The Alters. (Purinz)

Fourteen

-Chaewon! -she shouted with all the strength of her lungs. She had been searching for her for an hour, and it had started snowing about forty minutes ago. She had walked through several streets around the university, hoping she was nearby. A part of her was already paranoid, telling her that she had gone the other way, that she was far away, that she wouldn't find her-¡Michelle! ¡Chaechae~!

Maybe one of the others would respond.

She felt like an idiot. She should have burned that notebook, but inside it, she kept some things she wanted to preserve. It had the first memories they had shared, the first encounters with the Alters. They were valuable, beautiful, something she could read in a few years and remember with a smile.

She didn't keep it as evidence for her work; she had left that behind a long time ago. She had already started something new.

Now everything was ruined, and she had lost her, in so many ways.

She felt tears in her eyes and wiped them away carelessly.

She took her phone again and called her once more, this had to be the twentieth time at least, and she had no more hope that she would answer.

To her surprise, after three rings, the call was picked up:

-Yunjin?

-¡Chaewon! Where are you? Tell me where you are. -She felt the urge to run, in any direction, toward her.

-I'm not Chaewon... -the voice murmured. It sounded tired, even pained-. Yunjin, you're my friend. Why am I alone?

-Ssamu... -she felt that overwhelming urge to protect her, to hold her and never let go, because the small one was so special, she didn't know what she was going to do-. Ssamu, tell me what you see, tell me where you are.

-Yunjin, it's cold and... Everything is white... It's a very white park.

-Okay, a park, yes, keep talking, tell me what else you see -she searched for the park on her phone and ran toward the nearest one. She couldn't have gone far-. I'm on my way, tell me, do you see any playgrounds? -It was possibly the park where she had taken Chaechae once.

-Yes... -with that, she confirmed it was the same park as always-. They're far away, Yunjin... It's cold, Yunjin, why is it cold?

-Because it's winter, little one, and you don't have the right coat... But I'm coming, and you'll be warm soon, okay? Just keep talking to me.

-Mmmh...

-Where are you?

-I'm lying down... On a bench... I saw a picture of Yunjin on my phone, and you were there.

-I'm right here, yes, I'm close.

Yunjin smiled tenderly, tears fell down her face. She saw the park across the street and stopped running to look around, searching for a bench where someone might be lying. The playground was nearby, so she moved away from it, heading to the other side of the park.

-Yunjin, I see you.

-You see me? -she turned around until she found her, curled up on a wooden bench, a thin layer of snow covering parts of her body, clutching the notebook she had found, with her phone by her side.

She ran to her. Her lips were blue, and she was very pale, yet Ssamu smiled at her.

-Here I am, little one. -she wanted to cry. She brushed the snow off her and helped her sit up, she was so cold.

Yunjin began taking off her own coats to cover her, wrapping her in her long brown coat and giving her her gloves, as well as the hat she was wearing. She put the older girl's belongings in her pockets, but it wasn't enough; she needed to get her to a heated place immediately, give her a hot bath, change her into dry clothes that weren't damp from the freezing snow.