CHAPTER 2

Eren POV

Tennessee, USA 01.01.2018

God is compassionate to the world, and strong prayers are fulfilled. Is it God's compassion or random probability? But what is certain is that the place where the hero who saves lives should go is heaven and not here.

"They said they will do it. It has just been three days after the tragedy… I know you can't take it, but how could you investigate there alone… I can't imagine what if I lost both of you, how could I go on with it… Father has gone…

"Who's talking there? Ehhh…I can't move…Who am I… My head…"

Maybe my soul did not get used to the new body, or the original master of the body had been injured, but I was totally messed up at that time. I could not overthink…

She jumped over and hugged me, the fresh aroma came to me, I felt her crying in my arms trembling lightly, her thin body seemed like a wind, but who was she, I sat frozen in a tight hug by her, I do not know but why do I feel so familiar with her... The sudden headache brought all my thinking to a screeching halt; countless images exploded in front of my eyes. The intense pain made me feel like my soul was being cut. It was too painful. Who are these people, who are the people in the images, why... She took my hand and kept asking me what was wrong, calling my name. I wanted to tell her that I was fine, to see her anxious about why my heart hurt. I obviously did not know her, but the intense pain made me powerless. I felt that the consciousness that had just returned drifted away again, and I fell back into darkness.

SCENE 2

Green Mist Forest is an adventure destination located on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi. Named Green Mist Forest because of the green colour of the steam emitted from the hot springs in the forest, which was opened to the public in May 1996 and can be reached by Highway 64, 38 or 13. Every year in December, there are a lot of tourists from different places come to Green Mist Forest.

According to rumours, a spring in the Green Mist Forest can cure all maladies and even make the blind see and revive broken limbs again.

My name is Eren. This year is December 25, 2017, at 8:00 Christmas. Today was the third day after my father was gone. If the tragedy did not happen, my family and I would sit together to enjoy a turkey dinner, listening to the story of my father's adventure and my sister's daily life at school, together to spend this Christmas... When I was just a little boy, my mother suddenly passed away, my father set out to find her as an explorer, and now even my father is gone... Alice is my younger sister. She is very depressed these days because of it. She is spaced out. If it wasn't for that day, on the third day, when three tourists were searching for the legendary hot spring in the Green Mist Forest, they found a female corpse in a bush. After they saw it, they immediately called the police. Still, when the police arrived, the body was gone, except for the smell of blood in the air and the stains left on the ground, and nothing abnormal. After interrogation, the three of them were indeed ordinary tourists. Different people called the police and claimed to have seen the corpse. All the same that the corpse was on the ground disappeared before the police arrived, and only some blood stains remained. Because the matter was too bizarre, the local police reported it to my father's department to seek help. They took the case and researched, but that made him never come back…

Thinking of this, for Alice and myself, I decided to go to the Green Mist Forest to find out what happened. Tina, my father's colleague, told me that my father had died of myocardial infarction. But I still couldn't believe that my father was also an explorer with a solid body. I never knew that he had any heart disease and could die of a heart attack. It was too ridiculous that I had to find out the truth at all costs...

"These memories are..." Eren, who had fallen into deep darkness, was awakened by a memory that came out of nowhere.

December 25, 2017, 10:00 p.m. 

Highway 13 was blocked, so I had to switch to Highway 64, although I arrived at the Green Mist Forest 30 minutes later. The Green Mist Forest looks very eerie at night.

Although it was the second time I had come there, it seems not the place I knew before. Even in the daytime, it looks no different to midnight... 

I parked the car in the parking lot outside the Green Mist Forest. I took everything with me, the flashlight map and multi-powered knife prepared earlier, a small amount of food and, a notebook made of leather, a relic of my father, and then I stepped into the forest. 

When I came to the entrance of the Green Mist Forest, a gust of wind hit me, just like telling me no further steps.

I was a little frightened by the atmosphere because the Green Mist Forest at midnight is impossible to have the wind blowing here. The crowded trees and bushes block the wind out. I looked up at the sign, and the dim light of the streetlamp next to the poster gave a feeling of "Do not enter". And as I was about to enter the Green Mist Forest, I suddenly felt a chill behind me... It was like many eyes were looking at me from behind. This feeling was very uncomfortable, but when I thought of my father's death, I held back the chill behind me and gritted my teeth to enter the forest. Surprisingly, when I entered the Green Mist Forest, the coldness disappeared. I hope that it was not my illusion…

When I entered the Green Mist Forest. I headed to my father's murder scene, hoping to find out what happened. The road went smoothly until I reached a Y-junction, and then the chill behind me appeared! Someone was behind me!