Something’s running after me. I don’t know what it is so I just run. I try running faster but I feel like with every advancement I make, I’m pulled back, never moving forward, just backward. I look behind me and that was a big mistake. I was trapped in its gaze and now I’m stuck. Stuck in a hold. Frozen. And then there is a light. The light disintegrated the darkness and shined brightly and I was free. But the light started to burn and I could feel my skin burning. I touch every where trying to put out the burning sensation but it was no use and then I was thrown into a lake, the burning ceasing. But the lake was ice cold and all of my limbs went numb and turned into ice and I was sinking further down into the lake. And then I see a boy. A young boy, maybe in his early 20’s, reaching his hand out to save me but I couldn’t move my arms. And then all of a sudden I was on land and free from my frozen state. I look for the boy and then I saw him. He was so beautiful. He had hair as black as a raven and a marking of some sort on his arm. He perched on top of a huge boulder watching me with his eyes. He had white wings of an angel but I had a bad feeling about him. His wings turned black and he circled above me like an eagle would do to a mouse and when he was ready, he swooped down with an open mouth ready to devour-.

 

       I woke up, breathing heavily, and sat up on my bed, looking left and right. It took me awhile to realize that I was safe in my room and that nothing could get me.

 

“Another nightmare? Ugh.”

 

       I’ve been having these nightmares ever since I was little. The same one almost every single time and I wanted to know what they meant but I just couldn’t understand.

      

       I looked out of my window and all I saw was a blanket of white. We were at our lodge in Canada and I really wanted to go outside but the weather man has been saying that there is a storm and it isn’t going to pass any time soon. I recalled the conversation I had with my mom the other day.

 

“Then why did we come here if there’s going to be a storm?”

 

“We had to come because we pay for this place every summer and I’m not going to waste any money because of a vacant lodge. Even though we are very blessed to be rich but I just wanted to leave California for a couple of weeks.”

 

“Then how come dad stayed in Cali?”

 

“Because he knew that there was a storm and he didn’t want to come this year.”

 

       My dad was always doing work and only had time in the summer so we rented this luxurious lodge so we could have fun as a family.

 

       I hop out of bed and go to the bathroom. Every single time I leave my bed I feel like something is following me and I always look back and nothing is there but I’ve grown to ignore it. I actually embraced it. I would sometimes talk to “It” like its actually there. I am a big fan of super natural things. Maybe that’s why I have been having the same dream since I was 6.

 

       After I clean myself up and change into something casual, I go into the kitchen where my mom was making breakfast.

 

“Morning, mom.” I say as I sit on one of the colorful stools in front of the counter.

 

“Good morning, honey.” Mom says as she puts the last sausage on a plate and sets it in front of me.

 

“I had the same dream again.” I say, taking a piece of my sausage and dropping it back onto the plate because it was still hot.

 

“Really? I wonder why you keep having these dreams.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“I’m going into town today. Do you want to come with me?” She says as she puts the used dishes into the dishwasher and turning it on.

 

“Actually mom, I don’t feel really good.” I lied.

 

“Oh. Then I’ll go with your brother.”

 

“Ok.” I say.

 

“I’m leaving in about 30 minutes. Just to let you know.” She says as she leaves the kitchen.

 

“Alright.” I say and she was out of sight.

 

       30 minutes later and I was all alone inside the lodge.

 

“Ugh, so bored. I want to go outside.”

 

       I walked over to the window and looked outside. It wasn’t that bad. There was enough snow for me to go snowboarding.

 

“I don’t care what the weather man says, I’m going outside.” I say selfishly. I walked to my bedroom and got myself prepared to go snowboarding.

 

       When I was appropriately dressed for snowboarding, I went to the garage to get my purple board. I looked to my left and saw a silhouette of a man. I screamed and looked away. I looked again and the figure was gone.

 

“Hmph. Maybe it was nothing.”

 

       I walk outside and go to the top of a hill that was on the side of the lodge and position myself to sleigh down the hill. The snow was pouring down even harder and I was starting to think this was a bad idea. ‘I should of listened to the weather man.’ I thought to myself. ‘I’m just going to go inside and make myself some hot chocolate.’ I hopped to turn the board so I could go inside the lodge but all of my body weight weighed down on the board and I was speeding down the hill.

 

       Snow pelted my face and I couldn’t not stop myself, I was going too fast. I was racing down the hill, barely seeing where I was going, and praying that I wouldn’t slam into a tree. I sleighed over a small hole, which caused me to tumble and roll violently down the hill, then all of a sudden, I was face first into the snow.

 

       I didn’t know how much time had passed but I woke up and found myself inside a cozy room or house. I looked around the room and saw my ski equipment propped up against a chair. ‘Where am I?’ I thought to myself.

 

“I believe I can answer that for you.”

 

       I turned my head towards the voice and a boy came into view. He looked strangely familiar but I didn’t know where he was from. How did he know that I wanted to know where I was?

 

“Where am I?” I managed to say.

 

“Why hello to you too.”

 

“Are you not going to answer my question?”

 

“I’ll answer those later but, oh my, look at those scars on your face.”

 

       I didn’t know what he was talking about until he grabbed a mirror off of the table and held it to my face. I looked horrible. I’ve never seen my face so full of scars and bruises.

“I can fix those for you.” He says as he puts the mirror back onto the table and comes closer to me.

 

       I tried to move my legs but they wouldn’t budge. I didn’t want him to touch me.

 

“You can’t move, you broke your legs. What a shame!”

 

       Why does this kid know all about me? Did he have a full examination of my body while I was passed out or something? I didn’t trust him.

 

“Are you going to let me help you or are you just  going to stare at me?”

 

       I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded. The faster he helps me the faster I could get out of here. He walked over to his cabinet drawers and took out a little vile. ‘What? Is he going to drug me now?’ 

 

“This thing will help with all of the injuries or pain that you have. This will cure anything and plus I would never drug you.”

 

       How did he know that I thought he was going to drug me? He walked over to the bed I was laying on and sat in the little space. He opened the vile and held my head so I could drink the liquid from the tiny bottle. It tasted like fruits.

      

       After drinking the fluid, I suddenly felt much better. The pain on my face and hands were gone and the feeling in my legs slowly came back.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome.” He stood up from the bed and placed the vile back into the drawer.

 

“So now will you answer my questions?” I say sitting up on the bed.

 

“Yes. Now is the appropriate time to ask.” He says, sitting on one of the couches of what I guess is a living room.

 

“Ok. Where am I?”

 

“You are in Seoul.”

 

“Wait. What?”

 

“Seoul. The darkest place on Earth. All of the magic happens here. Wizards, Vampires, Werewolves, Shape shifters, Witches, and Angels live here. I’ve lived here all of my life.” He says proudly.

 

“So does this mean that I’m not in Canada?”

 

“Yes.”

 

       I couldn’t believe what I just heard. Not in Canada? ‘How did this happen?’

 

“It kind of happened when you took the portal to get here.”

 

“Why do you keep doing that?”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Answering my questions when I’m asking them inside my head.”

 

“Because I am a mind reader and wizard. My father was telepathically enriched and my mother, well she is a witch so I inherited both qualities.”

 

“What? I thought these things didn’t even exist.” I say, scratching my head.

 

“Oh, they do. Do you remember all of those precious dreams that you have? The ones that you call ‘nightmares’’?” He says as he makes the quotation gesture with his fingers.

 

“Yes. I’ve been having them ever since I was 6.”

 

“Well then you should thank me because I was the one causing your nightmares.”

 

“Why would I thank you?”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

       I look at him even closer and I now know where he was from. He was from all of my dreams. He had the same black hair and tribal tattoo on his upper right arm. He was the beautiful “angel” that was in my dream last night.

      

       In my dreams I felt very close to him. On some nights he would be my lover and we would go flying in the night and making love by day but on other nights he would hurt me. Slashing my eyes out, cutting my skin with his sharp nails, making high pitch sounds to make my ears bleed and chopping my fingers off, everything to harm me but I would come back wanting more.

 

“So you’re the one that has caused me so much pain and suffering for the past 15 years.”

 

“Yes and I’m sorry.”

 

“Sorry?! Do you know how emotionally distressed I am. I haven’t had real friends since I was 6 when you started this crap. Why did you do it?”

 

“I had to. I was forced to and I had no choice and I said I was sorry.”

 

“Sorry won’t fix the scars you’ve caused.”

 

“I said I was sorry and I’m glad that you came to me today so I could tell you face to face.” He stood up from his seat and sat back in the space on the bed.

 

“I guess.”

 

“I’ve been watching over you ever since you were 6 and I know everything about you. So I’m going to tell you about me.”

 

“Whatever.” I crossed my arms as I prepared myself to listen.

 

“My name is Kim Jonghyun, son of, well you already know. I am on a mission to destroy the evil witch. She is the reason why I have terrorized you for all of these years and she’s making more wizards do the same. She has threatened to kill me many times before for not harming you enough in your dreams. That’s why in some of your dreams I’ve wounded you, almost killed you and made you suffer, but in other ones, I wanted to show you that I care and love you.”

 

       I turned all of my attention to him. ‘Love? Did he just say love?’

 

“Yes I said love. I really do love you and I would never want to hurt you but I was forced to. I’ve been alive for 368 years and you’re the only girl that I’ve ever truly loved.”

 

       ‘Ugh, why does he keep doing that? I have no privacy in my own mind.’

 

“Sorry. I’m so used to it.”

 

“Yeah, I can tell. So does this mean that I have to love you too or no?”

 

“You don’t have to but I would love for you to.”

 

“Right.”

 

“And I need your help.”

 

“For what?”

 

“Help me kill the witch.”

 

“I don’t know how to kill the witch.”

 

“Exactly. All I need is your mind.”

 

“My mind?”

 

“Yes, that’s all I need.”

 

I thought about it for a second. “Ok.”

 

“Thank you so much.” He kissed me on the cheek.

 

“I don’t even know you like that, so why are you kissing me?”

 

“Sorry. I’m so used to doing it in your dreams that I wanted to know what it felt like in real life.”

 

“Real life. Will I ever be able to see my family again?”

 

“Yes. Before the portal closes.”

 

“And when does it close?”

“In 3 days.”

 

“Well then we have plenty of time.”

“Actually, no we don’t. In your world, it takes 24 hours for just one day, which is such a drag, but here, it’s 5 hours per day.”

 

“What? Then we have to go now.”

 

“I know. But you have to take a few things before we go.”

 

“Ok, let’s do it.”

 

“Alright.”

 

       Jonghyun helped me off of the bed and we walked into the kitchen where he had a whole bunch of different concoctions boiling in many different cauldrons. Surprisingly it didn’t smell like anything in here but Jonghyun had on a mask.

 

“Why do you have on a mask?”

 

“Because it really stinks in here. Your human nose will never pick up the stench.”

 

“Cool.”

 

       After making me drink different liquids, I felt like a new person. I felt like I could fly or sleep on a cloud.

 

“Ok. So I made you drink all of these different things because one of the potions disguises the human scent on you, another helps you dream while you are awake, a different one, that I just created, allows us to talk without us speaking to each other and the last one will give you the strength/endurance/speed to walk 10 miles in 8 minutes.” He informed.

 

“So we are walking there?” I say disappointedly.

 

“Yeah, but we are going to get there quick.”

 

“I thought we were flying.”

 

“I can’t fly.” He says with a your-an-idiot face.

 

“But in my dream you were an angel and could fly.”

 

“I exaggerate a little in your dreams and those stereotypes about wizards are not true. Wizards can’t fly at all.”

 

“Well thank you for shedding the light on me.” I say smiling.

 

“Why, thank you madam.”

 

“Should we go?”

 

“Yes.”

 

       Jonghyun grabbed a bag that was on his table and I headed towards the door and waited for him. All of a sudden I wanted to go on this walk. The walk to Jonghyun’s freedom.

 

       10 minutes later and we were inside the lair of the witch. It was very easy to come inside. It was like the guards wanted us to come in.

 

       When we were in the corridors of the castle, I felt sudden chills racing up and down my back. Jonghyun looked determined but also pained, like he didn’t want to kill the witch but had to.

 

‘Are you ok? ’ I thought to myself wondering if this potion actually worked.

 

‘Yes. Just nervous.’

 

‘Well don’t be, you have me and this potion actually worked.’

 

‘Yeah I know. I’m proud of myself.’

 

       As we walked further down the long hallways and towards an open doorway, we could hear high pitched laughing and giggling. When we walked into the opening of the large room, the witch stopped laughing.

 

“Jonghyun, what are you doing here? I thought you were out breaking that girl and crushing her dreams.” She says in a cheerful but evil voice.

 

“I’m here on business.”

 

“And what kind of business are you here for?” She questioned him.

“An important one. Something very important to me.”

 

“Well what is it my son?”

 

‘What? The witch is your mother.’

 

‘Sadly, yes.’ 

 

‘Can she even see me?’

 

‘No. That’s what that potion was for. If I hadn’t had made you drink that, you would have been dead already.’

 

“Well are you going to say something?” The witch was getting impatient.

 

‘When I tell you, think of something happy.’ Jonghyun thought and I nodded.

 

“WELL ARE YOU GOING TO STAND THERE ALL DAY?!” She screamed.

 

‘NOW! ’ Jonghyun thought loudly.

 

       I thought of the times when I was with my family in the mountains in Canada, laughing and having a great time. I looked at the witch and she looked weak. I guess happy thoughts depletes her power so I thought of even happier things. While I thought about them, Jonghyun was fighting off guards and he was doing pretty good. I started to think about the good times I had in California with the little friends that I had and then I thought about my father. My father wasn’t home all of the time and this was my sad thought which made the witch grow stronger. The witch said a spell which multiplied the number of guards running towards Jonghyun.

 

“NO!” I scream.

 

       I start thinking about the good things that Jonghyun and I went through. The times in my dreams when he would hold my hand while we were walking through the woods, the times when he would write me special little love notes, and also the times when we would play little hand games. This made the witch grow weak again but Jonghyun was in trouble. There was nothing I could do for him except take out the main source. The witch.

 

       I looked around the room and saw a spear that one of the guards had dropped. I ran to it and picked it up. I aimed the spear towards the witch and threw it. The spear went through her heart. She flipped over the ledge and fell down from her balcony. She laid there on the floor, lifeless.

      

       I searched for Jonghyun under lifeless bodies of the guards and found him underneath a heavyset guard. I pushed the guard from on top of Jonghyun and held him in my arms.

 

“Please wake up Jonghyun, please. We defeated the witch, together. Don’t leave me like this. Please, please wake up.” I let out a deep breath. “I love you. There I said it. Wake up, wake up, wake up…”

 

       I opened my eyes and squinted from all of the light illuminating from the windows. The only person I could see was my mom in my face telling me to wake up. I looked around the room and was very unfamiliar with the place. It looked like I was in the hospital. ‘Was I in the hospital?’

 

“Honey, you’re awake!” My mom says touching my face.

 

“Where am I?” I say hoarsely.

 

“You’re in the hospital.”

 

“No, I’m not.”

 

“Yes, you are. I guess you went out into the snow and slipped. You broke your left leg and you hit your head. You were in a coma for 3 days.”

 

“3 days? That’s how long I have to get back.”

 

“Honey, get back from where?”

 

       I realized that everything I was experiencing was a dream. From breaking both of my legs, drinking different potions, killing the witch, and Jonghyun. ‘Oh no, where’s Jonghyun? I have to see if he’s ok.’ I began trying to lift myself off of the bed but I couldn’t move. My legs were wedged in something.

 

“You can’t move, honey, you’re in a cast.

 

       So all the things that I “dreamed” was all fake. There is no such thing as Seoul and wizards and Jonghyun. I felt like I wanted to cry.

 

       The hospital room door opened and a man came inside with flowers.

 

“Honey, I want you to meet the man that saved your life. He saw you in the snow hurt and he called the ambulance.”

 

       He placed the flowers on the bedside table and came into my view. I looked at him with wide eyes. I thought he was fake, a made up person in my head but here he is right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. He was here. In this room. With me. He had the same black hair. I looked at his arm and he had the same tattoo-looking marking on his jacket sleeve.

 

“Hello. My name is Jonghyun.”

 

       I was so happy and speechless that I didn’t know what to do. All of the emotions were dancing inside of me and messing with my brain. I suddenly felt like I was floating and sluggish. I saw him put his finger to his mouth and mouth the word “shh” and then everything went black.