Massive, mad thanks and love to @artenikat on Twitter for showering me with her talent in the form of this book cover-ish poster!

a/n: I’ve added a glossary of names and terms used in this story, thanks to the suggestion by @Tsukiryuuu on Twitter

Also, a short note to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN all of us sones & soshi!!!

X

I used to wonder if stories and movies are correct about the things that happen in the moment pre-death. Well, as it turns out, my life is actually flashing before my eyes as Ms Pink steers us towards the mass of green canopy. From the first birthday party I can remember to the professor whose lecture I will probably miss should I die. But it’s Ms Pink at the helm. And I have faith in her even though my body is obviously prepping itself for the end.

The helicopter is swinging from side to side like a pirate ship ride on earthquake mode. Hands on my harness, I hold on for dear life as the finer details of the canopy become clearer and clearer to us at an alarming rate. The next thing I know, we are plunging into a sea of leaves and branches and the helicopter comes to a crashing halt.

“Ow!” I yell when my head slams back against the seat. “Ow . . .”

“What happened.”

I groan. “My head.”

“Don’t faint on me.”

Like I have a choice? “I’ll try not to.”

“Smart mouth. You should be fine.” Ms Pink pulls out two variegated pink guns and a variegated pink backpack from the back of our seats and turns to me. “How’s your leg.”

My face scrunches up.

“Carry the backpack.”

“But—”

“Taeyeon, we have no time for your ‘buts’. Obey me.” Ms Pink shoves the backpack into my arms. I take it without a word. I have to trust Ms Pink with my life. She’s saved it a few times already so I have no reason to doubt her. She yanks open the door on her side and turns, dangling her legs over the side. “Climb onto my back.”

I clamber over to her seat and lean onto her back, wrapping my arms around her neck. She reaches around and pulls my legs so that they wrap around her waist, turning me into a human koala with a pink backpack.

“Hold tight,” she says. Then, we are falling.

“Huh-ahhh!” I scream and bury my face into the crook of Ms Pink’s neck. Branches are everywhere, scratching my arms, my legs, my . . .

Ms Pink lands on the ground with a groan and falls onto her hands and knees. “Get off.”

I fall, rather than get off, and she collapses onto her back, sprawled out like a passed out drunkard on the street. Only, this is not a street. This is—

I raise my head and look around. “Where are we?”

“The deep, dark forest of no return.”

A sickening jolt of dread sweeps across my body from head to toe. “W-What?”

A low, rumbling sound escapes Ms Pink. It’s a really strange sound. Concerned, I push up on my arms to see if she’s hurt. Her lips are pressed and the look on her face spells pain with a capital P.

“Ms Pink! Are you hurt? Where is it? Where’s the pain?”

Ms Pink cups her palm over and her body trembles. Ignoring the pain in my thigh, I drag myself to her side, anxious to find the wound. Then, I hear it. A suppressed bit of laughter. What?

“Ms Pink?”

Ms Pink is almost turning pink in the face when she bursts into peals of laughter. What the ?

“Y-You’re not hurt?”

Laughter in endless streams spill from her lips and she’s wiping tears from her eyes. When her laughter is finally reduced to chuckles, I ask, “Why are you laughing?”

She takes one look at me, laughs a bit more, then says, “Your strings are too easy to pull, stupid human.”

“I don’t get it. What strings are you talking about?”

Ms Pink shakes her head as she sits up and looks at me. The pink in her eyes begin to glow as we stare at each other. A moment later, I’m about to look away because intensity of it is almost too much for me to bear but then she cups my face with her palms and my cheeks with her thumbs, locking me in place.

“You.”

Me? I blink in confusion.

“I’d almost forgotten how beautiful this world can be.” The bold, strong pink of her eyes softens and turns pastel pink as she adds, “Then, you fell into my office,” she pauses, causing a hitch in my breath as my heart begins to pound, “smelling like the sweetest dessert I’ll ever have.”

Dessert? “Er . . .” I’m not sure if Ms Pink has bumped her head and lost her mind or something but this sounds more like a threat than a compliment to me. “We should get going. Seo will be worried.” I try to get up but my thigh hurts and I almost lose my balance. But I don’t.

Ms Pink is on her feet, clutching my waist, her breath hitting my face. “Stupid and useless,” she mutters, then turns around. “Get on my back.”

“So I’m guessing this isn’t really the ‘deep, dark forest of no return’?” I ask as I resume my human-koala-with-a-pink-backpack pose on her back.

Ms Pink stands, her hands on my to hold me up, and begins walking at sub-vampire speed. “We’re in Shaw’s thicket.”

“Thicket? But this place looks more like a jungle . . .”

“Shaw was a thicket. It’s how Shaw got her name.”

“A hundred years ago?”

“Long before that.”

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