The whispers of our past《Yizhan version》

Chapter 1 (part 1)

To heal a wound, you need to stop touching it . . .

Date: 03-02-2020

-Xiao Zhan's POV

I looked around, and everywhere I looked everything was the same - evergreen trees with no difference. The forest had become a maze in which I was locked up. I don't know for how long I wandered, what felt like hours might have even been just a few minutes. My blood rushed through my veins, and a shiver went down my spine.

Someone was watching me.

Turning around I looked in every single corner, but there was no one, and still, I couldn't shake off that feeling that someone was spying on me. It felt like a pair of invisible eyes were watching me, I tried to catch some colours, but I saw nothing between the trees which could point out a living human or animal.

Maybe it was my imagination and I reminded myself that if there was truly someone in this forest, I would have seen that person's true colours, no matter how well hidden they were. However, for the very first time a creepy feeling crept up my spine towards my mind, and that was when I realized that this person was not a normal human being. There was someone I couldn't see - neither his nor her aura.

"Little boy, has your mommy never told you not to go into the dark forest all alone, especially at night? And don't you know how many animals there are here, marking you as their prey right now?" the cold voice of a young man, sharp as a blade, cut through my soul. I quickly turned around but did not catch any colours hidden behind the trees, and I shivered in regret for following the sound that woke me up and made me end up here, it was the sound which was light as a feather, it was the blowing of the wind which called my name, luring me into this place.

A deep sigh escaped my mouth while I tried to voice myself out in the deadly silence that hung in between the woods, "I-"

"And little boy, hasn't your mommy warned you not to talk to strangers? Before you know it you get the puppeteers to dance. Or maybe if you are an unlucky boy you will meet a cursed one, and before you can blink twice with your big almond eyes, you are taken away in their endless cobweb of invisible threads. From there little boy, there won't be any escape, and you will live your life just like them, you will become a cursed one," again that same voice, but this time it was followed by a soft chuckle, a dark one, that would make anyone shiver in blind fear.

But why did he say I shouldn't talk to strangers? It wasn't as if I had spoken to him. Again I turned around searching for the source of the voice, but once again I failed to locate it. There was truly no one to be seen wherever I looked, it was as if he was invisible. I didn't believe in ghosts, but I did believe in the stories of the cursed ones.

They are the ones that have nothing left to lose, watch out for them, and never ever speak to them, Zhan! The warning in my dad's voice popped up like an alarm even as I took a deep breath, opening my mouth to talk. "I-"

"Why aren't you talking, little boy? Cat got your tongue?" His voice was light as the wind yet there was an unpredictable coldness in that very same tone.

No, you don't give me the time to answer! If you would just shut up for a second, I could have answered you. Of course, I didn't say this out loud because I was afraid of the person I couldn't see. Just listening to his voice already made me whimper in an indescribable sort of fear.

"No..." finally I cracked some sound out of my mouth. I heard him chuckle and how I wished I could have turned back time to say something else. I immediately hid my red-like-a-tomato-face behind my hands because of embarrassment, wishing to dig a hole and hide there, as long as possible.