Once a Monster • SKZ

Chapter 12

Tree branches caressed the tops of the officer's heads as they pushed through the mostly unkempt forest on the outskirts of the institution. Most of the trees and bushes were dead, choked out by thorny vines and the telltale leaves of poison ivy. Careful to avoid touching the poison ivy or getting snagged by the thorns, the officers took a longer way through the forest that hugged the side of a cliff that plummeted to the ocean below.

    Through the thick curtain of dead trees, they could barely see the body of the lighthouse and the top of the chain link fence that surrounded it. After hours of walking, the officers finally found an opening in the forest. It was a wide grassy plain that stretched a few feet out but it was just big enough for them to get their bearings. From the opening, they could see the back side of the lighthouse and the stormy waters below.

    "Dammit, we passed it," Changbin grumbled to himself, exhausted from the impossibly long trek out to the opening only to realize they had gone too far. Chan laid himself against a large rock by the cliff, using his hat to fan himself.

    "It's starting to get late, boss," Chan stated, pointing out the fact that the sun was reaching a point in the sky that indicated it was preparing to set. "I think we should head back and try again tomorrow. There's no way that we'll be able to get over there once it gets dark."

    "We've come too far to turn back!" Changbin cried, throwing his hands up in the air at Chan's ridiculous suggestion. "You know what? Stay here. I'll find my way over to the lighthouse by myself since you don't seem to give two shits about it."

    "But-"

    "Don't give me any buts! I'm going alone."

    Before Chan had another chance to protest, Changbin turned back and disappeared into the forest once more. He ventured about fifteen minutes into the forest before he spotted a trail they had passed by that branched down the cliff to the shore by the lighthouse. After his discovery, he rushed back to the opening, ignoring sticks and thorns that snagged at his uniform and cut into his exposed skin. By the time he returned, the sun was beginning to sink in the sky and Chan was nowhere to be found.

    "Chan? Chan!" Changbin cried, searching the plain and surrounding forest for any signs of him but came up empty handed. Just beside the cliff, wedged in between two rocks, was the hat Chan had been fanning himself off with just half an hour earlier.

    Hesitantly, Changbin peered off the edge of the cliff, his breath hitching in his throat when he saw Chan's figure sprawled out on the rocks below. Waves lapped at the edge of the rocks, threatening to steal Chan's body for its own. Changbin foolishly hoped that Chan had somehow survived the fall. He couldn't bear the idea of facing the hidden horrors of Stray Island on his own.

    "Chan, I'm coming to get you!" Changbin yelled down the cliff as he lowered himself down the unstable cliff side.

    His foot caught small nooks in the cliff for him to step on, the rapidly setting sun and strong sea breeze making it difficult for him to keep even footing. About halfway down the cliff side, he saw a familiar sheet of yellowed paper fluttering around in the wind where it had lodged itself in a rock. It appeared to be the same sheet of paper Chan had found, saying it was Choi's patient file.The file was just out of reach, but he couldn't allow it to be blown out to sea. Not after how long it had taken to obtain it.

    Carefully, keeping one foot and hand firmly anchored to the cliff side, Changbin reached out for the paper, his fingers just grazing it before a strong gust of wind forced him to cling to the cliff side once more. Once the immediate danger passed, Changbin snatched the paper from where it was wedged in the cliff, quickly showing it into his back pocket just before he lost balance. His palms scraped against the cliff side as he began his plummet to the rocks below, managing to grab hold of a rock sticking out of the side of the cliff before it was too late.