ARC I: Where a Child Drifted
Chapter 1 — Where Did You Go?
I opened my eyes slowly.
I tried looking around myself.
I blinked once, unable to see anything.
I blinked twice, and the result was the same.
The third time I tried, but no matter how many times I blinked, the view in front of me didn't change at all.
It was a dense layer of cloud everywhere I looked. I was fully surrounded by fog. I was lost in every direction I tried to look. I couldn't find anything at all.
I tried to look for my own hand. I looked at it, but couldn't see it. I knew I was looking directly at it, but I couldn't see it. I could only vaguely feel it, so I knew it was in front of me.
In that situation, I could only think.
"What is happening here?" I thought, confusion settling in my heart.
"Where am I? I can't remember this place. Where is this?" My heartbeat started rising without knowing why, as I stood there with my hand clutching.
"Mom, Dad—where are they? Where did they go?" I looked around me frantically, thinking I would see them.
I didn't see them, no matter how much I tried.
I tried to run. I ran with all that I had. But nothing moved. Everything was the same, as if the clouds were following me.
I fell—not because of a rock, but from exhaustion. I stayed on the floor.
"Did they leave me?"
The thought came to my mind, and it broke something I had been holding in my heart.
My eyes started getting wet, and my chest hurt like it had been pierced by a thousand knives.
The confusion turned into something I didn't know.
"How can you do that?"
The words left my mouth before I knew it. I heard them echo many times.
I knew I had said something I shouldn't have, like I had committed the worst sin known to man.
But the only thing I felt was the absence of something. I knew what it was, but the words were fighting with me to come out.
"Was I that bad… bad enough that you had to leave me here?"
I didn't want to say that.
It wasn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to grab them, but it was too late.
A tear slipped from my cheek.
"I promise I'll do everything you tell me from today, but please don't leave me here."
That wasn't it either. I didn't want to say that. I had to think—what was it?
"I'm scared, and I want to see you."
I sat on the floor. The weight lifted slightly. I wanted to say that from the start. I finally found the words.
"Please come back," I whispered, my voice and hands shaking.
"Come back, please," I said a little louder.
"Come back," a little louder.
"Come back," I yelled this time.
"Come back, please—don't leave me here!"
I yelled at the top of my little lungs, with all I had.
I expected a response, but all I got in return was my own voice.
I stayed there, shedding my tears like a fountain and a river. My nose started running.
As I wiped it, my hand slipped and hit the pendant on my neck.
I knew it was a pendant made out of stone, shaped like a wing, something I could feel clearly in my hands.
As I held the pendant, the memory of my birthday from not long ago came to mind.
My mother gave this to me that day. I tried to remember more, but the memories were cloudy, and I couldn't make out the words my mom had said to me.
All I could remember was the hug and the kiss on my forehead she gave me.
As I remembered that, I also remembered all the times I spent with Mom and Dad.
Like the time we went to the market, and the times they teased me and laughed while I was angry. It reminded me of the warm house and the smell of food made by Mom.
And also the times when my father spun me around, and the small fights my mom and dad had. They were joyful moments for me.
Before I knew it, the pain started to lessen as the memories came to my mind, and the tears stopped.
I slowly closed and opened my eyes. I felt them growing heavier.
My breath, which had been fast, was slowing down, and I closed my eyes there, lying on the floor.