Preview: It's the early morning of Koro's 18th birthday.

Chapter 8. Age 17 to 18
In the early hours of the morning, Koro heard tapping on the window in his families part of the hut. Both his parents had been very tired lately, so Koro got up quietly, and started to walk toward the door of the hut.

He walked by the part of the hut where his best friend chip lived. The door was open. Suddenly, something jumped out at him! Koro jumped, then realized it was Chip.
"Why'd you do that?" Koro angrily whispered.
"I was bored, and couldn't get to sleep, so I decided to give the birthday boy a surprise. Happy birthday by the way."
"Thanks, that just what I wanted." Koro said sarcastically. Koro's heart was still beating 20 times it's normal rate, but he had mostly calmed down.

"So why are you up?" Chip asked.
"Someone or something tapped on my window, and I wanted to see what it was."
"Do you mind if I come with you?"
"Sure."

The hut had a door to keep rodents out, but since it was dark, Chip ran into it with a loud thud. In between bursts of laughter, Koro managed to say that if Chip wasn't more careful, he'd wake the whole hut up.

Koro had a weird feeling inside of him. Suddenly it left. He had had this feeling on every one of his birthdays since he had drank half the bottle of that one liquid that washed up on the beach. He was now 18.

Once Chip got back up, he opened the door, then the two of them stepped outside. The night was warm, and the sun was starting to sneak up over the mountains.
To be continued...