Yerim felt that familiar terror rising up in her as she stepped out into the moonlight. That feeling of impending doom, of rushing through the woods like an animal being hunted, a knife-wielding apparition mere steps behind her-

    “Hey,” a kind voice spoke, accompanied by the sensation of a gentle hand laying on her shoulder, “You okay? You looked a little… shaky.”

    Yerim turned her gaze away from the maw-like darkness of the trees, turning to meet Seulgi’s concerned eyes.

    “I’m okay… just a little shaken up from the stuff that happened before.”

    “Oh, with that man?” Joohyun said with a quizzical frown, continuing to lead the younger girl forward, “Why?”

    “What do you mean?” Yerim asked.

    “Well, he’s dead now,” Joohyun said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “He can’t hurt you. I can show you the remains if-”

    “No, that’s not necessary,” the brunette interjected, before Joohyun could do anything too drastic, “I’m just scared now. Because of what happened. I know he can’t get me anymore, but it left an impact on me… like PTSD, you know?”

    The two girls merely stared at her, heads tilted slightly to the side, faces reflecting the same level of perplexedness. Yerim bit back a laugh.

    “I think Seungwan and Sooyoung would understand this more…” Joohyun murmured, “But you’re afraid because you think something else is going to hurt you?”

    “Yeah, sure.” Yerim said, just to make the conversation go a little smoother.

    “Oh, okay! Take this then!” Joohyun’s face lit up and she extended her hand. Yerim looked at the girl’s open palm to see a golden-chained necklace. It was a simple piece of jewelry, with a single, multifaceted ruby-colored pendant as its only distinguishing feature.

    “What is it?” Yerim asked, taking it from Joohyun’s palm.

    “It’s a necklace,” the older girl sounded serious now, “It’ll protect you from harm, even outside of the circle.”

    Upon slipping the newly acquired piece of jewelry onto her neck, the short-haired girl felt an immediate sense of security. She didn’t know whether it was all in her head or not, but it was much appreciated.

    “Do you just carry that around with you in your pocket?” Yerim half-joked.

    “No, I made it just now.” Joohyun said simply, taking Yerim’s hand again and walking with her to the very edge of the clearing, humming quietly to herself along the way. Seulgi followed close behind.

    “Well, this is as far as we can go,” Joohyun said with a wistful smile, staring longingly at the partially-leafless trees before them.

    “Alright,” Yerim said, turning to the two witches behind her, her heart swelling with both affection and pity for the two older girls, “Thank you so much. For everything. For saving my life, for healing me, for this necklace… for everything. You guys are amazing.”

    “Aw, Yerim!” Seulgi said, sweeping the younger girl into a much softer embrace than Sooyoung had given her, “It’s no big deal. Thanks for playing with Sooyoung! She gets really lonely.”

    Joohyun came forward as well, giving Yerim a similar hug. Both girls’ embraces were reassuring and relaxing, filling the brunette with a kind of ethereal warmth that made the cool fall air much less jarring.

    “You’ll come back, right?” Joohyun said worriedly, “You’re not obligated to at all, but I know Sooyoung would really appreciate it. And so would all of us. Maybe we can cook for you next time!”

    “I’ll definitely be back. And that sounds great. I have school for the next five days, but I can come back in a week if that’s okay?”

    “You could come back in one-hundred years and it would still feel like yesterday to us,” Seulgi said cheerfully, that innocent smile dominating her features as she waved goodbye, “Now hurry up before you get trapped here forever.”

    Yerim began walking by herself now, turning back every few steps to wave at the two older girls, who were standing side-by-side, hands linked as they bode her farewell. Once the brunette reached a certain point, she felt a notable change in atmosphere, as if the temperature had gone up a few degrees, though she felt more uneasy upon leaving the circle this time, as if the girls themselves were controlling how Yerim felt about the area they were in.

    Nonetheless, the exhausted girl began her short walk home, hands caressing that tiny ruby pendant the whole way.

***

    Yerim arrived home at around 9:57pm, just a mere three minutes before her curfew. Her mother complimented her on the new necklace, an item that Yerim introduced as a “gift from Sae-ron”. She practically inhaled her dinner, along with a large dessert. Her mother was thrilled about her appetite; the young girl tended to eat less in order to “preserve her figure”. Yerim’s little sisters were already sound asleep, but she walked into their rooms to check on them before heading to her own room. She took a long, hot shower, her tired muscles relaxing fully for what felt like the first time in years. Then, she put her phone to charge and texted her best friend to let her know that she’d gotten home safely. Yerim didn’t find it prudent to mention anything about her adventures that night. She was simply too tired. As a result, she didn’t take the necklace off at all, as it seemed to make all of her fears and frightening memories disappear.

***

    The next day at school, Yerim was exhausted. She walked through the halls like a zombie, despite getting three full extra hours of sleep compared to her usual nightly routine. As usual, she drove Sae-ron to school, barely paying attention to the trivial gossip that her best friend loved to talk about. They entered the school together and headed to their lockers, where Sae-ron continued her tirade about the goings on of the weekend, specifically highlighting that Yerim had missed out on a massive party Saturday night. Yerim didn’t feel like explaining (for the thousandth time) that she wasn’t a fan of parties, and probably never would be.

    “Did you hear about Dahyun and Sehun? I heard they hooked up. It’s not surprising at all, because they were flirting hardcore the whole night… Dahyun is hot and all, but I feel Sehun’s way out of her league, you know? Don’t you agree?”

    “Yeah, sure, whatever,” Yerim mumbled as she opened her locker, rifling through her locker in search of her calculus textbook.

    “You’ve been really grumpy this morning,” Sae-ron said worriedly, “Are you okay?”

    “I just didn’t sleep well last night. Did a lot during the day, you know?”

    “No you didn’t,” Sae-ron countered with a grin, “We just played video games all day in my room.”

    “Well I guess that’s ‘a lot’ for me, then,” Yerim said, chuckling as she shut her locker.

    Sae-ron didn’t respond, staring off into the distance at something farther down the hallway. Yerim followed her friend’s gaze and was led to the unwanted sight of her “friend” Jungkook approaching them, a smile plastered on his face as he sauntered over.

    Yerim would be lying to herself if she said she didn’t find him handsome. But he was far too cocky and far too flirty for her tastes. She wanted someone quieter, more reserved. And she wasn’t entirely sure that she was even into guys to begin with.

    But, of course, being the heartthrob of the entire high school, Jungkook simply refused to give up. Some girls scoffed at Yerim for rejecting his advances, some praised her for it. Sae-ron called her crazy. Yerim herself was indifferent.

    “Hey cutie,” Jungkook said, leaning on the lockers beside the two girls, “How was your weekend?”

    “It was fine,” Yerim said, pushing past him and beginning her walk to class, turning back for a second to wave at her best friend, “See you at lunch, Sae-ron!”

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t take the hint, and jogged over in order to keep up with her.

“You weren’t at Bogum’s party Saturday night,” he said in that infuriatingly smooth voice of his.

“Yep, I told you I wasn’t gonna be there, Jungkook,” Yerim replied tersely.

“What’s gotten your in a bunch?” he asked, finally showing some sort of reaction to her standoffish behavior.

“Lack of sleep, and you,” Yerim said, picking up the pace so that she strode past the boy completely, “So please, off.”

“Hey, come back,” he said, and although there was no aggression in his voice, he reached out and wrapped his hand around Yerim’s bare wrist.

The unwelcome touch immediately filled her with a breath-stopping terror. Nightmarish flashbacks played in her mind, flashbacks of tripping in the woods, of a man leaning over her, a smile on his face as he drew nearer and nearer. She wanted to run, to get out of there, find that house again, where she knew Joohyun would be waiting to save her, but she was too far, the school was too far from the woods so there was no way she could get there in time, it would be too late, she would be dead before she could-

Then, Yerim felt a warmth against her chest. Due to her panicked state, she was unable to comprehend what it was, but she later realized that it was the necklace that her heroine in orange had provided her with. The necklace that she'd hidden beneath her clothes to avoid unwanted questions. The necklace that was specifically made to protect her from anything that she feared.

And then, Jungkook was on the floor.

Yerim had no idea how it happened, but he lay there on the smooth tile, eyes rolling madly, body twitching uncontrollably, drool and spit flying from his mouth as he convulsed. Other students were already starting to notice and crowd around.

The short-haired brunette stood there dumbly, looking down at the seizure-stricken boy in horror.

--------------------------------

Thanks for reading<3