Hey people! This is my first story, so I hope you like it! Oh, and for those of you who came here because Rebecca told you about me; could you give her a big fat thank you for me? He he, so here it is!

I pulled my knees closer to my chest as I tried to warm myself up. My head rested against the window of our car; my breath fogging up the glass every time I exhaled. I brushed my hair out of my eyes, gazing outside at the white, snow covered ground.

"Mom," I asked pointedly, "Couldn't we turn up the heat just a little bit? It's freezing in here."

My mom rolled her eyes and gave me her usual get-over-it glare. I didn't know why my mom was so set on making our car trips as miserable as possible. I had already been sitting on the cold leather seat for over four hours without a restroom break. The least she could do was turn up the heat.

I turned to my friend and rolled my own eyes. She gave me a tiny grin. She knew how I felt. My friend, Rebecca, had at least five notebooks stacked on the seat next to her, let alone the one she was holding. I admired her creativity. She was the only person I knew who could simultaneously write fourteen different stories at once.

I returned my attention to the scenery outside. We were heading up into the mountains to spend a week in the snow. I crossed my fingers, hoping we would arrive soon. Becky and I had been waiting three months for this vacation, and now it was finally here!

As if answering our prayers, our car pulled into a tiny, welcoming neighborhood with houses that were spaced widely. We turned into the driveway of a small yet charming house. The house we had rented was bigger than I had expected it to be. There was no fence around the back, so our space to roam was unlimited.

"Wow, Maddie! This place is awesome!" Becky exclaimed.

"I know." I replied with a grin. So, this would be our home for the week.

The first thing I did when I got inside was make a break for the restroom, but Becky got there first.

"Ha!" She mocked, laughing at my expression as I watched her close the door.

"Oh, come on!" I grumbled. After fifteen minutes of waiting for her to get out of the bathroom, I was finally able to 'relieve' myself.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Our car ride there had taken up most of it, so we really only had a couple hours of daylight left. We spent our remaining time building snowmen, destroying them in some in-humane fashion, then rebuilding them and doing it again. We had just started an intense snowball fight when my mom came out to call us to dinner.

We stopped pelting each other with snowballs and dashed inside. "That was fast," My mom commented as we ran by. We instantly sat ourselves at the small dining table; our mouths watering at the sight of food.

Ramen! Sometimes I got the feeling my mom knew my stomach better than she knew me.

"Hey Becky," I said.

"Huh?"

"You've never had ramen before, have you?"

"Nope."

"He-he," I laughed. "It's the best thing in the world. I couldn't live without this stuff, it's so damn good!"

Becky took a mouthful and chewed it thoughtfully. "Hmm," She contemplated. "It's good, but I still like chicken noodle soup better."

My mouth dropped open. "Oh my God, you're kidding me."

"I dunno, am I?"

"How can you like chicken noodle soup better than ramen? You're insane!"

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Naruto."

"Pshh." I ignored her comment and began shoveling food into my mouth.

After our fabulous meal, we ran up to the second story of the house and claimed our beds.

"I call the one by the window!" Becky cried.

"Fine, then I'll take the one by the closet." I opened the closet door and shoved our suitcases inside. "Well," I said. "That's done, so, what now?"

She let out an evil laugh. "He-he,"

Oh God, I hated it when she did that.

"What?" I gave a worried reply.

Suddenly, she poked me right beneath my ribcage: AKA Maddie's tickle spot.

"AIIIIIIIIII!" I squealed and jumped away, wrapping my arms around my sides.

Becky began to laugh hysterically. "Oh God," She mused. "I'll never get tired of doing that!"

Oh well. There was no getting away from it.

I had completely lost track of time. How long had it been? Becky had fallen asleep a while ago, which I found strange. Usually she was the one who was up all night. For some reason, I couldn't sleep.

Something was tugging at the back of my conscience: something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I glanced at the digital clock that rested on the desk in our room. It was 4:36. I let out a sigh. What I really needed was some fresh air.

I pulled on my jacket, sweats, boots, and mittens. After quietly creeping downstairs, I snuck out the front door and into the dark, chilly, morning air.

Clenching the hood of my jacket so it covered more of my face, I walked a bit further down the walkway toward a small streetlamp that sat by the side of the road. I jumped up and down a few times to get my blood circulating, and then looked up at the sky.

It was stunningly beautiful. The stars danced and glistened as if they were alive, and the full moon sat high in the sky.

I focused my attention on one of the stars. It was huge, luminous, bright, glittering, and dazzling. The star sparkled like the diamond on a wedding ring, and before I knew it, it was…

Gone.

The star had disappeared. I stared at the spot it had been. I had to be imagining it. Had it really just… Vanished? I blinked in confusion.

I took several steps backwards and bumped into something behind me.

"Hu-huh?" I whirled around, not knowing what to expect, and saw a figure standing there.

The figure wore a black cloak that draped around its ankles: its face obscured by a black hood. It wore large, black boots and stood with an air of authority.

I gasped and stumbled backwards, tripping on a root and falling flat on my back. I sat up and quickly began to shuffle in the opposite direction, but was surprised when the figure held out a gloved hand as if offering to help me up. I warily took the hand, and was effortlessly lifted onto my feet.

A man's voice emerged from under the hood. It was deep and menacing, yet frightfully soothing at the same time. "Well," the man said with a half-amused tone, "you're certainly not what I expected. But you'll have to do."

"Wh-what?" I said nervously.

"I'm here to remove you from this world."

I gasped and made an attempt to run, but was briskly stopped by the man as he grabbed my arm and held me firmly.

"I don't mean kill you, girl."

"Who are you?" I asked doubtfully.

"You don't need to know that yet."

I scowled at the man and gritted my teeth. What did he want?

"Your world is dying." The man said.

"What?"

"Soon, your world won't exist anymore. I'm here to take you away from this world before you too are consumed by the darkness."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The man sighed. "So naïve"

I was confused. The man must have been insane; it was the only way to explain his words. Although his face was covered, I could feel his eyes digging into mine. I instantly looked at my feet. It was as if he were looking into my soul.

"I'm offering you a choice." He said finally. "Come with me and live, or fade away with the rest of these," He paused. "beings."

"Why me? Why did you single me out?"

"Who said we singled you out?"

We?

"You singled yourself out, Maddie."

I grimaced. He knew my name.

"I don't understand," I trembled.

"You will in time."

We stood in silence for what seemed like ages. Finally, he sighed. "Very well, then. I'll give you until tomorrow to come up with an answer. But mind you, by then it may be too late."

He spun around and began to walk away. I stood: my gaze returning to my feet. I frantically tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened, but I had no success.

After several minutes of standing there motionless, I trudged back to the house. I was starting to get cold.

"Hey dork, wake up!"

I groggily opened my eyes and looked up.

"You were talking in your sleep. You said something about Sauske being eaten by an Octodragon, whatever that means."

"Becky? When did you get up?"

"Don't you know me any better?" She scoffed. "I've been up all night!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You fell asleep at like, ten o' clock."

I sat up and scratched my head. Last night: had that all been a dream?

"Come on, Maddie! Your mom's making breakfast!"

Shaking off the lingering feeling of doubt, I hopped out of bed and messily did my hair before heading downstairs.

"Hey mom," I asked while sliding into a chair. "Where are we going today?"

"I thought we could go into town and do some shopping."

I grinned. That would take my mind off things for a while. I began to drown my pancakes in syrup and shoveled more food into my mouth.

I wasn't exactly the neatest person when it came to eating habits.

Becky stared at her plate.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked.

"No, I don't like pancakes."

I shrugged and took her plate as well.

"God Maddie." She laughed.

"Hey, you eat just as much as I do!"

"Yes, but I'm on a diet of strictly junk food, whereas you keep a balance between healthy and unhealthy foods."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Hmm, depends."

After discussing when healthy food was a bad thing, we changed out of our pajamas and got ready to head into town.

It was around 11:00 in the morning when we arrived, giving us a couple of hours before lunch. We dawdled around several touristy shops that were filled with useless junk that was so hard to resist.

I didn't buy anything, though. I was short on cash and wanted to save my money for ski gear when we went later that week.

Becky, on the other hand, splurged. She ended up buying several overly-priced snow globes and a book on zombie fighting.

After Becky spent all her money, we both agreed that it was time to eat. My mom wanted to go to another store, so she handed us each twenty bucks and told us to find her as soon as we were finished eating.

Becky and I galloped off, searching the restaurants until we finally settled on a not-so-fabulous pizza place.

"Huh," Becky pondered. "I didn't think they would have a Mountain Mike's in the middle of the mountains."

"Makes perfect sense to me!"

We placed our order at the counter: a small, deep dish pizza with extra pepperoni. As soon as our food came to our table, Becky started picking all the pepperoni off the pizza and piling it on her plate. I sighed.

"What?" she said. "I like pepperoni."

"Well, usually people take pepperoni off the pizza so they don't have to eat it. You just don't eat the pizza."

"I'm unique. So sue me."

I greedily took a sip from my soda. It was my favorite combination: a mixture of Sprite, Minute Maid Lemonade, and Strawberry Fanta. Becky was steadily removing the pepperoni from the slice of pizza on my plate. I made no attempt to stop her. I knew that if she wanted it, she would get it.

Out of habit, my eyes hovered around the room. I observed the people sitting in the eating booths around us. One man in particular had caught my attention. He was short and rather plump, and hid his face under an oversized cowboy hat and an unkempt mustache and beard that trailed down what should have been his neck.

I suppressed a giggle. He reminded me a bit of Yosemite Sam from the Bugs Bunny show.

The man lifted his head, and in a flash I had averted my eyes to another part of the room.

Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat.

Was that-?

I stared in shock at the man who sat in one of the booths across the room. He had the same black hood as the man I had seen the night before, as well as the same commanding aura.

Once again, I got the sensation that his eyes were digging into my conscience: Searching for something, searching for an answer…

"Maddie?" I snapped back into focus, instantly turning to look at the person who said my name. "Hey, are you okay?"

I looked back at the booth, but the man wasn't there. I wasn't sure if I was disappointed or relieved; all I knew was that the feeling of intrusion in my mind had disappeared.

"Hellooooooooo, Earth to Maddie!"

I retuned my attention to Becky, who was now looking rather amused.

"Dude, what just happened? You, like, seriously just flipped out! Oh! Don't tell me; you saw Michael Jackson, didn't you?"

"What?" I raised an eyebrow, not understanding why she would think that I'd seen the 'it.'

"Never mind." She replied coolly.

After the temporary moment of humor, I realized that something was wrong. That man shouldn't have been here. He was only a dream, right? Maybe I had only imagined it. After all, Becky didn't seem to notice him; or had she even looked? Everything the man had said to me the night before swam through my head. He said that our world was disappearing. This place didn't feel any different, but then again…

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and glanced at my caller I.D. It said 'mom,' so I briskly flipped it open and answered.

"Maddie, it's time to head back."

I looked at my watch. It was that time already?

"Okay Mom, I'll meet you by the snowboard rentals."

Becky and I picked up all our stuff and headed out the door. I was glad to get out of there.

"I say we go exploring!"

I finally caved. "Alright, alright." I re-laced my boots, regretting taking them off in the first place. "But we need to be back before dark."

"Oh, screw that! Exploring is always more fun in the dark! Unless you're afraid…"

"I'm more afraid of my mother than anything else. She'd get pissed if we weren't-"

"Bah humbug!" Becky huffed. "We'll stay out as long as we want to!"

I gave a half-hearted sigh. Who was I kidding? I wanted to stay out all night! We trudged out the backdoor, heading into the snowy white forest behind the cabin. The trees were enormous, with branches that dangled high above our heads; each one with tear drops of melting snow dripping from their needles.

As if we knew where we were going, we made our way up between the pine trees, following a small trail that may have been made by passing deer. We did our fair share of climbing over large rocks and fallen logs before we found a spot suitable enough to rest at. It was a large grove, with several 'seat worthy' rocks scattered about. Becky sat down on one of the flatter rocks, while I remained standing.

"This place is pretty cool!" I declared.

"Yeah,"

I heard the crinkle of a wrapper and turned my head to see what Becky was doing.

"Is that a Pop Tart?"

"Yeah,"

"Why did you bring a Pop Tart?"

"Because I LIKE Pop Tarts. Is that a problem?"

"No, no! I like Pop Tarts too!" I said defensively.

"You should."

"I do."

"Good."

"For who?"

"For you."

"Oh."

"Hey, can I have some?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're not worthy!"

"Why not?"

"Because you just aren't! Now shut up and let me eat in peace!"

"Okay! Okay, God."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"AAH! No talking!"

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. Believing it safer to just be silent rather than complain, I focused my attention on other things instead. I swiveled my head around, examining my surroundings a second time. One of the trees bordering the grove looked easily climbable, so I walked over to it and lifted myself up onto one of the lower branches. It was taller than I had thought, so it took several minutes to find enough leverage to swing myself over. After I accomplished my first branch, I decided to climb up several more until I was about fourteen feet above the ground.

I sat down and leaned against the trunk of the evergreen. Becky still sat on the rock, nibbling her Pop Tart. He-he, that's Becky for you, I thought to myself. My serenity was interrupted by an ominous thought. The sun was setting…How long had we been out here?

"Becky," I called from the tree. "The sun's going down!"

"So?" She replied.

"Well, what time is it right now?"

I couldn't be sure, but I swear I saw her face contort with confusion as she glanced at her watch. "Um," She paused. "It's going on four o'clock."

Four o'clock? But the sun wasn't supposed to set until around eight thirty! I glanced back up at the sky. There was something about this that wasn't right.

"It's probably just a coincidence, Mads. Forget it."

I sighed and looked down at the ground. Becky had stood, having finished her food, and was heading toward the tree. Suddenly, she paused.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She pointed to the ground about five feet away from where she stood. My eyes followed the direction of her finger, and I saw something strange.

It was a shadow. Usually, that wouldn't have bothered me, but this one was different. It was… Unique. The shadow looked as if someone had taken black paint and mixed it with to much water. It swirled and danced: a haunting display of darkness. I looked to the sky, expecting to see some sort of cloud or bird; anything that could be making the shadow.

There was nothing.

"What the Hell?" I whispered under my breath. I quickly descended the tree and ran as quickly as I could to Becky's side.

"What is it?" She asked.

"To Hell if I know," I replied shortly. As I looked at it, I realized that the thing was almost, luminescent. I looked around, noticing that the shadow, in fact, was the brightest thing in the area; which wasn't saying much.

The sun had disappeared almost completely, leaving the sky a near pitch black. There were no stars in the sky. Even the moon had vanished. From what little light was left, I could still make out the cabin far below us on the hill. There were no lights on there. As a matter of fact, there were no lights anywhere.

Becky seemed to notice this at the same time as me. She quickly rummaged through her bag, whipping out the flashlight. She tried to turn it on, pressing the switch several times, but nothing happened.

"Maddie," She said. "It's not working."

"The light; it's all gone." The moment I said this, the shadow writhed and squirmed as if it were alive. We gasped simultaneously as several dark figures emerged from the swirling blackness. It was to dark to make out what they were. Even their shadowy outlines looked like nothing I had ever seen before. All stood about knee height and appeared to have crooked horns on top of their heads.

One of the figures leapt at us; its eyes shining like a cat's, only they were bright yellow and filled with unrealistic emotions. Pain, love fury, envy: all swirled into one apocalyptic nightmare.

I covered my face with my arms, expecting impact, but none came. I slowly looked up beyond my defense, expecting nothing but the creature to leap at me again as soon as I let my guard down, but instead what I saw was a person.

It was the man in black from before. He stood in front of me, a strange, radiant weapon held in his hand. It shone bright red, reminding me a bit of Darth Vader from Star Wars. He turned around so he was facing the both of us, and chuckled slightly.

"What the Hell were those things?" I asked, still shocked at what I had seen.

Becky just stared open-mouthed at the man. "Where did he come from?" I heard her whisper to herself.

The man pointed his finger at me, the weapon disappearing from his hand. "I told you," he said, "to make a decision. Time is nearly up. Have you made your choice?"

"Please, just tell me. What were those things?" I pleaded.

"You're avoiding the question."

"You're avoiding an answer!"

We stared at each other for a long time before finally one of us broke the silence.

"Maddie," Becky turned and grabbed my arm. "What's going on? Who is this?"

I remained silent, continuing to stare at the man until he spoke.

"Alright then," He sighed. "Since you're so determined to make this more difficult then it has to be, I guess I should tell you. Now, where should I begin?"

"You can start by telling me who you are and why you're here."

His tone suddenly became serious as he leaned in closer to my face. "Listen, girl. I give the orders, not you." He drew back, resuming his stilted posture. "But since you asked so nicely," he said sarcastically, "I might just decide to comply with your request."

The man reached up to his hood, slowly drawing it backwards to reveal his face. He then started to laugh hysterically.

I scowled, gritting my teeth at the man's ploy. "What are you playing at?" I said. "You know we can't see! That's a dirty trick!"

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to wait for that half of the question then, won't you?" He pulled the hood back over is head, once again obscuring his face.

"Alright then," I said through gritted teeth. "What about the other half of my question? Why are you here?"

"I thought it was obvious." He replied. "I'm here for you."

"But you never told me why I'm so important to you!"

"A person can't do something nice for someone else?"

"Of course they can, but I don't even know who you are! Why did you pick me to save? Why let everyone else die?"

Becky cringed. "Die?" She exclaimed loudly. "I'm going to die?"

The man turned to her. "Who is this?" He asked, as if noticing her for the first time.

I looked at Becky and nodded. She answered for herself.

"I'm Rebecca-just Rebecca." She told him.

"You have no family, then?"

"Well, I do, but I don't like them much."

"I see." He turned back towards me. "If it really matters to you, I can take her along too. Who knows, she may be of some use to me."

"What do you-"

He held up a hand to silence me. "Do you know anything about the heart?"

"Umm," I was confused. The question was so random; I didn't know what to say.

"The human heart contains more power than you could ever imagine. The only problem is finding the right person to wield it."

"Huh?"

"There are only a handful of people in the world who have the ability to successfully wield the power of the heart, and even fewer who ever get the opportunity. In each generation, a person is chosen to brandish those abilities. Right now, that person happens to be you."

I felt my breath leaving my lungs. I gave a tiny gasp, inhaling something that made me cough a bit. I collected myself enough to gesture for him to continue. Becky was silent.

"You see," he continued, "this world was created in such a way that prevents a person from using the powers. It suppresses everything that the heart could unleash: all the brilliance, all the light, all the darkness…" His voice began to take on a greedy tone. "You; I'm giving you the chance to discover your true self! To become what you really are! Come with me; leave this world behind! As soon as you leave here, the chains around your heart will be unlocked. You can truly reach your full potential!"

I looked back up at him, hardly believing what I was hearing, and yet something made me feel like he was telling the truth. "What's going to happen to this world," I asked.

His voice lost all the emotion that had formerly been there. "Those creatures that you saw," He began "Do you have any idea what they were?"

"No."

"They're called Heartless. They are creatures of the darkness who are attracted by the darkness in people's hearts. The Heartless will steal someone's heart, leaving them with nothing. When they come, there is only a short period of time left for that world. They will devour it, leaving nothing behind."

"But this place; it will still be here, won't it?"

"No. Everything goes. The heart of the people; the heart of the world."

I stood in silence for a while, contemplating what I'd heard. "Becky," I said finally, "I want to go with him."

She nodded solemnly.

"You're coming too."

Becky looked up at me. "Well duh," She said. "I wouldn't let you leave without me!"

I smiled and turned back to the man.

"Alright. My decision is final. I'm going with you."