2.The Confusion
1392 Words
# Part 2 — The Confusion
**BANG! BANG! BANG!**
Someone started pounding hard on the basement door.
Lily became anxious immediately. She felt like something terrible was about to happen. Panicking, she stopped her friends from opening the door. She kept dragging them back while the pounding grew louder and harder.
Everybody tried to calm her down and convince her that it was nothing serious.
“It’s probably just some kids… or maybe Ryan’s cousins,” Arjun said.
But Lily couldn’t relax.
“Everybody stay back,” she said nervously.
Slowly, she walked toward the door and opened it carefully.
There was nobody outside.
Suddenly—
“WAAAHHH!”
A man jumped out from the side.
It was Bright, the seventh member of their group and the only son of win Corporation, the biggest company in the city. He was also their childhood friend.
Lily fell to the floor crying.
Bright looked confused. “What’s happening? I was just pranking you guys.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “It was just a prank for us, stupid Bright. But for Lily, it was basically a heart attack.”
Bright’s smile slowly disappeared when he saw Lily struggling to breathe on the floor.
Ryan couldn’t bear seeing her in pain. He quickly brought a chair, lifted Lily carefully, and seated her on it.
Preet examined her calmly.
“She’s fine,” Preet said softly. “She just panicked.”
Bright sighed guiltily. “I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t know you were going through so much. But honestly… it’s weird seeing you like this just because of nightmares. You really don’t look well.”
Ryan immediately gave Bright a warning look, silently telling him not to ask more questions.
Then Ryan gently took Lily outside.
He brought his car out of the garage and drove her around the city so she could calm down.
Later, he bought her ice cream.
While they sat eating quietly, Ryan asked, “Have the nightmares stopped?”
Lily nodded slowly. “Yeah… I haven’t had one in two months. I’m okay now. I know it’s all in my head. I just… can’t fully accept it yet. But I’m trying.”
Ryan hugged her gently.
“It’s okay. You’re strong.”
Then he smiled slightly.
“Come with me. I want to show you something.”
He took her to his martial arts gym and started training her. He taught her martial arts, meditation, and breathing exercises.
Slowly, Lily became more lively again. Her busy schedule exhausted her enough that she finally started sleeping peacefully.
Days passed.
It had been three months since her last nightmare.
Lily had almost completely recovered and forgotten about the terrifying dreams.
She worked as an architectural engineer and had been designing her dream project for the past two years. The project was finally nearing completion, with only a few finishing touches left.
Everything was going perfectly—
Until the accident.
One evening, Lily was driving home when a small boy suddenly ran in front of her car.
She slammed the brakes immediately.
The child was safe, but Lily’s head hit the steering wheel hard.
“Aahh… my head,” she whispered, closing her eyes in pain.
When she opened them again, her heart nearly stopped.
Weird-looking people surrounded her car.
They started banging their hands and heads violently against the windows.
Lily locked the doors immediately.
She started screaming.
“This isn’t real… this isn’t real… it’s just a dream… just a dream…”
Terrified, she slowly opened her eyes again.
To her surprise, everything was normal.
Nobody was surrounding the car.
Nobody was trying to hurt her.
Breathing heavily, Lily stepped out of the car and checked on the little boy. Thankfully, he was completely fine. She took him safely back to his mother and returned to her car.
As she reached for the car door, she noticed deep scratches on it.
She immediately pulled her hand back.
Trying to calm herself, she whispered,
“You’re overthinking again. Maybe it was just a dog… or a cat.”
Still uneasy, she drove home.
The moment she entered the house, Ethan started throwing ice cubes at her playfully.
Soon they were running around the house laughing and messing around.
While playing, Lily accidentally fell near the table.
As she got back up, her shoulder hit the edge sharply.
Suddenly, a strange pain spread through her shoulder.
It felt warm.
Wet.
Almost like blood was dripping from it.
Panicking, Lily kept touching her shoulder again and again, expecting to see blood.
Ethan looked at her with an annoyed expression.
“What now? Wanna blame me for that too? Dad’s not home, so keep that shitty acting to yourself.”
Lily froze.
Nothing had happened.
There was no blood.
No wound.
Ethan sighed. “You totally ruined the mood, Lily.”
Confused and disturbed, Lily quietly walked to her room.
She removed her top and checked her shoulder carefully.
Not even a scratch.
She stared at herself in the mirror.
Then suddenly, she remembered the exact same pain from her very first nightmare back in August.
A cold feeling spread through her body.
Lily felt confused… terrified… and deeply unsettled.
But she forced herself not to overthink it.
Later, she lay down on her bed, staring at the glowing radium stars stuck across her ceiling near the balcony window.
Eventually, exhaustion pulled her to sleep.
---
The next morning, Lily woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the orange glow of sunrise pouring through her window.
But something felt wrong.
Her family was gathered around her bed.
Her mother and father were crying.
Even Ryan and Ethan had tears in their eyes.
Confused, Lily slowly sat up.
“Why the hell are you all crying?” she asked.
Ethan suddenly broke down even harder and collapsed onto the floor.
“Bright is dead… Bright is dead…” he cried.
Lily froze.
Ethan looked at her with guilt-filled eyes.
“I should’ve trusted you,” he sobbed. “I should’ve listened to you, Lily. We could’ve saved Bright if I had listened to you…”
Lily looked toward Ryan in confusion.
“What is he talking about? What happened to Bright?”
As she spoke, she suddenly noticed scratches all over her arms and blood stains on her clothes.
Her breathing became uneven.
She looked down at her wounded shoulder.
Then she touched her neck.
It hurt badly—
As if someone had strangled her.
Slowly, Lily looked around the room.
That was when she realized—
She was in a hospital.
Suddenly, Preet entered the room wearing her doctor’s coat.
“Lily has to be quarantined,” Preet said coldly. “Ryan, stay back.”
Several doctors walked in behind her.
“Preet, what’s happening?” Lily asked nervously.
But instead of answering, Preet injected sedatives into Lily’s arm.
Within seconds, Lily’s vision became blurry.
Everything faded into darkness.
When Lily woke up again, she found herself trapped inside a small isolated room.
Her hands and legs were tied with restraints.
Panic exploded inside her.
“What the hell is this?!” she screamed. “Who are you people?! Let me out!”
She struggled violently against the restraints.
Then she saw Preet standing outside the glass door.
“Preet!” Lily cried desperately. “Please let me out! What’s happening?!”
Preet’s eyes filled with tears.
Slowly, she shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t.”
Lily stared at her in horror.
Then suddenly, a thought hit her.
This had to be another nightmare.
She remembered sleeping after arguing with Ethan the previous night. She remembered falling near the table and hurting her shoulder.
That was it.
None of this was real.
“I just need to wake up,” she whispered to herself.
Lily closed her eyes tightly and tried focusing on reality.
She concentrated harder and harder.
Then she opened her eyes again.
But she was still there.
Fear consumed her completely.
She started screaming, crying, and throwing everything inside the room around wildly.
Then, through the glass wall, she noticed a large board covered with photographs.
Every photo belonged to a dead person.
Beside each picture was a date of death.
Her eyes slowly moved and caught on a date.
**August, 2059.**
To Be Continued...
- Writer
