BRIGHT white. It’s the first thing Mei sees when her eyes adjust to the brightness of the room. She’s not sure where she is, or how she got here or even how long she had been there. Nor does she know how long she had been knocked out. The room she sits in is rather small and filled with the color white. White walls, white floors, a locked white door, and she’s strapped to a white chair with white zip-ties. The only thing that represents color, is the small television sat in front of her, spray-painted white but turned out grey. Her eyes linger on the TV for a mere minute, and just before she turns to look away, the television flickers on.

A woman with short wavy red hair and hazel brown eyes stands in front of a camera, four men stand in a line behind her, but they’re too far away for Mei to actually see and identify. The woman, whom Mei is now assuming is Mi Ja, frowns and crosses her arms over her chest. “Zhao.” She questions, her voice a soft velvet like the tune of a beautiful record. “You?” She scoffs, a dark and glaring ‘tsk’ rolling off her tongue as well. “The last time I was near a Zhao,” She pauses to shift pieces of her hair behind her ear. Mei gasps at the sight. Her ear, is not an ear, it’s just a piece of burned off flesh with a small hole in the middle. Either her ear was burned off, or cut off—maybe both. Mei can’t be sure. “Your mother’s doing. Quite a if you ask me,” The female giggles, even going as far as slapping her knee. “As you can tell, I’m not quite fond of your family.”

Mei seriously wants to open an agree, she’s not fond of her family either. But, she decides against it and keeps quiet to let the woman to continue. The woman is handed something from someone behind the camera, she stares at the paper, before her eyes glance back at the camera—at Mei. “Low and behold you are a Zhao, Mei Fen. Your twenty-one, and oh,” She pauses and squints at the words on the page. “Your birthday is in a few months, how cute. Moving on, you were born and raised in Taiyuan, went through the public schooling system until, well this is interesting, you ran away before finishing all of your schooling.”

“Mei-Mei, why did you run away?” The woman pouts as she flips through the papers without paying attention to anything or anyone else. Mei doesn’t say anything, she’s sure that even if she does, the woman won’t be able to hear her. Besides, it doesn’t matter. “Alright, let’s get to it.” The woman clasps her hands together and twists her eyes to look back up at Mei. “I’m bored, very bored—so, let’s play a game. I’m going to send four men after you.” She points her thumb behind her to the line of men behind her. “If you survive the night, then I’ll tell you something your parents probably never told you. If you don’t, well…you get the point. Have fun Mei Fen, I know I will!” The screen twitches before it turns black, leaving Mei stuck strapped to a chair.

Mei takes a deep breath in, why did I leave without telling them where I was going? Why didn’t I think this through? She struggles against the straps of the zip-ties, pulling and tugging but they only feel tight and scratch against her wrists which are still scared from her earlier run in with General Roe. Alright, calm down—think this through. She shuts her eyes closed; how the hell do you get out of a situation like this? She twists her wrist to flip around—she does it two times before trying to maneuver her wrist out of it—slowly etching it out from the grip of the zip-tie. Thankfully, it works, and with the use of her one hand she manages to free her other hand and then her ankles before standing up.

She stumbles toward the door, feeling a bit woozy from the smoke—she believes, now, that it’s some type of drugged up smoke like laughing gas or something along those lines. Her fingers grip the bronze handle of the door and jiggle it—locked. Of course, why give the girl an advantage? Tie her to a chair, and lock the door while four armed men come to kill her. Papa taught me how to pick a lock in first grade. From the top of her head, from the back of her shirt, where it had ripped, she rips the safety pin off. With it in her fingers, she pulls it open, the sharper part pushing into the keyhole. From the top of her head she grabs her hair pin, bends it, and shifts it into the keyhole as well. With the safety pin slashed straightly towards the back, she shifts the hair pin side to side before she hears a click. She pulls the pins out, shoving them into her back pocket, and opens the door.

To her surprise, when she walks out, she comes to stand in the middle of a forest. When she looks to her left, she sees moss, red wood trees, rocks, ivy, and grass. And when she looks to her right, she sees the exact same thing. And when she looks directly a head it’s the same view as well. She’s not quite sure where she is, but she has an inkling that it may be the same forest area located behind Mi Ja’s house. Taking into account how she managed to survive in a forest for a few days with Jun; she’s positive she can make it through the night, it’s just the whole aspect of armed men coming after her that’ll make things difficult.

The first thing she does, is take a look at her surrounding area, before spotting a large hill in the distance. She bets, if she can make it there, she’d be able to see where exactly she is, and the men wouldn’t be able to find her. As long as she gets further away from the shed she was trapped in. She slips out of her shoes, putting them nicely against the white wall of the shed, before carefully making precise steps through the mudded forest. Her father always told her, if you don’t want to be followed, make sure you’re not leaving tracks behind. And the best way to do so, is to walk through heavily grassed area, without shoes on, so you don’t leave trampled footprints of the bottom of your shoe behind.

She only hears a few short cracks of wood breaking as she walks through the area, all of it coming from her. She knows that if she keeps her sense focused on hearing, she’ll be able to tell when those men are near. She’s starting to believe that they’re closer than what she assumes. It took her fifteen minutes to get out of the shed, which means that was fifteen minutes the four men had before she left. Fifteen minutes to reach her. It was more than enough. Thus being why it worries her. What did they do in the fifteen minutes? They should’ve already been there. She should already be dead.

Her thought process of the word dead causes her feet to move faster to where she’s pacing herself into a light jog. The word dead, scares her. She’s not quite sure how people can be okay with dying. How religious people are okay with it. She’s never understood. Jing Jing has always been religious, always. And whenever Mei would bring up the aspect of death or dying, Jing Jing seemed to be okay with it. Mei has never been that way; and no matter how many times she asked the brunette, the girl never comforted the idea of dying. She only ever said that she’d be content because she was going to live with the man who took his life for everyone in the world, for her. The same thing can be said for Bella and Lucca. All three of them are Catholics who deeply believe in the fundaments of Jesus, and God—how dying won’t matter because they’ll be with their ‘father’. But the concept is foreign to Mei. Her parents never raised her to be religious. At the mere mention of church, her father would piss a fit and go out drinking, only to come back and beat her or her mother.

Mei doesn’t understand how religion can be such a comfort to the point that people are content with dying, no matter where or when. She stops herself when she feels herself running. Her father told her once, the only time you run is if something is chasing after you—something you can see. The other times you need to be quiet. To be quiet enough that you can hear a pin drop, that way they won’t hear you—the people chasing you. Mei takes that information to heart. It’s how she went about her life running away from her parents. The parents that don’t care about her. Although she has many people who care for her, Jing Jing, Bella, Lucca, Jun, Ming Hao, Soon Young (whom she barely knows) and even Charlie (whom she hates)—the love of a parent is all she’s ever wanted. The love of one of her parents.

But her parents are awful. Everything she learns about them, everything they’ve done, it only tears her to pieces. She always knew her parents were bad, but she would go through period where she thought they had redeeming qualities, only to learn that they don’t. Not even her mother, who killed her own brother. Not her father, who killed his parents. After what she went through, many would assume she’d hate her parents—and she does. But, they’re still her parents, no matter how hard she tries to hate them. She still wants to love them. For them to love her. To have caring parents. Parents that don’t hurt her, don’t hurt others. But, the dreams were eventually soiled by the truth upon her by the best friend of her dead uncle—an uncle she’d never heard of, until now.

When she thinks about it, she doesn’t even have family anymore. True family. Her grandparents are dead, her uncle, her parents will end up going to jail and probably will get the death penalty, and she has no siblings. All parts of her family, are gone. Charlie could be her family. He’s only had ties to her family, for forever. But, how can she possibly call the man who could’ve helped her, family? She knows she’s being selfish, to blame all her problems on him, but a part of her wants to finally be that. To be selfish. She’s never been like that. She’s never done anything for herself. Not even running away was for herself. Running away was protecting the people she loved. Protecting Jing Jing. If she stayed, Jing Jing could’ve ended up getting hurt in the end. The way Mei looked at it, was her parents could’ve killed her, and then Jing Jing would’ve ended up far more alone than how she was when she left.

Mei’s decision to hate Charlie, was a decision she made for herself. Deep down inside she knows it’s wrong; but, she doesn’t want to care. If she does, then she’ll know Charlie made the right decision and she was being childish. But, now that she’s stuck alone in the middle of a forest, walking away from practical death—all she can think about is how wrong she was. She wants to apologize to Charlie, but at the same time she wants to hear an apology from him. An apology for never at least trying to protect her. When she’s done thinking about Charlie, her mind flickers back to her parents.

Her brain goes into overdrive. All she can think about is how much she wants to cut her ties from her parents. How could a human being kill their own family? How could a human being kill another human being? It makes her think about to a time in primary school, a stupid memory that makes her think back to the first time she met Jun.

Mei was at the young age five, the last year of kindergarten before she’d finally become a first grader. Her best friend, Jing Jing, and her had been wanting to be first graders for years. There’s just something about growing up that Jing Jing and her loved. Maybe it’s the privileges you get when you grow.

She walked out of her house with pigtails tied with blue ribbons that contrast well with her hair color. The other day her mother had dyed her hair a bright blonde, destroying the auburn hair she had been born with, but her mother said it was time for a change. Something about growing older and showing surprises to her classmate. She then proceeded to cut her mid-length her to just above her shoulders. Mei doesn’t like it, but her mother does. Her mother likes blonde hair unlike her father who dislikes everything in the world. He didn’t like Mei’s auburn hair, and now he hates Mei’s blonde hair. Mei believes her father is just a grouchy old man who never likes anything.

Mei stands on the path leading to her house for maybe two seconds, before something hard collides with her head and she goes flying to the ground with a bang. She yelps when she hits the pavement, and her fingers come up to brush with the side of her head that got hit. When she pulls herself to her knees, they’re a bit tarnished, and her plaid skirt which is part of her uniform—is dusty and smudged with the mud leaking on the pavement. “I’m so sorry!” Comes a bright and lively voice from just above her.

Mei doesn’t cry, she’s felt worse than just a few scratches. But when she tries reaches a hand up to brush against the side of her head that hit the pavement, there’s blood. “I’m bleeding.” She murmurs before she’s shoving her blooded fingers toward the person standing over her. Much to her dismay, it’s her stupid neighbor Jun Hui. The neighbor whom always causes her trouble. The auburn haired boy stares back at her wide eyed, gripping her wrists to stare down at the dripping red blood from her fingers.

“Mei, I’m so sorry!” His feet begin to frantically jump up and down as he helps pull her to her feet. Surprisingly, the boy had grown over the summer, and is now a few inches taller than her. Mei doesn’t like it. She liked it when Jun was the same height and she could glare at him straight in the eye. Now she hast to look up at him, only to have the morning sun blaze her in the eyes. “I was only playing soccer, and tried to do this trick this kid at the park taught me—and, I’m so sorry Mei!”

Mei rolls her eyes, and moves her wrists out of his grips. From the front pocket of her book bag, she grabs a napkin and wipes the blood off of her fingers before doing the same to her head. “Do you want me to get your parents?” Jun asks desperately, to which she shakes her head.

“I’m fine Jun, and it’s okay.” She twists on the heel of her Mary Jane shoes, and begins her walk to school. Unlike Jun, who gets to have his mother to drive him, Mei’s parents never want to and she, by herself, takes the long journey to her school and then back. Except this time, she doesn’t go along, Jun goes with her. “Why are you following me?” She asks as she twists her head to look at the worried boy who adamantly falls into step with her.

“I can’t just let you go by yourself; what if you faint?” The young boy gasps, and places a hand over his mouth in shock. “What if you die on the way to school? All by yourself, and alone.” Mei wants to roll her eyes. She only got hit in the head, it’s not that bad. “It wouldn’t be humane of me to leave you.” Mei’s face scrounges up. She’s never heard that word before, humane.

Her eyes flicker back toward him, “What does humane mean?”

“Oh,” The boy murmurs, his own eyes staring back at her as a smile blooms on his face. “Showing kindness, my dad always told me to do so. So, I will. Besides, everyone in the world is humane, and I’m not going to be the exception. Dad said that if you aren’t humane, then you aren’t human. Murderers aren’t human, that’s what dad says because they do inhumane things.” The boy rambles on a bit more, the girl tunes most of it out—still focused on the humane part.

When they reach their school, Mei begins to go her separate way to her best friend who waits by the entrance of their school with wide eyes. Mostly because Mei just walked to school with her best friend’s crush. But, before she can, Jun grabs her arm and twists her attention back toward him. A bright smile on his face. “I meant to tell you,” He begins as he drops his hand from her arm and places them behind his back in nervousness. “I like your hair. It suits you, you shouldn’t change it.” The boy runs off to his own friends before Mei can answer with a curt thank you. And when she twists toward her best friend, she’s already standing in front of her with wide eyes.

“Jun Hui just spoke to you,” She murmurs with wide eyes and a bright smile on her tinted pink lips. Mei blinks her eyes a few times; once, twice, three times as she tilts her head to the side in confusion. Jun and her had talked a few times before, to the point that they had become comfortable and dropped the formalities even calling each other ‘Mei’ and ‘Jun’. “I can’t believe it!” Jing Jing goes on and on about Jun—never once taking a breath of deep air. But, Mei’s head was somewhere else; back on the topic of being ‘humane’.

The concept of being humane, kept itself in Mei’s life for practically all her life. She never wanted to be like those who aren’t humane. But there are points in her life she can pin point herself being inhumane—and she hates that. She doesn’t want to be like her parents. She doesn’t want to be like what they are. Monsters. She doesn’t want to be like them. Not at all. The mere thought of becoming her parents, brings tears to her eyes. She doesn’t want to be like them; she knows she’s not them…yet. But, how do you stop yourself from becoming the people whom birthed you. The people whose genes track back to hers.

Mei stops dead, her thoughts leaving her mind, she can hear something. Large footsteps, the crackling of leaves and sticks. She hears the sickening sound of the four gruff voices, signaling her that they’ve found her. In response, Mei takes off, her feet hitting the muddy pavement of the forest. She could hear yells and the sound of it, sends her to move faster and faster. Her breathing escalating to a heavier take in then before. She doesn’t remember her parents ever training her or grooming her for this type of situation. Even if she did, she doubts it’ll help now; not when they’ve found her. The hill in the distance is still some good ways away, forcing her to try and go fast for the sake of reaching it—but, it doesn’t truly work the way she wants it to. Going too fast forces her to feel like she’s going to die because she’s pushing herself too much.

She spots something further off, a large red wood with low branches, enabling someone to climb up. Climb up to hide in it. That’s exactly what she’s going to do. Faster than she thought she could, but with heavy breathes, she places her feet on the tops of the branches—nearly slipping off a few times, before coming to a stop nearing the blatant top of the trees. Just when she hears the men talking below her. She places a hand over , blocking the harsh sounds of her breath. She keeps her eyes pinned directly in front of her, not daring to look down at the men. Too scared that if she can see them, they’ll see her.

“Where’d she go?” One gravelly voice asks.

There’s a silence for a short period of time, none of the men talk, nor is there any sign of movement, leaving Mei in a state of terror. Her mind goes crazy, the only way to get the men to move is if they have a reason to. Her fingers reach up into the tree, silently taking a hold of small branch which she breaks off, and with a tight hold of the base of the tree, she throws the branch as far away from her as possible. The men are silent before movement is heard, and when she looks down she sees them jogging off.

She breathes a sigh of relief, crouching down on the branch and wrapping her arms tighter along the center of the middle. This was a bad idea; I should’ve never come. Just like from before, the corners of her eyes sting as she feels herself beginning to tear up. I’m not strong enough for this. I wasn’t born to be in this situation. I wasn’t meant to go through this. She sputters out a covered up sob as she runs a hand over her face—trying to rub the tears away from her eyes. I just need to get through this. That’s all. If I make it, then I’ll never do this again. I promise. She knows that it’s an empty promise; no matter what she wants, if she wants to stop, it won’t happen. She’s stuck with this life. And at some point, she’s going to need to adapt.

To adapt swiftly, and carefully—if she doesn’t, she knows she’ll die. The faster she understands that, the faster she’ll feel and be safer. Alright, I can do this. She musters up enough courage in her heart to slowly maneuver herself off of the tree. Her foot doesn’t catch one of the branches, and she up trampling halfway down the tree to land on the mud with a smack. A groan leaves as she pulls herself into a sitting position, her hands coming up to brush the mud, dirt, leaves, and sticks off of her body. Even though her body is now aching like mad as she grips the base of the tree and stands up. Small sobs leave as she leans her forehead against the bark.

She feels tired, wrecked into pieces, and the long scar on her back is stinging like never before. After her father did what he did to her, and the cut became a stitched up scar, every once in a while the scar would hurt. Like her father is cutting her once more. But this pain, this pain is different. Almost like something is digging into her back. Her fingers curling into the exact spot—between her shoulder blades—and feels something sharp sticking out. And when she moves her hand toward her face she sees blood leaking between them.

“,” She murmurs as her hands clasp around the harsh object sticking out of her back. One hundred percent, it’s a piece of bark. Not that big in length, or width but enough to penetrate her scar and still stick out. She bunches up the sweater on her other hand and shoves it into —clamping down on it—just before she rips the object out of . She screams into her sweater for a mere minute, before ripping off a small piece of the bottom and placing it against the area where the hole is. When she pulls the pieces of her sweater back to look at it—she breathes a sigh of relief to see that there’s not much blood. If there’s not a lot of blood, it means it didn’t dig too far inside her scar—most likely because of her thick sweater. “Okay.” She stands up, almost falling because her legs are seriously injured and feel like they’re going to fall off.

Every step she took, she grabbed a hold of something near her, usually a tree, in order to balance herself and keep herself upright. In her head she sings a short and simple a lullaby she remembers from when she was young. It was a stupid tape that her mother would put on repeat in order for her to sleep at night. She believes it’s called “You Are My Sunshine.” She’s not exactly sure though. The lullaby is a bit sentimental to her nonetheless.

By the time Mei finally makes it to the top of the hill, she feels like she could die just from the amount of tribulations she’s just gone through. She fell to the floor, and with her forearms drags herself against the mud before stopping when she reaches a good enough view of the outlying area. Her earlier assumption is correct. This is the forest in Mi Ja’s backyard. Her mansion is a good proximity away but still visible enough for Mei to see the outline of the windows. She rolls over to lie on her back, a slight searing pain hitting her from where her wound is. Her eyes gaze upwards, stars now fill the pitch black sky.

Harsh breathes leave as her eyes skate through the night sky. Oh how I wish to be a star in the night sky—never having a worry in the world. How peaceful would that be? One of her hands comes up to rest on her stomach as another lies slightly above her head. She has this overwhelming sensation to both puke and never wake up once she closes her eyes. Her body aches beyond repair. She knows her feet are destroyed from the running she went through, her hair is most likely filled with all types of measly objects, her back has a puncture wound, her arms are shredded from slipping off the tree, and her ribs feel bruised from the impact of the fall.

General Roe was right; she is the devil. Mei finally manages to calm her breathing before she’s leaning on her side and throwing up a good amount of slimy grey sod that bubbles up when it hits the ground. When she’s done, she twists back on her side and gazes back up at the sky. She tries to stop herself from thinking, to beg her body to continue off, to keep going. But, she can’t. Physically and mentally she can’t.

Her mind flickers to another place; to another her; to another life.

A brunette haired girl stands in a beautiful white dress, one that flares out at the waist and has a long pastel pink piece of ribbon wrapped around it. She jitters in scarcity as she stares at herself in the mirror before glancing down at her dress and flattening the sides of it. The brunette haired girl doesn’t breathe a sigh of relief, until her blonde haired maid of honor—dressed in a fit pink dress (similar to the color of her ribbon)—comes rushing in with a smile. The brunette twists toward the blonde and begins to tear up as she throws her arms around the blonde’s shoulders. “Jing Jing, what’s wrong?” The blonde runs her hands up and down the girls back with a bit of a sigh.

“Mei, I’m really scared.” Jing Jing murmurs.

Mei sighs and pulls away to look at her best friend, her sister. She wipes away the girl’s eyes, and smiles lightly. “Come on now, you’ve been looking forward to this day since we were kids. You’re not scared, you’re just nervous.” Jing Jing nods her head slightly as she hugs the blonde once more.

“What if he thinks I’m ugly?” Jing Jing asks with hesitance.

Mei laughs as she pulls away from the brunette once again. “Are you even thinking about the correct Soon Young?” Mei lets out a huff when the brunette only pouts and continues to cry. “Soon Young, loves you, and he looks at you like you’re the only person in the world he cares for. No matter what you look like, no matter what you say—he loves you. You love him just as much if not more, and today, you’re sealing that love for life.”

“But what if a year or two from now, he wants to divorce me?” Once more Mei rolls her eyes as she pats her best friend on her shoulder. “Mei, I’m being serious, I’m scared. I don’t want to live my life without him; and I’m scared for the future. What if, what if something bad happens?” The girl begins to cry again; and Mei sighs as she wraps her back into a hug.

“If something bad ever happens, you know—no matter what—I’ll always be there. Just like you, mom, and dad were there for me when I went through the abuse with my parents, and the prosecution trial.” Jing Jing nods her head against Mei’s shoulder and holds back her tears. “If you two end up divorcing, then who cares, because you never get to divorce me. I’m your sister—forever. Who needs a stupid ex-husband when you have your best friend for an adopted sister?”

Jing Jing gasps and pulls away from Mei slapping the girls shoulder, “Don’t you dare say adopted! I hate that word,” The girl pouts and crosses her arms as Mei tries to hold in her laughter. “You’re not adopted, we’ve been sisters since birth—it was only legalized when we were ten, but does it matter?”

The blonde rolls her eyes and flicks away the tears from the girl’s eyes, “Are you ready to walk down the aisle? Because, your husband is waiting anxiously at the alter while dad waits impatiently at the front doors.” Jing Jing nods her head, rubbing the redness out of her eyes and fixing her dress once more.

“I’m ready.” Mei leads Jing Jing out of the room, and into the arms of their father who stares at his daughters with tears in his eyes. “Dad, don’t start crying; because, then I-I’m going t-too.” Jing Jing begins to sob as she falls into her father’s arms, grabbing a hold of Mei and dragging her into it as well.

Somehow, Mei manages to free herself. “Can we please get through this without any more tears?” Jing Jing and their father separate, him trying to hide the fact he cried and Jing Jing wiping away hers. Finally, everyone’s ready. Mei has a small bouquet of pink lilies in her hand, everyone’s dressed seem to be okay and their father’s tux is perfectly placed together.

The music in the ballroom, flicks on, and Mei—with the other three bridesmaids, friends from college—walk down the aisle one after another, Mei going first. Halfway through the journey down the white trained path, her eyes flicker upward towards the soon-to-be-husband who finally doesn’t look as much of a nervous wreck as before. Her eyes flicker to the best-man, an auburn haired man, who smiles at her brightly and she smiles back at him as she takes her place in the maid of honor spot.

The wedding goes perfectly, even when Jing Jing was a complete and utter mess through the vows, everyone seemed to make it through quite okay. Now, everyone is in the great room, dancing and having fun. Jing Jing dances with her husband, never looking away from his smiling face—her smile looking similar. Their parents dance closely off in the distance, looking just as happy. Friends and family mingle with each other. And Mei, she’s standing in front of it all, taking everything in.

Arms wrap around her waist, causing her to jump as someone sets their chin a top her head—swaying them back and forth. “Weddings make me want to get married.” A male voice murmurs, and she laughs using her fingers to poke at the man’s fingers which are laced against her waist.

“You’re so weird.” She replies with another laugh.

The man, himself, laughs and presses a kiss a top her head. “Would it be mean to your sister if I proposed to you right now?” Mei laughs again as she twists in his arms to face and look up at him.  

“Extremely.” The boy pouts and leans down, pecking her lips before leaning his head on her shoulder.

“You need to catch the bouquet,” Mei pulls away to look up at him in confusion. The boy laughs and kisses the tip of her nose because he finds the look so cute. “It’s good luck, it practically means that we have to get married. Don’t you know that?”

She rolls her eyes as she glances behind him to see the boy’s best friend awkwardly standing against the wall with his eyes casted down toward the floor. “Will you please go comfort Ming Hao? He looks scared to approach anyone but you or me.” Jun wants to shake his head no, but ends up nodding his head, pressing a swift kiss to his girlfriend’s lips before taking a step back.

“If I’m not back before the bouquet catch, you better fight for it!” Mei can’t help but laugh as her boyfriend runs off and tackles his best friend. One arm slipping over the youngers shoulders, with his knuckles pressing into the boy’s head. She can’t practically feel the waves of uncomfortableness flying far away from Ming Hao, now that his best friend is there with him.

“Everything’s perfect.”

Mei’s eyes snap open at a loud sound, located directly in front of her. A soft gasp leaves at the sight in front of her. She’s starring down the barrel of an assault rifle. “P-please.” Comes her begging voice; but the four men in her pay no attention, as one of them—the one next to the man holding the rifle—reaches up and touches his fingers to his ear. He nods a few times, before placing his hand on the rifle and pushing it down.

“She passed,” The man murmured, his chestnut eyes flickering over toward Mei’s. “She made it through the night.” And that’s when Mei realizes it. Just behind the men, is the sun, peaking out behind a set of pine trees. Two men step forward, and grab Mei by her upper arms. Dragging her off to somewhere. She presumes it has to be Mi Ja’s mansion. Yet all she can think of is, she made it.