Snow Bitten Memories | Luwin

In Darkness

It was a cold January night, Sicheng walked the icy roads alone. Unbothered by the nip in the air, he took his strides while making minimal footprints, similar to the walking pattern of a cat. It was a woodsy area, just a two way road to anyone's destination. A destination nobody would be meeting during a storm like this. A destination that wasn't clear to him.

He wore a thin white button up, it was oversized to seem more like a dress. It was paired with capris of the same light cotton, and he didn't even have shoes on. Maybe not suitable attire for a snow storm, but for some reason, it didn't seem to bother Sicheng. He couldn't care less about being cold, that was all arbitrary now.

There was a lot he'd forgotten, blurry fuzz in his brain where his adult life and relationships should've been. He wished he could've remembered the person that he was, at last, it wasn't as simple as seeing something and flipping a switch. It would probably take years to gain back what he'd lost.

He'd known the roads would be empty, that's why he chose this night. Nobody needed to be there, nobody needed to see him. He couldn't remember how long he'd been walking, why he was walking down this road, couldn't remember what happened in the past few days. That's not important.

What is of the utmost importance is getting to his destination... Oh shit, he just heard the sound of squeaky car breaks. He turns around to find a 1987 Honda Prelude pulled over by him, the car was 11 years out of style, it had damage to it's front end and looked like it hadn't been washed since the '70s. Its blotchy paint job definitely didn't help in giving it somewhat of an impoverished style.

He saw the figure of a man sitting in the driver's seat through the passenger window, though he couldn't make out much of a decisive outline due to the blinding headlights that blurred his vision. The man leant over to his passenger door and cranked down the window. It was a bit awkward standing there and waiting as he vigorously rolled the handle around. Once the window was down, Sicheng bent down slightly to make eye contact, which he found uncomfortable, but he knew made other people feel at ease.

It was then that he could properly make out the face of the driver, his eyes were like a doe, and his face was handsome yet rugged. He had sorrow in his glance. "It's so cold out, what are you doing out here walking alone?" A deep voice came out of the man, unsurprising since he exuded a more masculine energy. "I just need to get to my destination." Sicheng replied flatly. "I'll give you a ride, c'mon! Hope in." He opened the car door, and Sicheng slid in slyly.

The man stared at Sicheng for a second, it confused him. He wasn't great at reading social queues, and he didn't quite understand what his gaze meant. "Is there something wrong?" The man shook his head, "N-No, you just... Remind me of an old friend."  His voice reflected an incredible sadness, a profound emptiness that Sicheng also felt when trying to regain his memories.

An awkward silence ensued and the snow began to trickle down harder. He kept one hand on the wheel, Sicheng noticed he had a tattoo down his wrist, it was written in ancient Chinese characters. This brought up an odd sense of familiarity for Sicheng, he couldn't remember where he'd seen this before, but he knew he had.