How many days has it been now? I’ve started talking to myself to pass the time. If Dae-oppa was here, he would probably tell me to shape up and move out. Then again, I wasn’t sure where “here” was, but at least I didn’t have to worry about school. When I first arrived here, I couldn’t stop running. I took off my shoes, I tumbled, I rolled around, and I breathed in the air. It wasn’t exactly fresh, and most of the time, the wind didn’t feel like it blew on my face. In those first couple of days, if I could call them that, I constantly brought out my Botany notebook to draw the flowers and trees. I’m glad that I managed to bring that mini book with me. I recently bought it because my normal one was too bulky. Its leather cover made me remember my mother. Always her first. Always her nagging. Always her pride. She would be tending to her garden now. I missed her cooking. 

Lately, I’ve had to find fish in the purple rivers that I’ve started to trust. Whatever this dream was, it lasted a long time. I’m starting to think it’s not a dream. The stomach pains didn’t feel fake, and the cuts and scrapes bled real blood. When I thought I would sleep, I didn’t. My eyes closed, but the thoughts that filled my brain, kept it moving, kept it awake. My body rested a bit, but my mind grew tired. My mind raced endlessly. 

I sighed as days passed and the thrill disappeared. My body slowly filed with fatigue as I lost my nutrients. The flora began to spin whenever I stood up. I looked at my ghostly pale skin. I needed to learn how to hunt soon. I could only survive off of water and these berries for so long. I was just glad they were edible. I probably could have died, but they reminded me of berries I drew in my book before, so I took a chance in this topsy-turvy world, and I happened to be right. They were sweet, like honeysuckle, but the tang hit right after, and that part wasn’t favorable. Still, if I could properly learn to catch a fish or a squirrel, the rest would come easier. Halmeoni taught me, as her only granddaughter, how to skin and pluck and de-bone many things. She also taught me how to haggle in open markets. Turns out her advice was beginning to come in handy, if I could get my hands on something to eat.

 I did try once. A large wolf tried to rip my head off my shoulders. That night, I rested in a tree, and I almost lost my shoes getting up there. I guess childhood tree climbing also came in handy. I’m almost certain I’ve never run that fast in my life though. 

If only Dae-oppa was here. He would make jokes about me being a monkey. He would also get me food. I’m usually fine with being alone. It’s different when you had to survive. Now, I just wanted one other person around. 

A week in, I thought, and I noticed a smoke signal in the sky. It wasn’t close, but it wasn’t far either. With my little bit of strength, I started the journey towards it. It had to mean other people. I didn’t think it was possible. I assumed I would just waste away here. Now, there was a gathering, and I actually hadn’t thought of that. Silly me! Stupid me, actually. 

As I walked, I tried not to think about how my shoes weren’t for walking, how my berry supply needed to be replenished, how I was seeing shadows out of the corner of my eye that looked like deer antlers. No, I needed to stay focused. I didn’t want to run unless I had to. Mid-thought, I tripped on air. (It happens a lot, actually.) That’s when I saw that thing. A human/deer hybrid stared at me as I stood up, and I tried to ignore it and move on. I couldn’t unsee it, but when I turned around, it disappeared. I turned back to see it, a bow on its back, its eyes wide, staring past me. I wasn’t sure who made who freeze, but I carefully made a step before my ears picked up a twitch in the bushes. Another one appeared. I began to run past the first one. They didn’t follow, just watched until we became specks in each other’s eyes. 

I pushed through a mess of bushes and branches, coughing and spitting out leaves and falling to the ground to catch an exchange in passing.

“Show me, I would love to meet them.”

I stood up to see two boys and the fire that was causing my eyes to sting. Its warmth felt oddly inviting. I brushed myself off before noticing I was missing a shoe. I crawled around, looking for it in the bushes I fell out of without saying a word to the new humans I’d found. Of course I was shocked and happy, but that shoe seemed very important at the time.