“W…wait, hold on,” Victoria called out confused. “What do you mean wrong place?”

He held his hands out as if directing them to overlook theirselves. Confused, the sisters turned to glance at each other.

 “Come on, I know someone who may be able to help you three,” the man waved his hand at them; gesturing for them to follow him.

Walking over to that strange ladder attached to the wall he began to climb up.

“Where are we going?” Victoria wondered being cautious if they should really follow him or not.

“To the Witch Doctor.”

Chorong raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her sisters muttering, “It feels like we’re in some Harry Potter book.”

“Lets go find out if we really are in a book,” Victoria agreed; taking the first rung into her hand and stepped up.

>_____<;;

Drowned with guilt for some reason, Suho couldn’t help but to feel that something had gone wrong with the movie date yesterday. Chorong had felt a bit distant when he went to look for her in the kitchen. Before heading off to work that morning he decided to drop by and surprise Chorong with a bouquet of flowers.

To cheer her up, he thought. He just wanted to do something right.

As he climbed the stairs that led up to the front door he felt peculiar as if someone was watching him. Pausing in his steps he glanced around the empty neighborhood and shrugged his shoulders to shake off the instinctive curiosity.

Clutching onto the flowers he continued on toward the front door and rung the bell. When no one answered he leaned toward the side to see that Chorong’s car was still in the driveway. Turning to ring the bell again he stopped shortly when the door clicked creaking an inch open. A frown established itself over his face confused with what just happened. Unable to layer out an explanation he hesitantly pushed the door open.

“Hello?” He called out and took a step in. “Chorong? Are you home?”

No one answered him.

Stopping when the living room appeared on his right he readjusted his fingers around the bouquet.

“Chorong,” he called out again.

Suho slightly jumped when there was a loud knock behind him. Upon shifting around he spotted a man he hadn’t seen before.

“Who are you?” The tall man wondered.

“Uh…I…” Suho started. “I’m Suho…I’m a friend of Chorong…uh…she lives here…”

The tall man slowly nodded with an earnest frown.

“Who…are you?” Suho asked.

“Changmin,” he introduced himself, “I’m also a friend of a sister who lives here.”

The two stared at each other at the awkward meeting before a shadow appeared behind Changmin. Quite surprised Suho felt his heartbeat rush in alarm before Chorong slid out from behind him in a provocative red dress. The strap of the dress had slipped over her left shoulder over her arm.

“Ah…Suho?” She smiled and bit her lips stained in red lipstick. “Why are you here?”

His lids fluttered simultaneously for some reason feeling embarrassed.

“You were…you were outside?” Suho stammered, the back of his head wondering what Chorong was up to.

Usually she always dressed conservatively. What was up with today?

Suho watched confused when Chorong turned to envy the tall Changmin with her seductive eyes, smiling mischeviously while roving her hand over his arm.

“Hey there,” Chorong her lips.

Changmin glanced down at her surprised by the gesture and turned to look at Suho before managing an awkward smile.

“Hi Chorong,” Changmin greeted, “you know if Victoria’s in?”

“I don’t know,” Chorong half-whispered and winked, “maybe she’s in my room.”

“Oh…” Changmin managed and managed an awkward laugh, “ok…I think I should go now. You tell her to call me if you do find her in your room.”

Gently prying her hand off his arm Changmin turned to nod at Suho in farewell before backing out of the doorway and hurrying down the steps.

A somewhat pouty expression filtered over Chorong’s face before she turned to look at Suho with an ultimate smile full of sweetness and hidden intentions. For some reason, Suho still found her peculiar even though his eyes still ran over her with the instincts of a man.

Kicking the door closed as she walked in she worked her way toward him, slinking a hand up his shoulder.

“Hey tiger,” Chorong winked, leaning up so that her hot breath emanated off his face tauntingly.

His heart raced uncontrollably even though he was still aware that something about his Chorong was off. Suho partially leaned in on impulse before pulling back a half second later. A smile spread across Chorong’s face before grabbing the bouquet out of his hands.

“Roses for me? How sweet,” she still spoke underneath her breath before chucking them into the living room.”But I don’t want roses right now.”

Suho felt his head slide forward when she locked an arm around his neck to pull him toward her. Chorong, or who he thought was Chorong smothered him with her lips in the next second. His eyes slid wide open at the shock of it suddenly unable to recall if he’d kissed her before or not.

His legs became wringly and weak before he finally willed up some strength to push her away. Heaving a deep breath he staggered backward having been caught off guard with the unusual intimacy.

“Whoa…” he muttered and reached a hand up to scratch his head.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Chorong took a step forward, but he fell another step back and put a hand out to stop her.

“Uh…this…you know what? I think I better go,” Suho bit his lip and smiled. “I’ll call you later, ok?”

Without waiting for her to say anything he turned around to escape out the door.

>_____<;;

A warm kind of breeze swept by brushing their hair past their shoulders when they reached the top after what felt like a three minute climb. A bridge of twisted branches extended before them continuing toward the next tree without any kind of railing to hold onto. If they fell…well they fell. Chorong only remembered then how much she hated heights.

“Are you serious? We really have to walk through this?” Chorong whined.

“It’s the only way,” the man from earlier answered from upfront. “We can only go by foot at night. That’s when the hunting stops.”

“What hunt are you talking about?” Namjoo asked. “Are you in some kind of hiding?”

“We’re gnomes; we live like this,” the man answered.

“What?” Victoria went on wondering if she’d heard right. “Like garden gnomes?”

“Garden gnomes live underground,” the man shook his head at them as if wondering why they didn’t know better. “We are wild gnomes.”

“Ok…what’s the difference?” Chorong frowned, clamping her eyes shut as a strange amount of fear spiraled through her nerves tickling her feet. She reached out and grabbed Namjoo, who was in front of her.

Namjoo slipped to the side with a loud shout before twisting around to scold her.

“Careful back there!” The man called out. “If you fall, you’ll become food.”

“Then you should have made this safer!” Chorong shook her head. “We’re normally tall people, you know?”

Victoria snorted at the comment.

“What!?” Chorong shouted.

“Nothing,” Victoria muttered.

“So who’s the Witch Doctor?” Namjoo asked. “Can she send us back?”

“He,” the gnome corrected. “If he hears that he’s going to turn you into food and send you back out there.”

“Oh gosh…I’m so sorry,” Namjoo made a face as she mumbled.

“Do you think this is a joke?” The gnome sounded insulted.

“Well if our lives aren’t enough of a joke already, I don’t know what can be a joke at this point,” Chorong spoke under her breath.

Victoria twisted around to hush them before turning back to the gnome still wondering why the trek to the Witch Doctor was so long.

“Anyway, how do we get back to our world?” Victoria asked. “We just want to go back.”

“You’re going to have to negotiate with the Witch Doctor about that. I can’t do anything for you.”

Chorong watched Victoria quietly sigh and run a hand up her forehead to withhold her frustration. Silently about the negotiation they would have to make she could only expect another long journey up ahead. When would they get a break and have a taste of normal again?

They finally climbed down another long ladder, but this time they were unable to see the bottom of what was next. The air, clogged up by some kind of smokey foam, only allowed them to see a gray area at the bottom. The four of them finally reached ground again, but were swept up in delirious coughs when they uncontrollably inhaled the smoke.

Chorong thought that they might die if they were unable to breathe in the next minute. Why did they have to go through so much just for a damn Witch Doctor?

“Because I’m the one will save you,” a voice answered her silent question.

Caught of guard she peered around through the darkness and spotted a dark figure before a short-like figure appeared, dressed in a black cape similar to Snow White’s stepmother in the cartoon. Except he wasn’t a hag or anything near a woman figure.

“How interesting,” the With Doctor looked them over.

Chorong narrowed her eyes to try to get a peek of his face, which was covered by the hood of the dark cape. Why they were still standing in a smokey area, she didn’t understand.

“I will leave them with you,” the gnome bowed toward the Witch Doctor and proceeded back up the ladder.

Chorong turned to watch him go with the only light they received coming from the opened top of the tree.

“I was wondering when you’d come,” the Witch Doctor’s husky voice stated.

“You were…expecting us?” Victoria asked.

“Well not exactly,” the Witch Doctor nodded, “but it’s nice of you to visit.”

Namjoo let out an unexpected snort wondering what he meant by that.

“We want to go back to our world,” Victoria went straight to business, “what do we have to bargain for in order to return?”

“Tsk…tsk…tsk…” the Witch Doctor held out a hand finger, shaking it back and forth. “Not what I want.”

Chorong pressed her lips together.

“The Reaper must have meant to send you back to the past, but someone doesn’t want you there.”

Frowning, she turned to look at her confused sisters.

“What do you mean?” Victoria questioned. “Who wants to stop us?”

The Witch Doctor shrugged, “Well I wouldn’t know that, would I?”

“Stop with the riddles,” Namjoo ordered. “How do we go back?”

Suddenly turning, a stick appeared in his hand which he pointed toward her.

“The question is; do you go back?”

Victoria grabbed the stick, shoving it away from Namjoo. “What do you want?”

“Will you be up to it?” The Witch Doctor turned to face her, taking a step out of the smoke. “But I can tell; you’re not ready to see your mother.”

Chorong gripped onto Victoria’s arm.

“Only one of you goes.”

The sisters turned to look at each other.

“No,” Victoria stated with determination. “We go together or we don’t go. You’re going to do it that way.”

“Two goes to the past,” the Witch Doctor compensated, “but only one will be able to return to your world. For I can tell you, what’s going on there will need fixing.”

“What do you mean?” Namjoo grunted.

Chorong suddenly noticed a crooked smile on the Doctor’s face.

“He’s pulling a trick,” Chorong assumed.

“Tsk…tsk…tsk…” he muttered. “So have you decided?”

Uncertainty and anxiety overfilled them with what was to come. Victoria, who was standing between them, pulled them back. While the Witch Doctor watched Chorong turned to Victoria.

“We have no choice,” Victoria whispered.

“No, Victoria,” Chorong was insistent on shaking her head. “We’re not splitting up.”

“We need to find some answers,” Victoria reminded. “We have no way of getting any if someone’s always in our way.”

“We don’t know if we can trust him,” Chorong equated then shot her glance toward Namjoo, “you agree with me, don’t you?”

“I don’t know…”

“We three have to stick together no matter what,” Chorong urged, “we have to be together! Don’t forget what grandma said!”

“But what if something is going on back in our world?” Namjoo asked. “I also want to go to the past to find out why it happened to mom.”

Chorong clamped her eyes shut understanding why it was important to split up, but for some reason she felt worried.

“Fine,” Chorong forced herself to mutter. “I’ll go back, but you two have to promise to come back as soon as possible. I can’t do this on my own, you know that.”

Victoria squeezed her hand before they walked back toward the Witch Doctor.

“We’re ready.”

Chorong glanced toward her sisters with worry unable to express the words of fear in her heart before they suddenly disappeared from her sight.

The familiarity of her bedroom became apparent to her, but suddenly the realization that the house would be empty quickly sunk in. Loneliness ate her up before she opened the door and started down the hallway.

First stopping in her footsteps she glanced toward her sisters’ bedrooms. She would have to start waking up by herself with no one to talk to over meals again. It was different how used she’d become to having her sisters around. Perhaps she’d taken their presence for granted after becoming attached.

They were…family again.

Chorong slowly started down the stairway and stopped at the bottom of the stairs listening to the silence. Her mind clicked a second later when she heard something from the kitchen and she recalled the Witch Doctor telling them that something was going on in their world.

Alarmed, she quietly crept down the dining room toward the kitchen. Utensils were clattering against plates and the water was running. Someone…was in their home.

Panicking she listened to her heartbeat drum within her ears before trying to steady herself. She would need self-control for the incoming moments. Something was always weird and out of the ordinary when their world went haywire. She needed to prepare for anything that was impossible.

When she slinked around the doorway and glanced into the kitchen she spotted a woman standing by the sink; her jaw dropping just seconds later in recognition. Chorong was looking at herself…herself who was adorned in a y red dress that was so not herself. 

***Lololol! Hello everyone! /bows down in apology/ Surprise update! It's been a long time huh? I should hit myself for starting so much unfinished stories =.=' I thought I should write something up for this story after such a long time! I'm so sorry for the looong hiatus, but I've had a hard semester and suffered from a writer's block during summer I couldn't help it. By the way, enjoy your Christmas and holiday break! Thank you if you're still reading and haven't forgotten this story yet ;A; I owe you so much!

***And as we have it; something absurd is going on again.