Red Hills, a tiny-populated village, has only one important rule. To never go out at night.
Everyone knows that the myth about a serial killer lurking in the woods - is true.
But so it happened that a young boy, unknowingly, stumbled upon that plac...
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It was cold.
Cold.
Cold.
That's all Jeongguk's mind was perceiving after he has been walking for hours. He was frozen, shaken up, and the fact that it was snowing in the middle of the windy December, wasn't making his loss of warmth any better.
The frosty snowflakes were falling down on him, leaving something resembling the pattern of rough, white paint brushes on his beige coat, brown, thin scarf, his black, little backpack and lastly, on his chocolate-colored hair. He cursed at himself silently for not bringing any warm cap with him, as his ears were painfully freezing.
It was somewhen around evening, the sky taking in an oceanic, dark blue color, announcing the lack of light pretty soon. The silhouettes of trees at the horizon were already left in complete darkness, just as the empty fields left and right, next to the lonely, single path the boy was taking right now.
He was truly in the middle of nowhere.
He was hungry, he hasn't eaten anything since this morning. He was thirsty, his dried up lips didn't take a sip of any liquid at all today, causing him to have a slight headache. He was tired, his weakened body just wanted to fall down somewhere and fall asleep, let his tremblingly-moving and hurting legs rest, at least for a little bit.
I absolutely need to take a stop somewhere, he thought, panting. Or else I won't manage.
A cloud of coldness escaped through his shaking, parted lips every single time he exhaled. His alerted eyes wandered around his dark surroundings, as if searching for a perfect spot to rest.
Yet after walking for some more fifteen minutes, being completely exhausted, Jeongguk has soon given up finding a safe- or comfortable enough spot to rest. It was just trees and fields everywhere he looked.
That's until he noticed that, the path he was taking, suddenly started having gas-lamps. He recognized one, farer away. Sparks of hope evolved in his chest, eyes widened a little. That- that could mean a city is nearby! he concluded with a gentle smile pulling the corners of his lips up. There was hope.
Being motivated, despite being covered in snow and being utterly tired, Jeongguk accelerated his steps, thinking that, in a matter of minutes, he could be between the walls of a shop, a bar,—anything which would protect him from the sharp coldness outside.
He speed-walked a little more, until he flinched, and stopped.
A loud, painful sound of a cry could be heard from his right side, followed by the rustling of trees, and then a crowd of birds flew away, into the opposite direction.
Jeongguk had his eyes wide, fear overcoming his frozen mind and body. He didn't dare to look immediately to the right, yet thousands of questions shot into his mind.
What was that? What happened? Why did I hear that? From where did this come from? What's going on? What—
After standing there with a thumping heart for a little bit longer, Jeongguk realized there was nothing more coming. Just silence, as if nothing happened, as if nothing was ever heard. Finally, after gulping down his saliva, he took the courage and looked to the right, slowly.
A forest.
A shady, gloomy collection of tall, thin trees, embraced by the color of nothing but black inside. Right from deep inside there, a voice shouted out loud before.
Just the mere look at it made Jeongguk's unprepared insides twist. He didn't know how to act. Should he just continue walking, and pretend he didn't hear anything? Or should he shout something back, and make sure if someone's there?
But what if I just thought I heard a cry? he tried to console his own scared soul.
Again, pure silence. And for Jeongguk, it felt like the time to act was ticking rapidly. Thus, he decided.
Maybe it was truly just my imagination, I'm just hearing things, is what he thought, and then sighed. Yes, that's probably it. Now- I wanna get out of here as fast as possible.
With this in mind, Jeongguk started walking again, feeling uneasy every second he was still near that forest. Despite trying to calm himself down, the heavy feeling in his chest would not disappear immediately.
However, another, even louder and longer cry than before, coming from the same, female-ish voice, made Jeongguk whimper through a gasp, and stop once again, as if rooted to the ground.
At this point in time, he realized.
It was none of his imagination. Someone- someone inside of this forest needed help. Badly.
Breathing unevenly, Jeongguk once again took a look to the forest. It didn't change at all from these past seconds, everything was the same. Except for the fact that, someone inside there was in pain, which was probably getting worse, and worse. And it terrified him.
Feeling guilty and afraid, he couldn't just stand there anymore.
