My name is Mina. I'm 14 years old.

  That shocking incident happened on a cold winter day.

  It was a night of pouring rain. I was walking home with my parents, sharing an umbrella.

  Then suddenly, the sky lit up, and an incredible number of lightning bolts came streaking down... tearing through my parents.

  Just before the lightning struck... Mom shoved me away as if she'd sensed it coming.

  "Kyaaa!"

  I squeezed my eyes shut and fell to the ground.

  Then I heard Mom say it.

  "Look out! Mina!" she said.

  A massive bolt of lightning came crashing down and struck Mom's body directly.

  Of course, I wasn't unharmed either, being so close. When I came to, I was lying several meters away. The vinyl of my umbrella had burned away, leaving only the skeletal frame, and my body wouldn't stop tingling... my mind was completely blank.

  For a while, I couldn't move or even breathe. It felt like I was underwater.

  Still, after struggling for a bit while rubbing my chest, my lungs finally drew in air.

  "Haaah!"

  I lay on my back, mouth wide open. I needed air. No matter how much I gulped down, it wasn't enough. I just couldn't catch my breath.

  After a while, breathing became a little easier, so I slowly lifted my head and looked around. The entire area was burned black and charred.

  Looking toward where my house had been, I saw about six men standing there, wrapped in black cloaks. And at their feet... I saw my parents lying there, covered in blood!

  "Aah! Mom! Dad!"

  I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I was screaming in my heart, but my voice was hoarse and wouldn't form words. I wanted to run to my parents, but my legs were trembling so badly I couldn't move.

  "Who are these men?"

  I couldn't understand why these men in black cloaks weren't trying to help my parents. I shouted.

  "Please! Call an ambulance!"

  I pleaded loudly, but they didn't move.

  "Why? Why won't anyone help?"

  I strained my eyes to look at them. They wore black cloaks with hoods pulled over their heads. Something about them felt deeply unsettling.

  Then one of the men stared at me intently... and slowly began walking toward me.

  For some reason I felt terrified and tried to run, but my legs were shaking too much to stand.

  I heard the man's footsteps right next to my face. I looked up at him, trembling.

  The man was an old man with a goatee.

  "Your parents are already dead. Damn it, this has become troublesome!"

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  I couldn't believe my ears.

  "Did you just say they're dead?"

  I stared into the old man's face. It was cold and expressionless.

  "Why would they die!"

  When I screamed that, the man kicked me hard in the stomach.

  "Ahhh!"

  Pain shot through my belly and nausea surged up from deep in my throat. My body curled into a C-shape as I rolled. Tears spilled from my eyes.

  "Uuuh, Mom... Dad!"

  After a moment, the old man crouched beside me, grabbed my collar, and yanked me up. He brought his wrinkled face close and glared at me.

  "Stop your blubbering, it's annoying!"

  The old man said that, but how could I not cry? I couldn't stop crying. Anyone in my situation would cry.

  "Stop crying and listen to what I have to say!"

  The old man said this, then pulled something like a black snake from inside his cloak. It writhed and twisted. It had a slimy sheen that made me feel sick.

  "What is that! What are you going to do!?"

  Then the old man brought it close to my face.

  "No! No!"

  "Hold still!"

  The old man chanted some kind of spell while pressing the black snake-like creature against my neck. In an instant it wrapped around my neck and bit me.

  "Ahhh!"

  I gritted my teeth and twisted my body in pain. My body slipped from the old man's grasp and I fell to the ground. The ground was soaked with muddy water, seeping cold into my clothes. My body trembled in small shivers from the cold and fear.

  The old man slowly walked toward me. Then he pressed his foot against my cheek and peered down at my face.

  "Listen, girl... Mina, was it? You don't have time to cry. Within the next month, you must find the treasure your parents hid. Otherwise, that black ring will strangle your neck."

  I screamed.

  "Wait! I don't understand at all! What am I supposed to find? What treasure?"

  Then the old man began to continue speaking.

  But...

  I'd reached my limit.

  Nausea suddenly came over me and I vomited while lying down.

  And everything in front of me gradually turned white and hazy... Wait, what are you saying? I can't hear you.

  "One more time... please say it one more time... one more time..."

  I tried to lift my face to hear the old man's words, I tried to raise my head but...

  Everything went black.

  ◆

  From far away, an ambulance siren approached.

  When I opened my eyes slightly, I was lying in the mud.

  "How much time has passed since then?"

  I had no idea.

  "...Miss! Are you okay!?"

  Someone shook my shoulder and I snapped awake.

  Looking up, I saw someone in a fire department uniform helping me sit up.

  ...Mom and Dad?

  I frantically looked around, but my parents' bodies were already wrapped in white cloth, lying on the ground.

  The old man in the black cloak and the other men were nowhere to be found. There was no trace that anyone had been there.

  "W-wait... my parents... and the people in black cloaks...!"

  But the firefighter looked troubled.

  "Black cloaks? There was no one like that. You were lying here alone."

  That can't be... right.

  That old man definitely wrapped something around my neck. Something like a black snake...

  With trembling hands, I touched my neck.

  —It was there.

  A black ring, as if burned into my skin, was clearly etched there. When I touched it with my finger, it twitched faintly.

  "No... what... what is this...!?"

  I became half-crazed on the spot, frantically rubbing at my neck, and felt a cold tightness deep in my chest.

  "Calm down, you're in shock. Let's get you to the hospital."

  The firefighter placed me on a stretcher and moved me to the back door of the ambulance, trying to load me inside.

  Just then, I caught a glimpse of a black shadow moving in the corner of my vision.

  I reflexively turned around.

  But no one was there anymore.

  No, wait.

  A single white feather came floating down through the rain.

  I caught it. It was cold, as if it had been kept in a freezer for days.

  The moment I touched the feather, the old man's low voice echoed in my head.

  '—One month... understand? Find it... you should have the key to the treasure. If you fail, the black ring will strangle your neck.'

  "Hiii...!"

  I looked around frantically.

  The voice had definitely whispered right in my ear, yet no one around me reacted.

  The old man was watching me from somewhere.

  Always.

  I lay limply on the stretcher, hugging myself with both arms.

  And I stared blankly at the red lights of the ambulance.

  Please, take me away from here right now.

  My whole body wouldn't stop shaking.

  —A treasure. The treasure Mom and Dad supposedly hid. —The key is inside me.

  It makes no sense.

  The stretcher I was on was secured inside the ambulance, and the back door closed. In that moment I caught a glimpse of what used to be my home. It had burned from the lightning and fire, with only the black skeletal frame standing like a gravestone.

  Tears overflowed from both my eyes. The burned ruins wavered and blurred. Then, from the shadows of those remains, I felt "someone's gaze."

  I became frightened and buried myself under the blanket on the bed. The vehicle shook as the ambulance departed.

  Sweat dripped from my forehead, and the black ring on my neck felt like it was tightening coldly.

  That's when I realized it for the first time.

  "I can never... go back to a normal life."