Hangeng was wandering the streets one night, his stomach rumbling as looked for food. It had been days since he had last fed and he was slowly becoming ravenous. Just as he passes an old school building, his ears perk up. He could have sworn he heard a noise coming from inside. But who would be inside the school this late at night on a weekend. He smirked, only feeling slightly sorry for the poor soul inside. He rushed inside with extraordinary speed, his teeth elongating on the way.

He halted to a stop when he noticed a younger boy crouched down, his top half hidden underneath a table. Curious, Hangeng cleared his voice, intent on speaking to this peculiar boy. The boy gasped at the sound and shot up in the air before hitting the table above him and falling back down with an “Ooof”. He crawled out and stood up while rubbing his head. He meekly peeked behind him and once he realized that it was not an authoritative figure, but some kid perhaps a few years older, he pouted. “What’d you do that for?”

Hangeng chuckled, unsure of what to do. He had never talked to his food before and the boy standing in front of him was very intriguing.

“Uh, what were you doing under the table?” Hangeng asked curiously. Donghae huffed.

“Well I was trying to find my cat, Minzy, before she got herself lost and I almost had her too, until you came in and ruined everything. Now I don’t know what to do,” Donghae replied in a rush. “Minzy’s my life and now she’s gone. What will the others think? Do you think they’ll think I got rid of her? That I grew tired of her and threw her away,” Donghae grabbed Hangeng, his teary eyes pleading for Hangeng to help him.

“I guess I can help you find her,” Hangeng hoped that was the right answer and sure enough, Donghae gave him a toothy grin and hopped up and down. Boy, was he an emotional roller coaster or what!

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Donghae grabbed Hangeng’s cold hand and rushed down the hallway.

“So what did you mean by others?”

“Huh?”

“You said, what will the others think. What were you talking about? Does your family honestly think you would get rid of cats just like that?”

Donghae chuckled. “No, no. I was talking about my other cats. CL, Amber, Leeteuk, Key, Dara, Kota, Jubee, Kibum, Kangin, Bom, Taemin, Luna, Sulli, Krystal—“

“Woah, woah, woah! Hold up. Just how many cats do you have?”

“Only a few. I wish I had more, but my landlord got really angry the last time he stopped by. Which is ridiculous! Seriously, I don’t know what his problem is.”

Hangeng stopped as memories from a long time ago began bombarding him. His eyes teared up as he remembered who Donghae reminded him of. Of that important person who left him all because of a stupid cat.

“Why did Jack have to die? Why?!” Hangeng wailed as the memory of the person he loved leaving him replayed over and over in his mind. “It wasn’t my fault! I swear. But Heechul was never one for listening when his mind was already made up. Of course he blamed me for what I am but I promised him I would never hurt him and he loved his cats so of course I wouldn’t hurt his cat.” Hangeng muttered quickly, more to himself than Donghae. “You understand, right?” He looked up at Donghae, tears falling down his face.

Donghae, still recovering from the shock of this man’s outburst, awkwardly placed his hand on Hangeng’s shoulder.

“There, there. It’s okay. I’m sure if you just explain—“

“Didn’t you hear me?! Of course not, you’re exactly like him. All you crazy cat ladies are the same!”

“So, what are you?” Donghae asked quizzically. Hangeng growled, elongated his teeth and snarled at Donghae.

“Oh, cool! I’ve never met a vampire before!”

“You really are crazy,” Hangeng was astonished. Everyone usually ran away when he showed them his true self. Everyone, except for two people.

“You are just like him,” Hangeng said. Donghae gave him a bright smile.

“If you want to get him back, then you should do something for him!”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Something that would make him happy.”

“I know!” Hangeng exclaimed, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “I’m going to bring Jack back to life!”

“No….eww,” Donghae responded. “I was thinking more along the lines of getting him another cat.”

“Don’t be silly. Jack was his second favorite cat, aside from Heebum of course. Any old cat won’t do. It needs to be Jack. Nothing else will work.”

“But how are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know. But if there are vampires in the world then I am sure there is a way to bring cats back to life!”

“Alrighty then! Let’s go. By the way, where is Jack buried?” Donghae and Hangeng head out into the night.

 

They arrive at Heechul’s house shortly after 3AM, after breaking into magical shop, that Donghae swears is legit and stealing a book that looked promising. They sneak into Heechul’s backyard and grab a shovel from the shed. Hangeng swiftly moves to the grave, while Donghae wanders to where he saw one of Heechul’s cats. Donghae grabs the cat, cradles him, and walks back to where Hangeng has just finished digging up the hole. He grabs the book and turns to the resurrection page, before picking up the oddly light box and setting it on the ground. He carefully takes off the lid and gasps.

“What?” Donghae asks, as he leans closer to the box to see what wrong. Just as he does that, the cat he is holding bites him and hisses. “Oww!! He bit me,” the boy whines. Hangeng looks over at Donghae and points at the cat, a look of horror on his face.

“Jack!” He flips the book to the front page. On it reads, Last checked out by Kim Heechul. He hears a growl coming from what was going to be his dinner earlier in the night.

“This is why I never talk to my food,” Hangeng sighs as zombie Donghae chomps onto his arm.