lured to another world

I was on my way downstairs when I noticed the handrailing shifting in and out of focus. The plant down by the foot of the stairs taking on a different shape. I peered down further and saw the creeping fog slowly climbing up the stairs. I rubbed my eyes, but nothing seems to change. Lately I've been having trouble discerning dream from reality. It's like I'm living in a dreamlike state, trapped with no way of escape.

I pressed on my way downstairs feeling an air of eeriness. Something felt out of place. But I also have a compelling urge to walk and keep walking, don't stop until I make it to the same place I've been many times before. It's like being hypnotized by something unseen, I must make it back to the clearing.

I followed my trails that has been traveled many times. The path weaving in and out of the trees and bushes getting in the way until I made it to that special spot. There, I found him waiting, the spirit fox awaits for our meeting as he lured me back to him one more time.

His lips twisted into smile, his face that was always hidden is now visible for me to see. Emerald eyes complimenting his rose-colored hair, shapely lips in between his sharp jawlines. His beauty was out of this world just as how the stories from the villagers described him to be.

His fox ears made a subtle twitch as he raised his hand for me grab. "Let's go home, Hana." He said as I took his hand.

****Yoon's flashback****

Yoon stared at the wide-open widow in his room. He sucked a lungful of fresh air thinking of his late mother. His mother was a beautiful woman, at least that's what the rumors in the village. People say she didn't die and she had simply ran away with another man. Yoon knew the truth, because sometimes, she can feel her spirit coming to visit him sometimes.

His ear twitched to the sound of his neighbors' whispers. They talked of a strange boy that lives in Heung's household. They talked about him being cursed, a half human - half demon while they pity his father for having to raise a boy that shouldn't belong in this world.

"I bet that kid is doing all the killing." One neighbor said. There was another case of a missing person just the other day. It was a young woman who had vanished in the woods late at night. His victims seem to have fallen largely in between the range of teenagers and young adults in their early twenties.

"Pretty discriminative, that demon is." Said the other. "It only chooses young men and women."

"Virgins." Said another one. "Monsters like him likes to eat virgins."

Or perhaps, the monsters out there like their meal tender and easy to eat. Not rough and chewy like old people. Yoon thought. He knew there are monsters living inside the forest. He can hear and see them roaming around at times.

"That boy is bad news."

Yoon's ear twitched again, hearing the thud of his father's footsteps climbing up the stairs.

The door in his room slammed wide open, Yoon whipped over his shoulder alarmed. His eyes flicked to the whip gripped inside his father's fingers. That too familiar device that his father likes to punish him with.

Anger captivated Heung as he confronted his son about being in the forest late at night. "What're you doing in the forest, boy?"

Yoon swallowed, petrified at the domineering human towering above. "I-I heard a girl screaming, father! I wanted to help her!"

"What we're you able to do? I bet you wasn't even able to help her, don't you?!"

Yoon said nothing, his father was right. He's far too young and too weak to fight off a strong man eating monsters.

"That woman was eaten alive, wasn't she?"

Yoon swallowed as he remembers the terror of her petrified scream. He tried to lure her away, chasing and leading her to escape but she got too tired and clumsy that she'd fallen on her feet twisting her ankle.

Yoon looked away saddened trying to push away the gruesome picture in his head. If only he was older, if only he was stronger, he would have been able to save her.

"She was." He answered.

"What if someone sees you? What if one of the villagers finds out you were out there when that woman died? What if they accused you of murdering all those people?" His loose hands raised, whip's tail dangling from his grip. "I told you not to go near the woods!"

Yoon crossed his arms in front him for protection but it was no use. "No, I have been careful not to let anyone see me."

"You don't know that!" His father shouted.

Yoon tried to reason but the sting of the whip cutting his skin was too painful for him to even breathe.

Yoon braced himself as he saw the incoming onslaught of his father's whip break his skin over and over.