Orange lights flickered. Dancing against the darkness. The light created shadows across what felt like a black screen. The warmth of the color matched the warmth on Vanessa's skin. Taking over her body like a comforting blanket. She shifts in the chair. Feeling the flames reach closer to her.

The air felt heavy, thick, and dirty. All things you wouldn't really want to breathe in. With every breath Vanessa took, her lungs labored, aching for fresh mountain air.

The lights swayed, dancing like a snake in a basket, rocking back and forth. Vanessa could hear drums in the background, soft rattling noises echoing in the distance.

An almost soothing humming followed the noise.

The flames became a hand, reaching outward from the darkness, towards her leg. She felt a sizzle, and then the smell of burning flesh followed. Vanessa yanked her foot away, pulling her body from the heat source with a yelp of surprise.

Pain throbbed in her ankle, and the bottom of her dress was singed. She rubbed away the soot marks, wishing the dress would repair itself. This was her favorite dress.

Vanessa blinked, looking around the familiar space. It looked real. The pain certainly felt real. She blinked a few times, checking to make sure her eyes were actually open. Small tingles ran up her spine to settle in the crook of her neck. This couldn't be a dream-right?

Is something here?

Reaching her arms tentatively into the darkness, she tried to feel for something-anything-but in every direction was the strange heat coiling around her space. Where was that heat coming from? It felt so close, yet so far away at the same time. Vanessa both craved the heat to come closer, to seep into her bones and warm her from the inside out. While another part of her brain rang, a warning screaming for her to run.

"Hello?" Vanessa called out, her voice barely a whisper over the beating drums. She wasn't sure why she'd done it. It felt like she was supposed to be searching for something in the darkness.

Nothing but the sound of the music replied. But are they louder than before?

Vanessa took a step, slow and steady, but her knees were shaking. A small breeze flowed through her hair, swirling the long, dark curls around her face. She brushed it away, turning in the direction the breeze had come from.

Orange light shot in front of her again, moving rapidly around her in small circles with an almost human-like shape flickering about. Flames danced on the outline of the strange creature. A small square head placed on top of a lanky body, all glowing with the fire she must have felt from early. A simple reminder that the pain in her ankle was gone, but the memory of how it felt wasn't.

Vanessa's heart quickened. She took a step back, watching the creature make eye contact with her. How could it see so deeply into her soul?

The creature cocked its head, twisting it round like an owl.

"There you are." The creature whispered, its voice filling Vanessa's head. The sound like an animal in a cage.

Slowly it slunk closer to her, switching between walking on its feet, and using all fours to pull itself across the hardwood floor toward her in a disturbing fashion.

The drums echoed faster, matching Vanessa's heart rate. Her skin felt clammy, and if she could see, she'd turn around to run away. But everything was suddenly black.

Everything except for the fire in front of her. The creature reached out for her, wrapping its fiery hand around her arm. Vanessa screamed out in pain, feeling the searing of her skin. She tried to pull away, but the more Vanessa tried, the tighter the creature held on to her and the deeper the heat went.

"Where do you think you are going?" She could tell now the voice was masculine, but she couldn't decipher any features of her attacker's face.

"Home, I want to go home!" Vanessa shouted, feeling her voice thrust out of her with such a force she was scared she would never speak again.

"Silly girl..." the creature snickered, grabbing her other arm. Excruciating pain shot through her body once more, causing her to twitch uncontrollably. Everything hurt so badly at this point she almost couldn't tell she was in pain. "Don't you know you are home?" And just like that, the creature flipped a switch and turned on the lights so she could see, as if my magic.

She was still in her living room, stuck in the chair she'd been sitting in. She must have fallen asleep?

It felt like they had tied her arms to her sides, because as she tried to move, she found she couldn't. Swirling orange lights surrounded her like a magic rope, trapping her even deeper into her seat. The fire creature walked in front of her again, and now she could see the face trapped in the flames. The nose was different, but Vanessa never recognized a face so quickly in her entire life.

The boy from the coffee shop.

Vanessa tried to break free once more, but the hands of flames were still melting her skin, pushing her deeper into the chair. She panicked. The thought of dying all alone, trapped in her chair, bubbled up a whole new set of fears.

"You recognize me, don't you?" The creature questioned with a grin , his hands finally removed from her arms. Vanessa lurched forward, feeling the heat coming from the rope wrapped around her. She tried to catch her breath.

"No, no, I don't." Vaness lied in a desperate attempt to protect herself. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew there was no escaping, though. The creature laughed. It's voice echoing through the room, loud enough she worried he would wake her neighbors.

"Silly girl, you think I can't tell when you are lying?" Vanessa was surrounded by the flames now. The creature climbs onto the armrests of the chair, crouching in front of her to make eye contact.

But where his eyes should have been sat deep caverns of darkness, surrounded by sadness and pain. Even without sight, Vanessa still knew exactly where he was looking. The creature's face dipped low, getting closer to hers. Was he trying to smell her? A few little sniffs ring out through the air before he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"What are you going to do to me?" Vanessa whimpered, trying to press herself deeper into the chair to get away from his-literally hot breath.

"I'm not doing anything to you..." the voice responded, and Vanessa closed her eyes, hoping it would all go away. She could still feel him near her, though. He lunged off the chair, knocking it over. Vanessa fell to the ground with it, nearly hitting her head against the wood floor.

"Go to sleep." Was the last thing she heard before a finger was pressed against her forehead.

When Vanessa came to, she was lying on the floor. The chair was still knocked over behind her, and the lights from the tv continued to dance against the darkness. A panic set in as Vaness realized where she was. She jumped from the floor, rushing to the bathroom with her tub. Plugging the drain and turning on the cool water, she allowed it to run freely into the basin.

Vannessa collapsed to the floor, leaning against the tub as tears burst from her eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Nothing darling," the same voice took over her thoughts once more. Vanessa's head shot off of her knees, nearly knocking into the porcelain tub.

"Who's there?" Vanessa whimpered.

"Who do you think?" There were no 's' in the words the creature was saying, but yet they still rung through the air in slithering whispers. They wrapped Vanessa in the soothing tone, pulling her deeper into her mind. If she wasn't careful, she felt she could drift to sleep again.

But she remembered what the creature looked like and shook her head to reorientate herself. She didn't want to be fooled by his tricks.

Vanessa threw her head back, looking up at the ceiling. She couldn't figure out why this was happening to her. The visions in her head felt so real, that it was becoming hard to tell the difference.

There's no way the flame creature could be real. But why could she hear him so clearly in her thoughts? Why was he still talking to her, even though she was awake?

"So many questions, and yet so little information or answers." She couldn't see where the voice was coming from. She was too scared to look.

Soon, a cool liquid began to ooze down her spine, sending shivers running along her skin.

"What the hell!" Vanessa yelped, jumping from her seat, startled by the sudden liquid. Suddenly, she realized the bathtub was still running. Vanessa lets out a sigh of relief, leaning forward to turn off the faucet.

"Well, I've never done that before." She muttered to herself, grabbing the towel off the rack behind her to dry up the mess she made. The water wiggled in the tub, the movement threatening to topple over the edge.

"That should be enough water to put out any fire," Vanessa spoke to no one but herself. Sometimes it was comforting to hear the sound of her own voice, and sometimes she didn't even realize she had said anything.

"You think that's enough to stop me?" The slimy voice muttered again, shaking in her ears. Vanessa clasped her hands against her head, begging for the sound to go away. Heat rose between her ears, leaving her panicked that her head was going to explode.

"Yes, use your precious water to stop this..." The words trailed off, but the pain between her eyes grew even worse. How was any of this happening?

"Please stop..." Vanessa spouted out, barely getting the words off her tongue. She was broken, curled up in a ball on the floor, begging for the pain to stop.

"Fine, but I'll see you later." The creature said, the words slow and smooth, and Vanessa could almost feel the breath on the back of her neck. But she felt the air lighten when she assumed the creature was gone. The room felt fresher, like any smoke from the flames had vanished.

Could Vanessa really believe he was gone?

She stared at the tub, looking at her reflection in the water. Her eyes looked more sunken than normal, but everything else seemed to be exactly how she was used to seeing. Vanessa trekked out of the bathroom, searching for her phone to check the time.

She didn't know when she'd fallen asleep, and she didn't know when she had woken up, but she would need to find something to help keep her from falling asleep again. When she found her phone on the floor in the living room, next to the chair she'd fallen asleep in, she picked it up and wandered to her bedroom.

"2 am." Vanessa groaned, coming to the realization that she would have longer than she expected to keep herself up. She'd hoped it'd be at least three in the morning, just enough that any other person wouldn't try to go back to sleep if they were an early riser.

Vanessa pulled the sheets back on her bed, slipping under the covers for some comfort. Her arms ached with a soreness she didn't remember from earlier in the day. A pain that throbbed right where his hands were. Vanessa tried her best not to focus on it. She felt like she had a very thin hold on reality and the thought of bruises being on her arm would be enough to set her off.

Instead, she picked up the tv remote and started mindlessly flipping through channels, looking for anything good enough to distract her. A slight feeling of contentment came from the knowledge of the tub being full; just in case she needed to put out any fires.