Wendy hears talking around her, but honestly isn’t that excited to open her eyes. The talking just sounded like noises, Wendy can’t make out the words. She brings her hands up to her eyes, and slowly rubs them. Guess I should get up now. Wendy opens her eyes and sees four girls looming over her. They’re all staring at her with worried expressions, and she stares back. Wendy notices that the ceiling behind the heads of the hovering girls is the ceiling of the mall. Wendy looks over at Yeri, who looks like she’s had a rough night. She recognizes the other girls, too. Seulgi. Irene. Joy. When did they get here?

Yeri was the first one to break the silence, “Oh thank God!” She shouts as she dives down to hug Wendy.

“Is everything okay?” Wendy questions, internally sighing that she has to wake up to another confusing scenario. Although, she is happy to be back in the mall. I guess this means everything really was just a dream? 

The other girls all start fighting over Wendy, trying to hug her, and saying things like they missed her, and were so worried. “Can someone explain to me what’s going on?” Wendy struggles to speak while being smothered.

“Wendy. You’ve been asleep for a week. After that first night that I arrived, you never woke up. While you were sleeping, they showed up. They got here like two days ago. We’ve basically just been sitting here, watching you, and making sure you were still alive. Waiting for any sign of you waking up. I know it’s hard to understand, but for now, let’s just get you changed.”

Wendy can’t wrap her head around this, but she can feel the weird mushy sensation in her pant region, and agrees.

Wendy keeps herself from thinking about everything. Honestly, she’s too tired to even think about it anyway. Funny that I feel so tired after sleeping for a week straight. She cleans herself off over the drain in the bathroom with bottled water and soap, and gets dressed into a t-shirt and sweats. She walks out of the bathroom to see the girls silently waiting for her. They all quickly stand up, and walk over to her.

“Hey, Wendy,” Irene smiles at her, “Yeri said you probably wouldn’t remember us, but we remember you. You meant a lot to us, you know, and we’re glad to see you alive and okay right now.”

“Yeri said you don’t remember who you are either so we decided to write down some things about you that we think you should know.” Seulgi adds.

Yeri grabs her hand, and leads her over to a chair, and sits her down. The girls circle around her.

“I’ll go first,” Yeri clears , “When we decided to come up with this idea to write down your most memorable qualities, I wondered how I could fit all of them into under a three-hour speech. Wendy, I’m sorry you can’t remember who you are because you’re amazing in so many ways. We tease each other a lot, but we always end up laughing. You’re so funny, and always manage to make all of us laugh. I know this technically isn’t a personality trait, but you’re really good at baking too. I miss your brownies so much.”

Wendy starts to get teary eyed, as do the other girls. Wendy’s heart felt like it was breaking from being too full.

“Your brownies were so good, Wendy,” Joy continues with their ‘Wendy speech’, “It’s funny that we’re doing this because usually you’re the one making cheesy sentimental comments, and we laugh at you for them.” Joy wipes a tear from her eye. “You’re always there for me, Wendy, to make me feel better. It’s impossible to not feel comforted when we’re around you. There’s also a joke that you’re my biggest fan,” Joy laughs through tears, “You make me feel confident, because you are always seeing the best in us.”

Wendy doesn’t think she can sit through two more of these. She wishes they would say things like “oh you could burp the alphabet” or “you trip over your own feet a lot.” But instead, they’re talking about her like they’re at her funeral.

Seulgi is already sobbing, but speaks up next, “And Wendy, you were always so kind, and were always smiling from the first day we met. You’re like a strong pillar, holding us all up.”

Seulgi couldn’t finish, so Irene starts talking, “You always worried about things a little too much, but I honestly think that’s what made you so kind. You worried about if we were cold or hot, hungry or thirsty, if we were comfortable, everything. And you always found a way to fix those things if we were. You put yourself before others on every occasion.” Irene’s voice cracks as a premonition of crying, but continues talking, “We hoped that telling you these things would help you remember who you are. It must feel pretty uncomfortable hearing such sentimental things from strangers.”

“No. Not at all. Thank you, guys, so much. Before Yeri got here, I was alone for weeks, I can’t describe how happy this makes me,” Wendy stands, and they all hug, crying into each other.

After some time, they all calm down, and start walking around the mall telling Wendy stories of the shenanigans that went down when they were in Red Velvet. They’re all laughing, and carrying on when there’s a humming sound growing outside.

“Oh my god, is that a plane?” Wendy’s heart starts racing at the sound, and she takes off running to the nearest exit.

“Wait!” Seulgi grabs Wendy’s arm, “You can’t go out there.” The other girls chime in agreement.

“What do you mean? There’s other people out there that can save us.”

“No, they can’t.” Seulgi’s grip tightens around Wendy’s arm.

Wendy gets angry, and rips her arm away, “So you’re going to look me dead in the eye right now, and tell me to not go outside, and try to get the attention of a plane so we can get out of here? I told you I was in isolation for weeks, right? What do you think? That we can survive in this mall forever?”

Seulgi stares at her, her face as cold and hard as stone, “Do not go out there, Wendy.”

Wendy, scoffs, and starts running again before Seulgi can grab her arm. The girls all chase after Wendy, yelling at her to stop, but she doesn’t listen. Who do they think they are, anyway? They just said all that nice about me, and now they won’t help me get out of this hell hole? Some friends, forget them.

"Wendy! Please wait! Just listen for a second!" Yeri calls out to her.

Wendy doesn't stop running.

Wendy turns a corner, and sees the exit. White light gleams through the glass doors, making it impossible to see anything on the other side. She hears one last pain-ridden scream before she bursts through the door.

“Wendy! Please, don’t go!”