LOTUS LAND

island

°

they hand in hand, 
with wandering steps and slow,
through eden took their solitary way

john milton

°



She gasps awake, taking in as much air as she could, flooding her lungs with oxygen as if she'd long been deprived of it because her body just keeps on taking it. She felt like dying already.

Her eyes flutter open, immediately scanning where she was, enormous tress with thick branches that looked magical under the glittering stars and the silvery light the moon provided. There was a certain hue of purple color the fog has and despite the unusualness of waking up in the middle of an unknown forest, she felt oddly calm. At peace. Contented.

Then she shot up almost immediately, mind racing at the blank canvas that was her brain because all she could remember was her name, Jiu was her name right?

"Oh Jiu's awake!"

She hears a crackle of burning wood and she turned around to three girls circling the camp fire, grilling some kind of meat and her stomach rumbles despite her confusion. Memories rushes back to her mind and she's left breathless.

"Are you okay, unnie?" Siyeon asks.

Siyeon. Lee Siyeon. Childhood friend Siyeon with her new short blue hair and chubby cheeks and Jiu's eyes travelled to the next person with the unusual silver hair and her brain sends her information and that this is Yoohyeon and besides her, the short person who spoke earlier was Sua.

She waits for her mind to process anything else but she only knows her friends and her name and how she feels and she can't remember anything else―where were they? Who were her parents? Did she live here?

"It's weird when you're silent, unnie. Please do make some noise." Yoohyeon exclaims, a serious frown forming on her brows as she stares at Jiu.

Jiu, on the other hand, feels the anxiety rise up to her throat.

Sua gives her a concerned look, "What's wrong?"

She looks at Sua with panicked eyes.

"I can remember everything," She breathes shakily, "Except myself."

Yoohyeon gives her a confused look, "How is that even possible?"

Siyeon squeezes Jiu's shoulders, maybe as a sign of reassurance but somehow her touch made her even more nervous and it was as if her body wants to reject her friend's affection and it was absurd because Jiu knows she had always liked to be with Siyeon. It was weird. Her repulsion to Siyeon at the moment was weird. Jiu stays quiet.

She looks at Sua who was standing behind Siyeon and her friends gave her a comforting smile. Or at least an attempt at a comforting smile because suddenly Jiu wasn't comfortable with her very best friends.

"You don't need to remember yourself."

Jiu blinks.

"What?"

"I said it will come around. You just woke up after being unconscious after all," Siyeon explains, throwing an arm around Jiu's shoulders this time before dragging her to sit with them by the bonfire.

Huh. 

She was pretty sure Siyeon said something else. Was she hearing things?

Yoohyeon sits on Jiu's other side, her presence calming Jiu's nerves for some reason she couldn't pinpoint. As far as she remembers, Yoohyeon was anything but calming.