Orla:

  I gasped, my chest heaving as if I had been suffocating for hours. The world around me was a blur, shapes and colors swirling as I tried to make sense of what was happening. My lungs burned, my heart raced, and I could hear the rapid beeping of machines—something was wrong.

  Suddenly, I felt a hand on my arm, warm and comforting. “Orla?” A familiar voice called out, shaky with a mix of relief and fear. “Orla, are you awake?”

  I blinked, trying to focus. The room came into view—a sterile hospital room, white walls, and the scent of disinfectant heavy in the air. And there, at my bedside, was Seo-yeon. She looked disheveled, her eyes red and puffy from crying, her hair a mess as if she’d been sitting by my side for days. She must have been sleeping in the chair next to my bed, but now she was wide awake, staring at me like I was a ghost.

  “Seo-yeon?” I whispered, confusion settling into my bones.

  Her face crumpled, her hand tightening around mine. “No, Orla. It’s me, Nara. Your friend. Your roommate.” Her voice broke as tears welled up in her eyes. “Don’t you remember me?”

  I stared at her, my mind sluggishly processing what she was saying. Nara. My friend. Nara. Not Seo-yeon. I blinked, looking down at my hands. A pulse oximeter was clipped to my finger, and I felt the soft prickle of a nasal cannula resting against my upper lip, its thin tubing looping around my ears. The world felt foreign, like I’d woken up in a place I didn’t recognize.

  “What… what is this?” I croaked, my voice hoarse. I swallowed hard, looking around the room in a daze. “Where am I?”

  “The hospital,” Nara said gently, wiping her eyes. “You’ve been in a coma. But you’re awake now, Orla. You’re here. You’re okay.”

  But I didn’t feel okay. My heart pounded, my head spinning as fragments of the past flooded in. Where was Milo? And Raven? And… Haruto? The names tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, each one feeling strange and distant.

  “Milo… Haruto… what happened to them?” I muttered, my voice fading as I searched for answers in my own mind.

  Nara’s eyes widened, her brow furrowing in confusion. “Orla, what are you talking about?” She leaned in closer, brushing the hair away from my face as if that could help me make sense of things. “You’ve been in a coma. You were in an accident.”

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  I stared at her, my breath catching in my throat. “But… I was just with them,” I said, my voice trembling as the memories of the forest, the palace, the ravine all swirled together in my mind. It had felt so real—the danger, the escape, the fear.

  But now, as I sat in the hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines and the sterile smell of the room, it all felt so distant. Like a dream. A vivid, terrible dream.

  And yet… it had felt like my life.

  “Was it all… just a dream?” I whispered, my fingers trembling as I touched the hospital blanket covering me, trying to ground myself in the reality that was now crashing down around me.

  Nara gave a soft chuckle. “Well, you took a nasty spill off Raven on set,” she said, glancing down at her smartwatch. “You’ve been out for... Yup. two days.”

  Two days?

  My head spun. Two days. But the dreams… they felt like a lifetime. How could so much have happened in just two days? The palace, the ravine, Milo, Haruto… it had felt real, like I had lived through every moment. But I guess that’s what dreams are, complete nonsense, a jumble of fragmented stories and wild emotions.

  “I’m so glad you’re awake.” Nara’s voice broke through my thoughts, her eyes shining with happiness. “I’m going to go grab the doctor, okay? Don’t move.”

  She squeezed my hand gently before dashing out of the room. I stared after her, my mind reeling. Two days. That was all. It felt impossible.

  Before I could process it any further, Nara returned with a doctor in tow, his white coat swishing as he approached the bed. He gave me a warm smile, the kind doctors seem to perfect—reassuring but clinical. “Good to see you awake, Orla,” he said. “You gave us a bit of a scare there.”

  He began checking my vitals, asking me a series of questions: Did I know my name? Did I remember where I was? Could I tell him what year it was? I answered him, though each word felt heavy, like even talking drained me.

  “You’re doing well,” the doctor said after a few minutes, jotting down notes on his clipboard. “It’s normal to feel disoriented after an accident like yours. You might experience some fatigue and confusion, but it’ll pass. Just take it easy for a bit, alright?”

  I nodded, though the exhaustion was already pulling at me. Just waking up had taken more out of me than I thought. My body felt like lead, my mind foggy, as if part of me was still lost in the world I’d just escaped.

  “You’ll be fine,” the doctor added with a reassuring smile. “Rest up, and we’ll keep an eye on you for a little while longer.”

  He spoke a few words in Korean to Nara before stepping out, leaving me alone with her again. Korea. I hadn’t even noticed the language barrier in my dreams.

  Oh god.

  It must have been a dream then—because everything I remembered had been in English.

  I brought my hands to my face, rubbing my eyes, trying to process what had just happened—what I had just gone through.

  “Two days...” I muttered, more to myself than to Nara. How could it have only been two days?

  ?Sky Mincharo