Moonlit Dinner Date

Cold, vile creatures live among us.  Despite how they often present themselves, they house nothing besides empty voids deep underneath their pale, icy skin.  Driven by greed and lust, they feel nothing.  Any line is compromisable for their next meal.  It is a mistake to even entertain the thought of accepting one of their dubious invitations.

And yet, my body continues to march forward toward the stone castle.  The offer was too great, I tell myself.  My legs move as if puppeted by an external force.  I feel… not fully conscious as if I am dreaming, but also as if I am still in control.  I can turn back at any time.  But, is there anything left for me back from where I came?  As I lay my full weight into the enormous door at the entrance, it slowly gives way.  There is no light inside besides the light of the moon.  It is somehow colder than it was outside.  A voice in the back of my mind whispers.

Just remember, you choose this fate.

Empty, as if abandoned, though everything I pass looks expensive enough to have been looted if it were truly vacant.  As I walk through several rooms and down a series of long, gilded hallways, a thought occurs to me.  Maybe I should grab what I can and get out.  I am still in control, right?  I stop in place, frozen in contemplation.  My hand raises toward a nearby candlestick.  It weighs heavy in my hand as my fingers trace the intricate designs along its base.

A low sound echoes out from further inside the castle.  Its suddenness snatches the candlestick from my grasp causing it to drop, colliding harshly against the floor.  My presence is certainly known.  I snatched up my fallen treasure and raced back through the series of hallways and rooms, collecting several others along the way.  But as I reached the entranceway, any hope of escape was immediately extinguished as a figure coalesced from within the dark shadows.

“Leaving so soon, but dinner is just about to be served.”