I was running. I’d been running a long distance for a long time, but no matter how fast I ran, no matter how far I went, the shadow man always found me. He was always a few steps ahead of me, a few steps behind me, and he surrounded me, knowing where I was headed, even when I dod not. I always ran into traps and dead ends, which made my pursuer laugh maliciously as he watched me scramble around. My heart was pumping so fast as I was scared, terrified of what may come next. I stopped to catch my breath as beads of sweat ran down my face. When I regained my breath, I studied my surroundings, scrutinizing every detail. There were huge buildings that were so tall, they reached the sky. They loomed over you, dark and abandoned, creating an ominous atmosphere. Short, fat buildings were also crowded into spaces next to the taller ones. All of these buildings were desolate and run down, falling apart from negligence. The street that I walked down had big, meandering cracks, and the sidewalks looked just as bad. Debris was scattered all over the ground from the materials that had fallen from the surrounding buildings. Plant life was nonexistent as the ground was full of debris. Trees that once stood proudly were now bare and hollow. Vehicles were still on the streets of this city with broken windshields and dents, and some were on their side as if a giant toddler just kicked them over in a rage. Some streetlamps barely work, emitting a dull glow to gave me limited visibility. The lights did help to a certain extent, but the towering buildings still cast shadows all around me, in which the shadow man stayed hidden. He was in all of these shadows, keeping a close watch on me.

As I hesitantly walked, I came to an intersection. I did not know which way to go, as I could not see far enough to tell if the roads were dead ends. I made a right turn and noticed a yellow taxi car turned over on its side with flames coming from within. Looking behind me as I stopped, I wondered if this could be a trap, as this was the only vehicle down this road. My heart started beating rapidly. I couldn hear its thumps in my ears as I began to walk closer to the vehicle. There was a strange noise coming from the car. Maybe someone needed help. Walking closer, the noise became louder, the sound reminding me of someone hyperventilating during a panic attack. I got down on my hands and knees to peer through the window of the taxi. It was unusually dark inside, but it was still apparent that no one was in there. If there was, there would be some type of movement within the car. But if no one was in there, then where was that noise coming from?

Climbing back up on my feet, I slowly made my way past the car and saw a naked body sitting down in the fetal position. The way that this person was positioned made it hard to distinguish if they were male or female. The person had their hands covering their face as they made that horrendous noise. The individual also had no hair on his or her head, arms, or legs. This person was trembling with fear, as if they had lost someone or something important. I stopped in my tracks to process this image. I had seen this person here before, but this scene scared me so badly that I usually just ran away. Maybe this person was trapped here like I was.

Mustering up some courage, I took a step towards the body. “Are you alright?” I asked as my voice quivered.

The being did not make a noise, nor did it acknowledge my presence. Maybe my voice was a bit too quiet for the person to hear. Clearing my throat and raising my voice, I started again. “Excuse me? Are you alright? Do you need me to help you?” There was still no reply to my questions. I took another step towards this person and said, “Please, let me help you.” As I said this, I was in the middle of reaching out to place my hand on the person’s shoulder, but before I could, the being whipped its head in my direction to stare at me. This sudden movement startled me as I let out a little shriek. What frightened me most was that this thing did not have a face. This poor soul’s skin was tan, but that was as far as my description could go. Its head held no eyes, no nose, no mouth, and no ears. It was still undetermined what gender it belonged to because there simply were no genitalia. It wasn’t as if this person was injured in a fire or anything because its skin looked to be as smooth as a baby’s.

I took a step back, not removing my eyes from the disfigured being before me. He stood up as he made those terrible sounds again, only this time, they were much louder and sounded more aggressive. The ear-shattering noise of his panic, from wheezing to shrieking, echoed off the buildings that surrounded us. He started to limply walk towards me while raising his arm to reach out and grab me. I took a few steps back every time he took a step towards me because I didn’t know what it would do, nor did I know how strong this person was. One thing was for sure: I was not going to stay here to find out, so I did the one thing that made sense to me: I ran away.

As I ran away, I was running in the direction from which I came. Looking behind me, I saw the figure that I had encountered become swallowed by the shadows. Some of the streetlights turned off, making my attempts to escape more difficult. With the lights going out, I could not see where I was going and feared meeting the shadow man at any minute. Stopping to catch my breath again, I started having an internal conversation with myself. How do I get out of here? I thought to myself.

If there is no way to get out, then I need to at least find a safe place where I can hide, my thoughts responded.

There has to be a way to get out of here…

You know that you cannot leave unless he allows you to…

But what am I supposed to do? Where am I to hide? I asked myself as I scanned the environment around me.

Just hide before he finds you!

I frantically started searching down every alley and through every window for a place that felt even a little safe to me, but there was no luck in my search for a sanctuary.

Suddenly, an ominous laugh cackled, piercing through the shadows that surrounded me and echoed off the buildings and in my ears. I gasped as I froze, unsure of what to do next, unsure of what could happen next. My mind started reeling with the endless possibilities that the unknown shadow man could inflict upon me. My eyes were widened as I scanned the shadows for this man, as I could still feel his eyes watching me.

A light from one of the bottom rooms in the building to my left turned on. This was odd because I had never seen a light come from any of the abandoned buildings here. Curiosity overcame me as I walked toward the window where the light shone. My best friend, Ruth, was in the room. Black streaks of eyeliner ran down her face from the tears that were falling from her eyes. She looked to be very scared, and I could tell that she felt completely helpless as she searched the room.

“Ruth!” I yelled while banging on the window.

Ruth did not react to my yell or the banging noise on the glass, so I knocked on the window harder as I called out her name louder. She still did not acknowledge my attempts to catch her attention. She almost jumped out of her skin when the door to the room flew open with a ridiculous amount of force. My friend was standing in the middle of the room when she started slowly moving backward as her eyes stayed completely fixed upon whoever or whatever was standing on the other side of the door. As she fell to her knees, I could hear her pleading with an entity, begging them to let her go when there was suddenly a blinding blue light that engulfed the room. I was trying to keep my eyes on Ruth, but her figure became lost in the light. When the blue glow began to fade, I could see her lifeless body lying on the floor.

“Ruth!” I cried out while knocking on the window harder.

A dark laugh bellowed at my grief.

“Ruth!” I screamed, hoping to see her move, but she did not. As I stood there trying to grasp the concept of her death, I knew that I could not accept or admit it to myself.

The menacing laugh sounded again as the light from this room began to fade as if this were the end to a play. Staring into the pitch-black room, I couldn’t move or I think. It felt as though time itself froze, and I stopped with it. When the ominous laugh hit its last note, I felt a breath hit the back of my neck. Unable to move, there was a cold hand with unusually long fingers that grabbed my right wrist. My heart began to skip beats, and I was unable to catch my breath. I was suddenly spun around to meet my shadow man face to face.

This guy was huge, looming over my body at seven to eight feet tall. He had a black, hooded cloak that hid his face. His hands were pale, almost white, with a light gray tone to the skin. The fingers were long and spindly, and they were noticeably not disproportionate with his hands. He resembled the Grim Reaper without the scythe.

“Well, well, looks like the cat finally caught the mouse,” his deep voice muttered.

I just stared at him, unable to find my voice. I could feel his gaze burning through me.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Sarai?” He chuckled. “Don’t you understand why you are here?”

How does he know my name? I thought to myself in confusion and bewilderment. This guy that haunted me and tormented me had never presented himself to me before now.

“I know all about you, Sarai. I know more about you than you know about yourself,” the faceless man said with amusement in his tone.

Gazing up into the black void that shrouded his face, I still could not speak. My thoughts rushed back to the faceless individual that I ran into earlier, and to Ruth in the building that my back was now turned towards.

I heard a sneer in the shadow man’s voice as he spoke. “Your friend is of no importance. She was meaningless and pathetic.” He laughed a cold yet amused laugh as if he enjoyed my pain. “You have other more concerning matters that you must attend to, Sarai. Your little friend would only just get in the way.”

Rage grew inside of me as he talked of Ruth as if her life didn’t matter as if she were a nuisance. “Don’t you dare talk of her that way! You do not know her because if you did, then you would know that she is not meaningless or pathetic!” My voice trembled with anger. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

He laughed with amusement. “My, my, look at who suddenly grew a backbone!”

I glared at him. “You have no right to decide who lives and who dies in this world.” Or does he? I wondered. He is the walking epitome of Death.

The shadow man chuckled and said, “Oh dear, I am far worse than Death.”

My eyes widened, and my mouth almost dropped open. “How do you know what I am thinking?”

As soon as I spit this question out, his whole demeanor changed. He let go of my wrist as frustration washed over him, and he turned away from me. “This is why I cannot stand humans! Everything, all of the potential that you people hold, is completely wasted upon your entire species! The human race is so feeble, so ignorant to what lies in front of your noses! If any of you were smart enough, you wouldn’t be so weak! Wasteful!”

“If you hate our kind so much, then why am I here? Why do you keep following me?”

Looking back at me, the shadow man said, “Because you are a very valuable asset to my success.”

This guy is completely crazy.

“Do not call me crazy!” he began, enraged by my thought. “You are just a puny and sorry excuse of your dimension. Centuries!” he yelled. “Centuries I have wasted upon you, watching you grow, learning your secrets, waiting for you to gain the strength to carry out my plans!”

“What do you mean, centuries, and what makes you so sure that I would even help you?”

He laughed. “Don’t you ever think that you are capable of deceiving me, Sarai. I know where you are, I know what you think, I know what breaks you and what makes you give in. I know all of your failures, even ones you have forgotten. So don’t you dare even think you are smart enough to mislead me.”

“Well, obviously, if I am the only person that can help you, then you have no choice but to take my word for what it is. And if I choose not to help you, you may lock me up, you may torture me, but you cannot kill me.”

“Me? Not kill you?” He laughed uncontrollably. “My dear, I honestly do not care whether you live or die. It is rather an annoying inconvenience when you die, but you always turn back up. Even so, you make it rather easy for me to find you.”

Perplexed, I just stared inquisitively at the figure standing before me. “What do you mean I always turn back up?”

His amusement started to become overshadowed by irritation with me and my questions. He turned away from me again, maybe trying to grasp his sanity, I didn’t know, but since he had his back to me, I decided to take this opportunity to run. I ran down the street, trying to find a way out of this place. There at least had to be somewhere I could go to get out of this abandoned city.

As I ran, I took many turns into alleys and streets, thinking that this would make it even more difficult for the shadow man to keep up with me. When I felt that I was a good distance away from this man, I stopped running and walked as I scrutinized my surroundings.

A deep, hysterical laugh sounded from all of my surroundings. I could feel his stare watching me. “You cannot run from me, Sarai. You cannot hide from me.” His voice and laugh chased me everywhere I went.

Suddenly, I ran right into him. His hand gripped around my throat as I gasped for air. His grip tightened as he raised me by my throat and slammed my back against the building behind me. Laughing his wicked chuckle, he then said, “Found you!”

“Who are you?” I croaked, trying to breathe as my hands grabbed at his wrists.

“My name is Silas, and you, Sarai, are coming with me. You are mine!” His voice grew dark as he claimed me as his.

“No!” My voice croaked again at his possessive command.

He brought his face close to mine. “Why do you say no, my dear? Don’t you want to live with me as you cater to my every demand?”

I said nothing to Silas, as I could not breathe. Struggling for air, panic overcame me as my mind started racing through everything that had happened throughout my whole life that had led up to now. I was now convinced that this guy was going to kill me, since my life started flashing before my eyes.

Silas started laughing again at my pain, at my struggle to stay alive. “You humans are so entertaining when you are inches away from death. The way you squirm, the way your minds wander as you cannot keep a clear thought in your little heads.” Suddenly, he grew disgusted as he said, “So pathetic.” And he let me drop to my knees. “My people can tear through yours like you are nothing but tissue paper. How can someone like you be placed in a world like this? So filthy and dishonorable. No pride, no strength—only weakness and beggary.”

Throughout his speech, I was coughing until I was finally able to inhale the air that my lungs desperately craved. I finally was able to speak. “Why do you speak as though you are so different? Look at everything you have just done and what you have been doing to me since I was four! What are you compared to me? A demon?”

This tickled Silas as he laughed uncontrollably. “My dear, I am far worse than what you humans consider to be demons.”

Anxiety washed through me by this statement. Something inside me told me that his words were true. My eyes never left the tall, shadowy figure that stood before me. I began to feel sick as this man laughed at my weakness, at my whole existence.

“You people do not even realize the things that are around you. All of you are certain that you are the only living beings throughout the universe. When I, my darling, live in a place much like this, tucked right beside yours. That is why you are important to me. You will help me rise to greater power, as well as bring me greater strength. My abilities will be something that no one can imagine and all will envy,” Silas carried on with his speech proudly, but I wasn’t listening.

My mind was trying to process this information. What is he talking about? How do I have the ability to carry out what he wants? I would love to know how I could harvest such an ability, but at the same time, I do not want to know. If I knew how to do these things, then it would only benefit him. If I knew what I was capable of and how to use these abilities, then I risk the chance of putting everyone and everything in danger. “What do you mean you come from a place that is tucked beside mine? Are you talking of a different dimension?”

Silas became amused. “My dear, haven’t you wondered why you are so different from everyone else?”

I did not respond. Of course, I always wondered how and why I could do the things I was able to do.

As Silas was about to start another speech, one of the streetlights began to flicker to the left of us. We both looked toward the flickering light and noticed a figure standing there. It was obvious that this person was a male by his height and build. “Let her go!” the stranger demanded. The man looked to be about my age with shoulder-length black hair. In the way he held himself, you could tell that he was a leader and feared very little, if anything at all.

Silas grew angry and irritated at this man’s presence. “What are you doing here?” he hissed.

I wondered how these two knew each other.

The mystery man walked closer, and I could now see his eyes. They were a beautiful green with a dark yellow that bordered his pupils. His head slightly tilted downward, and his eyes grew dark. “I said, let her go. NOW.” The stranger’s voice rang with power.

As he grew nearer, I felt safe. I felt as though I could relax, as though he were someone who I could trust. There was something different about this man, and I felt that there was some sort of connection between us that I could not explain. It was as if there were this invisible tether that pulled harder as he drew nearer. I began to take a step closer to him, hypnotized by this mysterious person and feeling, when Silas pushed me against the building, smacking my head against the wall.

He ran off, and my stranger went after him as I dropped to my knees, grabbing my head. My head ached, and my heart felt like it was beating in my head. The sound echoed in my ears while every beat crippled me with pain.

Suddenly, there was a hand on my shoulder. It startled me, but I didn’t move, ignoring everything around me as the pain in my head consumed my full attention.

“Are you alright?” my handsome stranger asked with his tone filled with concern.

“My head is killing me, but I’ll be fine,” I replied before looking up at him.

“Wow, you have a pretty good-sized bump on your head already.”

Blood rushed to my face as I became embarrassed by this.

He smiled, showing his straight white teeth. His smile was contagious, as I started smiling back at him.

“Thank you for running Silas off,” I said. There was a moment of silence as he didn’t respond but just looked deeply into my eyes. “What is your name?” I asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

“Rory.”

“I’m Sarai.”

Rory smiled and said, “I know who you are, my love.”

“How does everyone here know who I am?” I asked, perplexed with a little aggravation.

“Right now is not the time nor place to answer that,” Rory responded as he looked around in the shadows that surrounded us. Rory put his hand out to help me to my feet.

When our skin touched, there was an intense, electrifying sensation that ran through my body. It was exhilarating, and even though I did not quite understand it, I did not want it to stop. Before I could question this feeling out loud, Rory began to speak.

“You are still so beautiful.” My heart skipped a beat as he caressed my cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Clearing my throat, I struggled to find what to say. I knew I wanted to ask about this feeling that occurred when we touched, but between that and him telling me I was beautiful, I could not make any words come out of my mouth.

Rory just smiled at me.

“Why do you call me ‘love’?” I finally managed to say, even though this was not what I truly wanted to ask. The fact was I did not care that he called me this. Whenever Silas was calling me ‘dear’ and ‘darling,’ my blood began to boil as I grew angry. But when Rory called me his ‘love,’ my heart skipped a beat.

His smile was still upon his face, not offended by my question in the least. “You will find out soon enough, my love.” He paused for a second before continuing, “When I find you.”

I was confused by what he said and just stared at him like an idiot.

Rory started to slowly lean his head towards mine, as if he were about to plant a kiss on my lips. As he grew closer and closer, my heart started to beat faster and faster. My face grew hot as blood rushed to it again. Butterflies started flapping their wings at an immense speed in my stomach. Rory’s lips were almost touching mine as I waited in anticipation when suddenly, I woke up.

My eyes flew open, and I realized that I was now staring at my bedroom ceiling instead of Rory. Why do I always wake up before the good parts? I looked over at my alarm clock. It was four o’clock in the morning. Deciding to get up, I was struck with a nauseating pain in my head that made me fall back onto my pillow.

I placed my hands over my eyes, mostly from habit, to see if this would help alleviate the pain. After a few minutes, I still had sharp, shooting pains running through my head but decided to get up and go for a walk.

Walking into the bathroom, I brushed my long blonde hair and styled it in a side braid. When I finished, I looked at myself in the mirror for a minute, staring into my own jade-colored eyes and trying to keep myself calm. I tried not to think of anything, but the house was so quiet, I needed to hurry and leave. After brushing my teeth, I got dressed and made sure to grab my cell phone and my MP3 player.

In the dark hallway, I could hear my father snoring in his room, so I had to tip-toe through to the living room and sneak out the front door. I did not want to disturb my parents because they had already been through a lot with my nightmares, and there was no need in worrying them about something that could not be fixed. Usually, after I woke up from these types of dreams, I snuck out and went for a walk to try and clear my head.