Now the group was counted up to six
people. They all collected their belongings and tried to think of what to do
next.
The sun on the east side was shining at an angle above
their heads. Though it was bright and caused everyone to wish they had
sunglasses, the air was chilly and unpleasantly bitter. The clouds hung low in
the sky, splashed with light grey. Wind blew the trees; leaves falling and
twisting in a high pitch whistle.
Casey put her hood on and pulled the drag strings tight.
Her neck felt hot with nervousness and the sense of trepidation, but the
feeling of feeling cold on the inside made her ignore the body heat.
“If there haven’t been any dinosaurs in this area, don’t
you think there would be more people around?” Chouchou asked suddenly.
Casey took a step back and looked up at the yew tree they
had stayed in the last night. She sighed and opened her mouth to speak. But
before she had the chance, something sharp whizzed by. Following that was a
raspy, low and irate screech.
The ground began thumping. Trees were swaying harder than
they were before. Vision started blurring and it seemed as if things were
moving quicker than before as well. Behind them, probably a few dozen metres,
sounded an earsplitting and extended screech.
Matthew turned around and oddly squealed breathlessly, as
if he had lost his voice, “Spi—! Spino—!”
“Run!” a voice shouted loudly.
Casey felt her heart starting to race. Without turning back
or even developing the next thought, she almost tripped over her feet, trying
to catch up with her group members, who had already started sprinting.
“Split up!” Lenny yelled. He turned around a row of trees
and disappeared. Chouchou followed his direction.
Everything was funny. The early, quiet mood had abruptly
converted into a fast paced, confusing, and scary feeling. It was obvious a
dinosaur was heading their way, angrily trying to reach out its short arms for
something to fill its stomach. But not knowing which direction to head, not
knowing where the creature following was the scariest part.
Up ahead, Casey saw the trees starting to move apart. She
had no idea where she was going, but following whoever was running in front of
her. She was afraid something new would appear out of the blue and trample them
for sure.
She ran and ran non-stop but her eyes were swelling with
tears. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeves, still moving. The figure
in front of her had vanished.
Then a voice was heard, “This way!”
Casey’s eyes turned but things were fogging up. Behind her,
she heard quick and loud, heavy pounds. The pace was increasing and the noise
was going louder. Inside her head she wanted to stop running; her legs were
wearing out on her. Her heart was racing faster than ever imagined, both from
freaking out and running.
“Hurry!” The voice was there again. But it was strange how
there was not much panicking in the tone.
Sweat and tears were mixed on her face. Casey had her fist
clenched and still running. This time, she had absolutely no idea where she was
going. She saw a large tree trunk in front of her. She wanted to slow down, or
try and make a turn, but her legs were not listening to her anymore.
Finally something thin and tight grasped onto her arm. She
tried to scream but panic and alarm were getting the better of her. Her voice
was completely lost.
In a split second, she felt herself being picked up off the
ground. Her right arm was stinging with pain. Her legs frantically kicked,
wanting to be put back down. Then, the pain was beginning to go away. Her whole
body was flung in the air and over the trees, across the forest.
She landed with a thud, on her front. Her arms were bent
under her body, saving her head from face planting into the hard ground.
Her heart was still racing but the anxiety and sense of
fright was flowing out of her chest. Quickly she rolled over and pulled herself
to her feet. Her legs wobbled and she almost fell back on the ground. Her head
was dizzy and vision was still blank and white.
“Sorry! Are you all right?” The familiar voice spoke again.
Casey used her palms and pressed hard against her eyes. She
opened them again and started exhaling loudly.
In front of her was a short boy. She had never seen him
before. His dark brown hair was straight but curled up out of place and full of
knots. Around his forehead was a dark band—a ribbon to be exact. Across his
face were several scratches and blotches of grime.
He reached his brown, almost black sleeved arm forward and
hit Casey’s head. She made a grunt and blinked one eye after the other. Her
whole body was aching.
“You’re safe now, Mei— Mei Xing’s got this under control,”
he said with a grin.
Casey nodded but she could not move any part of her face.
She then felt herself being pulled behind a large tree and pushed inside the
trunk. He followed her inside.
“This is one of our hideouts,” he said with pride. He
opened his arms and turned around. “Sit down. I’ll quickly bandage you up.”
He pulled a stick out from between some thin roots and
started to dig a hole. He pulled out a small brown box.
The tree was not very large. The trunk only had a small
opening from the roots growing out of place. In fact it looked more like
someone had pried it open more so something could fit inside.
They were underground, to be exact. On the surface, it
looked like a tree with a hole small animals crawled into, except there was
some large and dried piece of dirt shaped like a door that covered the hideout
up.
Inside, however, was a different story. The trunk had been
hollowed out just a little, and the ground had been dug up deeper, to fit three
or four people at the most. All around were sticks. They were stabbed into the
dirt.
Finally Casey coughed and choked. She looked up at him with
scared eyes. Then she grabbed his hood before he turned away. She tightened her
grip, still staring at him. He turned around and watched every move she made,
ready for her next.
With a shaky voice she whispered, “How about the others?
Where are they?”
The boy shook his head and shrugged, “Well, I managed to
swing two others but both ropes got detached so they flew off somewhere. I’m
sure they’re somewhere close by. I’ll go find them now. You stay here and don’t
touch anything and don’t make a noise.”
“What’s your name?” Casey asked, scrunching her face from
the stinging ointments the boy put on her bandages.
“Jonathan,” he said and jumped out of the hole in one go.
“Thank you,” Casey said.
For a moment Casey sat on the damp soil with her legs
stretched out in front of her. She slowly leaned back and stared up at the
inside of the tree. There were webs formed with lifeless insects glued. She
turned her head to the other side and saw the same thing. Next to her was a
worm wiggling in and out of the dirt, sliming it up.
Casey shut her eyes and winced at the pain. The side of her
head had been badly bruised. Both knees and both elbows were also scratched up.
She carefully pulled her jacket back on and rubbed the injured parts.
She held up her left hand and looked at the watch. A day
had gone by and just less than half the next also. Her hand dropped and she
shut her eyes again.
The next thing she heard was a kick at the dirt wall. Her
eyes enlarged as she shrunk into the corner of the tree. With all her heart she
hoped it was not a nosy dinosaur. To her relief, she saw Jonathan again, who
had just kicked both Acacia and Elias in. They both looked fairly in good shape,
except some bruises, and extra pain caused by Jonathan.
He jumped in after them and pushed the dirt door back.
Quickly he pulled out sticks and started digging out random first-aid kits.
“Where’d you get all those kits?” Elias asked.
Jonathan opened another box of bandages and pulled out a
strange container with a gooey and clear substance inside. “Some of them we
packed and the others we found in this arena.” He pointed at Acacia. “Sit
still.”
She nodded obediently and followed his movements with her
eyes.
“Where’s Matthew?” Casey asked, crawling out from behind a
large pile of dirt.
“No idea who that is,” Jonathan said.
After he tied the bandages together on Acacia’s arm, he buried
the previous boxes and went to dig up another box.
“Thanks…” Acacia turned to Casey and then at Elias. “We
lost him when we started running away from that Spinosaurus.” She sighed, “We
were all so freaked out.”
“Who’s Mei Xing?” Casey asked next, suddenly remembering
the named being mentioned.
Jonathan suddenly stopped fumbling with the first aid and
looked up. “Ah, I was supposed to meet up with her after this. She said she saw
some hungry Rugops nearby after realizing a Spino was chasing after you guys.
You should thank her after. Thanks to you guys, she did do something she hates doing
the most.”
Casey watched him bury the last box. “What’s that?”
He stomped on the dirt to pack it down and looked at Casey with
his crystal-like blue eyes. “Killing a dinosaur.”
“Sorry about that,” Casey said.
“Where is she now?” Acacia asked.
“No idea,” Jonathan said. He stood up and stretched. “You
guys don’t know anything, right?”
“What does that mean?” Elias asked. He rolled down his
jacket sleeve.
Jonathan swung his backpack on and pulled the dirt door
down. “You’ve rested long enough. I’m sure Mei’s dealt well with the Spino and
the Rugops.”
Acacia scratched her head and laughed a little. “I don’t
really know my dinosaurs so what exactly is… a Rugops?”
“Basically they’re wrinkled up faced dinosaurs that eat
meat. There had to be at least a group of them to take down a ferocious Spino.”
Jonathan started climbing out of the hideout. “Now, get out.”
* * * * *
The four of them walked in the forest for a long time by
now, probably for at least fifteen minutes at the most. Nothing spectacular
happened, luckily.
Just then, someone jumped down from a tree in front of
them. She rolled up her ropes up in second and put them in her pocket.
“Mei! You’re back already,” Jonathan said.
The girl patted his shoulder and nodded, “Yup. So Nathan,
were you—?” She looked at Casey, Acacia, and Elias. “You have a really large
group.”
“Oh, you’re Mei Xing, right?” Acacia said.
Mei Xing nodded.
She was tall in comparison to Jonathan. But how they
dressed in the same outfits and looked friendly made them seem like siblings.
Casey looked around and held her hands together. She looked
at Acacia and Elias, who were not exactly doing anything.
Mei Xing brushed the wisps of hair in front of her ears
aside. Her hair was dark and looked almost black, but a tint of it looked brown
in the sun. She blinked her eyes and then gave them a forthcoming smile.
“Your pack’s other half is safe.” Then she turned around and
frowned. “That’s funny. They were behind me just a moment ago. Well, that was
before I started looking into the trees…”
Elias pointed. “They’re there.”
Lenny, Matthew, and Chouchou were seen now. They had just
turned towards them and ran to catch up. All of them looked tired and unharmed.
“Oh, there you are,” Mei Xing said and clapped her hands
together in relief. “I thought I lost you with another dinosaur or something.”
“Why’d you start running away?” Chouchou asked with a
grumpy expression. “I thought you tricked us and just left us.”
“Well you were slow,” Matthew said to her. She frowned at
him and turned the other way.
Lenny stopped walking. He looked at Mei Xing and sighed.
“You even had us watch the Spino roar at us, trying its best to escape the ropes
you tied on it. It almost broke free until those ugly dinosaurs appeared out of
the blue.” He shook his head in dissatisfaction.
Matthew nodded in agreement. “You totally went Tarzan on
us.”
The others laughed. Mei Xing shrugged an apologetic face. Jonathan
jumped up and tried to stand as tall as he could. He was smaller in size, in
evaluation with the others, but the same height as Acacia.
“Stop talking.”
“Oh,” Casey remembered. “Thanks, Mei Xing.”
Mei Xing shook her head and waved her hand. “No, it was
nothing.”
“But Jonathan said you had to kill the dinosaur…” Acacia
said. She looked up from her fumbling fingers at Mei Xing.
“It’s more important to save human lives. And besides, I
didn’t kill them. I just… sorta set up a trap and had the other dinosaurs go
for it. Spinosaurus are strong and vicious. It got so mad at me when I tried to
tie it up. But when they’re weakened, I guess that goes for anyone, when
they’re weakened, they become a good target.”
Now, the eight of them stood silently among the trees for a
minute. For that one minute, they were all focusing on other things, be it
staying cautious, feeling sorry, fear accumulating, or anything in that range.
With a good ear, a faded boom was heard.
A few seconds later, the slow booming was louder.
“Is that another one?” Casey asked. Her eyes shook as she
turned to the others. She realized their stance were further apart than before.
She took a small step closer.
Jonathan pulled out a rope and held it tightly in his
hands. He had an angry facial expression, staring into the distance of one
direction. Mei Xing was looking that way as well. She took a deep breath in and
let it out. In a low voice, she said, “It’s an Aeolosaurus.”
“How can you tell?” Lenny asked.
Mei Xing put a finger to her ear. “If you can hear the
pattern of steps, then you will know. I’m pretty sure it’s having lunch now.
Aeolosaurus can stand up on its hind legs to eat off of those super tall trees.
They don’t eat people but you have to be careful anyway.”
“Let’s get going,” Jonathan said a little irritated. “We
can’t stand here listening to it until it comes this way. Another meat-eater
might show up again and seriously, I don’t have any effort to save you.”
Everyone started walking again. Casey halted and looked in
the direction where the dinosaur was rumoured to be at. She heard uneven pounds
on the land. Quickly she shook her head and followed.
Deep inside she could only think of why she was where she
was. No reason formed. She could only tell herself that it was the tradition of
the land she lived on. But no matter how hard she tried backing up her origin,
she shook her head and began arguing instead.
It was a strange thing. The hosts of the Dinosaur Survival
Hunt probably did not even have a reason when asked. But they never worried
about it because no one had ever, in the history of this, has ever asked for
it.
And Lenny was right. He was right about what had happened
already. He was right about the time traveling, the thing about being
transported when exiting a safe house, the mutations of dinosaurs.
Casey felt herself starting to understand yet stay
confused. She was an insider, yet she did not think the same as any insider she
has seen. An insider would keep their mind closed, believing that the tradition
of the land was the most important and true belief.
But during the short, just beginning journey in the
dinosaur era, she had been with outsiders. Their way of thinking… The thing
about life being important and the fact it was insane to be putting lives into
a dangerous arena with ferocious, hungry, and angry dinosaurs. That had soon
influenced.
I don’t want to die…
Her feet stopped moving. Casey blinked back into reality.
She shook her head and held tightly to the straps of her backpack.
I don’t want to die. Why? Have I always been afraid of
dying? Everyone back in the building… They were scared as well. But all the
leaders, the hosts, the adults… they didn’t feel a thing. This doesn’t make any
sense… at all.
Actually now it does. This year is different, that’s what
it is. It’s… all changed.
She turned around and stared. Her hands trembled as they
tried grasping at anything on the trunk of an old oak. Her nails dug into the
cracks.
“Casey.”
She looked up. Acacia was waving to her to tell her to
hurry up. Casey caught up and walked next to Acacia.
“They said there’s some cliff nearby here,” Acacia said.
Casey stared at Acacia. Quietly she asked, “Are you not
scared?”
“Of course. I’m terrified,” Acacia responded. She stared
ahead. “Although I have no idea what I’m doing here and what I’m going to do or
even what will happen to me, I’m stuck here. So I’m going to try and face this
reality, somehow.” She laughed.
“Somehow,” Casey nodded. “You’re so brave to think like
that.”
“What do you mean?”
Casey shook her head. She stared at the ground in front of
every step she took. “I feel so useless and stupid. For an insider like me to
feel even more afraid than an outsider… Doesn’t that make me a failure?”
Acacia patted Casey’s back. “All people are different. It’s
okay if you think like that.”
Casey then stood up straight and pumped her fist in the
air. “That’s right. I’m going to face this reality, somehow, also. I’ll do my
best to stay alive and make sure you do as well. I did promise you, didn’t I?”
“Forget about that,” Acacia said.
* * * * *
The cliff ahead was clear now. A small open ground was
seen. It was almost as if the trees purposely left that space open to mourn.
The trees had bent trunks, curving towards the open space. The branches were
hanging low, dangling their leaves towards the middle. A single, awkward, patch
of grass was on one side. A huge grey boulder was on the side of the patch,
like a tangent. The whole panorama looked like it was set up this way on
purpose.
Sunlight was shining towards them. The shadows were growing
to the eastside now, indicating evening was arriving. Clouds were loaming and
floating in one direction. They never left the sky, almost as if they were
lost, following each other.
“Do you see those long necks on the other side?” Mei Xing
asked.
Everyone was standing amongst the trees, camouflaging by
the trunks, and looking across the deep canyon.
“They’re so far away,” Elias commented. “Is that side
perhaps…?”
Mei Xing shrugged. “I want to go to that side and collect
information. It would be so much easier since apparently they’re all
herbivores.” Then she looked back into the dark forest. “But carnivorous
dinosaurs are harder to study and find anything new. It’s too dangerous but… I
just feel like everything is like Jurassic
Park
“There she goes again,” Jonathan shook his head.
Casey thought for a moment. She remembered watching the Jurassic Park Jurassic
Park
“Was this survival hunt supposed to be like Jurassic Park
He shrugged his shoulders. “It could be but it might not
be.”
If scientists were curious about dinosaurs and brought them
back to the earth for studying and experimenting, it would be understandable.
If they created a time machine to travel back in time to get a good look at how
dinosaurs used to act, it would be understandable. The whole story, the
tradition, of going back in time to collect information would all make sense.
But…
But if that was true, why were teenagers doing this? Why were
they forced into doing this for seven years of their lives the moment
they step out of their house? Was it serious when they said no one had died in
the previous hunts?
That could not be possible anymore. No one died in long,
long ago hunts, when the dinosaurs were probably only robots. Now, they had
minds of their own. No, they were real from the past…
Those were questions of an outsider. Those were questions
that an insider began thinking. The number of outsiders seemed to have
increased over the years. It must have been like Elias said: they take you
back.
“Uh…”
Casey looked at Chouchou.
She was pointing behind them with an open mouth. “Is that…?
Is that…?”
Mei Xing looked up. She opened her eyes wide and blinked.
“That’s the dinosaur from before. We better move out of the way.”
It was true. The Aeolosaurus who was eating from multiple
trees had finally caught up to them. It was enormous—beyond sophisticated words
to describe its height. The towering neck attached to the colossal body… It
looked as tall as the beanstalk Jack climbed in the fable.
The neck lowered at a high speed towards the group. They
quickly scattered, trying to find a way around the large, rough skinned
creature.
Elias turned around and ducked under its tail. “Casey, Chouchou,
behind you!”
Casey turned around and found herself almost at the edge of
the cliff. She looked over at Chouchou, whose foot was right at the edge.
“Cho watch out!” Casey ran to her.
Everything seemed to get scarier and more unrealistic. The
ground under Chouchou suddenly crumbled and she disappeared behind the cliff.
“Chouchou!” Lenny
shouted.
“Gotcha!” Casey
breathed. But she was sliding slowly off the cliff as well, holding on tightly
to Chouchou’s wrist. She reached her other arm down and tried pulling her up.
“Come on; try climbing with your feet!”
Acacia and Matthew stood behind the tree farthest. They
peered over and started coming closer. They were just as frightened.
But when they got closer, the Aeolosaurus turned its head
and started walking towards them. Elias and Lenny began backing away next to
them.
“It’s coming!” Acacia pointed. She grabbed tightly to
Elias’ sleeve.
Meanwhile on the other side of the dinosaur, Jonathan and
Mei Xing were putting together ropes.
Chouchou’s eyes were filled with tears of horror. She
grabbed onto Casey. “Please Casey. Please don’t drop me, Casey!”
Casey felt her hands sweaty again. Her hands were feeling
numb and wet. She bit her lower lip and tightened her grip. Her eyes suddenly
looked past Chouchou, down into the deep canyon. Her head began feeling dizzy.
“I’m totally lost. I can’t…”
“Casey, don’t!” Chouchou shouted. Her eyes shook, feeling
herself falling lower. Casey’s hand around her wrist was feeling slippery.
Determined, she kicked with her feet but it was useless.
The two of them were slipping. Rocks started crumbling
beside them. Chouchou felt herself lower about a foot deeper into the canyon.
She desperately glanced up at Casey. In a split second, a huge chunk of the
cliff under Casey’s stomach cracked. She screamed as they fell, gripping
tighter to Casey’s wrist than before, digging her nails into her skin.
A rope tied in a loop suddenly appeared dropped down from
above. Casey felt it squeeze around her waist. She felt like choking and
throwing up, but it became their miracle.
The rope tightened. Casey still hung onto Chouchou. They
dangled at the edge like a tiny decoration.
Chouchou raised her head trying to see what had happened.
Casey turned around and saw Mei Xing at the top. She finished tying the rope to
the tree trunk. Jonathan stood by the tree.
“Casey, grab on!” She shouted.
Casey forced herself to bend up, kicking with her feet and
managing to get her leg tangled with the rope. She reached as far as she could
possibly and grabbed the rope.
“Hurry, help!” She screamed. She felt her grip on
Chouchou’s wrist slip. She clutched tightly to her hand.
After a long while of chasing, crying, and frantically
panicking, Chouchou and Casey were brought back onto the land. They coughed,
trying to catch their breath.
Close among the trees, the dinosaur had thumped away. The
others were out of sight.
Casey rubbed her elbows, wincing at the extra pain. She
shook her hands but the numbness in her wrists did not go away. She could
hardly feel her hands or legs. Chouchou crawled away to a nearby tree and
sighed in relief. Her forehead was covered in sweat and cheeks smeared with
tears. Her brown hair was sticking to her face.
“Nathan, bring the rope back,” Mei Xing said, untying half
of it from the tree.
Jonathan jumped up from behind the tree and dove for the
rope. “Mei, catch!” He swung the rope up into the air in a loop motion. But he
swung it a little too hard. The heavy rope whipped into the forest and hit
something hard. A loud roar replied.
Mei Xing let out a loud yell. Jonathan jumped out of the
way, pulling the rope back with him.
Casey looked up and saw the dinosaur angrily thumping
towards her. She started backing up. She heard rocks falling and knew she was
close to the side of the cliff. Panicking, she rolled to her front and got to
her feet.
After a step or two, the bandages on her knees started
loosening. She felt something wet, sticky, and warm rolling down both knees. In
pain, she dropped to the hard ground again. She saw blood soaking through her
pants and turned away.
I feel totally hopeless! Why can’t I save myself like the
others?
She tried crawling, as she was afraid of losing her balance,
despite deepening the scars on her legs. As fast as she could possible go, she
crawled across to the patch of grass, hoping she could hide behind the boulder.
“I’ll get her.” Mei
Xing dug through her pocket and looped her rope onto a branch. She confirmed it
tightened by giving it a hard pull. Just before she swung up, everyone gasped
in horror.
The Aeolosaurus lowered its neck and pushed its head at
Casey.
I’m finished! It’s gonna trample me!
Casey squealed and rolled onto her side and back on her
feet, running to the forest where the others were hiding. She saw a tree in
front and picked up her pace, running at full speed towards it.
Just then, her boots stepped on a large rock and lost her
balance. She got her foot tangled into a large branch of leaves. She tripped
over a loop in the branch and toppled over. Her hands were shaking as she tried
to reach for the branch.
“Casey!” Chouchou screamed, having just opened her eyes
from relieving dizziness.
The dinosaur’s small head swooped down and with its teeth,
bit into the branch and began turning away, with Casey still attached.
“Nathan!” Mei Xing shouted. “Climb the tree!”
He shook his head frantically. “I can’t make it in time!”
He started running to the tallest tree he could see.
Angrier thumping sounded in the air, echoing across the
cliff and forest. The dinosaur was walking faster now and soon disappeared into
the forest before the others could take another step.
From the bushes meters away, the others realized the
dinosaur was not after them. They looked around from where they hid after
hearing loud footsteps. Then they saw the large long-necked dinosaur and
something in its mouth.
“Casey!” Acacia screamed again. “Come back, you
A-whatever-saurus! Give her back now!”
She turned to Elias and then Matthew with scared eyes. She
looked at Mei Xing. “What do we do? It took her. It’s gonna drop her somewhere,
or leave her somewhere! It might lose her in a crowd of carnivores.”
Matthew stared at Acacia’s frightened expression. He
reached his hand out to pat her back, to comfort her, but he shook his head and
turned away.
Mei Xing sighed loudly and glanced at Jonathan. “I don’t
know what to do. Why couldn’t we have gotten her back?”
Slightly guilty, Jonathan turned away.
By the cliff, Lenny pulled Chouchou back onto her feet and
brought her to the others. She had her head down and tears welled in her eyes.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m completely useless.”
Acacia turned to her and sighed.
Mei Xing looked at Chouchou as well. Her focus shifted when
she saw a huge tear in her jacket and pants. Her leg was bruised red and her
fingers slightly scratched. “Let’s go find some first aid for you.” She turned
to the others. “Are you guys all okay?”
They nodded their heads and looked at one another without a
word.
* * * * *
Another hideout was in the roots of a larger tree.
A packed chunk of dirt served as a doorway, just like the
previous hideout. This one was larger but still short in space. Everything was
dark except a few specks of light coming in through small holes in the soil.
Mei Xing finished wrapping Chouchou’s injuries. She sat
down on the lumpy ground and sighed, taking out a bottle of water. “Get some
rest if you can.”
Elias and Matthew sat on one side of the tree trunk. Acacia
was squished with them. Just next to her was Chouchou, still wide awake and
feeling scared and culpable from the previous experience. Lenny sat next to
her. And on the other side of the tree were Mei Xing and Jonathan—closest to
the random stick buried first aid.
In moment’s time, they fell asleep without making another
noise.
Chouchou leaned backwards, pillowed by her ponytail. She
stared up and the dark, barely visible tree ceiling. She sniffed and continued
staring. Her eyes started stinging from keeping her eyes open, not even
blinking. Her hand covered her face and she turned her head back down, resting
her chin on her knees.
“You still awake? Go sleep.”
Chouchou looked around. “Who?”
“You.”
She turned to her right, hearing Lenny’s voice. She nodded,
not giving a care about how dark it was and how no one would see her. She kept
silent.
After a moment, Chouchou shut her eyes. “Thanks…”
