You call me when you're hurting,

You only disclose it to me when you want.

Should I turn back time? Should I give you his heart?

When you can't forget you need to take it,

Just believe in me and follow, he's coming to me.

Time is on your side, just wait.

The tears he made you cry, I'll cry them for you.

Tick tock tick tock, everything will come true.

I heard a voice sing out. I turned and couldn't find where it was coming from, in fact, I was in a blanket of darkness. The voice sang again, saying something along the lines of taking out all my fury, or expressing any harbored feelings I had in my heart on them. The voice seemed to entrap me in an invisible embrace that felt comforting. So comforting. However, the feeling was at the same time, foreign to me. Nothing had comforted me the way it did.

I heard the sound of thunder cracking, as if mocking my thoughts when lightning illuminated the sky and I could finally see. I saw a man in front of me. He stood about a head taller. He was dressed in what seemed like rags from a potato sack. Yet, that wasn't the shocking part. His eyes bore a big black 'X' on each eye instead of normal pupils. He reached out a hand towards me mouthing something I didn't understand. 

I suddenly felt the floor disappear and then I understood what he was tryng to say: Tick tock tick tock, everything will come true, everything will disappear.

I woke up with a jolt, sitting up in bed with a hand over my heart. I was breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath. I could hear light thumping in my ears. I had never had a dream so strange before. I looked at the clock beside my bed and read 3:32 a.m.  My breathing slowed as well as my heart beat. I ran a hand through my hair, which was wet from sweat and rested my head back on the head board of my bed. It was then, when I spotted something peculiar in my room.

Through the small light coming through my window, I could make out the shape of something big sitting at my feet. It didn't move. My pulse began to speed up again, as I slowly got off the bed to switch the lights on. I flicked the switch on and my heart stopped.

There he was.

The man from my dreams. He was sitting where my feet were previously. My hand instinctively went to my mouth as a shrill scream broke through the night. I soon realized it was my own. I pretty much fainted right there and then.

As I awoke later on, I felt a presence beside me. My eyes fluttered open to see someone sitting next to me staring down.

"Awake yet?" I heard them call from above me. I sat up avoiding hitting head agaisnt theirs. My lights were still on and I had to adjust my eyes. When I got a clear look at their face, my eyes widened.

"You..." I said, barely audible.

"Hello," he said as his head tilted to the side a little.

"Who are you?" I asked. I blinked a few times just to make sure he was really there.

"Hongbin, of course," he replied, as if it was obvious. Then a light bulb flickered in my mind and I remembered something. The day before, there was a package. I looked at my finger where I put a bandage over and remember when I pricked it for the blood to do some rip-off voodoo magic that came in the mail. Although, it might have not been a rip-off after all.

"The voodoo doll yesterday...it's name was Hongbin," I said still caught in my thoguhts.

"'It's'? That was me. When you dropped your blood on me, you summoned me and brought me to life," he said.

"What? No, that's impossible. You were a doll."

"Well, now I'm not."

"Great," I muttered. "Are you suppose to help me in some sort of way, or something?" He rose an eyebrow as if thinking of how to reply.

"Only if you choose to use me. I can only help with your feelings. You want revenge on someone? I help. You need a shoulder to cry on? I'm there. Last, but not least, you're angry? Take it out on me," he said. I took a few moments to take in what he said, and then what Minseok was saying. Maybe, if he really could, he could help me to be the way everyone else wanted.

"Okay, maybe I will use you," I said as I looked at the clock again. It was still early, about five in the morning, but I figured I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. "Just, let me go wash my face and brush my teeth."

I slid off my bed and entered my restroom. I the water and let the cool water run over man hands as I spashed them on my face. I took a towel from the counter and patted my face, drying it. I brushed my teeth eagerly and looked in the mirror. "I can't believe I'm doing this," I mumbled to myself.

As I walked out of the restroom, Hongbin was nowhere to be found. I felt a strange panicked feeling and walked out of my bedroom to find him sitting calmly at my dinner table. I subconsciously sighed with relief.

I sat down across him and he turned his head towards me.

"So, you're really going ot use me?" he asked. I nodded. "I see." He thought for a moment and spoke again.

"I'll be your voodoo doll, under one condition: you help me."

"What?" I asked confused.

"I get a choice of helping you too, you know," he replied.

"Oh. Well, I can try," I said. He shook his head.

"Not good enough. You have to sincerely promise. I've lived for quite a long time, so I can tell what's sincere and what is not," he said. 

"I will promise to try, but I can't gaurantee I'll help. Can you tell me what it is you need help with?" I asked in the most sincere way possible. I couldn't even begin to imagine what a voodoo might have needed help with.

"I want to be human again," he said.

"...And I can help, how?"

"You fall in love with me." I stared at him.

"You're a voodoo doll. I can't fall in love with you," I said.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. How do you know you wouldn't fall in love with me after all the times I will help you go through?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. 

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see then," I replied.

"Promise."

"I'll promise to try." And with that, we both came to a silent agreement. For me, he'll help me become what some would consider "normal". As for him, I must fall in love.

AUTHOR'S CORNER

I'm so sorry this took so long to update! I've been so distracted and busy with everything else, so by the time I got to this, I totally forgot what to write...OTL Sorry again. I really really appreciate comments. They help motivate me to write, so even if you have nothing really to say, even "hi" is okay. LOL so yeah. Hope you guys liked the chapter.