Author's note: T.T Sorry if there are grammar mistakes.. it's 3:46am. But the chapter is posted! Please enjoy it
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“Well here we are!”

Sungmin looked around himself before looking straight ahead to where Hyukjae was moving a wall of leaves. Everything around them was pitch black; so dark that Sungmin could barely see his hand in front of his face. The area that Hyukjae had lead them to was a lot different than the rest of the forest. Not only was it completely dark, but it was so silent that Sungmin could hear the ringing in his ears. He let out a quiet sigh and glanced down at the watch on his wrist. Squinting his eyes, he lifted it closer and read 1:45pm. He blinked a couple of times in disbelief, before shooting his head up to where the moon was peeping it’s way through the tree branches. That didn’t seem right. It was only the afternoon, so why was the moon already out? He bit at his lower lip then looked back at Hyukjae who was shoving away the last bit of leaves of the entrance to his home. “Come on in!” 

Sungmin watched as the other ran through the ‘door way’, and he soon followed in after. 

 

As he stepped into the house, he knew already that it wasn’t going to be like any home he’s ever seen before. The area was still in the outdoors, although it seemed to be more private since all the trees were so smashed together. The trees were all bordering around the center of the area which was an open space. It looked as though someone cut down the trees, because there were so many stumps and branches laying about. When Sungmin looked up, the moon was big and visible. That must have been Hyukjae’s source of light. 

“So..this is where you live?” He put a smile on his face and looked at the --probably younger-- of the two. Hyukjae’s face beamed beneath his mask as he nodded frantically. He seemed to be excited that somebody was there in the house with him.

“Yeah! Y’see I made the place myself.” He said, and he walked in farther. He made his way over to a tree stump and he sat down on it, signaling Sungmin to come over. Sungmin laced his hands together behind his back and he stepped into the area. He side glanced at another tree stump across from Hyukjae and he sat on it, then crossed his legs and faced the other. 

“How could you make this yourself? You’re just a child, aren’t you? Where are your parents? Why do you live in a forest? Oh, and..can I have my phone?” He looked down rather quickly, and placed a hand over his mouth realizing that he just yelled out over 20 questions. He shifted in his seat before looking at Hyukjae again and repeated himself, in a more tamed manor. “ah..um..So. How did you make this home of yours?”

Hyukjae didn’t reply right away, but he kept on staring at Sungmin. Then he asked a question of his own.

“Did you ask how old I am?” He tilted his head to the left, then tilted it once more to the right. Sungmin nodded gently. “I dunno.” He rocked back and fourth in his place. “I got lost here when I was really little. Have you ever heard of a skull kid..” Hyukjae stopped speaking for a moment, noticing that he didn’t know his new friend’s name. “What’s your name?” 

“Oh..um. It’s Sungmin..You can call me Sungmin.” He spoke softly to the other trying not to sound too eager. “But to answer your question…I have no idea what a ‘Skull kid’ is..”

“Really?” Hyukjae began. “I didn't think so..Well y’know I’m a skull kid!” He perked up, as he felt giddy telling about himself. “A skull kid is a child that gets lost in the woods and never finds their way out. Eventually, after living here for so long you manage to find all different paths but..it’s too scary to go out there.” Sungmin listened to him speak, but he wasn’t sure if what he was hearing was serious talk or just an imagination of a young boy. He dipped his head to the side. 

“What do you mean ‘out there’? By the way, are you pulling my leg here?”

Hyukjae shook his head rather swiftly, and he watched Sungmin’s confused expression.

“I’m telling you the truth! Y’know…because Skull kids live in the forest for our whole lives, we’re given powers by the moon so that we can live easily.” A smile pressed onto his lips. “I was told by the moon, ‘take the mask that has the power of time’, that’s what it said. So I stole this mask here.” Hyukjae touched the one covering up his face. “Normal big people like you shouldn’t really know about us and our powers…but I gotta good feeling from you”. 

Sungmin chewed on his bottom lip, trying to process all the information that was just thrown at him. As much as he wanted to believe the boy, the story that was being told was getting weirder and weirder, and more unbelievable. He opened his mouth to say something, but then just shook his head with a light sigh. “You don’t believe me, do you…?” Hyukjae frowned slightly. “Should I show you then?” 

“I think that would help…” Sungmin finally spoke. “I’m sorry, it..just doesn’t seem realistic you know what I’m saying?” He watched as Hyukjae stood up from the tree stump and held out an open hand. He stood up as well and took the out stretched hand in his own. “What are you going to do..? How are you going to show me that you’re being real here?” 

Hyukjae didn’t say a word, but pressed a finger from his free hand onto his mask, where his lips should be.  He then placed his full hand over the face of his mask and closed his eyes gently. The area around both of them started to glow a light blue color, as all the woods began melting away. It looked almost like everything was morphing together into a big mess. Sungmin’s eyes widened and he let out a gasp. He wanted to pull away from Hyukjae but the masked boy had such a tight grip on him, it was impossible to get away. “What are you doing??” He began sounding panicked. This wasn’t normal. No little boy should have powers of time, no little boy should be melting away the world around him! 

 

Sungmin shut his eyes tightly, hoping everything would stop. Hoping that he could just go home, go back to the city where he belonged. Back to his boring family. This was beginning to be too much of an adventure. Too many strange things were happening in a short amount of time. 

Just then, when he peeked open his eyes, he saw a familiar sight. 

It was his living room. 

The cream colored wall paper, the brown love seat and the cherry-wood coffee table. The shelf that was full of books and other antiques. Sungmin felt a sense of relief, until he saw himself in the picture. Although, it wasn’t the 18 year old him. He was a child, no older than 6 years old, playing in the corner of the living room floor with his power rangers action figurines. His mother walked into the image then, and she sat down on the sofa and began to knit something. It looked like she was just starting whatever it was, but Sungmin knew it was the black and white scarf she gave him for Christmas that year. He remembered her making it, sitting on the sofa like that and asking him if he was excited for the holidays that year. And he remembered he would respond, ’yes mama, because you’re making me my present this year!’, and she would give him a kiss on the head, tell him to go back to playing, and she would continue her work. 

 

Sungmin’s breath grew shaky. He took a step back, bumping into someone. Quickly he turned his head to find himself up against Hyukjae’s body, and his glowing mask. 

“W-what is this?!” He questioned in almost a yell. Hyukjae set a hand on Sungmin’s shoulder to tell him it was okay.

“I told you. My mask has the power of time” He said. “I took you back to a childhood memory. Isn’t it really cool? I told you I was telling the truth. Now you believe me?” he chirped. 

Sungmin looked back at himself playing with the toys and his mother then nodded fast. 

“I believe you, I believe you! Just go back to the normal time!” He only had time to blink, when the area around them was back to the forest. He felt himself still shaking. That wasn’t something any person should experience. Time travel was just in the movies. Sungmin never believed that it was ever really possible. He looked around himself, just to make sure he was back in the present. Then his eyes met with Hyukjae’s.

“Don’t be scared!” Hyukjae said in a blissful tone. “You believe me now, and that’ll help everything else I tell you sound more real.” 

“There’s more..?” Sungmin set a hand on his forehead and sat down on one of the tree stumps again. He shut his eyes, feeling dizzy. “This is too weird..Normally..this kind of stuff only happens in TV shows and all those crazy sci-fi movies and stuff like that.” 

“I guess it’s hard to believe if you’re just a normal human.” Hyukjae walked over by Sungmin and wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him steady. “But I really am a Skull kid, I really have powers of time, and the moon really gave’em to me!” 

The older of the two stayed quiet for a little while. He rested his head on the chest of Hyukjae as he tried to stop the light headed feeling he had. He pursed his lips in thought, and listened closely to see if he could hear a heart beat. Sure enough there was a palpitation. He guessed Hyukjae wasn’t any type of ghost. Maybe he really should believe what he was told. He did see himself from the past. He took his left hand and moved it to his right arm and gave it a hard pinch, then let out a small whimper from feeling the pain. He wasn’t dreaming, so it must have to be real.

“You okay?” Hyukjae looked down at Sungmin when he heard the quiet sound coming from him. “I didn’t mean to make you sick.” There was a slight concern in his voice now, and Sungmin finally sat himself up straight and pulled away from the others hold. He gave a delicate smile and gave a small shake of the head then spoke.

“I’m okay. Sorry Hyukjae, it’s just not everyday I time travel.” 

“I guess it could make a normal person feel woozy!” Hyukjae started to talk normally again, in that happy tone. Seeing that his friend was alright put him in a good mood again. Sungmin watched Hyukjae for a moment, thinking of questions to ask him. 

“Hyukjae, can I ask you things?” 

“What kind of things?” He responded, then sat down right beside the tree stump. He looked up at Sungmin and got comfy, as if he was getting ready to answer anything and everything. 

“Well..first I want to ask you..Are you the only Skull kid?” Sungmin rested his elbow on his thigh, and placed his chin in the palm of his hand. His eyes shifted down to keep his eye contact with Hyukjae. 

“No I’m not the only one. There are a lot of kids that get lost here and never find their way out. Each of us get to talk to the moon though…So each of us have a different kind of power. I only met one other Skull kid though. His name was Kyuhyun, but he was no good.” A frown formed on his face. “I think some skull kids get so  worked up in fear and hate, that they forget how to make friends and how to be nice..I don’t blame them though. It really is scary meeting someone from out there.” Sungmin just nodded, telling Hyukjae to continue. He was already really interested in what he was hearing, and he wanted to know more. “Even I’m usually scared of people out there…Normally I try to keep the people away from the forest. Away from all of us because I know how much Skull kids hate it. People out there like to judge. They attack who is different, and that’s why we stay here. There’s just too many differences between the forest and out there. They wont accept us…And because of that, the Skull kids lose happiness. No body understands us…We only have each other. But the forest is so big, we only get to see one another sometimes. I‘ve been in the forest for over 12 years now and I only met Kyuhyun.”

Sungmin continued to listen to the story, but also started doing some math in his head. If he was guessing correctly, Hyukjae might have gotten lost in the forest at the age of 5 ; Since he said he was a child when he got lost.  He added 12 years onto that, and guessed that Hyukjae was roughly around 17 years old. Sungmin gave an excited nod to himself, hoping that he got the age about right. He stared at the other closely. Now that he looked, Hyukjae was tall. He had an Adams apple, and a defining jaw line. His shoulders were broad, and when he hugged Sungmin earlier, he definitely had muscles. 

“it must be hard..” He responded, hearing that Hyukjae wasn’t saying anything else. 

“It is…”

“Why did you decide to trust me, and let me in here? You’re even telling me all of this, but I thought you were scared of um..out there people.” Sungmin sat up straight.

“Well that’s the thing, I know you’re different..I could tell” Hyukjae gave a warm smile from beneath his mask. 

“How’s that?”

“Well you don’t think differences are bad, do you?..” Sungmin thought about it for a moment, wondering how the younger boy knew that about him. He gave a quiet ‘yes’ in response. “You see? I knew you were different. Do you have anything else to ask?” 

He thought about it. There were tons and tons of questions still floating around in his head, but he shook them off for now. Looking at the other he reached out and patted his head. 

“No more for now…My head is still trying to wrap around all the information you just told me.” Hyukjae stood up then, and walked over to a different tree stump. He plopped down onto it and looked up at the moon. He didn’t say much of anything else. He just continued to watch the moon and the stars around it, while Sungmin kept his gaze on the masked boy. He was studying him, trying to figure out more information with out asking about it. 

 

The two of them stayed silent for a couple of hours. They eventually moved positions. Sungmin layed down on the forest floor, copying Hyukjae’s actions from earlier and watched the moon. Hyukjae was sitting up in a tree then, and then he pulled out an instrument from his pocket. It was a type of flute. Not the kind that was used in orchestras but a small one, with only few holes. He glanced down at Sungmin, before he lifted up his mask, just enough to expose his lips. He then put the instrument up to them and began to play a soft melody. With the sudden sound filling up the air, Sungmin sat up rather quickly and he shifted his eyes from the moon to Hyukjae up in the tree. 

“you never told me you could play the flute!” Sungmin said enthusiastically. Hyukjae gave a grin, which Sungmin saw from his showing lips, and he hopped down from the tall tree. He made his way to the other being and sat down. 

“You like instruments?” He asked. 

“I really do! I play the piano, have you heard of it?” Sungmin said.

“Yes. I’ve heard of it. But the flute is my favorite.” Hyukjae smiled widely. “The moon gave me this one, see?” He lifted up the flute and pointed at a carving of a crescent moon on the bottom of it. “It plays really pretty music.” 

Sungmin’s face lit up. Not only because of how neat it was to know that this Skull kid liked music and instruments, but that he could actually see him smiling too. Now that Sungmin thought about it, he really had no idea what this person even looked like. The most he ever saw was his mouth, and that didn’t really tell him much of anything.

“Play me a song that you know, Hyukjae..I want to hear it.” Hyukjae nodded lightly, then pressed the mouth of the flute onto his. He began playing a song that Sungmin never heard before. It was slow and peaceful, and it got carried through the air from the blowing wind. 

While Hyukjae played his flute, Sungmin’s thoughts  went back to the mask. He wanted to know what the face underneath it looked like. He’s called a Skull kid. Perhaps his face looked like a scary skull, and that’s why he wore a mask. He wanted to ask Hyukjae to take it off, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. He was wearing it for a reason. 

 

As Hyukjae finished the song, Sungmin began to clap. 

“It was really beautiful..It’s not like any instrument I’ve heard before…Can you play another?” 

The masked boy flashed Sungmin another exultant smile before taking a breath and playing him another tune. 

Sungmin enjoyed learning about Hyukjae and listening to his music so much, that he lost track of the time. The forest around them never got darker or brighter with the passing of the time. The moon stayed bright in the sky, and the stars shimmered around It, as the hours slipped away. 

 

“That’s not right…” A strange voice whispered. The person that spoke to themselves watched the two new friends from behind the thick bundle of trees. His eyes narrowed, studying Sungmin’s face and body before making his way back into the depth of the woods.