Lake

@Im Yoona [ I hope it's not too late to suddenly reply to your post~ ]

A cool breeze seemed to have lifted Hongbin. He could feel the clouds mist onto his hand as he passed by and the stars shined brighter than ever before. It felt like a dream, a sweet, sweet dream. But of course, that's all it was, he soon began to realize, as the breeze strengthened into an icy gust, frosting his very bones.
Then his eyelids twitched. His senses began to awaken; his face felt the stone-cold snow he was embedded in, and all the warmth he had felt had faded away, out of him like a black hole by the sudden wintry wind. And then... Hongbin opened his chocolate eyes slowly, blinded by shimmery snowflakes. He felt numb, yet he didn't shiver. He laid there for a while, dazed and curious. Where was he? The white reminded him of a hospital room, but it was so different. He couldn't remember...
Still in a sleepy trance, Hongbin rose, pushing himself up from his resting place. What...? What was this place? His surroundings were unfamiliar, yet he didn't feel afraid or worried. It was such a calm place. But of course, he must now move. Where to? His feet gained a life of their own and stepped forward without his accord.
There were many trees and shrubbery, a forest, as he ventured into the curious new environment. He soon came to a silvery lake, glazed over with a layer of ice. It too glistened in the dim light of the sky. His eyes scanned the area and fell upon a girl whose attention seemed to be preoccupied. Did she live around her? Or was she like him? Nonetheless, he circled the lake to approach her, cautiously of course.
"Hey," he called out, relatively weaker than he would have liked. "Are you from around here?"

A girl stood at the edge of the lake, breath misting out into the air, hands balled tight in jean pockets. It hadn't been long since she had gotten here, and yet this place already reminded her so much of home.
Yoona turned, taking in the scene before her. Starlight glittered on the frozen surface of the water, and the mountain was silhouetted against the sky, far in the distance, like a great giant rising in the darkness. Between the trees she caught glimpses of lights, of the small town she'd seen when she first got here. Who would be in that town? she wondered. People like her - quiet, a little shell-shocked, not quite sure what to say, yet strangely, reluctantly accepting of the whole thing? Maybe not even humans. Maybe angels or demons. She hadn't even gotten to meet them yet.
She looked down; her boots shifted against hard-packed snow, stirring the powder on top in little puffs. She remembered snow just like this, gleaming against asphalt, on a night just like this. She remembered the screech of wheels, the sick freezing of her heart as she turned, saw the headlights piercing through the dark; she remembered the grocery bags slipping from her nerveless hands, then - nothing. Did her parents know by now? Did time even work the same way here?
She raised her head, looked out through the trees and waited, waited for something that would at least begin to tell her the answers.