there's a cult, there's a cult inside of me (pledis ladies)
there's a cult, there's a cult inside of me
pledis ladies - au - pg-13 - 2,047 words - prompt
an: written as a response for unnideul! it's not just... "kind of", but incredible inspired by the movie, "suspiria". the idea mostly came to be from the... pretty pastel/neon look of the building there. it reminded me of the focus on color/use of technicolor print in the film..., i guess. i wrote it listening to this on loop if you want a ~feel~ for it while reading. oh, and it's set at an all girl's dance academy!
warning(s): mentions of multiple deaths/murders (or allusions to murder), murder staged as suicide
"They want you to think everything is normal here, but... really..., I'm on to them."
Kaeun's words played back to Yooyoung, over and over, like a broken record. It had taken her three weeks, two days, fourteen hours, five minutes and twenty-two seconds to realize that what her fellow classmate had whispered to her wasn't the workings of her imagination, but on to something terrifyingly accurate.
She was on to them - and then she was gone.
It was with a candid slip of her tongue at the end of their final afternoon dance class, and a steely glare from their first headmistress annd dance instructor, Gahee, that Yooyoung had realized how serious her friend had been about her assumptions. It wasn't until after Kaeun had managed to not appear at any of their meals or classes for two days straight that Yooyoung knew something wasn't quite right.
"Miss Lee is no longer with us, she was causing too much of a ruckus with the faculty, we've discontinued her attendance here at the academy."
One little slip up was all it had taken for Kaeun's entire future to be pulled out from under her? Yooyoung didn't buy it, not many of their friends did but everyone kept their lips zipped. It made sense - no one wanted to end up like Kaeun had, but Yooyoung couldn't help but wonder what that actually meant. "Ending up" like Kaeun - the thought alone implied that there was something between the lines that none of them had managed to pick up on, and she suddenly became determined to figure out what that may have been.
--
Yi Young disappearance had been just as unexpected, but even more difficult to understand.
"She knew too much, it makes sense that they'd get her out of while they still could," the panicked whisper of Yoonjo had caught Yooyoung's attention one evening three weeks later. Her words were rushed, almost strung together, as the person on the receiving end of her whispers, Joohee, had looked on blankly, disbelief dancing through her eyes.
"Okay, what you're saying is..., Kaeun disappeared because she "knew too much", but if that's true..., why haven't you gone missing too?"
Yooyoung swore she could hear Yoonjo's stomach drop as she exited the room.
--
It'd been with a slow turn of the knob to her bedroom and a deep huffing that Yoonjo had entered into Yooyoung's dorm room two nights afterward. Her eyes, as large as usual, were filled with a certain fear that Yooyoung could only match to one an actor had to play up in a horror film. It was a strange contrast to the usual bright sparkle she had in them - Yoonjo glowed, in every aspect of the word, but something was off then.
"Are you okay?" The question, in itself, seemed incredibly pointless to Yooyoung but she figured, being polite was always the best policy.
Yoonjo gulped, shaking head head one, two, three, four times as she made her way toward the side of Yooyoung's bed, sliding down against the framing of the headboard. "I just...," she gulped, eyes turning toward Yooyoung's soft pink carpeting. "I can't explain it. It wasn't natural. It looked..., it was human. It was them, all of them, they looked the same but it didn't feel the same, you know? Something was off; really, really off."
Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Yooyoung rose up from her desk chair, taking a few steady steps in Yoonjo's direction. "Are you sure you're okay, unnie? You look a little..."
"No!" Yooyoung froze, own eyes widening as Yoonjo started to shake her head again. "I'm not okay. I'm not okay at all, but I'm not sick or something, if that's what you're thinking. I'm a hundred percent lucid right now, okay? I saw something and it didn't feel real but it was. I know it was because I..," she swallowed thickly. "... They saw me."
"They?"
Yooyoung had felt herself begin to loosen up again as Yoonjo's tone had softened back down, continuing her journey toward her until she was just in front of her, crouching down. Raising a hand to brush a chunk of damp bangs out of Yoonjo's eyes, she pouted as she felt the set of hands just in front of hers shake violently.
Staying in place, Yooyoung's breath caught in her throat as Yoonjo leaned forward closer to her, lips ghosting at the lobe of her ear, voice barely above a whisper. "The headmistresses."
--
Yooyoung took it upon herself to keep tabs on Yoonjo after that night. It wasn’t that she was in disbelief of Yoonjo’s accusations, she knew something wasn’t quite right, it was just… a hard pill to swallow. It was one thing to accuse one of the headmistresses of being cruel or unfair (because, at times, they could be) but it was another to imply that there were supernatural forces at work between the walls of their academy.
Supernatural forces. This was exactly how Yoonjo had put it to her the morning after stumbling into her dorm: “it was supernatural.”
Yooyoung let out a sigh as he grabbed for a fresh carton of milk, small tray of food balancing against her opposite arm. It was just past seven in the morning - classes would be starting soon and, according to how everything had gone the past few mornings, Yoonjo would be a few minutes late arriving for breakfast. She had been following a strict schedule lately: wave Yoonjo over to her otherwise empty table when spotting her, ask her if she had gotten some rest, and try to listen on contently as she went on another one of her new supernatural conspiracy ramblings.
As Yooyoung turned on her heel to make way for her usual table, the creaking of a large wooden door on the opposite end of the room drew her attention. It was rare for the door to be used - only on special occasions and solely by the staff of the school. Her breath caught in her throat, as did that of another girl standing at her side (Hyelim, was it?) as headmistresses Gahee and Dambi slowly entered into the room.
The room seemed to be at a standstill as Gahee leaned over and whispered something into Dambi’s ear, the other nodding slowly before clearing her throat.
“Students,” Gahee spoke up, voice as strong and confident as the aura she gave off, “I have some… regretful news to share with you.” Yooyoung’s stomach churned, eyes darting away from the headmistresses to scan the cafeteria. Where was Yoonjo?
Turning back to look at the two women at the other end of the room, Yooyoung noted the lack of expression on Dambi’s face. Not a single smile or frown line, anger or sadness, just… blank.
“I’m… very saddened to inform you that Shin Yoonjo was found deceased in the foyer earlier this morning.”
Yooyoung felt her equilibrium shift at the word… “deceased”. It couldn’t be, could it? It’d been less than ten hours since she’d last seen Yoonjo, how could she possibly be…
The final half of the Gahee’s announcement came to her as if played in slow motion, Yooyoung’s mouth going dry as she searched around for something to grip onto for support. Hyelim’s forearm was the nearest object, her fingernails digging into the soft flesh as she turned to look the blonde in the eye, trying to muster up the strength to send her an apologetic smile but… it just wouldn’t come.
Hyelim looked as if she could have cared less anyway, free arm reaching out to wrap around Yooyoung’s back for support. “Are you o…-”
The final half of Hyelim’s question floated to Yooyoung’s ears with a dull roar as her eyes rolled back into her head, sclera prominent before she became limp against Hyelim’s arm.
--
“These little girls are playing with fire, do they have any idea what they’re getting themselves into going around spreading those rumors about us?”
“No, because they’re not aware of the half of it.”
“She’ll be the next one to go, you know, that Shin girl was foolish running to her and spilling what she’d seen. Foolish and weak - she was a promising dancer, too. We’ve could’ve made a world renowned star out of her along with…, you know.”
“She would’ve cracked under the pressure - clearly. This one, though…, it may work.”
“The fainting could be a problem.”
“Had she eaten yet today? That could’ve been the root of the problem. Either way…,”
“Either way?”
“She could be the “one”. It’ll just take a little bit of time, and…, well, we’ll need to find out if she’s one to squirm before getting ahead of ourselves.”
“If she’s willing to get the blood on her hands…”
“I was like her once - young, afraid. If I can wade through the blood of one of my students and cut the rope from around their neck, she can do the same someday also. Maybe even the nex…”
Yooyoung jolted forward, the back of her nightgown soaked through with cold sweat, an attempt to scream caught in her throat. Her eyes scanned the room frantically - it wasn’t her own. None of this looked familiar.
She had to get out of there.
An attempt to swing her legs over the side of the bed she was positioned on proved to be a large failure though, a rush of blood to the head sending her back down flat onto the mattress, chest heaving. “Where am I…,” she whispered, hoarsely as a small laugh from the other end of the room elicited a small cry from her.
“You’re in the infirmary, sweetie. Get some more rest, you had quite a nasty fall after that Hyelim girl let you drop during your fainting spell.”
Yooyoung squinted through the darkness, fear settling down somewhat when realizing that the woman speaking was neither of the headmistresses. It was just the on duty nurse.
Eyes clamping shut, the sound of her own rapidly beating heart threw Yooyoung off, but not as much as her “dream” had. If it’d even been a dream.
--
Cold and tired is what Yooyoung felt as she sauntered from the infirmary back to her own dorm the next morning, all eyes following her at a careful pace.
It wasn’t being watched by her classmates that bothered her - they were all harmless. It was the four eyes locked on her at the end of the hallway that made her chest swell with apprehension. It was the clinking of headmistress Gahee’s jewelry against the wooden frame of her door that made her stomach twist, and her breath running down the back of her neck that would have made her lose all feeling in her legs again if she hadn’t already been sitting.
“You have so much potential,” she whispered, and Yooyoung felt as if she’d been thrown right back into her “dream” from the day before. This wasn’t a dream though - it was happening, it was hovering right above her. “Don’t be like the other girls - you could be as great as the two of us someday.”
Yooyoung stared forward, completely still, as Gahee removed her hand from her shoulder, a rustling sound overpowering her as a small metal bracelet was placed by her still hand. She gazed down at the jewelry, unable to read what was scribbled across it as her eyesight went blurry.
“Don’t tell a soul,” Gahee whispered, positioning herself at Yooyoung’s side and leaning forward, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
Yooyoung closed her eyes at the sensation, resting her forehead against the cool face of her desk. Her hand moved toward the bracelet, feeling the presence of the headmistress disappear, tip of her finger smoothing against the metal. She wasn’t sure what she felt at that moment, but it wasn’t fear, really. It was different, something unplaceable, something… new. Something she was sure wasn’t in the slightest natural.
pledis ladies - au - pg-13 - 2,047 words - prompt
an: written as a response for unnideul! it's not just... "kind of", but incredible inspired by the movie, "suspiria". the idea mostly came to be from the... pretty pastel/neon look of the building there. it reminded me of the focus on color/use of technicolor print in the film..., i guess. i wrote it listening to this on loop if you want a ~feel~ for it while reading. oh, and it's set at an all girl's dance academy!
warning(s): mentions of multiple deaths/murders (or allusions to murder), murder staged as suicide
"They want you to think everything is normal here, but... really..., I'm on to them."
Kaeun's words played back to Yooyoung, over and over, like a broken record. It had taken her three weeks, two days, fourteen hours, five minutes and twenty-two seconds to realize that what her fellow classmate had whispered to her wasn't the workings of her imagination, but on to something terrifyingly accurate.
She was on to them - and then she was gone.
It was with a candid slip of her tongue at the end of their final afternoon dance class, and a steely glare from their first headmistress annd dance instructor, Gahee, that Yooyoung had realized how serious her friend had been about her assumptions. It wasn't until after Kaeun had managed to not appear at any of their meals or classes for two days straight that Yooyoung knew something wasn't quite right.
"Miss Lee is no longer with us, she was causing too much of a ruckus with the faculty, we've discontinued her attendance here at the academy."
One little slip up was all it had taken for Kaeun's entire future to be pulled out from under her? Yooyoung didn't buy it, not many of their friends did but everyone kept their lips zipped. It made sense - no one wanted to end up like Kaeun had, but Yooyoung couldn't help but wonder what that actually meant. "Ending up" like Kaeun - the thought alone implied that there was something between the lines that none of them had managed to pick up on, and she suddenly became determined to figure out what that may have been.
--
Yi Young disappearance had been just as unexpected, but even more difficult to understand.
"She knew too much, it makes sense that they'd get her out of while they still could," the panicked whisper of Yoonjo had caught Yooyoung's attention one evening three weeks later. Her words were rushed, almost strung together, as the person on the receiving end of her whispers, Joohee, had looked on blankly, disbelief dancing through her eyes.
"Okay, what you're saying is..., Kaeun disappeared because she "knew too much", but if that's true..., why haven't you gone missing too?"
Yooyoung swore she could hear Yoonjo's stomach drop as she exited the room.
--
It'd been with a slow turn of the knob to her bedroom and a deep huffing that Yoonjo had entered into Yooyoung's dorm room two nights afterward. Her eyes, as large as usual, were filled with a certain fear that Yooyoung could only match to one an actor had to play up in a horror film. It was a strange contrast to the usual bright sparkle she had in them - Yoonjo glowed, in every aspect of the word, but something was off then.
"Are you okay?" The question, in itself, seemed incredibly pointless to Yooyoung but she figured, being polite was always the best policy.
Yoonjo gulped, shaking head head one, two, three, four times as she made her way toward the side of Yooyoung's bed, sliding down against the framing of the headboard. "I just...," she gulped, eyes turning toward Yooyoung's soft pink carpeting. "I can't explain it. It wasn't natural. It looked..., it was human. It was them, all of them, they looked the same but it didn't feel the same, you know? Something was off; really, really off."
Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Yooyoung rose up from her desk chair, taking a few steady steps in Yoonjo's direction. "Are you sure you're okay, unnie? You look a little..."
"No!" Yooyoung froze, own eyes widening as Yoonjo started to shake her head again. "I'm not okay. I'm not okay at all, but I'm not sick or something, if that's what you're thinking. I'm a hundred percent lucid right now, okay? I saw something and it didn't feel real but it was. I know it was because I..," she swallowed thickly. "... They saw me."
"They?"
Yooyoung had felt herself begin to loosen up again as Yoonjo's tone had softened back down, continuing her journey toward her until she was just in front of her, crouching down. Raising a hand to brush a chunk of damp bangs out of Yoonjo's eyes, she pouted as she felt the set of hands just in front of hers shake violently.
Staying in place, Yooyoung's breath caught in her throat as Yoonjo leaned forward closer to her, lips ghosting at the lobe of her ear, voice barely above a whisper. "The headmistresses."
--
Yooyoung took it upon herself to keep tabs on Yoonjo after that night. It wasn’t that she was in disbelief of Yoonjo’s accusations, she knew something wasn’t quite right, it was just… a hard pill to swallow. It was one thing to accuse one of the headmistresses of being cruel or unfair (because, at times, they could be) but it was another to imply that there were supernatural forces at work between the walls of their academy.
Supernatural forces. This was exactly how Yoonjo had put it to her the morning after stumbling into her dorm: “it was supernatural.”
Yooyoung let out a sigh as he grabbed for a fresh carton of milk, small tray of food balancing against her opposite arm. It was just past seven in the morning - classes would be starting soon and, according to how everything had gone the past few mornings, Yoonjo would be a few minutes late arriving for breakfast. She had been following a strict schedule lately: wave Yoonjo over to her otherwise empty table when spotting her, ask her if she had gotten some rest, and try to listen on contently as she went on another one of her new supernatural conspiracy ramblings.
As Yooyoung turned on her heel to make way for her usual table, the creaking of a large wooden door on the opposite end of the room drew her attention. It was rare for the door to be used - only on special occasions and solely by the staff of the school. Her breath caught in her throat, as did that of another girl standing at her side (Hyelim, was it?) as headmistresses Gahee and Dambi slowly entered into the room.
The room seemed to be at a standstill as Gahee leaned over and whispered something into Dambi’s ear, the other nodding slowly before clearing her throat.
“Students,” Gahee spoke up, voice as strong and confident as the aura she gave off, “I have some… regretful news to share with you.” Yooyoung’s stomach churned, eyes darting away from the headmistresses to scan the cafeteria. Where was Yoonjo?
Turning back to look at the two women at the other end of the room, Yooyoung noted the lack of expression on Dambi’s face. Not a single smile or frown line, anger or sadness, just… blank.
“I’m… very saddened to inform you that Shin Yoonjo was found deceased in the foyer earlier this morning.”
Yooyoung felt her equilibrium shift at the word… “deceased”. It couldn’t be, could it? It’d been less than ten hours since she’d last seen Yoonjo, how could she possibly be…
The final half of the Gahee’s announcement came to her as if played in slow motion, Yooyoung’s mouth going dry as she searched around for something to grip onto for support. Hyelim’s forearm was the nearest object, her fingernails digging into the soft flesh as she turned to look the blonde in the eye, trying to muster up the strength to send her an apologetic smile but… it just wouldn’t come.
Hyelim looked as if she could have cared less anyway, free arm reaching out to wrap around Yooyoung’s back for support. “Are you o…-”
The final half of Hyelim’s question floated to Yooyoung’s ears with a dull roar as her eyes rolled back into her head, sclera prominent before she became limp against Hyelim’s arm.
--
“These little girls are playing with fire, do they have any idea what they’re getting themselves into going around spreading those rumors about us?”
“No, because they’re not aware of the half of it.”
“She’ll be the next one to go, you know, that Shin girl was foolish running to her and spilling what she’d seen. Foolish and weak - she was a promising dancer, too. We’ve could’ve made a world renowned star out of her along with…, you know.”
“She would’ve cracked under the pressure - clearly. This one, though…, it may work.”
“The fainting could be a problem.”
“Had she eaten yet today? That could’ve been the root of the problem. Either way…,”
“Either way?”
“She could be the “one”. It’ll just take a little bit of time, and…, well, we’ll need to find out if she’s one to squirm before getting ahead of ourselves.”
“If she’s willing to get the blood on her hands…”
“I was like her once - young, afraid. If I can wade through the blood of one of my students and cut the rope from around their neck, she can do the same someday also. Maybe even the nex…”
Yooyoung jolted forward, the back of her nightgown soaked through with cold sweat, an attempt to scream caught in her throat. Her eyes scanned the room frantically - it wasn’t her own. None of this looked familiar.
She had to get out of there.
An attempt to swing her legs over the side of the bed she was positioned on proved to be a large failure though, a rush of blood to the head sending her back down flat onto the mattress, chest heaving. “Where am I…,” she whispered, hoarsely as a small laugh from the other end of the room elicited a small cry from her.
“You’re in the infirmary, sweetie. Get some more rest, you had quite a nasty fall after that Hyelim girl let you drop during your fainting spell.”
Yooyoung squinted through the darkness, fear settling down somewhat when realizing that the woman speaking was neither of the headmistresses. It was just the on duty nurse.
Eyes clamping shut, the sound of her own rapidly beating heart threw Yooyoung off, but not as much as her “dream” had. If it’d even been a dream.
--
Cold and tired is what Yooyoung felt as she sauntered from the infirmary back to her own dorm the next morning, all eyes following her at a careful pace.
It wasn’t being watched by her classmates that bothered her - they were all harmless. It was the four eyes locked on her at the end of the hallway that made her chest swell with apprehension. It was the clinking of headmistress Gahee’s jewelry against the wooden frame of her door that made her stomach twist, and her breath running down the back of her neck that would have made her lose all feeling in her legs again if she hadn’t already been sitting.
“You have so much potential,” she whispered, and Yooyoung felt as if she’d been thrown right back into her “dream” from the day before. This wasn’t a dream though - it was happening, it was hovering right above her. “Don’t be like the other girls - you could be as great as the two of us someday.”
Yooyoung stared forward, completely still, as Gahee removed her hand from her shoulder, a rustling sound overpowering her as a small metal bracelet was placed by her still hand. She gazed down at the jewelry, unable to read what was scribbled across it as her eyesight went blurry.
“Don’t tell a soul,” Gahee whispered, positioning herself at Yooyoung’s side and leaning forward, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
Yooyoung closed her eyes at the sensation, resting her forehead against the cool face of her desk. Her hand moved toward the bracelet, feeling the presence of the headmistress disappear, tip of her finger smoothing against the metal. She wasn’t sure what she felt at that moment, but it wasn’t fear, really. It was different, something unplaceable, something… new. Something she was sure wasn’t in the slightest natural.