Monster (Ryeji)

Blood, toil, tears and sweat pt.1

"YEJI!"

"YEJI WHERE ARE YOU?!!!"

Ryujin's ears were ringing as she staggered about the battlefield, her voice hoarse and her head spinning. Blood trickling down the side of her face. She gripped her gun tightly between her trembling fingers.

"YEJI!" She called out again. Bullets ripping through the air around her. Missiles flying through the air above her. Bodies sinking into the mud beneath her.

A circular piece of metal with a blue flashing light rolled to a stop a few metres away from her to her right and she stopped for a moment to blink at it. A grenade.

She was going to die.

There was a small beeping sound followed by a loud band and all at once a rushing feeling blasted through the air and flung Ryujin to the side, tiny fragments of shrapnel digging themselves into her shoulder as she hit the ground with a thud.

For a few minutes everything sounded muffled and the ringing in Ryujin's head was now the only thing she could hear. Her helmet felt like it was compressing her skull into a box and she strained and fought with herself to be able to move and take it off. But her arms lay still and her legs seemed frozen. She gasped for air and got a mouthful of dirt as someone ran past her, their boots kicking up mud and grit.

Desperately she tried to call out for help but no sound would leave her throat. Maybe, if she just closed her eyes and slept, this would all go away... Maybe she could just rest a bit... just a few minutes... let her mind drift off and—

"Ryujin!"

Ryujin opened her eyes and was shocked to find she was suddenly lying in one of the wheat fields near her village back home.

"Ryujin, where are you? You've been hiding for ages!" A voice called out from somewhere nearby. "Please come out, it's getting dark and I'm hungry."

Ryujin covered her mouth in an attempt to silence the squeal of excitement that threatened to leak out of her.

"This is so unfair. I'll never be able to look in this whole field." Ryujin could hear the voice slowly getting more and more frustrated and upset as it became quieter and decided that perhaps today she could let Yeji off. So as quietly as she could, she got up from her hiding place and crept closer and closer to the girl standing searching for her. She was now only a few metres away and could see clearly her friend's long dark hair blowing gently in the breeze, held back from her face by a beautiful blue headscarf. A good luck charm her mother had given her a few years ago for her ninth birthday.

Ryujin crept even closer until suddenly "Boo!" She jumped up and Yeji squealed in shock, nearly overbalancing.

Ryujin began laughing and doubled over at the face Yeji pulled until a friendly slap to her arm made her stop.

"You're so mean." She pouted. And Ryujin couldn't help but smile at her cuteness. "How come you always find me so fast and I can never find you?"

"Because I can always hear you giggling whenever I'm getting close." Ryujin chuckled, reaching out to grab Yeji's hand and swing it between them as they walked back towards the house. "And I guess I'm just an expert at sneaking, sorry."

"You should be." Yeji huffed, "I was really worried it would be sunset before I could find you and I thought you might never come out."

"You know I wouldn't do that. I'll always make sure you can find me in the end..."

"...Ryujin"

"RYUJIN!"

Suddenly she felt someone's hands shaking her. No. Please. Please don't wake me. She prayed.