The Girl With The Iron Will

Getting Into The Routine Of Things

"The closer I get, the stronger the pain will get."

EXO, Moonlight

***  

I'm in a maze.

At least, that's what it looks like, all stone walls and dusty floors and lights shrouded by misty air and neverending hallways that lead to nowhere.

There are mirrors on the walls, watching my every move, and I stare back at my face.

I am in a long floor length gown, cream satin framed by black lace. My lips are the deepest red, almost a maroon. My hair cascades behind over one shoulder, thick and wavy, like that of a tragedy-struck heroine of a gothic tale.

Where am I?

Out of the corner of the mirror I catch a shadow move behind me.

I turn.

I stare. I stare until my eyeballs hurt.

There's no one there, Jang Mi.

I stop moving, and for a few moments, all I hear is my shaky breaths, hitching in my throat. The silence unnerves me. It feels so thick that it could be sliced through the air.

I frown, peering down the dark hallway, and that's when I feel it.

The warmth of hot air, caressing the back of my neck where it's exposed.

I slap my hand to my neck and turn to the mirror, seeing my terrified expression staring anxiously back at me.

What was that-

My expression freezes as I make out a dark shape forming behind me. The first thing I saw was a dark coat, with a victorian lace pattern almost invisible on the deep blue fabric. And then I make out the shape of a man, with the height that no one seems able to match, the familiar blond hair.

I felt the blood rush to my ears as Kris materialized in the mirror, standing behind me. There is no more uncertainty to his identity, it is him and no one else.

I feel the hot breath on my fingers that were clutching my neck, and I swallowed, meeting his gaze.

But instead of dark eyes that were always in annoying jest, the intense stare that the dream version of Kris gave me was nowhere near civil nor laughing at me.

He looked at me like he was going to eat me up alive.

Somehow I was neither feeling repulsed, as I initially was with him, or nervous, which was what I was recently experiencing.

This was raw, undiluted fear, and a whole new level of it. My limbs were paralyzed with terror. I felt an indescribable feeling of needing a person to rescue me.

"He won't be here to save you," Dream-Kris rasped in an inhuman voice of his. He held up a bag, which fell away from his hand to reveal...

Jae Woong's decapitated head.

Well, damn.

I did think of killing Jae Woong for stalking me, but decapitating?

This dude's up on a pedestal.

Before I can react, Kris' other hand wraps itself around me, and I struggle against him, trying to free myself.

"No," I barely voice out, turning around wildly and trying to push him away from me, "Noooooooo!"