[Sera]

Darkness.

Strange, I'm always waking up to inky black spaces.

Slosh... Slush... Slosh... Slush...

And liquid.

I do hope it's not blood this time.

I got up and instantly my hands extended, hoping to meet concrete objects.

And I did.

"One... Two... Three..." I moved my hands along as I walked. The ground beneath my bare feet were cold, but I never felt braver.

"Four."

Dammit, four walls. I'm trapped!

I kicked and punched the walls and when I placed both my feet on the ground, I felt cold liquid. Sniffing the air, no metallic smell reached my nostrils.

I sighed in relief. Phew, it's not blood.

In that moment while I was smelling the air, the liquid shot up to my waist.

What the !?

It rose quickly and like déjà vu, I found myself breathing my last breath and hating what I had smelled.

Blood.

What is with me and blood!?

Shockingly, the blood wasn't as sticky as I had thought it would be. I swam upwards and my hands touched something. I felt my way above my head and there was no hole or exit of some sort.

I knew I was a goner.

The oxygen in me was almost used up and soon, I succumbed to the darkness.

Yixing-oppa...

"Sera!"

I opened my eyes at the call of my name in his voice.

What I thought was darkness had changed.

A lush park greeted my eyes, and as far as I could see, green filled the lands. The sun was setting in the horizon, casting a beautiful orange-red on everything that its rays touched. The sound of laughter drew my attention and I realised that a little boy was looking at me.

"Sera?"

His mouth spoke my name and for a moment, I wondered if he called the right 'Sera'.

"Are you alright? Can you be more careful?" The corners of his mouth tugged upwards and his eyes formed crescents. "Your clumsiness isn't helping you at all, haha!"

Those chocolate-coloured eyes... Where have I seen them...?

"Sera! You need to be more alert or else you'll lose the game!" At the call of my name, I turned my head around and as fast as lightning strikes, another little boy who was just behind me vanished.

The entire park erupted in laughter and there I stood rooted to the ground. Tiny figures emerged from various locations and they started to make their ways towards me. Naturally, I backed away from them.

"Sera ah Sera, you can't outrun us!"

"Be a good girl and admit your defeat. Kekeke."

"You lose!"

"NEVER! I won't lose to you oppas!" And before I could stop myself, I laughed.

Wait. I'm not in control of my movements?

And, oppas?

While I backed away, I stumbled over a stone. I fell backwards, waiting to meet the seemingly soft grass on the ground but it never came. Darkness was what I met.

A lady appeared in front of me and I was being held back by someone.

“Get out of here, Sera! Go! Run!”

“Mother!”

“Sera! Go! Now!”

“Mum! Don’t!”

My hands reached out, hoping to grab the 'mother'. She was there, on the floor, right in front of my outstretched arms.

But they never did reach her for she disappeared when I blinked.

Consciousness flooded into me and I awoke with a rough jolt.

I could feel my heart, fast and rapid; my breath, hard and urgent. Perspiration trickled down the sides of my face and my eyes darted around. I never realised that my hand was holding tightly onto something.

Or someone.

As they trailed up the long arms and registered the familiar facial features, tears welled and when my eyes met with his, they fell.

"O-Oppa..."

I just felt very afraid then, and I do not know why.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and patted my head.

"Shh... Shh... It's okay. I’m here now.” His voice was soft and gentle, and the moment that angelic sound reached my ears, my body relaxed. “It's just a nightmare that you were having."

Feeling extremely exhausted, I gingerly leaned onto him and he pulled me into an embrace. As though we’ve done this many times before, our bodies seemed to mould into one entity.

“Are you feeling better now, Sera?”

I nodded and felt his sharp chin prodding the top of my head. My eyes lazily strayed around, observing my surroundings and when I realised that the room I was in looked neither like a hospital ward nor my dorm room, I shot up.

“Ouch…!” He cried out. “That hurts.”

“Sorry, Yixing-oppa!” He was rubbing his chin, but soon broke into a grin.

“Guess you are feeling better now. That was some strength input into that knock.”

I shot him an apologetic smile. "Oppa… where am I? How's your arm? What happened? And how long was I out?" I gasped for air at the end of my numerous questions and he snickered.

"That’s alot of questions from a person who just slept for sixteen hours straight in a stranger’s house.” Seeing my gaping mouth, he closed it with a finger and an amused expression. “Everything's fine. You don't have to worry.”

He lifted up the sleeve of his shirt, showing perfectly smooth, pale skin. “My wound’s healed, and your palms have healed as well.”