Chapter 3

Time silently slipped by with each soft breath from Aria.

The wriggling shadows that played on her tent grew darker, and soon became dark enough that it could suck someone in if they stared for too long.

Without anyone's notice, it trickled down the tent and flowed like a small stream towards Aria. Just before touching the edge of her sleeping bag, it stopped and formed a tiny pool surrounding it like a moat.

Desipte it's ominous appearance, Aria's wirnkled brows smoothened out with a slight arc at the corner of her lips.

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As the night approached its' darkest giving the moon it's chance to shine its' brightest, Arias' eyelids fluttered open gently.

She slowly sat up, staring dazedly into space.

While everyone else was sound asleep, Aria left her tent and shuffled sluggishly to the open area by their campsite that was a fence away from the forest.

Stars dotted in the obsidian night sky surrounding the full moon reflected in Aria's hazel eyes. It looked like sparkling jewels embedded in a sleek black cloth that stretched beyond where the eyes could see. However, what Aria had her sight on had always been the full moon silently illuminating the night, with eyes reflecting a deep sorrow yet no tears flowed. Like a well that had long dried up.

Unknown to Aria, in the forest shrouded in shadows, a dark mass slunk restlessly amongst the leaves.

Aria stayed seated on the grass patch, leaving her body to cool under the chilly breeze. Her body could be seen shivering slightly, but the small and vulnerable figure still stubbornly remained and refused to find something to warm herself up with.

After fulfilling her nightly self-imposed punishment, Aria moved her shivering body that had gone numb from the cold to catch more sleep, lest she collapses from fatigue and over exhaustion later in the day.

As she tilted her head back down, a vaguely humanoid figure flashed by at the corner of her eyes.

Aria's body froze. Before she could process what it was, her legs were already running and carried her body past the fence.

Even though Aria didn't get a clear look, she just knew that it was him. The one she'd been searching for years. The one she'd been hoping and lost hope for, to see in the early mornings till late nights.

Hope, fear, and longing drove Aria's stiff body forward. Reasoning and rationality long abandoned, calling the name she obsessed over in her mind over and over again.

Yet despite her desperate running, Aria couldn't find his shadow again. As if it was just another figment of her imagination. But for the first time, she had never been more certain that it wasn't another hallucination.

Ironically, because of her unwavering belief that it was real, the panic of this chance slipping through her fingers like sand in an hourglass drove her closer to the edge of insanity.

Running recklessly deeper into the forest with only intuition to guide her, she didn't realise when his name that was gushing out from her heart had overflowed past her lips. She had been so focused on finding him that she remained utterly oblivious to how ragged and disorderly her breathing had become, resulting in her violent coughing and wheezing.

As her intake of oxygen couldn't keep up with how much her body was burning, Aria's mind sunk deeper into chaos and despair.

She felt a stinging pain in her eyes and a salty taste in her mouth but could barely pay any attention to her surroundings. Stumbling and tripping with only her long pants saving her knees from being scrapped, she was inadvertently dragged back to relive the days that continued to devastate and haunt her.

The longer she dragged back into her memories, the more disoriented she became. Guilt, regret, hatred, and dread overrode her senses and an avalanche of 'what ifs' chorused through her mind. Her shouts grew louder in a futile attempt to drown it out with his name.

Tears cascading down Aria's face, she realised it was of no use.

It would never allow her to forget. It would never forgive her for her sins. It would never let her move on and live peacefully. She could only repent and live the rest of her life amending the wrongs she had done. She simply couldn't stop, nor did she want to. She didn't deserve to.