After Taeyang had won seven of ten games, Hwiyoung promised that he would never play it again. Taeyang simply laughed as Hwiyoung pouted while starting to make his place to sleep on the floor.

"I'll have to find another game you're good at," Taeyang offered as he put the old box back in its place. Hwiyoung was already in his makeshift bed. "No, thanks. I prefer to live in misery," he snapped and threw the covers over his head.

Hwiyoung really did act like a child sometimes. Taeyang noticed that something had to be bothering him though because Hwiyoung was especially fickle lately. Rather than ask, he decided that his friend probably just needed some sleep.

Feeling tired himself, Taeyang placed the remainder of the cooked meat from dinner in a large jar. He put the food away in a tall, wooden cupboard. Then, he headed for bed.

It wasn't long before Taeyang heard only the lulling crackle of the fire which helped him drift off to sleep. A dog barked in the distance, but Taeyang was so drowsy that he thought he'd imagined it.

Soon, he was asleep.

❦ ❦ ❦
 

All was silent. The woods were peaceful save for the few morning birds chirping and fluttering their wings in the dim blue hue of daylight.
 
Taeyang turned over in his bed to see Hwiyoung still asleep on the floor. As he returned to lying on his back, immediate fear and paralyzation went through him at the sight of the familiar, horrific beast staring straight into his eyes.
 
Without seeming to have moved, the wolf was suddenly hovering above Hwiyoung who had awoken from the movement at his feet. Taeyang wanted to move or help his friend somehow, but wasn’t able to budge from where he was.
 
Hwiyoung backed up quickly as he took a defensive pose with his hunting blade. He was no match for the enormous creature who easily unarmed and killed Taeyang’s best friend right in front of him.
 
Tension built up in his whole being as sorrow overtook Taeyang at the loss. He felt so useless, and now Hwiyoung was gone.
 
As he was already having trouble breathing, the wolf made it worse by climbing onto his ribcage, crushing him. He could smell its rank breath which made him feel disgusted and sick. The wolf cackled eerily in a strangled voice.
 
Tears began forming at Taeyang’s eyes as he tried to fight against the fear. He knew that he couldn’t do anything to stop the inevitable, but he didn’t want to die- not like this.
 
Just as he was able to feel movement coming back to his limbs, he felt an immense ripping at his neck which rendered him unable to even yell. Then, the whole world went dark.
 

❦ ❦ ❦

 
“-yang! Taeyang!” a deep voice gradually became audible.
 
Taeyang felt himself being shaken awake by someone. He couldn’t see properly yet which made him even more confused as to what was going on.
 
Blinding light intruded his eyes as he blinked multiple times until he could barely see two people. He then realized that tears were also blocking his view and wiped them away.
 
“Are you okay now?” Uncle Kyungsoo asked. Closing his eyes tightly one last time and opening them, Taeyang was finally able to see. He nodded his head slowly.
 
Taeyang saw that it was Chanyeol who had been helping to wake him up. Uncle Kyungsoo was standing next to him with an owlish look of concern.
 
“Thank you, but why are you here?” Taeyang wondered. Uncle Kyungsoo and Chanyeol looked at him in disbelief. “You don’t know that you were screaming in here?” Chanyeol spoke up. Now, Taeyang was in disbelief. Uncle Kyungsoo nodded to affirm what the hunter had said, “Everyone thought you were being murdered.”
 
“It was another nightmare. It felt so real…” Taeyang looked down, “I couldn’t do anything though, and Hwiyoung-” At the thought of his friend, he automatically jerked his head over to the spot where Hwiyoung had been sleeping. He was gone.
 
Fear began to grip at his heart again even though he knew he had only experienced a nightmare. Taeyang began gripping at the bed cover with anxiety until they all heard the door open. 
 
Hwiyoung walked in looking as healthy as he could with a jug in one arm and a dead deer slung over the other. He innocently looked at the three in confusion as he gave an awkward greeting.

“Wow! Did you go hunting this morning?!” Chanyeol piped up in excitement. “Yeah,” Hwiyoung said as he raised the young deer up for them to see. “I also went out to get water,” he added.

Taeyang felt relief wash over him as the memory of the dream slowly faded from his mind. Uncle Kyungsoo glanced at him, “You can talk to me about it if you need to. I’ll be at the bakery.” “Okay,” Taeyang looked down again bashfully. He didn’t like people seeing this side of him, especially not his uncle; he hated to worry him.

Uncle Kyungsoo went to work, and Taeyang was left to witness the slightly comedic scene before him.

“So, how did you hunt and catch a deer already? Did you wake up really early? Hey, we could go hunting later today so you can show me what you did,” Chanyeol was asking questions that Hwiyoung didn’t have the answer to nor did he want to answer them.

“I… kind of hunt alone…” he said slowly. Chanyeol seemed to immediately understand and clapped Hwiyoung on the shoulder, “No worries! Kai does the same thing. Maybe you two could go hunting together and become friends too?” Hwiyoung somehow doubted that would happen but just nodded quietly.

“Well, I’m going off to hunt now. Take care!” the smiling happy guy chirped.

Squinting at the door in confusion, Hwiyoung said, “So… What was that all about?” Taeyang got out of the bed as he found Ray hiding under the bed. He picked her up gently and started petting her.

Sitting at the table with his cat, Taeyang was starting to feel at ease from her purring. “I had- I had a nightmare. It was really bad this time. Apparently, I was screaming and everyone thought I was dying.”

Hwiyoung stared at the ground, “So, I’m guessing that it was bad enough that you don’t want to tell anyone the details, right?” Taeyang just nodded as he bit on his lower lip. It was hard when he couldn’t even tell his best friend everything, but Hwiyoung was always understanding with him.

Taeyang and Ray waited patiently as Hwiyoung finished dressing part of the deer to eat for breakfast. It was nice to have fresh food and Taeyang was very appreciative to Hwiyoung for sharing his profits.

As they were all prepared to eat, Taeyang gave some meat to Ray. Then, he looked at Hwiyoung seriously, “Please don’t tell Chaekyung about what happened to me today.” Hwiyoung grinned mischievously, “Why?” Taeyang frowned in disbelief, “I don’t want her to think I’m lame! You were planning on telling her, weren’t you? I thought we were friends.”

Hwiyoung laughed and giggled at the frenzied bewilderment of his friend. “I’m not going to tell her! I was just joking!”