I don't remember much from that evening. I don't remember how or why I wound up in that dark cafe, sitting at a red table with my head to the wood behind a bottle of a sweet, golden liquid and a wrapper from which spilled a strange, white dust. All I knew was that I knew I had a pounding headache and that the dull chattering from the other casually dressed patrons wasn't helping. On the bright side, I found safe haven in the soft, dim lights of the place and the smooth jazz coming from somewhere unseen.

A pale, cold hand touched mine. As if this small touch was the aspirin I so desperately needed, all pain in my body left me. In a state of numbness, my eyes drifted up to look at the shadow of a stranger standing over me.

"Mind if I sit here?" he drawled.

I shook my head while my mind attempted to register the fact that he was there at all. He sat down without another word. My brain, meanwhile, didn't respond. It felt detached from my body, and the rest of me felt the same way.

"Why are you here?" he finally asked.

I blinked and shook my head. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you here?" he repeated.

I couldn't reply. It seemed as if a part of me knew he was talking about one thing, another part knew he was talking about another, and another part didn't know anything. I merely shook my head.

"Well, why don't you leave?" he inquired.

Again, I couldn't answer. Something kept me from speaking and from knowing a complete answer at all. My vision blurred a bit. No longer was I conscious of my surroundings. My entire world was composed of the man in black, me, and the table between us. The lights seemed to be a bit brighter as well, but I wasn't really thinking of that.

At last, I said, "I don't know. I don't know anything."

He chuckled, then reached across the table to touch my hand. His fingers curled around that piece of me. It seemed so familiar.

"Come with me," he whispered. "Let me show you something better than that other world."

My mind didn't think about it. I rose and allowed myself to follow him out the door and into something new. I left everything else behind. No one would notice that I'm gone. No one would come to claim my things. It wouldn't matter by then. My body was cold and dead the first time he touched me.