ENVISAGED

2

He heard it before he felt it—the sound of waves kissing the shore and the splashes of water touching his legs down to his feet. With a groan, he opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the few stars scattered in the sky. He wasn't sure but he thought he even saw two to three falling stars crossing on it. It was not fully dark yet. There were still traces of red streaks of light in the sky, indicating it's still twilight.

He blinked repeatedly. There was a pounding in the right side of his head that made him groan again in pain and remember what happened. He waited for few seconds to help his eyes adjust in the darkness before he decided to get up from the sand. With all the strength he could muster, he was able to sit and adjust himself with his surrounding even more.

After getting used to the darkness, he can finally see shadows of the things around him. There were several rocks in the shore he was in. He tried to look for some other passengers that might've washed away with him in that shore but found none. It must be his lucky day as he is still alive and he saw his bag just few meters away from him, slightly buried in the sand, probably after it was washed by the waves while he was asleep.

He tried to get up and after few stumbles, he finally succeeded and able to retrieved his bag. He was about to look around and check for other people further when he felt a tug on his arm.

"Ahjussi, I'm glad you're awake. We need to go. The typhoon will come back soon. We have to hide now," a petite woman covered with a hoodie, scarf, thick jacket and pants said as he turned around to check who tugged him. Checking her from head to toe, he wanted to laugh because all he can see from her body was her eyes and her hair which stood out in the darkness as he guessed it has a light color.

"Ahjussi?" His brows arched. "Who are you?" He inquired, his voice slightly hoarse, feeling slightly relieved to finally see another human near him in that seemingly deserted shore and amused at the same time because of her get up and what she called him.

"It doesn't matter right now. Can you walk? We have to go. The typhoon will come back soon. I found a cave nearby when I woke up earlier. We can hide there until the typhoon is gone," she answered in a hurry while tugging his arm again.

His brows knitted in confusion but he still nodded. "Come back? It's not over yet? But the sky is already clear," he mumbled and looked up. "Look, there are even stars," he pointed, noticing the stars become clearer now that the darkness is slowly dominating against the light of the day.

The girl didn't answer and instead started pushing him away from the shore. "I'll explain later. Look, the clouds are back. We really need to hide now," she said with urgency, now pulling him on his arm that made him almost stumble and fall on the sand.

He wasn't sure whether coming with her is a good idea since he doesn't know her but when he looked up and saw that the clouds are really back now, he concluded he doesn't really have a choice especially since his head started to pound even louder. Letting her pull him further, he noticed they are now heading to a woody area.

Glancing at the girl, he secretly studied her. She seemed to be confident enough of what she's doing, pulling him to wherever it may be. There must be no harm in trusting her for now, he thought. The girl looked harmless to begin with, plus she can't get anything from him. He barely has anything with him except his wet bag and of course himself-unless the girl has a hidden agenda which he thought was impossible. If he's wrong, he knows he can defend himself anyway. He's a guy and also learnt some self defense as he grew up. Besides, the way she acted earlier seemed genuine. She cannot be the way he doubt she would be.

Yato was too engrossed in studying the girl that he didn't notice the wind that has started to blow rather harshly around them, swaying the leaves and branches of trees they passed by. Dried leaves started to fall off from the twigs, matting the forest floor as they fell helplessly to it.