“Yeah, let's sit here,” said Kris, carefully holding and leading Dom to the side-walk of the path. Allen followed them silently.
Dom quickly took his water-bottle from his backpack and drank it hungrily. “Was it always this dizzy, cold and suffocating in here?” he asked.
“Not to everyone,” replied Kris. He explained a bit about the forest, about the trees, about the herbs and the air in the forest. The further they went into the forest, the suffocated they became. Lack of air, varieties of plants and herbs had created ‘toxic’ air. “Some people are ok. Some people do feel dizzy. When I was here for the first time, I vomited a lot. Haha! Don’t tell anyone that. Now I would just stop and turn back before it hurts too much for me to handle.”

“Are you saying you get used to the pain?!” blurted Dom out loud but immediately regretted it since it caused him pain. “Auch,” he yelped. Kris gave him a pair of paracetamol which he always brought with him.
“You can say that,” Kris pouted and nodded a few times. “It’s more like there's comfort in the pain.”
Dom raised his right eyebrow. Unbelievable. Kris got the hint and quickly denied, “I’m no masochist!”
“Didn’t say you are,” joked Dom. He let out a small laugh.
Kris scoffed, “Your face said it.” He looked to his right and his expression changed. Gazing into nothing, he said, “Sometimes it makes me remember something I forget. The memories that I thought I didn’t have. Most of the time it’s about my brother. That’s why I feel like I’m close to him when I’m here.”
Dom nodded a few times. Kris never told him about his brother or what happened to him. He was not sure if because they were not close enough to share a deep issue or it was just Kris did not like talking about his brother with anyone. Dom turned his gaze toward Allen. “How about you?” asked Dom.
“Ahh? What?” Allen stuttering. He seemed unable to focus but still managed to answer after a moment. “Y-yeah. I felt dizzy too back then… now too. A bit”
Kris stared at Allen with worry and began regretting his decision allowing Allen to come here. “Please sit and take a rest, Allen.”
Allen silently obeyed and sat next to Dom. His mind was wandering somewhere else again. Back then, while he was lost in the forest, he too felt very dizzy. His mind was messy and it hurt his head so much. So much pain like his brain going to break into two. Just like Kris said, there was comfort in the pain.
The pain reminded Allen of something, someone. Someone had told him the cause of the pain. Allen was sure about it. But what was it? The place? Or the world. World? What about the world? Allen thought hard about it and the pain came back to his head. But this time, he was welcoming it. ‘What about the world,’ he thought again. Two worlds? Another world? What about it?
Kris went to check around and at the same time thinking about the next move. Should they turn back or keep going. His gaze suddenly fell on the tree nearby. “This is new,” said Kris. Curious, Allen and Dom quickly went standing next to Kris to see what he was talking about. Kris pointed to the pure-white tape that had been tied to the tree near the path.
“Oh.” Allen knew very well what the tape was for. Someone went off the path into the deep of the forest.
“This is some kind of ‘mark’?” asked Dom. It was his first time seeing this, of course, he did not know.
“Yeah,” said Kris, looking for something in his bag. Probably walkie-talkie, thought Allen. “Someone went off the path.”
“So, this served as a guide the way back,” Dom commented.
“I hope the person comes back,” muttered Kris. “Most of the time, they don’t.”
Dom was a bit shocked, but he got the idea. The story about the forest was really famous. People came here to commit suicide. Everyone knew it, except Allen. Allen? Dom quickly turned his attention to Allen. Glad his friend was still here.
“You not going to check?” asked Allen after watching Kris talk to another volunteer through the walkie-talkie.
“No,” uttered Kris. “I’ll just tag this and the others will check it.”
“Why not?” protested Allen. “This tape is wet. It’s been here since last night or at least before dawn. It’s been a long time,” Kris explained, tapping on the tape a few times.
“Then what? Didn’t prove the owner was already dead or not,” Allen insisted. “If we go check now, maybe he is still alive. Maybe we can still save him.”