Day turned to night by the time I was finally able to open my eyes again. The darkness caressed a lone room that only took me seconds to realize was mine. Confused as to how I happened to mysteriously end up in my room when I had been certain about the strange green houses and the events that had unravelled earlier, I push myself off the bed and search for the lightswitch to give me some light, blinding me for a split second, I allow my eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.

 

Looking down at my arms, I notice that the cuts I had received earlier while I ran away from Wonho were nowhere to be seen. Confused by the strange phenomena I start to pace back and forth between my bed and wall. This was ridiculous, I was certain that I had seen and been through all those events. I remembered passing out because of a strange looking dart, I remember running away from Wonho and the man in the cage.

 

Oh god, the man in the cage!

 

He was probably still in there because of me. Panicked, I quickly open my bedroom door, with my heart beating its way out of my chest I rush down the dark hallway and towards the little bit of light that is emanating from the reception. If I could just get to the reception, I could tell them about the man in the cage, they would be able to help me. I could report Wonho for being some deranged weirdo who tried to kill me, and tell the police about the body in his warehouse.

 

Pushing the doors open violently, the poor elderly lady who sat behind a computer jumped as I  startled her. Catching her breath again, she brings a hand up towards her chest as a small nervous laugh escapes from her.

 

“My goodness, you scared me there!” She cried out.

 

I waste no time as I grab a hold of the counter that separates us. Struggling to stand on my own weight, I lean over the desk. Slow but unsteady pants escape my burning lungs.

 

“Help” I manage to squeeze out.

 

The elderly lady takes a step back, her eyes wide in fear as she watches me struggling to breathe.

 

“I need help!” I try again. “There’s a man”

 

She stands up from her chair, cocking her head to the side as she watches me with great concern.

 

“A man in a cage, in the woods. We need to call the police!”

 

“Honey” She finally speaks as she takes a hold of my hand. “You must have had a nightmare. That’s all” She says as she caresses the back of my hand in her attempts to calm me down.

 

I yank my hand away from her, growing impatient at the fact that she’s not doing anything about what I just told her.

 

“No. It’s real, I saw it with my own two eyes! We need to call the police!” I yell at her to get my point across that the situation is urgent.

 

She shifts uncomfortably behind the desk as she looks between me and the phone sitting to her right. She offers me a nervous smile as she finally nods.

 

“Okay, I will call the police. Can you please sit over there and wait?” She asked and I nod, there was no point in arguing.

 

I turn my back to sit on the worn out sofa in front of me as I watch her dial away on her telephone before I hear her saying there’s an emergency and to hurry. Feeling relaxed that she finally got the hint, I try to fight off the uneasy feeling in the gut of my stomach as I realize that I’ll finally be able to save the man in the cage and put Wonho behind bars, where he belongs.

 

Minutes go by before I hear the sound of footsteps running down the hallway. Feeling relieved the moment the doors swing open, I stand up when I am greeted by three men dressed in white. The same uniform the nurses at this place wore.

 

“Oh thank goodness you’re here!” The elderly lady calls out from behind the desk. A huge sigh of relief escapes her at the sight of these men. “She kept going on about nonsense, I was afraid she was going to hurt herself” She adds.

 

I stare at her dumbfounded as I finally understand that she never did call the police but instead called for backup because she thought I was crazy. Feeling betrayed by the only line of hope I had, I take a step back before I am met by a wall.

 

“No, I’m not crazy!” I call out as the three men start walking slowly and carefully towards me. Realizing that I am trapped and have nowhere to escape to, I start swinging my arms in front of me to stop them from getting to me.

 

“You don’t get it! I am not crazy, there is a man who needs help!” I shout at the top of my lungs but they don’t seem to take me seriously. Instead I watch as they whisper something amongst themselves before one of them finally walks towards me, holding his hand up.

 

“Listen, you were probably just having a nightmare, now it’s late and if you continue shouting you’re going to cause a disturbance in the estate and wake everyone up” He says.

 

“No!” I shout again, my heart now in my throat, i’m starting to swing at the man. “Please, i need help! I can take you to him! He’s locked in a cage in the woods!”

 

But it’s no use when the two other men run from either side of him and grab a hold of my arms. I start kicking and screaming, trying to fight them off as they begin to drag me out of the reception and into the dark hallway where I had come from before.

 

“Be quiet, ya crazy!” One of them shouts at me as he shakes me violently to get me to shut up.

 

But I refuse, they’re not listening to me. They think i’m crazy. But what did I expect when I was in a place like this. It even sounded crazy to me to say it out loud. With hot tears streaming down my face, I keep on shouting the same thing over and over again, but it’s no use.

 

They lead me down an opposite corridor from where I had originally came from. The corridor is darker than the other one, and as I look down the corridor I notice a small room in the distance, with a large metal door waiting open for me, I panic and start fighting once again for my freedom when I realize i’m being taken to a timeout room. It wasn’t the first time I had been in one, and the thought of being enclosed in a small space with no way of getting out, I start to scream once again, looking back towards the end of the hallway hoping to find someone to help me but my scream hitches itself on its way up when I see him standing there.

 

The boy with the creepy stare stands in the middle of the hallway we had just come from, looking at me.

 

_____________

 

It must have been hours of screaming at the top of my lungs for somebody to get me out before I finally heard the first set of footsteps making their way down the corridor. Echoing their way loud and clear, I could tell that whoever was coming walked with great confidence.

 

I sat in the corner of the small suffocating room, staring at the door when I heard the footsteps stop right outside it. A large clicking sound is heard before I hear the whining of the metal give way the second the door opened.

 

Standing before me is a man in his late twenties dressed in a white coat and slacks, but it’s not the coat or slacks that’s got me intrigued as much as his bright pink hair that lays neatly combed back from his striking features.

 

“Kina” He finally says as he offers me a friendly smile. “It’s finally a pleasure to meet you, too bad it’s under these circumstances”

 

I stare at him, not understanding who he was and what he was doing here. He frowns as he shakes his head and extends his hand in front of me.

 

“How rude of me, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Yoo” He explains.

 

I stare at his hand that still sits in front of me, waiting for me to take it, I hesitate. I’m still upset at the fact that they thought I was crazy and had me locked in this time out room, but I decide to put it past me and take a hold of his hand, shaking it carefully as I study the smile on his face.

 

“I heard you put on quite a spectacle last night” He comments as he helps me up from the floor to my feet.

 

Shaking my bum free of any dirt, I glare at Dr. Yoo. Deciding whether or not it would be a good idea to bring the subject up and risk being locked in here again. So instead, I stay quiet and wait in awkward silence before he extends his hand out before him and moves to the side to expose the brightly dimmed corridor I had come down last night.

 

“You and I have a lot of talking to do” He says, waiting for me to go ahead of him. “After you, miss”

 

_________________

 

I anxiously sit on the fabric sofa in Dr. Yoo’s rather large office space, as he studies me carefully. With a pen in hand ready to take notes of anything I say.

 

“So, you’re sure this happened?” He asks as he an eyebrow at me.

 

I nervously swallow as I nod my head.

 

“Yes…” I begin trying to gain the courage the continue.

 

Dr. Yoo is patient with me, he doesn’t rush me like other psychologists i’d seen in the past, or has labeled me crazy. I don't know if it was because he truly believed me or if he was just being nice but I chose the latter.

 

“So you took a walk in the forest and came across a man in a cage?” He asked once again. I realized how ridiculous it sounded being said out loud but it was the truth, that's what I had seen.

 

“Yes. He seemed to have been there for quite some time, he was also really hurt” I add.

 

He bites his lip as he taps his pen against the journal in front of him, he seems to be lost in thought as he looks over the notes he has so far. Finally, resting his eyes for a second, he looks back at me.

 

“And you’re sure this wasn’t a dream?” He asks me for the fifth time.

 

Growing frustrated with everyone thinking that it was just a dream and not a reality, I groan in frustration.

 

“Yes, I am sure” I confirm for the fifth time.

 

He sits quietly as he looks down at his notes again, sighing as he seems to be trying to comprehend.

 

I stand up from the sofa, feeling like I am once again being judged and labelled as crazy, I defend myself.

 

“Look, I realize just how crazy it sounds being said out loud, but I swear on my life that this actually happened. I was out in the woods running away from that weird man and then…” I pause. Remembering that I didn’t recall ever coming back to the estate by myself.

 

Dr. Yoo raises an eyebrow as he studies me.

 

“And then what happened?” He asked.

 

“I-I ended up back at the estate and in my room” I answered.

 

“Kina” Dr. Yoo says as he closes the journal in front of him. “A hiker found you passed out in the woods and brought you back here. We began to worry when you didn’t show up to your appointment with me yesterday and sent out a search party for you, but the nice man brought you here”

 

I shake my head, it didn’t make any sense.

 

“Look, i know it’s probably hard to process but what i think is that you took a walk and ended up lost, probably got scared and had a panic attack that caused you to pass out and you had a horrible dream about the men in the woods” He continues.

 

“I think you’re just having a hard time adjusting to the estate and this is the way you’re coping with it” He adds.

 

I look back at him, tears stinging my eyes once again as my fear has been realized, he thought I was crazy. Dr. Yoo was just like everyone else, he thought I was crazy.

 

I panic, begging for him to believe me. I kneel in front of him taking his hand in mine and pressing it hard.

 

“Please, i’m not crazy! I know what I saw, it wasn’t just a dream, it really happened. I can tell difference between fantasy and reality. Please, Dr. Yoo, you have to believe me!” I cry.

 

He sits up in his chair, putting his hand over my hand and gently patting it in his effort to comfort me but doesn’t say anything. I looked at him, with tears rolling down my face, but it was no use the moment he looked away and began to write something down on a separate notebook.

 

“I’m going to give you some pills to take to help you relax and let you sleep. You’re probably really tired. I promise you that they will help you feel better” He said as he ripped the page out of the notebook and handed it to me.

 

I stared at it, feeling defeated that he was just like all the other psychologists I had seen. He thought that I was crazy and the only way to fix me was to feed me medicine, so I would be one less bother to him. I felt sick to my stomach, what was wrong with the people here? Did they really think I was crazy? Was I crazy? Could they all be right that I had never seen such a thing and that it was all in my head?

 

I sat on the floor, deep in thought as I began to doubt whether I was crazy or not. It must have been a few minutes that I blanked out for before I snapped out of my trance to find Dr. Yoo standing by the door to his office.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kina. Please make sure to take the pills and get some rest”

I swallow my pride, fighting back the tears that are still wanting to surface and stand up, offering Dr. Yoo a fake smile as I make my way out of his office and into the cold and unwelcoming corridor.

 

Lost in thought, I pass by dozens if not more patients who seemed like they were in some sort of different planet, eyes that resembled much of a deer in headlight look, stared at me as I made my way back to my room. For some reason the walk back to my room seemed longer than normal.

 

I stop the moment I feel my heart begin to palpitate and the hair on my body stand on end. A strange electrical current swims through me as I struggle to figure out what is happening to me, a strange figure walks beside me going the opposite way.

 

A tall and very thin boy, passes by me. A strong but curious stare directed my way, I can't help but feel uneasy at the fact that I feel like I had seen him from somewhere before but I can’t recall from where.

 

I freeze in place, afraid to look back at the strange yet alluring boy. Seconds go by before I find the courage to turn around hoping to find him walking down the corridor, but he’s nowhere in sight. He’s vanished.