the grey area {ch. one} - m. yg & k. nj
"What if this trip is all for nothing and it turns out to be a dud? What if something goes wrong while staying in a stranger's cabin? And why are you trying so hard to ignore the fact that a few months ago you started having feelings for your decade-long best friend who happens to be sleeping right in front of you?"
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𓉸 wc: 3.2k
𓉸 a/n: Tada! Here she is! Been working since... September? Doing research and daydreaming and whatnot. Unapoligetically, I am so much more passionate about this book than all my others that I basically had to hold myself back from writing this first chapter back in the fall. (Wait a minute maybe I shouldv'e done that since the first part of this book takes place in the fall...)
Nah, I had to do research. I had to let it marinate. Not gonna lie, I posted the masterlist to this story 3 days ago and got a whole 8 likes on it and now I'm nervous I won't live up to people's expectations.
Oh, who cares. Let's just post the chapter, shall we? Enjoy!!
You kick the door open with such force that you’re surprised it doesn’t fall off the hinges. In your defense, you don’t have much of a choice. Your hands are full with an awkward shaped box, heavy with the equipment you and your partner brought with you.
You waddle into the living room, attempting to navigate with the box blocking your view. The unfamiliarity of a new environment adds an extra challenge.
The box hits the table a little bit more aggressively than you intend. But, mission success, so there is that.
After catching your breath, you turn toward the door to shout to your partner, “Namjoon! Get your weak ass in here!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” You hear him shout back from the distance, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Soon, Namjoon himself is maneuvering his way through the door, careful not to run into anything with the bags haphazardly thrown over his shoulders and hanging from his arms.
“You didn’t really give me the opportunity to take the equipment box, you know.” Namjoon says as he sets down some of the bags, “I could’ve carried it in.”
“Yeah right. Last time you dropped it halfway to that cabin in Cook’s Forest and almost broke half our equipment.”
Namjoon narrows his eyes at you before turning back to the car.
“You’re just going to leave all these bags in a pile here?” You shout out to him as he walks towards the car.
Namjoon just throws his hand up to dismiss you. You scoff. Truthfully, however, your friendship is nothing without the playful bullying. It’s how the two of you show love.
You sigh, turning to the bags to evaluate the damage. It’s a lot to unpack, this is by far your longest planned trip yet.
Ninety percent of your investigations are just quick after-dinner trips that the two of you take to local graveyards or trips to visit the old ladies at the historical society. Every once in a while you two take a weekend trip to a cabin at a state forest near your hometown. Last summer the two of you used your summer job cash to take your first week-long trip to a hotel near Pennhurst Asylum.
None of those, however, are real investigations. Some local cemeteries and the historical society are just to prove to the University that your club is doing something. Everyone knows state forests are too mainstream to really be hiding anything. And Pennhurst barely counts, you stayed in a nice safe hotel the whole week.
This trip is different. By some miracle, the University had given the club a substantial grant to take an expedition. After months of reaching out to local places in search of somewhere haunted, someone reached out to you.
A message had come in from a woman, probably in her mid thirties, rambling about her grandfather’s old cabin in the back of her property. She said she and her husband were planning on renting it out as a vacation cabin, and offered the two of you to stay for free for a few months in exchange for a test trial and good reviews on the place to keep people coming.
“Lost in thought there, Y/N?”
You blink yourself back to reality. Namjoon is back in the house and you didn’t even register it. You shake your head at him in response, and start to unzip one of the duffel bags.
“Can’t do that on an investigation,” Namjoon warns playfully, “Something might get you.”
You roll your eyes and shake your head at him, but a smirk tugs at your lips. You two never have any real threats while on investigations, you barely have any findings at all. The chances of ‘something getting you’ are low to none.
After two hours, you and Namjoon can finally say that you have unpacked all your things and put everything away. Which is actually refreshing after the three and a half hour car ride you made before you got there.
“Alright, naptime,” Namjoon declares, heading upstairs to the room he claims as his.
“What? You’re not going to come explore the town with me?” You bounce after him, grabbing his arm in an attempt to drag him with you.
“Y/N, I just drove three and a half hours,” Namjoon pulls the keys out of his pocket and tosses them to you, “I need rest.”
You scoff, but leave the poor man to his slumber. You flick your wrist up to check your watch. 4:15. Still about three hours until the sun begins to set. You have plenty of time.
So you leave the cabin, careful to shut and lock the door behind you, and jump in Namjoon’s car.
The ride to town is easy. Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia is a small town. When you did the research, Google had told you the population is under 300 people. Perfect for a paranormal investigation.
You drive into town and park in front of a building that is labeled on your maps app as “Appalachian Trail Conservatory”.
When you open the front door, which squeaks as you do, you find yourself in a welcome center and gift shop.
Upon arrival, a man behind the counter greets you, “Hi, there! Anything I can help you with?”
“Hi!” You use your fake, high pitched voice, “Me and a friend are staying in a cabin up on Chestnut Hill. Just checking out the town since today is our first day here.”
“Oh! Well allow me to be your unofficial trip advisor.” The man smiles as he comes out from behind the desk, “How long are you staying? What brings you here to Harper’s Ferry?”
“Uh…” You feel a sudden sting of nervousness that you always feel when you’re about to tell someone that you’re on an investigation for your paranormal society.
It isn’t always something people are too kind to. Especially strangers. People suspect that you and Namjoon are in a cult, or are trying to wake the devil or something.
“We are here for a few months.” You decide on, “My friend and I heard the local myths about the ghosts in the woods and thought it would be fun to check it out.”
The man’s face does this thing that leads you to believe he knows something about ‘those ghosts in the woods’. More than he cares to tell you, though, because his cheerful demeanor comes back quickly.
“Oh, those silly ghost stories.” The man chuckles, “Tell you what, there’s a coffee shop here in town. The owner’s daughter, Eva, works there and she believes in all those silly things. You should talk to her.”
You perk up, “Okay! What’s the coffee shop called?”
“It’s called Epigram Coffee,” the man says, “Cute little place.”
“What other places in town do you recommend?”
You stay talking to the man until he has to close the business. You now have multiple informational pamphlets and a notebook full of places in town to check out. From cafes to bakeries, museums to cemeteries, it seems like this cute little town has everything.
Except a grocery store. Nearest one is a ten minute drive. Which, actually, isn’t that bad for rural America.
Since it is only around five o’clock when you are done at the trail conservatory, you decide to make that drive to pick up dinner for yourself and Namjoon.
By the time you get back to the cabin, it’s quarter to six.
You push through the door and put the grocery bags onto the table. You carefully put away the cold items in the fridge, then begin up the stairs to find Namjoon.
When you get to the top of the stairs to the loft bedroom, you find Namjoon asleep in his bed. You squat down to be eye-level with the sleeping boy.
He looks peaceful like this. Like the stress of the universe doesn’t exist and he has nothing to worry about. You're almost jealous. Your brain never lets you know peace.
Even now, your mind has just short of a thousand worries floating around. What if this trip is all for nothing and it turns out to be a dud? What if something goes wrong while staying in a stranger's cabin? And why are you trying so hard to ignore the fact that a few months ago you started having feelings for your decade-long best friend who happens to be sleeping right in front of you?
You reach your hand up to push a stray hair out of his face. Doing this causes him to grumble. His eyes flicker open to you, then back shut.
Namjoon makes a familiar whine that sounds almost like a question. You've known him long enough to know that sound roughly translates to 'why the hell did you wake me up.'
"I got us dinner while I was out." You reply softly. Namjoon's eyes dart open to that.
He takes a second to rub his eyes and sit up. He stretches his arms high above his head as he lets out a yawn.
"You're an angel, you know that?" His voice comes out deep, laced with sleep.
He follows you down the stairs to where you've left the hoagie rolls on the table for the two of you. As if on cue, his stomach grumbles, causing you to giggle.
After knowing someone for as long as the two of you have known each other, conversations become limited. You two eat almost every meal together nowadays, so you opt to play card games while you eat instead of silence.
Well, just one game of cards, that is. You and Namjoon have had a game of 500 rummy going for almost 3 years now. You've long exceeded 500 points each, reaching up to the ten-thousands by now. You've altered the rules, added in wild cards, and made the most confusing and competitive game of cards the world has ever seen.
"I use this joker as the queen of…" you trail off. The house rule with jokers is that while they are used as wild cards, if the other player has the intended card in their hand, the points go against the score.
"Diamonds." You finish confidentially. The other two cards in your group of 3 are the queen of spades and the queen of clubs, so its a 50/50 shot.
Namjoon's eyes glance up at you in a mysterious glare. Then a smirk appears on his face as he grabs a card from his hand and slowly flips it to face you.
It's the queen of diamonds.
"Bitch!" You shout, reaching over the table in an attempt to snatch the card out of his hand. Unsuccessful, however, as Namjoon retreats his arm in time.
"Ah, Y/N, you're going to knock over a drink!" Namjoon scolds you, though there's no real bite behind it.
The two of you finish dinner and clean up. It isn't until you're washing dishes that Namjoon gets serious.
"Think we'll find anything this time?" Namjoon began as he handed you the next dirty plate.
You turn to him and shrug. You've never found anything groundbreaking before. What's to say this time will be the lucky one?
He hums in response and focuses back on putting things away in the fridge.
After you finish cleaning up, you go to your room to put on your pajamas. Inconveniently, you hear a knock at the door.
"Coming!" You shout as you slip your feet into your slippers. You walk towards the door and turn the knob to open it. You find Namjoon standing there.
"I'm heading up to bed." He yawns. Namjoon is dressed similarly to you, cozy pajamas on. Your eyes drift down to his slippers, which you right now realize are bunnies.
"Seriously?" You point to his slippers as your eyes shoot back up to match his.
Namjoon smirks, "What? They were on sale and they're comfy."
You hum in response and begin to shut the door, "Goodnight, Namjoon."
"Sleep well and dream of me." You hear Namjoon say as he pads his way up the stairs to the loft bedroom. You sigh and shake your head before walking back to your own bed.
It is absolutely too late to still be reading this book. Your eyes hurt, your mouth is dry (your glass of water has been empty for awhile), and you should have stopped hours ago. But you keep telling yourself 'one more chapter', and then every chapter happens to end on a cliffhanger.
A knock at the door causes you to startle enough that you drop your book and lose your page.
"Dammit, Namjoon." You huff as you slip your feet into your slippers and walk over to the door.
You feel a strong surge of deja vu as you reach for the doorknob. Except, when you twist your wrist to turn the knob, the knob doesn't twist with you.
"What the fuck?" You whisper under your breath as you try again to turn the knob, harder this time.
When it doesn't budge again, you turn your body around to give up and go to bed.
Except, when you do, there is someone standing between you and the bed.
In that exact moment, you stomach drops so hard you think might've peed your pants. Your instinct is to scream, but when you open your mouth to do so, no sound comes out. You turn back around frantically and try again at the knob, to no prevail.
"Oh my god you're dramatic." The words come from a voice behind you, presumably whoever—or whatever—you saw standing there.
You're shaking as you turn back around and push your back flat up against the door.
"Please, please, please don't hurt me." Your voice comes out high-pitched and wavered, and you squeeze your eyes shut, causing a tear to roll down your cheek.
After a second of not-dying, you open your eyes to see a young man there, arms folded.
"Done with your little meltdown?"
You nod your head quickly, wishing to be anywhere but here right now. You take a second to analyze the boy in front of you. He seems about your age. Taller than you, for sure, but not as tall as Namjoon. He has black hair, dark eyes, and… he's transparent?
"You're a ghost?" You manage sputter out.
The ghost rolls his eyes at you, "I have a name, you know."
"Oh?" Is all you can manage at the moment. The past two minutes have been so much for you that you feel like your feet are numb.
"I'm Yoongi," he offers you a reassuring smile, "You are?"
"Y/N." You continue to keep your answers brief since your chest is so heavy.
Yoongi offers a hand out for a handshake, but you can't seem to do anything but stand paralyzed staring at it.
Yoongi sighs and rolls his eyes again, "So long as I initiate contact you'll feel it and not go right through me."
Your eyes shoot back up to him in a confused trance. You still can't find it in you to move your arm enough to meet his. Yoongi lets out a groan of annoyance and gives up, letting his arm fall back to his side. He takes a step dangerously towards you, causing you to shrink down even more than you already are.
He takes another dangerous step forward before he begins to interrogate you, "Why are you in my house?"
You let out an embarrassing sound that sounds like the squeak of a baby chick, if the baby chick was currently at the hands of a deadly wolf. You really, really, don't want to die.
A frustrated scoff sounds from Yoongi and he rolls his eyes again. You make a mental note that this ghost is sassy.
His upper lip twitches out of frustration as he repeats himself, more stern this time, "I said, what are you doing in my house?"
"My friend and I are here to do paranormal research."
Yoongi lets out a quick laugh, "Is this paranormal enough for you?"
You bite at the dead skin on you bottom lip. Its a bad anxiety habit you've had for years that you can't seem to shake. Yoongi's eyes flicker down to the movement of your lips, and his face morphs into an emotion you can't file because your thoughts are currently occupied by panic right now.
Yoongi takes a step back, "Well, this is my house, so you have to leave."
"What?" The word bursts out of your mouth before you can think. Your hand shoots up to cover your mouth out of fear. You slowly pull your hand away before you continue, "I mean- we don't have anywhere else to go. Our house is three hours away and we already paid for our time here."
"How long?" He shoots at you.
You can't manage to make eye contact with him, "A few months."
Yoongi lets out a dramatic groan (who's the drama queen now?) as he paces the room. He walks back and forth a bit, deep in thought. Slowly, he runs a hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh.
"We could share the cabin." You lightly suggest.
"Share?" He snaps back at you. He's back to looking at you, staring down your soul, and it causes you to get anxious and shy again.
"This is your room, right?" You wait for a second as he nods his head. "Well, there is a queen bed in here."
"Are you suggesting we share a bed?" He asks as he tilts his head at you judgmentally.
"No! I mean- yes, but… not really?" You exclaim, voice shaky. Yoongi raises a brow to question your logic so you continue, "I mean, you only appeared at, what? 2am? If I just fall asleep before you want to sleep, and then you disappear by morning, it'll be like you were never there."
Yoongi takes a step back to ponder. He appears deep in thought, running through the idea in his head.
Finally, he turns back to you, "Fine. But don't make this a big deal. And don't tell that boy upstairs about my existence."
"That's my friend, his name is Namjoon."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just don't freak him out." Yoongi says as he steps aside, clearing space for you to make it back into the bed, "He's totally in love with you, I don't think he'd like the idea of you sharing a bed with a male ghost."
His words take you by surprise, "What?"
Yoongi tilts his head towards you in a knowing way, as if to say 'oh, you clueless girl'. He extends an arm towards the bed to usher you to it.
"Go to bed." Yoongi scolds you as you walk over to the covers, "If you don't fall asleep soon, you'll oversleep past when the coffee shop is open and you'll miss talking to the owners daughter."
You slip yourself under the covers and snuggle into the pillow. Yoongi is right. You need to talk to the girl at the cafe if you want to get any information about why you chose this town specifically.
It isn't until you're too far asleep that the thought occurs to you, how did Yoongi know about your plans to talk to the girl at the coffee shop?
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