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Chase ran towards the dark forest. A swarm of bees chased him from behind as the fog closed up on him. After what felt like endless running, he finally reached the deep well where he left Poppet waiting.

Chase expected Poppet to be sitting by edge of the well, but he was only greeted by a thick gray mist. He took a step closer to the deep well and leaned over its mossy rocks. His eyes were filled with shock as he saw Poppet floating, pale, and lifeless. Dead.

The sound of shattered glass woke Chase from his horrible dream.

A nightmare.

It took Chase a few seconds to return to his senses. He had so many questions. Of why he had nightmares, and of why there was shattered glass at midnight. He wiped the few tears from his face and rushed over to Poppet's room where the sound of shattered glass came from.

Poppet stared at her glass picture frame, with a leather bag filled with clothes in her right hand. Poppet's eyes has not left the broken shards until the moment Chase entered her room worried.

"Poppet?" Chase said, as he stepped closer to her and the shattered glass.

He noticed the leather bag in Poppet's hand, and for a brief moment he felt suffocated and clouded with uncertainty.

"Where are you going?" he asked, but Poppet remained as silent as the night.

Chase ran out of her room and brought back with him a broom. He swept the broken glass carefully, making sure there wasn't any shard left lying on the floor.

He then grabbed the bag from Poppet, and helped her sit on the bed. "Where are you going?" he asked once again.

"Chase I left home without saying goodbye. And it's not that they need to hear my farewell, I just want closure." She put her head on Chase's shoulder and the moment he put his arm around her, it felt as if she had all the courage in the world.

"I want to finish things with them. To prove to them that I'm not so weak. That I can do art nonetheless." Poppet sighed. "But I'm afraid I don't have the courage to do it."

Chase's subtle embrace tightened at Poppet's words. It was at that moment when he felt such deep empathy towards her. That every word that came out of her mouth tightened his heart like wires and rose thorns. She deserved better.

"I'll come with you. You don't have to do this alone" Chase said, making her face him.

Poppet smiled, there were not a single trace of happiness in them. "I don't want you being invloved in this mess, Chase. But your support means the world to me."

"Poppet. You don't have to do this alone," He repeated. He wanted to come with her. He wanted to involve himself in her mess. To swim amongst her troubles and take them away from her.

"I care about you okay?" Chase's words slipped. He did not mean to say that. Feelings were new to Chase and he did not know how they worked.

His words left the both of them speechless. But as silence passed, he decided to accept. He did care about her, more than anything.

"I won't let you do this alone," he said.

"Okay," she finally said.

Poppet gave him a faint smile. One so pretty and subtle, it alone could light up the world. Her smile was the color yellow. The color of sunflowers. The color of joy.

And Chase's cheeks were... the simplest of blush pink.

a/n

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