I woke up to the feeling of warm sunlight against my face, and I squinted in discomfort. What time was it? How- Where was I? It was all so blurry and fuzzy, my head spun for a few moments as I tried to regain my bearings. I shifted my weight as I sat upright on the . . . bed (the heck?) and instantly regretted doing that as my whole body clenched in soreness.

The hell did I do last night to make me this sore?

Last night. . .

My eyes then flung wide open as the memories came in blurry bits and pieces. Last night. . . Creatures of shadows, Jongdae being struck by lightning, two strangers. . . and. . . a man- with wings. Memories came hurtling into my consciousness so vividly then that I groaned in discomfort, holding the side of my head. What kind of a horrible dream was that?

I- was sure it was a dream. But. . . why was it so clear and vivid? As if they were real.

My eyes only then noticed the unfamiliar vicinity that I was in. And my heart started thrumming in alert. This is not my bedroom, I thought almost instantly. Then. . . someone must've brought me somewhere. The possibility of last night being real was the kind of dread that tugged heavily on my heart.

I looked around the vicinity in alarm, trying to make sense of whatever that had befallen me. Were those memories just some vague dream and that the horrors were far from being true, or did it all really happen last night? My eyes drank in the unfamiliar sight of the room I was in. I noticed the bed that I was on; the white silken sheets were definitely not mine. And the decor that was too luxurious for my taste were undoubtedly telltales that I was somewhere new. Somewhere foreign.

"You're awake." A deep, rich voice - like thick, pure black coffee, greeted my ears. I whipped around with my heart pounding in my chest, and found a rather familiar man standing in front of me. Seeing my alarmed state, he held up his hands with a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. His onyx gaze twinkled.

I blinked in recognition. He. . . He was that guy I bumped with that night in front of my apartment! And. . . the guy in my dreams. . . the man with wings. Somehow, he fitted the description. It was like when you saw someone familiar but you couldn't really put a finger on just where you knew the person, and you just kept trying to remember where did they fit in the seconds of your daily life? Where did you meet them? I stared at the man in front of me, and the dream clicked. He was that guy!

"Easy there, dove." he slowly approached where I was still sitting on the bed, his palms held up. "You were out cold last night. Are you feeling okay now?"

The dread of what could have happened last night was still tugging heavily onto my heartstring. If it was all real, then. . . Oh god, I'd left my best friend dying in the rain last night. Surrounded by monsters, nonetheless! "What. . . exactly happened last night?"

The man simply regarded me with a hooded gaze; his obsidian iris held a bottomless pit, unabling me to take a read on him. His equally dark hair was tousled and messy, as if he'd just risen from bed and came straight to check up on me. And unlike last night, this time he was wearing a white button-down shirt, although the buttons were clumsily done. Either he was in a great hurry or he really didn't give a damn whether he wore the shirt properly or not; I had a feeling if given a choice, this man would rather be from the waist up, anyways. 

The gnawing feeling inside me was quickl