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Sunoo was only eight when they moved to an abandoned mansion around the woods. When Sunoo roamed around the mansion, there was no doubt that he wouldn't like it. There were so many spaces and rooms to explore and play.
Sunoo was only nine when his parents found a doll at their basement, the boy smiled when his mom hands him the doll, he clutches it to his chest. The doll was also a boy like him.
He placed the doll at the edge of his bed with one last glance Sunoo finally fell asleep.
Sunoo was only ten when he noticed that the doll kept disappearing and magically appeared to some places. He caught the doll standing at his door, those deep black eyes staring intently at the younger boy. Being the kid Sunoo is, he imagined that the doll was just out for an adventure.
But it got too scary whenever Sunoo is alone, he could feel the doll's gaze. When Sunoo told his dad, he would say. "It's only your imagination, Sunoo-ya. Maybe the doll just wanted to play?"
Sunoo was only eleven when he would hide the doll at his closet. It was scaring him so he cover the doll with clothes. With one last glance, he shut the closet door close.
Sunoo was sleeping soundly when a tall silhouette towers to the sleeping boy, the anonymous person's hands brushed through Sunoo's cheeks.
"So pretty." It says and when the person felt Sunoo moving, it smiles eerily and slowly walk back to the closet.
Sunoo was only twelve when he screamed when he saw dark eyes coming from his closet. His parents immediately rush to his room as soon as they heard their precious son screamed.
"What's going on?!" His mom asked and she immediately carry Sunoo when he saw the boy making grabby hands to her.
"Sunoo, are you okay?!" His dad covers him with blanket and attempt to wipe his tears. The poor boy looks terrified.
"M-mommy, there's a boy in my closet!"
Both of his parents look at each other with a frown, his dad glanced at the closet and he grab the baseball bat from Sunoo's play-toy box. His mom covered Sunoo's eyes away from the closet.
His dad slowly approached the closet and with one deep breath, he quickly opens the door, ready to hit the boy at Sunoo's closet.
But, there was no one.
He look down to see a doll sitting on top of clothes.
"Sunoo, there's no one here."
"B-but, dad!"
"Sweetie, it was only your imagination. Don't scare us like that." His mom smiles.
Sunoo cried once again, "I don't like it here! Can i sleep with you?"
His mom looks at his dad and the elder sighs. "Sweetie, you're grown. You can sleep by yourself." His dad says as he peck Sunoo's forehead.
"N-no!"
Sunoo cries to his father when he gets back home the next morning, begging him to let him sleep with them instead because his room is scary. The man sighs, looks Sunoo in the eyes and tells him that he's a big boy now so he shouldn't be scared of sleeping alone. Sunoo then starts ranting about how there was another boy in his room and how Sunoo doesn't want to be his friend because he's scary so he really, really wants to sleep in his parents' bedroom now.
The man looks at his wife and she only shakes her head with worry and confusion.
"I checked the entire room and no one was there. There wasn't any sign of forced entry. His window is locked," the woman says as she watches her son sleeping soundly between her and her husband.
"Was he hurt?" he asks, pulling the blanket further so it would cover Sunoo's body up to his chin.
"No, he was just crying there alone," she answers.
Sunoo saw the doll once again, sitting at his bed with those dark eyes and a smiley face attached. How did the doll got here? Sunoo remembers that he clearly put the doll at his closet. Sunoo's lips tremble as he doesn't want to see the closet since he remember a boy staring at him.
"Go away!" Sunoo yells at the doll. He run towards the doll, he grabbed it and run to where the trashcan is.
He threw the doll at the trashcan and glared at it.
Sunoo stops at his track. Eyes widening and his heart beating fast, tears welling up at his eyes.
The doll was back. Sitting at his bed with dark eyes staring at him.
This time there wasn't a smile at the doll's face.
The boy shuts his room close and asked his father if he could throw the doll instead.
The man looked surprise but the desperate look of Sunoo was too much so he agree.
When his mother convinced him to sleep back at his own room, saying he is a big boy and he have to be brave. Sunoo could only cry and nod.
As Sunoo is back at his own room, he could barely stare at his own closet and head straight at his bed, pulling the blanket all the way to his chin.
Sunoo felt cold air against his neck and the sound of someone heavily breathing. He feel the blanket tug itself down until it's only covering half of him, but Sunoo keep his eyes shut. He doesn't want to see anything. He doesn't want to be scared but this is really making it hard for him to do so. He's only imagining things, Sunoo would repeat inside his head, but the feeling of fingers touching his cheek always makes him shiver.
"You're not real," Sunoo would whisper with his small trembling voice.
A childish laugh invades his senses, almost making him snap his eyes open in panic. "I am real." It sounds like a boy. And his voice sends shivers down Sunoo's spine. He feels a lot colder, breath stuck in his throat. This is the first time he's ever heard a voice. It's always just this weird feeling of someone watching – it's never like this.
Sunoo feels his chest constrict in fear, eyes tearing up despite being shut tightly. He brings his hands up and presses his palms against his eyes, praying that it would get rid of the scary feeling and sound. "Why do you never look at me?" the boy asks, making Sunoo sob in fear. It's not real, he repeats in his head. He's just imagining everything. It's not real.
"Go away!" Sunoo yells, screaming and kicking as tears escape his eyes. "I don't like you! Go away!"
He feels the air getting colder, fear heightening and taking over his senses. Silence surrounds him, and for a while, he thought that it's over. The boy is gone and Sunoo is alone in his room once again. That was until he feels a tight grip on his wrists, forcing them away from his face.
Sunoo screams, eyes snapping open only to be met by the sight of a boy hovering above him with those wide cat-like scary eyes dimly illuminated by the light of the lamp beside the bed. The boy's lips quirk up into a huge smile, staring at Sunoo unblinkingly. "Finally," he says with a loud laugh, making Sunoo scream even louder with more tears escaping his eyes. "You can't get away now."
"No! Go away!" Sunoo yells, trying to pull his arms away from the boy's touch. He doesn't like him. He doesn't want to be friends with this boy at all because he's too scary. Why can't he just leave Sunoo alone? Sunoo just wants to sleep. Sunoo doesn't like the boy.
The door slams open, revealing his mother who's looking around the room frantically and searching for any sign of danger. Sunoo suddenly feels the weight above him get lifted, and when he looks at where the boy used to be, he sees nothing.
Sunoo pushes the blanket off of him before running to his mother and clinging onto her legs tightly. "Mommy!" he yells, crying and drenching the woman's clothes with his tears. "Mommy, I don't like it here anymore!"
The woman sighs, crouching down only to wrap her arms around Sunoo and pick him up. Sunoo wraps his arms around her neck, still sobbing with his cheeks pressed against his mother's. She starts to walk and Sunoo realizes that she's just taking him back to his bed. "No!" Sunoo yells, trying to pull himself away from her but she tightens her grip, not allowing him to do so.
"Sunoo, honey, please stop crying. You were just having a nightmare."
Sunoo shakes his head frantically as she puts him back on his bed, fingers carding through his hair in an attempt to untangle the strands while soothing his fear. "But Mommy-"
"Go back to sleep, sweetheart, Mommy would stay here until you fall asleep," she says in a soft voice which would usually soothe Sunoo's nerves, but this time, it doesn't do anything to make him feel better.
Sunoo hears a soft giggle from his other side, and he swears that he could see the boy standing in his closet, watching him with those wide scary eyes. He shivers.
"Mommy, there's a boy in my closet and he's scaring me," Sunoo cries, small hands clenching his mother's shirt.
"There's no one there, Sunoo. He's not real. Go to sleep."
Except he is.
Sunoo looks at the closet to see the boy's huge cat eyes staring at him.
Sunoo never went back to his room after that. He would even cry if they try to tell him to get a set of clothes for him to wear after taking a bath. His mother is very worried. It's not normal for children to have an irrational fear of something that doesn't even exist, right? She would understand if he's this afraid because of the dark, but this is different – so much different – something she, herself, couldn't even begin to understand.
Sunoo's mother is cooking a meal for dinner and Sunoo is just playing by himself in the living room. Toy cars are scattered all over the floor, with the little boy's giggles and car noises echoing throughout the room.
His small hand grabs the white toy car, eyebrows furrowing and bottom lip jutting out into a pout. His black toy car is missing. "Mommy!" he yells, standing up on his two feet and stumbling a little before finally finding his balance and running towards the direction of the kitchen. His mother is humming to herself while stirring something on the pot. Sunoo tugs her on the hem of her shirt, eyes looking up to get her attention. "Mommy, where's my black car? My favorite car."
The woman smiles, hand reaching down to pat Sunoo on the head. "You probably left it in our room, sweetheart."
Sunoo frowns. "But I was playing with it just now!"
"Just go look for it in our room, Sunoo. You just forgot to bring it."
Sunoo huffs but walks back to their room anyway. He couldn't play with the other cars if his favorite is missing! It would be so unfair!
He reaches the bedroom, reaching for the doorknob and pushing the door open to let himself in.
And just like what his mother said, the toy car is there, exactly in the middle of the bed. "How did you get there?" Sunoo asks in confusion, feet moving so he could reach his toy and go back to playing immediately.
But as soon as he touches the toy car, the door slams close, startling Sunoo and making him drop the toy again. "Mommy? Why did you close the door?" Sunoo asks, voice trembling. He's scared. He doesn't like loud sounds. Why did she close the door like that while Sunoo is still inside? Is she mad at Sunoo for playing too much?
Sunoo runs towards the door, twisting the doorknob but it wouldn't budge. Why wouldn't it open?
"Mommy? I won't play anymore. Please don't get mad," he cries out, still desperately trying to open it.
"Why didn't you come back?" a voice sounds from behind him, making him suddenly freeze. It sounds like a boy. No, not just any other boy. It sounds like the boy from that night.
Sunoo turns around to face the same exact boy he saw before. But this time, instead of staring at him with those huge eyes and wide smile, he's glaring at Sunoo with a scowl on his face instead. And oh, he looks so mad.
Sunoo opens his mouth but no sound came out. He feels tears forming on his eyes again and he didn't hold it back, letting them fall on his cheeks. He's really scary and Sunoo doesn't like him.
"Why didn't you come back?!" the boy yells, making Sunoo scream with a cry, closing his eyes and running towards the bed, burying himself under the cover.
"No, no," he keeps on repeating in an attempt to forget what he saw. It's not real. The boy is not real.
"Don't cry," the voice says again and Sunoo feels the bed dip as more weight is added to it. The blanket is soon pulled away from him completely, revealing his form to the other boy. "I'm Jungwon. I just want to be friends," the boy says with a sad frown, eyes glistening with tears.
Sunoo stops crying after hearing the soft voice, small sniffles filling up the silence. "Y-You're scary."
Jungwon tilts his head to the side, wide eyes staring at Sunoo, unblinking. "You don't have to be scared of me. I would never hurt you. Just come back to our bedroom."
Sunoo frowns, pulling himself into a sitting position. "That's my room. Mommy says you're not real."
Jungwon's gaze hardens. "I am real," he says. He reaches forward to hold Sunoo's hand, tightening his grip around it even when Sunoo tries to pull away. Jungwon is a lot stronger. Too strong for his size and age.
"They're wrong. I'm real. You shouldn't believe them, Sunoo. They're crazy."
Sunoo just stares at Jungwon's eyes, seemingly deep in trance. Jungwon smiles. This human is his after all. "Come back to our room. You only have to stay with me and no one else."
Sunoo nods, face completely emotionless. "Okay," he says. With that, Jungwon grins widely, intertwining his fingers with Sunoo's before pulling him back to the boy's former room – he one he couldn't even step a foot in a few minutes ago.
Sunoo's mother was shocked when she saw him playing alone in his room happily, but thought nothing of it. Sunoo probably got rid of his fear and that's perfect. It's good that Sunoo isn't scared anymore.
Sunoo moved back to his room. His mother asked why but he just smiled and answered that he got a new friend.
"Goodnight, sweetheart," Sunoo's mother says with a gentle smile, tucking him in and pressing a kiss on his forehead.
"Mommy, turn the lamp off please," he says, making the woman freeze in surprise.
"Why? You told me you didn't like the dark."
Sunoo just smiles before looking at the corner of the room. "Jungwonie doesn't like it when it's bright so he said I should turn the light off."
The woman's head snaps towards the direction Sunoo is looking at only to see nothing there but an empty closet. She presses her palm on the boy's forehead to see if he has a fever, but no, his temperature is normal. "Wouldn't you be scared?" she asks worriedly. Why is Sunoo acting weird?
"No," Sunoo says with a shake of his head. "Jungwonie will sleep next to me so I won't be scared ever again."
"Jungwonie," Sunoo calls as soon as the door is shut. Darkness surrounds them as Jungwon holds Sunoo's hand tightly while facing the boy. They're both covered by the blanket and Sunoo feels a lot safer with Jungwon so close to him.
"Why can't Mommy see you?" he asks, frowning at the thought. It's unfair. He wants his mother to meet his best friend.
"You're special," Jungwon answers with a smile. "And I don't care if they don't see me. I'm happy with you."
"Really?" Sunoo asks with a giggle.
"Yeah," Jungwon replies. "You're my human."
Sunoo purses his lips, furrowing his eyebrows as he tries to think deeply. "What does that mean?"
Jungwon grins. "It means you're mine."