Forget-me-not

Cynthia

"Why can't I see you?" Cynthia asked. She stood barefoot in a barren field. A bitter wind pushed her hair back behind her head. 

In front of her, a guy stood a few feet away. She tilted her head, but she still couldn't see his face properly. There was a blur over it like someone had taken a finger and smeared his facial features away. She took a step forward, but it didn't seem like she moved closer to him. 

"I guess you're not supposed to see me yet." 

"Do I know you?" 

He chuckled, "that's kind of a dumb question, don't you think?" 

Cynthia blinked in confusion. Her eyebrows pinched together and her lips parted a few centimeters. Words died on her lips before she could get them out until she spoke again. "Is that a yes?" 

"You know me quite well." 

She let her eyes take him in. He wore a pair of lighter denim jeans with a Lotte's black and white jersey. A number eleven sat beneath the curved Lotte logo. Although she couldn't make out his face, she could see his brunette hair perfectly. 

"I can't tell if this is part of the dream or if you mean I know you in real life." 

The stranger stepped closer to her. A familiar scent filled her nose, but she couldn't remember where she'd found it before. He was only about an inch taller than her. "So you know you're dreaming? That's fascinating." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. I've gotta go, but we'll meet again when the time is right." 

"Wait!" She reached her hand out to grab him, but it slipped through his arm. She gasped and jerked her arm back. "Why can't I touch you?" She reached out and tried to grab him again. Her outstretched fingers cut through the top of his arm like it was mist. 

"You said it yourself, you're just dreaming." 

"But you-" 

He turned around and began to walk off into the distance. Besides the cloudless sky and empty fields, the two of them were entirely alone. She watched him go before she took off after him. The frozen dirt was cold beneath her feet while she ran. "Wait! Wait!" 

He paused and turned back to face her. She sucked in a sharp breath and placed her hands on her hips. Trying to regain her bearings, she stood up a little taller. "Can't I, at least, know your name?" 

"There's always a time and a place." 

"I don't understand." 

He turned and began walking away again. Her shoulders slumped before she took off after him. "Can't I know what we were? We were friends, right? Are we friends? Are you dead or something?" She struggled to keep up with his quick pace. "You can tell me that much, right?" 

"Something like that." 

"You're absolutely no help!" 

He laughed and started to walk away again. Realizing it was pointless, Cynthia watched him go. Her eyes stayed on his back until he disappeared in a thick hazy fog that began to roll in. She groaned and spun around in a circle. 

No trees, no buildings, no people, nothing besides the frozen ground and muted skies. Feeling lost, confused, and hopeless, she began to walk in a random direction. The condensation in the fog welcomed her with open arms. 

In Flora's living room, Flora stared at a sleeping Cynthia in silence. Cynthia was stretched out on the couch with one of Flora's spare blankets wrapped around her. When Flora came home earlier, Cynthia was in the middle of a panic attack. 

A car crash she witnessed outside had brought back a few memories of the accident. It took nearly an hour for Flora to finally calm Cynthia down. It ended with the two of them sitting out in the living room. Cynthia's head hit the pillow and she was out like a light. 

Her head was propped up against Flora's thigh. Flora had been running her fingers through Cynthia's waves to help calm her down. By the time she fell asleep, Flora was exhausted too, but she refused to sleep. She wanted to make sure Cynthia was alright. 

She played with Cynthia's hair in one hand and scrolled on her phone in the other. She pulled up Seungmin's Instagram page and snooped through his feed. On it, there were a few photographs of him and Cynthia. A quiet huff slipped out. She rolled her eyes and went to their main page. 

She didn't know how she was going to keep the reality from Cynthia. It'd only take one random fan coming up to Cynthia in the street to reveal everything. The story she had woven together would be snipped apart. Reality was nothing like what she said it was. 

Her eyes went back down to Cynthia. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Her facial features were relaxed. There were faint tear stains from where her tears had fallen earlier. A red hued smeared across the tops of her cheeks. The dwindling pale sunlight stretching into the living room cast a ghostly hue onto the pair. 

Flora's thumb gently reached out and stroked the top of Cynthia's cheek. Cynthia's chest slowly rose up and down. She had been sleeping for nearly two hours now. Flora refused to get up because she didn't want to wake Cynthia up. 

"I won't let the past haunt you anymore." Her voice came out in a whisper. "Things shouldn't have ended the way they did. I didn't mean to cause things to go like this." A lump began to form in her throat and her voice wobbled. 

"But I had to keep you safe," she continued, "you made me do this."