“What you saw matters,” Nik said tightly. “Your father cannot trust you not to say anything to anyone… your options are die, or this.” He pressed his palm against my forearms, I was losing more blood.

“You beat me.”

“No, that was him.” Nik said sadly. “How do your arms feel?”

“Heavy.”

“That’s from the impact of hitting the steering wheel, the glass from the accident missed your main arteries, you’re lucky to be alive.”

“You already said that.”

“Repeat after me.” He ignored me.

I refused to repeat.

Then felt more pressure against my forearms. “Repeat it, Maya.”

“I’m lucky to be alive.”

“Why?”

“Because the glass.” I frowned. Why did I feel as though I was reliving something that didn’t happen? “It missed my arteries.”

“The building you ran into was empty, thank God,” he said.

“Yeah.” The building. What building?

“It was a motorcycle shop, remember? You drove by it in order to get to your party for your birthday.”

“My birthday.” I felt tears well in my eyes.

“Happy birthday, Maya.”

I felt dehydrated, tired. Wait, where was I?

“Maya,” Something wrapped around my arms, I think the bleeding had stopped. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Yeah…” I frowned against the blindfold, only able to see a sliver of movement underneath it, black shoes rocked back and forth, back and forth, they were covered in blood, was that mine? “I um, got in an accident.”

“Lucky to be alive,” we said in unison.

“So lucky,” Nik whispered. “It’s good your father found you when he did, he was so worried.”

“My father?”

“Maya, how do you feel about ice cream?”

“Huh?” My mouth watered. I wanted something to drink and some food. Why wasn’t anyone feeding me? Why did I have a blindfold on.

“I love it.” I finally answered.

“Me, too.” He sighed as if the thought saddened him. “I’m going to take off your blindfold now… And it’s going to make you feel so much better.”

“Do I get to leave?”

He hesitated. “Not yet, I’m going to give you a gift instead. Remember you’re going to feel so much better once the blindfold is removed…”

“I’m going to feel so much better.” I repeated then shook my fuzzy head. “Did you say gift?”

“Something so you don’t remember the pain… so that when you dream, you dream of light.”

I nodded, my body trembling but I wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement. “I would like that.”

“Besides.” His hands came around my head loosening the blindfold. “You’ve done so well, you deserve a gift. You’ve been brave, so very brave. And I want to reward you for that bravery.”

“Really?”

The blindfold fell.

His mask was white, like something you’d see at a historic masquerade, the nose was elongated, at least four inches from his face, pointing downward, the mouth open so I could see his full lips and blinding white smile. It matched the mask.

Dark liquid brown eyes stared back through the two large holes next to the nose.

“Will you take off your mask?”

“I don’t take off my mask.”

“You can’t?”

“I don’t,” he said in a simple nodding gesture, his smile easy. “For you I would love to, but I can’t.”

My body was heavy, so heavy.

“You’re tired,” he said. “At this point you’ve been awake for over thirty-two hours.”

“What!” I tried to jump out of my chair but my body was too heavy, too tired, and full of so much pain.

“The car accident,” Nik stated. “It was very traumatic for your body.”

“Will I be okay?”

“Of course. I’m a trained surgeon. You’re going to be just fine, but it’s important that you stay awake for the next twelve hours just in case, do you think you can do that?”

“Yes.” I nodded once, twice, maybe three times?

Every time I moved he mimicked my movements, it was weird, like I was staring into a mirror though that was ridiculous right? My brain told me it was ridiculous, but for some reason it put me at ease, made me think, he was just like me, trapped in some weird white room.

I looked down, but was met by soft fingertips. “I wouldn’t… there is a lot of blood from your accident.”

“Okay,” I whispered, mesmerized by his dark eyes and the way his eyelashes seemed to stretch out past the confines of the white mask, he was beautiful, so beautiful, like a fallen angel.

“You are gorgeous, you know that?”

“No.”

“But young.” He sighed, sounding almost disappointed.

“I’m sixteen… I think.”

“Your sixteenth birthday, remember? The accident? In your brand new car…”

“My father told me not to drive.” I frowned. “But I did, because I wanted to make it to the party.”

“Of course you wanted to make it to the party. You were going to be late, after all.” His fingers caressed my face.

“That feels good.”

“I’m glad.”

“Will you keep touching me?”

His hand hovered near my cheek, as if he was hesitating. “I did promise a gift… and pleasure.”

“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes.” This time I said it louder.

“Yes,” he repeated. “Close your eyes.”

“But—“

“I said I’d give you a gift.”

“Okay…”

“But no sleeping.”

“Alright…”

“Promise me, Maya, no sleeping… that is not your gift.”

“I promise,” I said in a shaky voice, closing my eyes. It would be impossible to fall asleep sitting in a chair anyways.

“My gift is a story.”

“A story?” I opened my eyes.

“Shh, don’t you want to hear it?”

“Yes.” I did. I wanted something to distract me from the throbbing in my arms or the way my body felt like someone had dumped sand inside it. “Sorry.”

“Never apologize to me, Maya.”

“So—” I shook my head. “Okay.”

“Good.” He sighed then ran his fingers down my face. “You are beautiful, young, talented. You will be able to do anything you want with your life, do you believe me?”

I shrugged. I’d always been into science but didn’t get good enough grades, not that I was going to admit that.

“If you could do anything in the world, what would it be?”

“I think...” I chewed my lower lip, the pain so intense that I had to take a minute and remember to breathe. “I think I’d want to help people… maybe become a vet or a doctor?”

“Doctor,” he said. “That fits you.”

“You think?” Nobody had ever complimented me on my life choices, at least that I could remember, which wasn’t much, everything was so blurry and out of focus.

“I know.” He said softly, his fingers still caressing my face like I was precious, desirable. “Keep your eyes closed.”

I squeezed them shut just as I felt his rough cheek against mine. I let out a little gasp as his mouth found my neck.

“Are your eyes still closed, Maya?”

“Yes.” I exhaled as the sensation of his mouth against my skin felt like the most wonderful thing in the world. “Yes, my eyes are closed.”

“When you leave this place… you’ll feel determined… so very determined to work hard, to get good grades, to study, to prove to everyone just how smart you truly are. Do you believe me, Maya?”

“Yes.” For some reason I did. I believed him. He was the only lifeline I had after being in hell for what felt like days. He’d given me water, hadn’t he? And he’d wrapped my arms after apologizing. He was… he was my everything right now, my life. “I believe you.”