"Lei." Beomgyu whispered to himself as he stood up from his spot on the ground.
His vision was still blurry as his heart was trying to regain it's normal beat.
He didn't know what to do now.
Lisa held the two little girls in her arms as she also stared at the spot Lei once was.
It was almost like she was dragged into a black hole. There was nothing left of her, not even the tracks of where her feet used to be.
He contained the urge to punch something as he ran a hand through his hair.
He paced for a bit, before he grabbed the lantern he had dropped before.
"I'm going in." He said determinedly as he grabbed the knife he dropped as well.
"What if it drags you too?" Ji Ah asked weakly as she held on tightly to Lisa's shirt.
Beomgyu remembered that he's supposed to be strong for the girls. He was still the adult. He's supposed to protect them.
"What if she's dead already?" Sara couldn't help but wonder as she looked at Beomgyu.
"Sara!" Lisa scolded in a whisper as Beomgyu looked down at the ground.
"We can't just wait for it to kill us too." Beomgyu said quietly. "Get ready. Stick close to me, okay? Stay behind me and hold on to my shirt. Stay together."
They held tightly onto Beomgyu as he took a deep breath.
He stared at the hole with determination, as he held up the lantern.
He walked slowly as he swallowed the lump on his throat.
Beomgyu moved the leaves from the entrance as he carefully stepped.
Soon they were all in. It was bigger than he thought it'd be.
It almost fit his height entirely.
For a second, he thought back to the Narnia the movie. It was almost like a new world that he was stepping into.
It was supposed to be just a tree, but at this point it wasn't hard to believe that this could be more.
They all jumped as they heard a chuckle.
"You're all brave campers."
Beomgyu furrowed his eyebrows at the familiar voice.
He looked around in shock as he tried to figure out where it was coming from.
The girls looked around in confusion as they recognized the voice.
Beomgyu determinedly kept walking. The darkness slowly started becoming brighter as there was an opening in the ceiling.
The moonlight was shining through even more than the lantern now, making everyone have a clearer view of their surroundings.
There were a lot of items that the campers could recognize as their own or of other campers.
"Justin's watch, Haneul's keychain..." Lisa quietly listed as she spotted the items.
"Ms. Lei!" Sara yelled as she pulled on Beomgyu's shirt to catch his attention.
Beomgyu quickly looked to where Sara was pointing with his heart going erratic.
Lei was limping towards them. There was blood all over her jeans and there were scrapes on her hands as if she had crawled out of somewhere with all of her might.
"It's tricking you!" She warned.
"What?" Lisa asked in confusion.
Beomgyu stared at Lei as he resisted the urge to cry in relief, but he was too focused on her words to do anything else.
"The voice that you're hearing. It's not Ms. Sally, it's that thing. It's tricking you." She said slowly as she stared at them with tears running down her cheeks.
Suddenly, there was a light shone in everyone's faces, making them close their eyes at the brightness.
When he opened his eyes, he couldn't believe what he saw.
"Ms. Sally?" He asked as she smiled at him.
"Hey kid."
"H-how are you- you're-"
"Alive?"
Beomgyu stayed quiet as he watched her walk closer to him.
"I never died, kid."
Beomgyu felt the girls hold on tighter to him as they watched Ms. Sally pace.
"Why are you here?" Beomgyu cautiously asked as Ms. Sally continued to smile.
"I live here."
"She's not Ms. Sally, Beomgyu. Listen to me." Lei said as she gripped his shirt in desperation.
His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Ms. Sally chuckled.
His brain slowly locked into place, and he realized what might be happening.
"You're involved in this? You're doing this?" Beomgyu asked exasperatedly as he felt betrayed.
"Yes silly, what did you think?"
"What are you?" Sara asked from behind them.
"Oh little Sara, take a guess." Ms. Sally said as she stepped closer to them, making Beomgyu step back.
Everyone stayed quiet as Ms. Sally stared between them.
"No guesses? Okay, well I'll tell you since you don't want to participate. Just to let you know, your parents are getting a notice from me. It probably won't even matter much. You won't make it out of here." She chuckled as she stopped in front of Beomgyu. "I'm a witch. I eat, kids like you. I take their most precious memories, their most precious items and I take their traits."
Beomgyu analyzed her words as she watched him think about it.
"So, you took my clown mask?" Beomgyu asked and she nodded her head as if she was drunk. "And you took Lei's album? Why?" He egged her on as he stared into her eyes.
"You were happy that people liked you that day, Beomgyu. That mask, represents you."
Should I be offended?
He wondered in his head as he tilted his head.
"What?"
"You are life, here. You are energetic, happy. You make people like you." She rambled on as if she was aggravated by these traits.
Beomgyu watched her pace in front of him as she listed all of these qualities as if they were rarities.
"What about Lei?" Lisa questioned as she fearfully stood behind Beomgyu.
Lei watched Ms. Sally stop pacing and raise her eyebrows in almost amusement and interest.
"Lei, Lei, Lei...." She clicked her tongue as she crossed her arms. "Lei is sad. Lei relies on things easily. She has trust."
"Why an album? How does that show trust?" Lisa asked again.
Beomgyu could see what she was doing.
"Her father bought her the album, she believed he truly loved her with all of his heart, just because he gave her one gift in fourteen years." Ms. Sally pointedly said as she stared into Lei's teary eyes, waiting for her to break.
Beomgyu could still not process what exactly was happening.
Ms. Sally smiled at them, before dropping to the ground with a thump, startling all of them.
They all looked around nervously expecting something to climb from the walls or fall from the ceiling, but there was only silence for longer than a minute.
"The monster is in here and.... I think I realized something."
"What?" Beomgyu asked as he looked at Lei.
"He's weak, when we're weak." She emphasized. "I couldn't move earlier, so he couldn't either. But now you guys are here, and he's stronger than before."
"So, what are you suggesting?"
They were having this conversation about the monster, who to Lei seemed to be completely out of the loop, almost as if he was on autopilot.
It was definitely nothing like the monster that had attached her and Eli.
"The weakest one, should stay last." She whispered, her gaze falling slowly on Sara, who looked at her in fear.
"No. We fight together."
"That's the point Choi Beomgyu."
"I don't get what you mean Lei." Beomgyu said as she crossed her arms.
"We start things off from strongest to weakest."
"Doing what exactly?" Lisa asked in fear making Lei raise her eyebrows.
"Attacking."
"Are you insane?" Beomgyu intercepted as he also raised his eyebrows.
"I already tried it. When it dragged me down here, I still had my knife with me, when I tried to stab it for it to let me go, it flung me across the room and I couldn't move for a couple of seconds. It couldn't move either, Beomgyu. It's going to work if we do it right. You and I go first, he'll attack us at least a little to fend us off and if we do it strategically in the right timing, we can kill it."
"With what?" Ji Ah questioned quietly, making them all look at her.
"Fire." Lisa said as she looked around the dirty cave.
"Where will we get more fire? All we have is the lantern."
Lisa took off her backpack and searched through it in a hurry. She found what she was looking for with a giggle of relief and threw it towards Beomgyu.
"A lighter? Why do you have a lighter Lisa?"
"Does that matter right now?"
Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at the teen before looking at her bag curiously.
"What else do you have in there?"
"What-"
Lisa didn't finish her sentence as she looked to the spot Lei had once come out of. Her insides started churning and her hands shaking as she pointed towards the shadows.
Beomgyu sternly looked at the creature right in the face as it walked towards them with slow steps.
"Let us go home." Beomgyu repeated what he had said once before, but instead of the creature responding, it stayed quiet as it continued to walk towards him.
Beomgyu slowly stepped back as he pulled the girls with him, grasping onto Lisa's hand tightly, passing her the lighter.
Lei held onto Beomgyu's sleeve as she tried to think of her words.
"Let's do it now." She whispered at Beomgyu who looked at her for less than a second before turning his gaze to the monster.
"Okay."