Her eyes widened in an instant. The truck drove forward for more than five meters, leaving her in a cold sweat.
It took her a long time to get out. Her legs felt like lead, her hands shaking against the door frame.
With fear etched on her face, Chloe and the priest alighted from the truck. The air hit her skin, cold and sharp, but it didn't clear the ringing in her ears.
There they saw a woman lying in a pool of blood.
She could see the woman fighting to stay alive.
With shaking hands, she felt for the woman's pulse. Seconds passed, but she felt nothing.
No pulse.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
No warmth.
Feeling the warmth slowly leaving the stranger's body, realization finally hit her like a physical blow.
The person was dead. And it was because of her distraction.
"No need to look. She's already dead," the priest's voice said. Of all times, why make himself useful now?
She looked at him with resentment. Hadn't he always preached about the future? He always told her he could foresee the so-called future.
Fuck the future!
Now she was going to jail without even experiencing marriage.
Dread finally crept in. It started in her chest, cold and heavy, and spread until her fingers went numb. She started regretting everything.
The priest was her bane. She hated him, right? Then why did she allow him to follow her? Why did she get distracted by him when she knew very well she was driving? Why was she careless?
She felt anxiety for the first time. Raw, choking anxiety. The fear of being labeled a murderer. She dreaded going to prison.
As she was contemplating what to do, hurried footsteps echoed — like someone chasing or being chased. She raised her head from her crouched position, her expression panicked. There she saw them: the people who would change her future.
Two men dressed in all black. The only thing visible was their eyes and the guns in their hands.
They looked at Chloe and the priest first, then at the body lying in a pool of crimson blood.
The leader — who looked like one because of the five marks on his badge — took out his phone and called someone.
"Hello, sir. We were following her, but she was hit by a truck and she's dead… two people, sir… a man and a woman with red eyes, sir… noted, sir." Before ending the call, he'd already fired his gun.
The gun was aimed at the priest, and with one shot to the head, he was dead.
"Sorry, Priest. Even though I hate you, I never wished for your death. But as of now, let me fight for my life," Chloe cried silently.
She didn't know what was said on the other end of the line, but looking at the priest's end, she knew she should run. And that's what she did.
She made sure her phone was secured in her bra's pocket — all her bras had an attached pocket — before sprinting into the woods. The undergrowth tore at her ankles, branches snapping back against her face, but she didn't slow down.
The forest looked uninhabited. There were no sounds of birds chirping.
No animal footprints.
No human footprints.
It looked still. Too still.
The trees were thick and tall but still allowed tiny streaks of sunlight through. Everything around it screamed _dangerous_. The silence was deafening, pressing against her eardrums until she thought she might scream just to break it.
There were times she wanted to give up. Maybe dying at the thugs' hands was better than the unknown, but an invisible force kept pushing her forward.
As she neared the end, she saw it. The river.
A strange river. It looked deep and not deep at the same time. Like an abyss pretending to be shallow.
One could see the other side, but the water… it was transparent. Too transparent. It didn't ripple, didn't move.
The water was still.
Panting, she stared at the river's strangeness. _Mother Nature did it again._ She'd always said that when things got too weird to explain.
She looked back. The goons were nearing her. Looking at the river, hesitating, she felt something—or someone—push her.
Flailing her hands, she struggled to keep herself afloat as she inhaled as much oxygen as she could, her body exhausted from all the running.
.
.
.
As the goons neared the riverbank, they saw their prey—Chloe—already on the other side.
"Are we letting her escape just like that?" the goon asked the other with a frown.
The leader looked at Chloe receding into the distance, lost in thought, and at last he replied. "Leave it to fate. We've already done our part. Besides, anyone who crosses that river has never come out alive. Let her face her fate."
.
.
.
Chloe didn't know how she did it, but she managed to pull herself from the water. She dragged herself forward on her elbows, coughing, her eyes straining as the dry land on the riverbank a few feet away became her only focus.
She didn't even realize that the water had returned to normal and the shore she came from was no longer there. It was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Finally, she reached the bank. Her body ached from everything that happened in just a day, but she couldn't afford to rest. In this strange environment with the darkening sky, she needs shelter and a safe one.
She moved forward sluggishly as her eyes scanned around. Hunger and exhaustion from running and swimming. Her body had reached it's limit. She felt her legs tripping on something soft like a person's body which made her collapse.
Before her mind logged off, she heard a strange mechanical voice.
[Host consciousness detected. Initializing soul and body merge: one percent.]
.
.
.
After some time, the woman in the bed opened her eyes. The first thing she saw wasn't the larger-than-life trees with thick trunks and sprawling branches, but a pink ceiling, pink walls, pink sheets, and pink everything.
"Strange." she groaned. "Why is everything pink? And where am I?" she mumbled weakly. Her eyes scanning around the room.
"Ouch." her left hand grabbed her head. The pain was almost killing her. Memories assaulted her—of the past, present, and future.
Of two different world. Of two different her. Of things that defy nature.
They came in chunks and fragments. As she skimmed through the new memories, one thing she could say for sure was that, she was either back in her own world or had transmigrated to a strange one.
The dream and reality became one. Despite her efforts to remain calm, the reality was harsh. She couldn't accept this. She needed to venture into the forest to see if she could return.
[You better not move.] A cold cute childish voice warned.
Chloe blinked her red eyes like an AI that had learned to say NO.
"There is someone else in this room?" she looked around the pink room again. Her eyes suspecting everything now.
Her hand squeezed the mattress hard when she heard no sound, she took the pillow and threw it at the teddy bear on the sofa that looked suspicious.
[You've became more stupid in just hours.] The voice mocked again. [Save your energy, am in your mind.]
"Hehehe, so you are a system?" Chloe laughed sheepishly.
Seconds passed then minutes. Chloe didn't receive an answer. She even knocked and shook her head hard when she thought maybe the system had malfunctioned.