CHAPTER IV:

“Jaehwan-ah! Don’t go too far, ne?!”

I heard my mom called. I was outside of my grandparent’s house on top of a hill. We visit every vacation so my mom could be there to take care of her parents.

I was five. I remember I was five that time.

“Yeah, Umma!” I replied back, shouting out loud so she could hear me though I’m not that far from the house. About fifty meters away. I was happily playing under the cherry blossom tree, playing with its leaves that was scattered around it.

“Don’t stray too far! Get back here before dawn!”

I heard my mom yelled and I replied with a loud yes to her. She seemed contented so she didn’t say anything after that.

I stared at the cherry blossom tree and smile widely. I couldn’t seem to get enough of its beauty. Just watching the leaves fall from its branches and dancing to the rhythm of the air makes my heart giggled. It feels like it was alive which made me fall for its charms and be mesmerized all over again.

I was too busy watching and staring the cherry blossom that I didn’t felt a pair of eyes watching me.

I played with the tree once again since I was only by myself. My grandparents are living on top of a hill and they don’t have any neighbors. The nearest ones are about a kilometer away, at the bottom of the hill.

I was happy playing, giggling and twirling around, enjoying myself. Then, I heard a snap. It was like someone had stepped onto a branch on the ground. The sound came from the forest, on the east from where I was standing. I don’t know how I’ve heard it. All I knew was it was the key to make my feet started walking.

Curiosity had driven me to walk towards where the sound came from. I was blindly walking. It was like, my soul was taken from me and I need to find it back inside the forest.

I was carelessly walking. I didn’t mind if a monster—a grizzly bear perhaps showed up. I didn’t feel scared at all.

I walked and walked. Until I find a big cherry blossom tree in the middle of the forest. I was mesmerized once again. I never knew there was another cherry blossom tree in the forest and it’s a big one. I excitedly ran towards its place. I looked up and stared at its beauty. I was too busy that I didn’t felt a presence behind me.

A growl waked me up from daydreaming. And, when I turned around, I found a huge grizzly bear in front of me and its huge teeth was hanging out in the open, ready to chew a five year old fragile body of mine.

I gulped and started to yell my heart out.

“AAAAGH!”

I wish the whole universe can hear me.

The grizzly bear roared at me and started attacking me. His long and pointy nails scratched my shoulder as I dodged his attack when I fall with my on the ground by mistake. The grizzly bear groaned, as if he was super angry he didn’t kill me yet. I was crying while I crawled backwards and mewled when I felt the roughness of the tree on my back. I yelped when the grizzly bear held me up. I wiggled my feet, trying to kick the bear but my feet were too short to reach its furry body.

I called my mother’s name between my cries. I closed my eyes and ready myself to die but the next thing happened was out of the blue. I was freed from the grizzly bear’s hands in the next moment and had slumped hard on the ground together with the grizzly bear’s arms on my left and right. I heard the grizzly bear cried from pain and soon after, a loud thump came. When I tried to sit up and look, I saw the grizzly bear lying on the ground, lifelessly. I was stunned. How that happened?

Then, I saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at me beside the grizzly bear’s dead body. I started to cry once again when I saw it moved towards me.

“N-no~! Please~! Don’t come near me!”

I yelled. Tears started pouring down from my swollen eyes. I couldn’t bear to die for the second time around.

Those eyes stopped for awhile after hearing my plea. But, then it started walking towards me again.

With shaky hands, I took one of the grizzly bear’