The moment Mia stepped through the front door, the air inside hit her warm, familiar, and heavy with concern. Her stepmother was pacing near the living room, lips pressed tight, eyes darting to the hallway as if expecting her to appear from a shadow.
"Where have you been?!" the sharp voice demanded, cutting through the quiet.
She hesitated, throat tight. "I… I was out," she whispered, unsure how to explain the night's events without sounding insane.
Her father appeared from the kitchen, face pale, worry etched in every line. "Mia! You were gone all night! Your friends called, the neighbors were checking… we didn't know where you were!"
Her siblings peeked around the corner, eyes wide. Her younger brother shuffled his feet nervously.
She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the doorbell rang.
Two familiar faces appeared in the doorway her school friends, a boy and a girl, both in neat school uniforms, carrying their backpacks. Their eyes were wide, scanning her for signs of injury or exhaustion.
"Finally! We've been calling all morning!" Emma exclaimed, stepping inside. "Your phone it was ringing, and then it just stopped."
Liam added, "We thought maybe something happened to you… or you lost your phone or"
Mia froze. Her phone. It wasn't in her bag. She dug through it quickly, panic rising. It wasn't there. Had she lost it while walking? Or dropped it at the mansion? Her mind raced.
Her stepmother frowned, voice sharp again. "You're telling us you were gone all night, no one knew where you were, and now your phone is missing?"
"I… I don't know," Mia admitted, heart hammering. She didn't want to tell anyone about the man, the car, the mansion. Not yet.
Her father ran a hand through his hair, exasperated and worried. "Mia… you can't just vanish. This isn't safe. Do you understand?"
She nodded silently, trying to hide the thrill and terror that still clung to her from the previous night. Safe… and not safe, she thought. That was exactly what she felt the moment she had been near him.
Her friends exchanged worried glances. "Are you okay?" Liam asked, voice soft.
Mia forced a smile, though it barely reached her eyes. "I'm fine. Really."
Emma looked unconvinced but didn't press further. Instead, she nudged her backpack strap and said, "We just came to see if you were up and ready for school. Classes start soon."
Mia's heart sank a little. She wasn't ready. Not just for school, but for the day, for anyone. Her thoughts drifted back to the mansion, the shadows, the impossibly tall figure who had saved her and let her go. She wanted to be back there soon, to feel the strange, terrifying, comforting mix of being safe and not safe.
Her stepmother's eyes lingered on her, suspicious and uneasy, but the tension broke slightly when her father spoke. "Breakfast first. Then school."
Mia moved toward the kitchen, following her father's instructions mechanically. Her friends followed, chatting softly, trying to ease the worry, but she could barely focus. Every sound reminded her of the night the hum of the car, the quiet authority of the man, the shadows that seemed alive.
Her mind kept drifting back to the phone. The uncertainty gnawed at her. Was it lost forever? Did he keep it? Or had she simply dropped it somewhere along the way?
She had no answers. Only questions and a pull toward the mansion she couldn't explain. Safe, yet not safe. Protected, yet exposed. And somehow, thrilling.
Even as she went through the motions of breakfast, the laughter and chatter around her felt distant. Her eyes kept flicking to the clock, measuring every second, wishing the day would pass so she could return, to find herself back in that house and under the shadows she had begun to crave.
Her friends glanced at each other again, concern still written on their faces. "We're just glad you're okay," Emma said quietly.
Mia nodded, hiding the storm of thoughts inside. She didn't answer. Words could never capture what she had experienced. And she wasn't sure anyone would believe her anyway.
As the morning sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the ordinary world of her home, she felt the pull of two realities one, the mundane life she returned to, filled with family, school, and obligations; the other, the dark, powerful, and magnetic world of the man whose shadow she had stepped under.
She wanted to return there soon. Safe, and not safe, all at once.
And even as she prepared to leave for school, her thoughts never strayed far from the mansion, the shadows, and the man she didn't know… but would never forget.