Chapter 7

The way it happened was extraordinary. I only remember the strong gust of ice cold wind that rushed past us before Jessica came forward again. This time, looking much more gruesome. He flowing hair had turned to something straw-like that looked as if it was on fire. It was glowing, but glowing orange and looked almost brighter than the campfire that had suddenly sprung to life, seemingly by itself.

 The temperature had sky-rocketed. The fire, her hair and the raging emotions in the clearing had all contributed to the heat and I slowly saw my classmates emerge from the trees.

 Only a few days ago, I knew these guys to be normal, natural humans. Different, of course, but who isn’t…?  Maybe, I couldn’t understand why so many people with different interests stuck together, but then again, they say opposites attract. Although it was selfish of me, I was more than ecstatic to see Donghae again but now, thinking about it, it was my fault that this fight was about to happen, and I wasn’t sure if the others were strong enough to defeat her. Despite being happy for myself, I was angry. Angry that I was causing my friends, whatever they were, an enormous amount of stress and even making them risk their lives.

 “Hyukkie, come on, we have to go. I don’t know my power so we can’t fight yet. Plus you don’t have any training! We need to leave, now! The others will sort this out. Its won’t be too hard ‘cause she’s only teasing us today.” Donghae said but he saw the worry on my face. “It’s okay. Let’s go. They’ll be fine!” He gave me a reassuring smile and tugged on my hand, leading me to the edge of the clearing.

 I turned to look back at the scene and saw around 9 or 10 more boys circling Jessica who was floating in the middle. Most of which I knew and some I didn’t. I noticed that Kyuhyun wasn’t there. Jessica’s dress was long and flow-y so I couldn’t really tell whether she walked or glided, but I think it was safer to assume the latter. Her evil smirk had faded and she wore a simple smile, occasionally glancing at me as her hair sparked and gave of spurts of fire.

 I felt a tug on my arm again and I turned to see Donghae pulling on my hand, silently urging me to come with him. I put on a brave smile and started walking away from the clearing with him leaving behind my friends who had come to save me but were out there risking their own lives.

 I heard a loud bang and whipped my head back trying to figure out where it came from but I was pulled into a tight hug by Donghae. And soon enough, I was crying on his shoulder. I didn’t want this. I didn’t mean this. I didn’t even know what was going on! And I wanted, so badly, to be able to stop it. Despite being powerless, I wanted to run back and shield my friends from whatever it was that was hurting them. And if it weren’t for Donghae’s tight embrace, I think I would’ve done just that.

 It was strange. I felt so secure when I was around him but I didn’t even know him. Maybe it was our ‘soulmate’ connection or something. But then, he seemed so similar to the Donghae in my dream…the one I loved. Is that why? Do I feel like this because I fell in love with someone extremely similar to him. Or was this, that Donghae? Either way, I hugged him back tightly not knowing what to think. I just wanted to curl up and sleep knowing I couldn’t stop it. It just felt like a horrible nightmare and when I’d wake up, it would go back to when I went to a normal, boring high school and I was the loner that nobody liked.

 After a little while, I stopped crying and pulled back to look at Donghae. There were shouts and bangs in the distance. I could clearly make out Ryeowook’s high pitched scream but I decided to ignore it, knowing thinking about it would only make me feel worse.

  “Thank you.” I whispered.

 Donghae smiled his warm, friendly smile in response. “Let’s get you home and tucked into bed.” He said softly and I nodded as we walked further out of the forest. I really had no clue that there was a forest this big in the middle of Seoul, but soon enough, we had stepped into a street of seemingly normal houses lit up with the occasional street light. It was night after all. There was also a van sitting there on the street which I recognised because I had walked out past it this morning. The driver’s side door opened and Kyuhyun stepped out.

 Great.

 Then I remembered he could hear me and stopped all train of thought that had anything to do with him. I was sure that I wouldn’t be thinking up anything good, so I might as well jut not think at all!

 He approached us and I was surprised to feel his hand on my shoulder. He leaned down awkwardly and looked me in the eyes. Pshh. I’m not that  short!  I looked right back at him and decided Sungmin was right. He was handsome.

 “I’m going to ignore that last thought despite how much I liked it,” he started and I blushed. “And I’m going to tell you not to worry.” I looked at him in surprise and mentally raised an eyebrow. He’s being nice…?

 “W-what?”

 He straightened up and looked towards the forest and then back at me. “You do realise that I can hear everyone’s thoughts, not just yours.” He saw me cry… “And you do realise that I don’t only hear the things thought about me. I know exactly what’s going on in there without actually being there. I just don’t really like to get very dirty.”   Kyuhyun said with a smirk.

 I frowned at him and blew at my fringe in exasperation. I thought he was being nice. But that is pretty cool. Not having to personally witness anything but knowing what was happening. I could still hear the echo of Ryeowook’s scream in my head. I wonder what they, she did to him.

 “Hey,” Kyuhyun said, in a unusually soft voice, “Hey, I can still hear you. It’s not like that. It’s the same as seeing it with my own eyes. I can close my eyes and shift from body to body seeing what they see. It might even be considered worse. I saw what they did to Wookie. And I felt it.”

 Once again, I looked at him in surprise. He IS being nice…aishh confusing!

 “He got burnt. Fire is really harmful to anyone. You’ve lived a human life, you should know. It’s the same for us. The only thing is, we heal faster because of our protector. He was pushed into the campfire and got burnt but Yesung hyung, his protector, healed him. Okay? There’s nothing to worry about. ‘She’ is about to leave. Believe it or not, I can read her too and she’s going to leave soon. She’s just doing this to tease us.” He finished with a soft smile.

 I turned to look at Donghae with a confused and tired look. Despite looking confused himself, he just nodded at me as if telling me to believe Kyuhyun. I remembered that he had only heard what Kyuhyun said to me and not what I had though in my mind and gave him an apologetic smile.

 “Okay then.” I agreed finally. “Okay. They’re alright and nothing’s going to happen. Right? They’re strong and they’ll win and it’ll all work out.” I looked up at Kyuhyun. “Take me home. I wanna sleep!”

 He nodded but his smirk returned as we walked to the parked van. “You know, you should trust us more. It kinda hurts our pride if you don’t.”

 I sighed and turned to see Donghae laughing again. His smile is beautiful… “Hahaha he’s right you know. Come on, we have school tomorrow!”

 I groaned at the thought. Oh. I forgot. -__-

  ---

 The next day at school was normal. I mean, nothing special happened really. It made me wonder whether yesterday really happened. Made me wonder if it was all a dream…the only proof I really had, was the bandage on Ryeowook’s arm and the scratches on Siwon’s cheek. But that could have come from elsewhere, couldn’t it? People at school tried to stir up rumours saying the two of them got into a fight, but somehow, no one believed anything.

 We had Maths, and English, and Science and all the usual subjects. Nothing special. At lunch, nothing much was said other than Sungmin hyung’s constant worrying about Ryeowook’s arm. Apparently, someone named Yesung was Ryeowook’s protector, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Sungmin hyung was. But then again, Sungmin hyung cared for everyone. He was almost the mother figure of our group. Just then, he looked at me and smiled and a question suddenly popped into my head.

 “Hey Sungmin hyung, do you have the same power as Kyuhyun? I mean, I’m supposed to have the same power as Hae, right? We don’t know what it is yet, but it should be the same, his a little stronger than mine, right? So does that mean you can read minds like Kyuhyun?”

 Sungmin smiled in response. He looked really tired and I felt kind of guilty. “Don’t feel bad. I just couldn’t sleep well last night. Kyuhyun always has it much worse than me. Like you said, his powers are much stronger than mine which gives him the ability to see into everyone’s minds. With me, I can only see into the minds of those who are close to me. For example I can read the minds of everyone who’s sitting at this table, because we’re close friends. I can only just read you. It’s still kind of vague. But unlike Kyuhyun, I can’t just tune into anyone’s minds.”

 “What do you mean by Kyuhyun has it worse?” I asked carefully.

 “He explained it to you last night, didn’t he? Kyuhyun has the ability to read anything and everything. But it also makes him vulnerable. People that know about his power can use it against him and try and block out their thoughts so he can’t see them. Or maybe even plant false things in his mind.  For him to work out what is real and what’s not is really difficult and takes a lot of his strength and focus.”

 I was starting to understand. As much as I didn’t want to know, I began to accept the fact that I needed to know. All this magical stuff was really pissing me off. I’d already seen a few of my friends hurt and I decided that I needed to know, so that next time I could help too. In any way possible, I wanted to help.

 “Oh. Then how did you find out about your power…? How can we find out about ours!?” I asked, pointing at Donghae who was sitting beside me.

 “Truthfully, I don’t know. Ever since I was young, even before I found out about this whole magical world, I’d been able to accurately guess what my parents and my best friends were thinking. And with Kyuhyun, well he’s always been extraordinary at playing computer games and things, and he told me that he could tell what his opponent would do next, so he could plot his own move to counter that! It’s pretty amazing. He can read minds through the internet!”

 I looked over at Kyuhyun in awe. The whole time, he’d just been sitting quietly next to Sungmin hyung, playing video games on his PSP.  He seemed to be overly concentrated and I felt like telling him to stop and rest. Despite having an arrogant aura, Kyuhyun was actually a pretty good guy, and amazingly talented too!

 I almost face-palmed again when I realised that he could hear what I was thinking. And by the looks of it, Sungmin hyung could too. They both smiled, well Kyuhyun smirked, and continued to do their own thing while I tried to comprehend everything while blushing over my fail. 

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SO UM...HI

yeah

i haven't updated in ageeeeeeeees

i was planning on writing in my 2 weeks of  school holidays but i started school again this week and we've been bombarded with tests and practice tests to practice for our tests... -___- so i really haven't had any time to write!!! /FRUSTRATEDDDDD

plus some how my mum already knew we'd have tests so she made me study non-stop in the holidays....

yeah yeah i know, excuse after excuse every time i update...i swear im really sorry...plus my co-author hasn't been able to help so im ALL ALOOONE~ /cries

anyway..i hope this chapter's okay...i tried to make it kinda long-ish to make up for my absense... :p

forgive me...? :)

comment pleease~ i love reading what you guys think :)

<3