Sunlight struck my face. I groaned and rolled over, moving too far and falling to the ground. I shrieked and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I blinked them clear and panicked. I wasn't in my bed.
"Violet? What are you doing?" Bakura called, lightly knocking on the door. "You awake?"

The blood returned to my face. That's right, I was in Bakura's house, more accurately his mini mansion. It made my head pound thinking about the rooms I haven't even entered yet.

"Yeah. I fell out of bed." I admitted. "I'll be out in a minute; just let me put my clothes on."
He turned the knob slowly and I threw a pillow at it. "What the hell, Bakura!"
He laughed and walked away, and I changed as quickly as I could for fear he might do it again.
I had to leave my jeans off, however. I couldn't fit them on over my stupid cast. So I walked downstairs wearing the pajama pants and my layered Three Days Grace T-shirt.

Bakura was sitting in the kitchen, reading the paper and eating a piece of bacon. As I looked at him eat, I couldn't help but notice he had elongated fangs. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at my clothes, but chose not to say anything.
"Hobble on over here. Your food's getting cold."
"My food?" I repeated, entering through the glass doors and sitting across from him. Sure enough, to the right of me was a second plate of eggs, pancakes and bacon.
"I'm not cold-blooded, Violet. I'm chilly, but not cold." He joked, sliding the paper over to me.

"You made the front page. Young Student Goes Missing In Thunderstorm. Hobo Taken In For Questioning After Being Found With Bloody Pipe."
I read the article as I bit into my pancakes. It was written that I was seen leaving the school without a mode of transportation and was never seen anywhere near my home, leaving Fenrir howling at the doorway. I read further, seeing that Yari and Alison had called me missing after they heard my husky in distress. They called me and I, quote, "…answered the phone in a bathroom, screaming hysterically at a man trying to beat down the door and assault her…"

I broke into laughter, almost choking on my breakfast. "Screaming hysterically, was I? I didn't realize you could understand someone screaming their brains out in a cell phone through a thunderstorm and bad reception."
"Apparently so." Bakura shrugged, taking a bite of his eggs. "What do you think?"
"The eggs could use a bit of pepper and this story's been over-exaggerated. What about you?"
"Oh, here." He said, sliding a pepper shaker across the table. "I sound like a kidnapping murderer. In a way, I'm both flattered and appalled."
"I'm not going to ask which does which. Instead, I'll thank you for the pepper and finish my meal before calling in." I shook my head and peppered my eggs, sliding the container back across the table.

"Call in?" Bakura looked up and met my eyes. "You can't call in, not right now at least."
I paused. "What? Why not? I'm missing, supposedly kidnapped. That's not something to hold out on to the media if I'm not in any real danger."
"You've read the article. They're going to think I made you call in to say you're alright, probably thinking I'm holding you at gunpoint or something. You can't call the police."
"Are you afraid?" I asked. I leaned forward in my chair to lock gazes. "Bakura, don't worry. If I tell them the story's been stretched, explain what really went on, they can't charge you with anything. I've only been 'missing' for one night. Nothing life-threatening happens in one night."
"But I did beat on the door. That part isn't a stretch."
"You did it to stop me from saying something stupid and making you look like the bad guy."
"Look how fantastic that turned out."
"It was almost midnight, give it a rest."

He sighed and sat back on his chair. "Just…wait a little bit, okay?"
"I will," I promised. "I'll take your plate if you're done."
The albino merely gestured to the empty dish and stood. "I'm going to take a shower. Feel free to explore, I'll leave the lights on this time."
I nodded and rinsed off the dishes, sticking them in the dishwasher as Bakura went upstairs.

What to explore first, I wondered as I did a small twirl in the main hall. I could go to the living room and cut through the doors in the back, or head back into the kitchen and go through the doors leading outside. After contemplating it, I decided to go through the living room doors, in case someone outside recognized me as the missing teen. I didn't want to get Bakura in trouble.
I walked through the sliding glass doors and gasped. I'd only seen a glimpse of the living room, I realized. Behind the TV was a set of stairs leading downwards, and beyond the stairs were shelves and shelves of literature. I saw on one shelf multiple works of Edgar Allen Poe, and understood the more morbidly creepy side of Bakura. Then on another I noted some first aid guides and could see how he'd managed to make a hospital-quality leg cast. The staircase, though, that didn't look like it belonged. It was some sort of sandy marble, while the rest of the floor clearly consisted of carpet.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I descended the narrow stairs.

The room was small, or at least smaller than the rest of what I'd seen, and dimly lit. I pressed my hands against the wall in search of a light switch. I found a button and pushed it.
The room flooded with light, so bright it felt like I was on the sun. I shielded my eyes and waited for them to adjust, before looking at the awesome sight before me.
Artifacts. Shelves and shelves of ancient, golden artifacts lined the walls. Each one had a unique shape and glimmered brightly in the light. I felt my breath leave me and reached out to lift one up.
With tender hands, I held a golden elephant, small and lightweight. On the trunk was small, curly carvings, and hieroglyphs lined the torso.
In fact, I noticed as I looked at each one of them, hieroglyphs covered them all. Was Bakura an archeologist?

I don't know how long I spent looking at everything, but something in there was drawing me to stay. I just didn't know what. I lifted my arm to pick up a small Egyptian cat, when I spotted it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large necklace that seemed to shine differently than the rest of the exhibit. It was in the shape of a ring, with pointers on the outside and a triangle on the inside. Carved in the triangular piece was an eye. Something inside me told me that this was the artifact that entranced me so much, the one that led me to stay down here.
"It's beautiful…" I muttered, the cat completely gone from my mind. I lifted up the ring gently, with more care than the rest, and slipped the string on over my head. I felt a sudden need to be closer to it, to have it within my reach.
Pain instantly overtook my chest. I gasped and looked down at the ring. The pointers had stabbed me! Each and every one had been rammed into my chest by some invisible force! I wanted to be close, I didn't want it in me!

I let out a pained cry and grabbed the ring, pulling as hard as I could. But the more I tugged, the deeper the pointers were driven into my flesh.
Exhausting all of my options, I called out.
"Bakura!" I didn't care if he got mad at me for touching his exhibit; I just needed this thing off me! "Bakura, help me!"
The room spun, slowly at first. Then it began to speed up, faster and faster until I was suddenly thrown into darkness.

I called out for him again and sat up, knocking heads with Bakura, who yelped and sat back in surprise, rubbing his forehead. It looked like he'd been running. To me, maybe? Did I scare him?
"Violet, you were dreaming." He said, handing me a towel. I took it with shaky hands and wiped the sweat from my forehead. "What happened?"
"The room…" I muttered. "A room of hieroglyphs and artifacts…a necklace…" I shook my head, throwing back the covers. I looked at my chest. There were no pointers to be seen. In fact, I hadn't even changed clothes yet. The whole event had been a dream. The breakfast, the newspaper, the stairs, everything.
"Artifacts?" Bakura repeated. "What are you talking about?"
"I need to go downstairs." I said, stumbling out of the room and reaching for the railing.
"Violet, talk to me. Do you feel sick? You look pale. Where are you going?" he asked, following after me. I didn't respond and entered the living room once again, walking to the top of the stairs and starting down.
Once again, I felt something tugging me in there, and was greeted by the treasures again as I flicked on the light. A sense of déjà vu hit me and I picked up the ring, not daring to do anything more than hold it.
Bakura entered the room, glancing at everything as if he'd never been in here before, and looked at what I held, mouth slightly agape.
"My millennium ring." He whispered. "You dreamt about it?"
I nodded. "I put it on, and the pointers stabbed my chest. They just dug deeper and deeper…I called for you, and then I woke up."

The alabaster man ran a hand through his hair and suddenly seemed all too quiet. My eyes narrowed and I held it out to him.
"Bakura, what do you know?" I asked. As I held it towards him, the tugging suddenly switched from me to him. But this time, the force was much stronger.
He backed away, a hand on his heart, as if he knew what it would do. "Don't come near me with that thing.."
"Why?" I said, stepping closer. "Why did it appear in my dream? Why do I know about this room when I've never seen it, Bakura? Because in case you haven't noticed, I'm freaking out, too!"
"No, no…" he said, "I haven't seen this room for several years. This wasn't here yesterday or the day before, and that necklace you're holding was finally out of my life." Bakura was starting to ramble frantically. I had no idea what I'd done, but it obviously scared him. "Violet, you need to put that thing back and we need to leave this room right now."

Deciding not to argue, I complied and turned around to set the ring back in its place. As soon as I let it go, it flashed and disappeared, and I heard Bakura yell behind me.
"Huh?" I turned and saw the ring idly dangling from Bakura's neck, who merely stared at it in disbelief. "'The fuck is wrong with your jewelry!"
Bakura didn't reply, he grabbed the ring and chucked it off, backing up the steps and out of the small room. The ring made a clattering noise as it landed at my feet.

I shrieked and walked around it, making my way out, too.
A flash came from behind me and once again, Bakura yelled out.
"Get off me, bastard ring!" I left the room and watched him lift it off his neck, only this time he held it in his hands, looking it over.
He looked up at me and shook his head. "You just had to have a dream about that fucking room!"
I scoffed, offended, and pressed a hand to my chest. "So this is my fault now? I can't control my dreams, Bakura, it's your damn room! Don't you pin this fucking thing on me!"
"You can try!" he shouted back at me. "This fucking necklace has caused me nothing but pain in all the years I've had it! I finally got rid of it, and thanks to you, now it's back!"
"You're the one who brought me to your damn house! You're the one who let me stay the night and that's why I dreamt about that fucking room!"
"Fuck you, get this thing away from me!"
"Fuck you, it's your necklace, your problem!"
"Fuck!"
"Fuck!"

The ring flashed again and we both shouted at it. "Stop fucking doing that!"

I gripped my head and took several deep breaths. "This is so weird! I'm yelling at an English albino over a piece of ancient Egyptian jewelry with a broken heel in a mini mansion! We gotta calm the hell down and you need to start explaining to me why that thing keeps popping up in your hands or I'm calling the cops."
Bakura's breathing gradually returned to normal. After a few minutes, he met my eyes and I felt that familiar sensation in that part of me running from my brain stem to my tail bone.
"You're gonna need to sit down. This is going to take a while."

I sat back and rubbed my temples, trying to absorb all this information. Bakura sat and fumbled with the millennium ring in his hands.
"Your father gave you this?" I asked. "Does he know what it does?"
He shook his head. "No. Something tells me no matter how I try to explain it, he won't believe me. He's an archeologist but that doesn't mean he's Mr. Spiritual. We don't see each other enough to sit down and talk about anything, either, so I'm kind of alone."
"Ra…" I muttered. "So, what does that thing do, exactly, besides stab people in the chest in their sleep?"
"I don't know." He said. "But growing up, I used to get black outs and wake up with toys that vaguely resembled my bullies. I'd then never see those people again, which I eventually connected the dots to being because of this stupid thing." Bakura huffed and threw the ring across the room, as if touching it was the worst thing one could ever do.

"So, what? It steals their souls and locks them in children's' playthings?" I guessed as the necklace flashed next to us on the couch again. We ignored it, having gotten used to it by now. I picked it up and examined each of the pointers, running my index finger over the tip, half expecting it to launch itself at my torso. But it lay limp in my fingers like a normal piece of jewelry, just content to be resting by Bakura, I guessed.
"Do you think there are more?" I questioned. Bakura looked at me, confused. "More artifacts like this one, I mean. This can't be the only one out there."
"I don't know and I don't care," he said decidedly. "It's bad enough this one is here, isn't it?"

I shrugged and slung it over my neck, playing with the pointers again. "Now that I think about it, this thing could've come in handy when I was younger. 'Could've used it to zap my dad."
"That's not funny." Bakura told me, lifting the ring off my neck and chucking it down the stairs. I tried hard not to shudder as his fingers brushed against my collar bone. Why were they so nimble and cold?
"I wasn't trying to be," I said as it popped back in front of Bakura's feet. "While you grew up with your happy-go-lucky, perfect dad who may not visit, but doesn't necessarily hate you, I was being beaten every day by my dad who got mad at me for simply breathing. Trust me, I'd rather have your life and live with the guilt of zapping away a few nasty bullies than live with my childhood memories."

"It's not as bad as you're making it out to-"
"Bakura. It was hell. Trust me, no matter how I explain it, it won't be enough to bring it to justice. You'd have had to be there."
He gave me a bit of a look, before deciding it best not to ask any further. "What about your mother? She couldn't have put up with that."
"She wouldn't have. She died when I was 8. He actually wasn't a bad father when she was around." I explained. "Then he came home a bit too drunk one night and the next thing I knew, I came downstairs at 3 in the morning to find my mother with a Bud Light bottle lodged in her skull. Needless to say, shit hit the fan at that moment."

I shuddered at the memory. "That's not important anymore. What's important now is to first, call the cops and let them know the hobo didn't kill me, then explain to them you're not a psycho kidnapper."
Bakura had been looking at me with a solemn expression, then burst out laughing and dropped the millennium ring, collapsing on his hands and knees as he fought for air.
"What? Hahaha!" he wheezed, falling to his side. "How….how is that even remotely….relevant to our situation! Where'd that come from!"

"It was a part of my dream. Don't ask." I said, watching him laugh and cough.
"I don't have enough air to!" he replied, rolling over and clutching his side. "Ra, what the hell? Ahahaaaa!"
I stood and stepped over Bakura while he tried to pull himself together, walking to the front door and watching the mail slot open and the newspaper fall through. I picked it up and sure enough, there was the article on the front page, advertising my disappearance.

I headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a carton of eggs and frozen bacon. Next, I went through the cabinets until I found the pancake mix, and threw on the stove.
"What are you doing?" Bakura asked, walking into the kitchen finally composed.
"Making breakfast. You like your eggs sunny-side, right?" I replied without looking up. At least, that was what he was eating in the dream.
"Let me guess, you dreamt about that, too?"
"Yup."

There was a moment of silence before he shrugged and sat down with the paper. "Yeah okay. Thanks." Then he laughed again. "Hey, there's the hobo you mentioned. My guest bed gave you psychic powers."
I snorted. "Maybe it did. I predict after breakfast you plan on taking a shower.
"I, in fact, do. You should take one, too." Bakura replied, grunting at the ring that appeared in the air and landed on his paper. He picked it up and dropped it on the ground beside him and flipped the page over. "You smell like rain dew. No offense, but it's not a sexy smell."

I rolled my eyes and poured the batter into the frying pan, remembering to add a little oil so it wouldn't stick.
"I don't know anyone who thinks it is a good smell. How many eggs?" I asked.
"You tell me, oh Psychic One."
"Y'all about to get some pepper up in your face is how many eggs you gonna get..." I muttered, ignoring the fact that my grammar was broken and didn't make complete sense. But he got it.
"No need to get your reins in a twist, dad gummite." He stood and idly glanced at the frying pan, before opening the fridge and pulling out the apple juice.
"Racist."
"Look, we're repeating last night! You are psychic!"

I shook my head and placed the finished pancakes on a plate, rinsing off the pan for the bacon.
"Do the others do that?" I asked, gesturing to the ring. "The other items down in that mysterious room."
"No." Bakura replied. "Not as far as I can tell. They're just artifacts my father was allowed to send me that I placed in the room before it vanished."
I 'hn'ed in response, finishing the food and placing it in two plates. I sat down across from Bakura and peppered my eggs before drenching everything in Syrup.
"Want some breakfast with that?" Bakura joked, sitting down with his own plate. I flung a pinch of pepper at him and he grunted in annoyance at the flecks that landed in his hair. We ate in silence. Every now and again I could feel him look up and stare at me. At one point I stopped eating and just looked at him, annoyed. Did I suddenly sprout a second head?
When he looked up next we engaged in a staring contest. He looked at me, I looked at him.
I looked at his brown orbs. If I stared a certain way, I could see my reflection shining in them.
They got bigger and clearer the more I looked. I hadn't realized until I could feel Bakura's breathing on my bangs that he'd gotten closer to me. The guy was just sitting on the tabletop, looking at me. Whatever he was doing, it made me feel a bit tingly. And it wasn't my spine acting up, I just felt tingly all over the place, like butterflies in your stomach when you ride a roller coaster and make a sudden descent.
Then he slapped me.

Abusive Bakura is abusive.
Shaka Laka Waka Taka! :D