POV: Y/N

The soft chime of the bell echoed behind me as I pushed the door open. The icy air swept across my face—biting, almost hostile. The rain had stopped, but the ground remained miserably soaked. Lifting part of my dress to avoid stepping on it, I turned around, scanning for a familiar or, at least, trustworthy face.

My gaze swept over the scene and froze on something unsettling: a pair of men engaged in a violent argument, the metallic gleam of a knife flashing between them. Further away, shadowy figures lay still, staring at the blood-red moon, as if entranced by its sinister glow. My attention then shifted to a young girl, skipping around in a green dress, cheerfully chatting with a man.

I approached them, forcing a smile, and murmured,
"Hello, excuse me for bothering you, but I'm looking for a hotel, not too far from here. Would you happen to know where it is?"

The girl in green stared at me intensely, her eyes narrowing as though she were trying to peer into my very soul. Her gaze was unsettling, almost paralyzing. She was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder from her companion.
"Rina, that's the third person you've tried to petrify today. You're going to wear yourself out," he said, his tone a mix of worry and irritation.

Rina pouted, then seemed to snap back to reality. She raised a fist toward me, her gaze still fixed on mine. Confused, I asked softly,
"Um... excuse me?"

The young man, mimicking her, formed a fist and gently bumped it against hers. Rina burst into a crystalline laugh, revealing strangely sharp teeth, before wrapping her arms around the man.
"As for the hotel," she began with a sinister smile, "follow the road to the left. You'll see a sign—it's engraved with nonsense but will point toward a vast forest. If you manage to get through that forest with your flesh intact, you'll find the hotel. Well... if things go smoothly for you. Have a dreadful day."

They erupted into laughter, arm in arm, before disappearing into the shadows.

I followed their directions, walking along the street, but my steps quickened when a man in a hat approached me. He reached out and placed a cold finger on my cheek, sending a shiver down my spine.
"Are you looking for work, miss?" he asked, his voice rough and tinged with malice, accompanied by a sly grin.

I slapped his hand away with a sharp movement, frowning.
"No, I'm not looking for anything. Leave me alone."

Without waiting for a response, I hurried away. My heart raced as I reached a massive roundabout where elegant carriages circled endlessly. At the center stood a ramshackle signpost covered in wooden plaques:
"Peony Bar," "Tonic Club," "Happy Hotel."

Spotting the direction for the hotel, I turned left. A dark, imposing forest loomed ahead, its bare trees reaching toward the sky like claws. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. After a moment of reflection, the realization hit me like a blow: it was here, in this very forest, that I had woken up... with no memory of how I got there.

{Hello, how are you doing?}