Beomgyu, Lei, Lisa, Sara, and Ji Ah all sat around the art room as they set up candles.
"Let's all just... stay here for a while, until the morning." Sara suggested quietly.
"If we even make it to the morning." Lisa whispered as she stared at the ground.
There's so much they had thought about for the past twenty minutes.
In less than a few seconds they were down to five.
Many of their friends were all dead. In just a few minutes.
Now the only two adults in the room were Lei and Beomgyu, and they had the full responsibility to take care of the two six-year-olds and the sassy fourteen-year-old.
Lei had stopped talking since Naya dropped to the ground outside, and all they could do was run for what they could see.
"It's a good idea to stay here until daytime, at least until we can get to the boats tomorrow." Beomgyu said softly as he adjusted a candle on the table.
He looked over at Lei in worry as she stared at her hands.
"He's going to take her with him."
Beomgyu's eyebrows furrowed as he wondered what she had meant.
"He's taking them all with him. I saw a trail of blood, from Ms. Sally's office. He takes them. I don't know where. But he does." She whispered as she crossed her arms over her chest to suppress the cold she was feeling.
"What if we... follow it?" Ji Ah asked as she looked at the two adults.
They both turned to look at her at the sound of her voice and thought for a while.
"We could find a way to kill it." She shrugged as she raised her eyebrows in innocence.
"That sounds great Ji Ah, and then we get killed trying." Lisa rolled her eyes sarcastically making Lei look at her.
"Lisa. Don't."
Lisa looked away as she crossed her arms.
"That's actually not bad." Beomgyu furrowed his eyebrows as he stood up from his seat, walking over to the stairs in front of the office.
He stared at the trail of blood that stopped midway and felt something click in his head.
"Lisa, do you remember the story Ms. Sally told us last year?"
"Which one? She tells us so many."
"The one about the man in the woods." Beomgyu raised his eyebrows as he looked at her.
She narrowed her eyes in thought as she tilted her head. Suddenly her eyes brightened, and she nodded her head.
"The one about the flowers?"
Beomgyu hummed as he nodded his head.
"Flowers?" Lei questioned as she watched Beomgyu pace about the room.
His head was clouded as he crossed his arms.
"The man was living in the forest, but he had a cave, where he kept special things about himself. A flower was one of them-"
"Are you saying the man that Ms. Sally was talking about is this monster thing?"
Beomgyu shrugged his shoulders as he looked out the window again.
"How would Ms. Sally know about that?"
"She's been coming here for years. It's a legend. She never said she made it up." Beomgyu stated as he waved his finger.
"So, are you saying this thing has a cave in the forest, where he keeps a flower?"
"Maybe the flower is his life." Sara suggested loudly as she tried to click her fingers.
Beomgyu turned to look at her with a smile and walked up to her.
"You're a genius, little Sara."
"So, what do you suggest?" Lisa said as she raised her eyebrows.
Beomgyu wasn't sure.
He was thinking of all the possible solutions it could be. He didn't know where to start or who to go to. And the idea of a cave and a magic flower was finally starting to sound stupid.
"We should try it. Let's follow the trails." Lei said as she nodded her head.
Beomgyu looked at her in thought as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Might as well try to get rid of it. Right?"
"With two children and a teenager?"
Lei shrugged again as she grabbed the knife from the table and raised it.
"We're armed, aren't we?"
*****
Lei stared at the spots Juri, Ali, and Naya's bodies were, just to not see them there, and only one trail of blood coming from the spot Juri was in.
She switched her gaze to the doors of the dining room, seeing the blood trails on there again.
"It took them again." She stated the obvious as she held the knife tightly in her hand.
Beomgyu grabbed the lantern in his hand as he debated whether it was a good idea for them to leave at that time of night.
But Lei was desperate to leave. And honestly, so was everyone.
They were all quiet as they followed Beomgyu down the trail that they consistently went on for their activities.
Lei fought the urge to hold onto Beomgyu's shirt as she held the hands of both Lisa and Ji Ah, hoping they wouldn't get lost behind her.
It was almost like traveling through a maze when you go down these woods at night, and Lei never thought she would willingly do this again.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Lei asked softly to Beomgyu, who was looking straight at the ground.
"Look at the ground." He said shakily making Lei look down to where she was stepping, seeing the wet patches of grass, that if she didn't have a light, she'd think it was just mud.
Blood...
She felt herself sigh to control her fear as she looked at Beomgyu's back again.
Beomgyu suddenly came to a halt, almost making them bump into him.
Sara looked up at him in confusion as she wondered why they had stopped walking.
"Did you hear that?" He whispered as he looked around.
"No."
"If we keep making noise, it'll find us." Lisa said as she shook her head.
"Shh." Beomgyu shushed her as he continued to look around.
The girls looked around in fear as they wondered what it was that Beomgyu was hearing.
"Nevermind. Let's keep going."
Beomgyu started walking again and right as he did so, they felt a cold breeze rush past them.
Sara contained her shriek at the weird feeling to her side and held on tighter to Beomgyu.
"Don't stop, keep walking." Beomgyu ordered as they all hurried walked through the dark forest.
Suddenly, the trail of blood started fading more and more, catching Beomgyu by surprise.
He searched and searched for the wet patches on the ground, finding none.
He still walked as he stared at the parts of the ground that used to be filled with liquid, but his eyes caught something else.
"That's Naya's necklace." Lei whispered as she stared at the silver lining that shone under the moon.
Beomgyu kneeled down as he looked around the forest. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted something a little farther away.
He started walking again, catching the girls by surprise, as they tried to catch up with him.
He suddenly stopped as he found something else on the ground.
He kneeled down to pick it up, his eyes were a little widened as he tried to figure out how this ended up there.
"What's that?" Lisa asked as she stared at Beomgyu.
"It's... my clown mask. From last year. I thought I lost it... But why would it be here?" He wondered out loud as he stared at it in confusion.
Lei walked forward, making everyone look at her. With shaking hands, she held up her own item.
It was an old One Direction album with a small, faded heart sticker next to one of the members faces. It was hers. She could recognize it anywhere.
"Why would this be here? I left this in my closet." She whispered as she looked over at Beomgyu.
Beomgyu looked at her as he thought how these things could've been out here.
He looked down at the mask, but he didn't have time to focus too much when he heard something that distracted him.
"Gyu. There's an opening here." Sara said quietly as she pointed at a tree.
"What fucking movie is this?" Lei whispered to herself as she held the album in her hand, following where Sara was pointing.
"Lei, stop." Beomgyu warned, making Lei turn to look at him.
"What?"
"We don't know what's in there." He justified, making Lei shrug.
"Well, we find out." She said, letting out a breath as she turned towards the opening again.
Beomgyu watched her in worry as she moved the leaves covering it with her free hand.
They all stared in curiosity as they saw the way it was almost like a door to a child's hide out.
Lei stuck her head into the tree as she looked around, seeing absolutely nothing.
"Can one of you guys pass me a-"
Lei let out a loud scream as she felt herself being pulled from her arm.
Everyone's eyes widened as they watched her struggle to hold on to the entrance, dropping the album that was once in her hand.
She was being dragged into the hole.
"Lei!"
Beomgyu ran over and held her arm, trying to keep her in place.
"Help me!" She cried as she felt claw like fingers digging into her skin.
She felt another pair of claw like hands on her leg as she dropped to ground with a thud, almost dragging Beomgyu with her.
Beomgyu struggled to pull her back as she cried desperately.
His feet were digging into the ground as he tried to stay as stable as ever.
But Lei was slipping out of his grip, making him feel tears weld up in his eyes.
"Don't let go of me!" He yelled as Lei tried to hold onto his arm.
"I'm trying! I can't!"
"I can't lose you. Hold on!" He cried to himself as he held on to the bark of the tree.
Lisa, Ji Ah and Sara stared in fear.
Lisa didn't know what to do. So, she just held on tightly to the two little girls who cried loudly as she tried to think of something.
Before Beomgyu could process anything, Lei's hand slid from his forearm to his wrist.
He held on tightly to her hand as he tried to look at her through the blur in front of him.
"I love you." Lei felt herself say, as her hand was losing its grip.
"Lei, stop, don't-"
Beomgyu fell to the ground as Lei slipped out of his grasp.
An echo of her cries was the only thing left behind as she disappeared into the darkness of the open tree bark.
He stared at the spot she had last been in, shock still layered on his features.
His tears fell out of his eyes as there was only the chirps of the insects around them and the cries from the little girls behind him.
No trace of Lei anymore. Almost as if she had never been there.
Just the album that was once in her hand, right next to his feet.