Woods' Children 

Content warning: very brief mention of ual assault 

The first thing she heard when she woke was the crunching of boots on grass and fallen leaves. There were voices near her. The suddenness of noise was loud and piercing and made her gasp. Fear curled in her belly. She lay still. Her limbs felt strangely numb and light. Underneath the cotton dress she was wearing, she was . The cloth rested lightly on her bare skin. Her first thought was, where am I? The second, who am I?

Slowly, she became aware of the fact that she was lying on a forested floor. Her skin felt foreign on her body, as though it were slowly become accustomed to the bumpiness of the ground. There were leaves tangled in her hair. By degrees, she was able to open her eyes. Blurred green light filled her vision: it sharpened slowly into sunlight dappling in through the forest canopy. A soft hiss escaped her lips; the light was blinding. She did not recognize this place. The voices were growing louder.

“Hyung, did Chief Choi hold you up again?” one yelled, the voice of a young man.

“Yeah. He can’t prove anything though,” another voice replied. They would be upon her soon. She did not know who they were. She could not remember ever meeting another person, though she knew with certainty that people existed. 

“He can prove it from the fact that you’re the first person ever to have been held back in senior year twice,” the first voice continued, the tone mocking.

“Shut up.” There was a rustling of cloth, and the sound of things being opened. A strange smell filled in the air.

Then a new voice spoke, breathless and mildly panicked, “Hyung. Hyung, there’s a girl in the clearing.”

Suddenly all of them were speaking at once and she could not make out what they were saying or what was happening. Experimentally, she tried to move her fingers. The motion was painful. Someone was walking closer to her, the footsteps heavier and louder. Something primal in her, some instinct, made her heart rate soar. She needed to get away, needed to get away now. A frustrated tear leaked out as she fought uselessly to get her hands to move. 

Then the shocked face of a teenage boy, obscured by the long, thick black clumps of her hair, swam into view. He was gaping at her as though she had fallen from the sky. Perhaps she had. She did not know how she had gotten here. “Hey, hey kid, you okay?”

Tilting her head a little, she saw that there were four other boys with him, two of which were smoking. The youngest-looking one frowned, staring at her body.

“Hey, hyung, someone’s gone and cut up her arm,” he said vaguely.

The one who must have been the eldest glanced over. “Don’t make up when you’re on acid – oh .”

She looked down and saw the number. The gashes were red and ugly, though they had healed sometime ago. She gave a soft, pained cry.

The boy who’d woken her up knelt down. She flinched away, feeling her chest constrict. “Hey, hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” he said slowly, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. “My name is Junsu. What’s yours?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

He frowned. “What about your parents’ names?”

“I don’t know,” she said again, feeling her breathing start to get short. Where was she – who was she – what had happened – why didn’t she know? “I don’t know, I don’t remember anything, I don’t –”

In an instant, he’d scooped her up like she weighed nothing and was holding her tight against his chest. His jacket smelt of old leather. He was remarkably warm. “Breathe, breathe. I need you to follow me, okay? Breathe in, and count to five.”

Blindly following, she in a deep breath, but choked on it. Her vision knifed. He rubbed her back, telling her that she was doing well, but his hands were shaking. At last, after the sixth try, she managed to hold it in, and then release a shuddering, shaking breath. It took her a moment to realise as she did this that Junsu had gotten to his feet. Nameless, she hung limply in his arms.

“We need to get to the police station!” This voice must have belonged to one of the two that hadn’t spoken. She felt Junsu begin to walk faster, still telling her to follow his breathing. The others were close behind, yelling amongst themselves. Be quiet, she wanted to say, be quiet, it’s too much to take in. She choked on another breath, trying to follow Junsu’s pattern.

Sunlight was suddenly everywhere and she gasped, shoving her face into Junsu’s chest. They were out of the forest and running down a long dirt road. “It’s going to be fine,” he said, more to himself than to her.

Around her, she saw they were on a main street of a town, passing by storefronts and houses. It was so alien, so foreign - there were people. This was a whole world and she had no clue what to do because she didn't know a thing. A brick building came into view, and as they shoved upon the door she caught the glimpse of a moustached man in a blue police uniform.

“Well if it isn’t my favourite delinquents – oh my god.”

“We found her in the Woods.”

This was how her case began.

Later, after the haze of people shouting around her finished, and people asking her questions she could no longer remember dispersed, she found herself in a hospital bed. She did not know why but it made her strangely uneasy. There was a doctor in a white coat sitting across from her