The fire burned like wildfire in a forest. Jongin and Kyungsoo barely escaped out of the house alive. But it was no easy task. Kyungsoo was frozen as if his feet were stuck on the floor, refusing to move at all. Jongin gave up talking sense into him. He lifted Kyungsoo up and carried him out of the window in the kitchen.

            The fire reflected in Kyungsoo’s eyes as he watched his whole house being burn down right in front of him.

            “My-my home,” he whispered softly, “It’s…gone now.”

            “You see what I mean now?” Jongin said as he gestured towards the ruins that were once Kyungsoo’s house.

            “And this isn’t even the worst part yet.”

            Kyungsoo did not answer him. He didn’t feel like talking as he stared silently at the ruins. He knelt down beside it and picked up the burnt wood that was once part of his house. But he immediately let go of it as it burned him. He blew on his hands repeatedly. Suddenly, he noticed something amiss. He spun around to find that he was all alone.

            “Jongin?”

            Jongin wasn’t there anymore. Kyungsoo frantically looked around. Then he saw some faint tracks leading into the woods. The mud had been wet. And there were boot tracks on it. Kyungsoo took a deep breath and followed it.

~    ~    ~

“Jongin?”

            Kyungsoo called out. Again, there was no answer. The night breeze blew strongly and it rustled the trees noisily. Kyungsoo jumped at every sound in the dark forest. He felt tingles all over his back and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something really wrong is going to happen.

            Owls hooted in the distance, crickets sang in the bushes and bats flapped their wings loudly as they flew by. Kyungsoo looked around for signs or clues, hoping that he might find something that could lead him to where Jongin was. The trees were so thick they blocked out night sky. Only the moonlight seeped through the leaves occasionally.

            With no fire light, Kyungsoo is basically walking blindly in the dark. Then, he suddenly heard the crack of a branch. He flinched and spun around. There was nothing that he could see. No glinting eyes or dark figure. Kyungsoo tried to calm his nerves and continued forward.

            CRACK!

            This time it made him jump. It was a little too loud, which meant whatever it was, it was too close to where Kyungso