I looked toward the darkness Kongar had been staring at. But I couldn't see anything. There was nothing here but trees. Besides, why was I even taking his actions seriously? Once I took my pills, he would disappear anyway.
When I heard the girls' voices, I left Kongar there and ran toward the camp.
"Hey! Girls, I'm back!" I said, breathing hard.
All three of my friends were sitting around the fire. They flinched at my sudden arrival.
"Where were you?" Ece asked.
"We were really worried about you," Yelin said.
Lara, meanwhile, studied me with her usual cold gaze. I already knew she didn't want me in this group. But what she thought didn't matter to me. If my presence bothered her, leaving the group was her problem.
"What happened to you? You're covered in dirt," Ece said.
I was glad someone had finally noticed.
"You won't believe this, but I fell into a pit."
All of them stared at me with their mouths open in surprise.
"That sounds exactly like something you'd do," Lara said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, exactly," I replied, brushing it off. I had no energy left to argue with her.
"And guess what I found," I said with a smile.
"What did you find?" Yelin asked. Her eyes briefly met Ece's.
"I know you probably think I saw imaginary things again," I said, admitting it. Honestly, I was hoping that was the case.
"Uh… Kayra, it's not exactly like that," Yelin said hesitantly.
But Lara immediately cut in.
"No, it absolutely is—"
"Ah!" she winced.
Ece had kicked her foot as a warning.
"We're listening, Kayra. Please continue," Ece said. Her usual understanding expression was on her face.
"I found a black chest in the pit, and inside it there was a yellowish egg," I said, continuing before they could interrupt me.
"I gave it a name, and it turned into a muscular man."
For a moment, there was silence. Then Lara let out a snicker, and soon they were all laughing. I simply waited for them to finish.
"You're really not well, Kayra. You should be admitted to a hospital," Lara said between laughs.
I frowned and clenched my fists at my sides. I was truly starting to lose my patience with her.
"S-so… uh… where is this man now?" Yelin asked.
Yes. Finally, a sensible question. If I showed him to them, that would settle everything. The thought brought a small smile to my face. I looked around, searching for Kongar.
"There!" I said, pointing at him.
Everyone followed my gesture and looked in that direction.
Kongar began walking toward us.
But none of the girls said anything. That was strange. When I turned my head, I realized they were all staring at me.
Lara was about to say something when Ece quickly covered her mouth with her hand. Yelin, meanwhile, was watching me with pity in her eyes.
My smile slowly faded.
"Kayra… did you take your pills today?" Ece asked.
They really couldn't see him.
I should have been relieved, but deep down I wanted him to be real. After all, I would have had a servant. Who wouldn't want that?
"They cannot see me," Kongar said.
He had come right up beside me. His eyes were locked on Lara. That unsettling darkness was spreading through them again.
I reached out, took Kongar's hand, and gently pulled him toward me. At my touch he tensed for a moment, then slowly relaxed. He turned toward me. His eyes met mine.
"Can only I really see you?" I whispered.
"Yes. Humans cannot see me," he said.
What was that supposed to mean?
"So… does that mean I'm not human?" I asked. My voice came out a little louder than I intended.
Lara suddenly burst out laughing again. The other two continued watching me carefully.
I pulled my hand away from Kongar's.
"I guess you're right, girls," I said. "I'm going to my tent to take my medicine."
"Why did we even bring this girl with us—" I heard Lara say. Then someone must have warned her, because her voice suddenly cut off.
When I reached my tent, I took my pill bottle out of my bag. When I opened it, I noticed it was almost empty. I would need to get a new one when I returned home.
Just as I was about to take a pill, Kongar stepped inside through the entrance of the tent.
"Get out!" I shouted. "I don't want to see you!"
His skin had started darkening slightly again, but this time I didn't care. After all, he wasn't real.
"Are you okay, Kayra?" Ece called from outside.
"I'm fine! Everything's fine!" I shouted back.
Then I swallowed the pill in my hand.
When I lifted my head again, Kongar was gone.
---
The chirping of birds woke me up. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was in the tent. Yelin and I were sharing this tent, but she wasn't here. Maybe she had already woken up and was preparing breakfast, I thought.
I changed my clothes and stepped outside.
The other tent was gone.
"Maybe they packed it up," I muttered. Today was the last day of the camp.
I walked toward the campfire. The fire had completely gone out, and the plates around it were gone as well.
I was starting to feel uneasy.
They wouldn't leave me here, would they?
I walked toward the place where we had parked the car. We had rented it and come together so we could save money.
"Oh no…"
The car was gone too.
What was I supposed to do now?
I looked around again, then ran straight back to my tent. I pulled my phone out of my bag.
Perfect.
My battery was dead too. Of course it was. I'm seriously cursed.
I started looking for my power bank.
Of course, that was gone too.
Just then, I heard the sound of a branch snapping somewhere in the forest.
I froze where I stood and listened carefully. I waited for a moment, but no other sound came. Slowly, I moved closer to the entrance of the tent. I leaned my head out and looked to my right and left.
There was nothing.
I picked up the tripod I had brought for taking photos and stepped out of the tent. I wasn't exactly sure what I planned to do with it, but at least my hands wouldn't be empty. I gripped the tripod like a baseball bat and began circling around the tent.
There was a rustling sound from the bushes.
What was that?
A massive shadow suddenly leapt out from the bushes straight at me.
"Ahh!" I shouted, swinging the tripod and striking the shadow. But it did nothing. The moment I hit it, the tripod slipped from my hand and flew several meters away.
Worse than that, the shadow pounced on me and knocked me to the ground.
My breath was knocked out of me as my back slammed into the ground. Pain spread through my entire body.
Right in front of my face, I saw a huge, wet tongue.
Disgusting.
It was licking my face.
Trying to figure out what was happening, I struggled to push the tongue away. The tongue was stubborn. But I was more stubborn. I scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it toward the tongue, turning my head aside so it wouldn't get in my eyes.
When I looked up again, my eyes widened.
There was a black wolf on top of me, nearly the size of a horse.
Yes.
A massive black wolf.
"H-hah…"
I couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
Was I seeing things that weren't real again?
Yes. It was far too big to be real.
Exactly… this wasn't real.
A wet nose pulled me out of my thoughts. The huge creature was sniffing me. Then it began rubbing its head against me, turning it from side to side.
That made me start giggling.
It was tickling me.
Wait a minute.
Could things that weren't real tickle me?
Probably not.
I lifted my head and looked at the wolf. Our eyes met.
Its eyes were blue.
Against its pitch-black body, those eyes almost seemed to glow. I couldn't look away from them. The longer I stared, the faster my heart began to beat.
Was it fear?
Or was I… mesmerized?
A crack sounded to my right.
Before I could see what it was, something slammed into the wolf at full speed. The massive wolf was thrown off me, and the two of them rolled across the ground and crashed into a tree. A few leaves broke loose from the impact and rained down on them.
In front of the tree stood a wolf… and a man.
The man looked familiar.
Who wears a tuxedo in the middle of a forest?
Wait a minute…
Was that Kongar?
I looked again, more carefully.
Yes.
It really was Kongar.
Kongar was sitting in front of the tree, trying to grab the huge wolf by the throat with both arms. But he couldn't fully wrap his arms around that enormous neck.
As the wolf tried to stand up, Kongar grabbed the fur at its neck and pulled it back down.
What on earth was happening?
When I looked at Kongar more carefully, I noticed his skin was darkening. His eyes were completely black now, and those dark veins had spread across his entire face.
I began stepping backward.
But when I heard a sound behind me, I stopped.
My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Slowly, I turned around.
No way.
There was another wolf.
This one was brown.
It lowered its head and bared its teeth.
This time, I started backing toward where Kongar was.
"Ah!"
My foot caught on the stupid tripod and I fell to the ground.
As I groaned in pain, I heard a low growl.
I lifted my head and looked around.
I wished I hadn't.
We were surrounded by wolves.
And every single one of them was staring at me.