Allen awoke in a familiar pink surrounding. He stared at the pink floral wallpaper that he had seen every day of his life. He smiled, the pink wallpaper looked very pretty today and somehow it gave Allen a strange sense of comfort. He was home.
He had a broken leg, twisted ankle and had stitches on his head and now he’s home but he was not happy. He often thought of the forest and felt a strong longing to be in the forest. To be with someone. In the forest. But he could not remember who and why.
“What is this thing that I feel like I’m missing?” Allen mumbled to himself. ‘And why can’t I let it go?’ His heart felt hurt thinking about it.
Allen’s thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. He sighed before answering. “Come in.”
The door was opened slowly and Dom peeked his head from the opening. He smirked at Allen before entering with a tray of cookies in his hands.
“That’s for you or me?” asked Allen even though he already knew the answer.
“For me, of course,” replied Dom as he sat next to Allen’s bed and began eating the cookie. “How do you feel?” Dom asked with his mouth full of cookies.

Allen looked disbelieving at Dom before shaking his head. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” answered Dom, but Allen did not respond or look at him. “Feel like missing something again?”
It was not ‘again’, but ‘always’. Allen just nodded without saying anything. Dom sighed and put the tray on the bedside table. “Let’s recheck what you think you had been missing,” suggested Dom and Allen looked at Dom, frowning.
“My bag?” Allen said, raising his eyebrow.
Dom began counting with his fingers. “We found it not far from where we found you.”
“My phone?”
“Kris found it on the day you went missing.” Dom stated. Watching Allen thinking hard, trying to remember something, he said, “The mushrooms? They are in your beg. What else?”
The beg? The mushrooms? Allen thought. How did he find the mushroom? He cannot remember, but he was sure he did not take it. How come they were in his beg? His beg. Was he left it somewhere? Or was it someone who took it from him? He wanted to say it but Dom cut him out. “You want to ask about the mother and child? Kris would like to thank you for that. Without you, they won’t be able to find their bodies. The volunteers might have missed the tape.”
“Aaa.. yeah…” Allen looked down thinking about the dead bodies he found in the forest. There was something else other than dead bodies in the forest. Allen felt like he began connecting things now but still had no idea what he was looking for. “It’s cold…” said Allen, suddenly.
“Hurm?” Dom looked around. Cold? It was so warm like summer time in the room. “Cold? Are you ok? Do you feel cold? Should I call a doctor?”
Allen shook his head a few times and waved his hand at the same time. “Not this room. In the forest.”
“Isn't that normal weather in the forest? The forest didn’t get enough sunlight. Unless you climb the tree, of course,” said Dom. “You had been in there for three days without anything. It’s hard to believe you survive, you know.”
Allen shook his head again. He let out a heavy sigh, showing that he felt tired of explaining things he didn’t remember what it was to his parents, to Dom. “It’s not the weather, Dom.” Allen looked away from Dom. No matter what, he tried hard to remember what it was. “It’s cold! It was just so cold! Like it’s weirdly cold! Like… Like…”
“Like death is approaching…” whispered Dom with an unfamiliar tone. Allen immediately looked at Dom who was space-out. “What did you say?” asked Allen.
“Hurm?” responded Dom like he had been pulled back to reality. “What did I say?”
Frustrated, Allen hit Dom with his pillow. “Pay attention to what I said!”
“Sorry, sorry,” apologized Dom. ‘What just happened just now,’ Dom wondered.
“Hye,” Allen tried to get Dom's attention again. “Can you call Kris and ask him to come here to see me?”
“Sure,” Dom agreed. “But for what?”
“I think,” Allen tried to find a suitable word to tell Dom. “I think I want to be a volunteer.”
Dom about to shout disbelieve upon hearing what Allen just said. Instead, he laughed so hard. “Haha! You? Volunteer? Hahaha!”
“Did you realize you barely come out of the forest alive?” Dom’s mood and tone changed from laughing to dead-serious. “Are you out of your mind?! You should stay away from the forest! Not going back in there!”
“Hei! Don’t shout!” shouted Allen to shouting Dom. “I know! I know! But. But. There might be other people who accidentally got lost in the forest. I think. I think I might do something to help. Maybe to find those… dead bodies.”
“Ha! No! No!” Dom disagreed. “You don’t want to help those people. You just want to go back to the forest and find what you think you are missing when you didn’t miss anything.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” said Allen. “I won’t know until I try.”
This time, it was Dom’s turn to shake his head in disbelief. He believed both of him and Allen had enough for today. Allen needed more rest than he thought. He stood up and took the tray before walking to the door. He looked at Allen before went out, “Go get some rest. You are not fully recovering yet. I’ll call and discuss it with Kris.”
Allen nodded and said, “Thank you, Dom.” Dom nodded back and closed the door, leaving Allen alone in his room. He wanted to sleep but his mind kept thinking about lots of things. He pulled his blanket closer to his face as he felt a sudden cold. Then he remembered what Dom said earlier. ‘Someone’s approaching, he said?’ thought Allen.
“Who?”