“LOST ALONE IN THE DEEPS WOODS, I STOPPED AND LOOK BACK FOR A MOMENT”

***

“Ugh, my head is spinning.”

Yena felt a bit fuzzy as she woken up on her bed. It seems like her brother manage to drag her home without she even realized it. Her family acts like nothing happened but Yena realized that something is off.

She just lying on her bed while closing her eyes, trying to recollect her bits of jumbled memories after seeing the crying girl. She is sure that the girl is someone special. Not just the girl, all the other beautiful strangers seems like important people for her.

“Just who are you? Why am I kept thinking about them?”

Yena groaned as her heart felt some aching, as if it is shattered into pieces after encountering those girls.

Your brain might forget but not your heart.

A sudden whisper surprised Yena. She jumped from her bed, trying to find the voice and hoping to receive another piece of advice but her surrounding is quiet. She heaved a sigh and crashed herself onto her bed again, arms are crossing on her face.

Yena is not dumb. She knows that she may had some connection with those people as their face clearly turned from devastated to shock upon seeing her. It’s maybe just a quick glance at them but her heart tugged her to see them again. She want to meet those beautiful strangers again. Yena rolled on her bed as she kept wondering about the group of girls.

Who are you girls?

She monologue, wishing that somehow someone will drop an answer to all her question. She closed her eyes and suddenly, a few images flashing within her mind.

Ugh, I do wish we have some shampoo.

She can hear the lovely voice again but it seems like she is inside a movie where she is mesmerized to see herself is getting undressed with another strangers. Yena covered her eyes but still peeking at the girl who said she need shampoo.

This is harder than I thought but I can feel myself getting stronger!

As Yena blinked, she find herself standing in a plain while watching four girls are fighting some monsters. The girl who talk seems happy as she checked something on her status board. Yena are surprised to see herself hugging those strangers as if they  are a group of good friends. She tried to walk towards them and get a better view but suddenly her surroundings are changing again.

She is surprised to find herself slumped on the floor of her bedroom. She groaned as those pains are starting to register into her brain as she pick herself up. She is getting confused about those pieces of images, as if it is a part of her memories when in fact she cannot remember their name at all.

“Wait, didn’t I call that girl as Yuri?”

Yena suddenly remember that particular name as she standing in the middle of her room.

“Yuri?”

As she repeating calling that name, a sudden rush of dizziness attacking her brain, forcing Yena to stop thinking about the girl with that name.

No, what’s wrong with me? I swear I almost remember something.

Yena felt groggy suddenly as she forced her brain to squeeze any possible information or memory about those people. She realized that these past few days, she often felt dizzy.

“Damn, my world is spinning. Will I sleep and forgetting all of those strangers again? No, I don’t want to. I… Need to move…”

Yena thought that her body is adapting to the new situation of being overfed and pampered, thus being the source of all this nauseating feeling. She turned the doorknob and stepped out from her room, trying to take a breather. However, she noticed that something is odd as soon as she exited her room.

Instead of being in the house, Yena found that she is currently being in a setting much like a ruins. She is dumbfounded while walking around, trying to suppress and push away those throbbing in her head as she walked through the darkness.

As she walked slowly within the darkness, she is startled to hear another footsteps resounding within the area. She tried to hide but there is no good spot within the vicinity and all she can do is stand on her spot like a doll.

Oh no, not only I am trapped here but I have to bring you along?

Yena can hear someone sneered a few steps away from her position. She held her breath as she heard some familiar voice bickering with the earlier voice.

What? Do you think I want to spend another second with you? Not in your wildest dream!

Yena jumped from her position and waddling towards those voices who turned out to be herself with a beautiful girl who looks like a barbie doll with medium length of hair. Somehow, their hands are linked by some chain and they walked away reluctantly while holding each other hand.

Yena snickered as she is convinced that this is one of her flashed of memory.

I never know I had this kind of expression while bickering! When did I created this memory though? Why must I forget such memory?

Yena walked behind the pair and as she blinked, she found that she is in the middle of a field. She can hear some giggling coming from a group of girls and she jogged towards those sounds.

Yena can feel her heart skipped a beat as she see the view in front of her. 12 girls are eating happily while conversing with each other and Yena felt a tug within her heart as she watched them from a distance. As she wanted to move closer towards them, some voices echoes inside her head.

What Yena witness and hear at the moment:

“NO! DON’T LEAVE ME!”

Yena cried as the girls are fading away from her. She tried her best to run at them to prevent the girls from disappearing but her effort is all for naught. The girls who are making her mind boggling all this time left her behind.

She crouched onto the ground as she sobbed.

***

Chaewon is stretching her body as she silently sneaking out from her room to go to the kitchen and having a glass of milk. She creep carefully, trying not to make any sound and wake anybody while descending the stairs.

As she approached towards her destination, Chaewon almost cursed out loud when she saw a figure lying on the couch with muffled sobbing. Her heart race to the moon and back as she is contemplating whether to go back to her room and pretended she didn’t see anything or to gather all of her courage and approached the mysterious figure.

I am scared but what if it this person need someone to lend her shoulder? Be brave for once, Kim Chaewon!

Even though she steeled her heart to move closer, she cannot hide her nervousness walking in the dark. She scrunched her nose while tip toeing towards the crying girl.

Chaewon at the moment:

Please, please, please be a human or something with a body and not anything that I can’t slice off with my sword.

Chaewon prayed hard as she approached the crying girl. She slowly gained some clearer view as she spend some time dawdling within the dark and surprised to see a certain girl who is crying is wearing a familiar pinkish pyjama while lying her back as she stop sobbing for a moment.

Chaewon view:

“Yuri?

Chaewon recognize the girl who are surprised to see her walking through the darkness and approaching her. Yuri quickly rubbed her eyes, erasing traces of tears and forcing a smile at Chaewon, trying to bury her sadness and put on mask of a happy face.

“C-Chaewon? What are you doing being awake and walking around in this hour?”

Yuri asked the girl as she take a seat beside her. Yuri cannot see well in the dark as she is yet to gain a Night Vision. Chaewon just stare at the girl silently as she intertwined her fingers with Yuri. Her heart sank witnessing Yuri in such devastated state. It is not a new view yet she felt pangs in her heart whenever Yuri bawled her eyes.

Just from that soft gesture, Yuri puffy eyes are teary again. She missed some warmth that Yena always provided her and she shed her tears again. She hate herself for being weak and vulnerable from the day Yena disappeared and left them without any notice. Even Nako is also missing now which is adding shock towards her mental so much.

The gentle Hitomi who used to smile and comfort her also turned gloomy but that peachy cheek girl is stronger than Yuri as she can perfectly masked her worriedness and act like normal. Yuri knows that deep inside, Hitomi just want to bawl like her but that girl can’t do it. Seeing Yuri being devastated is enough to make the team morale declined and even though Yuri want to cheer up, she finds that it is difficult to do so.

“I am selfish, right? Even though it had been almost a week since Yena gone, I just cannot get a hold of myself. Even Nako went missing now and all I can is crying.”

Yuri poured her heart out at Chaewon who is lending her ears and shoulders as they sit in the dark.

“Why did I always lost something that I cherish? Am I not deserve to be happy at all? Even for a little bit?”

Yuri continue to rant her feelings and Chaewon patiently listen to her, hummed when she needs to as she didn’t want to interrupt the girl when she are opening up towards her.

You miss her so much?

“Yes, I really want to hold her, embrace her and said many things that I didn’t get to say all this time.”

Will you do anything to meet her again?

“I will give anything, even myself if it means I can see her again!”

Even your dear life?

“Even with my life. She is important person to me, I can’t afford to lose her.”

I see.

“Yuri! Snapped out of it! Who are you talking to?”

Chaewon is shaking Yuri body who seems to spacing out while muttering nonsense, as if she is conversing with someone. Chaewon felt creepy as she get sudden chills as Yuri stared at her blankly. She can somehow see some fluttering light diminish into air as she blinked her eyes.

“Huh? What are you talking about, Chaewon?”

Yuri seems confuses to see Chaewon sallow face. She stared at the girl, couldn’t grasp reason why Chaewon seems so panic while tilting her face.

“Nothing. Let’s go back to our room. We need some energy before going to Fantasma tomorrow.”

Chaewon tried her best to appear calm and suggested for them to retire for the night which Yuri fortunately agree. Without any delay, Chaewon drag the girl towards her room as she didn’t have any guts left to Yuri. Instead, Chaewon demanded Yuri to sleep on Yena bed for the night.

“Might ease your feeling for a bit, smelling Yena drools.”

Chaewon commented which made Yuri blushed while giving her a gentle punch. They walked carefully with Chaewon leading Yuro towards Yena bed and bid the younger girl good night after tucking her into Yena comforter.

Not long after she landed onto her bed, Chaewon can hear soft snore coming from Yuri. She couldn’t help but smile while watching the girl sleep peacefully, hugging Yena favorite pillow. She can somehow imagine Yena is smiling sweetly at her before sleeping every night.

Chaewon memory of Yena:

Yena, Na