Highway to Another Dimension || Skz

Chapter 5: Questions

"Don't you miss your family?" Chan asked, peering at Felix. He gave a sad smile.

"Oh, I do. My biggest regret is that my parents died thinking that I died in that fire, burned because of their wish to take my younger siblings for a day trip. I did manage to see how my siblings were doing when I sneakily went near the neighborhood we lived in, but I never talked to them. I was dead in their eyes, and it was better for me to remain that way."

A silence filled the room. From their expressions, it was clear to Felix that his story was met with hesitance and skepticism about the truth in it. Not to mention that the zoo mystery wasn't cleared up. Seungmin was the one brave enough to ask what they all were thinking.

"Well . . . that explains why you recently had your 58th birthday. However, the bigger question that still isn't answered is why you look like you're 18 and why you stay in this building."

"Yeah, and why didn't you clear it up with your parents that you were alive?" Hyunjin added on.

"Before I read in the news that I was supposedly dead, I stumbled across a rickety food stall. The woman operating it looked to be quite tired and disheveled. In the stall, there was some food that looked enticing, along with a piece of cloth with some undecipherable marks on it. On closer inspection, it looked like a forgotten language." At this, Hyunjin flinched, remembering that he saw a sign that sort of fit those descriptions. He shook his head and went on to listen to Felix.

"The woman at the stall saw me looking at the piece of cloth and looked surprised that I managed to see it. It was like she didn't think that I would be able to see it. I asked her for a snack since I was hungry, and she gave me it. When I offered to pay, the lady working refused and told me to spend the night there. I, of course, refused, simply because I found it weird and because I wanted to go see my family.

"I thanked her for the food and began making my way towards the main path. She called out, 'When you come looking for the stall, remember to follow the rosemary plants!' I was confused. Had I not made it clear that I wasn't going to come? However, she was right. Not long after I began walking, I felt an indescribable pull towards the area I just left. I tried fighting it, but it continued to consume my mind. At that point, I decided that the lady must've put something in my food, and found a secluded but sheltered area beneath a tree to sleep. My reasoning was that if I slept, those feelings would be gone when I woke up.

"I was right about one thing; when I woke up, those feelings were gone. However, I was in the exact same area with the lady and the stall. I looked down at my shoes and pants and saw some rosemary leaves and buds stuck onto them. I realized that I must've sleepwalked back to here. If my conscious state of mind didn't allow me to come, my unconscious certainly did. And from then on, I was bound to this piece of land. The lady later introduced herself as Amaya. She told me that she had mysteriously seen that piece of cloth stuck to a tree. She had tried to take it off, but the next thing she could remember was that she was asleep in an unknown part of the forest and that it was snowing. It was fall when she came, and it was winter when she woke up. She hadn't aged since then, and neither have I after I saw that cloth." Felix let out a breath that he hadn't even realized that he was holding.

If Chan had ever experienced silence before, it was minuscule in comparison to this. Hyunjin sat there, his mouth agape. He remembered how he talked to Amaya just a day ago. If what Felix said was true. Amaya would be close to 80 years old! Of course, like Felix, she looked nowhere near her "actual" age. It was difficult for him to wrap his head around the idea. Up until now, he thought scenarios like this happened only in stories. But stories often mimic reality.

"Great, you're 58 and we're stuck in this hell-hole of a zoo. Since you're bound to this zoo, I'm going to go ahead and say that we're also bound to this zoo since I had the unfortunate privilege of seeing that cloth," Seungmin said. He gestured towards Hyunjin and Chan. "Did either of you see it?"

They both nodded glumly. Chan clapped his hands rather sardonically.
"Since we've established that we're all stuck here, Felix, please show us the bathrooms so we can shower and feel more situated. We can discuss our next course of action from there," Chan announced. Felix nodded and led them to the bathrooms upstairs, all the while thinking about how on Earth these people, who barely knew Felix for 24 hours (except Chan, but he rarely talked to Felix when he worked at the Zoo), believed him so easily. It was very unrealistic. When Felix had told his story about how he had discovered the cloth and become tied to the place, Felix had conveniently left out how he had a breakdown for almost 2 days straight, with Amaya leaving food for him in between breaks. So, Felix was definitely not convinced that they believed him with such minimal reaction from them. He watched as they all discussed who would shower first, and sank into the nearest chair he could find, and hoped that everything he had done wouldn't have gone to waste,

A/N: First written 3/8/22 11:35 p.m.