Seventeen Supernatural

This is by far the cheesiest thing I've ever written, but it was super fun. Mostly likely a product of me watching too much Supernatural lately.

Summary: If you have seen the show Supernatural, it's that, with Woozi and Mingyu instead of Sam and Dean. If you haven't, two supernatural hunters save a girl from a ghost.

Word count: 1,944
Genre: Action
For SVTeditors contest, but really just for fun
(2nd person, present tense is SO HARD)

You don’t even try to stifle your yawn as you lean against the front desk. Your job as a receptionist at a small town museum is about the most boring work one could imagine. The place had the occasional tourist passing through on their way to DC which had much more exciting attractions. Your boss had built the place on the premise of a battle during the civil war being fought right in the down town area. In all honesty, you didn’t know if there was ever a battle, but you knew everything in the museum was a replica or bought off EBay.  The place was a farce.

You hear a crash in the room off to your right. It startles you but after your initial scare you sigh and walk over to see what fell down now. Your boss swears it’s just the draft currents in the place but you like to joke that it’s a ghost pissed at being put in the wrong spot and sold off as entertainment.

Sure enough, it’s the same picture that’s on the ground, this time the glass frame shattered into a hundred pieces. You pick up the fallen soldier and set his frame onto the nearest counter before heading to the back to get the broom. You walk into the supply closet and start when you see someone in there. No one but you has been in the building all day; you were not expecting to see a person anywhere, much less the supply closet.

It was a man, his back to you “Hello?” you ask.

He doesn’t turn but there is a growl that sounds like a dog coming from his direction. It’s then you realize he’s wearing an old army uniform. It is not the time of year for Civil War reenactments. Maybe he was an overzealous war buff…but why was he in the supply closet. And not answering you?

“Hello,” you say again, annoyed this time.

With a loud growl, he turned and came after you, so fast you couldn’t focus on his face. You scream, feel a rush of air as you close your eyes instinctually, then…nothing. Silence. You open one eye and find yourself alone. Both eyes prove it. What the heck?

“You’ve been working here too long,” you say out loud. “Now you believe your own ghost stories.” You know you saw something weird but you were too scared to try and analyze it right that moment. You’d just scare yourself even more. You grab the broom and dust pan and hightail it out of the back of the building.

You stop in the room with the broken glass. There are two Asian men in suits and long jackets standing around the broken glass, talking in low voices. They were not locals; you would recognize them if they were. They look like TV cops. You wonder if you are hallucinating again.

The taller one turns to you as you walk in and offers a smile. The shorter one kind of just looks at you like he is annoyed. You hesitantly take a step closer to them. “Can I help you?” you ask.

The taller one flashes a badge, “Agent Mingyu Kim, this is my partner Agent Jihoon Lee. We’re here because of the…problems in town.”

You press your lips together as you nod. “You mean the disappearances,” you correct him. “It’s a small town. Nothing’s a secret.”

Mingyu nods.  “Yes, well, we are trying to be discreet, regardless.”

You frown at him. Both of them were absolutely adorable; for some reason that made you doubt that they were telling the truth. “Why are you looking here? This is a useless museum, not really a place to find missing people. Most townies avoid this place.”

Jihoon was scanning the portraits on the wall. He doesn’t look at you as he speaks, but points to the broken glass on the ground. “What happened here?” he asks, completely ignoring your previous question.

“The picture keeps falling,” you decide there is no harm in the truth. “It’s the new one my boss just purchased.” You point to the frame and photograph on the counter.

Mingyu also points at it. “May I look at it?” You nod, still confused as to why they were at the museum.

Jihoon continued to ask questions as he scanned the room. “Anything weird happen around here lately? Cold spots? The smell of sulfur? Things not quite where you remember them being?”

You immediately think of the weird thing that happened in the supply closet. But that had all been in your head, right? “Who are you guys?” you ask, suspicions peaked.

Mingyu looks from the portrait to you with a smile. “We’re here to help.”

You catch the face in the photograph he’s holding out of the corner of your eye and do a double take. Mingyu catches you doing it but you’re too upset to hear what he asks. It was a picture of the guy you just saw in the supply closet. You find yourself spilling the story of what just happened in a shaky voice.

“I thought I was crazy,” you explain. “Seeing things. But that was him.” You point at the picture.

You have both their attentions now. “You’re lucky he didn’t take you,” Jihoon said. Mingyu elbows him. “What? She is.”

“Taken me where?” you ask.

Jihoon shrugs as Mingyu clears his throat. “Nowhere. Don’t worry. We’ll keep you safe until we figure this one out.”

You squint your eyes at him. “Figure this one out? You guys aren’t cops, are you?”

“Sort of,” Mingyu scratches the back of his head uncomfortably.

“No, we’re not,” Jihoon agrees. “We’re hunters. We hunt things. Today it seems like we are hunting a ghost.”

You blink at him. He stares back at you. He isn’t joking. His face is dead serious.

“Ghosts…” you repeat.

“What else was that thing you saw?” Jihoon challenges.

He had a point. A ghost would be a good description of what that thing was. “So what are you going to do…”

You trail off as you see both boys focus on something behind you. Mingyu, having read your name on your name tag, tells you not to turn around. Like most people, when someone tells you not to do something, you automatically want to do it. It took all your strength not to whirl around on the spot, or run in the opposite direction. You were frozen with panic.

Mingyu takes a step toward you, holding out his hand, like he wants you to take it. He was still a step too far away for you to reach. You knew something bad was behind you. It was probably that ghost. That was scary enough; the looks on the two guys’ faces was terrifying you.

You reach out your hand to Mingyu but you are still a few inches apart. You see Jihoon pull out a gun. In one, almost choreographed, moment you lean forward in time for Mingyu to pull you into his arms as a gunshot explodes from Jihoon’s gun. You let Mingyu pull you into a bear hug, using him as support; you weren’t sure your own legs would keep you upright at this moment.

“That’s one mean spirit,” you hear Jihoon say.

“Is it gone?” You peek over one of Mingyu’s arms to look at Jihoon.

He waved his pistol around. “Iron bullets. He’s gone for the moment.”

“He’s obviously after you,” you hear Mingyu say. You bury your face in his chest again. You don’t know him, but he was strong and you felt safe in his arms. He protected you from whatever that was. You weren’t sure how you were going to let go.

“We’ll keep you safe,” he promises.

Jihoon picks up the portrait. “He has to be tied to this somehow. We need to burn it.”

You look up from the safety of Mingyu’s arms. “Burn it?”

“It’s the only way to get rid of a vengeful spirit. You have to burn whatever is keeping them tied here.” Mingyu explains.

“The frame too, then,” you say, finally feeling brave enough to step away from his arms, though you were regretful to put any space between the two of you. Despite being terrified, you were still well aware of how gorgeous the two men in front of you were. “I think it all came from the same estate.”

Jihoon began patting his pockets, his face going from stern to worried as his patting became more frantic. “My lighter,”

“You always have that on you,” Mingyu says.

“I know,” Jihoon replies. “Not today, apparently.”

“We have one in the kitchenette,” you say, suddenly wanting this whole thing to be over with. You grab the portrait and frame and turn to rush toward the back of the building. You don’t take four steps before you find yourself face to face with a ghost of a pissed off Civil War soldier. His eyes were hollow, his lips peeled back in a snarl that you could hear clear as day. You are too startled to even yelp.

His hands go for your throat and you feel an arm snake around your waist and pull you back at the last second. Another gunshot rings out and you drop the picture in the process of being yanked backward. You wrench free of whichever hunter has you and dash for the lighter in the kitchen before the ghost shows itself again, ignoring the shouts from the guys.

By the time you make it back, the ghost has reappeared, positioning itself between you and its portrait. This time, Jihoon couldn’t shoot at it without hitting you. Both guys were trying to distract it, but it seemed laser focused on you, like it knew you were the threat.

Your mind went through a half dozen scenarios in nanoseconds. You decided on the one with the most favorable outcome. You light the lighter and touched it to the curtains next to you. If you couldn’t burn the picture and frame specifically, you’d burn the building to the ground. You’d really being the town a favor at that point.

The ghost seems distracted by your action. You find the courage to run past it, feeling a chill as it reaches for you at the last moment, a cold slimy hand on your upper arm. But you are far enough that Mingyu can pull you to him, out of the ghost’s grasp.

The building was old and not well taken care of. Everything was dry and wood; the place was already filling with smoke as the fire drifts across the ceiling. Mingyu covers you with his jacket and you follow Jihoon out of the building.

The three of you stand, watching the building go up in flames, hearing the unearthly protests from the ghost still inside, sirens in the distance, as the black smoke billows into the sky. You cough a few times but you are otherwise unscathed.

“That’s one way to do it,” Jihoon shakes his head. “Extreme, but effective.”

“I hated that place,” you say. “No one will miss it.” You look over at Jihoon, then Mingyu. “What now?”

“We wait a day or two to make sure it’s over,” Mingyu says. “Then we move on to the next place that needs our help.”

“Saving people. Hunting things,” you say, nodding.

“Yep,” Mingyu agrees, putting an arm around your shoulders. “The family business.”

You think about it a moment before grinning up at him. “I did pretty good today,” you hint. Mingyu eyes you sideways, already smiling. “What do you guys think about a third partner?”