Something is shaking my body. I moan breathlessly. "Hey, Hya wake up." I hear a low voice. I force my eyes open, I look to Baekhyun. "What?" I mutter, "We've been sleeping for three hours," Baekhyun grins. His dark circles were barely noticeable.

We were still on the bus, and I wonder where we are. "We're almost there..." Suho yawns.

I stare at the swaying cherry blossom trees, its petals falling off;
the petals follow the wind heading to the opposite direction.


The bus stops abruptly making our bodies crash into the back of the seat in front of us. We all rub our foreheads after exiting the bus. "So? What else do you guys want to do?" Jongdae asks us. I run out of ideas. Whatever it is, we have to do it fast.


No one wants to be reminded about the deadline today. I'd rather not mention it, because when it does come. I know myself, just walking out of the tent after midnight ends. I will be already missing them already. "Let's go to the beach." Sehun insists.

I've read a book that had a setting of a beach. It's the closest thing I've got. We're supposed to live a humble life. Traveling means you've got gas to go there, gas means money, and money is a weapon used for boasting. It's the source where boasting originates.

This is all normal; I've spent my life in complete confinement at home. It takes us fifteen minutes to travel to a nearby beach. It was just as I imagined it to be. The smell of the ocean reminds me of salty tears coming down another's face. The breeze goes through my palms.

It's soft sand against my feet, making me irresistibly happy. Inside, and out. My loose locks sway in the wind. For a few minutes I stand there staring at the sun's glimmer reflecting on the water. For a second, I forget a fear; the fear that's always keeping me back.

I roll my jeans up until my kneecap. I start walking foreword- not even thinking. The tension from my muscles loosens as soon as my feet enter the water; the water is warm.
My insides feel refreshed. I'm one gigantic step closer to overcoming my fear. I'm probably just afraid of deep water.

I feel a hand squeeze my shoulder. I turn around and I see Kris.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" His voice was softer than before, "Mhhmm," I agree. "You've never been here Humdrum?” I frown at him.

I bend down and I splash water on his legs. He sneers and splashes me back. I giggle as I run away from Kris. I use Baekhyun as a human shield.
Baekhyun screams like a strangled cat.

The other's join us. Soon, Baekhyun wanders off somewhere and disappears. Our stomachs were grumbling; the only real food we ate is a pack of sugary donuts at the Amusement Park. I even remember vomiting it out after riding an atrocious ride. Suho hands me a circular piece of food.

Bread was placed on the top and bottom and in the middle I see meat. Meat I've never eaten before.

'Beef' is what they call it. I take an enormous bite filling my mouth with suspicious meat. It was delicious as expected. I wasn't shocked, this is the kind of food the Oblivious eat.
Anytime and anywhere they could eat whatever they want.

A part of me is always envious at them. Why do they get to eat this type of food? All we eat are sardines. I cannot dislike it or become sick of it. I have nothing else to eat if I do. Some nights, my parents let us eat baked fish instead of the canned ones.


I'm lucky my family can afford a fresh fish out of the water. Some Tacitus eats only a can of beans for a meal. I constantly remind myself after meal that the world is a beautiful place and that the people living in it are the ones who are ugly.

But there are some things that are quite beautiful in humans too.

The problem is they keep hiding it until that beauty no longer exists. I finish the circular sandwich.
"Give me the garbage, littering can make this place loose its beauty." Suho says.
Jongdae snorts, "Excuse my brother, he's not supposed to care about anything.

A Delstaticus is supposed to be carefree, it's one of our attributes.", "Let him be, we're still allowed to bend the rules remember?" I remind Jongdae. He just nods. I remember the group of Delstaticuses at school.

They would dare each other to stand on tables and sing their favorite song in front of everyone in the cafeteria.

You don't know how much they love receiving attention; they would intentionally put themselves on the spotlight. I find some of them bizarre. I always hear them laughing crazily in the hallways.

Everyone loves each other in that specific Head-Commons. But don't you think that's a little bit impossible? They must have good resistance inside them.

"Isn't a little hard living carefree?" I blurt out without thinking.

To my surprise, Kris and Jongdae nod. "Look at Yifan here, He's all moody. But when this event is done, he'll start laughing and smiling like a maniac again." Chen jokes; Kris slaps his head.

"That's not funny Troll." He hisses.

It is fake, everything they show is fake.

When I look at the 4 boys beside me, I realize I'm not the only one who's hiding something underneath my skin. All of us aren't different at all. A light feeling goes through my body; I figured it indicates that I'm feeling relieved. Baekhyun finally comes back.

I smell something I have been craving ever since this event started, something that I was too afraid to ask for.

"Who wants some chicken?" Baekhyun announces, all of us jerk our heads to his direction. I lick my lips multiple times. My eyes fixed at the honey garlic chicken. He places the four boxes on the blanket we were sitting on.

"I walked 3 kilometers for that." Baekhyun grumbles, it wasn't long before he starts eating himself.
My hands grips the end of the drumstick, I lean and tear the meat in its place. It had that small kick of spiciness. My fingers are sticky and I love it. Baekhyun eats two, and stares at me. I look at back at him with an expression of curiosity.


He takes a napkin and uses to wipe something off the corner of my mouth.


My cheeks flush with embarrassment when I realize he was wiping sauce off my face.
I look away, but I soon get distracted by the chicken.

I will eat as much as I want I tell myself. By the end I ate a box and a half. And I am extremely stuffed, like a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. In fact, I've never been this full in my entire life.


And I'm completely satisfied. "Whoa, you ate a box and a half." Kris looks at me like I'm not human. "That's very lady-like of you." Sehun jokes. I smack his head, "you ate more than me." I argue back.

We start giggling. "It's selca time!!" Suho announces. I think he means we should take a picture. I squeeze myself in between Kris and Baekhyun. Placing myself right in the middle of the picture.

"3...2...1" Jongdae says as he presses the button on the screen.

I smile big and brightly. It's the first real smile. I've never seen myself smile. The corners of my mouth were up into my cheeks. And my cheeks had a rosy color. My eyes were big and sparkling in the sunlight.

My nose was narrow but it fits my face quite perfectly.
We take a couple more with their phones. I tell myself, this is who I am and this is the life I want to live. But there's always that little voice in your head that echoes words reminding you about reality.

We head back into the city. Everyone was walking around with their group of newly made friends, and so we were we. Something clicks in my mind. How am I going to remember my friends?

They all got a picture and I- I got nothing.

I tap Baekhyun's shoulder. I point to the photo booth a few feet away from us. "Let's go in the Photo booth." Baekhyun tells everyone else. I mouth the words "Thank you." to him. He mouths back "You're welcome".

The photo booth was spacious, spacious enough so that all of us can fit on the bench. For one picture we were all sitting still with straight faces.
For another we were all wacky.

I bury my face in my hands; giggly loudly. We took at least 8 pictures. I give them one each, leaving me with five pictures all to myself. I hear a clock tick inside of my brain. Just like how a time bomb ticks.

You can never have fun when there is a deadline.

Suho gets pushed into me and I drop out of my daze. Baekhyun was on the phone talking to someone. The others were busy joking around. "Guys! Who wants to ride a helicopter?" Baekhyun says like an excited seven-year old.


We enter a luxurious skyscraper. I've seen it in one of my class's textbooks. It has seventy-three floors and it's over 263.68 metres tall. I wouldn't be surprised if Baekhyun owned the whole skyscraper. That's just puts another rift between us. I am 58% convinced that I like him. But I'm still not sure.


There are so many rifts between us; I don't know how we'll cross it.
I shake my head; this isn't the time to think about liking someone.
I am in a helicopter with 5 other boys, and I am about to fly.


Being up in the sky reminded me of how I was 'forced' to hug Baekhyun while bungee jumping off of the tower. The sky displayed a light indigo color; my eyes are mesmerized just looking at it. The city lights are always a beautiful sight.


I feel Baekhyun nudge at my shoulders. He gulps getting ready to speak, "If only everyday was like the past 2 days." he sounds disappointed. 'If' I pause and think, 'If' is like 'Wish' but in a different form.


I laugh a little at Baekhyun's statement. "For a person who lives in this kind of society, you have a lot of hope in you." I give him a smile.


My mind is buzzing with the fact that midnight is nearing and everything will come to an end.
We are asked to gather at the tents an hour before midnight.

They're clearly going to remind us of the things they call reality; the truth to all senseless dreams. This does feel like a dream, but it also feels real. We arrive a minute before eleven.


The representative of the Oblivious Compound stands a few feet away from the crowd. I look around me and everyone is saying their goodbyes and farewells.

Goodbye in my perspective means that you're never going to see them again, but I have a sense inside of me telling me that this isn't the end of our friendship.


It is certainly not. It was one of the many reasons why I kept my mouth shut during the last few hours together.


I know that when we see each other again in the corridors and in the cafeteria we'll just happily exchange smiling faces.
I think it's as easy as that.


I paid no attention to what the representative said- no one did. Jongdae was the first to offer me a hug, I happily accept it. I hug the others until I came to Baekhyun. His arms wide open, ready for me to go into them. My body goes stiff once his warm body heat transfers into mine.


My muscles slowly loosen just like how the salt water from the beach came in contact with my ankles. "Let's meet in the forest sometime." He says whispering casually in my ear.
I didn't reject his offer nor did I accept it at all.

I'm just going to have to see what I do next.
He finally untangles his arms releasing me. "This event is officially over." The representative's voice was loud and clear echoing in the dead silence among the crowd. The echoing hurts my ears.


And everything else my heart controls.
I find myself foolishly shedding tears.

---

Notes

-----------> Author's Note;
If you are wondering why I update so frequently. I don't have any school. I don't have anything else to do.
Imprint Time; Reckhettus Imprint