It was supposed to be a fairy tale, but Solbin and Ara's lives turned into a nightmare. It was late afternoon when the girls walked through the forest. The redhead trailed behind her friend with a depressed face, still thinking about the morning. She couldn't believe that as soon as she sobered up, Seokjin again told her to leave the house and stop making herself a victim of fate because it wasn't working on him. Eventually, she ended up outside the door of her friend's apartment, asking for temporary help.
Solbin, on the other hand, spent her entire day off searching for information on how to free herself from the witch's curse. She studied the Internet until she finally came across a blog where a person interested in witches and magic quite reliably described how centuries ago these cruel women were dealt with.
She decided to give it a try because her life was heading in the wrong direction. Furthermore, she couldn't let this madwoman destroy it completely.
- I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm pining for you in the woods while I'm heartbroken.
- Oh, shut up at last! This is how I'm going to help you! - growled Solbin, holding her hand.
- As if in what way? You've read some nonsense on the Internet, and you will burn down the forest.
- I'm not going to burn down the forest.
- I may think that all that's been going on lately is madness, and at times I wonder about your words regarding the fact that we are under the control of a witch. But I beg you.... this is the real world, not a movie. - Ara was unbearable from the very morning with her whining.
- She killed a woman before my eyes! She broke the neck of the "Jeobag" employees. Even worse is that this secretary tried to kill me. And you know what, her body just vanished into thin air, as if she never existed. That's sick, isn't it? There was no news anywhere that a woman was missing, or they found her dead.
- You scare me more and more, Solbin.
- I've been fucking walking around scared for a long time, looking for a way to end this! I didn't miss much, and I would have been dead!
The gray-haired woman was already tired, trying to remember the road she had taken with Ara when they were children.
- Is it far yet?
- I'd like to know that myself," she muttered in response.
The redhead measured her with a furious gaze.
- So you dragged me out to this damn forest, and you don't even remember the way?
- I'm no genius, but I do my best. Your whining makes me even worse. - Ara snorted with great indignation and pulled her hand from her grasp, crossing her arms over her chest. - Don't shoot out a frown. I'm just trying to help us.
The redhead's face changed. Her lips took on a sad expression.
- If you succeed, it means that I will forget my feelings for Seokjin? Our marriage will be erased with a rubber band?
- You speak with such sadness in your voice, as if you regret it. Remember that you are now suffering because of him. The witch changed your ending to sad.
- Because of you.
Solbin ignored her words. She wasn't going to discuss it with her any longer because it was pointless.
She looked at Ara with sympathetic eyes as she lifted the phone up in an attempt to catch the range.
- I want to hear his voice one last time.
- These are not your real feelings anyway.
- So you're saying that my feelings are an illusion, too? My whole life, since we went to Thailand, is an illusion?
- Unfortunately, but this is the truth.
Ara looked completely lost.
- One plus is that I won't be a divorcee at the age of twenty-two.
Solbin smiled at these words. She glanced at her watch and only then realized that it was coming up to nine o'clock. She had to hurry before it got completely dark.
- If there is any good spirit here, I beg you to lead me to the tree I'm looking for," she said in a desperate voice, nervously looking around.
The redhead was fiddling with her phone, making too little effort to help, since she didn't even remember the place. Her only hope was in Solbin, who sat down on a broken tree trunk out of exhaustion. She hid her face in her hands, then combed her hair back. As she lifted her face and looked to the side, something caught her eye, and memories from the dream began to return.
- This is the square ... this is where the campsite was," she said, pointing to an empty field with her finger. Ara looked in that direction and squinted. - We're close," she added, looking the other way. - That's where we went when we heard screams.
- Whose screams?
- Jungkook, who had been kidnapped by the chauffeur. Somewhere in that direction was Shaman's house, and not far from it was the tree we were looking for.
Ara's eyes lit up.
- Does this mean that you can finish it?
- As long as the words on the blog were true. Let's hope so.
She grabbed her friend's hand and with a quick step, they walked in the direction where the tree and the wooden house were located. Her breathing became heavier and heavier as she realized they were getting closer.
It was strange, but she got the impression that her legs were leading her to this place on their own.
She opened her eyes wider when she spotted a tree with a black sign. She put her hand to her mouth, unable to believe that it was all real.
- Give me the lighter! - she turned to Ara, who furrowed her eyebrows.
- Are you sure you want to do this? You are just my illusion, Solbin said. - She looked over her shoulder and stuck a terrified look at the witch, who was walking towards them. - If you do this, you will never wake up from your deep sleep.
- What are you talking about? - She asked in a trembling voice.
- You are created by me, you are in the novel I created for you. All of this is mine. This is my illusion.
Solbin looked at her friend and noticed that she was as horrified as she was.
- What the hell are you talking about? Why are you messing with us?
- I wanted to create a perfect life for you.... - She didn't finish because Solbin interfered with her sentence.
- This is not a perfect life! It's a nightmare, especially since we can't decide for ourselves! Yesterday, you almost killed me! Today I will do it! I know that centuries ago they burned witches at the stake. Your soul settled in that tree because you knew what awaited you and prepared for it beforehand! You waited for an idiot like me to set you free!
The witch smiled sultrily.
- Alright, do it. Burn that tree, destroy me, but don't count on you all living happily ever after then. Remember the last words, Solbin, that I said to you in my memories....
The girl furrowed her eyebrows, looking at her suspiciously.
- Now go to sleep and forget about that day. What your eyes saw never happened.... - she whispered. She shifted her concerned gaze to her friend.
- Here's the thing. Your bodies are in deep sleep, and you have been living for fifteen years in an illusion. Nothing is real in this world. Everything is created by me," she announced in a proud voice.
Ara went pale on her face. This was the first time she was actually terrified.
- So we will never wake up if we burn this tree?
- That's exactly right. - The witch looked pleased. - The last fifteen years you have lived as puppets in a novel.
Solbin grew weak. She had lost hope.
- If she dies, so do we," whispered Ara. - Nevertheless, you should do it, Solbin. It's better to die than to be puppets of this sick woman for the rest of our lives. At this point, we are not real. We are an illusion. We, Seokjin, Jungkook.... this woman created this whole world.
The young woman's heart was beating like crazy with fear. She was confused and didn't know what she should do in this situation.
- Do you really want this, Ara? - whispered Solbin in a weak voice.
- As I mentioned, at least I won't be a divorcee at the age of twenty-two.
The witch looked furious, so Solbin ran to the tree on all fours and lit the fire in her lighter.
- Don't do it," the woman warned her. The girl noticed that her face was becoming more and more frightened. Fire was the only weapon that could defeat the witches. - You will regret it if you do.
- Well, no. Nothing could be worse than a life planned by a witch. Fry in hell, sick woman," she said, then applied the fire to the dry grass, which spread quickly. She stepped back and watched with fascination in her eyes as it consumed the cursed tree.
Ara grabbed her hand. The girls shifted their gaze to the witch, who howled in pain, slowly disappearing. Her body was melting into the air.
- I hope we can become friends in real life too," Solbin said, laying her head on her shoulder. - I love you, sister.
A panicked scream erupted from the mouth of the seven-year-old girl as she opened her eyes and realized she was in a glass coffin. She slammed her hands into it, allowing her to get out of it. With terrified eyes, she looked around her, not understanding what this place was and why she was in it.
She noticed that besides her, there were three more glass coffins. She ran to them and opened them one by one, noticing other children: the girl she was playing with and two boys. They were unconscious and unresponsive when she poked them.
She cried out in fear and ran out of the wooden house, wanting to find her parents. She screamed loudly, and her shrieks brought people from the campsite looking for the girls.
- Mom, dad! - Crying, she ran up to them, and they hugged their child with evident relief. - There are other children sleeping over there! - she said, pointing her finger at the house.
One of the women screamed when she came across a dead man and woman.
- Solbin, what happened? - The seven-year-old wiped tears from her face. - Did someone hurt you? - She shook her head in response.
- My god, Ara! - screamed the woman, trying to revive her child. - Someone call an ambulance quickly! My daughter is not responding at all!
Solbin cowered in her parents' embrace.
- The evil lady put us to sleep. She said she would turn our lives into a fairy tale.
- The evil lady? - repeated Solbin's father.
- It's a bad lady because she lied to us.
The girl's parents looked concerned. Chaos played out all around them as others tried to revive the unconscious children. Someone called the police, while one of the women called an ambulance.
- Where is the bad lady?
Solbin pointed her finger at a tree with a sign on it. In the real world, it still existed.
- There, that's why it can't be touched.
The parents recognized that their daughter was in a giant shock, so she was talking nonsense. They ignored her words, and her father grabbed her hand. They approached the rest of the people, but the girl continued to keep her eyes on the tree.
She was sure that the wrong woman lived there. This was her home. A magical house.