Sarah felt a gentle rocking as she lay against a warm rock, but soon the rock turned to plush grass and the warmth was gone. She often had odd dreams, but this one seemed extra peculiar. The darkness soon alerted her enough to shake the daze that consumed any ability to focus.

    The sight of the orange sunset glaze coating the leaves greeted her upon waking. Carefully adjusting her position to upright, Sarah blinked away the remaining sleep from her eyes as the events of the day flooded back into mind. Panicked, she spun her head around searching for the handsome lunatic.

    "Handsome? This is not the time for that," she scolded herself. The soreness of her muscles still lingered as she pushed off the ground. With no sign of the stranger anywhere to be seen, Sarah started in the opposite direction of the one she chose earlier.

"Let's hope this time goes better. I still have no idea what he's talking about. Love? Ha, hardly."

    Conflicting thoughts plagued Sarah's mind as she walked through woods, the area growing ever darker. A small part of her wanted to stay and question him about the nonsense he spouted, but that would most likely lead to an unfavorable end.

    Lost in a trance of her own creation, she nearly had a heart attach when two arms wrapped around her from behind. Jerking at the sudden grip, Sarah whipped her face around to find herself meeting a pair glowing blue eyes. 

    The handsome man flashed another charming smile as he embraced her, the warmth of his skin providing strange comfort against the cold of the early night. The alluring scent that was the culprit of this whole ordeal, wrapping around her like a thick blanket.

    Snapping back to the reality of the situation, Sarah shoved the man away and gave a disapproving grimace.

"What is your deal? I don't know you! Whoever you are-"

"Apollo."

"What?" Sarah questioned, heaving angry breaths as the confusion wore down her patience.

    "My name. It's Apollo," he calmly stated. His eyes never left her as she stood, baffled at the audacity he held. Sarah's anger soon translated to sarcasm as she lost any fear that remained.

    "What, like the Greek god?" she mockingly inquired. Her annoyance rose to new levels when the so called Apollo got an amused smile on his face from her question. Reaching a point of reckless abandonment, Sarah found herself absolutely spent.

"I'm going home."

    "Indeed. That's why I'm here. To take you home," Apollo replied with an innocent air. With this, he took a few steps closer and for probably the fifth time today, Sarah put her hand up to stop him.

    "No, not your home. My home. The one in town where I live and hang out wit-" Sarah stopped mid sentence as she remembered Elliot. 

    She thought about how he must have been looking for her all day with no results. Sarah's heart thumped hard as she started walking, thoughts of her dear friend still rushing through her head.

    With the sweet scent trailing behind her, Sarah knew that Apollo was still following her. They had been walking for about ten minutes now and he had remained silent. She didn't even know if this was the right way, but she figured they would reach the edge of the forest one way or another.

    "What is your relationship with him?" Apollo finally spoke, his tone causing Sarah to give him a strange side eye.

"None of your business. Just leave me alone."

    "You would never be happy with him," he stated plainly. This resulted in Sarah giving a harsh scoff at the man's ability to make her dislike him more ever time.

    "Dude, just go," she pleaded as they stood in the moonlit forest. Her eyes met his once more and in them she found a mixture of longing and hurt. Apollo tore his gaze away and stared at the moon. After a few seconds, he seemed to reach a conclusion and returned to look her way.

    "I suppose this was the wrong way to go about this. I apologize for today, love. Till next time," he softly spoke before bowing deeply, causing his blonde waves to cover his face.

    "You would probably like to know that this "friend" of yours is currently unconscious about a mile that way," he motioned with his head. Sarah felt panic fill her blood as she looked off towards the indicated direction and when she turned back there was no one. Not wasting any time, Sarah bolted off to reunite with Elliot.

    Far above the ground, stood a disappointed Apollo. His dark outline harsh against the blinding moonlight. Suppressing his anger at the view of his lover running to some other man's side, Apollo forced a deep breath before flying up and beginning his journey back to the world of the gods before they noticed his absence.

    Sarah quickly found Elliot laying face down in the dark. Her eyes began to tear up as she adjusted him onto her back and made way towards the light in the distance. 

    Once back in town, a swarm of concerned townspeople rushed to their aid. Elliot was taken home with the assurance of the town doctor and Sarah was forced to answer all their burning questions.

    Despite the day she had, Sarah couldn't find it in her to tell the truth. In the end, she simply told them she got lost in the morning and Elliot got hurt trying to find her. It wasn't completely untrue, she just left out the super powered being that refused to leave her alone.

    After satisfying their endless questions, Sarah was escorted home. She could feel the whispers as she passed. People speculating her ability to bring bad luck, how she was the reason Elliot was out cold, all of it. 

    Guilt plagued her as she slumped against her bed, an emotional numbness slowly blocking out all feeling.

    As the moon descended and was replaced by the glow of the sun, Sarah's dark eyes looked towards the sky.

"Apollo. I will never love you," she proclaimed with an indescribable feeling.

"Sarah?"