[A/N: Using their English names, Jin (An Na) and Aaron/Chris (Zi Lun)]

They were caught in the web of their youth. Aaron remembered. Jin had conveniently forgotten the torment she had put Aaron through. 

Aaron held her silence until it ate away at her. She needed to confront Jin once and for all. They were both adults now and Jin had mellowed, but Aaron still hesitated. She didn't know what might be the best way to bring it up. 

She thought back to when they were both ten years old.

"Jin, stop!" a small girl pleaded. Her hands were tied in thin white string and being yanked by a bigger girl.

"Shut up, Chris! You're not allowed to talk when we play this game, remember?"

"But it hurts, Jin!" the smaller girl shouted.

"I said be quiet," Jin reminded, since it hadn't been clear enough the first time. And all the times before.

Jin tugged the string like Chris was a disobedient dog on a leash. Chris knew this was wrong. She didn't want to be pulled around like Jin's toy. Yet the bigger girl had played this game with her for the two years they'd known each other.

It always started innocently enough, with a game of Cat's Cradle. One girl would gently pull at strings attached to the other girl's fingers. They took turns creating more and more intricate patterns between their palms. Sometimes Chris knotted the strings and Jin would scold her for not being as skilled as she was. Jin was a braggart and Chris had so little self-esteem, that she often bowed her head shamefully at Jin's bossiness. It was just a game -- how could Jin have been so mean to another ten-year old girl?

Aaron pressed her eyelids closed trying to oust the children's game from her memory. But it was imprinted there stubbornly.

"I'm not Chris anymore," she told herself. She had tried very hard to become someone else after she and her family had moved away. She had been glad to be rid of the pushy kid from up the block. She had been glad she'd never have to see her fingers turn blue anymore. Glad a stupid kid would never bully her again.

But she grew up frail and scared, despite all her efforts to be reborn as someone with confidence and self worth. By the time she'd graduated from university, she realized she'd become rather adept at faking it. Nobody seemed to know how small Chris felt inside. All they saw was a cheery, smart and fun-loving person. She thought if she changed her clothes, her hairstyle and even her name that she could make the old Chris disappear for good.

For several years, she'd felt like she'd been successful. Aaron didn't even remember her childhood tormentor anymore. Aaron barely even remembered Chris. And then one day, the office where she worked hired a new girl. At first, Aaron made no connection. It was only after speaking with her new colleague a few times that the nightmares began to haunt her. She hadn't had that caliber of nightmare since she was a teenager. More and more frequently, she was plagued by unclear nocturnal frights about oversized spider-webs, nooses, S&M rope . Once she overheard that her new office-mate's name was the same as her twisted childhood playmate's, the nightmares became more focused. Soon she dreamed of getting tangled in seaweed while wading on a beach; being down on all fours with a collar and someone tugging at her leash; getting her fingers chopped off with a hacksaw.

Because she'd managed to forget all about Jin and Cat's Cradle after leaving college, it took her a while to comprehend the significance of the dreams. As she narrowed in on their meaning, the nightmare themes got sharper and more specific, eventually leaving her with images of her own blue fingers; twisted and torn bits of white string; larger fingers yanking her off somewhere unseen.

She could no longer avoid the memories the dreams brought rushing back. She was working with that same nasty ten-year old who'd made her childhood so miserable. But grown-up Jin didn't even remember her. Of course, Aaron hadn't immediately recognized Jin either -- it had been fifteen years -- but once she realized her identity, she started remembering facial traits. Jin still had a pulpy, kid-like mouth and curious eyes. Ironically, around the office, she appeared to be completely normal. Polite and helpful, with a side order of cheerful.

Something in her expression reminded Aaron of how she used to look when not turning Cat's Cradle into a frightening experience. Jin hadn't been mean all the time. Their game used to start off gently, sometimes with friendly laughter. Then when Aaron (Chris) got everything in tangles, it caused something in Jin to snap. She became a nightmare.

"You're so dumb!" I keep telling you not to make knots!"

"It's not my fault!" little Chris whimpered.

"Yuh-huh it is! Who messes up such a simple game?" Jin dropped her end of the Cat's Cradle threads. When Chris tried in vain to remove her little fingers from the clumsy knots, Jin was quicker.

She pretended to help free Chris's hands but then wickedly laughed at her, pulling the strings even tighter. She twisted extra bits around the helpless knuckles until Chris had only two options. One was to let Jin lead her like a dog, and the other meant struggling and cutting off her own circulation. Usually she suffered the worst of both worlds.

"Let me go!" Chris yelped.

"No!" Jin tugged her string-leash, causing the smaller girl to squirm. "I told you not to make knots and you do it every time! You're stupid!"

"I'm not stupid!" Chris protested, her eyes b with tears.

"You are! I hate you!" Jin screeched, yanking on the string so Chris's arm jerked forward, causing her to lose her footing and trip. She cried, with her face in the grass with Jin continuing to yank angrily at her makeshift leash.

Chris's muffled crying made her words nearly incomprehensible. "You don't hate me!"

But Jin understood just fine.

She ripped one of the loose strands of string from holding it too tightly and went sailing into the grass from the recoil. The shock of suddenly landing on her seemed to stun her into near-complacency. Chris remained face-down, weeping and trembling, her fingers blue and purple where the strings choked their blood flow. 

Jin crawled over to the small girl's hiccuping form and smoothed her brown hair. Quietly, she said,

"No. I don't hate you."

Aaron remembered the burning pain and the petty belittling. But she hadn't forgotten her aggressor's hand trying to soothe her when her anger had cooled. "Why, Jin?" was the only question Aaron wanted her work colleague to answer. She'd had enough of the nightmares. She had to confront adult-Jin now. She'd brought a roll of white string to the office today in hopes