15 Years In The Past 

Date: December 30th

"Higher, higher!" 

She giggled as the swing went up and down. The wind blew through her hair while the moon's light shone on her face.

"Aera, be careful! If you keep increasing the speed of the swing then you might fall down and hurt yourself." A worried voice spoke out.

The young boy to whom this voice belonged, ran towards Aera and tried to stop the swing. Soon the swing's speed was reduced as Aera turned to look at the young boy with an annoyed expression.

"You are no fun Jimin." She said in a straight tone as she jumped out of the swing.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by saying I am no fun? Have you forgotten the time when I found a map in the middle of an abandoned building and following the map we had an exciting adventure? How is that boring to you?"

Giving a chuckle after hearing how enthusiastically her friend defended himself, she pinched his cheeks and replied, "I agree, the adventure was really fun but in the end we landed at a construction site where the supposed 'treasure' was just an old comb."

"Ahem, but that comb was not just any comb. It was made of gold!" Jimin replied with passionate eyes.

Aera waved at him to make him come out of his delusion, "Seriously Jimin? It was not made of gold but rather just a usual comb in a golden colour."

Giving a pout Jimin gave a sigh of defeat as he sat down on the green grass with a thump. Aera giggled as she looked at her friend who now seemed to look like a deflated balloon. 

Sitting next to him she made a funny face in an attempt to make him smile. It succeeded!

Immediately breaking into a smile Jimin fell down on the grass as he tried to control his laughter. Giving a hand, Aera helped her friend sit properly and then lay down on the soft grass, her eyes fixed on the beautiful night sky.

"Jimin, have you ever wondered why the moon becomes blue in colour only at this date in the whole year?"

Nodding his head Jimin looked at the moon which, as Aera had described, had a bluish colour to it. "Good question, even I wonder the same quiet often. Why is it that the moon becomes blue only once in a year, and that even at this day?"

"Maybe today is a special day? And maybe that's why the moon changes its colour?" Aera suggested as she turned to look at her friend who was admiring the beauty of the night.

"But what could be special about today?" 

A long silence followed during which both of them wondered about this question.

Suddenly Aera got up and looked around in confusion. "Aera? What's wrong?" Asked Jimin as he too got up and looked at his friend who started walking away.

"AERA!" He shouted as he ran towards her. "Where are you going? Why are you heading towards the woods? Grandma has prohibited us to even step a foot inside it." 

"Jimin, can you hear it?" 

"What?" Asked the latter in confusion as he strained his ears to hear something. "Nothing."

Giving a sigh Aera shook her head and continued walking, soon they were inside the woods. 

"Umm, Aera? Lets go back home, its really dark over here. Grandma must be searching for us." Jimin stated as he looked at the eerie woods which made him get goosebumps.

But Aera did not answer, she kept walking. Deeper and deeper inside. She could hear it, the beautiful voice that sang a mysterious melody to her. She felt as if it was inviting her, calling out to her. 

She lived with her grandma in the country side near an old forest like woods. She knew that she was not allowed to even step inside these woods, let alone keep walking deeper inside them. But the voice, it had an effect on her which she could not describe. It was hypnotizing her, taking her under its magic.

Where was the voice coming from? To get the answer, she was following it. Unaware of anything around her.

Soon they stopped walking as they came infront of a big door. It looked extremely old, as if it had been made centuries ago. It looked inviting but at the same time cold and scary.

"Jimin, there's a voice coming from behind this door." Aera whispered as she slowly touched the old wooden door in the most gentle way she could.

This was the last straw, he, Jimin was now freaked out beyond words. Was his friend ok? Why was she suddenly hearing things that he could not hear?

"Its calling me, telling me to come inside..."

"Aera, please lets go now. I seriously don't know what you are talking about. And that door looks like an inviting trouble to me." The boy said now in a trembling voice.

"AERA! JIMIN!" Suddenly came a loud voice which made both the kids jump up in surprise.

"Its grandma." Aera said as she looked at Jimin with shocked eyes. "If she finds out that we have broken the promise we made with her and entered these woods then we might as well consider ourselves as cooked meat. Run Jimin!"

"Didn't I remind you about this before? Why don't you ever listen to me?" Asked Jimin as he took to his feet and ran at top speed.

"Huh? When did you say that?" 

If he could, Jimin would have hit Aera on her head to release the annoyance that was forming inside him. WHAT DOES SHE MEAN THAT HE DID NOT REMIND HER? But seeing the current situation, in which both of them were running at top speed to quickly go to grandma before she finds out that they were missing, he realized that he could do this act afterwards.

Jumping over a bush and then ducking down to prevent getting hurt from the branches of the trees, Aera called out to her friend "Jimin, lets take a turn here. If we take the other route then grandma will notice us coming outside. Lets take this route as it leads to the back garden."

Making an ok sign after brushing away dirt that came on his shirt they raced out of the forest together.

"Jimin! Aera! My dear children, where are you?"

Emerging outside from a small bush, Aera quickly cleaned and straightened her dress as the other did the same. 

"Grandma!" Aera shouted in response as she ran towards her grandmother and hugged her.

"Oh Aera! Where were you both? I got really worried." Exclaimed the old woman as she hugged Aera back and gave a worried smile to Jimin.

Walking towards the lady, Jimin too gave her a hug, "Grandma, me and Aera were playing together in the garden when we suddenly saw a small rabbit and chased after it. We got a bit carried away and thus did not here you calling us. Sorry."

Nodding her head in agreement Aera broke from the hug. Grandma looked at both of them with an unreadable expression, as if she knew that something was not right and that these two kids were hiding something. 

But then breaking into a soft smile, she patted Aera and Jimin lovingly, "You both must be hungry. Come, lets go have dinner."

"What have you made for dinner grandma?" Asked both the kids in union.

"Your favourite food...bread with honey and boiled potatoes!"

The children shouted in joy as they heard the response. "Now go and quickly wash your hands." Instructed the grandmother.

"Are you not coming grandma?" Asked Jimin with curiosity as Aera too gave a questioning look.

"I will be collecting some berries from the backyard. Now go and wash your hands, and don't forget to change your clothes as they are really dirty."

"Ok." The children replied and went inside the small cottage.

Looking up at the bright blue moon which shone with full glory, a melody, which was similar to the one Aera had heard, started playing. And this did not go unnoticed by Mrs. Helda (Aera's grandmother)

°•As the blue moon shines with glory, and as the darkness covers the day. The door will open for a few counted seconds, oh you avail its play~

"The door needs to be protected from any sort of wanderer or intruder. At the stroke of midnight for its early thirty seconds the door will open, which means that this might be an invitation for the dark spirits of the other entity to enter this realm (the earth) and cause destruction." Mumbled Mrs. Helda as she held the basket tightly with her frail old hand and walked towards her back garden to collect berries.