Chapter I – The Crossroad Stranger

*A siren of an ambulance can be heard as it passes*

A siren .

Blue and red lights – alternating.

Those are the last sound I heard and the last thing I see before I get to find myself again in a place I do not know.

When I opened my eyes, my blurry sight has witnessed these winter balls they call as snow, dancing for a while, floating in the air, in tune with the honks of cars at the distance. My gaze followed them down before they fall and friendly tap the shoulders of busy people on the streets. Christmas season has past and everyone is in a hurry, going through their lives again.

I let my gaze go, and above I saw a luminary clock further still at an unearthly height. It is telling me it is night time and all the lights started flickering on their own different wavelengths. Some did it like a chorus, and some prefer to do it in a domino – one after the other. The skyscrapers are trying to beat each other through their heights and designs. Different blurred colors of the stoplight - Yellow, Green and Red, formed patterns down the road, following their routine.

With my thoughts coming to me exactly like how the group of people across the street -- impatiently waiting for the red light to go green, my mind gets unfocused and I get to bump into someone. I naturally said a genuine apology but I stopped in the middle of it.

My mouth gaped, and I knew right then, my apologies won’t be heard.

Because suddenly, everything stopped – every walk of life stood still. They now looked like mannequins sporting their own fashion. The cars stopped honking, and there is literally no sound to be heard, except the siren of the ambulance from around the corner. The fluffy white snow stopped midair as if gravity is non-existent.

I tried to utter a word, but my throat squeaked – maybe too afraid to break the silence.

Then, the weirder part came.

The law of gravity was broken. The falling snow started to rise up, as if they are coming back to where they came from. If this is real, then what is reality? I dared to ask myself. Or am I becoming a lunatic?

The snow rise up, and the people started to walk backwards – as if I’m inside a movie and the backward button has been pressed. They walked faster… and faster. And as seconds passed by, everything became a blur of moving colors until it suddenly came to rest. I even felt the sudden halt – as if it is all too real. It feels like someone just stepped into the breaks and unfortunately, you’re sitting at the backseat of the bus. (Hopefully, with a seatbelt on…)

This time, I saw myself – another me, but with a different look – standing on a crossroad on a snowy night.  I’m sporting a beige winter coat, a scarf around my neck, white shoes and a denim pants. On top of it all, my hair is cut short. That made me wonder where this is on my timeline.

I haven’t cut my hair that short since the time I can remember stuff. And neither have I seen pictures of me with those.

I walked toward the other me. It looks like she cannot see me. I noticed I have a big wound on my cheek and I’m on the verge of crying. And if things could get weirder, my other version of myself is looking at someone. Don’t ask me, I absolutely don’t know.

A complete stranger. I tried to recollect all my memories and all those fragmented stuff my mind just thought of but I could not find her elsewhere in it. I probably didn’t even bump at her somewhere else in time. She is wearing a usual office look – a black tie and a black suit. She also had her hair black – a jet black one, which I might say is quite suiting for her. Although, the thing is she has a blood oozing from her forehead, like she has the same wreck where my other self has been… and… she is looking at me the same way as how my other self’s eyes hold hers too.

I stepped back as I saw the short-haired version of me smile a little. That kind of smile that is not full. As if, it is drowned with love and yet it’s aching. Have you ever smile like this? I had, and I understand how it must feel.

One… Two…

I stood still as I counted the steps my other self took as she proceeded to hug the stranger-in-black, her tears threatening to fall from those eyes. The stranger didn’t move though. The only thing she did is to look back at me.

I got surprised, for I did check if the other me can see me, but she can’t. I almost panicked, but her eyes soften upon looking at me… Or is it the voice that came from my other self that made it soft.

“I…” The other version of myself spoke in a broken voice. “I believe in you.”

“Because I can see me and you… Then I can believe in us.”

Then the stranger tore her gaze from me to the short-haired version of me. She suddenly looks so broken as if a pair of strings was strung from her heart. And then, I felt it too. I felt the tears coming out of my eyes in synchronized effort with my other self’s tears.

“We will be… We will” The stranger told her reassuringly as she reciprocates the hug.

Then came out of nowhere, a blue butterfly flapped its wings. And perching on the stranger-in-black’s shoulder.

As if that’s the cue, I heard a clock ticking – faster and faster until it happened again.

All things stopped before it went backwards in a rapid manner.

Everything became black.

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The eyes of a lady wearing a yellow sweatshirt – matching it with a yellow jog pants, shut open. It looks like she had a nightmare but she didn’t react that much. It is obvious on her face that this has been occurring over time and she has been used to it. She just stared at the ceiling, hugging that extra soft pillow.

“Gosh...” She grunted after a minute, as she reached her round eyeglasses on her bedside table which have been buried with a pile of books.

She shakes her head slowly as she rose up from her bed. “No way. This is so crazy.” She talked to herself.

“Ughh. I really can’t believe this.” She whined as she buried her face in her hand. “Really? Goodness.” She continued talking while she reluctantly took her small table that is good enough for writing on the bed. She took out one of those colorful sticky pads and wrote down some words.

__________________

| 02.03.2020               |

| On a crossroad…     |

|_________________|

(A/N: I tried..)

Meanwhile, a taller lady went inside her room, stopping as she takes in the view. She sighed and put down the pile of neatly folded clothes. “This is seriously giving me a headache.” She whispered to herself as she proceeded to open the curtains on the window.

She looked at the girl in yellow that is still writing on the pad, and ended up shaking her head. She looked at the towering pile of books and smiled. “Why? Are you still studying?” She asked.

The other girl only shook her head in response. And so, the taller girl asked again. “Hmm, if that’s not it. What’s the problem Yerin-ah?” She made her way into the girl-in-yellow’s bed. “Did you have another dream?” She asked again. And upon receiving no answers, she finds the answers herself by reading the other girl’s notes.

She read it out aloud. “February 3, 2020. On a crossroad, on a snowy winter day.”

She paused, waiting for the other girl to continue writing but Yerin is just closing her eyes, tilting her head a little to the left, and when another second pass, to the right – recollecting her thoughts about the dream.

Sowon sniffed and she made a face in dismay. “What’s this smell? Oh my god.”

She hit Yerin’s head gently. “Hey, if you’re going to eat, at least, open the window and let the smell out. I won’t get mad at you if you eat a bunch of noodles at night.”

She stood up, seeing the eyesore of hidden evidences of noodle packs. “Goodness, I know you’re studying hard so you shouldn’t keep it to yourself. You need to feed your brain.” She said, as if the stress is adding up.

“Aaahh~” Yerin reacted, playfully covering her ears repeatedly. “You sound just like my mother Sowon-unnie.”

“Why are you complaining girl-in-a-banana-suit?” Sowon retorted giving the other a playful push before they laugh at each other.

“I’ll get you some breakfast.” Sowon said already getting up from be