‘I don’t believe you!’ you say, raising your voice. Wishes would be great, but you feel like this could be a scam. Before taking a single step, you push your fingers onto the invisible barrier that separates you and the phoenix form reuniting. ‘I’m sorry,’ you whisper, gripping the air. Without another word, you sprint for your life; escaping from the mysterious voice that was simply too nice to be on your side.

When you feel like your lungs are about to burst and your legs about to drop off, you fall to the ground, not even caring about what could be crawling around. You take in deep breaths, eyes teary from fear, and your heart beating like a drum. ‘I’m safe,’ you whisper to yourself. You vaguely rub all your sore muscles, savouring the blissful moment of relief.

‘Spiders and poisonous bugs crawl on the ground, wild animals lurk behind trees around you,’ says a voice from somewhere. You tense up, remembering the dreadful voice. You cower as low as your aching body can, even though you knew it wouldn’t make a different if someone comes. ‘The moon shines, oh so brightly. And you lay there like a frightened dog.’

For some reason, something clicks in your mind and you feel like you’ve heard the voice somewhere before. ‘Who’s there?’ you call out into the darkness. You don’t know how many times you’ve called out these words. But, even so, it was appropriate to be cautious in such a dark and haunting place. The familiar crunch of someone’s feet treading on the dry leaves follows your words.

‘Why it’s me, of course!’ a young man steps out from the darkness and into the moonlight. You don’t know why but you feel happy. It is like half of your burden is shared to someone else. It’s Daehyun.

He happily bounds towards you, pulling out a first aid kit. You ogle at the kit, wondering how he got it. He looks at you curiously, before answering your unasked question. ‘I found it on the ground. Some traveller must have gotten lost,’ he shrugs carelessly, pulling out a tattered roll of bandages and a tube of half used cream. You pull a face in disgust as Daehyun tries to apply some pasty, purple cream from the tube onto some of your wounds.

‘That’s gross! Just bandage my leg or something. I don’t want that gunk on me!’ you yell, dodging Daehyun’s arms. ‘That’s gross!’ Daehyun mimics. ‘It’s a disinfectant! You could die from a disease. And who knows what diseases there are in this forest!’ After a few minutes of rages and snappy bickering, you finally let Daehyun put on the cream.

You glare at him angrily, but somewhere in your heart, you feel happy that you were no longer alone in the forest with the voice. Daehyun begins bandaging your legs and arms, where large cuts were made from the trees that had sharp ends.

After what feels like a decade, Daehyun finally tightens the bandage and steps back. ‘The bandage was all ripped and weird, it took ages to get it straight and cover up your wound. Be grateful.’ You nod vigorously, noticing something weird in him.

Daehyun seems fuller, happier, funnier… He doesn’t feel like the old, evil Daehyun who tried to capture you. He feels like a friend, someone who you could count on. As Daehyun goes on his enthusiastic story on how he finds you, you get lost in your deep thoughts.

Do you question him? Or do you just let him go on and ignore this?

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