It seemed to be a typical day for Lee Sungmin. 

 

The weatherman that morning predicted rain, so the clouds in the sky were gray and puffy. People that were walking along the sidewalk were holding umbrellas up over head, just in case a drizzle started coming down. The cars that were stuck in traffic were filling the air with their noisy honking, scaring off the pigeons that were waddling along the street curbs. The clock tower rang a familiar, off, tune when it struck 8am. There were people running and shoving past others so they wouldn’t be late for their second day of work. People were on cell phones making business calls on every corner. This was the normal everyday life in the city. So simple. So typical. So boring. 

 

That frustrated Sungmin. Everything was always the exact same. Why was it that everybody seemed to be living the same exact life? He needed excitement, that was for sure, and a stuffy old city wasn’t going to fill that need. Sungmin was forced to move into the city because of his parent‘s work. They were both business workers and had jobs in a large company. They were so involved in working, they never had time to spend with their 18 year old son. Money was the most affection he got now and days.   

“All because of a stupid job. What the hell is there to do around here?” Sungmin groaned to himself, running a hand through his black locks. He started trying to think of different ways to entertain himself. What could he do so that his day could stray from the ordinary? What could he do so that he wasn’t like every other boring soul in the area? 

 

Then, an idea popped into his head. He decided to get lost. That was a good idea, he thought, and a smile grew onto his face. To walk and walk until he had no clue where he was. That would put some ‘wow’ into his day. Sungmin nodded to himself with a goofy grin. He looked around, finding a specific direction  he was going to walk in. He followed the path he chose as best as he could. He walked and walked until he found himself leaving the city. He wasn’t too sure where he was headed, but it had to be better than where he started off. The land around him went from being loud and crazy, to being quiet and gentle.  It was a nice and relaxing feeling, although it wasn’t quite the excitement Sungmin was looking for.

“Agh..How long was I walking for?” he proposed himself a question before glancing at the watch on his wrist. It read 12’o clock pm. “Jeez, 4 whole hours??” 

He was surprised himself that he kept his feet moving for that long, and now that he was paying attention, his legs and feet were beginning to ache. He inhaled a deep breath before letting it out with a sigh. “Some exciting trip..I ended up in a quiet town..” Sungmin shoved his hands deep into his pockets and began wandering around to find a place to rest. He glanced around at all the small houses. Some had dogs sleeping in the grass, and others had old couples sitting in rocking chairs on their decks. “Of course, no where for me to rest..” he said to himself, and continued to wander. 

 

He found himself walking for another good 15 to 20 minutes before a bundle of trees caught his eye in the distance. “Now that is very interesting!” A smile formed on the young boy’s lips. He didn’t think twice before going up to the entrance of this -what appeared to be- small forest. His eyes trailed along all the different types of trees and he started a journey in. He was betting that he could find a nice tree to sit and take a nap by. He could probably take a hike and enjoy the cool weather before attempting to find his way back home. Sungmin had so many different thoughts in his head, that he barely noticed  the sound of rustling bushes. His head tilted slightly from possibly hearing something, but he continued on his way, not realizing that what he heard was creeping up right behind him. 

 

With out any time to react, Sungmin felt something graze across his upper thigh and reach down into his pocket. 

“Ah!!” He let out a yelp, thinking he was getting attacked by a ert,. He turned around as quickly as his body would let him and he swung an arm. “Don’t touch me!!” He shrieked, but to his surprise, there was nothing but wind, and swaying trees. 

Suddenly he felt a cold rush fall through his body. He knew he felt something. Something touched his thigh, and it wasn’t the wind. He was sure he heard something too. Even though he wasn’t paying 100% attention, he knew something wasn’t right.  “C-come out!..I’m warning you!” He called out a bit sheepishly, hoping inside that whatever it was, didn’t really come out to say hello.  “I said come---!?” Sungmin’s voice cut off when he felt the same thing sliding across his other thigh. This time having more time to move, he swung his body around and smacked his hand into whatever it was. He had his eyes shut tightly. He knew he hit something. He felt the slap on his hand..but what he touched wasn’t human flesh. 

Chills shivered down his spine as he began to open one of his eyes to peek at whatever it was that he hit. 

“YIKES!” Letting out another yell, Sungmin took a step backwards before tripping over his feet and falling onto his bottom. The figure that stood before him was a human being, although they had a mask covering their face. The mask was dark. It had bright yellow eyes, and spikes bordering the outside of it. It was some type of monster mask; And even though the  face was covered up, Sungmin could definitely tell that the person underneath it was staring directly at him. 

“Wh-what do you want?? P-please don’t do anything to me! D-Don’t me!” Sungmin shivered in his place, and the one that stood above him just tilted their head. “I know what you were planning!…You touched my legs!” Sungmin swallowed hard, scooting himself back a bit more before standing up quickly. The other wasn’t moving, but just watching. “I-I’m leaving!” He shouted at the mysterious person, and then he turned to take off running when he heard a voice coming from the other.

 

“I’m Hyukjae.”. A smile crept onto his masked face.  “Who are you?”

 

Sungmin stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at the now named mystery boy. He swallowed the spit in his mouth hard before trying to speak again. He wasn’t exactly sure on what to say. He knew that this guy was definitely some type of insane ert. 

“I’m not going to tell you, ert..” Sungmin finally mumbled out from his lips. He watched as the boy known as Hyukjae his head to the side as in saying, ‘I have no idea what you just said’. 

“Do you want to come with me and see my home?” Hyukjae asked with a smile upon his covered face. 

Sungmin shook his head violently. And he stood up straight to look tough. 

“You think I’m stupid enough to go with a erted stranger? You got another thing coming you freak..” 

“You might wanna come. Y’see I got your phone!” Hyukjae let out a childish laugh, and then lifted his left hand in the air, revealing a phone with a black and pink case around it. 

 

Sungmin saw that it was clearly his, quickly feeling up his pockets in and out. 

“W-wait how did you--?” He stopped speaking when he remembered feeling a hand touching his thighs moments earlier. The hand must have been to this creep. He wasn’t trying to feel him up, he was trying to steal his phone! “Give it back to me!” Sungmin yelled.

“you have to catch me first!” The masked boy squeaked before hiding the phone in the pocket of his jacket. He moved a hand to the bottom of his mask, and lifted it long enough to show off the grin on his face. Then he set it back down and took off running into the thick bundle of trees. Sungmin’s eyes widened a bit, seeing he was now forced to start a chase. He let out a groan, and then started on his way. His feet were moving as quickly as they could to catch up to that little brat. He huffed in annoyance, trying not to trip on fallen branches and stumps in the path. He squinted his eyes, hoping to see  where the other went, realizing that he already lost where he was going. He stopped in his tracks and whipped his head back and fourth. 

“Hey!” He called out. “Where’d you go?” 

“If you come to my house I’ll give your phone back!” Hyukjae jumped down right in front of Sungmin, making him shriek in fear for the second time that evening. The scared boy looked up quickly hoping to see where Hyukjae came from. 

“you jumped from a tree??”

“Yeah! I can climb really really fast! I thought it would be funny to scare you!”  He let out a laugh, and bounced in his place. Sungmin stared at him. The boy sure was childish. The way he spoke, and the way he giggled at every little thing. It even looked like he was playing dress up. Sungmin wondered how old this boy really was..maybe there was nothing to fear. Perhaps he just wanted someone to play with. 

“Ok.”

“Huh?” Hyukjae tilted his head, still bouncing in place.

“I’ll go with you to your home..” 

“Really??” He jumped up and down, then grabbed a hold onto Sungmin’s arm. He squeezed it tightly, making sure that the other wouldn’t be able to get away. “Then let’s go!” 

Hyukjae began leading them through a bunch of trees. The deeper they went into the forest, the darker it was becoming outside. The birds around them were starting to quiet down and the bugs were starting to creep their ways out of the ground and trees. Sungmin glanced around them, watching the forest  fall asleep for the night, and It was creeping him out. It felt like the two of them were walking for over an hour now, even though it was only 15 minutes in the least. The sun was completely set and moon light was trying to peek it’s way through all the tree branches in the sky. The quiet hooting of an owl could be heard from a distance. That was the only sound aside from the singing crickets and the humming of Hyukjae.  

“How much farther..um..Hyukjae?” He questioned, making a cringed face when he saw a big brown moth fluttering off a tree. 

“Not too much!” 

It was quiet between the two of them again. Listening to the crickets, Sungmin watched the ground as they continued their walk. 

He began thinking to himself as they went. He wasn’t too sure on the kind of excitement he was searching for, but that wasn’t it. Finding a masked boy in the middle of a forest, and now going to his house wasn’t part of his plan. Why was there a boy in the middle of a forest anyway? Where were his parents? Sungmin shook his head, not being able to answer his own questions. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad going head first into a mystery. Maybe it would be a lot more fun than he thought. He lifted his head up to look at the stars in the sky. The thoughts were clouding his brain and he spoke out loud to himself. 

“Maybe this is the start of something new.”