Welcome to Gaia! ::

When I first found the box, multiple scenarios came to mind. I picked the thing up, dusted it off, and put it in my purse. I was hoping to sell it for a couple of bucks, to begin with. It was embroidered with gold, and it felt heavy and realistic in my hands. As I flipped it over and over, I became more interested. Who leaves such a pretty box in the middle of an ally? When I got home, I spent maybe ten… fifteen minutes just staring at it. What secrets did it hold?
I can’t say I regret finding that box… Nor can I say that I wish I had never taken it with me that night. I don’t know why I did, but now I break into a cold sweat to think of what may have happened if I didn’t.
I worked late that night, and after a long hour of no service I decided to get myself ready to go home. My bag was so empty, the only weight I felt was the heavy box inside. I sat behind the counter with a damp rag in one hand and the cube in the other; turning it over and over… Looking at its gold patterns. I couldn’t help but stare into space as I finished cleaning the bar and unhooking the beer kegs. All I could think of was that box! Who leaves such a pretty thing in a back alley? I wanted to go home and just look at it, but I still had another fifteen-or-so minutes until I could officially close.
I took care of the cash register and thought that I deserved to go home early, so with jacket in hand; I lock the club behind me and begin my long walk home. I take the alley- the same one I found the box in- like always. I slip a pair of headphones over my shaggy hair (blaring 30 Seconds to Mars) to pass the time. As I look down to skip to another track, my stomach tightens, and I feel as if I’m being watched. I immediately pull the box from my bag and hold it against my chest (why, I don’t know). My music stops, and a hand grips my shoulder to turn me around.
“God, Frank!” I shout, “Don’t you think it’s a little… Late? To be trolling around a strip-club?”
Frank lets out a chuckle (I can tell he’s been drinking) and digs a hairy hand into his pocket and pulls out a twenty.
“This should cover it, right?”
I drop my jaw; appalled.
“Frank, I’m… I’m a bartender. I don’t do that,” I say, somewhat disgusted, “You have Tanya’s number, call her.”
His eyes hazy and his cheeks red from alcohol, he glares down at me. I’m legitimately afraid. I apologize once more and turn back around to go home. I glance behind my shoulder and, oh, God, he’s following me! I pick up the pace, but my scarlet heels could only move so fast. I felt my legs waver, and I take a sharp turn down another alley. I didn’t know where I was going; just as long as it was away from him.
Bad turns to worse when I peek around the corner and see a revolver hanging out of Franks lazy fingers. My heart skips a beat, maybe two and I squish myself against the brick wall. Was he coming closer? Did he know where I was?
“Lorelei!” I heard him yell.
My heart pounds against my ribs, and I find myself at a loss. If I try to find another way home, it may be too late once I do. If I leave the way I came, he sees me. There was no way I was going to let him do what he wanted, but what could I do?
I hear him stomp closer down the wet alley, and I absent mindedly fumble my fingers over the box- whispering “oh God oh God oh God…”
His steps become louder, and suddenly their sound and the beating of my heart were competing in my head; getting louder and louder. My head throbs, and before I know it, I’m speaking aloud.
“Oh, God!” I cry over and over.
I had no way to protect myself- I was probably going to die. I felt the box jump from my clammy hands and a flash of lightning strikes across my vision. I cover my eyes and kneel in the corner I had been hiding in. I hear the jangling of chains, and then from the dark came a deep, strong voice:
“I am no ‘God’ of yours,” I heard him say, “…But I can be.”
Franks scream is what comes to me next. I couldn’t see, but seeing isn’t always believing; and I believed that whoever I heard had to have done something to him… And can do something to me, too. I rise to my feet, grab the box and run home as fast as my legs would carry me.
One thing was for sure: I was never taking that alley again.

That night I lay awake and still stricken with fear. I tried many times to get comfortable; to find some rest, but it wasn’t until maybe two in the morning that I fell into a restless sleep. Even as I slept I heard the jangling of chains and the screams of a man that could have hurt me, no KILLED me only hours before. But someone had intervened that… But who?
My eyelids weren’t the only weights I felt as I dreamt; as if in a horrible nightmare, the jangling of chains becomes clearer, and I feel them constrict me! My wrists, then my ankles, then finally my mouth. They dig into my lips, and I can barely keep from tasting its cold metal. That’s when the lightning struck- and again that strong voice bites into my brain.
“You thought it would be that easy?”
The warm breath of his words circulates in my ears, yet when I open my eyes I see his silhouette in my window- nowhere close to me.
“Once you open the box, you belong to us… To ME.”
The chains tighten and my stomach turns. I fall nauseous, and my head becomes heavy and intoxicated by his voice.
“We’ll be seeing each other again soon, Lorelei…”
And the pain is gone. I jump up in fear and search my room with my cell light, only to find that I was alone… No chains, no mystery man, no pain.
I return to sleep- praying this was all a dream.