Before I'm Gone | Stray Kids FF

In The Woods

Areum POV

Sneezes and coughs wracked my body. It was not too cold now, but the night had been freezing. I had not slept at all the night before. Typically, cold temperatures would put me to sleep, but not last night. I had to find my way out. I decided that I would head in one direction and one direction only, using the compass on my phone as a guide. I would use the compass just to make sure I was always going to the south. I do not really know why I picked south, but I did and there was no changing that now. To save energy, I would not have my phone out at all times. Luckily, I did have a powerbank with me, but it would not be of much use, especially not in the cold. If I used my phone at the rate I was using it at, I may only be able to use it for the rest of the day.

"Ugh... how did I get myself into this." I said, rubbing my hands together to try and warm them up. "Are they searching for me?"

I sighed, what was the use, no one was going to reply to me. Though, I had been talking to myself this whole time. I was left with my own thoughts, and to be honest, I did not want to deal with them. So I decided just to talk to myself the whole time. Earlier, I had not said anything, and just let my thoughts take over. My mind was taken back to my family. I missed them dearly. If I left myself to think much more than I already had, I would have lost it and started bawling. I probably would have had tears frozen to my face by the time the sun came up. For now, I would have to think positive and try and deal with it. As I went through the forest, I sighed. I was never going to get out. Would they find me before I froze to death here?

~*~

Felix POV

We had called it a night and come back the next day. To be honest, I was getting frustrated. Not because I did not want to be here now looking for her. It was because we had not found her yet. I was frustrated that I was not there to protect her, or at least have a clue of where she could be. I thought of her as a Noona and I did not want to lose her. She was honestly a really great addition to our group and I really did not want her to be gone all of a sudden.

I looked around the city, she really was not around here at all. To my left was the city, to my right, a forest. My eyes wandered around the park I was at. Maybe she was around here? Or in one of the shops nearby? I asked Seungmin and Changbin to come with me as I went into the stores, asking if they had seen Areum. We went into every shop that we could go into and asked. All the people there would say that they had not seen her, which just got me more agitated. I really wanted to find her. I wanted her to be safe.

"Guys, why don't we check the forest?" Seungmin said as we stood outside, facing the greenery.

"Why would she be in there?" Changbin looked at Seungmin. "And we could, but not now. It's getting too late."

"Yeah, we better report back." I looked at my phone. "It's almost time to meet up for dinner."

We headed back to the others and we all went to Woojin's house for dinner. Haneul made us talk about our next step. She said that the cops were able to come by and help tomorrow. Seungmin brought up the topic of the forest again. We all looked at him funny but agreed to tell the authorities to try that and some of us might too. That night, we were all exhausted and ended up crashing at Woojin's. I was one of the last to fall asleep. Not because I was looking up memes or something online, but because I could not stop thinking of Areum. We will find you. Just hang in there Areum.

~*~

Areum POV

I was tired. It had been two days without food and it was freezing cold too. The darkness was settling in, I wanted to sleep, but I could not, I had to keep going south. Taking out my phone, I quickly went to the compass app to see if I was still headed south. I was just slightly off course, but that was okay, as long as I was headed in that general direction. Surprisingly, my phone had held out and so had I. Two days without food and I had not passed out yet. Well, I guess that was probably because I did not eat much and had forced myself to accustom myself to living without too much food, but even now, it was a lot not to have food for so long. Sighing, I kept walking, trying to stop thinking about my hunger or tiredness. I wanted to rest, I wanted to sleep, but I feared that if I did, I would never wake up.

Again, I checked my phone, still headed south. The time? It was four in the morning now. The sun still was not up and it was still freezing cold. I checked the battery on my phone, the phone itself had 10% battery left. As I connected it to the powerbank, the battery flashed a 50% at me. Unfortunately for me, the cold was making the battery run out faster. So I stuffed my phone and power bank back into my bag, making sure it was bundled in my pyjamas so that it would be a little warm. Then, I stuffed my hands in my pockets, hoping to warm them, as I walked southwards. At this point, the sun was rising and before I knew it, it was right above me. I did my best to stay in the beams of light for they provided some sort of warmth, though walking in a forest made it extremely hard to do so. For the second time today, I took out the phone to check where I was going. Still headed southwards. I looked at the time, it was 3:17 pm. I remembered that when I came to a few nights prior, it had been about 11:30 pm. Meaning I had been out here for almost 62 hours. Somehow, I was surviving, but not very well. I continued my trek to the forest, hoping to see some city lights, or something to indicate that I was getting closer to an urban area. Sadly, there were none. I continued in the direction I was heading, trying my best to stay strong.

Suddenly, I came across some pathway. It clearly was not meant to be there, but it existed. This must have been a path that people took even though it was not paved and was not really supposed to be there. Taking out my phone, I pointed it at the direction that the path lead. Not south. I wondered if I should take the risk or keep doing what I was doing. Ultimately, I decided to follow my gut feeling and keep going south without the path. Why? I really had no idea. To be honest, it was probably because my brain was no longer functioning after being awake 62 hours without and food or much water. I had been lucky enough to find streams to drink from in the forest. It was not the cleanest thing, but it was better than nothing. I would rather drink stream water than be dehydrated and not make it out. As I was thinking of water and how much I longed for it, something caught my eye. In the distance, I started to see lights and buildings. They were far away, especially for walking, but I saw them which meant I could find my way out soon. I decided to go through my phone one last time, just to check the battery and time. I only had 27% remaining and it was already 7:43 pm. I kept on going, determined to get out as soon as I could.

Finally, after about two hours, I found a path, and it looked like a path that would really lead out of this forest and somewhere safe. Continuing my walk out, I looked for a sign as to where I could be, but I saw nothing. No longer did I pay attention to the buildings, I only made sure that I was still on the path. Just as I looked up from the path, I realized it would probably take me another two hours to get out, mainly because the path was slippery and I had to be really cautious as I went by. Suddenly, I felt some odd feelings. I was dizzy, things were spotty and I could no longer focus. Ignoring it, I tried to keep going, but it was hard. It did not matter if I was hurting, I just wanted to get out, so I ignored my pain and kept going. Just as I thought I was going to get out soon, the dizziness got much worse and the black dots I had been seeing stayed longer and were much bigger. Until finally, there was just black surrounding me entirely and I could no longer move.

--------------------

I hope you're liking it so far... is it good though?

Oh, by the way, I will be posting a new story soon on _KEKamalP_. I think it's a decently good book, and I'm actually so excited for it!

School is starting soon so uh, updates may change.

Thank you W00jing0d_c0m for supporting my book!

See you in the next one!