Chapter 3 The way back home

Lily was even more shocked by what her eyes saw. Could it be him? Now, her logic, which could think in situations she thought were dreams, was no longer concerned with dreams that could present or create incredible, magical conditions. Lily Brown! This is a dream. What you are facing is a dream. Don't overthink about it, and find a way to wake up from it. Return immediately to the real world where you live. Such thoughts were no longer in her head as her fear turned to shock. Lily began to doubt her situation. What she thought was a dream now felt real. She could feel the pain in her injured hand, then her legs, slowly weakening from the shock she was experiencing. Could this be a dream? Lily's mind denied it with a conviction she didn't know where it came from as she watched the man in front of her. "I'm not going to hurt you. That's the only thing I can tell you for sure," the heavy voice said as it approached Lily. Lily didn't know where the light came from as the giant trees almost blocked the sky with lush foliage. Perhaps small gaps had been created to allow the light from the sun to enter and shine on the wolf that had just taken human form in front of him. The man knelt, balancing his height with Lily, who was still on the ground. His brown hair shone even brighter in the rare sunlight there. Lily could recognise him by his appearance. He was the one Lily could not look away from every time she saw him, and she kept her focus on that face. She was paying attention to it without even a hint of discomfort. It was the same face that sat next to Lily's bench at school. It was the same face Lily had met in the café that afternoon. It was the same person she couldn't remember after she parted with him, but everything about him had been remembered when Lily met him. Even in her dreams, Lily remembers him, which is why those eyes are familiar to her. A pair of bright blue irises captured and drew all attention to them. That beautiful pair of irises was an attention stealer that made Lily sink and lose consciousness. Lily pulled her shoulders back, trying to avoid the man as he approached. "How did you get here?" asked Lily, her pupils dilating, followed by her trembling eyes, still under her fear. The man moved his hand, pulling back Lily's hand supporting the girl's body, with a flat expression that had never been seen on that face in the real world. But Lily noticed it in a place where Lily could not yet tell if it was real. "Because you came," he replied calmly. As Lily's eyes continued to look at him anxiously, the man moved on unconcernedly. Even when he replied to Lily, he only focused on Lily's hand, which he held out, noticing the redness on Lily's hand. "Your hand is hurt. You shouldn't move around so carelessly," he said in a flat voice that sounded anything but friendly. His demeanour was cold as ice, someone with the same appearance but a different attitude. Or could it be that the wolf had taken on the persona of someone she recognised? Lily withdrew her hand from the man's palm. The pale skin felt as cold as the stone her feet had touched when she fell, much like the grass she had stood on from before until now. Was he that cold? The man lifted his gaze, looking at Lily as she pulled herself together while he only looked at the wound on her hand. His eyes moved slowly, then shifted as if he did not care about Lily's reaction. This time, it was Lily's legs that occupied his attention. The pair of feet, full of scratches on the soles, looked reddish with a few strands of grass attached. The man could smell grass and blood from the open wounds. "Did you come barefoot?" he asked again as he rubbed the soles of Lily's feet to clean them. Lily did not even know how she was getting there. If she didn't know, could she have prepared? If she had, she would have put on her shoes and worn something more appropriate than her thin nightdress. Being in a situation where Lily thought she might end up dead kept her from thinking about such questions. "I want to go home..." Lily said. Believe him? It was hard for Lily. But if she knew this person as the same man who had talked to her this afternoon. Indeed, he would know how to get Lily home. Just then, the face lifted, and he looked at her. For a moment, he just stood there staring at Lily, his hand still holding Lily's leg. As Lily swallowed the water in her throat, she waited for an answer that could end in one of two ways: either she would be escorted home or end up somewhere else. "I want to go home," Lily repeated her request. This time, she looked a little more desperate than before, hoping he would sympathise with her. "How did you get here? That's how you get home," he replied as if he could do nothing to help Lily get back. How? Was there a way for her to get there? Lily didn't even know. She stammered, turning her head and moving restlessly. "I-I just came. I don't remember, and I arrived in the middle of the woods without knowing how I got here. Suddenly, I was in this place, and then everything happened. I'd been running for a long time, but this forest seemed endless. There was no way out. After the trees, I met more trees. After the cliff, I came to another cliff. Please take me home..." Lily begged softly to the man she thought was the same person. Lily was desperate. She no longer believed it was just a dream because it had been happening too long. Her legs even confirmed it. She showed that she was tired of running too far, her laboured breathing even adding to the clarity that she was feeling claustrophobic because of the difficulty in breathing.