Drip... drip… drip...

There it was again, she thought. A constant drip of liquid nearby, precisely cutting through the silence. It’s rhythm unbreaking through the muffled sound of her breathing.

Drip… drip… drip…

Was she awake? Was she still unconscious? Unconscious? Why would she be unconscious?

Lisa was beginning to see patches of light through her eyelids, little white orbs floating against black. Forcing them open, all she saw were blurry patches of color making her all the more dizzy. Closing them back tightly she tried to drown out the headache creeping up, and the urge to throw up. There was a certain scent that lingered in the air, hmm were those flowers? She tried opening her eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to the light. Green, everything was green and sunny… Lisa froze, this did not feel like the cold, hard library floor -- it was far from it. This felt soft and smelled nothing like old books and dust.

Leo

Yes, she remembered now.

It all came back in a rush, the painting, the room, and the cat. Lisa remembered it all, remembered how the animal called out to her, that damn painting, the way it made her feel nauseous -- made her feel like she was going insane, how everything out. She remembered every detail -- Those uncatlike green eyes that stared at her as she lost consciousness. Yes, she remembered those quite vividly.

Lisa stood up too fast, losing her balance as she tumbled backward landing on soft grass. Grass, she was lying on grass! No wonder everything was green. Okay, she was no longer inside the library, how that happened was beyond her. Somehow, in some way she wounded up here; wherever this is. There was a small stream a couple of feet away from her, and white forsythias providing enough shade from the glare of the sun.

Weird, she could not remember any parks within the city that looked like this.

Shouts brought Lisa to her feet, this time she made sure not to fall. For a dancer she was making a dangerous habit out of it. They sounded faint but seemed to be getting closer.

“Agasshi!” The shouts sounded like they were right over the hill that overlooked where Lisa was standing.

Agasshi?

“Agasshi! Come back!”

Lisa was about to climb up to get a closer look, when a flurry of clothes and something or someone crashed against her, as they fell against a tree. A dull throbbing pain started to snake its way to her side, and all she could see for a moment was black. She was starting to hate that color. She tried to focus on whatever was on top of her, but the throbbing was still there and she could barely make out anything from the mess of hair on her face.

“Oof!” The thing speaks.

She could feel the person squirm against her neck, felt it’s warm ragged breath on her cheek. For a moment it seemed like everything had stopped and the only thing that existed was the sensation and the weird way it made her heart flutter..

“You can get off me n--.” The person stiffened and pushed against her quite roughly. Elbowing her injured side, a shot of pain coursed through her body causing her to bite her lower lip, drawing blood. “Not that hard though! Chris…”

Soft hands rushed to silence her, cutting her off. God, what now?

Silence hung heavily as she found herself looking into such vivid brown eyes. Lisa’s breath hitched, her harsh feline eyes contrasted beautifully against the softness of her features. Black hair flowing freely as she tilted her head. Looking away quickly, Lisa felt her cheeks warming. Aware of the weird flips and flutters her heart was making, and how her heart raced at the way  the stranger’s hand felt against her lips, how she smelled like roses and lilacs.

“Shhh…” harsh eyes pleaded.

Lisa gently bit into the tender flesh of the strangers palm, forcing her to jerk it away and earning Lisa another death glare.

“Is this how you greet people you crash into?”

It was amazing how fast her mood changed, one she looked like she was about to kill Lisa and the next she had her hand over Lisa’s mouth pushing her against the tree with a pleading look.

Cute.

“Agasshi! We have to get back!”

The voices before sounded like they were just above them. The beautiful stranger closed the distance between them, putting pressure on ensuring she kept shut. The pain was still there, lingering, and the added weight from her was not making things better for Lisa at all. Lisa could make out another sound against the chaos above them, it didn’t make sense though. A lot of things were not making sense lately. Hearing horses galloping on a beaten path certainly takes top spot.

“I will slowly take my hands off of you, can you please stay quiet for a bit more?” she could feel her breath against her skin as she whispered.

Lisa nodded slowly. The stranger backed away giving her space to breathe. Everything seemed amiss, agasshi… horses... studying the stranger closely she noticed she was wearing a hanbok.

“Am I on a movie set or something?” questioning looks was the only answer she had as the silence deepened.

“You’re peculiar”

“I’m what?”

“Peculiar, you talk funny and your clothes… you’re not from around here, are you?” She could feel her go tense after eyeing Lisa up and down.

“Woah… no… I don’t deserve this from you right now. Not after you go crashing into the first person you see. Clearly, you’re the one who’s not from here. Do you see what you’re wearing?” The stranger was beginning to get on her nerves. “Look, I just want to know where the hell I am right now so I could go back to peacefully writing my term paper and hopefully pass this year. It’s the least you could do for almost suffocating me to death and for … I don’t know breaking my rib?”

The stranger stood up, holding onto something, fear and panic on her delicate face. A glint of silver… you’ve got to be kidding right? For someone who goes around falling unto other people, the stranger moved with grace and precision. Brandishing what looked like a dagger, taking a step back for every movement Lisa made.

“Stay back!” She was shaking and making a poor show of waving the blade between them.

“Woah, let’s not resort to stabbing people we just met. We can talk this out calmly, like what sane people would do.” Lisa held out her hands in defense. Weird, beautiful and now crazy, she’s checking off a lot of negative traits off Lisa’s list.

“I said stay back!” lunging at her.

Lisa barely dodged the attack, The warm, slick feeling of blood felt oddly comforting against her cold fingertips. The cut on her shoulder was not that deep, she was more worried about the torn in her favorite sweater and the stain.

“Stay away from me!” The dagger slipped from her hands as she ran off towards the opposite direction, not a glance back at Lisa.

“…” Things were becoming weirder and weirder. Groaning inwardly she stormed off towards the direction of the woman who almost killed her -- thrice. If she wants to know where she is, she’d have to go to where all the other people are; basic survival tips she makes up along the way.