Lamiya sighed deeply. This was going to be a long, long day.

 

She was sitting alone in the bus, her arms crossed over her chest, equipped with earphones and a surprisingly battery-full mobile phone. Her best friend, who was as absent as always when it came to school road trips, had been sending her messages non-stop so she had to have a charged phone to be able to stay in contact with her.

 

Lamiya had a feeling today would be a pretty messy day. She’d been sick for a whole week, down with an irritating flu that refused to let her go for four days straight. She wasn’t feeling 100% good yet, but school trips were not something she was going to miss because of a silly cough and the remnants of the tiredness high body temperature left her with. Or well, that’s how she usually felt.

 

Today, she wasn’t that sure that going on this trip was such a good idea, after all. She was feeling vulnerable without her best friend there to help her, though she’d done a pretty good job describing the mess school life had become ever since those Chinese guys or whatever arrived.

 

So far, she hadn’t seen a trace of them, and she was beginning to wonder whether her friend had been playing a game and trying to prank her. April 1st was merely a week ago, so it could’ve been some late-and-less-conspicuous joke. If it was like that, then she was definitely taking it a bit too far, but Lamiya trusted Aya, so she kept her eyes and ears open wide, trying to find out anything about those yellow-skinned menaces.

 

But everyone was acting like they usually did, without any mean or spicy rumors going around. Lamiya had a feeling like something was wrong, though, so she kept her guard up during the whole drive.

 

What Aya had told her that the school had basically turned into a playground for some really stuck-up and messed-up Asians who were doing everything they wanted without any consequences. The teachers ran away from them, and a group of them constantly found new victims to bully, shaming and beating them up for as long as they felt was necessary. They’d even managed to beat up Aya’s sister, who was known to be a pretty aggressive person who did not punch like a girl. It sounded more like a horror-movie scenario than something that was actually happening at school. Lamiya couldn’t wrap her mind around it, no matter how hard she tried to.

 

Aya had described them in detail so that Lamiya could know which ones to avoid at all costs and which ones were more passive and could be worked around if the need to do so arose. She warned that it’d be hard to distinguish most of them, since Asians often all looked the same, so she tried to describe them by distinct characteristics.

 

Kris - the worst out of all of them. If you are within his earshot, run away as far and as fast as you can. He is the only one with honey-colored hair and the tallest. His is more narcissistic than the Roman emperor Nero, and more sadistic than those maniacs they show at crime investigation shows.

 

Ćamil - looks like an elf, you can’t miss him because his ears are huge. Always wears some kind of a cap and is almost as tall as Kris. Is kind of stupid, but follows Kris’ every word. If you see him, run.

 

Lutvo - they all call him deer for some reason. Is absolutely passive and if they weren’t dragging him around, he’d probably turn into a tree and stay that way forever. Also tall and can be recognized by looking at his eyes, which are always watching the floor. I don’t think you have to run from him if you see him alone, but that won’t ever happen.

 

Tao - we call him Piccolo because his skin is a shade of green, and I seriously mean it. If by some chance miss him by the skin color, you won’t miss the bags under his eyes. Is extremely violent, but for some reason is a fashion diva that starts screeching like a girl upon any kind of beauty mistreatment. Run from him, for he loves surprising Kris by scheming on his own.

 

Sehun - is a totally weird guy that can be recognized by rainbow hair (you’ll know what I mean when you see it, which you hopefully won’t). Is on another level of sadism than Kris - this guy likes hurting people, whereas Kris likes seeing them get hurt by his henchmen. He is the one who beat up my sister, and she still swears it was not a fair fight. There is something seriously wrong with him, and don’t stay around to find out.

 

Kris, Ćamil, Lutvo, Tao and Sehun are the guys who prefer going around and bullying people for their sick satisfaction. They are easily recognized because they are all tall. Don’t mess with them; we tried and it got us nowhere. Menna is still recovering from how that crazy jerk beat her up.

 

Subho - is often seen and does not seem to approve of what the five jerks are doing, since he often fights with Kris. He is not easily distinguished from the rest (unfortunately), so the only info I can give you is that he is a brunette and that he is short. Hopefully it helps you at least know who is not him.

 

Ćemil - you will immediately recognize him because he is just plain loud. That guy is the opposite of Tao - short, with absolutely no fashion sense or manners and with no fighting skills. He likes making fun of people, though, so we classify him as just another one of those stupid jerks.

 

X… something - I have only seen this guy once, and I have heard them call him Mirso, but he is more often called by the impossible-to-pronounce Chinese name. He doesn’t look harmless, but he is rarely around, so I guess you won’t have to deal with him. He is short and kinda looks like a squirrel, and I’d heard people say he once went to the vending machine 10 times in 15 minutes to grab cups of coffee.

 

Bak… Baek… Bek? - Short and blonde, and I’d actually call him handsome if he wasn’t just another jerk. You’d think he’s harmless, but he may just be the worst out of all of them. People say that he pulls pranks at anyone and everyone he sees, and the pranks are not funny. Ćamil is with him when they make fun of people, and that’s usually when it gets pretty ugly, because the two are a swift duo. Bak/Bek might look like a lost puppy, but he will make you cry if he has a chance.

 

Karim - this guy actually isn’t that bad. I’d seen him help a girl out when she couldn’t carr the books all by herself. Sadly, all he does in his free time is lurking around the kitchen, especially when it’s chicken day - the guy can eat an impossible number of chicken legs, trust me. He isn’t a bully, though, so if you see a tall, dark-skinned Asian with a bunch of chicken legs in his mouth, you don’t have to run away.

 

Lame - don’t laugh, this is seriously how they keep calling the guy! This one is also on the good side, and he keeps lurking around the Biology room, begging the teacher to let him check on his hydrangeas and let him water all the flowers in the school. He kind of doesn’t fit in with the rest of the group at all, because he is constantly humming to himself in what I seriously suspect is Chinese and he is not present at all, ever. They often have to flick their fingers in front of his face a couple of times before they get some kind of a response out of him. I hadn’t heard of him ever hurting anyone, though.

 

Dio - this is seriously how they address this guy too. He is very short, his hair is red (and awesome, to be honest) and he has this murderous look in his eyes that makes everyone run away from him. When he speaks to teachers, it is in this ancient and old-fashioned speech that creeps me out. Don’t underestimate his height - I think he is capable of seriously hurting those who mess with him. Just stay safe and don’t provoke him.

 

Well, according to her friend’s descriptions, these guys were psychopaths who were let loose and who needed to be avoided at all costs. She’d definitely been reading too many FanFics latey, Lamija thought, exasperated. Where did she even get all of these ideas? And she was supposed to actually believe this? Any of this?

 

Even when they reached a grass field at the nearby mountain the school usually used as their road trip location, there was no sign of any of those serial killers or whatever. Aya was still going on and on about how they were Satan’s spawn and how she had to be careful not to run into any of them, but Lamiya just wasn’t buying it anymore. She turned her phone off and went to her favorite place she always ventured out on during these trips.

 

The kids’ talk and laughter was still somewhere far in the background, but Lamiya didn’t mind, since it wasn’t bothering her. She sighed happily, having reached a clearing that was deep in the woods. She loved this place because nobody ever dared to venture out as far as she did. Here she could be alone, sing and bond with the nature for hours, without having to worry about someone interrupting. Being around others was fine, too, but she’d never met someone who could understand her love for plants and animals. People always thought it was weird, so she learned how to hide it and enjoy herself when others weren’t around.

 

She started singing a song that she was caught up on since a couple of days ago. The way you cry, the way you smile…

 

She did a daring spin as she touched the top of the tall grass, laughing when she nearly fell. The day was beautiful, the sun lightening up the freshly grown grass and flowers who’d just recently sprouted. The trees around her were blooming, and she wished there was wind to carry it towards to where she was standing - in the middle of the open field.

 

As if hearing her thoughts, the wind suddenly appeared - it was a gentle, warm breeze, unlike the winds she was used to feeling in April. The spring had barely begun, but she felt as if it was the middle of July at the moment and she had months left since her next grade and worries.

 

As quickly as it’d come, the wind disappeared, having succeeded in his mission of carrying the blossoms to her hair, making her giggle in satisfaction. She began to run once again, not stopping until she reached the beginning of the woods, where an old pine tree stood. She wished she could hear its newly-formed leaves rustle. She’d missed that sound so much, not having heard it since last autumn.

 

The wind seemed to have been fulfilling her every wish today, since the old, familiar sound of the pine tree whispered to her once again. She touched its trunk gently, feeling grateful for the fact that the tree was still alive and well. She’d worried it had died during this winter. It was her fourth year at this place, and every time she saw the tree, it seemed to have grown older and like it had lost a piece of its strength.

 

“I hope you’ll be okay,” she spoke gently, hoping the tree could heal.

 

Now she turned around, looking at the field of blossoms, flowers and beauty watching her, more beautiful than it was last year - she thought that every time she arrived to the field, but it was true. The scent of grass was making her laughter bubble up once again - she just felt so happy to be able to be here once again. Many things had happened since last spring, but her sanctuary was still here, still untouched, still as innocent and as crystal-clear as she remembered it.

 

She sighed deeply, wishing things weren’t that calm and still. The scenery in front of her was like an image, which had never happened before - there was always at least a little bit of movement, at least a stray butterfly flying around and bees buzzing, singing their ode to spring.

 

She started walking through the grass once again, this time slowly, her hands at her sides, playing with the grass again. As if reacting to her touch, it began to sway, fulfilling her wishes for the third time and making her smile.

 

This time, she did not walk in the same direction as she did while she was spinning and singing and running around. She went to the left side, the side which usually received less sun since it was facing the north side, but she felt obliged to visit every inhabitant of the field.

 

Of course, everything was too good and beautiful to be true. As she was looking at the sky and wondering whether the sole cloud reminded her of an elephant or her teacher when she got angry, she tripped on a stone that was invisible somewhere in the grass and lost her balance.

 

But instead of falling face-first into the grass full of mud and stones and God knew what else and possibly getting a concussion, she fell onto something relatively soft and warm.

 

She squinted through one eye, half-expecting a mountain grizzly bear who’d just woken up from his winter sleep to be staring at her.

 

Instead, she saw eyes the color of sand and ripe-wheat colored hair barely concealed by a wide black hat. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen in her whole life.

 

Her hallucination seemed to be more than just a still image, though, since after a couple of moments, it pushed her backwards, and not gently.

 

“I- I-” Lamiya stammered, not sure what was going on and what this… apparition in front of her was.

 

Why would there be an Asian guy lying around in the grass of her field? It made no sense, right? She was definitely hallucinating, having hit her head on the stone when she’d fallen and possibly bleeding to death, without any hopes of ever being found. Nobody knew where she was, and she’d turned her phone off, so she’d be stuck with a projection of her darkest desires while she was dying. Yay for her. At least she could spend her last moments watching a hot guy while she was still thinking she was perfectly fine.

 

The hot guy, it turned out, was not that nice after all. He frowned and got up quickly, yawning and rubbing his eyes, as if she’d just woken him up from sleep. So he wasn’t just chilling in the grass, he was sleeping? This dream of hers seemed to be getting more and more irrational by the second.

 

“What are you doing here?” she finally managed to say, sounding half-frightened and half-annoyed. This was her territory and if the guy really wanted to get some sleep, he could always find a clearing of his own and sleep there as much as he wanted.

 

The guy shook his head once, as if trying to wake himself up fully, then his eyes focused on her. “Move,” he said coldly. “I’m not in the mood for pests, especially those annoying ones who wake me up.”

 

Pests? She was a pest? She’d… never been insulted by such a lame insult before.

 

The guy had gotten up in the meantime, his sandy eyes watching her intently, anticipating her next move. He was huge but she was not oblivious to his handsomeness, even though he was obviously a badmouth. His hat blocked the sun so she was standing in his shadow, a midget and a giant about to insult each other over a field of grass. Very mature, Lamiya.

 

But if he thought she was going to back down, he was very wrong - he kind of fit the Kris description, he was definitely not deer or Piccolo or the rainbow guy, and she tried to inspect his ears to see whether they were an elf’s, but she couldn’t see properly through the sunlight and golden strands. Well, whoever he was, he was about to get lectured, and it was not going to be pretty.

 

She stood at the top of her toes, trying to look as tall and as scary as she could, while she filled her lungs with air. He was definitely Kris, because his eyes lit up with insane amusement and a smirk crossed his face, as if he was anticipating this. “Listen here, you jackass,” she stared, putting her hands on her hips, “I don’t know who you are or what you were doing here, but I’ve been coming here for four years, so the only pest around here is you, young man. You better move away before this gets ugly!”

 

Why was it suddenly windy again? The peaceful world from a couple of minutes ago was nothing like the windy clearing she was at right now. The wind was cold and nothing like the warm, playful breeze fulfilling her wishes a while ago. Still she endured, not daring to even blink to avoid being thought of as weak.

 

The sadist stumbled away from her, as if she’d punched him in the face, his eyes widening in what appeared to be true terror. She looked at herself, checking whether there was some kind of a poisonous spider on her plain red T-shirt or if she’d grown another head or something. It seemed these guys weren’t that tough after all, for if the mighty Kris was as easily scared as this, they didn’t pose any danger to them at all.

 

Meanwhile, the guy seemed to be going through a mental breakdown, his eyebrows raised and mouth slightly parted. He seemed to be shaking his head slightly, whispering something that sounded like, “Seolma…”

 

Aya was right in one thing - there was definitely something wrong with these guys. Her words weren’t that harsh, after all, were they? She suspected this breakdown had little, if anything to do with what she had said. He was probably just shocked that somebody had finally spoken up about their bullying.

 

The guy suddenly returned to his senses, as if having some new and incredibly smart idea. Here we go again, she prepared herself, having expected it to be at least a little bit more difficult than this.

 

What she didn’t expect, though, is for him to suddenly come close to her - too close for comfort - and start shaking her violently with both arms. “How did you do that?” he shouted at her. “Tell me!”

 

“Do what?” Lamiya shouted back, trying to make him release her and get away from the lunatic. “Give you a piece of my mind? You know, there’s something called wits and brains that you might’ve heard be-”

 

“Stop acting!” he shouted again, closing his eyes. She was so caught up in their drama that she barely even took notice of the rising wind. It would rain soon, she thought in a moment of sanity.

 

Then she just went back to shouting at him again. “What the hell is the problem with you, you maniac? Let me go!” She tried desperately to free herself from his hold, but he was bigger and stronger than her, and she could not overpower him. Now she started screaming, kicking her legs at him, again without any results.

 

Damn it, why was the wind so strong? He had maneuvered them into a different position, where she could attack him all she wanted but do no damage, since he was holding her hands tightly locked behind her back and himself at a safe distance. “Let me go!” she screamed.

 

She saw his hat fly away far, far from this absurd scene. They both froze, the wind suddenly stopping, too. The world was peaceful again, as if nothing had happened, as if this whole exchange had never taken place.

 

She turned slowly. He was still holding her, this time unconsciously, staring off into the distance where his hat had been taken. She did not like the feel of his hands around her wrists, which seemed to be burning, even though she felt cold. She realized she was shaking, but she could not take her eyes off his face.

 

It was the face of a terrified boy, the face framed in gold and etched with what seemed to be… sadness, loneliness and understanding.

 

She moved away as fast as she could, breaking the hold he had on her wrists and started running as fast as she could, wanting to get away as far as possible from this lunatic, from this exchange she could not understand.

 

She stood at the edge of the field, looking back one last time. He was still frozen in the same position, his eyes looking into hers. She felt a gentle breeze move through her hair, as if it were a hand, touching her face with care.

 

She turned and ran into the woods.

 

As paranoid as she was, she kept turning to glance whether she’d see flocks of gold behind her - a weird part of her wishing he’d follow her. The woods were now windy and she felt cold, so she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop shaking. Or was she shaking from the shock? Why was she even shocked? This guy, Kris… he was obviously crazy, and he was hallucinating, thinking she had something he’d wanted to have, or whatever his How did you do that meant.

 

She didn’t care, she repeated over and over again. She would just return to the civilization and forget about the whole ordeal. She would get some sleep and tomorrow she would laugh at herself for having freaked out over all of this. Aya would laugh with her and reassure her that everything would be alright.

 

In her crazy run, she failed to notice she’d managed to get out of the woods already. She just kept running, only focusing on her steps - one, two, three, four, one, tw-

 

Once again, she bumped into someone, but this time she felt as if it was a concrete wall, so she wobbled and would’ve fallen to the ground from the impact had a pair of strong arms not caught her.

 

“Whoa, whoa,” a silky voice said. “Watch out where you’re going, lady, or you might get hurt.”

 

Lamiya put a hand on her forehead, too much going on for her to be able to do anything more than just proceed on autopilot. She turned again for the last time, just to see gold and sand and lose her poorly-acquired calmness once again.

 

She let out a sob and made a step backwards, just to be enveloped by those strong arms again, arms whose owner she hadn’t even looked at. She did not care who it was. All she could think of was the boy who was running towards her, running to start shaking her again, maybe even punch her this time-

 

“Sehunnie,” the voice above her cooed, “I see you have brought us a new toy. You’ve done a good job, because I really like this one.”

 

Se- hunnie? As in Sehun? As in the rainbow guy? But… his hair was not rainbow-colored and wasn’t he supposed to be Kris…

 

She turned slightly, dreading and subconsciously knowing whose arms were holding her like a prize.

 

Black RayBans, a smug smile, honey hair and impossible height…

 

She’d run away from a wolf and into the lair. Green skin, elf ears, squirrel face, dark skin were all around her, and she could feel that there were more.

 

Ironically, the one person she turned to, frantically searching for salvation, was the very lunatic she’d run away from in the first place, which was the reason why she found herself in this situation at all.

 

His face looked exactly like Aya had described it - sadistic, mad, self-confident, the face of a monster.

 

But how could a monster be framed in gold? How could there still be a summer breeze playing with his wheat-like locks, making him seem like an innocent young boy?

 

How could a monster be watching her with apologetic, frightened eyes?

 

The two of them were frozen in time for what seemed like forever, her begging him to save her, and him apologizing silently.

 

Then the biggest monster of them all actually smelled her hair, whispering in her ear, “No, no, my dear. You need to focus only on me. You’ll see, we are going to have so much fun getting to know each other.”

 

She felt goosebumps down her back, along with bile rising in .

 

She clearly saw Sehun tighten his hands in fists.

 

As she closed her eyes, a wind which she didn’t call for this time arose violently. It was a cold, harsh wind, which whispered of anger and danger and threatened to swipe them all away.

 

Lamiya welcomed the wind, hoping it would keep blowing until nothing was left but sand and gold and rustling leaves…