"We become the monsters we're most afraid of."
---
"Jimin," she breathed out. "You're allowed to touch me."
His plump lips slightly parted as a gasp escaped him. "I-" he exhaled, his fingertips slightly grazing her cheek.
"I'm someone else tonight...
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Aera's lungs and heart were pumping, the wind screaming in her ears. Oxygen didn't seem to be enough as she sprinted forward, following the hot red flash of lightning Jiah's dress was.
The cold wet mud kissed her face as her feet slipped outwards on the damp leaves. She fell down. Not wasting any time, she stood back up and started running again. Jiah's jeering laughter filled her ears.
"Come on and catch me, stupid little girl!"
Branches constantly attacked Aera, her arms and legs dirty and bruised. Her hair clung to her sweaty forehead. She was vaguely aware of the dull pain in her right arm, but did not decrease her pace. She wheezed as her lungs grasped for air. Like tunnel vision, the only thing she could see in the blackness of the woods was the hem of Jiah's scarlet dress.
"So you'd like to play a game of tag before you meet your death, huh?" Jiah's high-pitched cackle resonated into the woods. "Come on, Aera, is that the best you could do?"
Aera's legs felt numb and unsteady. The oppressive air was suffocating her, preventing her from breathing normally.
"It would give me tremendous pleasure to kill the last remaining member of the Lee family!" Jiah laughed.
Hopelessness gnawed at Aera's insides. She was on the verge of collapsing but was determined to power through it. Terror, despair and anguish wrestled deep within her.
"You aren't a heroine, Aera," Jiah shouted. "You are nothing! Just like your mother, you're completely useless and nothing but a hindrance to others!"
That's not true, Aera thought. I have people... friends who care about me. Friends who love me. I won't let them die for me tonight.
Determined, she continued following Jiah's hysterical laughter throughout the forest. Rounding a corner, she saw that the redhead had come to a halt right next to the highest cliff. A dark foul mist shrouded the area.
"Give it back." Aera grumbled darkly, her clumsy footfalls crunching over the stones further down.
"Give what back?" Jiah gave her an incredulous look, toying with the crystal skull in her hands.
"You know what!" Aera snapped. "It doesn't belong to you! You stole it from me! Give it back!"
"You're not deserving of it."
Red. Everything around Aera turned red as some unknown power emerged from deeply within. It was intense and overwhelming, coursing through her veins like wildfire. Her fingertips were burning, her brain held captive by a dull headache.
A delicate lilac beam of light extended from her hands and gravitated towards the giant oak tree hunched over Jiah's form. The redhead watched with her mouth slack as the lilac light wrapped around the tree's branches. Loud rattling sounds emerged from it, increasing in intensity with each passing moment.
