." If you had time afterwards, you would go and check it out. You didn't want to miss an opportunity as golden as that.

"Does that happen to be the place we're looking for?" Taehyung asked. You followed his hand to where he pointed.

Of course he pointed at the spookiest looking house at the end of the road, greying brown messy brick work, black holes for windows (the ones that weren't boarded up at least) and an overgrown messy garden.

"Yep, that'll be it," you replied, double checking the address on your phone and walking toward it.

The house was indeed boarded up all around, abandoned and very neglected. The stems and vines that held the house in their clutch were shrivelled and withered just like the dry colourless grass in the front yard.

Perfect for lost souls to dwell. 

The grass and dead weeds beneath your feet crunched and crackled as you made you way along the shrub covered stone path, the house looming over you as you drew closer. 

To your surprise and fortune (or...misfortune) the door was unlocked and unbarred, making an easy entry. It put you on the alert however, you could only hope that it must have been Minnie's doing...

The first room must have been a living room judging by the layout.

The air inside was stagnant and full of dust particles that were near impossible not to breathe in. 

"Keep the door open, to air out the house a bit," you told Taehyung who followed behind.

Are you sure its not so you have a quick escape if something were to happen?

Something suddenly scurried over your foot causing you to jump and backtrack into Taehyung behind you. He grunted softly from the impact and gripped your shoulders to steady you. 

"Sorry," you muttered up to him taking a step away. He looked down at your smaller form for a moment, amusement dancing in his dark orbs. 

"Are you?" 

Your brows furrowed, the odd question confusing you, more so when he leant closer, enough that you swore you could feel his breath fan over your cheeks. You leant back slightly, watching the way his eyes seemed to pierce through your own.

"What?" 

After a moment, he drew back and shrugged, before stepping around you to scan the environment. 

Sudden invasion of personal space much?

Sighing, you dropped your bag to the ground with a thud, and sifted through the contents: salt, dried white sage, two lighters, a small iron rod (ghosts hated iron) and a vial of Devil's claw (just in case for worst scenario) though you doubted you would need to use the latter. 

The dust was thick enough for you to see tiny footprints of rats and mice in trails along the worn stone floor.  

You wondered if Minnie had a childhood here, a good, or a horrific one. You couldn't begin to tell as there wasn't much furniture left, other than a few broken chairs, broken glass and a couch covered in a white sheet. 

Dull midday light spilled through cracks of the wood nailed to the windows, creating sharp lines of light. 

You saw deeper through a hall way that lead to the rest of the house was a lot darker, the blackness swallowing any remainders of light. 

"Shit, I didn't bring a torch..." You cursed under your breath.

You turned over to Taehyung who kept occupied with taking pictures, the shutter going off every now and then.

"Uh, Taehyung? You didn't happen to bring a torch did you?" 

"Sorry Petal, no," he replied, not looking away from what he was currently doing.

Damn. You took your phone out and checked the battery life.

70%

Good, that should last for a while. You switched the phone torch on, and proceeded through the house cautiously, paying close attention to the shadows around you. It didn't help that they moved as you shifted your torch light around, however it kept you on your toes.

You listened to the house, listening for movement or for a certain someone. The dead silence (apart from the occasional camera shutter in the living room going off) advised you that the house was empty. 

Then, what of Minnie? Had you come too late, or had you simply missed her? Something told you that wasn't it. Nine times out of ten in these situations victims were either trapped or...dead. 

Soyeon had said that Minnie was chasing ghosts from her past, which opened up to possibilities that she had been lured here, by her dead mother?

You reached the kitchen, continuously almost tripping and stubbing your toes against fallen debris and abandoned tools. 

Your attention snapped to something you accidentally kicked across the floor that had made a sharp scraping sound. 

A knife. 

You shone your torch on it for a second before deeming it nothing unusual. There was no blood or grime on it anyway.

Past the kitchen there was a staircase leading to a second floor, that seemed to be slightly light than the rest of the downstairs. 

"Taehyung, if you see anything out of the ordinary give me a shout!" you called out over your shoulder from the kitchen, hearing a muffled reply in return. 

You turned to inspect the other downstairs rooms before heading upstairs, hearing a shuffling from Taehyung behind you, indicating his follow.

The first bedroom; nothing to see, and then the next, nothing out of the ordinary once again. You entered the last bedroom, walking up to the un-boarded open window and looked out. It looked out over the front of the house, where you could see the rest of the neighbourhood, bright and bustling with life. 

You glanced at the gathering of dead flies that sat still on the window sill, their bodies basking in the pale light. 

For a moment you thought about what it must be like to be a ghost trapped in a house like this, looking as if from a darker place to the world of life before you.

Hearing a shutter that sounded closer than before, you turned to see Taehyung caught red handed pointing his camera at you.

You gave him an annoyed look which he returned with an impish smile. 

"It was a good photo op, I couldn't help myself. You looked positively angelic with the light surrounding you," he tried to redeem himself.

Something like that usually would have made you blush but you could tell that he was only joking...you hoped.

"Well if you end up selling it, I want half the profit," you joked moving round the boy to head downstairs.

"I think I might hold onto that one..."

You thought you heard him say something but said nothing, deciding to keep your attention on the matter at hand.

The two of you headed downstairs once seeing that the upper level was clear and held no sign of the girl you were searching for.

Dust kicked up around your feet as you walked, drawing your attention to it. There was a disturbance of the settled dust through the hallway floor, of another's footprints, and not perfect foot prints, it looked at though they had dragged their feet.

Someone had been here recently.

Minnie?

The trail led to a door, a basement door, as if something had been dragged. From the look of the messy scratch marks at the bottom of the wall and floor, they seemed to have put up a fight too. 

"Well that doesn't leave a comforting thought," you commented to yourself.

"Do you think someone had a fight here, oh! Do you think we'll find a body!?" Taehyung exclaimed, anticipation clear in his tone. You gave him a look. 

"You seem awfully eager to see a dead body, Taehyung," you observed suspiciously, "I hate to pop your bubble but its unlikely."

"ᵢₛ...ₛₒₘₑₒₙₑ ₜₕₑᵣₑ? ₕₑₗₗₒ?" 

The both of you stilled, keeping your gazes locked on one another. 

Silence.

"...Did you hear that?" You uttered quietly. Taehyung nodded slowly, eyes sliding over to the basement door, all humour wiped from his expression. You hadn't checked down there yet...

The both of you stared at it, like you were waiting for it to move or jump out at you suddenly.

"ₕₑₗₗₒ?"

There it was again, a faint timid voice, coming from behind the basement door.

Taking a breath you took cautious steps towards it, hovering a hand over the handle, you dared to call back just as softly, "Minnie...?" 

The door shuddered on its hinges suddenly. You flinched back, the grip on your phone tightening as you heard something else that chilled you to the bone.

Then you felt it.

That distinctive coldness that emitted from a presence that was not where it was meant to be. 

Drawing forth your courage, you gripped the handle and wrenched the door open forcefully. There was nothing. Instead what greeted you was a cold dark stairwell leading down into a black abyss, a single light bulb swinging from a loose wire midway down.

"Help!" 

There it was again, the same voice but louder now that the door was open, which spurred you into action.

A distorted wail soon followed in the distance causing you to halt. 

Was the hell was that!?

"We have to save her! That must be Minnie down there!" You exclaimed, turning as soon as you realised the boy hadn't followed. 

"Taehyung, lets go!" 

Not receiving a reply from the strangely motionless boy, your gaze followed his arm to his hand that now held the door in his grip. 

"Taehyung...?" 

Your eyes widened as a sinister glint flashed over his dark orbs.

What the-

"Taehyung! Taehyung what are you doing!?" You shrieked as you watched the boy close the door on you, not before watching him send you a smile that you could only consider as wicked.

You inhaled sharply, feeling the prickly freeze of fear rise up your body as you were engulfed in thick darkness.

"Taehyung!"

With you out of the way, locked 'safely' behind the door that you banged on relentlessly, Taehyung's smile dropped and his features melted into an impassive expression. As he turned away from the door.

"Now then, (Y/n), lets see how well you fare on your own in the dark."

Jeez one sec he's a lil sweetie the next a complete asshole :/ Well of course, that might be my fault ;) -Rikki

Quick Note: If any of you are seeing a random array of numbers/symbols in front of sentences try refreshing the page (or if you're on your phone close the app and reopen it). I've seen it too and went to check it in the draft but its not there, so I'm passing it off as some sort of glitch. It happens every now and then with other stories too, nothing major to worry about.

UNEDITED 

May. 07. 2020