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        “You’re going the wrong way,” JinJin said.

 

“But it’s to the east.”

 

JinJin pointed to the right, “Yeah, but now it’s to the south.”

 

The girl was confused, but that was nothing new, everything about the place was odd. She decided to take his word for it, not wanting to get lost again. And so the four marched on, this time due south. They would definitely make it in time for dinner, as that was all that was now on the boys’ minds.

---

 

The three boys had been talking amongst themselves for the entirety of their trip. Youngmi paid no mind to the conversation. Instead, she was taking in her surroundings, trying to memorize the path incase she needed to use it later on. It had been a very long day, very long indeed. She was so looking forward to getting to the treehouse the others had spoke of. And she was really hoping they had beds. A nice soft bed to sleep on sounded absolutely delightful.

 

Youngmi’s eyes traveled forward and saw several small “houses” climbing up a series of trees. She felt relieved to know they had at last made it. The girl was really looking forward to that bed she kept imagining.

 

As they neared the camp one of the boys took off running, which she realized was Moonbin. He changed into a wolf mid sprint and dashed off toward the treehouse. Not far from it was a deer, standing amongst the brush. Moonbin jumped at the deer and tackled it to the ground, then yipped.

 

Youngmi ran up to where they had landed, she wanted to make sure the deer was okay. When she came upon them, the deer was no longer there. Instead, a boy lay in its place, suffering from the wolf’s tongue that was assaulting his face.

 

I should have figured, she thought.

 

She was starting to wonder if that was all that resided in the forest. How many boys would she come upon that were able to turn into animals? She hoped that there would be some girls she could speak to. Not pixies though, they were the last thing she wanted to deal with.

 

At that moment, another boy (of course) sprang out and knocked the wolf down. They then began to wrestle and were biting at one another. The boy was able to pin Moonbin to the ground, and decided he would “assert his dominance” over the wolf. He pulled Moonbin toward him and began to him upside the face. Mid , however, his gaze landed on the girl just off to the side. He stared at her while his tongue still rested on Moonbin’s furry face, right between his eyes. The girl appeared absolutely disgusted at the scene displayed before her.

 

The boy’s tongue retracted back into his mouth and he took off to the treehouse. Myungjun and JinJin, who had been standing behind Youngmi, burst out laughing when she turned to them, still sporting a look of disgust. She wondered if this was a common thing among the five of them. Wrestling, biting, and each other? She was starting to doubt if she should remain around them. She was beginning to find them all a bit revolting.

 

 

Five people were currently sitting at a table under the gigantic treehouse. Youngmi, who sat at one end of the table, felt like a circus attraction. There were four pairs of eyes on her, although she felt as if there was several more coming from behind. She didn’t know where to look so she settled on watching her hands that were placed on her lap. The silence was becoming very awkward. The girl began fidgeting in her seat, things were getting very uncomfortable now. She felt like she would burst from all tension.

 

But before that could happen a bird swooped down and landed on the table. Attention was no longer on Youngmi, but rather on the crow that was now hopping about. It had rested in front of Youngmi, tilting its head to each side as if studying the girl.

 

“Yah, get off the table!”

 

A hand came down to swipe at the bird, however it had taken off so as not to be struck.

 

Myungjun’s hand smacked the tabletop. It was instant regret as he held his now injured hand and was fighting back tears. The other’s began laughing at his misery, including a new voice Youngmi hadn’t heard before.

 

The empty chair to her left was pulled out and the person took a seat. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. Youngmi’s eyes trailed up from the table to the person that was now watching her.

 

Their eyes locked and Youngmi couldn’t seem to look away from the boy. It made him smirk because obviously the girl had to be quite enamored with his good looks. He was a handsome guy, or at least he thought so. And Youngmi had still been looking at the boy’s face, this only served to inflate his ego.

 

For some reason though she squinted her eyes. And then he watched as the girl’s palm quickly came at him and smacked him on the forehead, which sent him flying backwards in his chair and landing on the ground beneath. Everyone exploded into laughter except for Youngmi. Who chose to help the boy up rather than laugh at his misfortune that she had caused.

 

“A-are you alright? I’m so sorry, you had a fly on your forehead and it was bothering me.”

 

This made the other boys laugh even harder.

 

The boy had an astonished look on his face, not expecting the girl to be so direct towards someone she had just met. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

Youngmi then swiftly took her seat and watched as he did as well.

 

“Before anyone can break a bone or two, I should introduce everyone,” the boy at the other end of the table spoke up. “My name is Eunwoo.”

 

He then pointed to each person around the table and stated their names. His finger finally landing on the mystery boy “Minhyuk”. Youngmi had to keep herself from peaking at the person to her left. She felt like he was going to be a huge problem for the girl, seeing as how she practically punched him in the face. He probably hated her now.

 

“And your name?”

 

Realizing she had been spoken to, her head jerked up towards the boy that had questioned her. “Ah, my name is Youngmi.”

 

Sanha looked down at the group of six gathered around the table. He had taken refuge in his room after he had seen the girl during his tussle with Moonbin. He was hoping he wouldn’t run into her but the world seemed to have it out for him that day.

 

He listened to the conversation below. It had started out with Youngmi telling her tale of how she came to be in the forest. The boys then causing a fuss over how stupid Sanha was for leaving in the first place. They were quickly shushed by Eunwoo, who really just wanted to go around and smack every one of them. He held back though, he didn’t want to possibly upset the girl.

 

Sanha sat against the wall under the window. And as soon as he heard the human girl’s question he began to cry.

 

“Can someone show me the way out?”

 

The boys became quiet, an eery silence seemed to fall over the entire forest. Neither one of them dared to look at the girl. They knew she would not like the answer, and none of them wanted to be the bearer of bad news.

 

Sanha covered his ears, not wanting to listen to what would be said. He knew what Eunwoo was about to say, and it would break the girl’s heart.

 

You see, once a human enters the forest, that’s it. One way in, no way out.

 

None of the dwellers of the forest really understood why humans could not leave, they just accepted it as fact. They themselves could all leave rather easily, just by unlocking the door to the human world. The “door” opened up into a tunnel, a passageway made of trees. Humans could pass through from their world and end up in the forest, but, for some strange reason, they could not go back. If a human went into the the tunnel from the forest, it just brought them right back into the enchanted woods.

 

So, in the end, Youngmi would now have to call the forest her home.

 

Though Sanha covered his ears as best he could, it did not block out the sound of her screaming. He couldn’t stand to listen to her wail in fear and confusion. Her crying was the most heart shattering thing he had ever heard, and he cried along with her. His hands came down off his ears and began wiping at the tears streaming down his face. He felt terrible for what he had done. Earlier on he had been glad that he had gotten away with such a light punishment, but now he felt as if he deserved more.

 

The five boys stood from the table as they watched Youngmi run off. They looked at each other with such hopeless expressions. They knew it wouldn’t be easy to tell her, and it certainly wouldn’t be easy for her to come to terms with.

 

Minhyuk turned to go after the girl but stopped as he watched a bright purple light race off in her direction. He was slightly worried that the encounter would end with his friend being beaten to a pulp, but he somehow felt that Sanha was the right person for the situation. He was also worried at what the girl was about to find, the direction she had taken certainly wasn’t the best one, especially after what she had just been told. But he watched as the younger boy went after her, hoping that everything would turn out okay.

 

Youngmi ran and ran and ran. There had to be a way out. She couldn’t be trapped, she just couldn’t be. It all had to be some sort of joke, right? But were they really that cruel to play such a trick? She didn’t know, she didn’t know anything about the strange place she was in. The boys had all seemed very nice, but maybe they were cruel and terrible people. She hated everything at that moment. She hated the boys, she hated the forest, she simply hated everything.

 

And so she ran.

 

 

Sanha was hiding behind a tree, watching Youngmi as she gazed upon the grave stones. He was anxious to approach the girl, not knowing how she would react towards him. But he carefully slipped around the tree and wandered up next to her.

 

He didn’t speak and neither did she. They both just stared at the graves.

 

In the background were birds chirping, and the sound of leaves rustling from the slight breeze. Evening was coming but it was still warm out. Youngmi despised the fact that the day was still pleasant after finding out her current situation. The graves in front of her didn’t help any. She knew exactly who they were for, humans just like her, that had ended up in the forest.

 

“I’m sorry.” A small voice had broken the silence.

 

But Youngmi just stood there, no response towards the one that had apologized. She was taking everything in. Trying to understand what was going on. She still felt like it all had to be a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare. Only a nightmare would leave someone feeling trapped and helpless. But in a way, she knew it wasn’t so. This was real.

 

It was an unfortunate circumstance, it really was. Youngmi lifted her head and watched the clouds, as they idly floated through the sky. She closed her eyes, breathing in the sweet woody smell of the air.

 

Then she turned to Sanha and smiled. He was a bit taken aback because he wasn’t expecting such a thing. He figured she’d be furious and start hitting him like he deserved. He had prepared himself for the first punch, he had not prepared for this.

 

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

 

Sanha opened his mouth to reply but was instantly cut off.

 

“Curiosity killed the cat you know.”

 

And that was it. She was looking at the graves again, the tension in the air had completely disappeared. And so they stood there, just watching the graves.

 

Eunwoo was freaking out. It had been a half hour since Youngmi and Sanha had gone off into the woods. He knew that Youngmi would have stumbled upon the graves. What he didn’t know was how she was taking it.

 

JinJin was sitting next to the boy, gently rubbing his back and telling him everything would be okay.

 

“Sanha is with her, she’ll be fine.”

 

It didn’t help to calm the boy though. He was shaking and just wanted the pair to return. So he would know that they were really alright. His wish was granted when Moonbin spoke up and said that they were back.

 

Eunwoo jumped up and ran over to them. He grabbed Youngmi by the shoulders, looking her up and down to make sure she hadn’t injured herself in some way, she could have tripped you know. Now sure that she hadn’t a scratch on her, he felt the weight lift off of his shoulders.

 

“I’m okay, really.”

 

“You sure?”

 

The girl let out a small laugh. The boys looked on in bewilderment.

 

“I’m sure.”

 

They had forgotten about dinner that night, simply deciding to retreat into the treehouse and go to sleep. It had been a long day for all of them, they needed the rest.

 

Eunwoo took Youngmi to the uppermost house of the tree fort. It was the room that he, Moonbin, and Sanha shared. The three boys had talked about it and were willing to give up their sleeping quarters to the girl. She tried to refuse their offer but they insisted.

 

Eunwoo grabbed some blankets and handed them over to her. He told her she could choose whatever bed that was more comfortable for the girl. After making sure she was settled in, he left her in the room so she could get some sleep.

 

Youngmi chose the softest bed of the three, and instantly relaxed. She was glad that she could finally lay down, the girl was exhausted. Tears slowly came from her eyes again, she was so scared, so lonely. What was she to do?

 

It didn’t take long for her to drift off, all she had to do was close her eyes and she was out.

 

The forest became comfortably quiet that night. As if it knew what the girl had gone through and was letting her get a good restful sleep. It would be tough for the girl, living in such a place. So the vast wood seemed to put a spell over the place, allowing Youngmi a serene slumber.

 

 

She laid in the grass, bathing in the warmth of the sun. It was a peaceful day, and everything was right in the world.

 

A voice called to Youngmi. It was the sweetest voice one could hear, soft and cheerful. Like a windchime being played by a soft breeze of air. Youngmi found it to be the most beautiful voice in the entire world, but maybe she was just biased because it was her own mother.

 

Youngmi sat up and peered down the hill. At the bottom was her mother waving for her. The woman had a smile on her face, seeing her precious daughter, the loveliest thing she had ever seen. But maybe she was biased as well.

 

Youngmi skipped down the hill towards her parents. They were all out enjoying a picnic on the cool autumn day. It was a rather spontaneous decision by Youngmi’s mother. While Youngmi and her father were at the library picking out books, her mother was at home throwing together some food and placing them in lunchboxes. It had been a while since they spent quality time with each other. What with Youngmi being busy with school and her husband working hard earning money for his family.

 

The pair were certainly surprised when they returned home to see the woman ready and raring to go. She held a blanket in one arm and the lunch boxes in another. The two just laughed at her and began their trek to the perfect place to have their picnic.

 

During their meal they all got caught up on each other’s affairs. Youngmi spoke of what was happening at school. How her teacher was mean and gave too many assignments. Of the boys that liked to play pranks on her and her friends. And about the stories she was reading in class that were so wonderful she had to read them again and again.

 

Her father told them about all the things he was dealing with at work. Youngmi couldn’t quite follow along as she found all so dreadfully boring.

 

But she perked up when her mother mentioned the mirror she had seen at the shop the other day. A beautiful standing mirror dressed in a white frame. She went on about how she would love to have it but the price was out of their range. Youngmi’s father only made enough to allow for the necessities. But oh how she did want the thing.

 

The woman had the biggest grin on her face as she talked about it. She mentioned that she had spoken to the shopkeep, that also just happened to be her friend. The women talked about how splendid the thing was and that it had come from the city. Their small town rarely ever got such nice things as that.

 

Youngmi and her father glanced at each other and giggled. It wasn’t often that the woman went on about such things. They found it quite funny, quite funny indeed.

 

The woman’s husband interrupted her to say that he would get it. Now one would think that a person would quickly refuse the offer when knowing that their income wasn’t good enough. But the woman knew better than that. Once her husband had an idea in his head about something, he followed through with it. She laughed in absolute delight and hugged her husband. She sure did love that man.

 

Youngmi became grossed out at her parents being all lovey dovey so she took herself up the hill to lay in the grass.

 

She thought about how amazing her family was. How her father doted on her and her mother. How her mother was extremely kind and caring and welcoming to just about anyone. They were the best people she could ask for in life. And she wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Right then, life was perfect.