AN: hi again guys. This is really wierd and I'm not even sure why I'm uploading enjoy this creepy Jerome and Mara one shot thing:3 ~ Erin

The darkness is a haven, it is safety for a monster like Jerome Clarke.

It is, however, a haven he wants to escape. He longs for the touch of the wind against his skin and for the heat of summer to warm his bones. Jerome wants the freedom that allows the seasons to change and the wind to move. He wants a chance, even the slimmest one, to live.

When his need becomes great he suddenly feels a presence beside him, unfurling itself in the cold, unfeeling darkness.

"I can trade you." it says.

"What would I give?"

"I can give you life if you give me the heart of your one true love, Mara Jaffray." it responds.

Jerome snickers harshly, "How can I love someone if all I've ever known is darkness?"

"So you are agreed?"

"I'm agreed."

And just like that, the bonds which held him there were released, each of the thousands chains cut in one fell swoop and a thousand candles lit his way. With trembling fingers he pulls himself to his feet, twisting and turning his way through the labyrinth of corridors until he reaches a door. It is a simple wooden door with a delicate metal knocker in the shape of an owl.

With a soaring heart, Jerome knocks.

"Oh darling, you're home!" calls a short woman, her curls bouncing as she wraps her arms around his shoulders.

"Mara?" he whispers, horror filling his heart.

"Of course it's me, who else would I be?"

"I just hoped..."

"You're acting strange today, Jerome." Mara replies, walking back into the kitchen, "Shoes off, dinner's ready!"

By the time Jerome had finished eating he already regretted leaving the darkness. It may have been suffocating but it was suffocatingly safe. This life screamed of danger and worry. And he still had to bring Mara's heart to that thing in the dark.

"It's time for bed, I think." Mara says with a warm smile, stretching out her fingers and entwining them with Jerome's.

"Mara."

"Yes Jerome?"

"I can't do this."

"Can't do what?" she asks, confusion jarring her features.

"I need to go back."

"Don't leave me again." Mara begs, tears springing to her dark eyes.

"What?"

"Don't you remember.. This happened before. Two months ago you disappeared out of that door and left me... Alone.." Mara replies, looking crestfallen.

"That isn't possible.." Jerome marvels slowly, hitting his head, "Why can't I remember that."

"It's that room! It makes you go mad! It's your tomb, it's your grave and you don't even know it!" Mara shouts, "I wait up here, hiding behind this door, hoping that you'll never walk through it because I know what happens. I know how this ends. We've been through this a thousand times Jerome, this exact cycle. But you don't remember it, I do!"

"I don't understand," Jerome says, sinking to the floor, his hands pressing against his head, "Mara, please explain."

"You come up here and you kill me.. Then as soon as you leave, I wake up. I wake up and it starts all over again. And do you know why I'm stuck here?"

"Why?"

"Because you killed me." She drops her voice to a broken whisper.

"What?"

"In our real life, the one before this.. It was an accident. You'd had too much to drink and you pushed me a bit too hard.. I.. I died." Mara gulps back the tears, "I died, you killed me."

"No." Jerome whispers brokenly, "No..no. No, I didn't." he stumbles to his feet, staggering around the kitchen. "You're lying to me.. Stop lying!" he yells suddenly, pushing Mara away from him.

She falls. Her skull cracks. Her blood pours out. His tears stain the floor. He desperatrly tries to revive her. He fails.

With a howl of horror and rage Jerome scrapes at the floor, pulling Mara up, "Please wake up.. Wake up.."

"This is your punishment.." Mara's ghostly voice echoes around the room, "Your punishment is to kill me again a thousand times over, and to not even remember me until after its over.."

"No." Jerome sobs, the years flowing out of his eyes, "I'll do anything."

"I love you." the voice whispers, "Go back, back to the darkness. Take me with you."

He hoists Mara's body into his arms, carrying her back out of the front door, away from the blood-stained tiles. She's still warm in his arms and the blood is dripping heavily. The darkness swallows their pitiful silhouettes, engulfing them whole.

Yes, the darkness is a haven for a monster like Jerome Clarke.