THE DARKEST ROOM

I didn’t dare tell anyone what I saw that night. I didn’t mention to my parents or even my best friend because I was too afraid to see their reactions. “You’re crazy” or “You’re delusional” or “You need help.” I couldn’t face being scrutinized like that.

Even though I haven’t seen him, in real life or my dreams, I could still feel him. Sometimes when I touched my own body, I felt his. Just a week ago I went to scratch my head, but I felt his hair on my fingers instead of my own. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I’d be looking into his and I couldn’t tell if it was his doing or mine.

“You seem jumpy nowadays,” Hwayoung said to me as she shoved a spoonful of rice in .

“Do I?” Feigning ignorance seemed to be the right answer until I could figure out what was going on. It was a step up from straight denial, right?

She chewed, nodding enthusiastically. “It’s kind of scary,” she said through her mouthful of rice.

I tried not to look affected by the observation, but my disappointment showed, I’m sure. “Maybe I just haven’t gotten enough sleep.”

“Sleep?” she swallowed loudly and prepared to refill her empty spoon. “You sleep eight hours every night.”

She wasn’t wrong. I usually never fail to get all of my hours in because if I don’t, I practically can’t function properly. I get clumsy and sleepy and my attention span in cut in half, but that week I really hadn’t gotten much sleep because my mind seemed to be running a mile a minute. My thoughts had been hijacked by the boy from my dreams and I couldn’t stop them. Something was wrong and I didn’t know how to fix it. I’d never know how.

I gave in. I couldn’t keep it a secret and still expect to be fine. My health was already deteriorating each day and I couldn’t risk it anymore. I just had to trust that Hwayoung wouldn’t think I was insane. Hopefully she trusted me the same amount that I trusted her.

“Okay, I have to tell you something, but you have to promise me you won’t freak out.”

She nodded, chewing her rice faster in anticipation.

I took a deep breath and let it out, closing my eyes to shield me from her reaction. “I’ve been having repeating dreams of a certain guy and a few weeks ago the dream repeated but I was awake and it happened on the street I always take while coming home from school and now I see him everywhere and I can’t get him out of my head and I don’t know what’s going on and I’m scared.” The entire story flowed out of me without a break or pause and once I was finished, I took a deep breath and my shoulders collapsed.

She didn’t make a sound and my anxiety seemed to shoot through the roof. I felt like she was laughing at me and I couldn’t look. I made a huge mistake, I knew I should’ve kept it a secret. Why did I open my mouth? I—

“Are you going to open your eyes?”

That wasn’t Hwayoung. I actually didn’t recognize the voice at all.

I couldn’t will myself to look, I was too scared. All of the hairs on my body began to stand and I felt so cold.

“Please open them.” The voice was closer and hot, sweet air washed over the right side of my face. “Don’t you want to see me?”

I didn’t answer. I tried to focus on my breathing so my heartbeat could decrease since it was thumping at an alarming rate.

“Come on, Haseon-ah,” the voice cooed. “Well, maybe you’ve seen enough of me since I’m everywhere.”

My eyes shot open and I saw the guy from my dreams. “What the—?”

“Don’t ask me to explain because your head might explode from confusion.” He smiled and leaned away, walking around.

I observed my surroundings, but I had no idea where I was. It appeared to be a dark room with a single purple light casting down on us. A shiver ran down my spine as I watched him walk around.

I looked down and saw that I was sitting in a chair, but I wasn’t tied or anything, I could freely move. I started to rise, but the man turned around suddenly and shook his head.

“You want to leave already? But you just got here.” He waved his hand and a chair slid out from the darkness and stopped in front of him. He straddled it, resting his arms on the back of the chair in a casual fashion. “I’m sure you have some questions that need to be answered before you leave. Please.” he gestured towards me. “Proceed.”

My eyes wouldn’t leave his. I felt compelled to stare at him and confess every thought that’s been running through my mind since the moment I saw him on the street. “Who are you?”

He chuckled. “Easy one. The name’s Lay.” He stood and leaned in with his hand held out for me to shake it.

I gaped at it without moving. Lay smiled disappointedly and retracted his greeting. “All right, I see you don’t want to touch me anymore.”

“Where am I?”

He laughed. “Are all of your questions so easy? We’re at my house. Well, living arrangement.”

“Where is your living arrangement?” I said, mimicking his exaggeration of the word “living.”

“Mmm, I don’t feel like giving out such personal information.” He sauntered back to the chair and sat down.

“You said you’d answer my questions,” I argued once he wasn’t distracted.

He raised his index finger and waved it back and forth. “No, no, I said you are bound to have questions and to ask them. If I promised to answer all of them, how would I keep my pride? Who knows how dirty you can get?”

“Dirty?”

My combination of offense and confusion seemed to amuse him. “Don’t get too hung up on words, Sweetheart, you may miss the point. It’s all about reading between the lines.”

I didn’t respond and his eyebrows began to pull together, his smile turning into a deep frown. “Why so quiet?” He asked roughly.

“I don’t have much to say to you,” I lied. Of course I had tons to say to him, but I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of my curiosity. Then he would win. And for some reason, the thought of him winning makes me uncomfortable.

The right side of his mouth lifted in a cocky, lopsided grin. “I can practically smell the deceit.”

“Please let me go,” I begged, my voice weaker than I intended.

He abruptly rose from his seat and was next to me in a flash. “You can go any time you want, Haseon-ah.”

He was right, too. Since I wasn’t tied or strapped to the chair, I really could leave, but deep down I knew there was some sort of catch.

“What’s the price?”

He laughed. “You’ll be shocked.”

I rolled my eyes, tired of him beating around the bush. “Just tell me.”

In a blink of an eye, his face was a few inches away from mine. I could smell his sweet scent and hear his steady breathing. I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a yelp, which made Lay clasp his hand over my mouth.

“Take me with you,” he breathed.

“What?” I mumbled into his hand.

“Take me with you.”

“I hearmmd youm the firmt timm.”

He removed his hand from my mouth. “What did you say?”

“I said, I heard you the first time.” I sighed, slightly exhausted by his playful banter. “What do you mean ‘Take me with you’.”

He leaned back, standing straight again. The sudden absence of his scent made my head whirl. “I meant exactly what I said. I’m tired of only communicating with you through your thoughts. I want to be up there. With you.”

“Up where?”

“Earth.”

His eyes were wide with seriousness, but I burst of laughing. “What the hell?” I said between giggles. “You want to come to Earth? What are you, some kind of alien?”

His face was flat. “Do you accept or no?”

“What happens if I say no?” I challenged.

“Then I’ll eat you.”

Now it was my turn to be unamused while he laughed.

Take him with me? It was such an oddly vague request I had no idea how I should respond. What would happen if I said yes? Would he ruin my life? Kill me? My family? Or would he be nice and actually answer my questions?

Is he even real?

I took another look around the room. There was literally nothing there except two chairs, a light bulb, and him and me. There was no way this was real. He was not real. Someone must’ve spiked my drink or something because there is no way this is actually happening. If it was real, that means some weird monster who just so happens to be incredibly hot and playful targeted me for no reason to “take him with me?” Whatever that means.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring his laughter. “All right. I shall take you with me.” I composed myself so that I wouldn’t start laughing, thinking of how ridiculous this all was.

My goodness I was nuts.

All of sudden I could feel something warm wrap around me. I opened my eyes to see him hugging me on the street where I first saw him.

“Thank you,” he whispered into my ear.

Aaaaand that’s how I was so stupid that I ruined my life without realizing I was ruining it.

hEYY!!! Update tiiimmmee

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