The Nightmare Affair

ch.1

I open my eyes and find myself surrounded by darkness.

"huh? what just happened?" she said to herself

[am I in my room..?]

my breath catches in my throat and an uneasy feeling begins bubbling in my stomach.

[something's not right..]

taking deep breaths , it takes every bit of my willpower to keep myself from panicking.

after a while, my eyes adjust to the darkness.

[where the heck i am?]

i don't know why, but somehow, this room feels familiar.I fell asleep in my living room...didn't i? . I try to turn my body to the side..

[!!!] my eyes widen at the sight in front of me. I feel at heart almost jump out of my chest. In dark, i see the figure of a young man lying down next to me.[ what in the world..?] As confused i am, i took a closer look.[ oh.] the young man is sleeping peacefully.[ he seems harmless.].

I called out to him" excuse me ." i then shake him. the stranger groans, his brows scrunching.

"wake up.' she called again.

"Mmmnngg..' the stranger did. His eyelids flutter for a moment and he tries to get up. i then sit up and face him.

"um...do you know where we are? i suddenly woke up in this place and.." she said.

the young man slowly looks up at me.

[!?]

his eyes one is blue, the other red and had a white silky hair .Captivated by his mystical appearance , i inadvertently let out a small gasp.

"wow.." she remarked. "you're eyes are so beautiful."

" ! " the stranger .The young man immediately covers his face with his hands." no, don't look! "

"oh..i'm sorry." she replied.

[ did i say something to offend him?] i try to touch him but he turns away.

"stay away! " he said.

" but-.....' she hesitated.

"man, you're so damn loud." someone apart from us said it.

[ !] i jump in surprise.i look over my shoulder to see another person staring down at me.[ he looks so scary, he has red hair which kinda looks hot on him.]

"the hell are you being noisy for, huh?" he said.

"i-i'm sorry " i said.

out of the blue, a very loud yawn echoes in my room.In the corner, someone stretches up with his mouth wide open.

" what time is it?" he had blond hair. "hmmm? it's still dark.Can we go back to sleep?......aaah! where am i !?! who are you people??" he again said.

mean while, a young woman freaks out as the commotion forces her awake.

[we all five together..?] [why?] five complete strangers, all taken to one strange place.something feels really off about this.

red hair guy said " hey,hey,calm down. I think we're all in the same boat here.But why are we here?"

then the young woman says, " i can't be here, i have a date tomorrow! i have to get home."

the same red haired guy says," everybody, settle down." the guy in the varsity jacket starts to take charge of the situation.

i stand up to get a good look at him but he walks towards the center and says, "does anyone have any idea where we are?"

"jeez, why are you starting with that. Shouldn't we get to know each other first?" the blond hair guy says.

that young man smiles at each of us.

[ that's nice. He's trying to make everyone feel at ease.] Eventually, the tension in the room subsides.

he said again" My name's Thoma." everybody just looks at him without a word.

i then said, " i'm Jessica"

" oh, nice to meet you, Jessica !" Thoma said.

the woman said," well, then, my turn.I'm Monica! . I'm a fashion design student, and i have a really cool boyfriend! . Ahh, i miss him right now."

[ there's something childlike about Monica's charm.It's kinda adorable.]

Thoma said, " Sure you do , haha"

Red haired guy said," Ray."

[that's it ?] I was expecting a more dramatic introduction,be honest.

[he's pretty bossy , but not very talkative...] Ray must've caught me staring at him because he turns to face me.

"W-What?" i said. Ray said, " You there.The sooner you talk, the faster we can start planning things out."

[Oh..] I look over my shoulder to see the quiet young man with heterochromia stands up.He slowly lets his hands fall, revealing the shine in his eyes.

[ i meant what i said. His eyes are really beautiful.]

he said, " My name is Subaru."

[Subaru..] something about his name strikes a chord within me. He glances at me , his red eye glimmering at me from behind his bangs.

[There's something awfully familiar about that red eye of his..] I try to reach back into my memories but i have no recollection of ever meeting him. [ Is it just my imagination?]

Thoma said, " so , now that we know each other , isn't it a bit less scary?'. Thoma chuckles, and i smile.

[ the atmosphere was really tense earlier. I'm glad someone like Thoma is here to lighten up the mood.]

Ray said, " Right, now that we've introduced ourselves, let's try to figure out where we are and why.Everyone gather around."

we all huddle to sit in a circle. Ray said, " Has anyone ever been here before?"

my eyes scan the room from one corner to another.It's normal, aside from the fact that it's dark and a blood moon is illuminating us, albeit dimly.[ nothing seems too out of the ordinary, but..i've got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Should i mention it?]

Thoma said, " nope , not me " and then Monica said, " Me neither. This place is too creepy for my tastes."

Ray turns to Subaru and then eyes to me." Not really , but.." i said.

Ray asked, " but ?" . " I just have a feeling ." i continued. " I guess that's not very useful information, is it ?"

as i expected , Ray doesn't respond but then said, " Could you tell me the last thing you did before coming here ?" Monica giggles.

"I was snuggling with my boyfriend . It was very warm and cozy. Heehe! This is so embarrasing.We were on the couch and -" Monica said while cupping her chin and blushing hard.

"Haha, okay!.  Me next. I remember browsing the internet while getting ready to sleep .Nothing unusual." Thoma said.

[ yeah, that all sounds pretty normal.My night was the same way. I was determined to watch that TV show but i felt drowsy..]

"I was on the couch waiting for the latest episode of my favorite TV series. It airs at ten , which is usually past by bedtime." i said.

Ray then said, " ten at night ?"

I nod , and Ray rests his index finger under his nose in thought.

Thoma said "Hmmm... now that you mention it, it was around the same time for me too."

[ ah, that could be a hint.]

Subaru said ," Something was ringing in my ears." Subaru, who's been quiet the whole time, speaks up.

" Yes! i felt that too! " i said.

"Right. It was a bit painful , to be honest . " Thoma said.

[ when the bell chimed ten o'clock, i was suddenly overcome with drowsiness.]

Ray said, " How about you , Monica?"

Monica then replied, " Hmm.. I don't really remember, but maybe? I was sitting with my boyfriend-"

Ray cut her off , " Enough of your boyfriend."

Monica pouts, glaring daggers at Ray. [ Haha. She does seem pretty obsessed with him.]

Thoma then said, " You simply don't know the sensibilities of a woman in love, Ray."

Ray replied, " I don't need to know. It's not relevant here."

Thoma shrugs. Then he looks at me and makes a face, teasingly mocking Ray.[ Ray and Thoma seems like they know each other pretty well. Either that or Thoma teases everybody.]Ray purses his lips together as he leans back.He folds his arms across his chest and then says," Okay, so we've pinpointed three things about this situation." Ray lowers his arms, letting his hands to drop over his shins and then again says, " First, none of us have been here before.Second, we all felt sleepy at around ten at night. Third, we all experienced tinnitus."

Monica said, " Tinni- what ?".

Subaru said , " it's a medical term for the ringing we heard in our ears."

Thoam said, "ho! that sounds smart."

I curiously turn to look at Ray and i said , " I'm impressed. Are you a doctor, Ray ?"

Ray replies, " Not exactly. I'm still a med student ." Out of nowhere, Thoma suddenly slaps Ray's leg and says," What about you? What were you going?" In annoyance, Ray jerks his long legs back and says," I was studying."

Thoma said, " Whaaat? that's boring .who studies on a Friday night?"

Monica adds, " yeah !! " Monica chimes in.[...] the atmosphere in the room feels a lot less uptight with these two around. I don' t know know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, though.

Monica said, ”Friday nights are supposed to be for fun!”

Thoma said, ”I know. right?. Partying with friends , drinking booze, getting wasted.”  The two of them share a high five that makes me smile.[ At least we’re all getting along just fine ].

Then Ray said, “ if you have time for idle chatter, then you have time to give insight about this situation.” I look at others, but they seem to be out of ideas.[they haven’t noticed?]

“ Guys, listen. We came here at a certain time. Right?” they all turn to me expectantly so I continued..,

” but there aren’t any clocks here.” Everyone was like ‘!!!’ and then I again said, “ after we sat together, I looked around and that’s one thing I noticed.” Their eyes scan the whole room.

Thoma said , “ wow, you’re right. I have been wondering what time it was but I always forgot to ask’’ and then Subaru said, “ is it because of …does anyone have a watch?” Ray immediately puts his hand forward. We all look at each other, thinking the same thing. we hold our breath in anticipation as we lean closer to confirm our suspicions. But it was dead…and everyone was like [….] the wristwatch oh Ray’s hand tell us something…time stopped at ten.

“ oh no, now we have no sense of time” I said. It feels as if our last thread of hope has been cut. Dread washes over me as a brief silence overtake the room.

“I’m trying to make sense of this. We all came here after we fell asleep but is this a dream? Or are we in a different universe?” Thoma said.

I repeated, “ a different universe?” and then Thoma said ,” time is a construct. It’s physically impossible to freeze, given the laws of physics on earth. The only way to stop time, theoretically, is to be in a place where the scientific laws allow it. But the lack of clocks doesn’t necessarily mean time has stopped and it could also mean time is still running, we just don’t’ know how quickly.”

Ray then said, “that’s the most sensible thing you’ve said since we woke up.”

Thoma said ,” hey, I may not be as diligent as you but I know my way around science.”

Ray folds his arms again and says,” traveling to a different dimension would require deliberate effort but we didn’t do anything and then Thoma said,” right. We’d need to create a rift in space and go through it like a portal.” Which was then followed by me , “ well…I’m not exactly the top student in my physics class. Tearing through space and bending time isn’t my specially.” Thoma laughs and says to me , “ you’re funny! Haha, I like that”

Monica added,” wait, so you’re saying on earth but not on earth? I’m so confused. I just wanna go home!”

Ray then says,” this is more likely to be a dream.”[…..] once again, silence overtakes the room. Just when I’m about to say something to break the silence-

“Ehehehehehe!”Out of the blue, a little girl’s laugh fills the room. Indescribable terror overtakes my body, freezing  me in place.

I said, “ W-what was that?” and again there it goes “Ehehehehehe!”. The echo of a little girl’s giggle grows louder and louder in my ear.

Monica exclaimed, “ I don’t like this anymore!”Monica clings to Thoma for comfort. The laughter grows even louder and I desperately resist the urge to panic. If I start panicking now, Monica will get even more scared. Just as I start tightly clenching my fist, the giggling stops. Immediately, I sense something coming from the only door in the room. Everyone stares motionless at the door. My heart races from the sheer sense of fear and dread. Suddenly, the door creaks. Everyone goes like [ !!]

A little girl with red hair stands in front of the door . things get even more freaky as she approaches us with an unfaltering smile.

Thoma says, “ Oh boy, this is starting to creep me out.”

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