I have no recollection of how I got here. I remember deciding to take a walk but I have no idea how I came across this small, fairly abandoned, town. Maybe it’s because I was looking at my phone the entire time that I never noticed where I ended up.

            This little town seems pretty abandoned, I mentally note. I decide to stick around instead of finding my way home because I’ve always had a slight interest in looking at abandoned places. You know those Twitter accounts with pictures of places like old, abandoned houses, amusement parks, train tracks, etc.? I like scrolling through those photos occasionally.

            I pay no attention to where I’m going as I look up at all the dark and empty buildings. My attention is only caught again when I walk into something- or someone. “Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going,” I stumble out an apology quickly to the stranger. He makes no move or even acknowledgement that I’m there so I take my chance to quietly and quickly walk away. Well that was embarrassing… I should watch where I’m going, I scold myself as I walk, looking down at my feet now.

            He appears in front of me suddenly, as if by magic, stopping me mid-stride and causing me to look up from my shoes. Isn’t this the same guy I walked into in the opposite direction? He raises an eyebrow, seemingly cocky. “Where do you think you’re going?” he smirks at me. There’s no point calling out for help when there’s no one around this abandoned street. I don’t know what to do now… I’m scared. “You don’t have to be scared,” he reaches his hand out towards me and I close my eyes, flinching at the contact. I can feel his hand gently starting to play with my hair. I hope I’m imagining this or dreaming. “You’re not dreaming right now sweetheart,” he whispers. I open my eyes again to see the same smirk is still playing on his lips.

            I gather all the courage I can and try to push him away from me. Sadly, my efforts are unsuccessful and the man in front of me holds both my wrists in his hands. How the…? “You really think you can get away from me?” he tilts his head ever-so-slightly to one side, the smirk never leaving his face.

            “W-what do you w-want with me?” I stutter, my voice barely above a whisper and shaking.

            He lets go of my wrists slowly and I immediately take the chance to run in the opposite direction again. I run as fast as I can but I’m once again stopped by the same man, but this time there is four of him. He surrounds me and I don’t know where to go, I can’t escape and I know it. “You can’t escape me,” he raises an eyebrow and the other three versions of him disappear.

            “Why won’t you let me go?” I glare at him, mentally surprised at where my sudden boldness came from.

            “You see, I can’t let you leave,” he shrugs as I stare back at him. Why can’t he let me leave? I mentally panic. “You’re very valuable to me, that’s why.” Valuable? “Yes, valuable.” I continue to stare at him, now in disbelief. Is he reading my thoughts? He simply nods. Well, that confirms that.

            I try one more time to run away from this intimidating man. “Why does she keep running away?” I hear him groan in frustration. I turn my head to look back and see that the mysterious man has vanished once again. I turn my head forward again to look where I’m going but I somehow miss the chip in the sidewalk and fall, landing on my knee and scraping it pretty badly. I wince in pain as I try to stand and continue running away but it’s no use; I can’t run fast enough with an injury to try and get away. I hold my knee close to me as I try to brush away the pieces of sidewalk that have implanted themselves into my wound.

            “Now look what you did,” the man sighs as he shakes his head, suddenly next to me. Out of instinct I try to crawl or drag myself away. “I just want to help,” he speaks softly, seemingly less intimidating than moments ago. “What’s your name? I need to make sure you didn’t hit your head,” he continues to speak softly.

            “Madisen,” I try to relax my heart rate as the intimidating man now seems almost caring.

            “Hi sweetheart, I’m Taeyang,” he smiles slightly, looking completely different than the smirk he wore earlier. Taeyang places a hand just below my knee, careful not to touch the large cut just above his hand. I wince in pain and he looks up at me again, worry quickly flashing in his eyes before he looks down at the cut briefly before making eye contact again.

            I stare at him as he stares back at me. I never realized before how captivating his eyes are. I can’t stop staring at him as he returns his attention to my injury a few moments later.

            Taeyang uses his free hand, that isn’t placed on my knee, to hover over the large cut. I look at my knee as I realize it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. This is too much for me to handle…

            I see Taeyang glance back at me with wide eyes before everything goes black.

-

            I open my eyes and immediately close them after. Why is it so bright?  I slowly open my eyes again to examine my surroundings. I’m in an unfamiliar room, much larger than my room at home, that’s for sure; it has a theme of blue fabrics and light wood furniture. Where am I? How did I get here? Why am I even here? I have too many questions to try and figure out how I got here.

            I slowly walk over to a door; there are three in the room. I open them all to see where they lead. The first leads to a large walk-in closet, the second to an on-suite bathroom, and the third to what appears to be a hallway. I quickly close the door again as my eyes trace over a shadow on the wall across the large hallway. Where am I?!

            I slowly open the door to the room and quietly turn my head to look around the door and down the long hallway again. I walk as quiet as I can towards the shadow that faces away from me. As I approach where the shadow is coming from I realize that it isn’t a person but a statue. A very expensive-looking statue. I was scared of a statue?!

            I appear to be in a house, a very large and expensive house, maybe a mansion.  I take the opportunity of an empty hallway to walk around, maybe find a way out in the process, and look around while I do that. Everything in this house is quite beautiful and mesmerising. There is many different artworks such as paintings and sculptures and statues scattered throughout the entire house.

            I come across an extravagant staircase that branch off to multiple places. I stand at the top of the left staircase, looking across at the right side. The two staircases meet in the middle and join together in the centre to the third staircase, leading towards a large set of doors. Please tell me that’s the front door!

            I run down the stairs towards the large doors. I try to open them but they won’t budge. How do you open these doors? “You don’t,” I turn at the sudden voice next to my ear.

            “Who are you?” I question as my back hits the door, my hand still holding onto the handle behind me. Why won’t this door open?

            “I’m Taeyang, we met last night.” Oh yeah, the name rings a bell now. “You won’t be able to open the door,” he speaks as he points towards the door supporting my back.

            “Why?” I ask still trying to open the door behind me.

            “Because, Madisen, you can’t leave,” he sighs.

            “Why?” I repeat my question.

            “I can’t let you,” he steps forward again and whispers in my ear, his voice chilling.

            “W-why not?” I stutter. That was way too close for comfort.

            “You’re very valuable to me sweetheart,” he smirks. Suddenly the events of the previous night flash across my mind. I gasp and try to back away from Taeyang but my back just hits the door handle again, this time it’s a lot more painful. I quietly wince at the subtle pain now in my lower back. “How’s your knee?” he takes a step back and glances down at my legs.

            I take a moment to glance down at my knee myself. It’s been bandaged now and doesn’t hurt at the present moment. “It’s okay, I guess.”

            “You guess?” Taeyang raises an eyebrow.

            “Well, it doesn’t hurt so…” my voice trails off.

            I take the moment of silence to try to run away from Taeyang again. I don’t know where I’m going in this house but there must be another exit somewhere. I try all possible exits and doors in general but none of them open. “Oh sweetheart,” I hear Taeyang’s chilling voice again. “You’re not going anywhere,” he almost growls. My only reaction is to stop everything and scream. I don’t like hearing his voice in my head! “I’m not in your head baby,” Taeyang is suddenly next to me once again. How is he doing this?

            “H-how?” I stutter out the only word that comes to mind.

            “You’re welcome, by the way,” he smirks as he points to my knee again. Will he ever stop smirking? He shakes his head.

            “How are you doing that?” I try to catch my breath while changing the subject.

            “Doing what?” Really?

            “Don’t play dumb,” I sigh. There’s that sudden boldness again. “I know you can read my mind so now I have some questions,” I send him a quick glare, trying to be intimidating enough.

            “Follow me,” he walks away. I follow him to what appears to be a study or office space. I have so many questions running through my mind right now. I follow Taeyang silently until he gestures towards a large velvet couch located in the centre of the room. “Ask away.”

            He takes a seat on the arm of a chair as I slowly take a seat on the edge of the couch Taeyang previously gestured to when we entered the room.

            I take a deep breath as I try to think of all the questions I want- need- answers to. “What are you exactly?”

            He sighs before he answers, “I’m not normal; I’m a demon.”

            “How old are you?”

            “I’m twenty; how old are you sweetheart?” he rebuttals.

            “Eighteen,” I tell him honestly. “How long have you been twenty?”

            “A month. I’m a demon, not a vampire baby; I still age normally. That part I’ve figured out…” his voice trails off.

            “Figured what out exactly? Why are you a demon? Were you born this way?”

            “That’s more than one question darling,” he chuckles. He sighs again before speaking, “I might as well tell you since I can’t let you leave; I’m a demon because I’ve been cursed. I was cursed a few years ago for a reason that I honestly don’t know and I’m still trying to break it.”

            “Is that why I’m ‘valuable’ to you?” I hold my breath a little.

            “Possibly,” he looks into my eyes, for the first time since we’ve started this conversation, and smirks. He’s so intimidating.

            “Can you tell me why I’d be valuable to you?” He shakes his head in response. Why not?

            “I can’t tell you because I’m not certain of the reason myself,” he speaks. Oh…

            “I have another question.” Taeyang hums in response. “What abilities or superpowers do you have? You seem to know exactly what I’m thinking all the time so there must be more to it than that.”

            “I can duplicate myself; I can heal myself, and others, faster than normal; invisibility; I have superhuman reflexes; telepathy; and I can teleport.” That’s a lot to take in. “I know it is, I’m sorry.”

            “Okay, we need to establish some ground rules if you’re going to keep reading my mind,” I speak with a warning tone.

            “Sorry, you’re right,” he looks down at his feet. This is so confusing... “What’s confusing?” he asks as he looks up at me again. I glare at him because he read my mind again.

            “Are you sure I’m not dreaming?” Taeyang stands and walks over to me on the couch. “Ouch!” I squeal. He pinched me!

            “You’re not dreaming love,” he smirks once again.