Within a second the man held me in his arms, preparing to launch us out the window and into the cold night air. My fingers clenched the loose folds of the back of his jacket, but realized I shouldn't be clinging to a dark stranger, particularly when he's kidnapping me.

"You're going to want to hold on," he murmured. "Either that or you fall and die, like you were supposed to."

Though he carried me so that my head was at his shoulders, I could hear the smile in his voice. I punched his back furiously, embarrassed and devastated. My cheeks flushed with warmth.

"Let. Me. Go! Maybe I'd rather fall and die than be taken by you."

The man shrugged nonchalantly. Loosened his grip. "Fine." And he dropped me from the balcony. I was a rag doll tortured by the hands of a boy curious to see what my limit might be. My scream barely escaped my lips as I plummeted towards the ground, faster, faster. A thousand thoughts ran through my head - the thought that I would survive the fall and the thought of how he might react when he bears witness a second time to my unlikely survival. I could pretend to die, of course, but would he fall for it? Perhaps the pain would paralyze me enough to strike fear into my limbs, enough to remain sturdy...

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the pain, when warm arms embraced me, pulling me against a strong chest. My breath caught in my throat and I stared up at the man, a mixture of wonder and anger burning in my eyes. He smiled with a strong intensity in his expression.

"Hmph," he breathed. "You're not convincing anyone."

My gaze lowered slightly, feeling oddly flustered under his gentle gaze. "I don't have a point to make, anyway."

"Stubborn, aren't you?" He placed my feet on the softened soil and grabbed my hand, entwining my fingers with his. I gasped, surprised, until his grip tightened almost painfully and he began dragging me away from the house.

"Ouch! Who do you think you are?!"

"I could ask you the same question," he replied curtly, his quick stride never faltering despite my incessant tugging.

"You already know who I am, seeing as how you not only know my name, but you broke into my house!"

"Ah, but you see," he said, pausing, "a house doesn't define its inhabitants, necessarily. Nor does a name reflect one's personality."

We were already off my property, nearing the forest that bordered the lake. I continued to resist but my arms were sticks compared to his, and though he looked fairly skinny his strength was shockingly superior. Tree branches threatened to jab me as we passed, poking and prodding at my clothes and skin. Leaves became entangled in my hair but that was hardly a concern when this stranger was proving to be something dangerous. I almost cringed thinking that he was potentially the one thing that might end up hurting me, the immune girl. The survivor. The impossible.

"Well then there shall be no harm in you telling me your name, right?" I asked, voice wavering as I struggled to free myself from his iron grip.

"It's Cain."

I had expected retaliation - some defiant refusal to reveal something so personal as a name. He must be lying.

"Well, Cain, tell me what you're doing with me."

"Mmm...Not yet."

"How did you make it to the ground before I did? You couldn't have gone any faster than I since the force of gravity dictates that we both fall at 9.8 meters-per-second squared - and you're not much heavier than me. You're almost thinner than I. It must be that you were positioned differently. But even then-"

"You know a lot about your surroundings, don't you?" he asked suddenly, slowing down at a leisurely pace as we approached the lake. "You take them in. Observe them."

We came to a stop and his grip loosened, and within seconds my aching limbs felt rejuvenated, like I'd spent an hour in a sauna. Even my bare feet smoothed over, untouched. I turned to face the lake and was immediately awestruck. The lake reflected the night sky, the moonlight illuminated on the calm ripples of water. The surface ebbed quietly and only the tinkling of water and chirping crickets broke the night's eerie stillness.

"It - It's absolutely beautiful," I whispered, and he allowed me to walk forward enough that the water licked at my toes. My heels sunk into the soft sand and I glanced down at it, at the tiny grains rearranging themselves around my form.

A tiny laugh escaped Cain and I looked at him, as if broken out of a reverie. He murmured, "You look so fascinated. Like a fawn learning to walk."

I looked away, gazed into the depths of the endless sky. "I am. I - I've never seen the night. I've never been able to see the moon - it is so much bigger than what I expected. A picture is only two-dimensional, I suppose."

He slowly walked to my side and watched the sky with parallel interest. "The world is much bigger than what any of us expect, and we don't even know it." He points to a star. "See that? That is light years away. And that one? Even farther. We are only atoms with dreams, hoping to explore infinity though we cannot even define it."

I was watching him now, my eyes tracing the angles of his face. A band of white light highlighted his features. My eyes landed on his eyepatch and I couldn't help but wonder just what was behind it, and behind that. What secrets did he hold? Just who was he and why was he here?

"Oh, my God," I said suddenly, abruptly bursting into a run towards my house. Cain easily caught my hand and stopped me - I was pedaling helplessly in the same patch of sand and dirt.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice tinged with annoyance. He was a reluctant babysitter forced to keep an eye on a brat.

"Ben! I forgot about Ben!"

His voice gripped onto the annoyance, now heavy on his tongue. "That was taken care of."

I froze and turned to face him with a steely gaze, hoping it was sharp enough to provoke even him. "What did you do to him?" My voice was laced with the same coolness that colored my eyes.

"More like, what did you do to him?"

My breath hitched in my throat. "What?"

"You sent him on his way with a kiss on the cheek. Poor fellow, especially now, so captivated by a girl who has no romantic love for him at all."

"You jerk. You have no idea what you're talking about and no regard for my feelings nor his. I didn't do so much as say goodbye to him because you kidnapped me."

"Oh, but you did." He smiled and turned away, still holding my hand as if our fingertips had been molded together, and that was the end of the conversation. I felt that to ask him anymore was to find out something truly frightening, and I wasn't sure if I could handle any more. Not now. Not after all this.

I faced away from him, returning my gaze to the sky as I contemplated my escape.