Darkness.... Charmaine looked around her but there was nothing but darkness. It was odd though, as she raised her hands to look at them and they were visible. Still, something seemed to be wrong. Her hands were small, like that of a small child. And she was wearing a strange yellow dress which was a bit familiar to her. Suddenly a black figure appeared in front of her. It was a woman suspended in the air. A long rope was tied around her neck. Her long black hair covers most of her face, but her haunting open eyes were discernible and it was like they were staring at her. "Who are you?" she mumbled. Suddenly, she saw the corners of the woman's lips curled up. Charmaine's eyes widened at the sight of that creepy grin. She was extremely terrified and ran away screaming.
Charmaine ran towards the unknown until it suddenly started raining. She ran for a long time until she suddenly slipped through a puddle. She tried to stand up but felt her knees aching. She was cold and wet, her knees were wounded and her yellow dress a complete mess. She was about to cry when she suddenly heard someone calling her name. She looked and saw a teenage boy walking towards her. That boy..... he looked familiar....
"Charmaine? How are you feeling?" Leo asked as he saw Charmaine opening her eyes. she didn't look at him though. She just stared at the ceiling for a long while. "Charmaine, what's wrong?" he worriedly asked.
Charmaine blinked her eyes and then turned to Leo. "Where are we?" she mumbled. She looked around and noticed she's in a familiar room. She's in a hospital? Again?
"You fainted inside the haunted house. It was my fault for forcing you to go inside. I didn't know you'll be that scared. I'm sorry." Leo explained. "I brought you to the hospital just to be sure. The doctor who attended to you said you were under a lot of intense emotional stress."
Charmaine stared at Leo's worried face. It might not be apparent to other people, but behind Leo's cold expression, Charmaine can see traces of panic. Did she scare him? "I wasn't scared." she told him. "It wasn't your fault. There was just something in that place.... I can't explain it, too." she added as she looked away. In that place, she felt a sense of deja vu. Like she has been there before. Something inside her was stimulated. "Right!" she suddenly exclaimed as she tried to get up. She turned to Leo and grabbed his hand. "Luke... where's Luke?"
Leo sighed and patted the back of her hand. "He's alright. He's with Larson and Andrei. I already called Larson to look after him as we needed to leave the theme park early. They'll take him home later." Leo reassured her.
Charmaine averted her eyes when she heard his reply. It's good that he's with Andrei. He's more than capable of protecting him. Somehow, after that experience inside the haunted house, she felt a lot more anxious; like she was experiencing a kind of paranoia. Something inside her was telling her she isn't safe and something or someone was out to get her.
Leo squeezed her hand when he saw her deep in thought. "Tell me. What exactly happened? Why were you so frightened? You even mumbled in your sleep."
Charmaine shook her head. "It was nothing. I was just having a nightmare."
"About what? Was it scary?" he asked.
Charmaine took a deep breath. "I was running in the middle of the night. I can't remember what I was running from. Then I tripped and fell down. I had my yellow dress wet and my knees wounded. Then someone called my name. That was all I could remember." Come to think of it, didn't she dream of that scene a few times before already?
Leo stared at Charmaine's face. He frowned when he remembered something. "Why would you dream of that? Was it too scary? Could it be that you were you afraid of the dark and that's why you fainted?"
Charmaine didn't reply. She's not afraid of the dark! But.... "It happened before. When you were little." she suddenly heard Leo say. Startled, she turned to him. "Can't you remember? A couple of weeks after we first met, you run away after finding out that your nanny died. You've gone missing for several hours and everyone was worried. Even Grandpa himself went out to look for you. It was raining that evening when we found you." Leo tried to remind her. Did something bad happened to her while outside? Was the experience too traumatic for her and it only manifested when exposed to a trigger? But what was that trigger?
Charmaine looked at Leo's face with a baffled expression. She runaway from home when she was child? And she had a nanny before? Strangely, she has no recollection of any of those. But if Leo said was true, then that teenage boy who were calling her name....
Charmaine pulled Leo's arms and rested on his embrace. She needed his warmth at the moment the most. Her heart was still trembling for some unknown reason. Only Leo can bring her comfort.
***
"What is it?", Laura asked when she saw the lines forming on Liam's forehead while putting down the phone. He took a call while they were strolling around the park and somehow, Laura felt uneasy when she saw the frown on the man's face.
Liam lifted his eyes and looked straight at Laura. "I'm sorry but... I think we need to cut our date short. I'll take you home." he replied.
"Why? What happened?", she asked. It looked like Liam had an emergency and she's curious as to what it was.
Liam sighed. "I need to go back to the hospital. Jun Ji was having a meltdown."
Laura raised her brows. Jun Ji? A meltdown? Why? So does that mean he's better now? Being able to express himself was something he wasn't able to do before as he mostly sleep or just stare into space. "I don't want to go home. I want to come with you to the hospital. I haven't visited Jun for a while." she announced.
Liam thought for a while and then nodded. "Alright. Bianca might need your help right now."
Laura was perplexed. Bianca? Why?