It’s been weeks ever since I last talked to Sehun. After he sent me home the night I was lost, he became distant—not that we’re close but he doesn’t talk like he does to me before. Even more mysterious.

Practice is going on after end of classes. As usual, he’s still the same. Well that explains because his character doesn’t really have many lines.

“You ok?” Lily asked.

She sat beside me, on the smooth stage floor of the auditorium. Honestly, I don’t really know how to answer that so I sheepishly smiled, nodding my head.

“Don’t worry. Two more weeks and we’ll be out of this. In the mean of time, all we have to do is to enjoy.” She said with all enthusiasm.

“Yeah. I guess.” A lazy reply escaped my mouth.

I just want to rest right now, quit this play of thing but I can’t. So instead, my eyes wandered and everyone is busy with their own business; making of props, decorating of the stage, practicing lines and such. And then there’s Mr. Kang walking towards us with a big smile on his face—too big that it almost scared me.

A smile is such a deceitful mask. It can only mean two things. Happiness or an evil scheme.

“Actors and scriptwriter gather around!” He said, clapping his big old hands together. All around, the actors stopped practicing on their lines and started gathering to where Mr. Kang is. Lily and I however, remained seated since we are already close to our director. When everyone is already seated and the room had become silent, Mr. Kang started his announcement.

“I know that you are all working hard for the success of this play.” Mr Kang said. Then it was silent for a few moments before a voice from the back spoke up.

“But?” We all turned to look at who spoke up. It was Kim Taehyung, a junior whose role was one of the village boys.

Mr. Kang smiled, seemingly satisfied that someone seems to pick up what he was implying and spoke again, “But I think it’s not enough. There’s still something missing in your acting skills, guys.”

 He paused for a bit to let the information sink in then continued, “So, I asked the school if we could have some acting workshop-“ Groans could be heard all over, “-outside the campus for two days.” At this point, the groans turned into cheers.

When the cheers subsided, I raised my hand. Mr. Kang saw it and nodded at me, acknowledging the fact that I have a question. “Where are we training Mr. Kang?”

He looked at me and with a knowing smile he said, “You’ll see.”

###

Birds singing, disturbing music from the dancing trees…those were the only sounds you can hear. Well aside from the sound of an axe cutting wood into half. Chanyeol threw the axe on the side and let out an exasperated sigh. He glared at his brothers, Xiumin and Baekhyun who were so quiet…and that’s not a good thing. Not so normal.

“Hey you two! Aren’t you gonna talk there or something?” He paused, even more frustrated because the two didn’t even look at him. “Because the last time I counted, there were hundred and six words came out from my mouth and you guys have nothing!”

At last, Baekhyun raised his head with a big grin plastered on his face. “I’m surprised you can count.” That came out more like a mock.

Xiumin chuckled at Baekhyun’s statement. The taller one’s ears flamed and he threw the baseball that was on the ground but Baekhyun caught it on time.

“Seriously what’s wrong with you guys?!” Chanyeol wailed.

He just can’t shake off the awkward atmosphere. It’s like he was thrown into the crowd of people he doesn’t know and he was left with no choice but to talk to himself rather than to think he’s a loner.

“Nothing. You’re just being delusional.” Xiumin nonchalantly answered.

“Seriously? I think you’re referring to yourself.” Chanyeol fired back, annoyed than ever.

Baekhyun breathed in deeply and glared at the two arguing brothers of his. “Can the both of you shut up?”

“Well when do you plan not to shup up? You’ve been so quiet since you came back. What happened to you?” Chanyeol scoffed, crossing his arms.

He wasn’t mad neither happy about it. He was just not used to this whole new Baekhyun he is having an argument right at the moment.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol who looks so pissed off but he didn’t want to argue further more. He stood up and walked passed him but before that, he stopped just beside him, giving a brotherly tapped on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Xiumin, what’s going on?” Chanyeol’s worried. The tone of his voice told so. He couldn’t stand the new personality Baekhyun’s wearing.

“Don’t worry about it. Probably he lacked some flirting for the day.” The latter smirked.

“Yeah, it’s so Baekhyun. What about you? What happened?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering where Tao went. We know that he and Suho had a fight. I’m afraid his juvenile attitude would get the best of him. That kid is dangerous yet vulnerable.” Xiumin explained, resting his back on the wooden wall of the cottage.

“You’re right. He needs to grow up. By the way, Lay isn’t home either. I wonder what keeps him busy.” Chanyeol said, glancing around hoping to see the shadow of his brother Lay.

Xiumin glimpse at Chanyeol then smirked. “Me too. I wonder…”

###

The bell rang and its disturbing alarm engulfs each and every corner of the school. Annoying but it’s the only thing that spare students from boring classes—well not for the clever ones who would stay if they were allowed to.

“Long time no see.”

That familiar annoying voice greeted me. Ugh. Why do I have to see his face first?

“I wished longer time not to see you.” I greeted back.

That usually smirked came crawling to his lips has never been looked so annoying. I glared at him and he just laughed it off.

What a way to ruin my day.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t come to see you. I came to see someone else.” Kai said.

“Not like I’m expecting your company. Can you get out of my way?”

When he moved to the side, making a path for me, I couldn’t help the sigh of relief escaping my lips. I walked pass by him and headed my way to the auditorium. Mr. Kang said he’ll distribute the parental slips for the camp-drama training.

“See you around tough girl!” Kai’s voice echoed through the not so quiet corridors.

I can still hear him laughing. Ugh, get out of my head jerk. I shook it off and fastened my pace. I can’t stand watching him victorious in making me peevish. Because as much as I hate to admit, he won already.

“Minhee, hey!”

I tilted my head to the side where I heard someone called for me. It was Taehyung, one of the village boys in the play.

“Hi. I’m Kim Taehyung. We’re blockmates.” He said and flashed a smile.

He’s cute.

“I know.” I smiled back and we started to walk together.

“So, you’re heading to the auditorium?” He asked and I nodded.

“You’re not the type who talks a lot huh?” He chuckled and I nodded once again.

“We’re the opposite then.” He continued.

Taehyung opened the door of the auditorium and gestured me to get in first. The members of the play were already there. Seems like it’s just me and Taehyung they’ve been waiting for. Everyone looked at us and as usual, Taehyung greeted them with a big smile. For some reasons, my eyes caught Sehun’s and the coldness is never absent.

“Yes, yes. That’s enough Taehyung. Here’s your parental slip and here’s yours Minhee.” Mr. Kang handed us out the parental slip.

I read all the details on the slip but the odd thing is, it wasn’t stated where we are going.

“Mr. Kang, why isn’t it stated wher—“

“Okay! Let’s prepare now everyone! We’ll have a very busy day tomorrow. I’ll spare you from practice today…” Everyone cheered after hearing that from Mr. Kang. “But! Make sure you’ll be early tomorrow. The bus will leave 7 am sharp. Is everything clear?”

“Yes.” Everyone answered in chorus except for me and Sehun, who is normally quiet.

I let out a frustrating sigh. Mr. Kang left right away and so does Lily and that follows the rest of the people inside the auditorium.  He didn’t even let me finish what I have to ask.

###

I sense rain.

From the moment I walked out of the grocery, carrying all the things I need for the camping trip tomorrow, I can feel the temperature dropping and dark clouds are already gathering up the sky. But that was about fifteen minutes ago. It’s still not raining but it sure looks like it’s about to but I hope it’ll hold off.

Of course, not long after I thought of that rain did start to fall and it was pretty hard too.

“This is so not my day.” I mutter to myself as I ran to a nearby shop and got inside.  Maybe because I was really wet or because I was really busy trying to dry myself out that I didn’t notice that there was someone in the shop besides me.  

“Welcome.” A voice said from behind me. “You’ve come to get your fortune told, dearie?”

I turn to the voice and saw a lady in an Indian dress with the sari and all. I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that it was really cold and she’s wearing those clothes or the fact that she’s wearing them at all. I looked at her weirdly then remembered that she asked a question.

“Fortune?” I say in an unsure voice, looking a bit confused. “Oh no, I’m just her-“

“Splendid. Come.” She said, cutting me off and dragging me deeper in the shop. Or was it her apartment? I don’t really know. It was littered with lit candles and I had to be careful not to step on them. She led me to sit on a pile of pillows by the floor in front of a small table with a crystal ball on top. I didn’t want to argue with her because she might summon a dark spirit after me so I sat down. Once we were both seated she gave me a smile.

“So, let’s see what we have here.” She said and started studying the crystal ball. I looked at her facial expression all the while she was doing her prediction-thingy on me. At the sight of her scrunched eyebrows I got a little worried at what she might saw in the ball.

“Oh, this is bad. This is very bad.” She said.

“What? Why? What did you see?” I said inching closer to her.

“I see glowing eyes.” She muttered and her little crystal ball had black clouds seeping from the top. “Glowing eyes and huge claws.”

She grabbed my hands while voicing out what she saw in the ball. “I see tall trees and black birds and a cottage in the woods.”

I tried to get out of her grip but it was futile. “Wherever you are supposed to go, cancel it. I see something bad happening to you.”

The candles flickered all around us then all at once, everything went calm. Even the crystal ball became translucent again. The woman released her death grip on me and gave a smile again. She’s creeping me out but a mere fortune telling won’t change my mind. I admit, she got me there. I felt scared—a little but that won’t change anything. All of these are nothing but fake, delusions. She then stood up and led me out of her shop. The rain had already stopped and I was ready to go home.

“I hope I didn’t scare you, Minhee.” She said and waved at me. I hope for that too. I nod at her and went home.

It wasn’t when I laid on my bed did I think: how did she know my name?

###

“Minhee!” I heard Lily’s voice before I even see her. I turned around and saw her waving to me at one of the two buses that the school allowed us to use.

“Looks like someone arrived early.” I told her as I smiled cheekily.

“Nah, I just got here a few minutes before you did.” She replied, taking one of my bags and got inside the bus. There were already a number of people in the bus and as I looked around I saw Taehyung stand up from his seat at the back.

“Minhee! Come sit with me here!” He said with his usual enthusiasm.

I turned to look at Lily and she seems to understand and said, “Oh it’s okay Minhee, I’m riding on the other bus with Mr. Kang anyway. We we’re supposed to discuss what we’re going to do when we arrive.”

“Thanks Lily.” I told her taking my bag from her and adjusting the strap on my shoulder. “Where are we going any-“

But she left before I could even finish my sentence. Frustrated, I blew some strands of hair that were on my face and start to head to Taehyung’s spot. He helped me stack my bags from under our seat and after that we had a fun conversation. By 6:45am almost everyone was already there except for one person.

“Does anyone have Oh Sehun’s phone number?” Unfortunately for Kim Taehyung, he was also tasked to check all of our attendance. Everyone was already accounted for except Sehun. Everyone seemed to check their phones but no one has his number.

“Okay so it sees no one has his number. Can everyone just wait here? I’ll just go and ask-“ Taehyung was cut off by a voice behind him.

“No Need.”

And ladies and gentlemen, there is Oh Sehun by the entrance of the bus looking like his usual glorious self.

Wait what?

He looked at me, those soulless eyes that never fail to capture my attention. I saw him shifting his gaze to Taehyung who is standing beside me. He blinked then looked away. He went to the vacant seat, parallel to mine.

“Okay! Seems like everyone’s in here. I’ll tell Mr. Kang we’re ready to leave.” Taehyung grinned and ran his way out of the bus.

I sat beside the window and I couldn’t help not to glance towards Sehun’s way. He nonchalantly dumped his bag on the floor and laid his back. And there he goes with his usual routine again. He closed his eyes and pulled his hoodie over his head. Peacefully asleep.

“Minhee? Minhee wake up. We’re here.” I heard Taehyung’s voice, softly calling my name. I can feel him tapping my shoulder.

I shifted my position but stopped right away.

“Ow.”

I think I heard my neck snapped. Maybe I slept too much or the ride was just too long that I haven’t noticed. The warm sunlight tugged on my eyes and it felt familiar.

It can’t be.

I can barely breathe. I can feel my body getting colder. My heart dropped the moment I opened my eyes seeing the nightmare I’ve been running away from. Why am I here? I must be dreaming.

“Minhee, is everything ok?” Taehyung asked, calling my attention.

I looked at him and I don’t know what he sees in my face but all I know is that I feel terrible, disturbed, surprised—afraid.

“No.” That was my only answer. Right now, I couldn’t make myself lie that I am ok because I am not. “Why are we here? I thought—“

“This is the venue for our camp-drama training. Amazing, isn’t it?” He grinned, starting to unload the trunk with our bags.

Right, terribly amazing.

He carried everything, even mine. But that’s not what I’m bothered about. It’s about this village that once was a fairytale but now just a mere nightmare. Horror.

“You’re coming?” He said stopping just about to get out of the bus.

“Y-yeah. I’m just recovering from my sleep. Just give me a moment.” I sheepishly smiled.

He nodded his head with a smile plastered on his face. Right after he went out, I just realized that I wasn’t all alone yet. Slowly turning my head to my left, there I saw Sehun again, looking straight to my eyes. It made me flinched inside, like he was waiting all this time for me to look at him.

That familiar silence engulfed us again. I wanted to say something. I remembered that this is also the place where I first met him.

“You don’t have to be afraid.”

Those words came out from him like drug. All those dreadful feelings that I was having; lack of breath, screaming thoughts, fear—they were washed away. And I don’t know how he did it. It just happened.

He said I don’t have to be afraid.

“I’m not.” I realized that I have to give him an answer, even though it didn’t came out as a question.

He stood up from his seat, putting his hands inside his pockets and said, “After you.”

I stood up and I couldn’t help to give out a small smile. It just kept tugging the corners of my lips.

One foot, one step I took onto the ground and everything felt like a déjà vu. I don’t like this. The goosebump keep crawling to every part of my body, never been so comforting. I tilted my head to the side and my old home—if that’s how it should be called.

WELCOME TO WINTERWOOD
STAY SAFE

That old and cracked post that greets at the front of the village stays the same but only more disturbing.

“Stay safe…” I softly read the words underneath. That’s what it said but I’m feeling otherwise, how ironic.

“Minhee! Sehun! Hurry up. It’s cold out here. No doubt it is called the Winterwood.” Taehyung chuckled.

Sehun and I exchanged looks before getting inside the big old house—if I’m right about it being a house. The place we are staying at is near the entrance of the village. It’s far from where I grew up. Well, not that far, just about 9 blocks away.

“Okay everyone! Now that we have arrived here, I want you to take rest for one hour and after that, we’ll start some training. We don’t want to waste time, do we?” Mr. Kang said as he gave us each key to our room with our buddy and lucky me, I have Lily as my buddy.

“This is going to be fun.” Lily softly uttered beside me with full enthusiasm.

Right, fun. Now it sounded like fun is just another word for danger. I just hope whatever that fortune teller saw wasn’t true or else, this is going to be one hell of a camp.

FINALLY AN UPDATE...
A Merry Christmas dear readers! :))
Sorry if the update is taking too long. School's been tough, like really tough.
Well, we did our best to have a Christmas update.
Hope you like it. Have a Merry Christmas and God bless everyone.
We love you. We're very thankful for the undying support.
Just 2 months more and we'll be graduating.

Love you all!

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