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30 - Under the Ocean

Hello, Dreamers. I am back. 

I opened my eyes and noticed that I was in an infinite space. Everything was purely white. There wasn't a single sound nor splash of color except the color of my flesh and the mute grey of my uniform. I looked around and decided to walk straight, even though I knew I would go nowhere.

"Hello?" I called out into the abyss in front of me. The sound surprised me since everything had been a deafening silence.

I continued to walk forward and the soft shuffle of my pants felt somewhat comforting along with the silent pit-pat of my steps. After a couple of minutes, I stopped and looked around again.

What is this place?

"Isn't it beautiful?" A voice suddenly sounded from behind me.

I quickly turned around to see Winter, standing a few meters away from me. His tall figure looked strong from training and the Final Exam, which he conquered in a heartbeat. His dirty blond hair didn't look so...dirty anymore. It was almost white.

"Huh?" I looked at him with curiosity.

"This place," he motioned with his hands, "is my favorite place."

"What is it?" I walked towards him until we stood one meter away.

His eyes wandered around for a moment until they found mine.

"I guess people would call it...home."

I frowned, "How is this home? There's nothing here."

"What do you mean? There's everything here."

As he said those words, he turned me around and suddenly we were standing on the beach. The water was clear, unlike the one near the academy in which the water was the color of ripe blueberries. I could smell the saltiness of the air and my toes sifted through the soft, white sand. I turned to look at him and he wore white swimming trunks. His body gleamed in the sunlight and his skin was sun-kissed golden.

"This is home," he said with a goofy grin on his face. "Don't you remember, Anon? We used to live here."

I looked around one more time. The waves were crashing and there was a light scent of fruits in the air. The place felt familiar and...home-y.

"Maybe this will help," he said as he walked towards me.

He walked me to the edge of the water and before I knew it, I was walking into the ocean. I felt drawn by the water and suddenly, I was swimming deeper and deeper. I felt Winter swimming behind me and felt comforted by his company, but something seemed off.

I turned around to check and see if Winter was doing okay. His eyes gleamed in the dark abyss and his skin looked pale along with his hair. He swam up to me and gave me a smile. He mouthed something but I was unable to make something out of it.

"What?" I mouthed back.

He frowned. He slowly reached for my cheeks and began to caress them. He mouthed something again and as soon as I scrunched my eyebrows together, his hands made their way to my neck and his grip tightened.