Chapter 34

Important Note: When this chapter was written, XOXO has not yet been released, so is the full version of Baby Don't Cry. So back then, I had edited a special lengthened version of the teaser back then. If you still would want to hear it, here it is.

Important Note Continuation: But should you wish to use the official full version of the song, you can as well.

12:24

That was the time on the clock when my eyes opened suddenly, my chest rising up and down and my breaths taken in pants. My room was still dark, which was explainable because it has only just been past 12 midnight. Everything was still bound to be shadowed by darkness.

Darkness.

Just as the word lingered in my mind, images of the dream that caused me to wake up like this flashed through my thoughts... one by one.

I was standing on a concrete flooring with strange markings, those seemingly stemming to the occult and dark arts. Everything around me was shrouded in darkness, a cold and deadly air hanging with only a small patch of light around me. I had wanted to move from my standing position, but I was unable to do so. It seemed like my feet were rooted to the ground, my upper body the only thing that's able to move.

That inability to do anything already unsettled me, but when a huge but cloaked figure appeared in front of me and stared me down with flame-like red eyes, I almost lost my sanity. I tried to sruggle against the force making me still from the waist down, but I couldn't win over it. 

The feeling of helplessness gripped my entire frame, and I knew I couldn't go against that cloaked figure anytime soon.

"Those men might have made you happy today, but they will hurt you one day or another." I recalled the words of the cloaked figure when it had floated over to the spot in front of me, and the echoing deep voice despite his hidden mouth.

"Stop it." I had answered back in the bravest tone I could manage, but when the next words finally sunk in, I knew I had lost the battle.

"You were not cut out for any good thing in this world, for you are a nobody."

Stop it...

"Someone who doesn't even know when she was born is not one who could be called human."

Stop saying these things...

"You are nothing in this world. Nothing."

"I SAID STOP!"

My eyes widened as I managed to shout just at the memory of the cloaked figure's words. Visibly stunned, I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. It seemed like those statements in my dream echoed inside my head, and I felt just as helpless as I was when I was facing it. I tried to look around my room, surprise crawling into my veins when the normal darkness of my room seemed so suffocating.

It was never like that before.

Unknowingly, something wet rolled down my cheeks, and only then did I understand that I was already crying.

I closed my eyes and tried to swallow the lump in my throat, trying hard not to admit that fear was already in my system because of that dream. I couldn't look at the dark the same way anymore.

I was only brought back to reality when a familiar deep masculine voice called out to me softly.

"Shirin-ah, what's wrong?"

My eyes snapped open, only to meet the dark orbs of Kai-yah.

"I was just going to check up on you and go back, but I don't think I'd go home quickly upon seeing you like this." were the only words I heard from him before I felt some weight to my right, making my cushions sink a little as he sat beside me. The next thing I knew, smooth fingers were brushing off the tears from my eyes and Kai-yah's eyes seemed to be much closer.

"What made you cry, Shirin-ah? It wouldn't hurt to tell me." He said in a soft tone, his hold on my my cheek gentle as he continued to stare into my watering eyes.

With Kai-yah's figure close to me, I felt a warmth that invaded every bone in my bo