Monika stared wide eyed into the blackness under his hood. “Remember…what?” Her heartbeat started to pound faster and she could feel her pulse even in her most sensitive places. There was a heat radiating off of him, warming her from the inside out.

He let out a long exhale before dropping his hand, standing up, and turning away from her. “Nevermind” he said. Then he turned his head sharply to look at the guy with him. “Watch her.” And with that, he went through the creaky, rusted door at the front of the room and left.

The sandy-haired guy sighed loudly and then looked toward her. “I’m sorry about that. He’s just cranky.” he said before pausing. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but she was beyond words right now. Her thoughts still weren’t completely coherent. “Ah…anyways, I’m Joch. I promise, once we get to a safe place, he’ll be much more relaxed.” He smiled warmly at her and then absent-mindedly scratched his head. It was then that she noticed tiny horns peeking out from his shaggy hair.

“Holy fuck.” she exclaimed, eyes going wide. “Horns!”

He stared at her with a surprised look on his face before reaching for one of his horns with mock astonishment. “Oh shit! I have horns? Would you look at that!” he exclaimed before scratching his head and laughing awkwardly.

Monika started to back away, though her legs were still partially numb. She at least managed to finally lay them out in front of her. She looked around frantically before grabbing a dirty spork off of the ground. She pointed it at Joch, still nervously laughing fifteen feet away from her. “What the hell are you?” she asked.

He stopped laughing and looked at her with chagrin. “Ah…maybe you should wait until Auden gets back. He has a lot to explain.” he said sheepishly.

“Auden? Is that his name?” she asked.

“Yep.” he replied, before walking over to a nearby chair and sitting down.

She didn’t say anything, trying to remember if she knew that name, but she drew up blank. She looked at Joch, who was tapping his foot on the floor and starring at the ceiling. She noticed he had bright green eyes, almost neon, and his face was round, but manly with a hint of stubble where his beard might grow in. She looked at his horns with curiosity, slowly placing the spork back on the ground. She mumbled to herself, “Where the fuck am I?”

She suddenly became light-headed and her eyelids started to close. She was still exhausted, but she had so many questions. Joch seemed to notice her starting to nod off a bit.

“I set up a cot in the other room. You can rest there.” he said, pointing behind her.

She turned her head to look and saw that there was indeed a door at the back of the room. Well, there wasn’t actually a door, it seemed to have been taken off the hinges, but she could faintly see blankets in the darkness of the room. The only source of light seemed to be coming from a lamp on the table Joch was sitting at.

Monika looked at him with apprehension. He held up his hands, eyes going wide. “Don’t worry, I won’t disturb you and I won’t hurt you. Auden would kill me if I did anything weird.” he said. She looked at the door that Auden had left through earlier behind him. “Ah, but I can’t let you leave. I do have permission to restrain you if need be.” She scowled when he looked at her apologetically.

She sighed, slowly becoming more lethargic with each breath. She started to get up and she could feel the deep ache in her muscles and bones. She was in so much pain and so incredibly tired. And she was cold. She didn’t know what was going on, but she needed to sleep, preferably under warm covers. She was glad when Joch didn’t try to help her to her feet. She made her way to the room in the back slowly, and then paused at the door frame.

“Thank you…for getting him to take off the chains.” She didn’t wait for his reply, just walked to the pile of blankets, fell down in them, and cocooned herself as she finally drifted off to sleep.

…

Monika found herself enveloped in darkness, floating in a void of ache and cold before a dream started to take over. A wave of nostalgia wafted over her consciousness. She had this dream before, a long time ago.

She was maybe eight when she found herself standing in a dirty, broken down liquor store—the kind her mom used to go to all the time. Looking around, she heard faint sniffling. She carefully walked to the back of the store looking for the source of the noise. “Hello?” she said faintly.

When she finally came upon the freezer section in the back, she saw a boy, probably a little older than her, sitting on the floor. His hoodie was up, and he just sat there, staring at the dirty floor. Monika didn’t know who the boy was, but she could still hear him sniffling, so she felt bad for him. She walked over and sat down beside him.

When he finally looked over at her, the first thing she noticed was his eyes. They were an astonishingly bright and beautiful shade of light blue. Her heart skipped a beat. Then she noticed the blood running from his nose, the bruises on his face, and the tears slowly trickling down his cheeks.

Monika was cold. Freezing as she came back to consciousness. It felt as if she were being frozen alive. Her teeth were starting to chatter and her fingers and toes were going numb. Although she was still feeling terrible, she forced herself to get up and make her way to the dim light leading to the other room, blankets still huddled around her.

When she finally walked into the doorway, she could see Joch still sitting at the table, reading a small book. “…Joch.” she said, her voice rough. He looked over at her in surprise.

“I thought you would still be sleeping, you need the rest.” he said, amusement in his gaze as he looked at her bundled up like a caterpillar.

She looked around the room, noticing that Auden still wasn’t there, not that she wanted him to be. He was…intimidating. “Cold. It’s freezing. Do you have more blankets?” she managed to get out, already feeling the sleepiness take hold of her again.

“Ah…really? It’s pretty warm this time of year. Hmm, there’s one extra blanket in the corner that you can use.

Monika looked to where he was pointing. The dim light was barely enough to show her the fabric lying against the far wall. She slowly walked over and picked it up, muttering thanks as she walked back to the back room and wrapped the last blanket around her. She was soon asleep again, but this time the darkness didn’t lead to a long forgotten dream. This time, she felt a tug towards an even deeper darkness that was filled with nothing but frost and loneliness.