"Abandon all hope, all ye who enter."

Shin Mieun had always been curious.

And that was how she met Xi Luhan.

At that time, they still lived in the city in a grand house in Busan. Mieun still remembered bits and pieces, but it was all fuzzy, like a film that had decayed over the years. She remembered playing outside in the front yard by herself when she was four, her mother cooking inside. The wind had been exceptionally strong that day, making even the large trees whip back and forth.

She was playing with her dolls that her father had bought for her as a present for her fourth birthday. She took very good care of them, making sure that they didn't get a speck of dirt on their pretty little dresses or faces. Periodically, she would daintily rearrange their crumpled dresses, soothing out any wrinkles.

She seated them carefully atop their little stools arranged around a play table. She pretended to pour them tea in cracked cups of china that her mother allowed her to play with. She blew the 'tea', fanning it to make sure that it wasn't too hot. She placed it one of the doll's lips. "Here you go, Jeonhan."

Satisfied, she settled into her own seat, watching her dolls 'sip' their tea happily. She paused, frowning. "Oh no! Hwajae, your dress is wrinkled! Here, let me fix it for you."

She busily smoothed out the small wrinkle made in Hwajae's dress. Her small, clumsy fingers accidently got caught in Hwajae's hair, mussing the bow, which now tilted sloppily on one side. Mieun took out the bow, combing Hwajae's hair, which blew in the wind. Mieun placed the ribbon on the table next to Jeonhan.

She hummed an upbeat, happy tune she had just learned in daycare. The wind was making Hwajae's hair all tangled and knotted, and Mieun struggled to comb the doll's hair until it was silky smooth.

A flash of red caught her periphery vision. Mieun turned around just in time to see Hwajae's ribbon fly away, carried by the wind. "Oh no!" she cried, gathering up her dolls in her arms and running after it. It flew over the fence, and Mieun ran out of the front yard, chasing the red ribbon.

She panted as her short, stubby legs struggled to catch up. The added weight of her dolls didn't help either. She stumbled over the root of a tree, crying out to the ribbon to wait up for her. The wind blew even harder, and for a while, Mieun lost sight of the ribbon.

She followed it into the woods, ignoring the sign posted in the clearing. She ran deeper and deeper into the woods. All she could focus on was the red ribbon. Nothing else. She could see nothing else. Her eyes were blinded to everything around. Everything but the red ribbon.

The twigs tore at her dress and her dolls. Her hair blew into her face, plastering into her neck, which was beaded with sweat. Along the way, she lost one of her shoes. She didn't know when it had fallen along the way. Her muddy feet were grimy and dirty.

The trees were getting thicker and thicker, blocking out any sunlight that managed to penetrate the canopy. She ran deeper and deeper into the woods. She fell, tripping over a rotting log. She skinned her knee on a rock, and she began to cry, wailing for her mommy. She hugged the dolls tightly, fearfully.

The shadows seemed to grow longer and taller,  jumping out at her. Sounds echoed and bounced off the trees in the eerily quiet forest. It was strange that there wasn't even a trace of anything living. There were no birds or squirrels. There were no animals. It was just Mieun and the trees.

Exhausted from running and crying, she crawled towards the foot of a tree and curled up against it, hoping her mother would come find her soon. Her eyes started drooping, and it wasn't long before she soon fell asleep amidst the haunting shadows with the wind whistling through the dead trees.

Thunder crackled overhead. Mieun groggily opened her eyes, rubbing them tiredly. Where was she? Hadn't she been playing in the front yard? She stared at her surroundings, disoriented, until she remembered the red ribbon. Almost immediately, tears started forming at the corner of her eyes. She stuffed her fist into to calm herself down. Where was her mommy? Surely her mommy would come looking for her?

Mieun didn't like the warm, sticky mud that her feet were sinking into. It was wet and mushy, and when mixed with dirt, it felt uncomfortably gooey underneath her bare feet.  She looked down, noticing a sparkle underneath the bush next to her.

Curious, she stood up on unsteady feet and parted the bushes with one hand, the other still holding onto her dolls, which were now dirty and muddy. The sparkling thing shone even in the darkness. She looked down once again, and what she saw made her shriek and cover her eyes.

It was pale and bloodless, cold and stiff. Grotesque designs and patterns were carved into the surface, still oozing blood. The fingers were swollen and bent at unnatural angles, joints sticking out from where they had broken through the skin. Around the wrist was wrapped a whitish silver bracelet, now stained and covered with blood. Red, red, red. That was all Mieun could see.

She looked down at her feet.

Oh.

Oh.

She was walking in blood.

She started crying for her mommy, turning around, dragging her dolls in the blood, when she ran right into someone. She fell down hard on her bottom and only started crying harder. Someone bent down in front of her, her hair and wiping away her tears. For a second, she thought her mommy had really come to find her, but when she looked up, she saw someone very, very different.

"Don't cry," he soothed, wiping her tears away with a finger. He caught one of her tears on his finger, holding it up to the light and scrutinizing it before he flung it away. He looked at her, regarding her with thoughtful eyes. She stared at him fearfully.

"Did my mommy send you to bring me home?" she hiccupped, clutching her dolls tightly to her chest. He threw back his head and laughed, long and loud. It frightened Mieun. She didn't like it.

He wiped away tears, still laughing, before looking at her seriously, suddenly, with a strange fire in his eyes. "Yes, your mother did send me," he assured her, seating her on his lap and rocking her back and forth. She thought he sounded a bit funny.His arms were warm and strong. She felt like she was in her father's arms after he came back from work.

The rocking made her feel drowsy, and she started to close her eyes. Then she saw the arm, jerking awake. He seemed to notice her staring at the arm. He her hair, whispering into her hair, "That's my new masterpiece. Do you like it?"

Mieun was too frightened to answer, so she didn't say anything, only biting her lip. The man tightened his grip on her, "Do you not like it? Why aren't you saying anything? Say something!"

Mieun started to cry, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. The man slapped her hard with one hand. "Stop crying!" he yelled, "You're too noisy! Be quiet! Answer me!" He constricted with his hands, putting pressure on her neck.

She choked out tearfully, "I like...I lik...like it..." Immediately, the pressure on was gone and she could breathe again. He smiled at her, playing with her hair once again. He noticed her tears. "Oh dear! Here, let me wipe your tears. Why are you crying? Don't cry," he repeated himself, taking a white handkerchief out of his pocket.

And then Mieun saw the blood spots, brown and drying.

But she allowed him to wipe her tears away. He continued playing with her hair with his dexterous, pale, slim fingers. "You look like a doll," he mused. "Did I ever tell you that you look like a doll?"

The look in his eyes changed. They turned harder, burning with a strange light. Mieun was beginning to become frightened. She wanted to run away, but his grip on her was too strong. The way he looked at her...

He grinned widely, happily, "I like dolls."

It started to rain again, pouring even harder this time, mixing the blood with the mud and creating a crimson river. It was thundering loudly, making the trees hit each other with their branches. The clouds covered the sun, obliterating any remaining sunlight.

No one could see the increasing, rushing torrent of the river.

No one could hear the little girl screaming nor could they hear the wild, maniacal laughter resonating deep, deep in the woods.

 And no one could see Jeonhan, soaked and bloody, fall into the river, staining the doll's golden locks a deep crimson red.

(And Hwajae, who was nowhere to be seen.)

Shin Mieun was indeed a curious girl.

And it was that curiosity that would eventually cost her, her soul.

His lips were blazing, his kiss ardent. It was almost hungry and needy, in a way, as if it needed fuel to keep it burning. She felt as if he were every last drop of energy out of her, leaving her weak and disoriented. She couldn't really tell what else was going around her.

It was cold outside, the wind playing with her nightgown, which danced around her ankles. But Mieun didn't feel the cold at all now. She felt warm. Burning even.

His hands were fisted in her hair, almost painfully. She had never felt anything so exhilarating before. It was painful, as if a flame was consuming her whole body, at her heels. He groaned, almost a guttural sound, "Oh, how I've missed you. Eunmi...Eunmi..."

Eunmi?

No, no...I'm Mieun.

I'm Eun...Mieun.

I'm Mieun....aren't I?

No, I don't know who I am anymore.

She felt something light up inside of her. Her features were twisted in confusion. Wasn't her name Mieun? Why did he keep calling her Eunmi?

He cupped her chin with his blazing, fiery hands, looking at her with searing eyes. "Eunmi," he fervently breathed, "Eunmi, it's me. Daehyun. Eunmi. Why are you looking at me like that? It's me. Daehyun. Daehyun...Don't you remember me?"

Mieun gazed at him with glassy, unfocused eyes. "Hyun?" she whispered. "Hyun, is that you?" Her mind was so hazy right now. She couldn't think straight. Nothing was making sense to her. Why had he appeared now out of all the times she had waited and waited for him? Why come after she had finally given up hope that he would come to play with her?

Daehyun stared at her, perplexed. He shook his head, as if getting rid of a troubling thought. "No," he murmured to himself, "This is Eunmi. I've finally found Eunmi." Abruptly, he grabbed her arm roughly, jerking her into the shadows.

She yelped, and for a moment, the pain helped clear her mind. What was she doing here? Mother said to never talk to strangers. Mother said not to go out at night. She always said to not go outside, but if there was anything Mother was afraid of, it was the dark. Nighttime. She always told Mieun to never go out at night. Because at night, dangerous things lurked underneath the cover of darkness.

She resisted, pulling her arm back from his grip. He stared at her, wide-eyed. "Eunmi?" His tone was querulous, questioning. "Is something wrong?"

"No...yes...I don't know!" she cried, pulling herself away from him and starting to walk off. "I'm not supposed to be here. I shouldn't be here right now. And I should absolutely not be outside at night." She began to walk off, leaving Daehyun behind.

The leaves crackled noisily, and hands gripped her throats viciously. Mieun stumbled backwards, struggling to turn her head around. She felt light-headed and airy, her face slowly turning blue. Daehyun stared down at her with smoldering eyes. "You promised," he whispered angrily, "You promised you wouldn't leave. No, I won't let you leave."

Mieun couldn't reply; she could only desperately scratch at Daehyun's hands, trying to pry them away from so she could breathe once again. Daehyun repeated himself again, savagely and threateningly, "You're not leaving me, are you, Eunmi? You promised."

She weakly shook her head, 'No', her eyes rolling up to the back of her head. Satisfied, Daehyun released his grasp on her, and she feebly collapsed onto the ground, wheezing and coughing. was burning, and his hands seemed to have seared themselves to , making it painful every time she inhaled.

Very gently, he picked her up like a princess and kissed the crown of her hair lightly and lovingly, "I love you."

Mieun couldn't respond. All she could do was close her eyes and take slow, rattling breaths. She couldn't respond. She was too frightened. But once again, he forced her to respond. He squeezed her tightly in her arms, "Don't you love me? Why aren't you answering?"

Frantically, she coughed, "Yes...I do."

"Say it," he demanded imperiously, "I want you to say it."

She swallowed painfully, biting back a cry, "I...lo...lov..I love..you...Daehyun..."

He smiled, satisfied, once he heard the words that he wanted to hear. "I love you too, Eunmi," he whispered, her glossy, black hair. "I've missed you so much."

Mieun didn't reply this time. She just held back the tears that threatened to spill over.

He was insane.

 Daehyun was a madman.

And then they disappeared into the darkness together, one in the other's arms.

It was a long and cold journey. Daehyun blindfolded her, soothing her and saying that this was for the best. She couldn't argue. She was helpless. She was too frightened to even make a sound. She just wanted to pretend that this was still a part of her dream, and that she would wake up soon to discover that she was still shackled to the chair by her parents.

She was scared. She regretted sneaking outside. She regretted not listening to her parents' advice. Dangerous things really do lurk at night.

But his arms were so warm and comforting, and she felt like she was sitting near a warm, crackling fireplace during the winter. She would close her eyes, immediately feeling more at ease. She felt safe.  Safe and sound.

But then, she would open her eyes and see the darkness engulfing her, feel the scratchy fabric covering her eyes, and she would remember. She would remember that Daehyun was insane. She would remember that she should not have gone outside at night.

Daehyun's breath stirred her hair and chilled her neck as he murmured in her ear, "We're here." He gently took off the blindfold, but Mieun's eyes were still closed. She wasn't used to the sudden light that shone in her face. And she was too scared to open her eyes. Daehyun's voice hardened, "Open your eyes. Open them."

And so she did.

For she did not want to make Daehyun mad again.

She opened her eyes and gazed at words engraved into the door before gazing frightfully at Daehyun.

"Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes."

Abandon all hope, all ye who enter.

She shivered, feeling cold chills crawl up her back. He her glossy hair slowly, twirling the strands between his thumb and forefinger. He whispered in her ear, his hot breath on her neck, "Eunmi...why do you look at me like that? So full of distrust? It's me. Daehyun."

She shook, her nerves rattled. There was no mistaking the mad gleam in his eyes. She treaded carefully, picking her words with caution, "You're like the devil incarnate."

He smirked, tracing his fingers against the outline of her lips. “We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.” That was what he told her before he stole her lips. 

Third chapter is finally up! I'm seriously crying, everything in my life just decides to happen on the 18th, 19th, and 20th. I really want to cry. Why is life so cruel? I planned out a schedule on writing this. It seems like there are going to be seven chapters. They'll be getting shorter from now on, sorry. There's a reason, though. I want to thank my lovely readers for supporting this story! Also, Hwajae is a shortened form of the word 'fire'. Jeonhan is the shortened form of the word 'safe'. Anyone see the symbolism? -kitty.