She

I don't know how I got here. This place is huge. The halls seem endless. Every room holds something different... some just odd, some unfathomable. I can't remember which way to go if I turn back the way I came. I remember being in different rooms, but all I can bring up in my mind is a series of cloudy, strange images. I know there was something outside. It had one huge eye in the middle of its face... I remember running away from it. I don't know if I was looking out of a window, or if I ran in here to escape the thing. I remember being so scared...

I don't want to go back. I don't want to go forward, either, but I don't want to be stuck here forever.

There is another door in front of me. I think about continuing on down the hallway to my right, but my hand reaches forward and grasps the handle. It's almost an independent act. It's like sitting in a theater, watching a horror movie. I'm thinking, "NO! Don't go in there! That's where the thing is that's going to get you!"

The door edges open. I feel my feet moving forward. I can hear something moving on the other side. My heart is pounding hard. There is that electric, terrified feeling in my chest. I don't want to see it. Horrible images of dead things and toothy, sharp-clawed monsters are playing in my head. It's going to eat me, and I'm going to feel every... single... bite.

I can't stop. I can't control my feet, as they propel me forward, stepping through the doorway, walking slowly into the room against my will. Tears leak from my eyes. I can hear a soft moan... it's coming from me. I'm unable to control that, either. I feel like a coward for reacting to the fear.

Shame joins the terror, and all of the tears flow...

but... it's not a monster.

She's an inch or two shorter than I am... very curvy, pale, with deep red hair, and wide, dark eyes, wearing some kind of flowing, low-cut, top that makes her look kind of gothic, or maybe witchy. The look she gives me could only be described as soft... maybe kind. A low, quiet voice rolls out of her full, dark lips. "Don't cry... now, it's not like that. You went into the bad rooms, didn't you?"

I am rooted to the floor. I feel hope, but I'm still afraid. She's shockingly beautiful. She seems so sweet, but when she realizes what a coward I am, she's going to be disgusted with me. I bet she sees the things I'm afraid of all the time.

She steps forward, holding her arms out to me. Unable to move, I watch her approach, feel her fingers on my arms. I watch her face for signs of a change in attitude toward me. I can't even wipe the tears from my cheeks.

Sympathy creases her brow, and my heart pounds again. She's seen my weakness. She's not going to help me. I'm not good enough.

Instead, one hand eases up and wipes the wetness from my face, brushes my hair back, and rests on the back of my head.

"Come here," she says, but she comes to me. I'm drawn into an embrace. Her arms are strong but gentle. A warmth spreads through my chest as I finally begin to feel confident. I'm not going to be rejected, and I don't have to go back out to the scary part of the house. I don't have to confront another monster. The paralysis begins to fade, and I am able to return the embrace. Relief floods through me as I raise my arms, wrap them around her and let her pull my head down to rest on her shoulder, and she lays her rounded cheek on mine.

I begin to relax, pulling tighter into the hug, just before her teeth sink deeply into my throat with a wet, crunching sound like someone biting into a juicy apple... and a moan of total satisfaction.

I don't even know how to begin interpreting this, except that I've been terribly stressed over so many things lately, and I'm currently very worried about someone I love. I guess my mind decided it was time for a total, nonsensical kick in the ass.