A scream escaped Ara's throat as she could feel gravity pull her down. She barely noticed all the branches that scratched her skin through her jacket and the bigger branches that hit her leg painfully. “Aargh!” She groaned when she felt the cold grass and hard ground beneath her hands, and the next second she could already feel the strong impact of her back hitting the ground.

Pain zipped through her whole body – head, arms, abdomen, back, legs. However, that wasn’t the end though, as all she could see was the trees spinning above her. She was rolling down the sloped down ground, hitting a few trees lightly, until a bigger tree completely halted her fall. Several groans slipped from Ara as she slowly blinked her eyes open, trying to make out where up and down was. Her head was throbbing and for several seconds her sight was slightly blurry.

After she calmed down a bit and her sight became clear again, she reached out and felt the ground to support herself to sit up. That was when she felt her whole body throb with pain. That her body ached from the impact of the fall was only logical, but she could feel a much stronger pain from her leg. However, for now, her mind wasn’t focused on the pain but on the figure that faced her, standing several meters away. Due to being evening and the trees that hid the little daylight, she had to squint her eyes. But she immediately recognized him. And she immediately realized what happened.

Lee Byunghee. That bastard had pushed her from the road. She could still hear his “” echo in her mind.

All of a sudden, the pain was numbed. Numbed by her burning wrath. With eyes filled with piercing hatred, she stared at the figure. Her body jerked up, wanting to stand up, run there and strangle the male, but she immediately fell back as another wave of pain zipped through her leg.

“Argh,” she groaned. Her eyes never left the figure as she shouted, “You bastard!” But the figure only turned away and walked away.

Ara was left with the pain that throbbed through her leg, the headache and her aching back. Her anger made her want to stand up and chase after that bastard, but in such situations her rationality always had the lead. Which was definitely better, though. She forced herself to calm down first to let her body rest from the fall and see where she was actually hurt.

Slowly and softly, she felt her leg and as her fingers touched the area of her ankle, the pain spread like a lighting again. She wasn’t sure as to how severe the injury was, but what she knew was that it hurt damn much.

She then felt the other parts of her body and sighed in relief as she came to the conclusion that the rest was fine, more or less. Having rolled up her leggins (she always wore them beneath the school uniform skirt), she eyed her ankle. Despite the fact that it was very dark in the forest, she could see that it was red and slightly swollen. As she gently brushed her finger over her skin, another wave of pain shot through her and she squirmed, deciding not to touch it again.

Fortunately, the responsible and rational part of her was leading, so she wasn’t panicking or giving in to the pain. Breathing heavily from the pain, she reached for her backpack. She needed to get the tracker device and things would be alright, since it contained an emergency button as the teachers had explained.

When Ara spotted it though, her eyes widened. The little light wasn’t blinking anymore; the device was broken. Probably due to her fall, as her back had met the ground first and therefore her backpack. All of a sudden, she could feel how hard it was for her rational part to suppress the panic that wanted to spread inside her.

A little too hastily, she reached for her cellphone in her jacket-pocket. It was intact, but there was no cell service. The sudden forlorn seeming situation was the trigger for the sudden anxiety and panic that crept up in Ara. Without thinking, she tried to stand up again in her panic. Which resulted in her leg giving in from the strong pain that shot through her again. This time even stronger.

“!” Ara cursed as her hands clenched into fists from the pain. She could feel tears forming in her eyes and pressed her lips together in pain. “Argh,” she groaned again.

For a while, Ara just lay there, unable to stand up or sit up as the pain in her leg was utterly strong. Minutes passed with her only lying there, suppressing the pain and letting her leg rest.

When the pain slowly became number, Ara sat up. What to do? She wondered, asking her rational part. But she could feel that no rationality could help her at the moment. The tracker device was broken, her cellphone had no connection in the forest, and she was injured, thus unable to walk.

Just wait? She questioned her plan, but at the same time she couldn’t think of anything else. Trying to stand up would only result in the injury becoming more severe, so she couldn’t do anything else. After some time, the teachers would surely notice her absence … wouldn’t they?