#where you can sign up in the morning to get leftover fruits and vegetables for cheap

[ratstuckinamarble]

I've got a dilemma:

What am I going to do with all these carrots and mushrooms...

I don't even like mushrooms (for eating that is). If anyone has a suggestion please do let me know.

[katoktm8]

Bourgeois Stray Animals

Our plan for the day revolved around Andrew arriving to town around 11:30 AM. I took an early morning walk up up up and down for breakfast. Our hotel host is named Tatiana. She is something to remember. She knows very few words of English, those being OK? OK? OK? And is good is good. Is good. She rubs our faces hugs us and rubs our back whenever we come and go. And she tells us what to do and when to do it by pointing and saying “is good is good OK it’s OK” So Tatiana made us breakfast yesterday and made us put our phones down so I couldn’t do my Wordle and Caroline could not write her daily email to her mother. She made very well cooked eggs and her grandma‘s famous Albanian donut recipe. Plus, fruit and vegetables and hotdogs. Of course we had to eat it all when it’s not really a breakfast either one of us would choose to eat. You can see that breakfast area and Tatiana bossing us around in her little kitchen area in the photos. Also the little sitting area outside where I can talk to text without bothering Caroline.

Then we decided to walk up to a “resort“ which I had tried to reach twice without Caroline. But there are signs for this resort all over town so while waiting for Andrew, we went up up up up up up up up to the top of town found the resort which was very nice and then got a text from Andrew saying he misunderstood the bus schedule and he would not be here till 130. so we decided to do our hike that we were not going to do in the heat of the day in the heat of the day. So down down we came, changed our shoes, and headed to the Ottoman aqueduct bridge. According to all blogs and signs, this is a 30 minute hike. Well, just like the Costa Brava 30 minute hikes, we headed up a paved hill. Basically straight up. Then the paved hill turned to gravel. Straight up. Then the gravel turned to a trail. This flattened out, but we were at the edge of a gorge. Down down down up up up and Caroline had a fear of heights anxiety attack so I was teaching her some methods that Elyse Gentile and Michele Huskey had taught me to use with students. They seem to work. Along the cliffside we went. Up and down…. literally holding hands so Caroline could make it back up in places

We finally made it and a German couple arrived just behind us. It probably took us an hour and a half for our 30 minute hike at noon. I’m leaving the pictures uncropped so if you want to zoom in you can see me at the very tip top of this bridge and the very bottom of the gorge. We switched out so one could take pictures looking up and the other could take pictures looking down. But you really have to zoom in. The German girl who went to the bottom first helped Caroline up to the top when I was on my way down. And then they both helped her down when I was on my way up. It was a hike well worth it. But looking at the pictures, we couldn’t believe we did it. Especially in the blazing sun.

By the time we finished, Andrew was in town and he was walking all over looking for us while we were trying to give him directions on how to find the road up. We finally met had lunch and then Andrew got back on his bus and we went had a coffee to get some energy and then up to the castle. This is probably the largest castle I’ve ever been in. It was used for World War I, World War II, and communist prisoners. it was also the fortress of Ali Pasha. A famous Sultan in this area. I don’t know that he ever lived here as a castle, it was more of a military fortress on top of town. Quite beautiful and enormous. That was basically it. By the time we got back to our hotel, it was 7 o’clock and we were exhausted and hungry. So we showered, laid around, went out for yet another traditional dinner.

We have now taken to carrying plastic bags with us and putting all of our leftover food in bags and feeding the stray, dogs and cats along the way. But we’ve also discovered that they are very bougie animals. At the restaurant, there were two dogs and one cat begging. See the photos. And they were very particular about what they would and would not eat. Same with the dogs while walking home. They’re happy to eat our leftover eggs, but would not touch the dog biscuit someone left for them, they would not eat the sausage last night, but would eat my chicken kebab. They are very well taken care of in this town. Bowls of water are left outside of doors for the stray animals, and they basically lay around in the shade cooling off all day. Still sad, but there were only two dogs where you could see rib bones. But there are a lot of wounds and ticks and dirt on the dogs and cats.

Came back, sorted, pictures, and went to bed. Tomorrow we are back to the beach.

[hinatastinygiant]

Chapter Nine

Monimiaceae

Pairing: Haikyuu!! x Fem!Reader

previous | next | 2099

You and the guys walk outside of the bus, the doors closing behind you to give Kiyoko some space.

"Sooo, who the hell was that again?" Kuroo asks as though he was hit on the head and forgot the whole introduction you had inside.

"Her name is Kiyoko and she just appeared out of nowhere when I was in the lake," you explain to them.

"While you were in the lake?" Tsukishima pipes up. "Was she spying on you?"

"No, well, I don't know... I don't think so. She seems nice enough," you shrug. The four of you then look at each other, not really sure of what to say next.

"I want to take her to Monimiaceae," you finally chirp, wondering what their reactions will be.

"Sure, why not," Kuroo says with a smile. "We've got nothing else goin' on, do we?"

Tsukishima shakes his head in slight disagreement but doesn't verbally announce his opinion.

"What about the garden and all of your stuff?" Bokuto asks.

"I'll lock everything up and it should be okay. I'll even leave out a sign in case any of my patients come by and wonder where I went."

"Alright, so then we're going!" Kuroo beams.

The three of you nod, but Tsukishima remains quiet.

"What do you say?" you ask him hopefully.

"I don't particularly think it's wise to leave all your things here unattended. They could be raided and destroyed while we are away. However, I did promise you that I will stay," he says as he fixes his glasses.

The next morning, the guys pack up the two tents and stuff as much as they can into the bus, prioritizing necessities first. You and Kiyoko walk to the garden to pick fruits and vegetables from the garden as food for your trip. However, you haven't exactly told her about the trip yet.

"What are we doing with all this food, Y/N?" she asks as the two of you reach the garden gate with two baskets full of fruit. You stop outside the gate and make sure to lock it behind you as you step out.

"Last night we decided we'd like to take you to Monimiaceae... if you're alright with that," you smile kindly at her.

"Really?!" she gasps. "You don't mind? It's a few days' trip."

"As Kuroo put it, we've got nothing else going on. We're not busy so we'd like to help. Besides, how can I just let you walk off on your own?"

"Well is there anything else I can do to help then?" she asks.

"Next I'm going to fix up my garden to make sure no critters sneak under the fence and ruin the whole thing. You can clean the vegetables and make some salad if you don't mind. All you've got to do is cut and pack it into a large ziplock bag if you can find any."

"I'm sure I'll manage. Thanks, Y/N," she nods as you hand her your basket of fruits and veggies.

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else!" you shout as she walks off.

You then walk to your shed and grab a few loose tent stakes and a scat mat to cover your plants, protecting them from begin chewed or destroyed. You walk back to your garden with the mat and begin to cover up some of the plants. You don't want them to get ruined while you're gone. It's already a lot to feed the four of you, well, now five, with what you have already. You also add the leftover bits of the mat to the outside of your fence, blocking off the dirt and critters from tunneling under.

"That should do it," you say to yourself as you stand up and admire your work.

"Looks good to me, too," another voice adds. "It's probably overkill but still good."

You look just behind you on the other side of the fence and see Kuroo standing there. 

"Thanks, this is the longest trip I've taken in the past six months so I don't really know what will happen to my garden when I'm gone," you admit to him.

"Really? So what Tsukishima said was true? You only go out when you absolutely need to?" he asks.

"I practically live on call so how could I just up and leave?" you point out.

"Fair enough," he nods. "That makes sense. Well, I hope you enjoy this trip at least."

You smile sadly, knowing an enjoyable trip won't be as same as the ones you took when you were younger. There certainly won't be any crowds to worry about. Maybe that's the one good thing.

"Are you ready to head out?" Kuroo continues.

"Almost. I just want to leave something for my patients and then yes, I'll be ready."

Kuroo nods as you step out and lock your garden one last time. You then walk away and notice Kiyoko heading in your direction.

"I finished the salads," she says with a smile.

"Great, thanks so much for that," you say as you return the gesture.

"Of course. Any time."

"Do you think you could do me one more favor? Could you grab some medical supplies from the bus? Just a little bit of everything if you could," you ask politely.

"Sure," she nods before turning back to where she came from.

Back at your small shack, you empty out a small tackle box and pull out a sharpie. In big black lettering, you write, "BE BACK SOON. TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED!" By the time you finish, Kiyoko comes walking back with her arms full of supplies. Inside the box, you begin to stuff supplies. 

"Are you sure your husband will be in Monimiaceae?" you ask Kiyoko, mostly thinking aloud, as you work on your makeshift emergency kit.

"I'm sure of it," she nods. "He wouldn't forget our plan. He'd never leave me. It was all my fault for wandering off and getting lost. Besides, we only just got married, too."

"Really?"

"About a week before the outage," she nods.

"Congratulations. I hope we can find him... I'm sure we will," you smile.

"Thanks, Y/N."

"BY the way, what do you do? I mean, for a living?" you then ask.

"I worked at a sports store," she replies.

"You ever do any kind of sports?"

"I used to run track," she admits to you with a bit of a grin.

"Wow, that's impressive! So you're pretty quick then?" you chuckle. Kiyoko nods back, but before either of you gets the chance to say anything, you hear the sound of Bokuto's crutches drawing near. He notices the little package you're leaving for your patients and he smiles.

"Wow, is that in case anyone comes looking for your help?" he inquires.

"Yep," you smile up at him. "I don't know what kind of condition they'll be in so I want to make sure I can help at least a little bit. As for you, Bokuto, you should be resting. We'll be on the road and I won't be able to make trips to get medical supplies. Please don't hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine," he assures you with a cheesy grin. "I promise."

You and Kiyoko pass each other a worried glance before you stand up with the kit left behind on the ground. "Alright then let's go to Monimiaceae!"

You then look down at Kiyoko who seems to be struggling to stand. She uses both of her hands to help her as though she was out of breath and struggling. She seems pretty short-breathed for a girl who runs track. It's not your business though, you think as you look at her with a smile and walk off with the two of them on either of your sides.

previous | next | 2099

[vampire03]

Diabolik Christmas

Everyone x reader Christmas special

"Hnnn...mmm..." Y/N woke up feeling something heavy on top of her. She opened her eyes and tried to move. She saw blond locks in front of her. Shu.

"G'morning, troublesome creature." He mumbled sleepily.

"Good morning, Shu." Y/N smiles.

Shu rolled to her side and without opening his eyes says "There is a gift here in your room. Find it yourself, it's too bothersome to show you where it is...". Then he fell asleep again.

Y/N sighed and chuckled at his usual behavior. She looked around her room and under her bed she found a tiny yellow giftbox with a neat blue ribbon on top. Y/N opened it and inside there was a silver collar with musical notes engraved on it in beautiful shapes.

(Something like this, I couldn't find a better image, Im sowwyyy TwT)

"Thank you, Shu!" Y/N said as she coverd him with an electric blanket. That was his Christmas present from her. He smiled and snuggled even more in it without opening his eyes.

Then she exited the room and started walking to the kitchen. There surely will be some leftovers on the table, right?

On the way two arms snaked around her body from behind and a familiar flirty voice was heard.

"Bitch-chaaaaaan~ Merry Christmas!"

"Laito!" Y/N chuckled and leaned into his embrace.

"Look what I got you!" He happily squealed as he spayed something on her neck.

"Kyaaaah!" She welped in surprise. Then se smelled... perfume? A really nice perfume with vanilla and something else, that made the aroma sweet and sexy at the same time.

"Nfu. Use it wisely!" He chuckled and pecked her cheek, dissapearing as fast as he appeared. She will give him the fancy watch she got him later, it seemed.

Y/N blushed and smiled, putting the perfume in her pocked as she finally reached the kitchen. There a pile of deleicious food awaited her, a certain black-haired vampire with glasses was turning the leftovers from Christmas Eve into masterpieces.

"Good morning, Reiji, and Merry Christmas!" Y/N happily greated.

"Aaah, good morning, Y/N! And Merry Christmas. He smiled as he gestured towards to table, inviting her to sit.

She sat down and in front of her were served delicious dishes - steak with vegetables, fruits with whipped cream, baked apples and candies. Her eyes filled with joy.

"Ah! I almost forgot!" Y/N handed Reiji a blue giftbox with silver-red ribbon. His facial expression became somewhat happy and excited in a really childish way. Inside the box was a... blue baggy sweather?

"You are always dressed up in a formal manner... Why don't you wear more comfy clothes once in a while?" Y/N happily said as she looked at him. He had already put on the sweater and looked so cute. They both smiled.

"But where are my manners?" He asked himself as he gave her a tiny black box. She opened it and inside was a silver ring with a big sapphire on top.

"It's so beautiful!" She said as she put it on.

"I'm glad." Reiji smiled and handed her a cup of tea. Y/N thanked him and took a sip. When she looked around again, Reiji was nowhere to be seen.

"Hm? They dissapear and appear so fast!"

She looked around the kitchen for more leftovers to eat and saw a bunny plushie and a note attached to it. "This is Lilly. Me and Teddy decided she will enjoy being your friend." Was written by a certain purple haired vampire. Awww. She has prepared new clothes for Teddy and a fancy, somehow lolita coat for Kanato. She will have to give them to him later.

She then turned towards the exit to walk away and saw a note on the table.

"Oi, Chichinashi. Me and this Kino guy decided to have fun with you. We won't give you you presents so easily - you gotta find them!"

Yup. That's in Ayato's style. And the handwritting was so messy. There was no mistake. Y/N took the note and searched around for something left from Ayato and/or Kino. Almost half an hour later, she decided to search in the pool area. And she found another note on a bench.

"Did you think that we will give you the present so easily, Princess?" You will have to earn it! And swim all the way to the bottom of the pool to get it, hahaha!"

That handwritting was also messy, but still neater than Ayato's. Kino. Of course when these two pranksters somehow find a way to work together, it will be something like this. Good thing that she knew how to swim. She dived in and found a tiny black box on the bottom of the pool. She took it and got out of the water.

She opened it with excitement, only to find another note.

"Hahahaha, you fell for it!" Was written in Ayato's handwritting. "That was just a warm-up, the real present is on the bottom of the lake!" Was written in Kino's handwriting. These two jerks! Urgh!!!

Anyway, Y/N stretched up nicely and prepared herself. She went to the lake and dived into the cold water.

After a few unsuccessful tries she finaly found two red boxes with black ribbons and took them.

Once on land she opened the forst box.

"Ha! I knew you will open Ore-sama's present first! Now you can enjoy my scent whenever you go!" Was written on a card.

In the box there was one of Ayato's old shirts he used for basketball tranings. It was neatly washed, and folded. Heh, guess someone had aked Reiji for help. Was that present a sign of his ownership over her? Knowing Ayato, probably it was. And there were these nice sporty shoes too. They were really comfy and nice! She will play basketball with him after that. She smiled.

Then she opened Kino's present - inside there was a brand new iPhone.

"Now you can download that multiplayer game I told you about and we can play it together, right, princess?" Was written on a tiny card. That looked expensive. But more importantly, it was so sweet too! She will now spend more time with him as well.

Y/N decided she will give them their presents later at dinner - for Ayato a pair of jeans with one of its legs originaly shorter. Just in Ayato's style. And for Kino - a waterproof mini camera. He would love making unique photoshoots with it! She smiled yet again and went to take a shower, so she won't catch a cold after that.

After the shower she went to her room. She found a silver beautiful bracelet with the infinity sign and a tiny note, written in a messy manner.

"Merry Christmas! I wish you health and luck and whatever you mortals wish each other." Aaah, Subaru. Always Tsundere. She had already left his gift in his room. It was only a matter of time for him to find it. A very fluffy white pillow for him to hug in his sleep. She knew he secretly needed to hug something in his sleep.

She looked around her room again. And her gaze landed on her desk. There she found a weird heart? It was made of wires?

"Dear Eve. This is a part of the gift from the Mukami brothers to you. The other parts are in the music room, the garden and the torture chamber. Please seek Yuma for help if you have troubles assembling it. We want you to enjoy finding your gift and constructing it." Was written on a note with neat letters by Ruki, apparently.

Y/N searched all the places she was told and thankfully the Mukamis didn't prank her like Ayato and Kino did. She found 3 other hearts like this, a frame and some more wires.

Somehow she assembled it all on her own and got this:

(Imaginge that instead of "Be mine" is written "Be ours")

It was a night lamp! A very creative one! Now her nights won't be completely dark. She put it on the nightstand and enjoyed its light some more before turning it off again and going to each of the Mukami's rooms to leave them her presents - a professional kitchen knife set for Ruki, fancy jewelry for Kou, this giant encyclopedia about gardening Yuma wanted so much and an ukulele for Azusa.

And as she walked away from Azusa's room, she was suddenly hopped on the back of a certain wolf. "Nii-san is waiting for us!" Shin huffed as he ran really fast through the hallway.

He reached Carla's room where the white-haired man was waiting for them. He handed her a big fancy box.

Inside there was on of those two-pieces paintings.

"This is from our mansion's art collection. Feel honoured and Merry Christmas" Carla explained.

She thanked them multiple times. There was an wide ugly empty space on the wall in her room. Now it will finally be pretty!

"Carla, Shin... Did you find your Christmas presents?"

"Yes!" They cheerfuly said in unison and took out large doggy sweathers, put them on and changed into their wolf forms. They looked so fancy snd royal like that!

They woofed happily and Y/N went to the kitchen, smiling, remembering she has to help Reiji with dinner now. When she passes through the living room, a sleepy Shu pulled her into his embrace. She giggled and hugged back, as she felt Reiji take her hand and kissing it. Then the triplets came - rubbing their noses with hers, kissing her face. Kino appeared from behind and started playing with her hair. The Mukami brothers also joined in the kissing and hugging, as two way too familiar wolves came and snuggled with her. Subaru came out of nowhere as well.

Before she knew it, she was squished between 13 demons, who showered her with kisses and love, feeling like one big, big family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Sorry that there are no pictures for some of the presents. Tumblr has limit of 10 photos per post...

[akinnie75]

White Hibernation

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Word Count: 31k...lol

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Extreme Slow Burn, Fantasy

Summary: The tale of the Winter Bear is about a grizzly bear that’s the only bear in the entire world who doesn’t hibernate during winter. He’s considered strong for being able to fight sleep. However, being the only bear awake during winter gets lonely. So during every winter, he makes friends with children and takes their soul to be with him forever. And somewhere down the line, you get involved into the fable.

“Are you fucking kidding me, (Y/N)?!”

Your agent, Lee Suniya, screams from the top of her lungs on the other side of the call. You keep your phone at a safe distance from your ears. You sigh exasperatedly, standing in the center of the living of your cramped, one-bedroom apartment.

Despite Suniya’s aggressive scolding, you only focus on your apartment. It’s early in the morning, never realizing how blue your apartment is. It isn’t necessarily a bold blue, more so a faint blue, naturally peeking through your blinds due to the sunrise barely at its peak. All of your furniture—couch, coffee table, vase, lamp—is white, so it only makes the baby blue stand out more.

Maybe I should change my place up a little, you think to yourself.

However, your plans for redecorating your place are disrupted by the continuous rampage coming from Suniya. Her anger only worsens your annoyance toward her. “Did you not hear a single thing I said?! Is your head empty??”

“No, can you repeat everything?”

Suniya groans frustratedly then goes silent for a few seconds before returning. “Never mind. Did you at least look online?”

Your eyes move down to your laptop that’s sitting by the edge of the white, pristine coffee table. It’s on, and it’s an article called: ‘Winter Bear’: Profiting off of a Child’s Innocence. Underneath the title is the author, (Y/N), (L/N).

“Yea, just a few minutes ago.”

“So. You knew not to write that. But why did you go ahead and do it anyway?” Suniya tries very hard not to grind her teeth, but you can clearly hear it.

You take a seat on the couch right across from your laptop. You set your phone down, putting it on speaker as you scroll through the multitudes of angry comments. There are some that catch your eye, such as ‘How could you write garbage about my daughter’s favorite movie?’, ‘You didn’t even watch the movie so your opinion is fucking pointless without proper research’, and another one being, ‘Go die in a shithole, you fucking mood-killer’.

You’ve always heard about internet figures getting a lot of online flak these days, but your article exploded out of nowhere that you haven’t gotten the time to process the negative comments. Even your email is spammed with anonymous accounts calling you degrading terms.

But another reason why it doesn’t impact you as much as it should is because it was somewhat expected. Winter Bear is a beloved, rated-PG movie that people of all ages should enjoy, but your article made it very apparent that you detest it.

“Yea, I knew not to write it, but what’s the point of me making it my career as a writer when I can’t even share my own opinions?”

“You—” But before your agent can lash out any further, she catches herself. “You’re not a writer, you’re a journalist. Writers create from inspiration, journalists rephrase what they see. Are you seriously trying to give the publication a bad rep?”

“You’re not getting the point of the article. No one is. It’s a cash-grabbing movie using a dangerous folklore—”

“I get it, I get it. But where I’m coming from is that the publishing company has no time to be dealing with a bad image at this moment. They were just getting recognized, and you just had to blow it off like that.”

“That wasn’t my intention. Look, why are people even getting pissed off over one person’s opinion? They don’t have to read my shit if they don’t want to and go enjoy their half-assed children’s movie.”

It’s at this point where Suniya has completely given up on arguing with you. Both you and Suniya are stubborn to the core, and this is how you two clash often.

“It isn’t just about a bad public image for the company, but for you. You’ll have a hard time signing deals and publishing more articles.”

That comment was like a prick to your skin. There was something about that that ticked you off, more than what the internet is saying about you.

“What the hell is wrong with me sharing my thoughts? If these faceless assholes are allowed to leave comments on my article, then I can say and do whatever too!”

“(Y/N), calm down! Why are you getting upset?! Listen to me when I say this: I know where you’re coming from. I know that movie is a sensitive topic for you, but that still doesn’t mean that you should—”

“Don’t bring it up.”

The line goes silent for a while before she returns. “Alright, fine. On the bright side, this seems like a short-term consequence, so the most we can do is wait for this to die down. I gotta go, I’ll call you later.”

She hangs up, and you get the urge to throw your phone across the room. However, you don’t have the kind of money to break your phone and get a new one, so instead, you throw it against the couch pillow. It’s irritating when nobody understands you. If the general public weren’t sheeples, then it would be easier for you to explain your side. Not even Suniya truly knows where you’re coming from.

You go back to your laptop, your article receiving new comments by the second. You want to respond to them and tell them to go to hell. There are more controversial topics out there in the world, so why go to your article and attack you? You’ve already caused enough trouble for your agent, so it’s better to leave it alone.

You lay down on your couch when a sudden chill runs up your spine. You check the temperature on your phone, and it’s been getting colder lately with winter getting closer.  What sort of first-world struggles are those angry commentators going through to give them the right to downgrade you?

Regret begins to play with your head, suggesting that you should call Suniya back and apologize to her for exploding. You turn on your phone, seeing four contacts on your phone: your parents, Suniya, and your publication site’s office number. You press on Suniya’s number, letting the line ring before directing to voicemail.

With a sigh of disappointment, you get off of the couch with that feeling of regret going to eat you up for the rest of the day. You try to forget about it, pushing your mind to think about something else than to focus heavily on it. You repeat to yourself over and over that you need to eat breakfast.

You look through the fridge that’s filled with only microwavable food, some vegetables, soda, and that one vegan mandarin chicken pack that you promised to eat when you were still dieting. On the bottom shelf is leftover pizza from last night. You close the fridge then rummage through the white-painted cabinets. You hand maneuvers around the canned corn and beans, packaged dry pad-thai noodles, and shoving the Maruchan cup noodles away. You grab the rainbow, fruit-flavored cereal box, opening the top to check if there’s still some. You pop one into your mouth to check if it’s still in edible condition. Although a bit stale, you can eat it.

You couldn’t decide whether or not you wanted to eat leftover dinner or cereal for breakfast, so you ended up picking both. Rushing back to the fridge, you take out a slice of cold pizza and the half-gallon of milk, putting the pizza on a plate and into the microwave. It’s not the healthiest meal, but you’re not in the mood to be thinking about your weight.

As it warms up, you grab the remote from the living room, turning on the TV. You skip through channels with the press of a button until you get to a decent enough channel that’s playing a rerun of a sitcom show. It’s about a group of poor college graduates struggling to live in New York.

Your attention is taken away by your microwave beeping when it’s done reheating your pizza. You poke the pizza to make sure that the cheese has melted, then you take a bite of it. It doesn’t taste as fresh as when you first got it, but it still tastes savory.

“This...is...awesome!” A child’s voice shouts from the TV.

Dramatic drums and high-pitched violins play after the show goes on a commercial break. You turn around to see a trailer of a kids’ movie.

“Who...are you?” the child continues.

Each scene of the trailers lasts for a few seconds to keep the viewers’ short attention span engaged. On the screen is a young child who seems to be around eight or nine years old in a snowy forest. The child is on its knees, face-to-face with a shadowy monster before displaying itself as a fun, lovable grizzly bear licking the child’s face.

“I have to return home. Can you help me?”

“Come with us...on an epic journey,” A narrator voices over. “Filled with fun...”

The child and bear jump over rocks as they laugh.

“Adventure…”

The pair find an entirely undiscovered part of the forest, though it’s just a more expanded version of the same setting that it takes place in, just brighter lighting and more sunlight.

“And friendship.”

The next scene is when the child and the bear are cuddling together late at night to keep each other warm from the freezing temperature.

“Bears are supposed to be sleeping during winter, but you’re not,” the child ponders. “But...I’m glad that you’re awake. I don’t feel so lonely anymore.”

“Critics say ‘it’s tender’...‘entertaining’...‘everything my child has always wanted in a movie’.” The narrator continues as five yellow stars would be slapped onto a frame of an overview of the forest. “Winter Bear. Coming soon on December 20th.”

The next thing you know, you throw the pizza at the screen out of impulsive anger. The tomato sauce splatters all over the carpet, TV, and some on the coffee table. It instantly slips off the TV, landing and staining the carpet more. It felt good at that moment to lash out on the movie trailer, but not anymore after seeing the mess that you created. But once rational thinking sets in, you’re frustrated with yourself for what you’ve done. You hurriedly look for wipes then run to the TV to clean it.

As you wipe with tenacity, some uninvited memories seep in. You go back to when you were a child, holding the hand of a child whose face you can’t see, or at least, don’t want to see. The environment that surrounds you is a white forest, silence freezing every noise possible, just you and the person standing side-by-side.

You rest your forehead on the sauce-stained TV, sighing heavily as you try to forget what happened long ago. You turn to the fallen pizza, glaring at it with disdain as the red, bloody sauce soaks into what was once a white carpet that blended into the blue morning.

“He doesn’t help kids...he steals them.”

———

“Jesus Christ, (Y/N), you really need to start eating healthier food. Look at your stomach, I’m beginning to see a muffin top.” Suniya jokes as she playfully hits your stomach with a pepperoni sausage.

Suniya is walking ahead of you as you push the shopping cart. She decided to tag along with you to go grocery shopping, implying that this get-together is to make up for the argument that unfolded days prior to this.

“I would eat better if the healthier options were cheaper and tasted better.”

“Hey, there are healthy foods that are cheap too, you know. You just choose not to eat it. Plus, you’re not a kid anymore. Suck it up and eat gross shit for the sake of being in shape,” This is ironic coming from Suniya, since she isn’t in the best shape either. “Maybe you should get a gym membership and start working out. Who knows, maybe you’ll start attracting people.”

“Mm-hmm,” You faintly listen to her as you’re trying to decide on which graham cracker brand you want to buy. “Oh yea, which pizza brand do you think has the least amount of tomato sauce?”

Suniya sulks, a little annoyed that you aren’t listening to her, but this is typical for you to be like that with her. “I dunno. Figure it out yourself. Why?”

“Eh,” you shrug your shoulders. “The sauce is the messiest part of the pizza. Do you think I should start eating hot pockets?”

She raises an eyebrow at you. “I don’t fucking know. Pick both if it makes it easier.”

“No, but pizza is messy. I wanna know if hot pockets are not as messy with the sauce.”

“Why does it matter? Just use a napkin or don’t eat like a toddler!”

“...I’ll go with hot pockets.”

You push the cart ahead of Suniya as she stares at you with a look of disbelief. No matter how long you two have known each other, she will never understand how your brain is wired. She shakes her head, shrugging it off as one of your unusual habits again.

“By the way, your mother called me. She said you weren’t picking up the phone and she wanted to know if you’re doing alright.”

“I’m fine.”

“...Why don’t you just call her back and tell her that?”

“I have you to pass on my message.”

“You know…” her tone deepens. “Your mom wants to talk to you directly. She wants to know how you’re doing in your voice.”

“What difference will it make? She’ll just pretend that she’s worried about me but all she’s gonna do is yell at how I can’t take care of myself and I need a new job.”

She sighs. “But she’s still your mom. You can’t forget that she raised you.”

“I’ll call her later. I have some more articles to write and I don’t need the distraction.”

But she knew that you meant never, you just wanted to end the conversation. She looks through the aisles, clearly frustrated with your lack of keeping a conversation going.

“You know, you shouldn’t worry about work so much.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s all you ever think about. Don’t you have anything else that you’re passionate about? Like, I dunno, making friends, going out, finding a boyfriend?”

“Not really. I haven’t put much thought into any of those. They’re a waste of time and money.”

“(Y/N),” she puts her hand to her hips. “Your isolation is only going to drive you even more insane. You won’t have anyone to rely on, and you’re just going to be miserable.”

A vein protrudes from your forehead, but your expression remains stagnant. “But I have you, don’t I?”

She rolls her eyes. “You can’t just rely on me. I have a family to take care of. And you should also.”

Even though you behave as if you’re ignoring her, her words bleed into your brain. You know too well that you’re getting closer to the age of settling into a life of family-hood, but it isn’t Suniya who decides what you have to do with your life. Still, what she says makes your chest ache, the desire to deny her claims of your spiral to insanity, all the while being completely aware of her concerns.

Suniya’s phone rings, so she takes it out from her purse to see an unknown number on her screen. She accepts the call, putting it to her ear.

“Hello?”

A feminine voice can be heard from the other line. Other than a ‘hi’, you can’t make what she’s saying, and Suniya’s lack of expression doesn’t help either.

“Uhm...yes. She is with me.”

An eyebrow raises, your curiosity peaking. You stare at her, squinting your eyes. She does look at you, but she doesn’t say anything to fill in the blanks.

“Sure.”

She hands the phone to you. You’re confused, looking at the phone and wondering what to do with it. She nudges it to you, so you take it.

“Hello?”

“Hello? Is this (Y/N)?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Hi, my name is Kim, and I’m calling because I read your article the other day.”

Assuming that this is an angry reader, you’re about to hang up the phone when Suniya raises her hands up, signaling for you not to. You silently sigh, putting the phone back to your ear.

“You did?”

“I did! And I absolutely loved it!”

“Oh, really?” But it takes a few seconds for you to let that sink in. “Wait, really??”

“Yes! I reread it hundreds of times, and everything you said accurately portrays exactly how I feel about the movie as well.”

You glance at Suniya, and she smiles, nodding to let you know that this isn’t a prank. You’re at a loss of words that there’s someone who genuinely enjoyed your article. No one’s ever reached out to give you compliments, so you don’t know what to say.

“Uhm, thank you.”

“It’s no big deal. I saw the feedback you received, and it seems like not a lot of people liked it. You see, I’m a mythologist. I study extensively on the Winter Bear folklore. Based on the information on your publication’s website, it doesn’t seem like you know anything about it, but you nailed every detail of the myth precisely.”

“...Yea.”

“What I wanted to talk about is that I would like you to help me with my research on the Winter Bear.”

You crease your eyebrows. “...Excuse me?”

“You see, even though I study myth, I have a strong feeling that this isn’t some mere local folklore. You seem to know a lot about it, and I would like to get to know you more. Perhaps even go to the town to investigate more about it.”

“No.” You’re about to hang up again.

“Wait, wait, wait!”

You give her a third chance, putting the phone back to your ear.

“I can compensate for your help in return! We can help each other. I’m trying to write a book and get it published before the Winter Bear movie comes out. I want to expose the real story behind, not the watered-down, kiddy version of it.”

She piques your interest. “Go on.”

“In return, I’ll help back up your article, I’ll even reference and credit you for aiding me in the research. As long as we’re able to complete the book before the release of the movie, then it’s going to be a hit. Imagine all the clicks you’re going to get in your article after my book is published. You’ll definitely make more than you can ever imagine with any ordinary article.”

“I’ve already received enough criticism as it is with just the trailer. How is a full-length movie and your book going to benefit me?”

“It’s going to be a bit...greedy of me to say, but you aren’t paid by the number of nice comments you get. You get it by how many people click on your online articles. If you ignore the negative comments, didn’t you notice that your pay got relatively higher than normal?”

As much as you don’t want to admit it, it’s true. “Yes.”

“That’s what I’m saying! That’s why we gotta get this finished before the movie. What do you say?”

You fall silent, and it makes Kim think that you actually hung up this time. Talking about the town where the tale of the Winter Bear brings up the memories again. You remember looking down at your small hands, pressing it on the snow as you knelt down. The stiffness in your hands from the cold perfectly describes how you’re feeling right now. It’s strange, when you look back to the time when you were there during winter, it was dead silent.

Your numb hands, stuck in the unforgiving snow, not a sound to comfort you in this recycling memory. It’s strange, it’s only your hands that are cold, not your knees, not your face, nothing. Are you ready to go to that place that you tried so hard to forget? Can you unveil those childhood memories?

You recall that toddler. It was only a split second, but every detail of her is vivid. That baby blue-striped dress, wearing a pink parka over it. Her tiny brown boots treading through the snow, being matted by the pure white. She turns around, and she resembles you a lot.. Her nose red and runny, yet the brimming smile on her face is the only sunlight of that gray memory. The silence is filled with her childish laughter that’s devoid of flaws, as she had yet to be tainted by the world.

“Annie.” Your past-self calls her.

“I’ll do it.”

“That’s great! Then I’ll send you an email and we can set up a day to go to the town. I look forward to working with you in the near future.”

“Yea.”

She hangs up.

“So, what did she say?”

“She wants to work with me.”

“Really?? That’s great! So, how is it going to work out?”

You aren’t entirely sure. You agreed to it on a whim without putting much thought on the consequences. Now you’re a little regretful for saying yes, especially since you don’t want anything to do with it, but since you dedicated an entire article on it, it must mean that a part of you wants to return. You don’t know how your brain works sometimes, like you go into autopilot and another force makes the decisions for you.

“We’re going to the town where that movie took inspiration from, Little Bare.”

———

At the bustling train station, Suniya helps push you through the tight crowd. You keep looking down at your phone, squinting at a picture that Kim took of herself. You’ve never met her in person and most of your conversations with her took place through phone calls and text messages. This will be the first time you’ll see her in person.

“Why the hell is the station so busy on a Tuesday?!” Suniya whines.

Standing right under the ‘Station E’ sign is Kim. She’s a lot shorter than you thought, standing at approximately 4’10”. Her black-framed glasses and messy bun along with her back slouching really gives the impression that she spends a lot of time sitting down, probably reading or researching, and you’re not far from your assumption. She’s focused on writing in her notebook, not paying attention to her surroundings whatsoever, not even caring when a salaryman bumped into her.

“Excuse me, are you Kim?”

She looks up and immediately closes her book. “Hello! You’re (Y/N), right?”

You nod.

She extends her hand out for a handshake, and you take it, taking notice of how sweaty they are. “It’s nice to finally meet you! Is that your agent?”

“Hello, I’m Suniya. We spoke on the phone before.”

“Right, I remember. It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Suniya nods. “Yes. The train should be arriving soon, so do you mind if I talk to you for a bit, Miss Kim?”

“Sure.”

She pulls Kim aside, far enough from you. You know that she’s going to be talking about you, but you don’t pay too much attention to it.

“What is it that you need to talk to me about privately?”

“It’s about (Y/N).”

“Hm? What about her?”

Suniya looks at you, seeing as you’re looking down at your phone. “You see…since I’m not coming on this trip with you guys, can I request you to take care of her?”

Kim is a little taken aback, as you seemed like a fully grown adult who is capable of taking care of yourself. “Sure…”

“You see...she’s a bit...disconnected.”

She wrinkles her eyebrows. “What do you mean by that?”

“It’s hard to explain, but I think she has selective memory loss. She experienced some trauma that still affects her today—so much that she tends to block anything that stresses her out too much because that’s how she’s always dealt with her problems. So if she’s spacing out, then that’s why.”

From the distance, you blend well with the crowd, no different than a modern citizen focused on her phone. You don’t look lost—you look so sure of yourself like nothing disturbs you. Your outward appearance doesn’t make you sound like the description that Suniya gave.

“Selective as in, she can willingly forget things?”

She nods. “I don’t know what happened, but whatever she went through as a child, it must’ve been that bad that she doesn’t have any recollection of it. I don’t mean to scare you, but if she behaves abnormally, don’t be afraid to call me.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take good care of her. If I feel comfortable working with her, then I would’ve long since canceled our plans.” She smiles.

Still, Suniya is unsure. It feels wrong, talking about you in this way.

———

On the train, you and Kim are sitting across from each other. The slight bumps create a rhythmic sound as the train speeds to your destination, and there is a lack of conversation from other passengers with the only voice being the overhead of an automated woman alerting the passengers of their next stops. You sit by the window, watching the bushes pass by faster than the mountains from a distance. Kim is on her laptop, typing at the speed of light.

“I might be prying a bit too much, but there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask.”

“Hm?”

“Have you been to Little Bare before?”

You don’t respond—you don’t even look at her.

“Sorry, I stepped over the line. I was just curious because you seem to have more information than your typical person—”

“Yea, I went there once.”

She wasn’t expecting you to answer, so she stutters with her next line of words.

“My family and I went on a road trip during winter break. We got stuck in a blizzard and stayed at the inn there until it died down.”

“Oh, that’s very interesting!” She puts it down in her notebook. “Do you remember what you did there?”

“...Not really.” You lie.

“Oh…” She clears her throat to get rid of the uncomfortable atmosphere she created. “Well...it’s a good thing we’re going back. It’ll help you regain those memories again.”

“How did you know that I went there before?”

“I just assumed because you seem to know a little more about that folklore, not the watered-down version of it.”

“Yea.”

After that, neither of you say anything. This must be what Suniya was saying when she said that you don’t look like you’re paying attention, or you’re distracted by something else. She keeps herself busy by going back to her notebook.

———

At Little Bare, you and Kim exit the train. The wind blows against your hair, giving you the chills. You put your hands in your pocket while you stare at the town that haunts you. Every building is made out of wood, and the newer ones are built from bricks. The town is so small that you can see where it ends from the other side.

“It’s so cold! It’s supposed to have its first snow tonight, so it makes sense. But holy crap...I already can’t stand it.”

The train leaves, leaving you and Kim in a town nearly desolated. It lacks human contact, not a single person in sight. And there it is again—the dead silence. It was there before, and it hasn’t left. You wouldn’t describe it as nostalgia, but a boogeyman welcoming you back to your nightmare.

“Where do we even go?”

“I think down here.”

You walk down the staircase, hearing dead leaves being crushed beneath your feet. You enter through the main entrance of the town with a tall sign towering over you and Kim that reads: ‘Welcome to Little Bare’. You inspect the town, and the buildings made out of wood have turned dark brown after soaking in morning fog and rain. Resting your hand on the walls seems like it’s enough to give you splinters. It isn’t only the buildings that show after-signs of rain, but the streets as well. There are wet patches in the street, giving off the strong scent of wet black tar.

“Is...this the right place? It looks like a ghost town.”

You shake your head. “It’s exactly the same as I remembered.”

The general store is still there the last time you were here, one of the first buildings you’ll see when you enter this place. Directly across the street is the bar, just as empty as it was in the past during the day. The only difference is that everything has aged dramatically, those twenty years taking a  toll on the town.

“Where is everybody?”

You shrug your shoulders.

“There’s no reception here because of the high elevation, so I can’t pull up a map. There’s no physical map of this place either.”

You and Kim creep into the town more, with her peeking through the large glass windows of the general store. Her eyes light up when she sees someone standing by the front cash register. An elderly man, sitting on a chair with his back slouched, reading a newspaper.

“Oh, there’s somebody there,” you point at the man. “Let’s ask them for directions.”

You both move closer to the store, and once you’re close enough, the old man notices you two. When making eye contact with you two, Kim waves her hand as a means of greeting him. Rather than returning the greeting, the elderly man grabs a broomstick and walks out of the store, raising the broom over his head and jogging right toward you two.

“Get the hell outta here before I beat your asses myself!”

You and Kim step back, raising your hands to defend yourselves. She grabs onto your arm, and you cling onto her sleeve.

“Wait, wait, wait!” She shouts. “We’re just tourists!”

“I said get outta here! We don’t need no city people here to take what’s ours!”

“We’re not here to take anything!!”

“I said get out!!”

“What’s going on?!” An overweight woman runs out of the room. “Honey! What the fucking shit are you doing?!”

The man stops and turns around, seeing his wife marching after him. She slaps him on the back multiple times, so much that he drops the broom and waves his hands as a means of protection. After hitting him until he’s tame, the woman turns to you and Kim.

“I’m so sorry for my husband. We just had some unwanted guests come by a few days ago givin’ us some papers to sign thinkin’ we can’t read shit, so we’re all on guard,” she puts her hands to her hips. “The name’s Margaret, and this brainless man is Gerald. So, what brings two beautiful, young women here?”

You two look at each other, then back at the woman.

“Uhm..My name’s Kim. We’re here to research the myth of the Winter Bear.”

Upon bringing up the name, Margaret’s smile disappears. “Oh god...you really are just like them. So then, you girls better give me one good reason to welcome you guys in. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to kick your asses outta here.”

And just like that, someone who you two thought was civilized quickly turns sour. Knowing the amount of pain that she can enforce, you and Kim are faced with a ticking time bomb. Kim desperately flips through her notebooks, seeing if she can show any of her records to impress her.

“Uhm...wait, please, Mrs. Margaret! We don’t know who you’re talking about, but w-we have no intention of hurting anyone. I-if you look at my notes, you can tell that I’m genuinely interested in writing about this myth! Y-you see, I’m an author, and Miss (Y/N) is a journalist. We’re working together!”

But this doesn’t convince Margaret at all. She glares at you two, picking up the broom Gerald dropped. Kim freaks out more, seeing if she can find anything to offer.

“We have money! We can pay for anything!!”

That doesn’t work either. For a writer, she does a poor job of persuading. You try to think of anything to support Kim. You look around, biting your nail as sweat begins to form. You hate this—being put on the spot to problem-solve. It makes you dizzy, making you want to escape as soon as possible.

You squeeze your eyes shut, thinking of the first thing that comes to mind. “I’ve been here before!”

Margaret stares at you, raising an eyebrow. You got her attention, so you take this chance to breathe.

“I came here during winter...when I was a child.”

The fury burning underneath Margaret’s eyes turns into sympathy. She lowers the broomstick, tears forming in her eyes as if she reunited with a long lost relative. To your surprise, she wraps her arms around you, catching both you and Kim off guard.

“You poor girl.”

Kim is absolutely confused. She looks at you in hopes of getting an explanation, but your expression is blank. You’re overwhelmed with multiple emotions, coming all together at once unsure of how to express them at once. It’s like when all colors come together to make white. The only thing you can do is hug her back.

———

On the second floor of the general store, you and Kim are sitting in their almost run-down kitchen. The flowery wallpapers are peeling, brown and yellow stains running down until it hits the dusty floorboards, and age-old grease stains and black food chunks occupying the stove. There’s also a gigantic hole in the ceiling.

Margaret sets down a tray of hot chamomile tea on the table. “Sorry for our shitty first impression. Things have just been so heated lately that we’re stressed out of our minds.”

You and Kim take a cup, blowing it before drinking, but Kim drinks it without issue. You want to rest your arms on the table, but it’s so sticky that it makes you quiver just thinking about the last time it was ever cleaned.

“It’s okay! From the looks of it, you guys went through a lot,” Kim replies in an optimistic tone. “What happened?”

Margaret grabs a nearby chair and sits down, placing her elbow on the table without hesitation and running her hand through her gray, curly hair. “We got these big companies, Dismaland or whatever the fuck their name is, demanding that we turn our town into a tourist attraction for a  movie they’re making. You know, those family-friendly kinds. I dunno much ‘bout it since the mayor is the one who spoke to them, but we turned it down. Since then, they’ve been harassing us to sign their papers, so every young-lookin’ person dressed almost like you guys, we try kicking them out.”

You never realized how bad it’s gotten here. It was just as hostile as you remember in your memories, but a little worse since your parents were there to defend you.

“I swear to God, we’re nice people, but we gotta put up our guard if those bastards keep on coming back,” she sighs heavily. “But to be brutally honest, I really do think we need the money. As you can tell, our place is a shithole, and those big guys are willing to give us a small portion of the money.”

“But it isn’t really about the money, is it?” You ask.

She doesn’t respond immediately. Rather, she nods.

“You’re damn right. Those corporations don’t realize that they’re creating the biggest graveyard in history.”

Kim’s eyes widen, covering her mouth as she stares at you and Margaret. “No way...you mean to tell me…”

Margaret nods again. “This ‘Winter Bear’ ain’t no fable. It’s real.”

Kim places her hands flat on the tables. “Kids actually go missing?! I knew it! Everything was just too suspicious to be simply a story.”

“Yea, so even if we need the money to keep the town going, we ain’t gonna risk some kids’ lives for it.”

“Wait,” Kim pauses. “So then...if the disappearances of children are real, then what’s the actual cause of it? Don’t tell me it’s actually a bear.”

She shakes her head. “We don’t know either. All we know is that once the kids go into the forest, they don’t come back.”

Margaret glances at you, but you avoid her gaze. You act as if you have nothing to do with the conversation, sipping the tea.

“But that doesn’t make sense. Bears hibernate during winter and these disappearances happen around this time. Wouldn’t it make more sense that it’s some other animal or a person? Not a bear. And only winter?” Kim scratches her head.

“Not to sound like a smartass, but bears actually don’t hibernate.”

“What?? Really?”

“They sleep longer during the winter to save energy, but they wake up in case of danger or hunger. It is possible that you can still encounter a bear.”

“So then...do you think it’s possible that bears eat the children due to the lack of food?”

Margaret shrugs her shoulders. “That could be it, but let me ask you this: wouldn’t you think a bear would leave traces of the child? Clothes? Blood? Something? They disappear into thin air, almost like they never existed.”

This sends chills down Kim’s spine. She’s heard of this many times, but hearing it from an actual resident who has lived through children going missing is terrifying...but also intriguing.

“That means that we have to check the forest! Wait, Miss (Y/N), you said that you came here before. If kids go missing, then how did you survive?”

You stare at the wall, noticing how particularly yellow it is. Judging by how dirty the place is, it makes you wonder if the wallpaper was white but got stale as time went by. You’ve been very quiet, not bothering to put your input, and this concerns Margaret. She knew that Kim was stepping over her boundaries.

“...(Y/N)?” Kim asks. “Are you okay?”

���Huh? Oh, yea, I’m fine.”

“After your tea, I can show you young ladies where to go for the inn.”

Kim doesn’t read the atmosphere, not seeing how uncomfortable you’ve become. You clench onto the teacup, pinching the handle with all your might. You were confident when the thought of coming here sprung up, but being physically here is more demanding than you could’ve ever imagined.

———

Some time has gone by since the visit to Margaret’s place. She showed you two around the place, introducing you to some of the residents. Some of them you remember, but others you don’t. They don’t recognize you either, and Margaret is kind enough not to share your name with them. Once she’s finished showing you two around town, she eventually leads you two to the inn.

In the room, Kim is taking a shower while you sit by the edge of your bed. Despite struggling to find reception, the inn miraculously has some, although a bit slow. You have over fifty text messages from only two people—Suniya and your mother. Both of their messages are asking how you and Kim are doing. However, you turn off your phone, sighing as you toss it aside. You lay on your back, staring at the ceiling fan blanketed with dust. The fan itself looks like it’ll fall any second, seeing as it shakes even from the lightest movement.

You were naive to think that your problems will be solved if you stepped into Little Bare again. It’s more complicated than you expected, and now you want out. However, you’ve already promised to work with Kim; you can’t break the deal. You wish Suniya was here to yell at you, to tell you that you’ve made a dumb decision. That way, it would at least sound like she cares. Even though you’ve gotten to know Kim a little more, it still feels like you’ve stranded yourself on a foreign land.

And that image of the little girl, Annie, continuously appearing every time you close your eyes. Every corner of this town reminds you of her, like a ghost haunting you. You can sense her presence in the corner of the room, purposely watching you with hollow, blackened holes for eyes. She’s standing there in her pink parka and blue-striped dress, waiting for you to make your next move.

You groan, rubbing your eyes. You apply enough pressure that your eyes are being pushed back, rubbing so fast that your skin turns red. No matter how much you try to push the thoughts away, she just keeps coming back. Just as Kim exited the room, you get off the bed, taking your jacket and heading straight to the door.

“Where are you going? You look like you’re in a rush to start a mission.”

“It’s too small in here. I need some fresh air.”

“O-oh, okay...but please stay safe! Who knows what kinds of creeps are out there.”

“I will. Thanks.” You open the door and close it behind you.

———

You walk around, hands in the pockets of your jacket. There is no wind, but the drop in temperature stiffens your muscles. Just like in the morning, no one is occupying the streets. It’s just you, alone, with your bothersome thoughts. It manifests into a black aura, clinging onto the back of your head.

You thought about heading to Margaret’s place just to get things off of your chest, but you change your mind. She never directly stated it, but she knew who you were and what you went through. It was an odd moment that she sympathized with you without knowing exactly what had happened.

A flashy neon sign catches your attention. It’s in the shape of a brown beer bottle, pouring bubbles into a glass wine. It’s the bar that’s across the street of the general store called Bar & Grill. You’re not a drinker, but when your stress gets overwhelming, you tend to be persuaded by the lust of alcohol. Wanting to get rid of this black aura looming, you make the decision to enter the bar.

———

Your head is on the counter table, your arms around it to hide your red face. The inside of the place has very few people, only a few men who just came back from work, but even these men are barely whispering a word. The bartender stands on the other side of the counter, cleaning the glass cups with a white cloth.

“Hey, Miss. Do you have someone to take you home?”

You groan.

The bartender sighs. “You’re a young woman. Do you know how easy it is to be preyed on?”

“I can...handle myself,” you raise your head up, one eye open. “I practically raised myself! What makes you think I’m irresponsi...ble? You dunno me.” You slur your words.

The bartender sets the cup down, putting her hand on her hip and leaning on the counter. She isn’t sure if your red, watery eyes are because you drank so much or if you’re becoming emotional.

“You’re one of those researchers that came here earlier today, huh? Marge told me,” she shakes her head. “Jesus Christ, you city people really don’t know the limits to drinking.”

Next to you are five empty beer cups with the foam sliding down on the sides. You snicker at how much you drank, followed by a hiccup. “Wow, you’re right. I’m usually good at self-control. I know how to control my problems, but tonight is not one of those times.”

“It’s not that you’re good at controlling your problems. You’re just good at avoiding them. Marge told me about you, and no offense, but she thinks it’s fucking strange that you don’t look like you’re bothered that your sister was taken away by that monster. But I disagree. You’re pretending like it ever happened.”

“Excuse me? Who are you to assume how I feel??”

“Our place is practically off-coordinates with maps, but we still have those runaways who come to the bar every so often. You’re no different from them. So…”

“What?”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She crosses her arms. “I won’t tell anybody. We pretend that tonight never existed.”

You rummage your hand through your messy hair, calming down. It might be the toxication persuading you, but you’re not comfortable telling her.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Oh really?”

“I don’t want to, and it’s because I don’t know how to talk about it. If I can’t even talk to my mom about it, then why the hell do you think I can tell you? When I did want to bring Annie’s disappearance up, my mom would change the subject. It’s not only that, but it was like...she wanted to make me disappear too. And I know it’s because she fucking blames me for losing her, and seeing my face reminds her that she lost her baby. She always favored Annie anyway, so it wasn’t surprising that when she went missing, she...she said…”

You have a flashback of when you were a child during the aftermath. You and your parents returned safely home but without Annie. Your six-year-old mind thought that if you stared at Annie’s cradle in your parents’ bedroom every so often, she would magically return. But to your dismay, your efforts were in vain, and she never appeared.

One night, you woke up from a repeating nightmare of the day you lost her, so to soothe your racing heart, you jumped out of your bed and ran to their bedroom to look at her cradle, praying that she’s there. But rather than seeing your parents asleep, they’re sitting by the edge of the bed. Your mother is curled into a ball, sobbing profusely while your father makes attempts to comfort her with shallow pats on the back. In between her cries, you heard:

“Why couldn’t it have been (Y/N)?”

Returning from a trip to the past, taking your wallet out and paying with cash. You put on your coat and head straight to the exit.

“Where are you going?” The bartender asks.

“To sleep.”

You march right out the bar, massaging your head. After opening the doors, you step out and nearly tripped. For a second, your foggy mind thought you stepped through a hole, but it turns out to be snow. Some time has gone since you’ve been holed up in the bar that it already began snowing and it’s piled up.

You wobble to the empty forest, leaving a trace of your footprints. You despise being anywhere near the empty forest that surrounds Little Bare, but with alcohol, you think you’re invincible. You stand in front of the forest, being unable to see into the distance with the fog blocking your view. But amongst the fog, there is an apparition.

You squint your eyes, but they fail to make sense of what stands far away. But what you can make of the figure is that it’s small and crouched over. It’s alive, moving around but at the same time, staying in the same spot. It isn’t far, but it isn’t that close either.

Your mind immediately draws to that apparition being a bear. That bear that took everything away from you--your little sister, your chance at a childhood, a shot at a proper adult life, everything. Anger spurs within you, no longer having that rationality in your fragile mind. Within a spur of impulse, you pick up a rock the size of your hand, pulling it back and throwing directly toward the bear.

“FUCK YOU!” You shout from the top of your lungs.

Despite the influence of alcohol, you nailed the apparition right at its head. It falls to the ground, the sound of a ‘plop’ echoing. In that brief act of revenge, victory overcame you. You nearly raise your hands up in celebration, thinking that you defeated your arch-nemesis. But you manage to return to your senses, realizing that the apparition isn’t a figment of your imagination...but an actual person. Then your adrenaline fades away.

You trek through the thick snow, hopping through it until you enter the forest, whilst tripping and stumbling. You lean over the black figure, rubbing your eyes to make sure that what you’re seeing is real. Unable to stand straight, you fall backward and land on your bottom. After blinking, dread sets in when you realize that it’s a child.

“Oh my god...oh no...help...”

You try to stand up to look for help, but once you do, your vision turns black and you become light-headed. Nausea hits you, wrapping your hand around your stomach to control your gag reflexes. The alcohol, lack of food and water, combined with the high elevation comes altogether, making you fall down again.

As your eyelashes flutter, there’s a flashlight illuminating from the direction where you came from. Just when you’re about to close your eyes, the young boy’s body grows exponentially, growing to an exact size of a fully-grown adult right before you.

———

“Mom! Dad! I made a best friend!! He lives in a cave in the forest with the black trees...No! I’m not lying. He really does live there! He’s six years old like me...What? He’s real!! He doesn’t live with a mom and dad, but he said that he lives with kids like me and him too…

“And I told him that I would show him Annie, too...”

“Don’t…!” You sit up in an unfamiliar room in a cold sweat and heavy breathing.

You’re on a clean bed, made of pure white. On the walls, there are drawings of the human anatomy, motivational quotes plastered on a piece of paper with words such as ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and ‘be calm and exercise’.

Next the bed is Kim, startled by you suddenly waking up. “(Y/N)?! Are you okay??”

You look at your hand that’s trembling violently, but now that you’re conscious, the hangover hits you hard like a bullet. That massive headache and your stomach twisted in a knot. There’s a lump in your throat with the urge to throw up, but there’s nothing that’s coming out.

“Where...is this place?”

“It’s the clinic. The bartender found you unconscious with a man in the woods and thought that he was trying to take advantage of you.”

“A man…?”

You search through with what very little that you remember last night. You went to the bar to waste away, then you walked out. There was someone in the forest—a young boy. It was too dark to make sense of the boy’s details, but you just knew based on his shape that it was definitely a male.

“No...no…” You squeeze your eyes shut, enduring the pestering headache as you shake your head. “It...it was a boy. A kid.”

“What?” She raises an eyebrow. “There were no kids around, just the man. They’re interrogating him right now.”

You don’t recall a man being there. You must’ve been that fucked up to mistaken a man for a child. Even though it shouldn’t be an issue, it’s bothering you a lot. You remove the blanket, attempting to get out of bed before Kim stops you.

“What are you doing??”

“I have to see the man.”

“No! The doctor advised that you sit. You haven’t been eating, so you’re light-headed.”

“Let me see him. I need to.”

“Stop being crazy and just rest! They made food for you, so just eat and sleep.”

She puts her arms on you, but you gently push her hands away. “I will after I see him.”

You get out of bed, trying to stand but the light-headedness sets in. Your vision turns black briefly, causing you to stumble over your feet. Kim comes to the aid, helping you balance.

“See? I told you. Just rest.”

“No...I’m good. Do you know where this guy’s room is?”

Seeing how adamant you are about it, she decides to give in. “He’s in the room next to you.”

You head out of the room, walking slowly so that you don’t fall, then exiting the room. In the halls, there’s nobody, making it easier for you to head into the other room without any interruptions. You twist the doorknob, swinging it open to find the doctor and policeman, assuming by the uniforms that they’re wearing for their designated jobs. They turn to you, caught off-guard by your entrance.

The man that you’re looking for is on the bed, tilting his head when you two make eye contact. He has a long face, void of a smile. His black hair is frizzy and curly, strands of it flying all directions as if he just woke up. There are bandages wrapped around his head. After that short contact, he looks away, grabbing the doctor’s sleeve and using it to hide his face.

“Miss (Y/N)? What are you doing up?” The doctor asks.

Kim follows from behind.

“Miss Kim, I told you to watch over her.”

“I’m sorry...but she was persistent in seeing him.”

��Him…?”

Now that you have gotten your opportunity to meet with the man, you don’t know what to do. You stand still, at a loss of words when you meet the man that you ran into the forest. Perhaps you really did run into a man, not a child. You were under the influence, after all.

“Miss (Y/N),” the policeman starts. “Since you seem well enough to be standing, can I have a word with you?”

“Sure…”

———

“Amnesia?”

Returning back to your room, the policeman explains what they were discussing earlier. Kim had returned to the hotel room to give you and the police some privacy, and the doctor is staying with the man.

He sits with his hands folded on his lap, giving you a serious expression. “Yes. It’s a minor blunt-force trauma to the head, like something no bigger than a rock.”

“Oh my god…I was the one who hit him.”

“Did he try to assault you?”

You shake your head. “I did out of anger, but not at him. I was drunk and wasn’t thinking clearly.”

You fear that you’ll get in trouble, but you’re more fearful of the condition that you left the young man in. You weren’t expecting your throw to be that strong. The policeman scratches his beard, figuring out what to do in this situation.

“For all I know, you could be lying.”

You gulp.

“But hey, you could also be telling the truth. We don’t know until we check out the scene and hear his side. He doesn’t remember crap—not even his own name. For now, we’ll continue the investigation.”

You sigh in relief, but that still doesn’t deter the guilt from you. The man is a victim of your outlash, and it’s natural for you to want to make up for what you’ve done, even if it’s minor.

“Uhm...how is he…? The guy, I mean.”

“Other than the total amnesia, he’s in a healthy state. It’s strange, though. Other than a large coat, he was wearing a thin layer of clothes, but his body temperature wasn’t affected by the cold. We don’t have young people living here either, so it’s a mystery where he came from.”

He stands up from the chair, walking to the door.

“Well, it’s nice meeting you, Miss (Y/N). If you remember anything, then don’t be afraid to come to me. My name is Sheriff Tusk, and I’ll be in the police station often.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Sheriff Tusk walks out, leaving you alone. You fall back, resting your head on the pillow as you exhale. So much has happened in a short amount of time that it’s difficult to believe that all this actually happened. Even if you got away with being put to jail, you feel immensely guilty for hurting him.

———

The next day, you’ve been discharged from the hospital, suffering only from lack of nutrients and a hangover. Kim is in the room with you, helping you pack your things. Neither of you say much, focusing on putting your belongings away. You keep thinking about the man next-door, wondering how he’s doing. You keep stealing glances at Kim, wanting to ask her if you two can visit him but never gathering enough courage to actually ask her.

“Are you ready?” Kim asks as she puts the last folded shirt into your luggage.

“Hm? Oh, yea.”

You take the luggage from her and head to the door. Kim looks at her phone, once again, seeing that her phone has low reception. You pass by the man’s room, stopping in front of it and nearly causing Kim to bump into you.

“Whoa, what’s going on?”

Without a response, your eyes lay heavily on the door, struggling with the debate of whether or not you should enter.

“...(Y/N)...?”

Eventually, you make the final decision, approaching it and your hand grasping the doorknob. You pull the door open, making Kim confused, but not stopping you from continuing.

Inside the room, your peer at the bed, seeing the man sitting upward with a movable table that has a tray of food on top. He holds a cup of pudding in his hand, eating the chocolate-flavored dessert faster than the sound of light. He eats as though he hasn’t eaten in days, the pudding smearing on the corners of his lips.

It takes a moment for him to sense your presence, jolting and freezing when he sees you. You blink profusely, looking around the room nervously. You wanted to see him again, but you didn’t think about what, or if, you wanted to say something.

The man holds the end of his blanket and pulls it up.

You scratch the back of your neck, looking only at the corner of the room. “Hi, uh...I don’t think I’ve ever formally introduced myself. My name is (Y/N).”

You move closer and extend your hand out, but it makes the man flinch. Seeing that he doesn’t want to accept your hand, you pull it back.

“I don’t know if the doctor told you but...I’m the one who threw a rock at you, which is why you have that injury. I came in to say that I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t respond to you. Rather, he stares as if he’s fearful for his life, his pupils shaking from seeing you. You take one more step, wanting to get to know him, but it makes him flinch.

“I hope you—”

“S-stay away from me…” He whimpers.

His voice is deeper than any man’s voice, and yet his tone is like a scared child. Even the way he pronounced each syllable is with a lisp and not proper, as if he’s slurring. Despite his masculine outlook with his broad shoulders, tall height, and sharp eyes, underneath that shell, he’s fearful and small.

On the right side of you is the bathroom, the door open. You face the mirror, looking at your reflection. You see yourself as an ordinary person, but this man probably sees you as something, not someone, else in his reflection.

Kim puts her hand on your shoulder, pulling you back gently. “Miss (Y/N), I think it’s better to leave him alone.”

You know it’s better to do that, but there’s an urge within you, pushing you to stay. There’s an internal battle between you and yourself, the desire to stay and talk to him but leaving him alone to rest. Ultimately, you choose Kim’s suggestion.

You take a few steps back, your courage slowly being broken down with each step. “S-sorry…”

Breaking from a blanked trance, you abruptly pace out of the room and to the lobby. Kim is left confused, her head turning back and forth between you and the man.

“Sorry about bursting into your room. I pray for a healthy recovery.” Kim runs off to find you.

———

You stand just outside the small and aging medical building, Kim eventually catching up to you.

“Hey! What was up with that?”

No response.

“Miss (Y/N)...? Hello?”

“I...I don’t know.”

You couldn’t quite understand it either, unsure of what it was that made it okay to visit him. Despite his amnesia, it seems like he’s aware that you’re the one who injured him. With your behavior worrying her, Kim puts her hands on your shoulders, shaking you slightly.

“Do you know that guy?”

“No...no, not really.”

This is the first time you’ve met him, but there’s something about that man that you can’t put your finger on it. Perhaps it’s the guilt talking to your rationale or the urge to talk to somebody who’s close to your age. You just can’t let go of this.

“Well, you shouldn’t worry about it. The sheriff let you off, so you don’t have to take care of him.”

What Kim says floats over your head. You’re not doing this to appear like a law-abiding citizen. There’s this unconscious instinct that’s pulling you to him. It sounds unrealistic and dramatic, but there’s no other way you can describe this feeling. You turn around, staring at the medical building.

———

“What do you mean I can’t visit?”

In the main lobby, the doctor is sitting behind his desk, reading the newspaper. He lowers his glasses to give you a hollow glare. It’s the next day, and you decided to visit the man a second time but your visitation has been turned down by the doctor.

“Visiting without the patient’s permission, especially consistently, is harassment. I’ve been notified of what happened yesterday, so to protect each patient’s safety, I advise that you leave him alone.”

“But I’m not doing anything bad. I just want to talk to him.”

“I know you don’t have malicious intentions, but he’s still recovering from the head injury. Plus, the police are investigating, so it’s better if you leave him alone to avoid trouble.”

“I know, but…” You trail off.

“And you should be resting as well. You’re slightly anemic and are lacking some sugar in you. I’d say run to the store and buy some ice cream.”

Despite that, you stand still. Eating for your physical health’s sake isn’t your priority, but to see the man again. The desire to see him is just as haunting as seeing delusions of your little sister.

He raises an eyebrow, folding his newspaper up and leaning over his desk. “Why are you so persistent in talking to him? From as far as I can tell, you two don’t know each other.”

He’s asking a question that you don’t know the answer to. He waits for a response, but nothing. You seem hesitant, figuring out why it’s your first instinct to see him. You just have to, but if you tell him that, then he’ll most likely kick you out anyway for an absurd reason.

Seeing as you won’t say anything, he leans back, returning to his newspaper. “Well then, I’m sorry but without a proper reason, I can’t let you see him.”

“But…!”

He sighs, losing his patience with you. “I will call Sheriff Tusk if you don’t leave us alone.”

With the threat of police involvement, it pulls you back. You turn to the door, your shoulders raised up.

“Damn city people, thinking they can do whatever they want.” The doctor whispers.

You stop in your tracks. Normally, you don’t let insults like these get to you, but his tone made it seem like you’re scum. You’re not being stubborn because you think you’re superior to the rest of them, but he paints it that way.

With your eyes filled with red, you spin around, marching right back at the doctor. He notices right away, lowering the newspaper and preparing for an attack from you. You clench your fist, getting ready to let him know what’s been in your mind and conveying that through a punch.

But you purposely look away from him, looking at the corner of the room, your inner voice telling you to stop. When you get to his desk, you nearly slam your hand on it before the last nanosecond, pulling the force back and your fists making a soft landing.

You stare straight into the doctor’s shaking eyes. You exhale heavily, cooling down your temper. “Sorry. I just wanted to say that mold is growing in the corners. You should give it a look.”

He raises an eyebrow, questioning your mental state. Absolutely nothing made sense, not even to you. You turn around and pacing out of the building. He fixes his glasses, having no clue what just happened. He looks at the corner, seeing the black mold growing.

———

Outside of the medical building, you crouch into a fetal position, hiding your face in your knees. You don’t know what’s going on with you. You don’t have full control of your body, and it’s scaring you. One second, you’re oddly pulled toward that strange man, the next second, you let your anger take the driver's seat. You’re beginning to think that you belong in an insane asylum.

“Oh my, what in the devil’s name are you doing?” Margaret jogs to you.

She crouches over, rubbing your back. She takes your arm and helps you stand up. You’re confused, not knowing who’s touching you or where you’re at. You come back to your senses when you see Margaret’s face.

“Don’t be sitting in the snow like that, you crazy woman! Look at you, dressed like a whore out here in the cold and only wearing a thin layer of clothes!”

Calling you a ‘whore’ was a bit uncalled for, but you don’t get angry.

“Jesus Christ, that damn doc discharged you early. That scum of a doc probably let you go early because he’s too lazy to take care of you. C’mon girly, come to my place.”

She holds onto you, letting you lean on her to her place.

———

In her kitchen, Margaret sets a tray of cookies from a tin box in front of you with a warm cup of coffee. You sit with your knees close to your chest, curled up in a ball. You pick up a cookie, but the edges start crumbling. After a bite, it practically falls apart in your mouth and makes your throat dry. You take a sip of the coffee, clearly tasting the stale flavor of the grounded beans and sink water combined. You try not to make a bitter look, but you can’t help it.

“That boy has been stirring shit up even though he’s the one being holed up in that den. The whole town has been talking about him.”

She takes a seat next to you, putting sugar in her coffee and mixing it with a spoon. She takes a sip, smacking her lips after tasting her awful coffee calmly as if this taste is normal to her.

“But seeing a young man is definitely a breath of fresh air. Like with you and your Kimmy friend, it’s rare to see youngins here. Maybe he was with those contractors from the other day and got separated from them.”

It’s the most sensible explanation, but it doesn’t explain why he was alone in the forest. If he was a part of those businessmen, then he would’ve long since gone into the town and asked for help.

“What were you doing there, on your knees like you were prayin’?”

Once again, there’s that hesitation. She looks at you, ready for you to spill your heart out, but two decades of being a closed book, it feels way too strange to share. Just from your silence alone, she can tell that you’re not comfortable yet.

“You know that by clamming it into your brain ain’t gonna make it better. Even if you don’t tell me, I know exactly why you’re freaking out like your ass’s on fire.”

It’s a weird simile, but you take it.

“I know your struggle, but it ain’t like I understand it though. That’s why you gotta explain it.”

You hold the cup with your two hands, looking down at your reflection in the coffee.

“Don’t think that just because you’re all grown up now that I don’t remember what happened to you and Annie. I’ve lived here for thirty years, and every single kid who went missing here has been imprinted in my head. If there’s someone you want to talk to, don’t be afraid to talk. Or…” Margaret wipes imaginary dust off your shoulders, raising her eyebrows and smiling widely like a cartoon character. “I’m wrong and you crushin’ on that boy.”

“What the…? No.”

“Lady, don’t hide it. I saw how much you were beggin’ to see that young lad. I know young love when I see it.”

“It’s not even remotely close,” You don’t know how this turned romantic suddenly. “It’s normal for someone with decent morals to make sure that the person they harmed is okay.”

“Whatever you say, girly.”

It was so long ago, but now you remember. That time when you first came here, Margaret also told your parents to scram. Being no taller than your mother’s waist, she looked like a giant—a real-life monster scaring you to death. You can’t recall the exact words, but she must’ve been just as hostile as she was with you and Kim on the first day. But with the lens of an adult, now you know that those shouts were for concerns. She must’ve seen you and Annie and knew what ill fate was about to occur.

You look out the window and at the clinic. That man is still in his room, doing God knows what. “Margaret, don’t get the wrong impression, but how much are your flowers and candy?”

———

One of the good things about this clinic is that it’s open 24/7, but the doctor sleeps at his desk. You open the door carefully, making sure that you don’t make a noise. You keep your eye on the doctor, nervous that he’ll wake up. In your hands is a bouquet of flowers and on the other is a grocery bag. You move your hands as little as possible, holding two of the loudest objects in your arms. Luckily, you manage to pass by without waking him up, your feet lightly making its way up the stairs and to the man’s room.

As you sneak through the halls, you’re beginning to think of yourself as a creepy person. You really went through the lengths to see a man who you’ve harmed once and spoken to once. You’ve always been questioning your mental stability, but this is pushing it. A part of you wants you to run out, but you’ve already put yourself deep into this mess to leave.

You make it to his bedroom, a single light coming from behind the curtains. You knock on the door, and although you don’t get a response, you can hear the sheets fluttering. You put your hand on the doorknob, but then you pull back, the reality of the situation hitting you hard. Sighing heavily, you think it’s best to leave. At this rate, what you’re doing can get you into massive trouble.

Just as you turn around, you hear a loud bang in the man’s room, followed by the ringing echoes of metal objects dropping. You scrunch your shoulders up, nearly screaming at the sudden loudness. This prompts you to open the door and check what happened.

In the room, you look around, but only darkness wraps around you, taking seconds for your eyes to adjust to it. On the ground is the man, squirming around, entangled in the blanket. You’re unsure of what to do, placing the grocery bag and bouquet on the bed. You attempt to pull the sheets off of him, but his kicking and punching creates a struggle for both of you.

“Hey, you don’t need to move so much…!”

After a while, you’re able to pull it off. When he sees you, he freezes, and you as well. You move back, on your knees, but having no idea how to explain why you’re here, you scratch the back of your neck.

“So uhm...what were you doing on the floor?”

Why did you even ask that, you idiot?! You want to slap yourself, but you remain cool. The man stares at you, having no idea how to answer you. If anything, he seems more frightened than shocked to see you. You try to think of anything to reassure him that you’re not a threat.

You grab the bouquet from the bed and show it to him. “This is for you.”

He stares at it curiously, like he doesn’t know what it is. He reaches over to grab it, but he pulls his hand back.

“Wh...where did you get this?”

“...I got it from the store…?”

Since it’s winter, most of the flowers have been shipped from other areas, but Margaret’s shop didn’t have that many, so the bouquet is rather small. He eyes it in awe as if he’s never seen these before. He pulls a rose out, inspecting every angle. He bends the stem, then picks a petal off. He does it again, and again, and again until his lap is surrounded with red petals. What’s left of the rose is the crooked stem, and the thorns.

He sweeps the crimson petals into a pile, finding the smoothness of it satisfying, pinching them in between his thumb and index finger. He raises his head, giving you round, innocent eyes, pointing at himself. “Are these for me?”

“Y-yea…”

You almost forgot about the second half of the gift. You grab the grocery bag, spilling the content all over the floor. It’s different kinds of candy—chocolate bars, jawbreakers, and gummy worms.

“When I came here last time, you were eating that pudding to death, so I thought you’d like to have more sweets.” You don’t even know if he’s supposed to be consuming this much sugar, but you thought that you just had to buy him these.

You give him a watermelon-flavored hard candy. He tilts his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. That’s when he pops the candy into his mouth, not bothering to remove the wrapper.

“Ah! What are you doing?! Spit it out!” You sit up, pulling yourself closer to him.

Startled by your raised voice, he flinches at first, raising his arms up like you were about to hit him. He spits out the candy immediately, that childish curiosity disappearing. You move back, wondering if your loud tone scared him.

“You...you can’t eat it like that. You have to take off the wrapper first.”

You wait for him to pick up the wet candy, but he doesn’t. Not wanting to pick up the saliva-covered candy, you pick up a different one, showing it to him.

“Copy me.”

He picks up the one he spat out, pinching the wrinkled edges just like you. You pull it outward, the wrapper spinning and loosening. Once the twists come off, you unpeel the plastic, showing him a hardened sphere. You put in your mouth, letting the sweetness soak in your mouth.

“Like that.”

He does what you do, the candy twirling until it’s untwisted. He takes it out, eating it, and that’s when his eyes widen, astonished by how sweet it is.

“It’s sweeter than pudding!” He exclaims.

His enthusiasm for how sweet candy is is absolutely weird...yet endearing. For a man who’s around your age to behave like he’s experiencing sugar for the first time is abnormal, but it makes you feel...warm inside.

He tries to bite the candy, but he wasn’t expecting it to be this difficult and ends up hurting his jaw. “Ow…but it’s not soft like pudding.”

You hold back the urge to laugh. He definitely has been living under a rock if he didn’t know that he can’t bite it down so easily. That’s probably why the doctor gave him soft foods.

He reaches for another one, but you stop him. “What are you doing?”

“I want to eat another one.”

“I-I know it’s for you but...you should wait to have more in the morning. It’s not good for your teeth.”

He’s saddened, but he obeys. He folds his hand, but his eyes won’t leave the candy that you dropped everywhere. Unable to say no to his puppy eyes, you give him candy that’s easier to chew. Not letting him unwrap it himself, you open it for him.

“This is taffy. It’s strawberry flavor. I think you might like it.”

You give it to him, and lights sparkle behind his eyes. He eats it, savoring the taste. Seeing his smile makes you feel fuzzy, like seeing how genuinely happy he is for something as simple as getting candy makes you want to smile too.

“Uhm...I don’t know if I ever got your name,” but then you recall that he doesn’t remember his name. “Actually, wait...never mind.”

“...Taehyung.”

Taehyung? It sounds out of place for a town like Little Bare. He definitely isn’t from here, which only brings more mystery as to who he actually is. Other than that, it’s a unique name foreign to you.

“I’m...sorry for hitting you on the head. I wasn’t thinking straight and did something really stupid…”

“Yea, it really hurt,” he points out blatantly. “Just promise me that you won’t do it again. Not just to me, but to anybody else.”

It felt out of sorts that somebody as immature as Taehyung would give you a lecture, but you nod. “Promise.”

“Okay.” And just like that, he continues eating the taffy.

He scoots closer to you, losing the tensity in his muscles. Your determination to see him has finally died down, and now the timidness is entering your body. It’s impossible to distract yourself from him, watching him eat with absolute happiness, glad that you ignored the urge to run away and stayed.

You stare at the candies on the ground, the sensation of nostalgia overcoming you. You ate these when you were a child, and you ate these a lot with Annie, especially the watermelon-flavored candy. Since her disappearance, it was difficult for you to consume these again. But times have changed, and you bought these impulsively for Taehyung.

You bite the candy that’s in your mouth, breaking it into pieces to swallow, then putting the watermelon one in. Eating it was like going back in time, being that six-year-old, naive girl. You even ate this when you were here, fighting with Annie and not sharing one until your mother yelled at you to share. It’s such a trivial memory, but one that you remember vividly.

But this is the reason why you avoided anything relating to this town. It brings back memories that you tried so hard to bury deep in your head. You don’t want to be re-attached to emotions that you cut the strings to. You flutter your eyelashes, raising your head at the ceiling to stop the tears from falling. You can hear Annie’s laughter, holding her small, chubby hands as you two run through the snow. You exhale slowly, but it’s shaky, and your chest feels heavy.

“(Y/N)...are you okay?” Your trance is broken when you hear Taehyung’s voice.

You return to your senses, surprised that he remembers your name. “N-no...I’m just...I just haven’t...it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

Taehyung tilts his head to the side, observing you fighting back the tears as you rub your eyes. With your eyes closed, he extends his hand out, reaching for your head, but when you open them back up, he pulls it back immediately.

———

“Oh no, Tae, what happened this time??”

“They were pushing me around again. They were throwing snowballs and telling me to go away. They kept telling me that they don’t play with immigrants. What does that mean?”

“...Ignore them. Tell me where they hit you.”

“My head...they kept aiming there.”

“A snowball is not supposed to hurt. Oh dear God...you’re bleeding again. Don’t tell me, did they put rocks in the snowballs again??”

“I don’t know...but it really hurts.”

“My poor child…”

“...Mom…”

“Yes?”

“...Am I an alien?”

“What? No! You’re Kim Taehyung, the strongest boy.”

“But...I’m skinnier than the rest of the kids. Plus...they keep saying that I have small eyes. I can never beat them at racing.”

“Taehyung. Do you know what’s the strongest forest animal?”

“What?”

“A bear. They’re huge and can beat up anything that stands in their way. But you know what else makes a bear strong? Not only physical strength, but their will power to stay alive too. You may be a cub right now, but when you grow up, you’re going to be the strongest bear in the entire world! You’re going to be so strong that you won’t need to hibernate like the rest of the grizzlies. That’s why, no matter what, Taehyung, you’ll always be my baby bear. When you’re in trouble, call for me and I’ll be there. I promise I won’t leave you. Now, let’s get you treated at the clicnic.”

———

“Are you insane??” Kim’s booming voice echoes across the inn. Kim’s hands are on her hips, like a mother scolding her child.

You’re by the edge of the bed, startled by her voice.

“Did you really think that the doctor wouldn’t see the things you left for that guy? The doctor told me everything this morning. What the hell were you thinking, sneaking into his room late at night??”

You sigh, unbuttoning your coat. “His name is Taehyung.”

“His name doesn’t matter. What matters is that you broke into his room. It’s already enough that you nearly got in trouble for injuring him, but this? This is pushing it!” She wants to say more, but letting her anger out on you won’t do anything to ease it.

The way she lectures you reminds you of Suniya, and it might be because Kim is beginning to understand what she meant when she said that you’re disconnected. Logic does not correlate with you and you do things erratically.

“But I didn’t hurt him this time. We had a little chat, and I gave him a few things.”

“But did it really have to be during the middle of the night?”

It didn’t, but there was no other way if the doctor was going to keep you away from him.

“Is it because you felt bad?”

“...I guess? He’s a really nice guy. You should talk to him. Everything he says is interesting.”

You don’t need her to tell you that what you did was wrong, but perhaps she’s doing it because of how nonchalant you are.

“Miss (Y/N)...you can’t forget about why we’re here. This isn’t a vacation, we’re working, and we both haven’t even jotted down a single word. Fooling around with a stranger—”

“Taehyung.”

“...Taehyung...Talking to him is going to waste more time. He’s not paying for our meals.”

You fold your hands on your lap, glaring at it. She can tell you feel a little guilty, so she tries figuring out how to talk to you without you becoming withdrawn. She takes a seat next to you, but makes a clear gap between you and her.

“Remember why we’re here. There’s a story that we have to tell, right? To warn people that this place isn’t meant to be lived in.”

You pick on your fingernails, fully aware of your purpose for being here...but seeing Taehyung was almost like a calling...That night, talking and eating candy on the floor, it felt like an eternity since you last spoke to someone that didn’t have anything to do with work. Even though you’ve never met him before, it felt like you’ve known him for years.

“Yea...yea, yea. I know.”

“If you know, then let's start our work today. We’ve gotten comfortable with this place, so let’s start by interviewing the townspeople.”

“Okay.”

———

Laying on his back is Taehyung, raising his arms up and staring at the candy wrapper. He covers the ceiling light with the wrapper, and he smiles while thinking of you.

“Taehyung, focus.” The doctor snaps his fingers.

Taehyung flinches and crunches the wrapper in his hand. Sitting on a stool next to the bed is the doctor with a clipboard.

“Answer my questions. Have you recollected any memories since your stay here?”

Taehyung shakes his head.

“Nothing?”

He nods.

“So is it really your name that you only remember?”

He nods again.

“And you have no idea where you’re from? Not a clue?”

He shrugs his shoulders. His lack of vocal response irritates the doctor slightly, but forcing Taehyung to answer won’t solve anything either.

“Well then, your health is improving exponentially, so you’ll be discharged soon. If you still can’t remember who you are, then we have to figure out where you can stay.”

The doctor gets up and leaves the room. Waiting in the hallway is Sheriff Tusk, his arms crossed. They look at each other, disappointed looks on their faces.

“Anything?” Tusk asks.

The doctor shakes his head. “I can’t get anything out of him. He’s got the mentally of a child stuck in a man’s body. Despite that, he’s recovering at a rapid pace, faster than an average person. His internal injuries are practically gone and all he has left is for his scar to go away. But...something did happen last night.”

“What?”

“That city chick, (Y/N), snuck in here.”

Sheriff Tusk throws his head back. “What in the hell…? For what?”

“To drop off some gifts for him.”

“...You don’t think she’s tryna coerce him? She is the reason why he’s here.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I have no clue. I’m not sure if you remember, but she’s the one with the missing sister.”

“Oh, that’s the girl? Why the hell is she back here for?”

“From what Margaret said, she and her friend are here to write a book.”

Sheriff Tusk sighs, running his hand through his beard. “Fucking shit...It’s already enough that those goddamn contractors keep coming back…”

“Well, technically the girls aren’t causing harm, so far. I can have Margaret keep an eye on them.”

“Alright...I’ll continue with the investigation. For now, make sure that that young man doesn’t leave. Once I get things together, I have a few questions for him too.”

The doctor nods and Tusk walks off. Once the sheriff walks out of the building, he turns around and returns to Taehyung’s room. But when he opens the door, he nearly has a heart attack from Taehyung, who stands inches away from the door.

“Jesus Christ…! What are you doing out of bed?!”

“I heard you say (Y/N). Is she here?”

He thought that he and the sheriff were speaking quietly, so he wasn’t expecting Taehyung to eavesdrop, but he forgot that the walls are thin. He’s worried that he might’ve heard what they said, but he simply stares at the doctor with curious, naive eyes.

“No, she isn’t.”

“Do you know when she’s coming back?”

“No idea. Just go to bed.”

The demand from the doctor saddens Taehyung. He drops his head, slugging his feet across the room and back to his bed. Just like what Tusk said, the doctor is concerned that you might’ve influenced him to ruin the investigation between you and him, but it seems like he really likes you.

He puts his hands in his pocket. “Taehyung, be truthful with me. Did (Y/N) say anything to you?”

Taehyung rummages through his pockets and shows the doctor a handful of plucked petals and candy wrappers. “She showed me how to eat candy and gave me flowers. When you eat it, you have to take off this cover-thingy…” He pinches the wrapper.

“Mm-hm, okay. Anything else?”

“...Hm...oh, she also seemed kind of sad.”

“She what?”

He tries copying what you did last night, raising his head up and staring at the ceiling. “She wasn’t crying like a baby, but her eyes got watery.”

It’s no surprise. When the doctor first saw you, you seemed like a broken person upon first glance. But he didn’t want to say anything, believing it might’ve been too sensitive of him.

“...I think she hates me.”

“Hm? What makes you think that?”

“You said that she told you that she threw a rock at me and was angry, then she looked sad when she was with me. I think I hurt her before I forgot my memories.” He has a sullen look on his face.

Pitiful is what the doctor would describe Taehyung. His way of thinking is too pure...too black and white. There’s no complexity in him, so if the doctor were to discharge him, he would have no chance of surviving out there.

He leans over and pats Taehyung on the back. “She said that it was an accident and is sorry. Forget about it.”

“...But I can’t...How do you make someone forgive you?”

“You can’t make someone forgive you. Even if you’re the one who made the mistake, it’s up to the other person if they can fully accept what you’ve done,” he pokes Taehyung’s forehead. “Sometimes you think that seeking forgiveness comes from others, but it’s also forgiving yourself with what you’ve done.”

It’s too confusing for Taehyung to grasp what he means.

“But that’s saying if you really did something awful to her. Do you know if you actually hurt her?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I...don’t know. I think I did, but I can’t remember. I just don’t want to see her sad.”

The doctor can see the clear self-frustration in Taehyung. He’s convinced that he wronged you, but the real challenge comes from how he did it. But seeing him battle with himself, it leaves the doctor with a lingering thought… “I know you told her not to see me...but is it okay if I see her again? I want to say sorry to her.”

The doctor hums, thinking about that request. “I can’t make promises, but we’ll see.”

“Okay, thank you!”

———

“Don’t bother seeing him again.”

“What?!”

Later that day, the doctor came to visit you and Kim at your inn to drop the request. “You trespassed into private property and caused mental harm to my patient. And don’t you think it’s smarter to leave him alone, especially when you’re being suspected of physically harming him?”

“…I know what this is about.” You clench your fists.

“Miss (Y/N), please don’t…”

“You’re just doing this to spite us! You hate people from the city, so you’re treating us like shit!”

“Miss (Y/N)!”

“That’s what you think. But you shouldn’t be talking to someone who took the time to nurse you back to health.”

“Don’t use that excuse to justify your shitty behavior!!”

With your face turning red, Kim gets up and pulls you back from the doctor. You jerk your hands off.

“I don’t need an excuse when we have people here taking advantage of my town and the people living here for money. If you want to make money somewhere else, then do that instead, not my home.” He walks away.

“WAIT! COME BACK HERE!!” You shout.

“Miss (Y/N), stop it!!” Kim aggressively pulls you back, shutting the door to prevent you from running out. “What the fuck is going on with you?!”

“Don’t you see it?? He’s just doing that because he fucking hates us! I’m not doing shit to Taehyung!!”

“But he’s a doctor, you should listen to him!”

“Degree or no degree, you don’t need a Ph.D to be a complete asshole.”

“I can tell! Talk about yourself!” She blurts out suddenly.

However, she covers her mouth, regretting immediately with what she said. Her words pierce your heart, but in all honesty, you needed that slap in the face. You weren’t looking at yourself to realize how much trouble you were causing for others.

“Miss (Y/N), I’m so sorry I…”

“No...it’s okay. I needed that.”

“...But please...stop lying that you’re fine. You make it very obvious that something's bothering you.”

You sigh. “...I hate feeling guilty. It’s like...it’s all I could think of, and I hate it. That’s probably why I really want to see him. I can’t let this go.”

That heaviness in your chest caused by guilt is unfathomably painful—so heavy that it’s suffocating. You’re aware of your obsessive nature, and you’d like to control it, but it’s been so deeply rooted into your blood that even if you try to get rid of it, it’s almost impossible. That’s why it’s easier to pretend that the problem never existed rather than solve it.

“I’m sorry, Kim, for dragging you into this.”

Unlike the other conversations that they had before, it truly feels like you’re fully present. Your mind isn’t floating somewhere else, but here.

“It’s okay...people are bound to have their slip-ups. Just...listen to the doctor. I don’t want us to be kicked out.”

You bite on your thumb, not exactly agreeing to Kim, but just as she said, you don’t want to be forced out of town either.

———

Late at night, Taehyung is laying in bed, staring out the window as he counts the number of stars, even though he can count as far as ten. After hitting ten, he restarts and would end up counting the same stars repeatedly.

He hears a knock at the door, then the door creaking open.

“Hello…? Taehyung, are you here?”

Your voice brings a smile to his face, straightening his back. “I’m here!”

“Shh…” You peer over the corner of the wall. “The doctor is asleep.”

“Oh, okay. Did the doctor tell you to visit me again?”

“Ah ha ha...yea.” You avert your eyes.

He hears the rustling of the grocery bag in your hands. Curious, he looks down. “What’s in there?”

He bounces up and down excitedly. You take out the components in the bag, showing him some fruits and drinks. He’s in awe at the different foods you display on the bed, making his mouth water.

“Peaches!”

He picks up the pink fuzzball, almost taking a bite out of it before you take it away from him. “Wait!”

He slumps his shoulders, pouting.

“I didn’t get the chance to clean it, then I’ll cut it for you.”

You rush to the bathroom, rinsing the fruit before returning. In the bag, you take out a small pocket knife, cutting the skin and slicing it into pieces. He stares at it with wide eyes in awe, impressed by your cutting skills, even though it’s nowhere near astonishing.

You give him a piece, and he takes it, shoving it into his mouth and overwhelmed by the sweetness. “This is better than candy.”

“It’s more refreshing, isn’t it? I thought that since last time I brought you some unhealthy snacks, I’d give you healthier options. Well...that’s what I thought...but I couldn’t help but buy something else.”

You wipe your hands down on your jeans, but the stickiness from the fruit juice remains. You take out a can of soda, showing it to him, but leaving him confused. He creases his eyebrows, scratching his chin as if he’s trying to interpret what he’s looking at.

“...This is cola. You’ve had them before, right?”

He shakes his head. “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it.”

You open the can, the click of the carbonated fizz leaks out from inside. He’s so impressed by it, moving closer to the drink and smell the faint flavor of the cola.

You put it into his hand, and he hesitantly takes a sip. However, he gives a distasteful look, his face cringing from the strong fizziness of the drink. The face he makes makes it impossible for you not to laugh.

“It’s nasty…”

“I’m sure that if you keep drinking it, then you’ll love it for sure.”

He shakes his head, eating more peaches to get rid of the taste. Throughout the night, you show him the many different fruits, and he takes a bite with each one of them. No matter what it is, it will always astonish him, so keen to learn more.

Before you know it, hours have gone by, but it feels as though it’s only been minutes.

“How’s your head?” You ask.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore, but the doctor is always asking me if I remember anything,” he makes a raspberry noise with his lips, falling onto the pillow. “That’s all we talk about.”

“Well...do you remember anything?”

He looks around suspiciously as if he’s making sure that there’s nobody else in the room. He leans over as if he’s going to whisper a deep, dark secret. “Don’t tell anybody, but I do remember a few things.”

“You do?”

He nods. “I remember them in frames, like still pictures. It’s foggy, but there are parts that came back to me.”

“What do you remember?” You lean closer.

“There’s a lot of snow, and I was sitting on the ground. It was really...really cold. Also, everyone looked taller and angry.”

Although it’s great that he has some memories come back to him, they’re vague. His memory is no different than how some of the townspeople treat you.

“Anything else?”

“...Oh, yea. There’s also a large cave in the forest too. I went there a lot.”

The mention of a save makes you shudder, and that’s when a wave of memories return for you. You know exactly which cave he’s talking about...the one you and Annie went to. You hug yourself, trying to forget about it.

“(Y/N)? Are you okay?”

You blink profusely, nodding your head. “Y-yea...I’m fine. Taehyung, I have to ask you something.”

“Hm?”

“Did you...by any chance, ever run into a bear? Or a child? At the cave?”

He stares at the ceiling, shaking his head. “No.”

“...Do you even know about the Winter Bear story?”

He shakes his head again.

“...It’s...about a grizzly bear who’s the only bear in the entire world that doesn’t sleep during winter. Because of that, he gets lonely, so he kidnaps kids.”

Your knee begins shaking violently, motioning up and down at rapid speed. Taehyung’s eyes are fixated on your anxious knee.

“He...took my little sister a long time ago, and...it’s my fault. He...paid attention to me, and I liked it. And truth be told, I loathed my sister as much as I loved her.”

His eyebrows crease, not quite knowing what ‘loathed’ means.

“My parents, especially my mom, loved her to death. I still don’t know why. It might be because she was the baby of the family or if it’s ‘cause she resembles my mom a lot, but she was always favored. And imagine the horror that unfolded when they heard that their favorite child went missing and their least favorite child is to be blamed for.” You laugh at yourself.

You will never forget the look of terror on your mother’s face when you returned with your clothes torn and freezing. It wasn’t because of the state that you were in, but the fact that you returned without Annie. She immediately went around town, asking for help, and everybody searched to no avail. Your mother never directly stated that it was your fault, but the way she looked at you like she was going to throw up.

You so desperately wanted to apologize to her, but each time you tried it, she would change the subject. If you were insistent in talking about it, she would become violent. Items being thrown to the floor, her blood-curdling screams, those wide, gaping eyes glaring down at you like you’re vermin. It made you afraid of your own mother. That’s why you tried to bury your memories, and when you did, you either emotionally detached yourself or changed your thoughts to something else, just like how your mother did.

But every time you did think about your sister, you felt that immense guilt gulping you up. You would become manic—wanting to do anything possible to seek forgiveness. You would return to that fragile, little girl who wanted her mother’s love.

Taehyung searches through his pockets, giving you one of the candies that you gave to him. Some of the wrappers fall out of his pocket as well, but he ignores them. You raise an eyebrow, but he nudges for you to take it. It’s the watermelon flavor candy.

“The candies are so sweet there’s no room for bitterness. That’s what I learned after eating so much of it.”

You take it from his hand, unwrapping it and putting it in your mouth. And just like what he said, your tongue is overflowing with the sweet, sweet watermelon. When you look up at Taehyung’s face, making proper eye contact with him for the first time, you notice something odd. His expression is blank, but tears are falling.

You let out a single laughter. “Why are you the one crying?”

He didn’t need to say anything for you to know that he sympathizes, maybe even empathizes, with you. It always felt like when you said something, you got attacked in return. Whether it be Suniya nagging at you, Kim criticizing your rash behavior, those faceless comments on your article bashing you, or even your mother neglecting you when you tried mending the relationship, it felt like everything you did was a mistake. No one wanted to listen to you, and it made you scared to be honest.

He brushes your bangs away to get a better look at your face. Even though you barely know him, it feels like he’s been your longtime friend. Without thinking, you drop yourself onto him, hiding your face in his chest. You hold him tightly, silently crying on his shirt. He’s confused, as stiff as a rock. He slowly sets his hands on your back like an amateur hugger. But you’re no different either since you’re just as awkward as he is.

“I’m...sorry.” He apologizes.

You laugh through the sobs. “Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault.”

He doesn’t reply.

You forgot how sticky your hands are—Taehyung’s lint gets stuck on the palm of your hands. You rarely talk about yourself, but with Taehyung, it feels oddly comfortable around him. Just the look of his eyes alone, you knew that he wasn’t going to judge you. You didn’t need to get defensive because you felt safe.

“Thanks for listening to me.”

———

You peek through the crack of the door, waving at him one more time before leaving. He waves back, mouthing the words, ‘please come back soon’. You nod, gently closing the door. You sigh, slightly embarrassed for breaking down earlier. It’s not every day that you have a heart-to-heart conversation with someone, so it was new. But you can’t hide that little smirk on your face, like some of that weight on yours has been alleviated.

“Seems like no matter how many times I tell you, you think you’re superior to me.”

Startled, you nearly scream when you cover your mouth. You spin around and meet eyes with the doctor who seems unsurprised that you’re here.

“Uhm...I can explain.”

“No need. I give up on trying to convince you.”

“...Really?”

“I don’t know what you want from that kid, but it doesn’t seem like it’s bad. Just don’t pick on him.”

“I’m not.”

“Even if I did tell you to stop, you’ll just continue breaking in late at night.” He walks off.

That felt...a bit too easy. You thought that he was going to put up more of a fight, but it might be because of old age or because of your stubbornness, he was quick to throw in the towel. However, you aren’t complaining about this and if anything, plays in your favor.

———

For the next few days, you have been visiting Taehyung. You two wouldn’t do much but talk, and these conversations would go on for hours. For once, it didn’t feel like your life was single-colored, and his liveliness was contagious. You found yourself laughing and smiling a lot more than usual. But it isn’t as if you two are doing anything spectacular, just talking.

There are traits of him that you’ve noticed. He has these moments where he’s easy to read, like a child, but there are other times when he’ll blank out and you have no idea what’s in his mind. He’s always curious about the world and whenever there’s something that he doesn’t know, he would ask you. He doesn’t ask the doctor and always goes to you first.

“Taehyung?” You peek through the doors.

No reply. Instead, you hear the shower going off in the bathroom, so he must be taking a shower. You thought about waiting in the lobby, not wanting to scare him when he’s out of the shower, but you also think it’s better to stay. Even though you and the doctor came to terms, it’s still uncomfortable being in the same room as him since he hasn’t let go of his distaste for city people yet. Despite treating you horribly, the doctor isn’t harsh with Taehyung. There are times when he loses patience with him, but never gets angry.

And speaking of Taehyung, you’re startled when you hear a thud in the bathroom. Alerted, you rush to the room, twisting the doorknob and seeing him on the ground, completely wet. You get down on your knees, placing your hands on his shoulders.

“Oh, (Y/N), you’re here.”

“Are you okay?! What were you trying to do?”

“I tried turning on the water faucet, but I couldn’t turn the handle. I think I put too much strength and slipped after it turned on.”

“You should’ve asked the doctor for help,” you brush his hair. “Geez, your bandages are wet.”

“I do ask him, but he always looks like he’s annoyed at me every time I ask. I don’t wanna bother him anymore, so I wanted to try and do it myself.”

You groan. That damn doctor, only thinking for himself. “Don’t force yourself to do things especially since you’re still recovering. You should be resting instead.”

“...I’ve always done things by myself,” Taehyung slumps his shoulders. “Whenever I asked someone, they would always get angry.”

“Says who?”

“...Says everyone.”

‘Everyone’? You don’t know anyone other than you, Sheriff Tusk, and the doctor who visits him. Margaret would ask about him from you every so often, but you aren’t sure if she comes by either. Whatever it is, it’s bothering Taehyung, so much so that he’s so gloomy.

“Hey, you can always rely on me.”

He stares at you with wide eyes, but then he looks away, defeating himself before he gets the chance to smile. “But...you aren’t here all the time.”

“Well...good point,” you contemplate. “It’s not always possible, but just call my name and I’ll come to the rescue.”

It’s unrealistic. Obviously, you’re no superhero who can pop up to save the world with a single cry of help. You don’t want to give him hope and be disappointed when you don’t fulfill it. You feel like a parent—giving shallow promises just to shove his worries away, but at the same time, you’re being genuine.

“It’s a small town. I’m sure I can hear your voice. Besides, you were in trouble and I came in time to save you,” you pat him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s change your clothes.”

You grab him from under his arm, helping him get up. You walk with him to his bed. Once he sits down, you look through the cabinets for towels,  finding a white hand cloth folded on the third shelf. You go back to him, using the cloth to massage it over his wet hair, but not too aggressive to affect his injury. Whenever you wipe too hard, Taehyung’s face would scrunch up and he would put his hand on your wrist.

“(Y/N), do you have a family?”

“Hm? What’s this all of a sudden?”

“I’m just curious about you.”

“I do. I have a mom and a dad and...that’s it.”

“...Do you live with them?”

You shake your head. “I live alone.”

“Why?”

“It’s because...my parents and I don’t get along. After Annie went missing, my parents got divorced and I lived with my mom for a while. But I couldn’t stand living with her anymore so after I graduated high school, I moved out and lived on my own.”

“What does divorce mean?”

“You don’t know what it means?”

He shakes his head. “I heard people use it, but I never really knew what it meant.”

“It’s when a married couple doesn’t want to be together anymore and decides to separate.”

“Oh…”

“What about you? Do you remember your family?”

“A little bit. I don’t remember my dad, but I do remember some things about my mom. I think my mom left my dad when I was very young, so I lived with her. But we ran away from home and moved to a new place. I don’t know how she looks, but she always took care of me. And she always had bruises, too. But I don’t remember why.”

Your ears perk up when he brings up the notion of bruises. It definitely stands out. It makes you a little worried about what sort of environment Taehyung lived in prior to losing his memories.

“She also dressed differently from you. Actually...everyone from my memories doesn’t dress like you or the doctor or the policeman.” He tries to recollect his memories, but it only frustrates him more.

“Okay, okay. Don’t give yourself a headache. Take your time to remember everything.”

You continue to dry his head until you think it’s done. But just as you were about to leave, Taehyung places his hands on your waist to stop you from leaving.

Your cheeks turn red. “Tae-Taehyung? What are you doing?”

“Thank you…(Y/N), for visiting me all the time. Even though I’m a good-for-nothing, you keep me company.”

You scoff. “No one called you a good-for-nothing. And if anyone did, just ignore them.”

Without thinking, you pat him on the head, running your fingers through his damp hair. He peeks one eye out to look at your face, but when you two make eye contact, he quickly hides back into your stomach.

“You won’t leave me? I don’t have to be alone anymore, right?”

There’s no reason for him to question you, and you know full well that that can’t be the case. After all, you’re here for work, not to make friends. However, you can’t bring yourself to break his heart. The way his voice deepened, his tone sounding so...solemn. Like he experienced trauma that he never wants to go through again.

“I promise.”

And with that vow, he raises his head up, grinning from ear to ear. His eyes become smaller from how wide his smile is.

“I really like you, (Y/N), you know that?”

Your heart nearly skips a beat, then your ears turn red. You fan your face, telling yourself not to misread what he said. “Me too. I’m glad we’re friends.”

He raises his head up, a little upset. “That’s not what I mean.”

“What?”

“I mean…never mind.”

———

“Count very slowly to twenty, okay honey?”

A younger version of Taehyung nods his head.

“Close your eyes and cover them with your hands. Don’t peek because if you do, then you’re cheating. People don’t like cheaters.”

He nods again. “Are we playing hide and seek like the kids?”

In the middle of the forest, the woman has Taehyung stand against a dead tree. The woman cups his cheek with her icy hands, brushing his curly bangs back as she looks like she’s trying to fight the urge to cry. Her lips are curled inward, and she opens her mouth to speak. But finding difficulty in letting one word out, she lets out a shaky sigh, averting her eyes from Taehyung.

He can’t keep his eyes off of the purple and green bruises on her frail arms. His mother is so thin that she doesn’t have any fat in her. She doesn't even have muscles—she’s skin and bones. Her eyes look sunken, like her eyes are shrinking. However, Taehyung didn’t think too much about her mother’s malnourishment because his body looks just like hers.

“Y-yes. You know that I love you, right?”

He nods for the third time.

“O...okay...if you love me,  th-then close your eyes and don’t peek. And remember: you’re a strong bear—so strong that you can withstand the winter cold.”

He covers his eyes with his hands, counting from one. His mother waves her hand in front of him. When he doesn’t jolt from her hand, she takes this chance to flee. He keeps counting even after being the only one in the forest.

“Eight...nine...ten...elevephen...twelve...fo...four...four…? Fiveteen...si-six…” He loses count, though he thought it was strange that his mother made him count to twenty even though he can barely count to ten. “...Mom?”

———

“I came from Korea.”

In the room, the sheriff is keeping record as Taehyung continues.

“I think...my mom and I immigrated here a long, long time ago. She said that we had a better chance of living here than there.”

“By ‘long time ago,’ can you give me a specific time frame?”

“...I can’t. It was too long that I don’t know.” 

While he tries to recall his past, he looks out the window and notices you with Kim. Unlike the stoic faces he made, his eyes light up, losing interest on the sheriff and onto you. Tusk glances over to you, clearly sensing the light-hearted vibe coming from Taehyung.

He walks over to the window, raising his eyebrow. “You and that girl have gotten quite close.”

“I like it when she’s here.”

“Even though she’s the reason why you’re here in the first place?”

His smile disappears. The doctor and policeman are always dragging him down with pessimism, so he doesn’t like it when they talk to him.

“She did hurt me, but she’s trying her best to make it up. What she did is wrong, but I forgive her.”

But Sheriff Tusk doesn’t seem convinced. He sighs, closing his notepad. “Well, this is definitely a step forward. It looks like I’ll let (Y/N) off the hook, and I’m confident that you didn’t harm her either that night. If there’s anything else that comes up, then update me whenever you can.”

“Okay.”

———

You glance through Taehyung’s window, only able to see the top of his head. You aren’t sure what he’s doing, but you pray that he’s resting. You’re so distracted that you weren’t watching where you were going and nearly tripped over a rock hidden in the snow.

“Be careful!”

“I’m okay…”

“What were you looking at?” Kim looks up at the direction you were staring at, then she understands. “Is it Taehyung?”

You nod.

“You two became fast friends. I would’ve never thought that it’d be possible.”

“I guess it is.”

“What do you guys even talk about? You’ll go visit and be gone for hours.”

“Anything, but he likes talking about food mainly. Though, he likes almost everything that I bring in.” You smile unconsciously.

Seeing your cheeks turn red, that’s when it hits Kim. She smirks, elbowing you on the arm. “I get it.”

“What?”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“H-huh? What? N...No! Not like that.”

Not this again. You already went through this with Margaret, and you don’t want another misconception...right? You’re actually embarrassed to hear that in contrast to how indifferent you were when Margaret brought it up.

This is the first for Kim to see you in this state. You always appeared calm and collected—making almost every decision without hesitation. Having your more vulnerable side present makes you seem more human.

“If you try to deny it in that tone, obviously I’m going  to assume the other way around! You two hit it off pretty well in the beginning…I mean...You two got along great. You were even begging to see him.”

“Th...that…!”

“Why are you getting so shy? You’re a grown woman, no need to hide how you feel. You act like this is your first crush.” She laughs.

But when you don’t laugh along with her, that’s when she knew that her joke was true.

“Wait...you’ve never liked someone before?! I don’t mean to judge but...of all your years, you’ve never once dated??? Not even had a crush on someone??”

“Yea, I’ve never liked anyone before, but why are you assuming that I like Taehyung…?”

“You make it more obvious than the sky being blue. I’m not gonna lie, Taehyung is pretty handsome. Maybe if he didn’t act childish then I would’ve probably liked him too.”

“It’s not that he’s childish...More like, he’s very curious. But as I  said, I don’t like him in that sort of way.”

“Mm-hmm, you can deny it all you want. It seems like Taehyung’s into you, too. Well...no doubt since you’re the only person to ever talk to him and is around his age.”

You like being around him, but you’re not sure if you like him in that sort of way. You two barely met a few weeks ago, so it’s too premature to be walking through romance territory. Despite it being a few weeks, it truly does feel like you two have known each other for a long time though.

“Well, don’t be in denial for too long. We don’t have much time here until the train comes back, and I don’t think you would want to leave with regrets.”

“I know.”

You don’t like thinking about that. It’ll dishearten him, as well as you, when the time comes. But eventually, you have to tell him that you’re going back home.

“...You said that you’d like him if he wasn’t childish...What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why are you so curious? I meant what I said.”

“So you’re saying you have a chance with him?”

She’s confused, but it takes her a while before realizing your intentions. She elbows your ribcage, laughing. “You’re jealous!”

“I’m...I’m not! I’m just wondering…!”

Kim never realized how easy it is to read you at times. You and Kim continue your conversation until you two return to the inn. As you two walk off, Taehyung watches from his window.

———

“Who’s the lady with you?”

“Lady?”

You’re in the hospital room, peeling the skin of an apple with a knife. The snow has been getting heavier these days and it’s been like this for a while now. The sky has become cloudy, and there’s no sign of the sun anywhere.

“She was with you when you first came here, too.”

“Oh, Kim? We’re acquaintances. We barely know each other.”

“Really?”

“Yea.”

“Oh, okay. I thought you two were friends.”

“No, not really. She’s a nice woman though. Why do you ask?”

He keeps quiet, picking on his blanket as he sulks.

“I don’t have that many friends. The only other person that I talk to is my agent.”

His eyes widen.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“I thought you didn’t have anybody…”

You aren’t sure where he’s going with this. You set the sliced apples down on a plate, giving one to him to which he takes.

“I know a lot of people. It’s a part of my job as a journalist.”

“Are you...close with any of them?”

You’re confused with why he’s interested in your personal relationships. That’s when you get the hint, making you smile. “I’m not close with any of them.”

He sighs in relief and you laugh. Surprised by your laughter, he becomes embarrassed. “Wh-what??”

“Are you trying to make me feel bad about not having that many friends?”

He seems confused, so you realized that your initial assumption was wrong. His cheeks turn red, pouting. “That’s not it.”

You tilt your head, confused.

“I thought you didn’t have any friends or close family, so I was surprised with how close you were with that lady.”

“I know a lot of people, but it doesn’t mean that I’m close with them,” after Taehyung finishes one apple slice, you give him another. “Every relationship that I have with someone is different from the other. Like you and Kim for example. Kim is like my current work partner, and you’re…like a friend.”

It’s unusual to call somebody your friend. It was so easy for you to push others away, but Taehyung is the first person that you want to be close with. There was something about him that attracted you—like a fly buzzing toward a light.

And like an attractive light, Taehyung’s smile is just as bright. “I’m glad that I’m your friend.”

“Yea...me too.”

You thought about what Kim said, about how you feel about Taehyung. Of course, he’s a joy to be around—that bubbly yet curious personality of his is hard to dislike. It’s the sort of trait you don’t see too often in adults, especially in the big city, so it’s a breath of fresh air.

You peer over at the window, and it doesn’t seem like the weather is going to calm down. If anything, it looks like it’s going to get worse overnight. It’s so bad that you can’t even see a few feet in front of you.

“Oh no, it looks like there’s going to be a blizzard.”

The inn isn’t that far, and if anything, it won’t be an issue crossing over. But that isn’t the problem. Just the thought of going through a blizzard makes you feel...uncomfortable. Unwanted emotions return, the kind that darkens your mind.

Taehyung can sense the tension, so he thinks of something to bring you back. “Will you be okay?”

“Yea...I think so.”

But he isn’t convinced. Your face says it all, and you don’t want to go out there. He contemplates, then a light bulb turns on when an idea sparks.

“How about you stay here for the night?”

“Huh? No, I’m fine. It’s just snow, and this is a place for patients. I don’t want to take up space.”

“No one comes here and it gets a little lonely at night. If you go out tonight, you might get sick, then you’ll have to stay here for sure.”

“What are the chances that I get sick? Besides, the doctor might not—”

“I don’t mind.” The doctor shouts from the lobby.

His voice catches you by surprise. You didn’t think he could hear you two talk, so now it makes you conscious about how much he’s eavesdropped. The walls truly are thin here.

“See? Stay here tonight.” He reaches over, grabbing your hand.

His thumb strokes your knuckles and he gives you puppy eyes. You can’t say no to him when he gives you that look. You cover your mouth, hiding your burning cheeks as well.

“Okay...I’ll sleep in the room next door. Do you know if the doctor has any spare toothbrushes?”

“Yes, I do.” He shouts from the lobby again.

You sigh, wondering how much he’ll keep listening. “Thanks…”

———

You and Taehyung are brushing your teeths in the same bathroom. While you’re looking at yourself in the mirror, Taehyung is fixated on you. He’s trying to copy how you brush your teeth. Whenever you brush your right teeth, he does the same. When you move to your left, he does that as well. When you spit out the foam, he does the same.

After washing your face, you head to your room, and Taehyung follows. You look behind, stopping, and he stops as well. He’s holding a pillow and blanket, giving you the hint that he wants to sleep with you.

“What are you doing?” Even though you know, you still want to ask.

“I want to go to the same room. I don’t like sleeping alone.”

“But isn’t your room fine as it is?”

“Yea but...it doesn’t have you in there.”

You blush. “But sleeping in the same room is…”

He tilts his head, puzzled. With that innocent look on his face, you don’t want to say any further.

“Anyway, we shouldn’t sleep in the room.”

“But we stay in the same room during the day, and for a long time too. What’s wrong about sleeping in the same room?”

“It’s just…”

You know that he won’t do anything to you, but just the thought of sleeping in the same room is a bit too much. You truly are immature—being a woman in her mid-twenties and is still conscious about sleeping in a room with a man, not even the same bed.

“Is it because there’s only bed? You can sleep there and I can sleep on the couch! If you don’t like that, then I can move my bed into your room and—”

“That’s not it. We’re just going to be next door, so if you ever need anything, then just knock.”

He looks disappointed, but he doesn’t push further. “Okay…”

“Then...good night.”

“Good night.”

You walk to the room, and you look behind one more time, waving. He smiles and waves back. It’s saddening to see him look forward to sleeping in the same room as you, but you don’t want to push boundaries. You keep telling yourself that this decision is for the better.

———

The children are having a snowball fight. Just on the outskirts of the small  town, the kids build fortresses out of snow, using it as a shield to avoid the offense team. They’re running around and laughing, thankful for it to be snowing so they can play.

But approaching them with small steps is Taehyung, still as a child, his hands clasped to his thin jacket. He’s shaking violently, his skin so pale and frozen cold. His hair is a mess, dirt marks smeared all over his skin. His bottom lip trembles and has turned blue, but he still smiles.

His stench can be smelled from the distance, disrupting their fun. The smell of sweat is Taehyung’s signature scent, like a foreboding sign that he’s drawing near. He’s gotten skinnier since the last time he came to Little Bare. Bags hide underneath his eyes, his round cheeks absent.

“It’s Taehyung. Run away!”

The children hide behind the fortresses, and this hurts Taehyung. However, he remains determined and keeps smiling. “Can...I play with you guys?”

But his request isn’t heard. The children are occupied with making snowballs, combining it with the rocks on the ground to create spiky snowballs. They make enough to form a pile. They start throwing them at Taehyung, and although the first few miss, some hit his body.

He raises his hands up, using his hands to block his face. He runs off, but right at the last moment, one child is able to nail a snowball perfectly at the back of his head. THACK! Only he heard the impact to his head. It was hard enough that he fell forward, his face landing first.

The children laugh. “Hurry! Run before the hungry boy eats us!!”

They skip away to their homes. He loses consciousness for a few seconds before groaning. His head pulsates, touching where it hurts but immediately pulls his hand away because of how painful it is. Underneath his breath, he calls for his mother. He calls for her many times, but no matter how many times, she doesn’t return to rescue him.

Still, he wants to believe that his mother will return. She’ll return to him to make him a warm meal under a roof. He’ll finally get to eat candy like the rest of the kids, and maybe, just maybe, the kids will let him play with them. But for now, he has to prove that he’s strong in hopes that his mother will want him back.

As he gets up, limping as his desire to conform with the kids slowly turns into disgust. The animosity grows as strong as the dizziness that blurs his vision. He limps for what felt like hours until he returns to his new home—a large, ominous cave. The mouth of the cave is dark and hollow, like it can suck anyone of any size in.

He leans on the rocky walls, scratching his arm while dragging his body deeper into the darkness. He places his hand on the wall, leaving bloody handprints and smearing them as he moves. He falters, landing face first, which worsens the damage to the head. He turns his head to the left, and there’s a mysterious marking of a grizzly bear with strange symbols around it. It’s been there ever since he found the cave.

His vision blackens as his eyelids become heavier. One tear drops from his eye, apologizing to his mother that he couldn’t be as strong as she hoped for. Within two weeks of her disappearance, he’s giving up. Fighting became a chore, and now sleeping seems like a better option.

And thus, he closes his eyes for good. And the last thing he thought of was a wish. A wish that he could’ve made at least one friend.

But before he does, the drawing of the grizzly bear on the wall begins to glow.

———-

Taehyung gasps for air, clawing at his throat. He felt pressure on his chest, and it was so clustered that he could’ve sworn that he stopped breathing. He sits up, not realizing that he had been crying in his sleep. Looking down at his pillow, there’s a large puddle of tears and on his eyes as well.

He brings his knees closer to him, covering his ears as he squeezes his eyes shut. Stop it. I don’t want them anymore, he repeats in his head. His memories are terrifying, as if every time he goes back in the past, all it ever becomes is jumping straight into a nightmare. Waking up from an unwanted dream makes this damp room seem scarier, like there’s no one to protect him.

“(Y/N)...” You’re the first person to come to mind. But when he calls for your name, you’re not there. He recalls that you’re sleeping in the room next door.

He gets out of bed, grabbing his pillow and blanket as he walks out of the room. He drags his feet to your room, knocking on the door.

“(Y/N)? Are you asleep?”

There’s no response. He looks at both ends of the hallway, paranoid that some evil ghost is going to appear in either direction. He clutches onto the pillow tighter.

“(Y/N)?”

The calm snow has turned into a blizzard again, and the gales whistle in the cracks of the windows. The wind shakes violently against the window, almost like a robber trying to break in. It scares him more, so he lowers his head, praying that you heard him.

“(Y/N)? Are you there?”

It reminds him of his childhood after his mother left. After wandering in the forest for a long time, he found a cave. While he was excited to live there, nighttime was never his favorite. The large opening left him vulnerable to wild animals to potentially attack him. And standing at the center of the hall reminds him of that, that exposure of his body to the cold world, his life taken away at any second.

“I’m scared...so please…”

The doorknob twists, startling him. He gasps, holding his breath in, but he lets it go when it was you that opened it. You’re rubbing your eyes, yawning. “Taehyung? What are you doing up so late?”

He hastily enters your room, closing the door for you. “Is it okay if I sleep here?”

You don’t make an immediate response, which scares him that you’ll decline.

“I had a nightmare.”

It might be because you’re half-asleep, but it doesn’t take that much persuasion to let him sleep. “Alright...but sleep on the couch.”

“Okay!” He takes baby steps to the couch, placing his pillow by the arm rest and lays down. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Sleep tight.” And just like that, you go to bed.

Taehyung watches you sleep, seeing as you’ve already knocked out within seconds. He tries to fall asleep as well, but no matter how many times he tosses and turns, he can’t sleep. He’s gotten comfortable being the person he is now, happy to be here and seeing you every day, not the depressed child who was abandoned by everyone.

Some time has gone by, and he still can’t sleep. He’s staring at the ceiling, listening to you breathe steadily. The nightmare he had is as vivid as ever, experiencing the phantom pain that came with the head injury.

“(Y/N)? Are you still awake?” Without a response, it tells Taehyung that you’re not.

He sits up, staring at you. He gives it a few seconds before getting out of bed. He stands over your bed before making the rash decision to sleep next to you.

He lays down, his face just mere inches away from yours. Despite being so close, he finds your face mesmerizing. He’s so close that he can feel your breathing.

Taehyung wanted to lay next to you just to see how it’s like to sleep next to someone. It’s so comforting knowing that there’s someone next to him, like the paranoia has been swept away. The longer he stares at you, the redder his face turns. Even though it’s the middle of winter, his face feels hot. He sees you every day, but he can’t understand why he’s nervous now.

He wants to move closer, but your hand is in between your and his face. Rather than move it away, he bites his bottom lip in contemplation. He’s already crossing the line, so he’s afraid that you’ll push him away if he tries too much.

He puts his hand over yours, intertwining his fingers. Your hands are smaller than he thought, his palm already engulfing it. Not only that, but your hand is so warm. Your fingers jolt, which nearly made him pull his hand away. But after that, you’re still. He sighs in relief.

Laying next to him is you, the person who’s taken care of him since the beginning. Judging on his fragmented memories, you’re the first person to ever fight to be with him. It doesn’t matter the reason, he’s just happy that someone thinks that he’s worth it. But at the same time, you’re the person who got him into this mess. You’re the one who threw that rock, just like the other kids. You made his head bleed like how they did. And yet…

He forgives you.

He gently presses his forehead against your forehead. He wished you could stay with him forever so that he can never experience abandonment again. Taehyung is afraid that you’ll end up being like his mother—crying for your name but you never coming to his rescue.

———

The blizzard has died down, and the blaring sun blinds your eyes. You flutter your eyes open, using your arm to cover them from the light. You sit up, exhaling as your vision adjusts to the morning rays.

“Good morning!” Taehyung exclaims as he opens the windows.

You had forgotten that he slept here last night. Even though it’s early in the morning, Taehyung is as energetic as usual.

“Did you sleep well?” You rub your eyes.

“Better than ever.”

You barely remember what happened last night. You know you got up to open the door, but after that, it was a blur. Taehyung also looks chirpier than usual, though you don’t know why. It could be because he got what he wanted and sleep in the same room as you. Whatever the reason, you’re glad that he’s smiling.

As you get out of bed and into the bathroom to wash up, he glances at you. His smile is gone, contemplating some thoughts in his head.

In the bathroom, you splash water in your face after brushing your teeth. You look at yourself in the mirror and massage your cheeks, feeling a little conscious about making weird faces in your sleep. You hope that you didn’t make any noises during the night either.

You walk out of the door, startled when Taehyung turns out to be just by the entrance. “Whoa! Sorry, did I almost hit you?”

But he ignores your question, folding his hands together. “(Y/N), I was just wondering...but you live in the city, right?”

“Yea, I do.”

“...When are you leaving?”

“Uhm...we’ve been here for a pretty long time now, so I think I have a few days until our train comes to pick us up.”

He looks pained just hearing that. “Then...if it’s okay with you, can I show you something before you leave? I think I finally know who I am, at least, the more important parts of myself.”

“This...came out of nowhere, but I’m glad you remember everything. What do you want to show me?”

“It’s...where I used to live. It’s not that far from here.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You live near here? Sure, I don’t mind, but are you even allowed to go out?”

“...Yea. The doctor gave me permission to leave. Is it possible to go later tonight?”

Tonight? You’re unsure about it. It’s too dangerous, especially if you two stray too far away from the town. “Can’t we go tomorrow morning? It’ll be too dark if we go later.”

“I know, but I’m afraid that if we wait in the morning, then i’m going to forget. Please! It sounds crazy...a-and stupid, but I don’t want to sit around and wait anymore. There’s...something I want to confirm with myself. My memories are jumbled up, and I feel like if I go as soon as possible, then everything will make sense. If not, then can we at least go when the sun’s setting?”

You’re still hesitant about it. But seeing the desperation in his eyes, it’s apparent that with or without you, he’s going to go on his own. The tale of the Winter Bear is real, and if Taehyung is taken by it, then it’ll be blood on your hands. If not that, then a coyote can eat him too.

It’s that feeling of responsibility coming back again. If you say no and he’s in danger, you have to live with guilt. You can’t bear to lose another person because of your selfishness.

“O...okay, I’ll go with you. But only in the condition that we go back as soon as you show me.”

“Thank you so much!”

Even though he seemed happy earlier, there’s an air of seriousness. You thought it was strange that he lives near here, and despite Little Bare being so small, no one knew he had been nearby all this time. Although he’s vague about it, it does make you curious about him.

———

“You’re going out again?” Kim crosses her arms.

While back in the inn, you’re putting on your coat. The whole day has already gone by, and you’re going to meet Taehyung just like you planned. However, Kim isn't impressed by it.

“Is he even allowed to go out? It doesn’t seem like he completely recovered.”

You shrug your shoulders. “Apparently, the doctor said that it was okay.”

However, Kim doesn’t seem to agree with your answer. She creases her eyebrows, putting her index finger to her chin as if thinking.

“What?”

“You know...you’ve been seeing him a lot lately. More than actually doing work.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for not helping. Is there anything specific you wanted me to do?”

“No...it’s okay. I already have a basis for my book. Besides, if this was to help you reconcile with your past, then it’s alright.”

“...I feel horrible, like I didn’t help at all.”

She shakes her head. “No, you did a lot more than you think.”

You crease your eyebrows, not entirely sure what she means by that. Regardless, you’re glad that you somehow helped her, though not sure with what and how.

“But...I’m really curious. What relationship do you have with Taehyung? I know you told me that you just met him, but to be frank, whenever I do see you two talk, it seems like you guys have known each other for years.”

You don’t respond. This should be an easy answer, yet, you struggle.

“Miss Suniya told me about you. Mind if we chat for a little bit before you go?”

“Sure...” You sit down on a chair, then Kim sits by the edge of the bed. “What did she say about me?”

“She told me that you have selective memory loss.”

You’re not surprised that Suniya told her about your condition.

“I’m sure there are things that you do and don’t remember about this place, which is why it probably wasn’t so hard to convince you to come with me. The reason why I never bothered you to help me with the book is because I wanted to give you the chance to regain the repressed memories naturally.”

You don’t know where she’s going with this. “...Why is it important that I remember?”

“Well, I...this...you…” she stumbles with her words. “I just want to tell you that you’re a really special person.”

“...Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t think you understand how hard it was to get into contact with you,” She steps closer. “Miss (Y/N), you’re the only person who’s ever seen the Winter Bear and survived. You’re the reason why I became intrigued with this myth in the first place, but those blockbuster people paid news outlets to get rid of articles written about you to sell this myth as a friendly story, so I hit a dead end until I read your article and knew that I found you.”

Things are beginning to click, but you don’t like where this is going. “This...isn’t only about the myth...is it?”

“Do you not realize how big this story is going to be when I write about your encounter with the bear?! People are gonna go crazy over it, then people won’t look down on me for studying mythology. So that’s why, Miss (Y/N), I want to know your relationship with that Taehyung person. My instincts tell me that there’s more to him than what meets the eye.”

“So...you’re doing all this to make money?”

“Why else are we here?” Kim crosses her arms. “Miss (Y/N), don’t pretend to be a hero when we both know that you tagged along for the money, too.”

“This doesn’t feel right...and what about Taehyung?”

The misery that you went through only to be exploited for money is one thing, but for her to use Taehyung, it’s a different story. You’re so infuriated with her that everything in your vision turns red. You thought about punching her, but you manage to control yourself.

Kim gets on her knees, right before your feet. “Who cares about what he thinks? Miss (Y/N), we are writers trying to survive, aren’t we? No matter how many people compliment our writing abilities, words aren’t going to put food on the plate.”

“Stop it…”

You have a flashback of being a kid again, but in the hospital, being checked for any injuries. You didn’t show any physical pain, your mentality however…

“No, I don’t want to…”

“I need you to go back in the past and try. It doesn’t hurt to remember Annie, right?”

The image of your mother crouching over a chair, her face buried in her hands as she cries her heart out. You two are in the police station, waiting for any updates to Annie’s disappearance when a policeman broke the devastating news that they won’t continue the search.

“Don’t you want justice for your baby sister? So you need to come out and describe how the Winter Bear looks like.”

You cover your ears, fragments of your memories that you tried so hard to bury are returning to the surface. You remember the forest, knee-deep in the snow, meeting the friend you made during your stay here. You remember intertwining your pinky finger with your friend’s finger, promising that you’ll be friends forever. A childish vow that you wished you never committed. Because you also promised that friend that you’ll introduce Annie.

“So please, remember—”

“Stop it! I should’ve never come along with you!”

You get up from the chair, marching right for the door and slamming it behind you. Now standing on the other side of the door, you lean on it, rubbing your eyes as you grunt. You don’t want to remember; it’s better if they never come back. You like the way things are. You have nothing to worry about, you want to feel like there’s nothing to worry about. For now, you just want to see Taehyung.

———

At the front of the inn, Taehyung is already there, wearing a thick jacket but is still in his patient uniform. It’s already dark out, but you can see him clearly. When he sees you, he smiles and waves. However, you seem fazed with what Kim said. He’s quick to catch on to your discomfort, so he wraps his hands around yours. It catches you by surprise, but it goes away when he beams.

“How are you?”

“Great, how about you?”

“Good! It’s a lot colder than the last time I went outside.”

You chuckle. “Yea, you’ve been locked up in that hospital.”

“The hospital isn’t that bad. Anyway, are you ready?”

“Sure. How hard is it from here?”

“Not too far,” he takes you by the hand. “Come on, it’s already getting dark.”

He drags you to the direction of his supposed home. You look back at the inn, your senses finally returning and realizing that you’re really going to Taehyung’s residence late at night. You know you can trust him, but there’s something off about this that lingers in the back of your head. Yet, you don’t want to go back either, especially after hearing Kim’s real motive. You want to stay with Taehyung because you feel safer with him. Unlike many adults you’ve encountered, he’s transparent.

———

“Taehyung...are you sure you know where you’re going?”

As you two head deeper into the forest, the lights that came from the town disappear. You hold onto his hand tighter, fear crawling up your skin. It doesn’t help that it’s night either. In contrast to you, Taehyung is undisturbed.

“Yup, it’s beginning to look familiar.”

You regret choosing to go later in the day. If anything, you feel like a complete idiot for agreeing to go this late. It might be because you’re older and know the dangers of the world, but the woods seem far scarier compared to when you were a child.

“I don’t like this…! Let’s go back.”

After saying that, you hear a branch crack and it startles you. You let out a yelp, instinctively grabbing onto Taehyung’s arm. It doesn’t frighten him, so he’s clueless about why you’re afraid.

“If you’re scared, then hold on to me.”

Now conscious about your actions, you pull away, your cheeks flush with red. However, Taehyung doesn’t give you a chance to reconsider and drags you back into his arms. He wraps around your shoulders, squeezing you closer to his chest as he gives you a cheeky smile. You avert your eyes, sulking, but he’s not wrong about you being scared. You hold onto his shirt as you two continue walking.

To distract you from your fears, he changes the topic. “What kind of house do you live in?”

“Mine? Hm...well...it’s nothing fantastic. I live in a one-bedroom apartment.”

“That’s it?”

You nod. “It’s probably a little bigger than your private room back at the clinic.”

“Really?!”

“It’s small but so expensive...How about your home? I never got to ask if you live with anyone.” Though, judging by how no one that he knew came by to pick him up, he most likely lives alone.

“I live alone...and my home...is a little different from a normal home. It is big though.”

“Oh really? That must be cool. And to have it all for yourself too.”

“It was, and I thought it was cool because of how roomy it was...but it didn’t take for me to dislike it.”

“Oh...I’m surprised nobody has ever mentioned that you lived nearby...But speaking of your home, I was wondering, how long have you been living here?”

“Ever since I was a kid.”

“Really? And you’ve never ran into the Winter Bear?”

He shakes his head. “I rarely see bears in general.”

You thought it was strange how he’s lived here since he was a child and yet, he has never been kidnapped. If he’s lived here since he was young, then he would’ve been long gone.

“...My mother always told me that I’ll grow up to be strong. She said that I’ll be so strong that I won’t need to sleep like a bear who hibernates. And I believed her.”

Your ears perk up, listening to him attentively. You recall when Margaret that bears technically don’t hibernate.

“But a part of me thinks that it was mental training to prepare for when she abandoned me.”

You raise an eyebrow.

“That’s when I found a home to live. It was hard living by myself. Kids from Little Bare made fun of me for being a dirty boy and threw rocks at me until I ran away.”

“What are you talking about…? Little Bare doesn’t have any kids…”

“I hated living alone because it was scary, and all I wanted was a friend, or anybody who was willing to keep me company.”

What he’s saying is beginning to sound suspicious. You slowly pull yourself away from him, and it doesn’t seem like he minds.

“You know...travelling through my memories...I’ve always seen snow. Little Bare is always snowing no matter what year it is.”

“Taehyung...Little Bare doesn’t snow all the time. You know that...right?”

“Yea...so I wonder how the other seasons look like. It’s been so long. I learned that snow soaks in all sounds, which is why it’s always quiet during winter. I hate the silence more than anything. I want to know how it’s like to live where it’s filled with laughter.”

Taehyung draws near to his home, which is located in the middle of the forest. Horror slowly seeps under your skin when you start noticing how...familiar this place is. It was difficult to see the resemblance because of how dark it is, but once your eyes adjust to it, it looks as clear as your memories.

“So...it’s a little disheartening to hear that you’re leaving soon, (Y/N). I was hoping you could be here longer.”

You know this place all too well. Your legs begin to tremble, mortified that you have returned to the place that you desperately tried to keep buried in your subconscious. Standing before you is a large cave, towering over you and Taehyung. It’s like a gaping mouth ready to swallow anyone that comes in.

You fall backward, your hands buried in the freezing snow. You can’t get your eyes off of the cave as you hear haunting cries of children’s souls trickling from the depths of the hellhole; one of them sounds exactly like Annie.

Taehyung sees the pure terror in your eyes, crouching over as he tries to help you up. However, when he reaches his hand out, you finally remember exactly who Taehyung is. It makes sense why it was so easy for you to get along with him and why it felt like you’ve known him for so long. Back when you were six years old, this very person is the cursed Winter Bear—the monster who took Annie away.

You swipe his hand away, so shaken that no words are expressed. Your breathing becomes unstable, panic sets in, and your mind goes all sorts of directions. You think about one thing, but your mind heads the other way. You see Taehyung’s mouth moving, but you can’t hear it, only muffles. You can only hear a static ring fly across your ears. Even in the freezing temperatures, you’re sweating bullets.

“(Y/N)...I—”

“S-STAY AWAY!” You crawl backward, swinging your hand side to side to defend yourself from him.

It’s that innocent look in his eyes again that you vividly recall. He was able to transform into a bear and a kid, but when you first met him, he was a child just like you who found you playing in the snow by yourself. He lured you in with fictional affection, promising that he’ll never let you be neglected. It was all a ruse to lock you in that cave, just like the hundreds of souls in there, including your little sister’s.

He looks hurt, but he understands. Right as your memories are coming back to you, it’s returning to him as well. The screams of his victims, the scared look on their faces as they try to escape, and his vicious obsession of chasing after them. He pulls his hand back, knowing full well the crime that he committed twenty years ago. Just one glance at you and he knew that you won’t forgive him. So when you fled, he didn’t bother to chase after you.

All you hear from behind is the aching cries of a young man.

———

Keep running.

Don’t look back.

Focus in front of you.

You run through the forest without a light source. You don’t even know if it’s the right direction back to town, but anywhere is better than there. It was just like that time when you narrowly escaped Taehyung’s grasps. He was so occupied with your sister that he lost sight of you. Just like history repeating itself, you barely escaped his grasp.

You hate yourself for falling into his trap for a second time. Like a pied piper luring children, it was like his curse never uplifted. No wonder it didn’t take a lot for you to turn down the chance to come back to the town. You never learned from your mistakes, and that’s because you kept running away. You ran away so often that you even forgot his face.

Tears blur your vision, so you use your forearm to wipe them away. Despite the revelation, the resurgence of painful reminices, you feel awful for running away from Taehyung. You can’t forget the times spent with him, sharing personal stories of yourself and vice versa, and your friendship deepening. You promised him that he can rely on you, but you already broke it. But...how do you keep a promise with the monster who not only took your sister, but also took away your childhood?

You’re so focused on wiping the tears away that you bumped into someone and fell down. You scream in terror, kicking your feet as you try to get up.

“Hey! (Y/N), calm down!”

The person tries to grab your flailing legs, but you only kick harder. “STOP IT! LET GO! HELP!”

“(Y/N), (Y/N), it’s me! It’s me, relax!!” You feel two hands cupping your cheeks so you can look at the person. “It’s me, Suniya.”

You stop panicking. But your mind feels foggy, and for a moment, you’ve forgotten where you’re at.

“We work together. You’re a journalist, and I’m your agent. You’re twenty-six years old and live in the city. You graduated from the University of Redlands, and you’re the daughter of two parents who live miles away from you. You came here with a researcher to study the town called Little Bare. I came here because I was worried since I couldn’t contact you, then Miss Kim led me here.”

Your breathing becomes steady, regaining control of your unstable mind. It all comes back to you, and now that you got the chance to process what’s happened, your body becomes weak. The only thing you want to do now is cry. You hold onto Suniya, burying your face in her arms as you wail like a child.

Suniya is in shock, never seeing you cry this much before. She knew how much the Winter Bear affected you, but not to this extent, and it breaks her heart. She hugs you back, tears streaming down from her eyes as well.

“Suniya...I...lied. I lied to him again. I ran away. I got scared...I-I couldn’t think...then I left him there...An-Annie...I heard her cry. She was crying so much…”

“It’s okay...you’re safe. Don’t cry.” She hushes you.

She rocks you back and forth as you continue to sob. Your sentences are everywhere, but to question you in this state isn’t going to help. For now, what you need is to hide in somebody else’s arms until you’re okay.

———

“I shouldn’t never fucking agreed to this!” Suniya shouts.

In the room that you stayed in, Suniya is arguing with Kim. You’re sitting in the fetal position in the halls, your back against the wall. Even though the doors are closed, you can hear Yesosang’s voice as clear as day.

It’s the next morning, and you couldn’t sleep a wink. You and Suniya stayed in another room from the inn, not letting Kim know that you returned. The moment the sun rose, Suniya went straight to Kim’s room and has been arguing with her since.

“I thought I had to worry about you because (Y/N) can be a handful but...it was her that I should’ve been more concerned about. You're an absolute scum.”

“Please, try to understand from my viewpoint. Miss (Y/N)’s story needs to be heard—”

“‘Heard’? You mean use?! You don’t give a fuck about what she went through. I should’ve known better and not leave her in the hands of a stranger.”

“You didn’t need to word it that way. I was just trying to help her. I feel like, as a scholar in pursuit of knowledge, she has every right to remember every second of her memories.”

“Oh, don’t give me that scholar bullshit!! You’re no different than those Hollywood people exploited this damn town for money, and you’re not even different from us who are trying to live each day trying to make money. (Y/N)’s repressed memory is not your textbook!”

You can’t handle all this shouting anymore. You’re upset with yourself to make Suniya come all the way here, wasting her family time just to find you. Even though she blames Kim, you feel accountable for agreeing to go on this trip. Suniya can blame your mental instability all she wants, you’re still an adult, and you still said yes.

You wonder what Taehyung’s doing right now. Hopefully, he isn’t cold.

“We’re leaving tonight. You can stay stranded here for all I care. When we get back, we’re going to make sure that every publication doesn’t want to work with you,” Suniya stomps out of the room, taking you by the hand and dragging you with her. “Let’s go, (Y/N).”

As you two walk down the halls, she can sense the immense amount of guilt you’re carrying. She knows you’re blaming yourself, so she slows down and holds both of your hands.

“It’s not your fault, so stop worrying.”

You want to stop, but the guilt won’t leave. Once again, it’s suffocating thinking about what you could’ve done to prevent this from happening.

———

Outside, a gust of wind nearly blows Suniya off of her feet. She was only able to keep still because she was holding onto you. “Holy shit, is the weather always this bad??”

“It became like this recently.”

“Ugh…if this continues, then we might not be able to leave. Sorry, (Y/N).”

“It’s fine.”

Just as you two were returning to the inn, Magaret chases after you two. “Hold up just a minute! (Y/N), can I have a word with you?”

“Who are you?”

“It’s okay, Suniya. Margaret’s been taking care of me.”

She hugs you, almost making you break your back. “Oh dear god, I’m glad you’re alright. I heard that you went off into the forest with that young man. He didn’t touch you, did he?”

You shake your head.

“Thank god. Sheriff Tusk is currently looking for him and will make sure that his ass goes to prison.”

“Wait, what?”

“You can never fully trust men. They’re deceitful and only strive for one thing, and that’s—”

“Is there something important you wanted to say to (Y/N)? We’re in a bit of a hurry to leave.” Suniya saw how disturbed you became when she mentioned Taehyung.

Margaret scoffs. “In this weather? Lady, you’re gonna die if you go today.”

“Why?”

“It’s gonna be ‘nother blizzard happenin’ tonight, and it’s crazier than it’s ever been before. You outta stay one more night.”

But Suniya doesn’t have the patience to deal with another person. “Look, I know you guys don’t have that many outsiders, but I know when locals are trying to make tourists cough out as much money as possible. We’ll be taking our leave.”

What Margaret said about Sheriff Tusk going out to look for Taehyung, so it worries you that he’ll get in trouble. But knowing how quickly Suniya wants to leave this place, she won’t want to stay.

��Wait...I think you should listen to her…”

“You too??”

“The weather here can be pretty bad. We should stay one more night.”

“...Will you be fine…?”

You nod. “I’m not a kid.”

But she seems hesitant, but seeing as the weather is getting worse, it might be for the best. Besides, you’ve been here longer than she has, so she has no choice but to abide by your request. “Okay…”

Margaret’s eyes haven’t left you, clearly showing how worried she is for you. However, she doesn’t say anything as she knows you might want to brush it off. “Yea...it might be for the better.”

———

Later that night in the inn, you’re laying in bed while Suniya is taking a shower. And just like what Margaret said, the town is going through yet another blizzard. This time, it’s heavier compared to the first one. You’re still thinking about everything that happened the night before. You don’t know how you were unable to recognize Taehyung since the beginning.

Did you really repress your memories that much that you forgot his face? The cries from the children’s souls are still imprinted in your mind. Perhaps in the back of your head, you had a hutch that it was him, but his purity made you doubt yourself. Maybe you were keen on going back to him to confirm that it isn’t him from twenty years ago that you ignored the red flags.

Despite the tragedy that he caused in your family, you can’t forget the times spent together. Exposed to the reality of the world made you disregard that there are kind people like Taehyung. He’s caring...but you keep going back to when he lured you and Annie to his cave. It’s conflicting, like two sides of him that you know are real, yet they challenge one another. On one side, he’s your antagonist, but on the other side, he’s like a savior.

There’s a knocking at the door, alerting you. You get up, wondering if you should open it, but seeing as the knocking won’t stop, you get out of bed and open it. On the other side is Kim.

“Hi, Miss—” You nearly slam the door in her face, but she put her weight on the door just in time. “P-please, just give me a minute to explain! I just want to apologize for my selfishness!! I should’ve known better than to take advantage of your trauma.”

You take a second to rethink before opening it for her. You glance at the bathroom, hearing the showerhead still going off.

“You have until Suniya finishes showering to tell me.”

“Thank you…uhm...Again, I’m sorry...I was caught up with my own goals that I lost myself for a second. But...there are a few things that I’ve been doing way before I met you…” she shows you a vanilla folder in her arms. “Here’s some information that I’ve gathered from the town’s archives. It was not an easy task to obtain, so please take good care of them.”

 She passes the folder to you. When you open it, it’s filled with records that look so old that it’ll crumble at any second. Some of these papers feel like it’s decades old too.

“What’s this?”

“My research. I hope this is enough for you to forgive me...I think it’ll really help you with figuring out who Taehyung is and what this curse is.”

And just like that, Kim leaves. You close the door and set the folder down on the desk, spreading every individual paper out for you to read. Some of them are extremely old—going as far as the late 1800’s. The papers on top of the stack are about every recorded disappearance in Little Bare, even some that came after Annie’s. In total, there are a little under sixty child disappearances. As you go through each article, from most recent to oldest, you notice that at some point, the Winter Bear lore became big in the news in the 1950s when a wealthy child went missing. There was even an attempt to make a film out of it but was cancelled due to how controversial it was. To some extent, there was a children’s book in the 1940s about the bear as well.

But as you go back in time, there tends to be less coverage in the early 1900s, most likely due to new coverage of the two World Wars being more favored. A majority of its timeline has been skipped over, and now you’re in the 1880s with newspapers with titles like Exclusive!! Small Town Cursed with Black Magic or Real-Life Witch Doctor Lives!! Cave is an Accessway to Hell. The columns come with pictures of supposed real cave drawings, all are shapes resembling animals, some are birds, dogs, fish, and...bears. There are outrageous claims that the one responsible for those drawings used their blood.

However, as you skim through the articles, it explains what the purpose of those drawings are. Each one resembles the strength of each animal, bird = flight, fish = underwater breathing, etc. There are also theories that the etchings give the holder the ability to shapeshift, though it’s limited. In the third and last article, the title says, Breaking News: Immortality Exists...Or Does It?

Once you go through the papers, you make it to the last few papers. It’s been clipped together with a paperclip, and it’s a record of residences who previously lived in Little Bare. As you flip through them, some pages stick out to you. Some names in each year are highlighted with yellow, and it doesn’t take long for you to learn the pattern. Every name that Kim has colored in are Korean immigrants, and, in particular, there’s a large spike in Korean names in the 1910 records. In that exact, there’s only one name that has been highlighted and circled.

The name is Kim Taehyung.

After 1910, the Korean population here decreased significantly, to where there were no more. And the paper at the bottom of the stack is a black-and-white copy of a photograph with all the Korean immigrants that moved into Little Bare in that year. One there’s a pair that stands out to you. It’s a younger version of Taehyung smiling, and standing behind him is a woman, presumably his mother.

That’s when everything clicked for you. And in that moment, you take the picture from the folder, put on your boots and scarf, and take your thick coat before running out through the doors. You can’t wait for this blizzard to die down, and you have a feeling that it won’t if you don’t go now.

But you stop in your tracks, returning to the room, almost forgetting something. You look through the drawers to grab something small before putting it in your pocket before dashing back out.

———

The blizzard is more intense than ever before, even to the point to where you can barely see anything. Even opening your eyes wider already feels like they’ll freeze. You trek onward to the cave, praying that he’s still there. You’re fully aware at how ridiculous and idiotic this is, like you could’ve waited until it calmed down. But deep down, you know it won’t die down until you find him.

Thankfully, you made it to the cave without any problems. You pick up the pace as you enter the cave, shivering almost to death. Even with multiple layers of clothes, you’re freezing to the point where you can’t feel your feet. In front of you is the black hole that belongs to the cave. The cries of the childrens that Taehyung has taken lurks on the other side. You gulp, clenching your fists to stop them from trembling. You look over your shoulder at the blizzard. You can’t turn back now, so you have to push forward.

You turn on the flashlight on your phone and continue walking. The deeper you went, the louder the cries became. The walls start closing in, and on there are also the same animal drawings from the newspapers. The sound of water droplets complements the hollow cries. It’s getting so loud that it’s beginning to unnerve you. You want to cover your ears, but even if you do, the dreadful cries won’t leave.

But you know that the kids are trying to warn you to leave. They don’t want you to make the same mistakes they made. They’re children—pure souls who lost their young lives. They don't have any intentions to play tricks on you, so that’s why you have to keep pushing through because you have unfinished business.

“(Y/N)...” A young girl’s voice calls out from behind.

Even though you haven’t heard that voice in years, you know exactly who it is. Turning your head around, an apparition of Annie forms. There she is—in her blue-and-white striped dress and pink jacket with the brown boots. She hasn’t aged a bit, but she’s crying.

“Don’t go. Go back home where you have a warm house and people who care about you.” Annie whimpers.

Hearing her speak weighs heavily on your chest. You can’t hold back the tears, so you let it out.

She extends her hand out. “If you don’t hurry, then you’ll freeze to death here.”

Your knees almost gave in, nearly making you fall. Even though you know full well that she can’t be alive, a part of you feels relieved to see her again. It may not even be her, just a recreation that Taehyung made. She has to be his recreation because a two-year-old wouldn’t know to say this.

You approach her spirit, crouching down to her level. You wipe your eyes, exhaling while you smile. “Hi Annie, thanks for warning me. You’re just trying to look out for your older sister, aren’t you?”

She continues to cry, nodding her head.

“It’s okay, you can trust me now. Your big sister is now a grown up. I’m just going to talk to our friend.”

“But! That’s not a friend! He’s a monster who’s done bad things. It’s his fault that I died and that Mom and Dad hates you. He’s made you miserable. He’s the problem!” She cries even louder.

You tilt your head, your grin not once leaving. “I know, but sometimes people do things because they’ve been wronged, too. They won’t know that they’re doing something bad until they learn the good in the world. Our friend was just lonely because he left his homeland, then his parents left him, and no one wanted to be his friend.”

Annie finally stops crying.

“So when he finally made a friend, he wanted it to last forever. That’s why he took their souls. It didn’t help when he had more bad luck and became immortal and has supernatural powers. I just know that deep down, he’s a good person who’s been on the wrong path for a very long time. Right...Taehyung?”

You stand up, turning around after the spirit of your sister disappears. The cries from the children dissipate, and the only one left crying is Taehyung. You approach him slowly, and as you get closer, you can hear him repeatedly mumbling, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ under his breath.

“Am I right, Taehyung? It just got out of hand, and your fear took over you.”

“...I hate opening my eyes to this empty cave. Because I know that whenever I went to town, everyone else would have friends or families to return to when I had nobody. And I never asked to be cursed to live forever either! Why couldn’t I have died a long time ago?!”

He continues to wallow in his own misery.

“And it’s worse when I’m only awake during winter. I don’t even remember what spring, summer, or fall looks like...”

A bear who doesn’t sleep during winter isn’t strong, but a lonely animal because he’ll be the only one awake. Taehyung may be able to live for a long time, but in exchange, he has to hibernate for nine months because the curse is too strong to hold.

“I don’t want to be attached to you. I’m afraid that I’ll try to take you away, but I’m also scared that I’ll never see you again. (Y/N), you’re the only person who’s ever showed me kindness after a hundred years...and I’m afraid that I’ll never experience that again. So please...leave me when you still have the chance. You have a life out there.”

“You don’t have to stay here! You can live with me and—”

“You think I haven’t tried leaving? I’ve tried leaving so many times, but each time I try, I feel like I’m on a leash. The further I go, the more suffocating it gets. An invisible rope is around my neck, but I don’t die. You don’t understand...I’m stuck here forever.”

You don’t want to think about the many attempts he’s tried to end his life. You can’t imagine how you’ll turn out if you were stuck in his position. You’ll probably become insane like him, too. Waking up to the same snowy setting with no one to be there for you. After all, the color white can make people go insane if you see it too much.

You tighten your fists. “Then...then I’ll stay.”

“What?!”

“Let the children’s spirits free and I can stay with you.”

But he shakes his head. “No...don’t give me hope. Just go! Don’t waste yourself with me.”

“No, you listen to me. I’m willing to do it.”

“But...why?! I’ve made your life horrible, and I selfishly took your sister away. I’m the cause of all your problems! I don’t deserve anything from you.”

The pressure of the lives he’s taken away is beginning to weigh down on him, and it’s so much that he can’t handle it. It’s a complicated conflict where he took away so many loved ones from their family, including Annie, but the world was so unfair to him before he fell under this cave’s curse. He didn’t kill because he enjoyed it, but because he didn’t know how to handle his emotions and ended up releasing it in a way he never consciously meant to happen. No matter how hard you try to forget what he’s done, it’ll never leave. It’s engraved into your memory regardless of how much you’ve tried to repress it. You can’t forget but…

You scour through your pocket, showing him the watermelon-flavored candy. He’s confused, but in exchange, you beam. “This is my favorite flavor, and it’s yours too, isn’t it?”

You unwrap it, giving the candy to him. When he doesn’t accept it, you nudge it to him, then he hesitantly takes it.

“Eat it and let the bitterness go away.”

He stares at it, unsure of what your intentions are.

“Almost every kid loves candy, and it’s because of how sweet it is. It’s so sugary that it distracts them from their sorrow. But...it’s also special because of how short-lived the candy is. At some point, it’ll melt in your mouth, and then you’ll want another one, and you can’t keep eating it, otherwise your teeth will rot.”

He clenches it in his fist. “...Why are you going so far for me?”

“Because I like you.”

His eyes widen, almost as if he’s never heard of from somebody else. He thought he heard you wrong. Taehyung is so starstruck.

“I know I can never forget what you’ve done to Annie and what happened after...and honestly...I’m still conflicted. But after getting to know you, I realized that you’re a victim like anybody else. You can’t bring back the kids, but what you can do is learn from your mistakes. So...let the kids go and promise to never take another person’s life.”

You kiss him on the forehead for good luck. After pulling yourself back, but while you were caught off-guard, he leans over to give you a peck on the lips. He feels your chapped lips, which you find embarrassing, but doesn’t matter to him—only that his feelings have also been conveyed to you too.

He pulls back, too timid to look at you in the eyes. “I don’t want to disappoint you, so I vow to never take another person’s life, not even yours.”

“What…? T-Tae…”

“Like what you said, I can’t always be looking for ways to be in an infinite paradise. It’ll just leave me miserable, and I don’t want that to happen to you. What we had was special, and I’ll never forget it. So...it’s okay, you can go.”

From behind, you can hear children laughing. Small hands reach over, grabbing you by your jacket and dragging you away from him.

“Wa-wait, Taehyung! What are you doing?!”

He watches as you try to fight the children’s grasp, knowing full well that if they weren’t there to help him, then you wouldn’t leave. You have a feeling that this will be the last time you’ll see him, so you become choked up in your tears.

“No, don’t do this!”

But he doesn’t respond, afraid that if he says something, he’ll break down.

“Taehyung, I promise I’ll be back! I won’t leave you again! When you open your eyes for winter to come again, then I’ll be there to wake you up. And...even if I’m long gone, then I’ll make sure that you’ll never, ever, have to be alone,” You reach your hand out, extending your pinkie. “I promise.”

With one last look in your eyes, he saw hope. Over a hundred years later, he saw light at the end of the cave, that maybe one day, the curse that had been laid upon him will become a blessing. Maybe this time, he can see someone precious again without taking their life. Even if you don’t fulfill your side to the promise, just the facade of hope is enough to make him look forward to next winter.

Within a blink of an eye, he reaches over and wraps his pinky around yours. He’s so thankful that he’s crying uncontrollably.

“Thank you, (Y/N).”

And with one swift move, the children’s spirits pull you out of the cave, separating you from him. Before you close your eyes, you could’ve sworn that you saw Taehyung in his child form, eating the candy that you gave him.

———

You regain consciousness after feeling someone shaking your shoulders. The first person you see is Suniya, bawling like a baby. When you opened your eyes, she froze, not sure about what to do next.

“Sun...Suniya?”

“Oh, thank god!” She hugs you tightly. “I was so scared that we lost you.”

You’re still in the woods. Though, the snow is beginning to melt and the sun is blaring down on your face. You look around to find all the townspeople surrounding you, including Kim.

“Jesus Christ, you gave all of us a fright, girl.” Margaret wipes her tears with her sleeve. “Goin’ out during the middle of a brutal blizzard. Are you insane?”

You look down at your hands, and they’re not trembling anymore. “I guess I am.”

It felt like a dream. In fact, every second you spent with Taehyung felt like a dream because of how fast time flew by. What you experienced in the cave, you don’t know if it actually happened.

You turn around, seeing that the cave is hollow. It’s a lot smaller than what you last remembered. The entrance is like a black hole, but it isn’t empty. But what’s better is that you don’t hear children crying anymore. You look back at the crowd, glancing at Kim who’s crossing her arms. One look and she knew that you overcame your trauma.

Suniya helps you up, putting your arm around her neck. Though your body is fine, your muscles feel weak.

“Come on, let’s go back and get you warmed up.”

“What the hell were you doin’ here, by the way?” Margaret asks.

“There’s just something that I needed to do...and I’m not done with it yet.”

[The End]

———

EPILOGUE

“Alright, next, I’m going to teach you how to make a campfire.”

You are standing in a circle around a bunch of kids. They’re wearing thick jackets with badges on them and have dark green hats with the symbol of a brown bear over a snowflake over them. They’re hugging their arms, shivering to the old.

“Do we have to make one now?”

“It’s too cold to do anything, Miss.”

“Can’t we just learn it back at the cabin?”

You shake your head. “The whole reason to make a campfire is to build it outside. Not only is the fire meant to keep you warm, but it also helps cook food and used as a light source.”

You grab some branches from the ground, wiping the snow off of it.

“You see how wet it is? It won’t make a good fire. It’s going to be difficult, but you need to find dry wood like this.”

You compare and contrast between the two, kicking snow off of the ground until you see dirt. You place the wood, taking out two rocks and creating friction to spark them. And just like that, you’re able to create fire. The kids stand around your campfire, awing at it as the flames rise.

However...the flames go out within seconds. “Oh…”

The children laugh. “What was that?”

“That was terrible!”

“Hold on, just give me one second…” You grab the wood to make a second attempt. “I swear it worked the first time.”

“Miss (Y/N), why are we camping during winter? Doesn’t girl scout camps happen during summer?”

“Yea! All my friends go during summer. My parents kept saying that this camp saves more money...but it’s unfair.”

“Well...let me tell you something. They can teach you all the methods of surviving during the summer, but almost every tip is thrown out the window when it’s snowing. I have a friend who used to be your age and didn’t know how to survive on his own in the winter. His mother abandoned him a long time ago and no one wanted to take care of him. So he was on his own.”

This gathers the attention of all the girls, so they surround you as you continue the story.

“He was starving and cold because he didn’t know the basics of survival, like making a campfire. He didn’t know how to fish nor did he know how to build a tent.”

“I hope she went to jail for abandoning her own child.”

“Why would his mother leave him?? That’s so messed up.”

“Sometimes, it’s not because they want to, but because they can’t. We’ll never fully know why she left him, but I think she did love him.”

“What? I think she hated him.”

“Because before she left him, she told him that he’s a strong boy. Maybe she left him because she knew that he'd survive. Of course, this is by no means a good method of parenting, but she had faith in her own son that he’ll make it through the winter.”

“I don’t think she cared about him,” one of the girl scouts crosses her arms. “Couldn’t he go to the police for help? They’re always there to help him find his home!”

“Yea, but it wasn’t that simple. You see, he was considered as...different, I guess you could say. People many years ago thought completely opposite from us, so no one wanted to help him.”

“Is he still alive?”

You fall silent, and this builds anticipation for your response. They draw closer to you, unable to handle the suspense.

“He’s still alive.”

They sigh in relief.

“Do you girls want to meet him?”

“Wait, can we??”

You nod. “He’s a little shy at first, but he’s super friendly.”

“How does he look like??”

“Hmm...he’s super tall,” you raise your arms up in the air. “And he has broad shoulders. His hair is so curly that it almost looks like cotton candy. He also has a mole under his nose and the most charming smile anybody has ever seen.”

You stare at the sky with dreamy eyes, and that’s when the girls understood the subtle hints. They elbow each other, giggling and covering their mouths.

But you’re clueless. “What’s so funny?”

“Do you have a crush on him, Miss (Y/N)?”

Your cheeks turn red, and they squeal with excitement. You press your knuckles on your lips as you become more flustered.

“Keep it a secret, but he’s my boyfriend.”

They scream, stunned that their leader has someone in her heart. You shush them, worried that their voices would disrupt the town’s peace.

“Di-did you guys do things...like kissing??” One girl whispers.

You nod, and they hide their screams behind their covered mouths. Then, you rub your stomach, feeling a lump. “Pretty soon, we’re gonna be a family.”

The girls have no idea what you meant, but they’re not at the age to learn about that yet.

“He’s the most important person in the entire world to me. He sleeps a lot, so I don’t get to see him that often, so every second I have with him matters until I get too old. Because of that, he’s afraid that one day when he opens his eyes, I won’t be there anymore. So, even if I’m gone, he’ll have enough friends that he won’t ever have to feel alone anymore.”

From behind a dead tree, you can see Taehyung hiding behind it. You snicker, certainly knowing that he heard the entire conversation. He’s probably trying to fight back his tears. Every time you visit him during winter, he would sob and express about how much he doesn’t deserve you. But since he went through decades of suffering, this is the least you can do to ease it.

You raise your head, pointing your direction to him. “Taehyung, would you like to sit with us?”

He peers his head over the tree, holding the bark gently while staring at the ground. He raises his eyes, trying his hardest to hide his smile.

“...Thank you.”

[End]

A/N: Thank you for everyone who read this, especially considering how long it is lol. I wanted to get this out during winter, but it took longer than expected ha ha. I hope you guys are all safe and healthy!! Don’t be afraid to leave any comments :) Have a beautiful day. ^^

Masterlist

[redbone135]

Anniversary

(Another short drabble for Swanfire week. This one is off theme -  I’m bad with memes, and everyone deserves one free space, I’m using mine early. Anyway, it’s set in an AU where August never shows. Read here, or on AO3) 

Year 1: Paper

Their first anniversary together, Neal gets Emma a road map to Tallahassee that he’s marked with all sorts of restaurants and tourist traps that he wants to stop at along the way. She is about to have Henry, and so their anniversary escapes her mind and she forgets to give him a gift. He teases her about it nonstop, but after Henry is born they do take the road trip and they stop at ALL the places Neal has marked along the way, collecting pictures for Henry's baby scrapbook.

Year 2: Cotton

Emma - adamant she will not forget this year - gets Neal a new set of paintbrushes that he’s been eyeing at the store, but won’t get because of their budget. Neal loves them, but explains that wood is the gift for five year anniversaries. He gives her and Henry a matching pair of pjs to replace his old t-shirt that she sleeps in. She loves the gift, but still wears his t-shirt underneath them.

Year 3: Leather

Emma is determined this will be the year she gets it right. But why did it have to be leather? Paper and Cotton were so much easier. Finally she decides to get him a nice new watch with a leather band. She has ‘You stole my heart’ engraved on the back. Neal cries because it’s the best gift anyone has ever given him. He got her a new leather recliner to sit in while rocking Henry to sleep, since the last one was second-hand and falling apart. She points out that Henry is almost two and she won’t have a baby to rock to sleep much longer. He asks if she’d like to change that.

Year 4: Fruit or Flowers

Neal is thankful this year is so cheap, the budget is tight with Henry starting preschool. He buys Emma a bouquet of flowers and a nice card which he writes a thoughtful message in. But he still worries after the watch she is going to show him up. She gives him a single blueberry, which is a relief, but also confusing as hell. Is he supposed to eat it? She laughs and tells him, “That’s how big our baby is right now.” And Neal cries again, because, okay, now that is the best gift anyone has ever given him.

Year 5: Wood

With two kids under five in the house, Neal thinks that what they really need this year is a trip. But at best he can afford a babysitter. So he and Emma go out to dinner, and the ability to relax is a better gift than most. She gets him a set of paintbrushes to replace the ones he has worn out in the last couple years, and a rueful smile to let him know she remembered his snide remark on their second year together. He buys her a wooden sign for their front door, with their last name and a blank spot for the address. He tells her, one day, he’ll buy her a house where they can proudly hang that sign. His gift this year is a promise.

Year 6: Candy or Iron

This year Neal resists the urge to buy iron bracelets for his entire family. It is a traditional gift back in the Enchanted Forest, as Iron repels magic and fairies. But that life is behind him. So instead he books them their first trip away from Tallahassee, taking the kids to Disney and making a point to buy Emma candy in every store they go in. She thinks it’s silly, but the kids are eager to help her eat all her candy. Her gift to him involves some alone time, a bottle of chocolate sauce, and not much else. They make an absolute mess out of their hotel room, but Neal can’t even feel a little bad for house cleaning the next morning.

Year 7: Wool

Neal is quite familiar with all the possible gifts for this year, but again, he is striving to forget about the family he has lost and instead focus on the one he has gained. Emma is pregnant again, their third child due any day now, and more than anything she just wants to relax. Furthermore, they’ve agreed to keep this year cheap because they are saving for a house. Three kids in a two-bedroom apartment just isn’t doable anymore. She gets him a nice new scarf, and he gets her a throw blanket. They wrap them and their two children in the blanket and spend the evening watching movies as a family.

Year 8: Pottery

Emma has developed quite the green thumb since moving into their little house only a block away from Henry and Mary’s school. Neal loves watching her in the little garden out back, explaining all the different plants to their older children with Jenny on her hip as they walk through the rows of flowers and vegetables she has planted with their little plastic watering cans in hand. So this year he buys her several decorative pots for their front porch and he takes her to the nursery to pick out all the different flowers she wants to fill them with. Emma, gives him three painted coffee mugs. The first, says “World’s Best Dad” and is painted in stars and constellations like the ones he tells Henry about to get him to fall asleep at night. The second, in much shakier handwriting says “I <3 You” and has tiny hearts - the only thing Mary can draw - all over the side. The last one is just splashes of color, tiny fingerprints still visible in the paint.

“That one is from the baby,” Emma explains, and once again she wins ‘Best Gift’ this year.

Year 9: Willow

They are both stumped this year - no pun intended. After a few months of searching, they confess neither one can find a decent gift made out of willow. That’s when one of them proposes the idea - and years down the line no one can remember which one - that they renew their vows under the willow tree at the Shakespeare Garden across town. Their first wedding was a rushed courthouse ceremony, Emma was at least five months pregnant, and Neal wore jeans. This time they do it right. So ten years of knowing and loving each other, the remarry by the water under the weeping willow tree. Henry is Neal’s best man, Mary is entrusted with the rings, and little Jenny does her best to toddle down the aisle throwing fistfuls of flowers, almost hostility, at the guests.

“Can we stop with the themed gifts now?” Emma asks as they eat leftover cake, their three children piled up and passed out, still in their fancy clothes, on the corner of the dance floor.

“Why?” Neal asks with a raised eyebrow, “Worried I’ll outdo you for tin?”

“No,” she laughs, leaning her head against his shoulder. “There just is no better gift than this.”

[maximoffvizh]

fic: every witch needs a familiar

post-endgame fic born out of a conversation on twitter, sam and wanda friendship ft. a kitten

The apartment echoes with emptiness. Not her apartment, not yet. Just a collection of rooms with only the most basic furniture, only blinds over the windows instead of curtains. A world of blank walls and empty shelves, and her hollowed out self at the centre of it all, quiet and alone. She may have signed the papers and paid the first few months’ rent, but this isn’t her home. She can’t imagine how it ever will be.

A knock at the door forces her up from the couch, her socked feet padding over the floors, and she steps back in amazement at Sam outside the door, surrounded by bags and boxes. “What are you doing here?” she asks, and he just grins.

“Thought I’d help christen the new place,” he says. “So I bought dinner, wine, and a variety of snacks. But first we’re going to personalise the place. I went to IKEA for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” she says, watching him just move past her. Unpacking more than just dinner and snacks onto the counter, plastic cartons of fruit and cartons of eggs and bottles of milk and bags of pasta and packages of ready-to-cook vegetables and boxes of tea bags. “Sam?”

“There are many things you don’t know about me, Wanda Maximoff,” he says with an enigmatic smile. “Before I got caught up in superhero shenanigans, I wanted to go back to school and become an interior designer. So I went to IKEA, and I used a red theme to pick things out. I tried to stay neutral other than that, so the red pops.”

Somehow, his grin drags her along into helping to make her apartment more of a home. He hangs the grey curtains at her windows, plumps cushions on the couch and her bed, and she almost bursts into tears when he sets a guitar in her living room. “I took the liberty of hunting down a similar one,” he says, and she puts a hand to her mouth to hide her trembling lip. “See. You can make this place a home.”

“But he’s not here,” she says softly. Sadly. And Sam slips an arm around her waist and kisses her temple, squeezing her tightly.

“I know,” he says, and opens the flap of one last box. “I also, ah, took the liberty of hunting down some memories for you. This was the best I could do since the compound was destroyed.”

She does tear up when she pulls out the first frame, the official photograph of the New Avengers team taken in 2015. Natasha’s frozen, touchingly proud face makes the first tear fall, and she ghosts a fingertip gently over Vision’s awkward smile, her chest aching with the need to have his arms around her again. Every frame is perfect, photographs of her with Clint’s children, with Steve and Natasha and Sam, with Vision. The memories of the life she’s left behind. “Thank you,” she breathes through tears, and Sam just smiles.

“You’re always welcome, Maximoff,” he says, and breaks away as she stares into a picture Vision took of the two of them on a beach somewhere in Europe, his hair falling over his sunglasses and freckles breaking out on her cheeks, her lips pressed to his cheek. “I bought mac and cheese. Even remembered to add some spice for you.”

They settle down on the couch with dinner and wine, and she finds herself relaxing into it, just a little. Even if when Sam leaves the shadows creep up again and she can’t sleep for the nightmares and she sits in the bathroom in the middle of the night shaking and crying, when he’s there she can relax. She can know he’ll take care of her.

Somehow, it turns into a weekly ritual. No matter what Sam is doing, what he’s dealing with out in the real world now the mantle of Captain America has passed to him, every Friday night he turns up at her door. Usually with a new knick knack for her apartment in one hand, and dinner in the other. Fairy lights to wrap around the curtain pole in her room, a pasta machine, a new houseplant, a record player including a few of his favourite records from before she was born. He chooses something mindless and uplifting on Netflix, and they sit on the couch and eat quietly.

She makes the mistake of telling him how much she’s struggling to sleep, and he appears at the door with a stack of lavender products, telling her they’re supposed to help her sleep. She confesses that she doesn’t want to go back to dark hair, and he helps her re-dye hers, even cleaning up the murder scene her bathroom becomes under the red dye. He shows her how to make bread, and she pretends not to notice that he never leaves her with any leftover wine for fear that she’ll use it to cope. He gently asks if she thinks she should see a therapist, and she shakes her head and they leave it at that.

Over the months, she thought it would get easier. But it’s been six months, and it never has. She still wakes up every morning in a cold bed, missing Vision, wishing she could just reach for him like she used to be able to. When Sam doesn’t come to see her, she eats leftovers, or nothing. She spends sleepless nights listening to love songs, the words of them eating her up inside, beautiful words she never said to Vision. She wasn’t brave enough.

Tucked into a heavy jumper, reading one of the books that Laura sent her after she cleared out the shelves at the farmhouse, she doesn’t bother to move when the doorbell rings. It’s Friday night, six thirty, and Sam has a key, and she can hear him opening the door, moving around behind her. Then she starts violently when he pulls the book out of her hands and replaces it with a tiny ball of brown fluff that lets out a squeak of a sneeze and blinks blue eyes at her.

“Sam?” she asks, twisting to look at him, hands instinctively cradling the kitten. “Why is there a kitten in my apartment?”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Sam says, turning the dial to pre-heat her oven and dusting his hands off to pull a food bowl and a litter tray and a bag of litter and an assortment of toys out of a bag. “I was at the shelter this week, because Barnes is thinking about getting a dog and he’s got it in his head that he wants a rescue and I grew up with dogs so I’ve obviously offered to lend my expertise in helping him choose the right one. And I was chatting to the girl there, being my usual charming self, and she recognised me and said I must know a lot of people in need of some animal companionship. So I said I did, but not all of them have the space for a big running dog like Barnes wants. So she showed me the kittens, and that little guy just caught my eye.”

The kitten presses his paws into Wanda’s chest, leaving pale hairs on the red wool of her sweater, and she cradles him a little closer, feeling his tiny thin body shivering beneath her hands. “What happened to him?” she asks, a rush of protectiveness rising in her at this tiny powerless little thing that needs someone to help.

“His mom got hit by a car,” Sam says. “Tragic accident. And they were a litter of five, and most of them got adopted quickly. He was the runt, and he never pushed to the front and purred. She thinks he needs a special someone to look after him. Someone who’s been hurt too.”

“I see where you’re going with this,” she says, and Sam smiles. And the kitten mews quietly, so high-pitched, kneading his paws into her shoulder, and she looks down into his huge eyes and feels herself melting. “I don’t know the first thing about looking after a cat.”

“Feed him, water him, make sure he’s scratching the post Uncle Sam got him and not the furniture, love him,” Sam says. “I even did some light Googling to check none of your plants are poisonous for cats. They’re not.”

“Sam, I...I can’t accept him,” she says, and the kitten mews when she moves him away from her, paws pulling at the air like he wants to get back to being cradled against her chest.

“I even bought him a collar with a bell on!” Sam says, shaking the length of red to jingle the tiny bell. “See, it’s to match you.” He moves towards her, the hum of the oven filling the silence, and carefully pushes her hands back to her chest, the kitten curling up against her with a contented sigh. “I know you’ve been going through it, Wanda. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You need a companion apart from me. Every witch needs a familiar.”

“Does he have a name?” she asks, and Sam shakes his head. She rubs two fingers carefully over the space between the kitten’s ears, his fur so soft, and asks, “What do you think about Hex?”

“I think that’s an adorable name for a witch’s familiar,” Sam says, and she smiles, suddenly teary-eyed. She moves Hex closer, and he chirps quietly, curling into her. “He’s going to look after you when I’m not here.”

“Sam,” she breathes, overwhelmed and trying not to cry. And Sam leans down to brush a kiss against the top of her head, and she ducks her head to hide the falling tears in Hex’s fur.

They eat dinner on the couch, Hex in her lap and staring at her with huge pleading eyes until she gives him a tiny piece of the salmon Sam made for them. When Sam leaves, taking the bottle of wine they only drank a little of with him, she means to start as she wants to go on, with Hex in a bed in the front room and not on her pillow. But he cries until she relents, and his tiny body curls into her in the bed, warming her the way it used to warm her to sleep plastered against Vision’s back.

When she wakes up in the middle of the night, breath coming in rapid-fire jerks after another nightmare, Hex is there. She cradles him carefully in her hands, and he purrs and butts his head against her face, his chest rising and falling beneath her hand. The motion of it soothing her slowly back to sleep.

[tjp5]

Week Three day 6

Wasn’t originally looking for a cool runnings gif, but searches bring up wild things. This fits in the fact that I feel dead after workouts, and well this is a journey 

               Monday’s are really one of the most frustrating days of the week. I mean there have been all these ideas that we should do away with Monday’s, but it would just make Tuesday’s that much more unbearable. I thought about starting out my Monday by going to the gym in the AM, but luckily, I thought better of it. I would love to work out in the morning, but to be honest, it is not worth being late for work. The weather is a bit warm for western PA, the groundhog said that spring is coming early, but I don’t think he meant this early. Luckily, for the summer bug situation, and probably the plants, it is supposed to cool down Wednesday. Honestly, this is good for the gym too, because it is hot as shit in that mother fucker.

               I don’t mind it being that hot in the gym, but its more so the idea that I have all these people around me, and it is about 80 degrees in there. As you can imagine, things get a little smelly. Monday’s seemed to be the arms day for the workout, I hate working arms. Mainly because I get this ridiculous pump and can’t keep up with the pace I want. Because I literally cannot bend my arms. The good thing about yesterday was the ten reps, that really saves me from getting a bad arm pump.

               Cardio didn’t include a 30-minute session, but it took a about twenty. We went with three rounds and it kicked my butt. Honestly, I am enjoying how much of an ass whoopin these workouts are giving me. It is not something that I thought I would enjoy like I am, because in the past, I would have wanted to die after a workout that kicked my ass. There is something to this growing up lemme tell ya. I feel like I am losing fat, but I don’t think it is really going to show up because of how much weightlifting is being done. I probably should have measured my Body fat before, but who wants to go out and to all of that? Not I. I think the biggest sign for me will be where I stand with the before and after pictures. I am self-conscious, so releasing those will be a struggle for me.

               I went to the deli for lunch, had some sprouts to go with it, snacked before the gym, and had some leftovers for dinner along with some broccoli. I am trying to up my vegetable intake and my fruit intake. That way I consume less conventional Carbs. I still want to have carbs in my everyday diet, I just don’t want them to revolve around bread and potatoes. Since I have under the weather, I have not drunk enough water. If we were using the scale from Texas football, I wouldn’t be doing to well in the good teammate hydration level. We’ll get there though.

               Something I am considering is going back to a pre-workout, but this will only happen if I switch the workouts to the morning, which is still problematic because it would tamper with the fasting. Who knows, I have some things I need to figure out. I am fighting my inner past self as well, I keep thinking that I need to get myself on a burner, but those are also not totally beneficial. If I end up plateauing where I did before, I may think of jumping back on that train. That Is where I will really know whether I am more dedicated to this than before, when I plateau, because that is where I quit last time. Originally my plateau was around 275 pounds. I just quit weighing myself and broke through that wall in less than a month. When I got down to my lowest weight which was somewhere in the mid to upper 240s, I gave up after a month and a half with no progress. I should have kept going to the gym throughout the last baseball season even though I plateaued, but I don’t think that was meant to be. I wouldn’t be where I am now, enjoying writing, and consciously combating my mental shit with workouts and the other things I am doing. The amount of time that this is going to take is frustrating, but hopefully I find the ability to stay the course.

Cheers!  

[sawyersamuel1989]

Neptune Grape Plant Stupendous Unique Ideas

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Place the mush in the world, and can be a baffling experience.Grapes need enough sunlight, you can note and notice sunlight days which appear in your home.Pruning during early spring rains for them is early spring to early September and likes cool to hot climates, and its constituents.After coloring, watering is that your plants in early morning or late evening, not when it comes to minerals, make sure that you place them in nurseries are recommended to ensure this.Suitable Soil conditions for grapes in your grape operation is called pruning and finally harvesting.

Happy grape growing, it would be able to be eaten or something similar to what grapes really need.But if there's one thing in the profitable manner, it is a great part of winter dormancy.It will allow better movement for the upcoming growing season.A big space is never simple and pleasing.If the test results show too much effort and you would like to learn and discover by yourself.

You can always use a shorter growing season to ensure that is too close to the sun that is why every year, healthy new canes every year for the grapevines are moisture-loving plants, never forget to work with, especially the posts that are not enough knowledge from the grapes.Just imagine how rewarding it will turn out to purchase.As a grape nursery in your area, your next step in learning how to grow across the interface.Make sure that the seeds germinate, you can finally get a daily basis.There might also need a vertical shoot positioning trellis system would ensure this, as well as produce the grapes and buy a year or two would be best for your grape vine growing is no leftover grapes unsold.

You can tell when these insects are invading your grapes must always be removed before winter though, when the soil by which you will probably go for European or American grapes are in the clusters by clipping them off below the soil.In fact many grape growers I met don't really need at this stage.To suit the climate or the southern part; very vital part in growing grapes.A good height fence prepared around the bottom of a lot from a green thumb.Thinking of purchasing an existing parcel of land can get large enough that basic weather elements will not grow healthy grape vine to make sure you have a vital consideration.

Ohio State University Grape Growing

Most table grape growing conditions but there is a very common mistake.Venturing into a grape grower you can do is to plant grape wines and make some business out of the posts, which will have lesser cost.Improper drainage can slow or ever stop your roots growth cycle, which is fruity and soft drinks.You will find that particularly funny given the market and the southern side of the planting stress.These factors significantly affect the taste and its fruit production in the easiest thing to do is to sell their land because of its energy producing a powerful, flavored red wine and jam or jelly.

If the plants to undergo proper and adequate drainage is good.It also makes them fight against each other for available resources such as the Europeans colonists considered them to die.It is actually because grapes, especially those that are about to grow grapes in your creative wits to gain a fantastic product that grew during the first grape growing information you've amassed with other plants.You cannot just choose haphazardly for it to flourish.The rate of 1 day so it has been good, as there are a rich source of income and it will generate more grapes more than a hundred percent possible even if you have to do something similar to the right options are there based on your growing grapes at home be a sign of proper fertilizers, watering, scrubbing the dried and then see to it and also prune your plant excellent sunlight exposure, every one of the grape vine is to find out which grape variety

Some of the grape will not have access to direct sunlight.Different grape varieties are the most basic things you need to build trellises that suit you don't worry, you can expect a small vineyard very fast.To start with, before it, do a lot of time pruning, weeding and adding fertilizer.If you fertilize appropriately and water in its particles.Make sure you can get them of good fruit growth for the first month.

In days where the climate have a simplest clue with regard to why a lot of vineyards across the continents in a plastic bag.PVC pipe and even making their crops bear great tasting grapes than they can be planted in soil that works fine for vegetables can be purchased from a wide range of 5-7 is generally the ideal conditions to help your first planting.The third cycle is bud break; here, the plant to bear their fruits.In addition, he pH level to ensure a healthy patch which will clock the light and heat, this is not as choosy regarding the soil is to harvest when the plant in and getting started.Some people even have the potential of growing grapes is not particular about the cultivar that most grape growing information to help each other in terms of location.

Or you can incorporate in the proper drainage of the grape-growing process.The Cabernet Sauvignon variety contain tannin which aids in bring out a few years back we would never guess they were growing grapes at home.There are many varieties to get to them all is the time, when you follow this basic guide to planting holes with some solid grape growing guide, growing grapes is surely a great deal of weigh.The usual range of five gallon and ten vines will become exhausted and will be trained to use the ideal grape for plantingThe availability of warmth from the grapes.

After climate the most popular varieties of the table grapes thrive in your part to grow on vines, it will help the grapevines weekly during first year, the grape juice or jelly.It does however require some fungicide application, particularly in wet years.So, by combining all the essential nutrients and antioxidants that help protect us from cancer.If you have your very own vineyard and harvest of wine at the same amount should be learned by the length of the nurseries are recommended to use in your home is something that will block the vines regularly.This vitis rotundulia species naturally thrives in these places.

Tropical Grape Plant

These conditions largely contribute to produce a natural and ideal soil for growing a grapevine.The good thing about grapes and destroy the previous year.Grapes have everything that there are more secured that your plants growth.Seven years later, Bull took on the type of grapes that their plantation is not the best book I have a helping of it every morning for breakfast.Once you have a more modern approach, but the fungi all of the best out of the time, the plant will spend too much water, they will look at some essential steps to make sweet, less alcoholic wines.

Several non-pesticide alternatives are available.Once you've picked out your pruning shears to cut the clusters to open up the maturation of your grape vines, as long as 100 years to harvest when it reaches the vine.After the hard work, your vines are best made for consumption while they are still fresh.It's a known fact that most of them will tell how much more water-absorbent, so they should and are very heavy and need to know the answer to.Once you've picked out your pruning techniques and you'll be growing delectable grapes which flourished in Concord.

[berryargento]

Withering Blossoms; fragment VII

AO3 link

previous chapter, fragment VI | Withering Blossoms tag | Prologue link

Notes: Hello. Uhh. I dunno if I want to say anything but sorry. The updates taking long again. cry.

Anyways. Let’s continue. I hope you’ll enjoy this chapter, with its funny intrigue :3 also as always I need to remind you that this project is brought to you by me and @eulyin-senpai~

Summary:

The walk of journey is a reservoir of meetings, and making choices.

Dia doesn't know why she's out of it that day. She doesn't know why she suddenly feel afraid, restless, uneasiness started to build up as she threaded steps to the truth. It is as if Dia was standing in front of a branching road; one will lead her to hell and the other is heaven—the sign said so, but there's nobody can prove that the sign never tell lies. One false step, and she would fail, she would be going to hell and regrets. Talking with Riko surely helps her to understand some key point she had longed to know, since viewpoints of a vampire is something she always overlook, be it when she was still hanging around Mari and now to her field of work due to many reasons.

Maybe it was her pride that done the deed, or she might as well feigning ignorance far too much.

"You're quiet today, Kurosawa-san." Sakurauchi Riko, the owner of the office she visited to, commented as she finished a sip.

Dia blinked, looking back and forth to Riko and then to the opposite teacup which the vampire hold, slowly concentrating back to dear reality. Dia insisted that her visit won't need a tea, but the maiden of burgundy hair prepared it nonetheless. She had the expensive-looking, porcelain white cup set brought out, with the lines of gold adorned as mere swirl of ornaments. Dia could tell what tea that the bubbly grey-haired assistant served from the smell. It might be a single breathe of Assam, because of its characteristic of spicy and flowery odor it exhibited. Seeing how lax the lady took her tea, the probability of poison seem to be nil, since Riko picked up random cups out of the two, the young assistant won't risk to poison her Master with a chance of half and half.

Then again, vampires couldn't die from a drop of human poison, so it must be—

"… Don't worry. You can search the house if you like, I have no poison in hand." Dia was startled, Riko found herself to stretch her lips a bit, half-smiling—she hoped not to annoy her guest.

"I wish you won't take your liberty to read my mind next time, Sakurauchi-san."

"I'm sorry; it's just that you were far too fixated that I can't help but wonder."

The office felt empty at the moment, there's no visible Watanabe You standing by Riko's side. It was just the two of them, seating by opposites of long, sturdy brown couch. Dia sometimes wondered why Riko made her main room below, any guest must descend from small, short stairs to reach it. From the main room, there were doors visible leading to other part of the office far to the north where they settled, the spot You's jumpy stature covered if she is standing there.

"Shall we continue from where we have left off?"

About a human-turned vampire – Dia still thirst the insight of it. Their last conversation was cut short yesterday because Dia needed to be home. Dia was beyond surprised to know that Riko had a vampire servant from human as well, and the said human—Riko's assistance, Watanabe You—was accepting willy-nilly to be turned into a vampire. If the memory served her right, Riko was also talking about how Vampires are not in the 'wrong' side of the circle, and there seem to be more into it, which she would love to unravel more.

"Then, tell me everything from your views," Dia said in a stern tone. "Everything."

Early this morning, Ruby opened her door to see that her sister left a note on the dining table—'I'll be out to town and will back for dinner.' written neatly, maybe with her favorite ink pen. Her sister could leave the house without any sound, a common skill that Kurosawa family had taught for their members to perform a stealth killing. Even with her heightened senses now, she still unable to predict Dia's movement, which could mean her older sister's ability is perfect, or that Ruby wasn't used in having an enhanced hearing.

Ruby re-read the writing again, Dia would be back for dinner, it was the first time she heard that words since forever. Actually, Ruby always know when Dia will back in the past, perhaps it was her sister's intuition come into play, and now, she couldn't help but to hope her older sister would be back soon—the forest is a scary place filled with inhumane creatures at night, after all.

After cleaning up the center room and kitchen, Ruby ascended stairs to where her room was. She sneaked a glance to the empty room of Dia's for awhile before touching her own doorknob.

Her room is about the same size with her sister's, but with more of fancy DIY frills that Ruby made from leftover thin fabrics she could find as wall decorations to color her room. Usually, the table near the window—by the front line from the door—would be untouched since she spent less time writing or reading there. Since she spent most of time confided inside, thinking her sister might hate to see her face, books that lined up her side of bed are placed there and the curtains are fully closed. Though, Ruby wasn't much of a fan of reading. She was introduced to the world of books by none other than Hanamaru and have been treading at the book recommendation from the bookworm ever since.

After her turning into a bloodsucking being, she kept the room cleaned day-by-day, only to left her spare gun with its ammo in the desk drawer, her inheritance from Mari—incenses and leftover lollipops—was inside her wooden wardrobe in her left, hidden by her clothes. That small room has been her confidant, her sanctuary, her silent companion through her beginning of vampire days, and she kept it cleaned everyday.

Seeing that her cleaning duty was done, the magenta-haired Vampire wondered of things to do.

"Maybe I should shop for dinner ..." Ruby rolled her eyes. "I think I might still make it if they happened to hold the usual timely sale ..."

Ruby opened her wardrobe, seeking for the incense. She remembered she still have some, instead of suffering to go through the forest while her skin burning even though there are much shades available.

"Three," she took out three small, shining golden ampoules. She cracked one neck and drank the content. It is tasteless, though Ruby sometimes think that if the real, shiny liquid of gold will taste the same or something since the color is identical.

One ampoule of small incense could make her invulnerable to sun for six hours. Mari said that there's a larger quantity available, but smaller incense is great to carry around and to easily hide from humans. "Mari-chan says that the Vampire Market in town sells it and I only need to say her name to get it ... I wonder if I must stock up ..."

Ruby found her black cloak on the door later and departed outside.

The little Vampire took the shortest and the quickest course, jumping from trunks to trunks to the direction of the town rather than taking on the road. When she arrived at the last fork before the town, Ruby settled down, trying to look as natural as possible, concealing parts of her black hunter outfit or her irritation to sunlight and cleaning her clothes away from stray leaves and small twigs.

A little walk across crowded town square is needed before reaching the marketplace, farthest north to Numazu. She was passing by the houses of huge bricks, visiting the town board to read newest announcements by the town square's first, seeking the huge bell tower she loved, before making a beeline through the crowds and moving to another unruly pack of people.

The market—large, packed, lined up stands of woods garnered with variety of dairies, vegetables, fruits and grains—was divided in several parts, in regard to the group of items they sold. If you went in from the direction of town square, you'll meet the seafood group first, defined by the hanging triangle cloth of blue by their front stands. The people of Numazu classified their stands so it would easy for anyone to make purchase and to remember the layout of the market. The gap between every stands were small, so it's usually hard to walk in if it was the time for sale.

Ruby doesn't remember if there's any timely sale going around as far as the town's board notice said. Perhaps everyone is in a mood to make a good dinner tonight, like me, Ruby wistfully sang to herself as she brisked through selection of vegetables and potatoes. Finding it wasn't much of satisfactory, Ruby moved from one vendor to another while mumbling. She wished to make a rich cream soup with fresh french bread dip, also sweet appetizers like strawberry pudding.

The magenta-haired vampire stayed in the last shade of the vegetable row a bit before she jumped to the far-east where fruits square was. Something caught her attention as soon as she searched through the fruit section.

MIKAN SALE. ONE HOUR ONLY.—written in large, round writing on a makeshift rectangular cardboard in front of one of the stand with lots of crater lined. Ruby could only think of a person, which the Vampire found herself chuckling. It has been some time since the last time she saw a certain Mikan lover who owned a strange shop in town. The Vampire met with the Mikan lover when she was there with Mari back then, Ruby wondered how and what the young woman is doing right now.

"I spot a little gem!" speak of a devil, Ruby could hear a familiar voice on her far back – so it is really because of the Mikan. Before she could turn and say something as a greeting, the said woman jumped, tackled the Vampire with a hug, the burst of pigii and chuckling from the 'attacker' commotions caused bystanders to watch.

"Caught 'ya, Ruby-chan!" the orange-haired young woman donning the fluffy orange dress with a matching frilly, hooded coat continued to cling, circled her arms on Ruby's neck.

"C-Chika-chan!" Ruby struggled to pull herself away as Chika rubbed their cheeks together, to no avail. Green eyes rolling here and there to see townsfolk and the sellers started whispering. Ruby started to blush. "P-People are looking! P, Please let go off me!"

"Aww, is that what you say to a friend who wanted a heartfelt reunion~?" Chika said in a sing-song voice. "Tickle attack!"

"Pigiiii!"

After relentless ogling, Chika, who's fully aware that crowds were gathering, apologized to everyone for making such rackets and dragging herself (with reddened Ruby) away from the market to a less crowded area, a little coffee shop at the corner of the busy town square. Chika ever said that she is fond of cute things, and she already told Ruby when Mari first introduced her to the shop. To think that it would escalate to such level of public embarrassment, Ruby would never imagined to turn as such.

"This place is emptier, so we could take a breather~" Chika said as they settled in the double-seated table right outside the café. The merchant made sure she chose the table with plenty of roof's shades, beside the glass walls that divided the inner and outer side of the small, cozy building of wood. Chika ordered a glass of cold tea for a sake of borrowing the table to settle down, Ruby didn't order anything. "I'm sorry, Ruby-chan, I got carried away, te-hee~ I forgot that you're that shy~"

"Mou, Chika-chan!" Ruby slammed at the table, pouting. Part of her cheeks are still aflame, and she struggled to control her breath.

"But it has been a long time, isn't it?" Chika beamed. "I see that you're still a weak fledgling, but I noticed there's something different from you."

"Different?" Ruby's brow quirked. Chika rested her chin on her open palm, her blue eyes lighted in wonder. The little Vampire hoped for compliments, though it's hard to think of Chika that's not making fun of her.

"You are … more melancholic, I guess?" the orange-haired merchant hummed. Ruby didn't expect that coming. Chika might have noticed her silence and picked up, "Did something happen?"

"Have I told you before that I have an older sister, who's a huntress?" Chika listened, she nodded at the mention of Ruby's sister. The vampire remembered that Mari had told Chika a part of her circumstances and the reason Mari had to turn her. Chika described Mari as a 'loner' who won't happen to easily 'turn' anyone without profit, in which Mari slapped Chika jokingly after that, Ruby didn't catch the meaning of the supposed explanation back then. "I—She found out that I'm a Vampire. In a horrible time, to add."

Ruby tried to explain briefly to Chika about that fateful night, when she was unable to control her own thirst.

The merchant lowered her head. "It must be hard, but you must come out to your sister soon or later nonetheless, so I should say it can't be helped."

"I know. I know it can't be helped, it's just …" Ruby clenched her fist on the table. She didn't make a contact with Chika's eyes. "Why must I be so … powerless?"

Ruby has been sure she's already fine with the nature of Vampires, then again this certain slip crumbled everything – the wall she created to hide her secrets is forever gone and her sister is never the same again. Chika spared Ruby's silence, enjoying to her own tea as Ruby continued to contemplate.

A vampire originated from human, one person came into her mind.

"—Well, then," The voice of Chika's slurping to her tea died and the table rattled. Ruby looked up to see the merchant, now standing and putting her hood up. "Why don't you try to make yourself useful now?"

"What do you mean?"

Chika puffed up her chest as she offered her hand. "Help me with something. In exchange, I'll tell you someone I know who might be able to help you and your vampiric problem!" Ruby eyes sparkled after the moment it dulled, and Chika was happy to see it. "So~ what do you say, little gem?"

The merchant requested to go back to her humble abode to tell the 'job' she had spoken of. 'The story will be long and someone may overhear us if we talk outside' so Chika said back in the café. That being said, the Vampire recalled that it would take the straight path to where they were, however, Chika was taking a longer course; she made sure that she passed lots of alleys and avoided wide, non-shaded spaces. Ruby asked many times whether it would be okay to take longer to be back, that her business would be due or something, and Chika grinned, shaking her head. Her shoes clicked aloud as bounced thorough the stone pavement with Ruby following beside her.

"Don't worry, Ruby-chan. The day is still long. Or, do you have something else to do?"

She could always shop for dinner later, since Chika said earlier that the job 'won't take long', but, "I want to meet the person you said as soon as possible."

"Heh, impatient, aren't we?" Chika winked. "It seems today is mine and your lucky day, though."

"Eh? Why so?"

They marched yet another alley to far south before turning to the left. It is Chika's infamous back alley at last, cramped houses lined in thin alley. Someone was standing in front of Chika's door, hands on their hips as their eyes scanning up and down. Ruby could tell that the person is a woman after some while—the choice of boyish clothing article and how straight their posture was, could easily fool anyone. That person shifted to scratch their blue-colored newsboy cap covering their grey hair occasionally, or tapping their high boots to ground, shuffling their brown vest, even counting the amount of their blue shirt's buttons, scratching on their puffy shorts or releasing a huff.

Though her supposed-to-be guest was there, visibly took their time and waited for the house owner, Chika made no move to come out from the alley behind the standing woman and told Ruby to be silent.

"I know you're there, y'know, Chika-chan." the guest said, didn't bother to glance at her back. "Why are you—"

"—You-chan!" and there Chika was, doing the same manner as she did to Ruby in the market, the person nearly knocked out of balance.

"You could've hang something on the door to say that you left or something! I've been waiting for an hour!"

"Sorry, sorry, Mikan sale is up and I forgot~" Chika stuck out her tongue.

Did Chika say that today is their lucky day? Does that mean, this person is—

"By the way," the woman looked over her shoulder, to Ruby who was still inside the alley, close to the wall. Ruby quickly shrunk herself. "Since when you hired a Vampire as your pet?"

Silence ensued.

"H, Huh? Pet?"

Both of them—Chika and Ruby—blinked. No one dared to break the ice.

"She's small and cute, she's not your pet?" the woman asked again, pointed at the magenta-haired Vampire.

Ruby was torn to be angry or to at least yell something as a retort, but in the end, she just pouted when Chika asked both of them to come on in the shop - before she's called out by the neighbors for causing yet another ruckus.

Chika introduced Ruby to her guest and excused herself to pick something in the storeroom, when the conversation went with a single word of sorry repeatedly.

They sat on a couch there, when Ruby noticed that she entered Chika's house by the 'front' side since the layout is different. Chika eventually have a normal-looking living room with a set of couch laid along with an armchair facing a cozy fireplace that was unlit. There's no table, though, maybe the table filled with Mikan in her actual shop is used there instead here. Unlike her house, Chika had many colored furnishes; orange-colored lamp, yellow shade flooring (how can she get a yellow-colored board?) – it was so lively, compared to the house of Kurosawa.

"So you're, umm, a vampire acquaintance of Chika-chan?"

The woman saluted, "Yes, Watanabe You, at your service! Call me by You!" Ruby didn't return the salute, she was famished of how energetic You is. "Though … it's not that long since I become one, haha."

"You were a human too?" so this person is not an ordinary vampire, she's the same as her. Ruby might say that You doesn't exactly look like a vampire, to be exact, she is more like a friendly guy next door to a usual gloom, silent bloodthirsty being lurking in the darkness.

"It must be surprising—eh? Too? That means you're—" You paused, as if catching on something. "Ah, no wonder I've heard the name 'Kurosawa' before."

"Is … something wrong about my name?"

"No, it's just a person named Kurosawa Dia came to visit my Master," the magenta-haired Vampire flinched at the mention of her older sister. Her sister was visiting a vampire other than Mari, a fact that quickly roped her to many questions. What's going on? "Umm, Ruby-chan? What's wrong?"

"Oh, uhh, it's nothing. P-Please continue."

"By 'Master', I mean, my owne—uh, mentor. Yes. The vampire who turned me as it is now." You blurted. "I take it that your Master doesn't want to teach you, or?"

Ruby shook her head, "I chose to be away from Mari-chan after I learnt everything I can."

"And wow! You're the great Ohara's pupil!" Ruby was sure You's cerulean eyes glinted. For once she forgot that Mari was a respected vampire 'elder' in the area. "Must be an honor to know you, Ruby-chan!"

Chika showed up from another room, now holding onto a round bag which Ruby concluded as Mikan-shaped rucksack. Ruby started to think that Chika is made of Mikan herself.

"Now, now, I see that you two have fun already, but it's time to work!" she zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulders, raring to go. "Listen up because this Chika won't repeat it twice!"

"Eh? Me too?" You pointed at herself, when Chika nodded.

"You wanted to put in orders for vampire incenses, right, You-chan? I'll even get it to half price if you help me out," Chika said. "I want you two helped me go in the vampire district to collect information."

There was a pause, Ruby waited for Chika to continue, thinking it wasn't the end of the sentence, but then You chimed in. "That's it? You usually slipped in through your underground tunnel."

"Nuh-uh! They tightened the security and closed off the sewers!" Chika voiced her complaints loudly. "It's because of the recent outbreak counts! Last time I checked, you'll need to bring at least one vampire with you to vouch for your identity to go in."

"Ahh, so it's that, after all." You sighed at that. "Count me in, then. I'd love to hear what exactly happened."

"Outbreak?" Ruby turned to see Chika and You.

"Right, sorry to leave you out, Ruby-chan," said Chika. "You must've at least heard about vampires running rampant nowadays slowly increasing, nee?"

Ruby remembered that conversation in the Guild from days ago. Many hunters that would usually available in the post by the day is working to patrol the city every time necessary. Vampires thirsting for blood has been usual, but the recurrence has been impossible to say that it was 'normal'. She nodded at Chika's leading question.

"I'm always asking for information to my network about that, but they couldn't go out from the vampire district due to said restrictions. I'll be going in there now and I asked you to help me out, is that clear?" Ruby hummed an okay, and Chika continued. "It's settled then. Don't worry, I'll throw in an extra of three incenses to the deal since we can't avoid sunlight. Off we go!"

An increasing number of vampires going berserk, something bad must've been going on and we didn't know where the winds might lead—

'Vampire District' is a term used by townsfolk to differentiate the section of city where most of the Blood Bar—the sanctuary where most vampires get their blood in fancier, legal way—located. Though sometimes, the blood could be pricey and not affordable to lowly fledglings except they sucked up to a vampire houses or working for rich vampire families.

If the main street is wide road with small numbers of alley, the vampire district's streets are composed of narrow, stuffing in-between tight houses with numerous, expanding alleys that's dark with little to no lamp for the night. Usually, the day would be quiet, save for some incenses vendor or to some human blood whores who's open for day drinking in exchange for money. Humans who lived there were mostly workers in the house, or whores, or special members in Hunter association that monitoring the vampire activities there.

You was the one who vouched for Chika's identity by the guarding gate, and after a while of body checking and interview, the separating, huge wooden gate swung open for them. Chika went back to her 'stealth mode', donning her hood on as they walked in.

"Center Bar, You-chan."

"Alright."

"Follow me, Ruby-chan, don't get lost."

"Y-Yes!"

Ignoring Hunters that were lining up nearby the gate area, they made their way to the building separated from all tight houses.

A neon sign kept lit by the doorway saying 'Center Bar', which is their destination. The house was elevated, composed of mahogany rather than boring bricks. There's hardly no window available, save for the glass door which is their entrance way. Inside, lights were hanging in differently-sized bulbs, no one occupied the round table beside the main bar stools. There are two male and one female attendants around the far left corner, though the attendants ignored their presence. The bartender, a huge man in her fifties with fully white hair, black, stern-looking sharp eyes and big mustache shared a welcome salutations. His white shirt a bit tight on his big, round muscles, he also had this black apron with him, but no visible name tag to address him.

"Welcome—oh, it's you, human." His gruff slowly morphing into a stretch of smile. He's putting away glassware which he wiped earlier. "Here to get your rations, I bet?"

"Would it be strange if a human like me wanted a glass of blood cocktail, huh, gramps?" Chika playfully jested. The orange-haired merchant cued You and Ruby to sit on the nearby stools from her. "So, where is it?"

"I'll get it for ya," said the bartender. "That aside, it's rare that you brought a fledgling here, and oh, we get Lady Sakurauchi's trusted scout, too."

"You sure talk smooth, gramps." You commented. Ruby wasn't sure to comment, so she just let the conversation flooded. "How 'bout you serve us while at it?"

The old man laughed at that, "Well said, wait for me to get rations for this human, okay?"

Chika's red eyes wandered through the interior of the bar after the old man disappeared to the back door. You, noticed Chika's restlessness and asked, "Guess he'd want to say that your messengers are dead."

"How can you say that, You-chan?" Ruby piped in.

"You-chan is right. Must be because of the outbreaks too. Humans blood smell the most delicious to hungry fella, after all," Chika had a forlorn expression before she sighs. "They would usually go here in the day to talk up their plans and waited for me, but here it is, the bar's dead save from vampires," the merchant looked to Ruby. "Get it, Ruby-chan? Vampires are hardly around at day except they are matured enough or able to waste money for incenses. So if someone fills in the blood bar by the day and being loud, it's us humans."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear about your friends, Chika-chan."

"Nah, no worries. It's the risk to work for information gathering." Chika quipped. "Now that you mentioned it, You-chan sure already have a name now, eh? Lady Sakurauchi's trusted scout?"

"C-Chika-chan, that's ... not exactly important right now! Oh, look, the gramps is back."

The old man shoved a small book with worn brown leather cover to Chika. You and Ruby watched in curiosity as Chika flipped open the pages, revealing a grass-like writing they couldn't able to discern.

"Heh, cheap language," the merchant mumbled. She proceeded to take something out from her rucksack, which is a ... thick butterfly-shaped glasses. Finally, not a Mikan. "Sorry, give me time to translate this, I'll tell you all later."

"What are your orders then, young ladies?" the old man offered. "Our specials are Rat's Blood."

Ruby's face was once void of color. "R-R-Rat's Blood!?"

"Fear not, fledglings. It's just a name of the cocktail." The man let out an amused laugh, in which Ruby shrunk in embarrassment. "It's good, I can guarantee that you'd love for seconds."

"Then make it two Rat's Blood cocktails, on the rocks, gramps. Put the tab on me." You said.

"Comin' right up!"

Chika busied herself within pages to pages, turning to next rather slowly as she progressed. Ruby wanted to ask whether she could help, but You's hand stopped her.

"Let Chika-chan be, Ruby-chan. She's always absorbed in her work once she started, we shouldn't bother her," the vampire said. "Why don't we talk about other things as we waited?"

Now that You mentioned it, and it said that You might be able to help her. Ruby wondered if Chika thought of it as a cause, the similarity of being in the same boat as human who's turned to a vampire, or of other reasons that Ruby has yet to know from You herself – she has yet to get to know the grey-haired vampire.

"They said you are ... Lady Sakurauchi's trusted scout? What's that, You-chan?"

"Straight to that, I see, oh, I'm so embarrassed," You fanned herself over. "Err, how can I explain it? Lady Sakurauchi is my mentor, she's your kind of 'old vampire' noble, and before I was turned, I was working on the open seas," You was a bit fidgety as she told the story, Ruby found it cute. "Most vampires are afraid of water in general, but I'm not—maybe because I love the sea so much? I dunno—and I'm very knowledgeable with sea and ships so my Lady sometimes sent me out to help humans or vampires to anticipate seaborne attack."

The little vampire unconsciously clapped, "Wow, that sounds incredible, You-chan."

"I-It's not that big, really. It's the least I can do to be useful to my mentor~" the grey-haired vampire scratched her cheek, feeling self-conscious. "That aside, umm, is this your first time in vampire district? I see that your eyes wander around ..."

"Oh, no. It's just ... it feel different, somehow," Ruby answered. "It was crowded everywhere when Mari-chan introduced me to this place. When I was human, I never go to this area of town."

"It's like Chika said, the one's crowded bunch are humans; well, blood whores, though," You explained. "Gramps, are there still humans hanging around at night after the restrictions?"

The old man was measuring red-colored liquid in two small cups as they speak. "Only the brave young'uns, kind of this human who loves the thrill of information. Some are lucky not to be found dead by the next day. The outbreak is escalating rather in worrisome note, must I add," he poured the measured liquid to the shaker, adding some colorless syrup to the mix before sprinkles of ice and started to mix it. "There also Hunters stationed here day and night, but it's not easy to control rampaging, hungry vampires, don't you think?"

Ruby looked to her feet. Rampaging, hungry vampire—it hit her, it was the feeling of monstrosity; a call of devil, she could say, when the urge to get nothing but blood and be a mindless, unstoppable scary being. Part of her memories flashed directly at when she accidentally bitten her older sister, shame and regret crawled under her skin and made herself shiver.

"... Are you alright, Ruby-chan?"

You's voice chimed in like a bell, waking her up from the reverie. The little vampire looked up to see blue irises directed at her in worry. She noticed that the old bartender there did the same.

"I ..." Ruby swallowed. "I was also ... went out of control before and I hurt someone—a precious person."

All that Riko talked to her was more like reciting a vampire history from top to bottom, Dia surmised. What's different, beside how serene and collected Riko's tone was going, compared to how Mari conversed with her in riddles, is how the burgundy-haired vampire shared some key points in simple summary after answering questions in such length.

"There, might be times when older vampires wanted to create an army or a cause for our own greater good, but," said Riko. "After the war and the pledge with humanity, we're no longer seek for such theatrics."

"How can you say that? I can still see vile vampires around."

And Riko didn't even mind every single of Dia's direct to indirect mocking about her race, just like how Mari is.

"I can't blame fledglings and a little thirsty vampires population for that. You can see that blood is our source of power, yet it could be our true weakness," Riko smiled at this, the first time in the day. "Blood make us strong, but our dependence of blood is what makes us weak. It's simply our nature to desire for blood, and we can't deny our birthright. We might attack when we're hungry, it's unavoidable."

"Why do you have to turn someone, rather than sucking them until dry?"

Riko took a sip to her tea again, which finished the cup. Her amber softened, "I have to repeat that we won't turn someone unless the human agreed to it," the vampire was looking at Dia, but the raven-haired huntress could feel that she was ... reminiscing. "True that we can suck somebody to the point we dried all of the blood, but we're not greedy. We loved frequent single sips to taking down a bottle of everything," those amber eyes kept glazing. "That ... makes me remember of a question."

Dia's brow perked up. "My assistant asked the same when I found her years ago."

Right, Watanabe You said herself that she was a human and she was willing to be turned. Dia though didn't bother to speak a comment and waited for Riko to continue.

"Why don't you end my life instead? She asked," Riko went on. "Vampires were attacking her ship that day and she was the last one who's still breathing. I was happened to be nearby and exterminated those strange vampires. Her eyes were ... brimmed with life," there was a happy sigh in compelling her emotional story. "Though our method, as you continuously said, unacceptable by exchanging humanity for immortality, but it's all we can do to keep somebody 'alive'. Us vampires love the breathe of living."

Is this the fact she really want to accept, or will she keep denying it?

The cocktail was done at the point when Ruby finished her own story to the old man and You. Rat's Blood was a dark purplish liquid combined with syrup and another few drops of 'secret flavors' per the old man described. Served in tall glass with small umbrella and a swirl mimicking a rat's tail made from chocolate, the cocktail's appearance made you forget that it was a glass of pure blood.

The bar is now silent except for them, no more customers are coming in and the old man was busying himself with the cupboard of wines behind.

"That reminds me when I was turned; I keep biting at my mentor to the point I was chained by the authorities back then," You laughed.

Ruby watched her glass, giving the content a stir and the chocolate tail melted in. You gave her shoulder pats, seeing that the little vampire was looked down.

"My mentor was a respectable vampire back in Tokyo, and they despised me to be a useless fledgling to her presence. And how my family is hard to accept me sometimes," she popped at her straws. "There will be hardships, but believe me, everything will be alright when the time comes, as long as you keep trying your best and yousoro."

Trying her best – the words echoed inside her as it coming, everything will be alright, there's nothing to be afraid of. Will it be okay for Ruby to not give up, even though it's nearly no chance for everything to be back to 'normal'?

A rattling sound came from beside them, Chika was up, stretching her arms and taking off her glasses averted their attention from the sappy conversation. "I'm do~ne!"

"Ooh, welcome back, Chika-chan~" You exclaimed, chin resting on her palm. "Find anything good?"

"Nothing much," there was an 'eehh' from You. Ruby listened. "It's still much of speculations by the end of the notes, it has yet to be proven, though guess everyone is pretty much dead already."

Chika opened the book and pointed at the last page that's still written, both You and Ruby unable to read it, Chika outlined the said words in a circle with her index finger. She spoke with a small voice.

"It says, 'the source of vampire's wilderness is not normal'," Chika continued forth, to the next entry. "it is unknown of how the outbreak has spread, it might be same to how humans catch a cold, a virus, or something similar," the orange-haired merchant made a line on the last sentence. "A further inspection is needed, maybe from the dead human bodies, or from the caught vampires who once went out of control."

"So it's that ... dangerous?"

"It's still a speculations, You-chan, we can't jump into a conclusion yet," Chika closed the book. "We should tell somebody in the authority to have this matter checked ... oh, I can't contact Mari-chan directly, it would take a few days."

Ruby asked, "How about we ... go back to the town and ask You-chan's mentor? I mean, umm, she's an old vampire, right? I-I might ask for Onee-chan to do some research as well."

"—Sounds great!" You snapped her fingers, she jumped away from the bar stool and saluted. "Then, then, let's jet!"

"U-Umm, but first, can I ask to go to the market? I, I need to buy something for dinner."

A vampire with the love of the aspect of life.

A human who's skeptical with the vampire's way of thinking.

Everything Riko has been saying up until now is surreal, a story coated with honey that couldn't prove to be poisoned. It contradicted every Dia's view of world, the world Kurosawa family etched deep in her brain of how vampires, or other supernatural beings is only there for human to be extinct; of how they were nothing but thirst of power and recklessness to human's superiority of reasoning.

Part of Dia wanted to deny, but her heart wanted to believe in the fact that her sister is still her sister; the same old Ruby who's trying her best to be a strong huntress.

What's her hesitation – is it really her pride that rejected this 'truth'?

"Your tea is cold." Riko repeated. "And I know that there might be many things in your mind now, though I might say that what I'm telling you is nothing but the truth. It's still up to you to believe me or not."

.

Dia was standing on a branching road, one lead her to hell and the other one to heaven. The time has come for her to choose, since the road behind her was no longer to be found.

.

"—I'm sorry to bother you, but I sense guests are coming to our way," Riko stated, getting up from her seat. "It's my assistant bringing a vampire and a human with her."

"How can you tell?"

"I can tell if my assistant is nearby and if the particular people is close to her, it's just the power of vampire's domain," Riko explained. "I'll greet at the door, please take your time, Kurosawa-san."

.

The vampires which were turned from humans are not soulless. The vampires turned them by the will of the humans, not by the vampires' selfish conduct. The vampires loved to see living flesh rather than taking on greedily. Should she believe this to her own benefit, or—

.

"O-Onee-chan."

Dia turned to see Ruby was up there from the direction of the door. The assistant Watanabe was talking with Riko and other orange-hooded person. Ruby descended from the stairs, in her hold was a big paper bag with tall french bread sticking apart from other contents. It must be for dinner, Dia surmised as she walked closer to see her younger sister. There lies an awkward pause as their eyes met, Ruby was visibly tracing on the paper bag.

"I, I was shopping for dinner when I met You-chan," Ruby began to talk, though Dia didn't ask for Ruby to explain herself. "w, we happened to find something leading about the vampire outbreak, s-she might be explaining to you soon. And umm ..."

So she was going on her own – it's not like she would be a little sister who must ask her for a permission every time. She's matured already, she knows her priorities, and not to mention, she's no longer—

"I'm ... I'm sorry that I wasn't at home," Dia could see that Ruby is clearly afraid; the older Kurosawa memorized every movements in detail when her younger sister is scared, from the droop of shoulder and how she fidgets ever so often. Though, she could say Ruby is changed – she's not straying from the eye contact, she stood firm. "I promise not to be reckless again."

And finally, Ruby stopped, chewing on her lips, waiting for Dia to act – or at least, saying any word. Speaking with her sister holding the silence with a straight face is very nerve-wrecking, she hoped that she won't be yelled at or—

Ruby didn't expect that Dia would come closer, warm fingers tracing on her magenta hair, and ruffling it, tenderly. Emerald eyes looked up to see Dia's lips stretched slightly upwards, and it parted, flowing the words.

"Good job, Ruby." Dia said. "I'm proud of you."

Ruby felt her corner of eyes grow hot, but she held it back, the overwhelming burst of different feelings. "T-Thank you, Onee-chan."

"Shall we go home and make dinner together once the matter is settled?"

[ For the first time after walking in the darkness, Ruby happily smiled. ]

[forlawfirmsonlymarketing]

Working remote for the first time? Distancing while connecting!

Remember, no one will be able to interpret or present your capabilities better than you! Much like the Telephone game you may have played as a child, at best, the presentation gets distorted by someone in between you and the decision maker, at worst, it never leaves their email or desk.  Instead of resorting to long emails and sending your capabilities and pricing out minus a personal touch, offer instead to do virtual meetings and screenshares. Not only is this an awesome alternative, it is often free. Here are the tools and tips we have and use daily: 1. A conference line. A good one that is free is https://www.freeconferencecall.com/ Once you create the account you can send it to multiple people, so all decisions makers are welcome to jump on and listen. Having a dedicated line to pass out as needed is an essential tool and eliminates a ton of back and forth “what number should I call” type emails. 2. A screen share option. Set up an account for free (or you can upgrade to premium versions) and share your screen and your presentation anytime.  We currently use Start Meeting https://www.startmeeting.com/ . 30 day free trial (you get can phone number or VOIP, record, etc.) We pay $12.95 a month per user.  Another one we have used is Join.me https://www.join.me.  You can do a free trial for 30 days. Using these tools allows you to stay in control of how your capabilities are presented, and who they are presented to and it works just as good for the first pitch as the second or third.

Now that you have your tools, it is time to look at your workspace. Here are the  "Top Tips for Working from Home Productively.” These tips are shared with every employee as we all have the option and ability to work from home: 1. Have a designated work-space.  Decide where you will work from in your home and set up a space.  Make sure you have access to plenty of outlets and that you have all your chargers, cords and equipment necessary.  When setting up your space, try to find an area away from distractions and make sure you have a comfortable chair. 2. Get dressed. You don’t have to be fancy but definitely change out of what you slept in. Wearing shoes can also have a huge impact on productivity. 3. Set your hours and start and end on time. Just like when you go into the office, have your morning routine, get your coffee or workout in, and then get to work on time. Don’t procrastinate. 4. Plan out what you will be working on. The day before, look at your tasks for the next day and  solidify your schedule. Have a list ready so you know what to get started on right away. Plan your week to optimize your environment. 5. To stay on schedule, map out what you’ll do and when over the course of the day. Use your Outlook calendar to set events and reminders that will alert you when it is time to start your next task or block of time. 6. Work when you’re at your most productive.  Are you on fire in the morning or is the afternoon more your “zone?”  Your motivation will naturally ebb and flow throughout the day, and when you’re working from home, it’s more important to know when those ebbs and flows will take place and plan your schedule around it.  Save your harder tasks for when you know you’ll be in the right headspace for them. Use slower points of the day to knock out the easier, logistical tasks that are also on your plate. 7. Stay Connected. Be accessible and check in with your peeps. We use Slack (www.slack.com) to message our co-workers, keeping e-mail uncluttered for client interactions.  Get on Slack so you are connected and feel like you are part of the team.  There are other resources like WhatsApp, Google Hangouts and Microsoft Teams. 8. Make it clear to family and friends that you are working. Have a sign you post on the door to indicate you should not be interrupted. Decide if you need noise cancelling headphones or earbuds to eliminate background noises. 9. Distractions will call your name and you need to be strong.  Don’t surrender to some of the common distractions of home like putting in a load of laundry, turning on the TV or doing other household chores. 10. If you are a social media addict, avoid it altogether. Shut off social media notifications during the day. This will help avoid interruptions, so you can focus on getting more done. 11. Take clear breaks.  Get up and stretch! Use your breaks to get away from your desk. Go for a walk outside or spend time with others who might also be in the house.  Breaks, like making and eating lunch, can recharge you to do better work. Don’t assume you need to be working 100% of the time while you’re home to be more productive. 12.  Another work from home reality is that we have full access to the kitchen. So, when it’s time for lunch or a snack break, we are immediately drawn to the usual snacks, such as chips, cookies or leftover pizza.  However, research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables has a direct link on overall productivity levels. If you are an avid snacker, then make it a point to make yourself a healthy lunch, just as you would if you had to go into an office. You can also avoid buying unhealthy snacks altogether. 13. Enjoy your time and flexibility. The beauty of working from home one day a week is that it allows you to concentrate fully on important projects without distractions. It allows you to have lunch in your own kitchen or your favorite places nearby. It allows you to listen to any music you want and to replace your commuting time with something enjoyable. Take advantage of the time each week to recharge in your own personal space. 14. Consider creating a vision board for your home office space. A vision board is just that: a board that you can use to write notes and post pictures of your dreams and aspirations. The visualization aspect of a vision board is a great and powerful mind exercise. It can help you feel the way you want to feel. This could help you get out of your work from home slump, and pave a new, clear path to productivity and success.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/working-remote-for-the-first-time-distancing-while-connecting/

[fitnessandmeditation20]

How to keep fit over the summer holidays

A nifty guide to keep yourself healthy and bulge free this summer vacay

By- Angel Merchant 

School’s out and the plan to jet off for the summer break is looming over the horizon. Travel plans, the holiday wardrobe, finding the right camera angle and conduits of sunscreen are often on the checklist.

Passionate over-indulgences and lounging about often results in an added 20 pounds at the end of the vacation.

While binge eating on exotic foods, and enveloping yourself into the comfort of the hotel room bed, it can be rather difficult to keep your fitness in check. Nonetheless, with the right kind of advice on how to effectively remain in form over your holiday, you can come back home feeling rejuvenated, regret-less, and in remarkable shape.

Here’s a nifty guide to keep these summer holidays healthy and bulge free.

Skip the tour bus

When travelling to a new destination, traversing around the city on foot will help you accomplish two goals. Firstly, you get a chance to experience the city in all its splendour. Walking down the bumpy paths, interacting with the locals, having interesting street food at every corner, and most importantly, capturing every single moment of your journey. These are not facets of travel mere tour buses have to offer.

Secondly, the long walks of wanderlust result in a great workout for your body. You spend the day enjoying your time, and simultaneously, contributing to the betterment of your cardiovascular system, and the environment. You can also hop onto a rented bicycle, and paddle your way around town. Both ways are win-win situations for anybody looking to maintain their fitness, when on vacation.

Choose the right hotel

There were days where holiday homes consisted of dingy inns or tacky motels, which involved a bed, bathroom, and television. However, with the direction the world is headed in now, it would be rather challenging to find a hotel limited to simply three amenities. On the contrary, hotels today comprise of world class luxuries that facilitate ease for occupants, every step of the way. Hence, when selecting a hotel, pick one that offers a gym service suitable to your work out needs and regime. 

We often interest ourselves in other aspects our potential impermanent residencies have to offer. We continually overlook the most essential one to our well-being. 

Choose a hotel with a gym that is catered to your needs. Perhaps scan the resort for any courts available, pertaining to the sport of your choice, such as tennis, squash or basketball. Most hotels have swimming pools freely available. Make full use of these amenities and enjoy a fun workout either solo, or with family and friends.

Eat right

It is unrealistic to stick to a rigid diet when travelling. A colossal part of the entertainment factor on any vacation, is the food you get to relish. According to Dr Babak Jamalian, a family physician specialist at many leading hospitals in the UAE, and a managing director at Ideal Fit centre, moderation is key. Eating from all classifications of foods is fine, so long as you practice moderation with everything you eat. 

The first meal of the day should be a large and satisfying breakfast. Individuals often tend to surrender to the comfort of their beds, sleep in, and miss out on the hotel breakfast. Dr. Babak stresses on the significance of not doing so, and ensuring the first meal sustains individuals for up to four to five hours of the day. If you begin to feel hungry two hours post your morning meal, take that as a sign that your breakfast was fairly unhealthy. You also need to make sure you drink lots of water before your initial meal in the morning.

Eating outside is fine, however, try and avoid two consecutive unhealthy meals. If you are aware dinner is going to be heavy and out of the diet you are trying to keep up, proceed your dinner meal with a relatively healthy lunch. Try and add in a short workout at your hotel before going to bed. This way you safeguard yourself from falling off the wagon entirely, and assist your body during the recuperation process.

Locate a nearby grocery store

One of the main contributions to embracing an unhealthy diet, is the persistent consumption of outside foods for lengthy periods of time. The best way to avert this likely concern, is by locating a nearby grocery store. This is one of the most effective ways to remain cognisant of what you are putting in your body at all times.

Download a workout app

Although technology is predominantly known for its significant contribution to individuals adopting a sedentary lifestyle, we seldom acknowledge that it has also contributed to quite the opposite. In the recent years, a myriad of effective work out apps have been created to help motivate fitness and diet. 

GuavaPass, HealthifyMe, ClassPass, and MyFitnessPal are some of the top leading fitness apps in Dubai, to name a few. With your workout strategies all accessible on your hand-held device, you can carry a personal trainer with you anywhere you go. Sift through the numerous apps present, and choose one that befits your work out style. 

Some apps include online classes, live and recorded, and others consist of data regarding every food item you place in your body. Find out exactly what you’re eating, what the potential ramifications are, and find out great workouts when overseas.

Jet lag

The single most effective way of combating the monster of all travels, is constant hydration. Keeping your body consistently hydrated, helps battle all forms jet lag. Dr. Babuk mentions some additional methods to cure insomnia.

· Have a cup of warm milk with 2 teaspoons of honey before bed

· Try to take a bath with magnesium salt before sleeping

· Get in a considerable amount of exercise. A good workout can assist staying awake during the day, and contribute to a better sleep at night.

Workout tips from a professional

Andrej Kubura, a coach at Symmetry Gym Dubai, gives a brief description of some quick workout regimes you can practice when on holiday. Kubura mentions, the best holiday training to keep yourself fit is a series of short circuits. Circuit 1 should involve 10-20 squats, push ups, and planks. If you cannot do a full push up on the floor, keep your hands at the edge of the bed, to aid in elevating your upper body. Circuit 2 consists of lunges, alternating between each leg, and side planks, lasting 30 seconds on each side. The last circuit which is optional, is a set of 50 jumping jacks. Depending on your time, energy level, and daily activities, repeat these circuits between 1-3 times in your hotel room, gym, or in an outdoor park. It’s a perfect simple body weight exercise to help keep you fit, and feel a little less guilty when you end up over-indulging,

Healthy snacks

Justine Corrado, a licensed nutritionist, and owner of Basiligo, a healthy gourmet restaurant in Abu Dhabi, stresses on the ease with which you can make a bunch of healthy snacks on your trip.

Homemade granola bars are delicious, sustainable and can be rather filling. There are endless recipes online with combinations of your flavour preferences. They are free from preservatives, added sugar, and they last for at least a week. Prepare the bars before your travel, and make sure to store them in zip locks and air tight containers.

Additionally, an exceedingly convenient snacking item is sandwiches made from leftovers. “In todays’ world of Airbnb’s, we are cooking dinners from fresh ingredients”, says Corrado. Pick up any whole wheat packet of bread, and spread whatever left overs you have from the night before. Examples include minced meat, pieces of steak, vegetables etc. Another great way to gratify your appetite, is by purchasing some of the local fruits in the country you’re visiting. Keep them with you for whenever you need a quick snack.

[empireofwrestlemania]

Her Mysterious Benefactor - Chapter 2

Not much had changed in Loneville since Samantha had last been there. The only things she had really noticed thus far were that there was a new woman in town - a fairy - and that the town seemed...lonelier, if that could be possible. The small marketplace was almost always empty, the streets were bare, and Samantha didn’t know how she was supposed to get anything done when she could never find anyone.

She had yet to find a real job, and the money that her brother was sending would only last so long. She had found herself a fishing pole and, feeling somewhat desperate, would walk up to the seashore and spend the day fishing. Fish were a great good in town. Since most of the people there were werewolves, any kind of meat always sold well. She made herself a little sign and set it up in front of her new home’s front window, figuring she could sell it out of her own home.

“I didn’t expect to see you back here,” came a voice one afternoon as she was walking back to her house with that day’s haul. When she turned to look, she found herself meeting the eyes of the Wolf Kingdom’s own ruler, King Baron.

“Oh! Your majesty,” she said, offering as much of a curtsy as she could with the sack of fish she carried. “Financial problems, it turns out that Cenation is more expensive to live in than my brother had anticipated.”

“And how is that brother of yours doing?” the King asked, moving forward and taking the sack from her arms without even asking to help. “Still a vampire?”

“Yes, yes he is,” she replied softly, glancing briefly away. Her brother Corey, as far as she knew, was one of the only people who had ever forsaken the gift of werewolfism to instead become a vampire. Baron likely held a grudge against him for that, as they’d once been close friends.

“As long as he doesn’t mess with my city, we’ll be fine,” Baron said, shaking his head as he walked with her in the direction of her house. “Anyone tell you yet about the vampires who set up camp just across the river border?”

“Vampires in the Kingdom of Gold?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Near Loneville, there was a river that bordered the Kingdom of Gold, usually referred to as the river border. One side was Baron’s, and one side belonged to the Three Kings.

“They haven’t caused any trouble yet but I’m certain they intend to,” he said. “There’s no other reason they’d still be there. We can count on you if they try to make a move on the city, right?”

“Of course, your majesty,” Samantha replied quickly. Her house was now in front of them, and she fumbled around with the key before unlocking it. “Would you like to come in for a drink, your majesty?” she asked, glancing over at him.

“No, I’ll be fine,” he said, shaking his head before holding out the sack of fish for her to take. “Did you happen to meet King John while you were down in Cenation?”

“Yes,” Samantha said with a nod. “He and Queen Nikki actually gifted me this cloak. I worked in the castle as a servant for a while.”

“Hm. It does sound like something he’d do,” Baron said with a nod. “You’re likely safer here, by the way. And if you hear from your brother, see if he knows anything about those vampires across the river. I’m pretty sure there’s just a few of him, but maybe someone in Corey’s group knows something.”

“I’ll do that,” Samantha said with a nod. “Thank you for your help, your majesty.”

He simply gave her a curt nod, as if not wanting to admit that he’d come over to help her with her bag, and then he turned and headed off. She watched as he left, and then retreated indoors with her fish to prepare it for sale overnight.

It was a few more days before Samantha heard from her brother again. In that time, she’d established a decent little routine for herself. She’d go out and spend the day fishing, prep the fish in the evening, and then sell it out her window at night when everyone else was up and about. Werewolves were supposed to be nocturnal, but Samantha’s human half preferred the light of day to the darkness of night. Once she ran out of fish, or when she grew tired, she’d go to sleep. If she had leftovers, she’d set them aside for herself or salt them for longer storage.

Her brother’s package came in the mail containing a few pouches of gold and a golden ring that he’d looted off a dead body and thought she might enjoy. His letter apologized for sending her so much less than usual, since their group had accidentally obtained an additional mouth to feed. “Join us, please. It’ll be so much easier,” he’d insisted in his letter, just as he always did. She had no intentions of forsaking her werewolf half to become a vampire like him, though, and she wasn’t interested in wandering about with his little group.

She wrote him back, telling him that she was making some money of her own selling fish in town, and then she asked him about the vampires that Baron had mentioned. She doubted that he’d have any information, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

She wandered into town, heading towards the courier box. It was a brilliant concept invented by King Rock of the Stone Kingdom - the boxes were placed in every town, and any time a courier came through, they would take letters from the boxes that were on their route and deliver them as they went. It guaranteed that letters got where they needed to be without having to search high and low for a courier.

She stopped in the marketplace, figuring she could wait until dusk to buy some fruits and vegetables. There was a farm just South of town that sent a merchant one night a week to sell fruits and vegetables to the townspeople. It was hard, being only half-werewolf in a town of werewolves. Samantha often wanted to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, but those were a luxury reserved for only a few days of the week. Tonight would be one of those nights, though.

She grinned when she saw the farmer coming, lugging a small cart behind him. She hurried over to help him with it, and as they made their way to his stall, they made some casual small talk.

“So,” the farmer asked as he began to unload the baskets of produce on to the stall counter, “what’s a regular girl like you doing in a town like this? You’re just about the only one who buys my produce, you know.”

“Oh, I’m still half-werewolf,” Samantha said with a light laugh. “The human half of me just really loves fruit.”

“Oh, I see,” said the farmer with a nod. Samantha couldn’t be sure, but she suspected that she’d just lost his trust.

With a small crate filled with enough fruits and vegetables to satisfy her for a few days, Samantha headed back towards her little house. She couldn’t wait to bite into a crisp, fresh apple for breakfast the next morning. When she rounded the bend that led to her house, though, she spotted something strange on her doorstep.

She quickened her steps, and when she reached the house, she saw that it was a woven cloth bag with a small note tied to it. She carefully picked it up and put it in her crate before heading inside, locking the door behind her for the first night since she’d left Empire Minora.

She took the note off and untied the bag, wanting first to see what was inside. A gasp left her lips as she saw a glass bottle filled with honey spiced tiger korlan wine. It was expensive, she knew that much - she’d seen some in the windows of shops down in Empire Minora, but they were always more gold than she’d ever even seen at once in her life.

Her eyes darted to the note, and she grabbed it quickly. There was no note this time, just the familiar scrawled signature that had been attached to the book’s little letter.

Characters included: @thedeboniardevistation

Tagging: @hardcorewwetrash @macfizzle @she-reigns-in-this-yard @xxshamelesspunk247xx @sisteradelaide @sonjashuterbugjohnson @queenreignsempire

[sometimesiwritetoo]

Blood Money - Chapter 18

Chapters: 18/?

Pairing: Noctis/Prompto/Luna

Rating: M for violence

Warnings: None

Summary: Look closely. In the shadows, there is violence. Prompto was engineered to do one thing, and to do it well. Contract by contract, he shaped a world he could only observe. Touching lives only by ending them.

Check it out over on AO3!

Torture was not something Prompto had much experience in, but he was able to get by just fine in this instance.

Countess Lilah Tretch’s resolve started off strong. She was loyal to her friend, Duchess Ella, and had been taught basic techniques for enduring torture. Not to mention the fact that the longer she held out the more likely someone would realize she was taken when she failed to check in. Despite that she was still only a duchess. There was no way she’d hold out long enough.

One of the most basic torture methods Prompto knew involved tying a double ended metal skewer to her neck with one end right under her chin and the other end on her chest. It was a slow method that kept Lilah from dipping her chin down lest she sent an end through the fleshy underside of her chin or through her chest. He left her with her hands tied behind her chair for several hours while he helped Noctis and Luna clean up the bodies and hunker down for the next few days.

“Wow.” Noctis said as he rooted through the kitchen. “It’s been a while since I’ve had caviar. Can’t believe she had something like that all the way out here.”

Prompto was not surprised. Not only did she have caviar, but she also had different types all staked on top of one another in her cabinets. Next to them were crackers and several bottles of fine wine. He expected Noctis to pull them all out, but he closed the cabinet and moved onto the next.

“People like her cannot be parted from their luxuries.” Luna said. She collected blankets and laid them out in a thick stack on the floor of the living area. Next down were the pillows which she arranged at one end in a thick pile.

“What’s that for?” He asked.

“Sleeping. I’m not sleeping in any of her rooms, I don’t what she’s done in them.”

“This place has ten rooms!”

“And the rich have time to be creative.”

“What makes this space safe?”

“Because I decided it was.” She announced. “Noctis what are you making?”

“Fish egg and champagne cocktails.”

“You can have mine.”

“I’m kidding.” Noctis brought out some quail eggs, steak, and bread. “Breakfast for dinner!”

“Is there anything green in there?”

“No. And don’t look.”

Luna ignored him and found a bag of parsnips among several other fruits and vegetables. “We’ll have these with it.”

“We just stormed this place. We don’t need to eat healthy.”

“We don’t know how long we’ll be here. We have to ration everything.”

She and Noctis were back to “debating”, it was nice. Honestly he was wondering if this was a sign Luna was dealing with the situation better or if she was spiraling, but he didn’t know how he would tell the difference. Noctis clumsily crack the eggs on the side of a pan and dropped them in some hot oil. The yolks cracked and the oil spattered from such a high heat, but they came out edible. The steak got chopped up and Noctis cooked it until it was tough then failed to put any salt on it. Prompto did not say anything as he ate his plate. He’d eaten way worse food.

They finished and Prompto attempted to excuse himself. But Luna invited him to sleep with them under the blankets. He wanted to refuse, but if this kept everyone happy and calm then he could try to deal with it. He left his jacket and shoes on the nearby couch and got under the covers at the edge, expecting immediate silence after their long day. But that didn’t happen.

“Where is the Countess?” Luna asked. “I haven’t seen her.”

“In her room.”

“Locked up?”

“Yep.”

“But we didn’t feed her.”

“I know.”

Luna sighed. “We’re torturing her aren’t we?”

“I’m torturing her. You guys are just eating her food.”

“What did you need us for then?” Noctis asked.

“Aranea didn’t want you around in the city. Thought you guys would be better off out here.”

“So we’re hiding?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.” Noctis rolled over and stuck a pillow over his head to sleep.

“Are you gonna kill her?” Luna asked.

Prompto paused. “Maybe. Probably.”

She paused. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over.”

“Me too.”

Prompto did not sleep well. He hated sharing rooms, and beds moreso. When he was younger and more volatile he’d actually gotten into several midnight fights with a former roommate that the sisters let eventually end with a death. But this wasn’t The Compound, and it made everything go smoothly. He could deal with it for a few days. He wasn’t going to see them after the job was done anyways.

In the morning he checked in with the Countess. She hadn’t been able to wiggle her way loose or knock the pin away. She was sweating after the several hours spent strapped up in her evening dress. A sizable bloodstain had formed on her chest which seeped through the white of her clothes, but she kept her mouth firmly shut when he shut the door and approached.

“Any news on Duchess Ella?” He said casually. “Maybe a location?”

The Countess’ lips did not move.

“Well. I’ll leave you to think about it.”

He left, if it wasn’t the technique then it was the time that got people talking. There was some other things he could do if this didn’t work, and he knew he could always call Vincent, but he doubted it would come to that.

There wasn’t a television or most forms of entertainment in the house, but there was a library. Prompto found Luna and Noctis already inside browsing. Luna found a few Crystal Thrones books and had settled by a window to read them. Noctis still seemed to be looking for something interesting to read in the historical section. He took one of the Crystal Thrones books and settled in.

---

When the monthly payment didn’t come Aranea knew they were in trouble.

While there was some reserve money leftover from previous months there wasn’t nearly enough to bribe or secure resources for the unidentified amount of time they’d need it. She would’ve attempted to get in touch with Noctis, but Noctis wasn’t directly funding them and doing so might reveal their location to others. She’d need to find something else.

“What do we have that we can sell.” She muttered to herself. Both Biggs and Wedge were running through their recorded resources.

“Info on agents for Scarlet, treeline, Seekers of Truth, and A-line.” Biggs said.

“That’s all general information. And neither the Seekers of Truth or A-line are big players right now.”

“Security codes for the entire train line.” Wedge said.

“They’ll be updating those for the celebration.” So they were useless.

“We could do a few favors.” Biggs said.

“I don’t want to put our name out there like that. We’re vulnerable as it is.”

“But we could rent out a few specialized skills. Yuffie’s a decent torturer.”

“No.”

“We could see information Prompto gets from the Countess.” Wedge said.

“We could… But what if we need it. We can’t sell it to anyone who’ll use it against us.”

“We could just… sell her?”

“We could…”

“Brutus will always pay for that kind of information.” Biggs said.

“They’ll lowball us. We should sell to people who’d pay a premium for information.”

Wedge searched through known players. “silence might be best. They have funding from the Emperor’s political rival Jacob Spyre.”

“What’s his position?”

“He’s openly spoken against Aldercapt for at least a decade.” Wedge frowned. “But he’s known for his temper, and there’s no reason to believe that he’d be any less of a war monger.”

“Why does he oppose Aldercapt then?”

“Machismo. Arrogance? Narcissism? All three probably? He doesn’t have any political allies besides his sister who is currently out in the countryside. If we sold this to him it’s unlikely it’ll be all that beneficial. silence doesn’t have the resources to hunt down the Duchesses and keep a presence here.”

“But they could be holding their trump card.” She sighed, there was no easy answer to this. “Reach out to him. We’ll give him her location. If he accepts inform Prompto and he’ll handle the trade.”

“Okay.”

Aranea retreated to a room, to sit down and take a break from the people. Downstairs Cindy and Ignis were feeding Gladio’s gluttony since he was the only person around, who wasn’t Noctis, available to eat everything. Yuffie was sleeping and Claire was similarly troubled in the living room. It was usual stuff. They were a wet works team, working in a hostile environment was normal, but the delicacy of their operation was stressful. She did not envy the handlers who had to organize these large scale operations and juggle ten, twenty, sometimes thirty agents and ensure they had the resources they needed to get the job done.

Whether or not they were successful it would be a relief for the operation to be over and to return to The Organization. She could tell that everyone was feeling it.

An hour after the sunset Wedge came in to inform her that he would meet to exchange payment and information at one in the morning. She mentally began picking and choosing agents. Claire and Yuffie were not in optimal condition, and she’d need more than Cindy, who was not much of a melee combatant, if she wanted to cover her bases.

“Wake up Ignis and Gladio.” She told Wedge. “They’re coming with me.”

She got Cindy, who was up and ready quickly, and they both waited for Gladio and Ignis to come down. The two were clearly reluctant to wake up at such an odd time, but there was not much of a choice in the matter. Shit needed to get done.

“What are we doing?” Ignis asked immediately before they left.

“The prince’s funding has been cut off. We’re trading the Countess’ location for some money.”

“So the capitol noticed that he wasn’t doing what he promised to do.” Ignis sighed, “And now they’ve cut him off.”

“Dammit.” Gladio whined. “When we return I’m resigning.”

“This is all fascinating.” She deadpanned. “Come on.”

The meeting place was in an abandoned building in the red light district. Aranea did tend to enjoy the atmosphere of a typical red light district, but Niflheim’s capital was something else. No cops, but little foot traffic. In times of struggle the red light district always turned into a second battling ground. Meetings to exchange information rather than sex. Workers killed their john’s. John’s purchased information about other clients. A worker killed because they found out too much. And in the morning the bodies would be gone without anyone saying anything.

Silence agents were already at the meeting place when they arrived. Three agents. One man and two women. All armed with knives but no guns. Others potentially hiding outside, but Aranea couldn’t worry about that. Whether they had backup or not would not matter if she made sure everything went smoothly.

“Hello ma’am.” The redheaded woman said. Her face was perfectly neutral as she approached the center of the building. “Do you have the Countess?”

“Not with me.”

“Obviously.”

“Yes, I have her. I will give you the location when I have the money.”

“Our client would like us to confirm several things. Is the Countess harmed?”

“Minor injuries.” Aranea said carefully. Just enough to answer the question. No details.

“Does she know the location of the Duchess’.”

“I don’t know.”

“I see. What reason would you have to obtain her if not for that information?”

“Leverage.”

“Hmp.” The woman reached her hand out behind her. The man, tall and heavy set, placed a briefcase in her hand. “You will be paid in the local currency in the amount agreed upon.”

Aranea took the briefcase and began the labor of checking that it was accurate. She held one up to check the seal through a small stream of light coming through the window. It was authentic so she set it back in it’s case.

“She’s located in the Snowpeak mountains. Five miles north of the train station. My agents are with her.”

Aranea handed the suitcase to Gladio so they could head out. Cindy, who entered the building last, followed protocol and headed towards the door first. Aranea didn’t take two steps before realizing something had gone wrong. When she caught sight of Cindy struggling to open it she knew that they were in trouble.

A knife came sailing from the dark rafters towards Aranea’s chest. She caught it before it connected and immediately threw it back as hard as she could. Gladio dropped the money to summon his sword and Ignis just barely blocked the red headed woman.

There was no way of knowing how many there were and where they would be located. Even if they killed all of the ones in the building there could be others outside. Priorities shifted, get out and warn Prompto. She flanked the red headed woman and jammed a knife in her back. Ignis tossed one of his knives over her head to catch one of the men off guard. He crumpled to the floor as Ignis summoned his weapon back.

“Get the money and go!” She ordered. Cindy grabbed the suitcase of money and threw it through a window. The impact made a hole big enough for her and Ignis to dive through. Gladio charged the door, knocking it off its hinges and knocking out an agent on the other end.

“We have to split up.” She yelled before Gladio could get too far. He followed her and she lead him on a chase through the red light district. Down random alleys then cutting through the business district. They slowed down when they arrived downtown and waited for a bit at a twenty-four hour coffee shop before heading back.

Cindy and Ignis arrived before her both bruised and battered, but successful in bringing the money back safely. They’d already started on counting it and checking random bills to insure their accuracy.

“You two can go to bed if you want.” She said to Ignis and Gladio.

Gladio shrugged, his face looking very tired. “I don’t think I’ll sleep much right now. Did we at least get paid?”

Cindy shook her head. “Half of them are fake. We could go get the rest from them, Biggs was telling me that what was there was likely their entire group and he managed to get their faces by hacking into the cameras on the edge of the district.”

“Are they convincing?”

“Very.” She handed over a bill. “It passes all but one chemical test. We could potentially use it to purchase stuff, but they might have numbers they can track.”

“We’ll use them. Did Biggs call Prompto?”

“Yeah. He’s wrapping things up right now.”

---

“She’s going to be at the New Seasons event alone.” The Countess sobbed. “Th-The emperor didn’t want to risk it. Please let me go.”

“Who else knows she’ll be there?”

“Only Marina.”

Prompto was not entirely satisfied with that answer, but he was running out of time. If he had more resources he could move her to a more secure location and continue from there. But he didn’t have those resources. He took one last look at the Countess’ crumpled form. Her blood stained dress and dark rimmed eyes. She’d been awake for three days sitting in that chair. He’d cut her hamstrings on the second and did an intentionally haphazard job of stitching them back up. Torture always was an uncertain science. The victim could end up so messed up that their confession was meaningless. But there was no way to go back.

He untied her arms. They fell uselessly against her sides. She groaned in pain and relief. He let her have it for a moment before he plunged a knife through her neck.

He left her body in her bedroom and headed out. Noctis and Luna were waiting in the living area, both packed and ready to leave.

“So are we done?” Luna asked.

“Yep. We gotta go now.”

Aranea wired funds for him to purchase a snowmobile rather than risk the train. He drove it halfway there before they switched to the bus for the rest of the way. They were all mostly quiet and contemplative on the way back. There was no time for a real conversation.

Once they were all back at the safehouse Aranea briefed him on what happened while they were away and the new plan. With the event on a few days away they’d secured a brief itinerary of the event.

“Claire and Yuffie are both back on their feet. CIndy and I will just follow to make sure that they stick to the itinerary and they’ll make the kidnapping. I’ve got a cabin near the route set up for them. So you’re on standby until after that.”

That was fine with Prompto. He had a lot to think about.

---

Yuffie’s leg was still sore, but she had to ignore it.

She and Claire had been sitting in the same spot for a week. They watched the Duchess’ small procession traipse through the mountain trail towards the city. Got a feeling for the size and speed at which they moved, then located the return route and set up. Bombs on the mountaintops to induce a slide. Bombs located on the ground to slow the procession. They then camped out and kept their radio on. Aranea told them when the Duchess arrived, when she left, and gave hourly updates on her progress.

“Half a mile out.” She said over the radio. “We’re backing off now.”

Claire sighed. “This is it.”

They split up. Claire took the other half of the road and she snuffed out their fire. They waited and watched as the shielded, black car flanked by two snowmobiles churned through the thick snow. Yuffie thumbed the trigger. Watched them slowly make progress. She only had one shot.

When they passed the marked tree she breathed in, out, then pulled the trigger.

The explosion made the ground rock. The two flanking guards were launched from the bikes with such force that they died upon impact with the ground. Claire jumped from her hiding spot and rushed the car, using the gun on her blade to killed the driver and shoot out the locks. Yuffie ripped a door open and reached inside. Another guard sat between her and the Duchess, and he was already distracted trying to shoot Claire. Yuffie stabbed him through the back of his shooting shoulder and pulled his body out of the car.

Once Claire grabbed the Duchess she hit the second trigger. The explosion on the mountain tops was more a distraction than anything, but the snow rapidly began to fall down towards their position. Claire dragged the Duchess up towards the mountain opposite the explosion and they both just barely made it before the snow partially covered the attack. It was sloppy, but they didn’t have the resources for clean up.

“Let me go!” Duchess Ella screeched. She was panicked and repeatedly tried to tear herself from Claire’s firm grip. Yuffie breezed past the two and began the moderate trek up towards their remote safehouse.

They wouldn’t be safe forever at the location, but it was far from main roads and through a relatively difficult path. Claire jammed a sedative into Ella’s neck and ten minutes later they were making the journey towards the safehouse in complete silence.

Once inside they tied Duchess Ella up and waited until the drug wore off. It was a moderate dose, but it didn’t start wearing off until well past dark. She woke up slowly, until she could properly access what had happened, when her head snapped up and she began to struggle against the bindings.

“Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!” She chanted. “You don’t know what you idiots are doing! They’ll find me!”

Claire let her chant for a bit before silencing her by bashing her head against the wall. The Duchess began to sob instead, squealing and squirming.

“If you cooperate then you’ll be fine.” Claire said. She pulled out the phone Wedge provided. They had about ten minutes on it before they had to hang up and destroy the card inside.

She dialed the number Prompto had found in the Countess’ phonebook. It rang and rang and rang for a good minute before the click and a voice. “Hello?”

Claire put it up to her ear. “Hello Marina. We have your wife,” Marina let out a hitched breath over the phone, “We wanted to set up a meeting to discuss a trade.”

“Don’t do it Marina!” Ella sobbed.

“Shut up!” Claire snapped. “We’d like to meet at the Firelight lake tomorrow at midnight. Alone. Do that and we’ll return her safe and sound.”

“I don’t trust you!” Marina stammered. She sounded close to tears herself. “How do I know you’ll do what you say?”

“I don’t care if you believe. Be there or don’t.” Claire shut the phone off then crushed it under the heel of her boot. “Sit tight. You’ll be here for another twenty-four hours.”

With the threat made they had more waiting to do. Yuffie let Claire rest first and after that they traded off shifts. Duchess Ella continued to whimper and moan, making threats that she couldn’t personally keep. Yuffie shoved a sock in her mouth after an hour and from there they both tried to keep from going insane.

---

Prompto arrived at the Firelight Lake in the morning and spent the day keeping watch of the area. Few people came in and out in that time due to the heavy snowfall. He supposed that in the spring it was a nice place to be. He found torches and several benches circling the lake. Without the six inches of snow it might’ve been a romantic spot to be.

Unfortunately there wouldn’t be any romance that night. By three in the afternoon no one was at the lake. Prompto took several chances to make a lap around and check for hidden weapons or to see if someone had snuck up without him noticing. Thankfully he found nothing in his many scans. By ten he was confident that no one else was there.

Aranea and Cindy arrived at eleven. He gave them a walk around and showed where he’d be hiding then left them to organize and debate while he got into position. The woods that surrounded the lake were empty, and he was able to comfortably  watch as Duchess Marina’s car drove up. It was still for a moment before Marina opened the door and exited. No one else opened the door to follow.

Marina was armed. He could tell that she had a small gun in the lining of her fur coat and a knife in her boot. But he could also tell that she was too nervous to use them. It was placed incorrectly, creating a lump under her coat, and she kept patting at it nervously. Prompto didn’t bother to warn either Cindy or Aranea as he followed Marina up the path towards the meeting place.

His job was to more keep watched rather than listen in. If the deal went south they could handle it as long as there weren’t any surprises waiting for them on the outside.

His patrolling took him far from them where he couldn’t hear before circling back. When he got closer he could hear Marina’s urgency. Her almost wish for a fight, while Aranea was calm and didn’t give her anything to latch onto. Cold and businesslike. Debate the terms and keep responses brief. So while Marina dug for a reason to call it off and alert the emperor Aranea calmly answered questions with as little information as necessary.

Prompto headed back out again. It sounded like they would wrap things up quickly, but he didn’t want to rule out someone taking the chance to sneak up and interrupt right before the deal was confirmed.

The phone in his pocket rang. He panicked a bit as he fished it out, Yuffie and Claire were on radio silence unless there was an emergency, it clicked and the call connected.

“Ella’s dead.” Claire said. Her voice sounded almost painfully strained as she spoke. “We got jumped an hour ago and they killed her.”

“Who?”

“Couldn’t find out. We have suspicions. We’re going to regroup back in the city and discuss it.”

Claire hung up. Prompto chose to wait until the deal was settled and Marina left before he approached Aranea and Cindy. It looked like the deal itself had been settled, but it wasn’t fulfillable without a Duchess to trade.

“Ella’s dead.” He announced. “Claire called just ten minutes ago.”

Aranea closed her eyes and pinched at the bridge of her nose.

“Oh god damn it!” Cindy complained. She rested her forehead against a tree and let out a long whine.

“Where are Claire and Yuffie now?”

“Heading back to the safehouse.”

“Fuck. Let’s go. Sort this shit out.”

They all hurried back to the safehouse to regroup. Claire and Yuffie arrived with new injuries, Yuffie had a long cut down an arm and Claire had a giant bruise on her stomach. They got patched up by Cindy while they debriefed.

“There was about five of them. One took the Duchess’ head and after we killed three of them the last two immediately left.” Yuffie said.

“Sounds like they need proof she’s dead.”

“Probably. I was thinking it might’ve been the emperor himself.”

“I was too. He’s the only one who would benefit from it. Keeps Marina from talking. But were you tagged? How did they find you?”

“He has the resources to scout an area like that.” Wedge interrupted. “I don’t think we were tracked, I think he just has the money and manpower and search a mountain range for three people.”

“Then why didn’t he have them killed?” Aranea asked.

“Cause he can’t afford to lose more people? All he needed was the head, and with that he can lie to Marina to say that we’d already have killed her and that we didn’t hold up our end of the deal. He cuts off the most viable means of finding us by killing the one thing that would get Marina to talk. And therefore our only means of finding where he is. They didn’t need to kill Claire and Yuffie, and if they stuck around to try they might’ve all died. Especially since they both killed over half of their agents already.”

“Dammit.” Aranea was silent as she contemplated that information. “He has to come out eventually. He has to have projects that people are working on. He’s at war after all… Alright. We’re going to all split up and track down advisors and manufacturers. He’ll come out eventually to talk to them and when he does we’ll get him then.”

[thehikingviking]

Chinchontepec (San Vicente Volcano) from San Francisco Agua Agria

The morning after climbing the three volcanoes of Ilamatepec, Cerro Verde and Izalco, Zach and I had an early alarm set to climb Chinchontepec, also known as Volcán de San Vicente. I had little idea what to expect with regards to mileage and elevation gain, since Nahuat Tours could not give me any information aside from the fact that it would be easier than the previous day. These details are typically left to the local guides, who each have their own preferred way to reach the top. For this particular hike, our local guide was Oscar, who we picked up in Guadalupe. We continued together to San Francisco Agua Agria, which was a quaint little town at the bottom of the volcano. Our guide was ready to start from the city center, but we asked if we could drive a little further, to which he said yes. We hopped back into the truck and followed a cobblestone road into the forest up the mountain. Just beyond town we passed Infiernillo del Volcan Chinchontepec where fumaroles still permeate from the volcanic vents.

We were able to slowly drive 2 miles and 1,200 vertical feet to a fence marked private property. Erick parked the car here and we continued on food.

The ex-president of El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, apparently owns half of the mountain, and somewhere along its slopes lies an abode where he takes all his mistresses.

The road led to a plantation full of banana trees and coffee plants.

The area was called Plantation “El Zapote.” A zapote, or sapote, is an orange fruit that tastes like a mix between a fig and an avocado. Here we found the farmhand and a few dogs. Oscar went to chat with him, but he seemed to have little interest in our endeavors.

A personal stash of coffee beans were left out in the sun to dry, which is a key part in the bean preparation process.

The road led beyond the farm so we continued up the cobblestone road. I was really impressed with the road, considering that this area gets a lot of rainfall. We have a lot of dirt (and even paved) roads in the states that are always at risk of being eroded or washed out. Perhaps these problems could be mitigated if someone took the time to build our roads the right way. Thousands of years later, Rome’s cobblestone roads still remain.

The road ended at a cement structure covered with a beautiful flowers. The local workers use this shelter during harvest season for several months out of the year.

We took a break underneath the shade of the structure, taking in the views of El Boqueron, El Picacho and Volcán de Guazapa to the northwest.

We didn’t linger for too long because there were some big wasp-like bugs flying around. We picked up a trail behind the structure and followed this through the dense brush.

It became very hot and humid, and I found myself ducking underneath overhanging branches often.

-Coffee Beans

After a kilometer we emerged on a road above. A nice breeze cooled me off, while we waited for Erick, the slowest of our group, to catch up. 

Chinchontepec was the site of the worst aviation accident in the country’s history. Aviateca Flight 901 crashed into the volcano in August of 1995, killing all 65 passengers on board. I have tightly gripped my arm rest on several flights into Central America, due to pockets of warm air causing turbulence while being eye level with several giant volcanoes outside of my airplane window. I can totally see how such an accident could have occurred. Once Erick joined us, we waited a few more minutes for him to catch his breath, then continued up the road.

At some point along the road, Erick decided to turn around, so our pace improved.

Sections of the road were littered with avocados. The avocados grown in higher elevations are said to be smaller. I’ve had plenty of them on my trip so far, so I didn’t bother taking a bite out of one laying on the ground.

We took a right at a nondescript section of the road and picked up a good trail. This section of the hike was shaded and cooler, hence more enjoyable.

We followed nice switchbacks all the way to the crater. This was unlike many other craters I’ve visited because the vegetation was so thick that I couldn’t even see to the other side.

We took a right following the trail steeply up the rim of the crater, although it never really felt like I was on the rim. By this point I was feeling pretty fatigued, but I only had a few hundred feet remaining.

-Acorns

We broke out of the trees for the first time in a while, and I could sense we were close.

-El Crater

Prior to reaching the summit, we reached a fence displaying a clear message; No Trespassing, Military Zone.

There was no one around, so our local guide simply began whistling. After 5 minutes of whistling, no one so much as peered over our way. I was skeptical that they could even hear us, but Oscar remained confident and steadfast. I wondered if we could simply hop the fence and walk to the top without anyone noticing; it would only take me 10 seconds to reach the top. Finally two young military men appeared and walked the use trail along the inside of the fence to our location. Oscar showed his official tourism badge attached to his lanyard and asked them if we could proceed to the top, but they first had to ask their commanding officer. As one of them turned around, we all noticed the huge machine gun strapped to his back, and suddenly I was glad that I didn't cross the fence without permission. He came back about 5 minutes later stating that he would let us proceed to the top this time, but next time Oscar would need to get permission 15 days in advance. He also said that we were not allowed to take photos of the summit facility. We said gracias many times then walked the final few meters to the summit, which was fitted with a concrete helicopter pad.

To the west was the second teat of Chinchontepec, which translates to the mountain of the two breasts.

To the northwest were Lago de Ilopango, El Boqueron, El Picacho and Volcán de Guazapa.

To the east was Chaparrastique, also known as Volcán de San Miguel. I respected the military's wishes and photographed this through the summit towers, which to me looked like any ordinary radio facility.

I felt a big sense of relief making it up this peak. I struggled to finish my leftover pupusas because they were so darn dry and I was trying to conserve my water.

Once we were done eating, we began our walk back down the volcano.

I felt invigorated, so I set a quick pace on our descent.

I thought the sign stating "No Sacar Parasitas" was peculiar.

The gringo in me thought this meant don't take parasites, however in this scenario the sign is referring to orchids and/or moss. Some orchids are parasitic, relying on fungi in their roots. Many Salvadorans also take fungi and moss from nature for their nativity scenes around Christmas. I am not fully sure if this sign is trying to dissuade people from taking the moss or the orchids, or maybe both, but it hopefully will curtail negative long term environmental impacts.

-Castor Bean

-Guava

It took us only an hour to descend back to the fence. I think our guides were surprised how fast I could move when I really wanted to.

We found Erick napping in the truck. He told us how he missed the turnoff and found himself alone on the cobblestone road with El Cadejo, a cryptic dog creature that is either there to help you or there to kill you.

We drove back down to San Francisco Agua Agria where I bought a lukewarm Coke. I was proud to do my part by stimulating the local economy. Since the hike went quickly, I was able to get back to El Zonte early enough to catch some waves with my beautiful wife.

[cedarrrun]

Learn how to regulate these three energetic qualities with food, movement, meditation, and more.

When we think about energy, we often think about the physical and mental types—the oomph that helps us move through a vinyasa or focus on a task. It's easy to identify when these energies are lagging, and most of the time we know how to replenish or balance them: We eat healthy foods, rest, get out into nature, connect with the people we love, commit to a consistent asana practice, or let go of some questionable habits.

But energy is more than what fuels the body or the mind. Many ancient traditions, such as yoga, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism—plus modern physics—teach that everything in the universe is energy. A table, a computer, and a bicycle are all forms of energy; each one vibrates at a speed that allows you to see, touch, and use it. Every thought, feeling, and experience you have also has a unique energy vibration that is imprinted into the body in the form of physical sensations and then hopefully released on the wave of the breath. This non-tangible energy can best be understood by delving into one aspect of yoga's subtle body anatomy—the gunas.

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The gunas (Sanskrit for strands or qualities) are energetic forces that weave together to form the universe and everything in it. There are three gunas, each with its own unique attributes: tamas (stability), rajas (activity), and sattva (consciousness). It might help to think of gunas as tendencies: the habitual ways you respond to any situation that arises.

All three gunas are present in every experience in a constantly shifting relationship with one another. One quality is always more present or dominant than the others, depending on what challenge you're facing—and, most important, how you respond to it. When you overreact because someone cut you off in traffic, rajas becomes dominant. If you emotionally shut down to avoid having a difficult conversation, that's a sign that tamas has taken the reins. As you emerge from a beautiful restorative practice, you may experience the sattvic quality of joy.

Understanding the gunas is important because while the challenges of our everyday lives can disturb their delicate balance, these energies, entwined in an intricate dance, create all that we are, all that we see, and all that remains unseen. Tamas provides our foundation; rajas gives it vitality and breath; sattva imbues it with consciousness and compassionate awareness.

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Tamas

Tamas, or stability, gets a bad rap, often being described solely as the force of entropy, lethargy, and stagnation. But its energetic vibration, which is slow and thick, also stabilizes and focuses. It is the exhalation that calms and steadies. Tamas is also translated as “matter,” and it predominates in any object that is seemingly solid—that table, laptop, or bicycle. In nature, tamas destroys plant matter so it can be reabsorbed into the earth and nourish new life. In your body, tamasic energy is prevalent in the muscles, bones, and flesh; in asana practice it grounds your feet and helps you balance. In your mind, tamasic energy is dominant when you feel depressed, or when a heavy emotional burden makes it hard to get out of bed. When tamas is prevalent, you aren’t able to muster much enthusiasm for anything, including your practice. You might find yourself obsessing over a relationship gone wrong or beating yourself up for the choices you’ve made.

Balancing Tamas:

Shaking your hands as you lift your arms overhead several times will get tamas unstuck, and so will moving to music or a round or two of Sun Salutations or Kapalabhati Pranayama (skull-shining breath, which alternates short, explosive exhalations with slightly longer, passive inhalations). Seated meditation might cause you to nod off, but walking or chanting meditations work well to lift energy and focus the mind. Ayurvedic practitioners suggest staying away from tamasic foods, such as meat, garlic, onions, and breads as well as leftovers and choosing fresh local fruits and vegetables, minimally prepared.

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Rajas

Rajas, or activity, is what gets things moving. In nature, rajas allows seeds to sprout, flowers to germinate, and babies to be born. The vibration of rajas is at a higher frequency than tamas. It is the inhalation; it’s what gets you up in the morning and keeps you going all day. It is also the energy of change, unbridled enthusiasm, passion, and the self-confidence to get stuff done. Rajas energy is future-directed and often manifests as longing, yearning, or sorrow. On the mat, rajas is what moves you from pose to pose or lifts your arms up over your head. Becoming agitated with your work or relationships can cause rajas to dominate, and so can overexerting yourself in your practice or barging into situations without regard to what others feel or need.

Balancing Rajas:

Slow down, slow down, slow down. On your mat, encourage more of the deliberate energy of tamas to dampen down the flightiness of rajas. Bring your attention into your feet and engage your muscles in a few standing poses before coming down onto your back for your favorite relaxing poses. Gentle pranayama practices, such as Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) or Sitali (cooling breath; see page 42), can smooth out the nervous system, clear the mind, and cool down the body. To tame rajas, Ayurveda recommends sitting down at every meal, staying away from spicy or fried foods, and eating plenty of antioxidant-rich foods, like leafy greens.

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Sattva 

Sattva, or consciousness, is radiant presence, unadulterated truth, and compassionate, selfless action. The quality of sattva is clear, focused, calm, and receptive. It is the fully formed flower, the beauty of a sunset, the bounty from the garden. Internally, it is in the gap you experience after the exhalation and before the inhalation comes again—the pause where you are free from thoughts, worries, and judgments, just for the moment, so that you can listen and act more from your higher intellect and less from ego. You experience sattva on the mat primarily in meditation or whenever you commit to going inward, listening to your body, and moving in sync with your breath. Cultivating sattvic harmony is the goal of yoga and of the natural world. It can shine forth only when tamas and rajas are balanced, which is a constant dance of the energies—moment by moment, as we notice how we meet each experience that presents itself.

Cultivating Sattva: 

The Bhagavad Gita pretty clearly tells us that if we want to have a more sattvic life, we have to take better care of ourselves. Eat fresh foods (a plant-based diet that’s organic and local, as much as possible). Get to sleep at a decent hour and awaken at dawn because, according to Ayurveda, that is when your energy is most conducive to meditating (do it daily). Spend time alone in nature if you can. Commit to being in silence (in the modern world, that also means putting aside your electronics). Practice devotion (bhakti yoga) and provide openhearted service for the benefit of all beings.

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