The girl's hair flew behind her like a tangled, mint-green curtain. She ran as quick as lightning and as nimble as a gazelle. She might have looked powerful and majestic if it weren't for the tears streaming like a waterfall down her face. Her body shook as noisy sobs carried out of her dry mouth.
The ground was made of coarse rocks that cut her bruised and bare feet. No matter which way she looked into the inky night, she could not see a single human being. This was strange, for she was on a freeway that was usually blasted with the smell of gasoline and the sound of car horns.
Long branches stretched from trees on both sides of the freeway like arms trying to stop her from escaping. "No," the girl cried out to the trees. "I will not let to enslave me again. I have had far from enough!"
The trees did not seem to listen as they swayed to the eerie tune whistled by the wind. This caused her heart and feet to pound faster than ever before. The girl ran until she reached an abandoned road that ran off the freeway. She sharply veered to the left so she found herself running down it.
The road was narrower than the freeway, and, sadly, the trees slowly huddled in closer to her like a football team surrounding their coach before a big game.
The prickly brambles scraped against her pale skin until the surface broke and crimson blood spilled out in a stream. "Get away from me," she screeched as she swatted at the multiple branches that came in her path.
Tears soon blurred her eyes to the point where she could hardly see anything. No matter how much vicious, unbearable pain she felt, her feet kept on pounding against the ground.
She eventually stopped with a sudden halt when a shadow loomed over her. Looking up, she saw a dark and gloomy mansion. All the windows were dark, except for a flickering light from what must have been the attic window. The light grew dimmer, but then quickly grew brighter until the whole window was lit up.
The girl was panting heavily as she knocked on the brass knocker - a large lions head of which took up most of the door. There was no answer even though she must have knocked too many times.
"Hello?" she called hesitantly as she pushed the heavy door open with a strength a weak and bleeding girl like her should not've had.
There was no answer, but the girl was thankful for that. Peering through the crack in the door, she saw nothing but black darkness at first; but then a candle lit itself up so it created a sinister atmosphere.
"Hello?" she called out again as she stared into the light of the candle.
There was still only an answer of silence. So, she took the opportunity to look around. The walls appeared to be a mix of brick and wood, sturdy but creative. Pictures of trees were framed and up on the walls, along with an eerie portrait of an elderly man with a thick beard and wild, black, curly hair that bathed directly in the candlelight.
Directly below the picture was a sight that made the girl go wide eyed. It was a marvelous grand piano, so shiny that it looked new. She giddily ran her hands over the black and white keys and could not remember the last time she had even seen a piano.
She settled herself until she got comfortable on the hard bench before she hit the begining note for a C melodic minor scale. She climbed up the next seven notes correctly, then climbed back down, leaving the last note to echo throughout the room.
Next she played her favorite piano piece of all time: Colors/Dance by George Winston. As she was locked in with the majestic melody, she failed to notice that the fire had suddenly came to life.
"Well, well, well. Seems like you found your way back to me," a masculine voice bounced off the walls.
Her head jerked up in alarm. "No. No. You are supposed to be dead!"
"I can't die, love. You, of all people, should know that by now."
"No. No. No," she chanted, crumbling to the floor and curling up into a ball.
A sharp prick landed on her left shoulder and something was injected into her body. She tried to fight it off, but the drug that had been injected her made her too weak.
"What are you doing to me?" she cried out against sudden pain.
"If you relax, the pain will ease and nothing bad will happen," the man chuckled.
"No," she managed to say one last time before her body gave in and her vision went blank.
----
The girl later woke up to something very lightly tickling her nose. She instinctively shot up, expecting to bang heads with someone. Instead, she was pushed back onto a soft surface by an unseen force.
That unseen force became seen quickly.
First, a hint of white teeth curled up into a snide smirk appeared. Then pale, thin lips and a sloped nose. Then the rest of a tan body appeared, and a mess of tangled, light brown hair.
The eyes appeared last. Those eyes which the girl had erased from her memory a long time ago. Those eyes she had managed to forget about. Up until now.
Chills ran up and down her spine like mice as her light blue eyes stared into his. Orbs that were an unusual shade of purple with different shades of gray specks floating about.
"You," she whispered.
"Me."
"You!" she said again as she lashed out.
"Yes, me. I get that already," the young man shouted as he quickly moved to restrain her.
"What do you want?" she whimpered as she settled down a bit. Taking a look around, she saw she was in the same room but laying down on a rather comfortable couch.
"For now, nothing. Though i might or might not want something later on during your long stay here."
"Long stay? No way in hell am I staying here."
"Sorry to upset you, love, but you don't have much of a choice."
The girl kept on thrashing around until she realized she would get nowhere with the minimal amount of energy she had. "There we go. Just cooperate and everything will work out much better for you."
The girl hung her head limp like a rag dolls and she felt him force her hands behind her back. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Taking extra precautions to make sure you cooperate. Now hush up." He tied her hands with a nylon rope so tight that she was sure her blood circulation was cut off. He lead her past the grand piano and to a kitchen that was full of light from multiple candles.
"Come here," the man coaxed.
She just moved back against the wall, but little did she know was that she had backed up to exactly where he wanted her to go. "You are so fascinating," he muttered as he followed her.
"How could you know if you don't know me," she fought back.
"Because of the way you're reacting," he explained. "Most of my female victims either try to seduce their way out or give in right away. But you are using words and actions to fight back. You're different."
"But that's not going to get you anywhere. It just makes everything all the more interesting."
The girl tensed just as quickly as she had relaxed. "Who are you? What are you going to do to me?"
The young man smiled and charming and devilish smile as he took out a small carving knife and slowly scraped it down her arms, drawing the crimson blood out. He ignored her cries and held her firmly.
"Hush. Hush little one, no need to be afraid. Just give in and give up. Just accept Heart's Pain."
