A story written in Romanian for  a contest, but once again, they forgot to mention an important aspect. They let through mostly published authors. 

Words for it: 3500.  

Theme: Thriller.  

Sorry for the grammar issues. 

Had to translate in a haste, because I leave the city for a month. 

               "Everything seemed like a nightmare; one that began as a simple dream."

                "Kill them!"

                Drenched in sweat, the twenty-eight-year-old man suddenly awoke from his sleep. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked wildly around the room as if looking for someone, but he noticed only one thing. The shadows cast by the trees near the window penciled ominous shapes on the ceiling. He watched them for a few minutes, trying to relive the feeling he had in the dream, but it was all gone.

             In his recurring nightmares, Benjamin always saw himself falling down a steep hill, pushed into an endless abyss. Then he heard a trembling but still strong voice frantically calling his name. In the illusion created, absolute darkness embraced him. At that moment, intense pain shot through his entire body, and an excruciating migraine finally caught him off guard, making him feel like his head was about to explode. In his dream, once he hit the hard ground, he kept hearing the same question

             "Do you want to live?"

             He didn't remember the answer to the question, nor the one he received from the voice that remained constantly in his mind, like an echo. All the other details of the dream were ingrained in his memory when he awoke from his horrifying sleep.

             The most bizarre thing about the young man's nightmare was the pain. It felt real. Cold sweat ran down his spine, sending a shiver through his entire body. Suddenly, he tried to move, but he felt like his whole being was immobilized, only his heart was beating frantically in his chest. It was as if he was paralyzed and an entity possessed his body, refusing to let go.

              Benjamin finally managed to get out of his so called 'comfortable' bed as it was quite uncomfortable. He has lost his warmth and pleasure since those disturbing dreams began. A crushed scalp pinned him between the leaves of rust, and he blinked often, trying to tear himself away from the terrifying image. The pain he was feeling had to go away. Gradually, trembling, he brought his frozen fingers in the middle of his chest. His racing heart assured him that he was lucky to still be alive.

               Scanning the rather small room with minimalist furniture, he spotted the door ajar ahead of him revealing the tiny bathroom. He sighed and ran his fingers through his wet hair once. Tiredly, Benjamin's gaze settled on a photograph he had placed in his wallet thrown open on the pale white bedside table next to the bed. The darkness spread across the room passed like a curtain over the blurred faces. They resembled the disfigured faces oozing near the trunk of a tree. With a shudder, he turned his face away suddenly, snapping out of the macabre reverie he had fallen into for a moment.

              The branches of the trees swayed in the wind that began to blow and a sliver of light briefly made its way into the room, revealing the face of a small boy. His expression was cold, betraying no emotion.

              It was an old picture, almost completely erased.

              Next to the little boy were two young men. One whose face was scrawled with a red pen, and next to it, having the same features as the youngest of them, a shyly smiling teenager.

             Hearing a thud coming from the window, caused by the wind, Benjamin jumped.He looked at the bars that studded the window and the sun rising through the treetops like a circle of fire. He narrowed his eyes, wishing the moment would never end.

              Next to the wallet was a crumpled black paper on which could be seen text in silver letters.

             "The ten-year anniversary..."

             Like a flash, a muffled voice flashed through his mind, causing him a sharp pain as he rose from the bed. He dropped to his knees, crouching, trying to catch his breath. All his body trembled, and a lump formed in his throat. It was blurry, but the fog was slowly dissipating...

            "Monster, stay away from me!"

             It was his voice as he ran limply. A long-lost memory surfaced abruptly, leaving him out of breath.

***

             The fog that hung over the forest was like a huge cloud. Benjamin put his black cap on his head, scanning the scene before him. They were all in black, talking to each other, like a funeral procession. The ceremony would begin with the departure to Devil's Valley. A place where once entered, wandered through its halls, disappeared from the face of the earth.

              For some reason, the whole scene, the crying, the televisions, the flowers, seemed like a cheap circus. To him, no person had a face, they were as if someone had scribbled their face. Like a nervous tic he bit his cheek as his gaze fell on a withdrawn young man. His dirty blond hair stood out. They exchanged glances, but Tommy quickly pulled it back.

               "I don't feel like talking to him," Benjamin whispered through his teeth, but he noticed something special about the young man who was slowly approaching.

               His face was pale and he was frantically fiddling with the drawstring of his sweatshirt. He immediately froze and both looked in different directions. Looking at Tommy, his skin was starting to itch, as he was visibly bothered by his presence. He closed his eyes, trying to disperse the sensation.

            Finally, the third and last survivor of the massacre from ten years ago made his appearance. They all nodded, but none said a word. It was a tacit understanding, from looks. Instead, they felt all the rest focused on them and examining their sharp experiences.

             They were momentarily back in time, chilled, bruised and wet. Benjamin could barely keep his eyes open, staring blankly at the ashen sky washing over the deep gash on his temple. The other two were found shortly after. Tommy in the alley, next to Benjamin, holding on to each other, and Alec was walking aimlessly through the forest with a blank look, his breathless brother behind him.

              The only sound he heard was that of his heart, which was beating loudly in his ears like a drum, and a question was repeated endlessly, with the broken body of a child in front of his eyes.

               Do you want to be judged?

               The sudden silence made Benjamin lookup. His washed-out blue eyes fell on the massive group ahead, who began to make their way to the ten missing teenagers. He meandered through the forest full of traps, where absolute evil took the form of a human being, which he killed in cold blood.

              The reason, the deed, was never found out.

             The incompetence of the police at the time left the case open, with no answers for the survivors, relatives and friends of those who perished.

               Alec nodded tiredly, walking slowly toward them with his hands in his pockets. Her red hair was hidden under a black hood. He turned to the two, watching as Tommy disappeared into the inn.

             Benjamin motioned them forward. He was going to come too...

              Inside, Tommy leaned back in an armchair, stared blankly at the television above the bar. Approaching, Benjamin sat in front of him on the small table.

             He slowly leaned over him without saying anything, looking deep into his bloodshot eyes with fatigue, but Tommy's was going through him. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, where the shadows cast by the fire in the fireplace danced, beckoning him. He opened his cracked lips to say something, but at the same time he felt his whole being subjugated by that game, by Benjamin's gaze.

               Both of his hands were shaking, eventually clenching into fists.

               "I am truly sorry for your brother Tommy!" He whispered to them. But a sharp pain shot through his temple and he quickly brought his fingers to it.

              The blond looked at him through his long lashes, feeling a lump form in his throat and unable to utter a word. They were words spoken in vain. He closed his eyes, and for a few seconds he was back in the old inn, the one near the Devil's Valley. The sensation, the smell of blood and wet earth tangled in his mind, creating a real vision.

              He is once again standing next to the body of his brother, Alex.

               The deep, terrified sigh of the living was clearer. Although they were scared, they slowly walked forward. They wanted to scream, but stopped in horror, clapping their hands to their mouths. In front of them was a naked boy, full of wounds, tied to the blood-soaked table.

               From his navel to his neck was a nasty gash that was freshly indented on the bruised skin. There were still wounded on his arms that were bleeding profusely. The blond hair was soaked in the red liquid, and the open eyes were staring at the ceiling. Upturned irises took on a macabre hue as sunlight filtered through the branches of sleeping trees.

              A few insects settled on the retina, beginning the cycle of life and death.

             Tommy felt sick and almost threw up. Slipping on the wet floor, he could feel his brother's blood on his face which was still slowly dripping from the table. Although he was scared, he tried to free him with his bare hands. In desperation, he then began searching for something sharp. He looked at Benjamin, who was visibly pale and trembling.

            "He decided to be judged"

              It was written in blood on his leg. He was the first of the ten condemned to die on Devil's Hill, to disappear forever into nothingness.

            "He was only seventeen years old. Tell me, what sin did he commit to be killed? In that way?!" He screamed, making all look in their way.

            Saying this, he looked deep into Benjamin's eyes who shrugged. He shook his head, trying to banish the terrible thoughts and gloomy image. He still remembers the stench in that room, which has remained imprinted in his mind. Suddenly, a feeling of hatred and anger shot through him, causing him to squint.

            "But what fault did my brothers have?"

             He wanted to say something else, but stopped. It was a much older story...

             "How are they related? Tommy yelled again in a voice filled with agony that Benjamin felt as if it was his own.

             "They haven't, but they both died, innocent! One ran in front of a car, one hanged himself, because he was too weak for this world!

              Hearing the harsh words, Benjamin let out a heavy breath, feeling all the emotions from twelve years ago overwhelm him. For his brothers there was no justice. On the one hand, he was happy that the young man in front of him was also feeling his pain. The difference, however, was the commemoration, which his brothers did not receive after a decade. Two years ago only he visited their graves.

              "Tommy, don't continue, please! You know very well why my brother killed himself," he yelled, making everyone look at them. "Because everyone blamed him for our little brother's death. He was the one who was supposed to take care of him."

             "Where were you?!" Tommy was still staring at Benjamin, who showed no emotion.

            "Far away!" That was all he could say, and then he got up from the table. He looked at the young man's trembling fingers and smiled.

             "You're as pathetic as you were ten years ago," he whispered through his teeth.

             There was a special event on the television, and they both turned their gazes to the enormous screen.

            "Is it true that a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime?"

            "In many cases, yes, because the brain of a killer, a psychopath, is different from a normal person..."

            "I hope he's here to finish what he started," Tommy told him through tears, clearly tired and tortured, of everything that had happened. Benjamin laughed in his face, took off his cap, and ran his fingers through his short hair like hot coals. Then suddenly he closed his eyes as if guided by an external entity , and his mind was flooded with foreign images, kept hidden for ten years. Ten young people. Six boys, three girls and a teacher died. Images of their deaths flashed through his mind, giving him a terrible migraine.

          He fell to his knees, barely able to breathe. The pressure was knocking him down as if something was pressing heavily over his entire body. A voice echoed in his mind.

             "Monster, stay away from me!"

             A woman's voice could be heard screaming in the burning inferno. It was like an echo through the dark forest on that cold October night. The mud was slowly engulfing her as she sat on her knees and shivered violently. In one hand he held a knife, which was stained with fresh blood. Drops of the crimson liquid slowly slid off the sharp blade.

            In front of her stood a barefoot young man. He was wearing blue pants and his shirt was stained red with blood. His hand was trying to stop the bleeding and pain that was erupting from his abdomen.

              A grimace was frozen on his face, and his body felt numb. He refused to move towards the kneeling woman. Her fierce cries were accompanied by tears, and her whole body trembled. She was terrified. She pointed the knife at the boy's seraphic face and screamed louder and louder.

             "Die, monster! Die!"

             Benjamin was only a witness to the tragic event, hiding half of his face in the collar of his bloodstained hoodie. His body began to tremble. A tragedy was unfolding before him, in which a mother and a son were dying in the flames of hell.

***

               The amber and red hues of the leaves painted the almost bare trees and paved the cold, wet ground. Heavy raindrops began to fall, and the air became even colder. Benjamin walked idly through the forest, fingering the leaves that were barely clinging to the branches. The young man looked up and watched the sky sifting above him, silent. The rustling of leaves and branches that began to move in the breeze, scattered the perfect silence that surrounded him.

            He breathed in the cool air, a treacherous smile playing on his lips as he smelled the smoke coming from a cigarette. In front of him, leaning against the trunk of an old tree whose bark was barely holding on, was Alec. The copper haired boy, four years younger than him, watched him closely and smiled back in return. Black painted fingernails protruded from under his sleeve, lazily holding the cigarette between two fingers.

             At the sight of Alec, through the shadows, empathy vanished, and day turned to night. The chaos in Benjamin's mind was bearing down on the two of them. In those moments, all emotion disappeared from him and the rhythm of his heart faded. To him, everything was painted in blood, and emotions were an enigma. A black flower of evil grew within him, with thorns that tore through his flesh, letting rivers of blood flow.

               He didn't know if it was day or night...

              "Where did they end up?" Benjamin asked the young man.

             Alec took one last drag of the thick, noxious smoke, letting the rest of the cigarette slip between his thin fingers. He turned his head toward the old inn, which stood dilapidated and burned on the hill of the forest.

               Benjamin suddenly started laughing and dropping to one knee, he looked down at a small puddle that had formed at his feet. Lightly, he brought his hand to his head, pulling off his cap. An ugly scar appeared on his temple. His face appeared distorted in the murky water, and the veil of mist and rain followed the pattern of a spider's web, devouring anyone who entered.

               "Welcome back!" Alec continued, crushing his cigarette under his boot. "They are doing a ceremony for the three who died there. Flowers, mourning and..." Suddenly, Benjamin stood up with an evil smile. Alec looked at him puzzled, but discovered the number formed by the fingers of his right hand.

                Four.

              Alec realized the fourth was his brother. That's where all the madness started.

              An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

              This was the motto that Benjamin followed as a child. With the death of his brothers who were restraining his urges, everything he held within him suddenly erupted. He was like a bolt of lightning, cutting down everything in his path. Ten people had fallen to his wrath since that time, and Alec was his helper, the one who lured them. Two teenagers who took justice into their own hands, becoming invisible monsters, hidden under the cover of a night and the depths of a forest. They avenged their brothers who suffered from the malice of their colleagues. And adults because they closed their eyes to injustice.

               The accident made Benjamin forget the moments from that period. For a decade, a huge void formed in his soul and mind. Once back, it all unfolded to him abruptly like a page with images from a windswept journal.

              "Your past does not justify innocent victims." Tommy's raised tone conveyed pure agony.

              It was said that you couldn't feel someone's pain, but their voice could penetrate you through every fiber of your being. Alec shivered, almost turning livid. Instead, for Benjamin there was a huge void in everything he heard. No emotion ran through him.

              He slowly turned to the young man who appeared apathetic.

              "You're as guilty as we are!" Benjamin answered, smelling smoke in the air coming from the old inn. "I remember it very clearly now. You pushed me into that dark abyss where I stayed for ten years, thinking you would erase what your brother had done!"

               "I would do that over and over, knowing now that you're the monster that killed everyone's dreams that day!"

               Benjamin's rosy lips curled into a rude pout as Alec peeled himself off the tree trunk, hurrying toward the two of them.

              None of the three who stood there at the foot of the hills covered in milky mist were innocent.

              Each of them bore the stigma of a sin. To be blind to the evil around you, to ignore, to mock, to kill...

                 In seconds Alec got between them to stop the sharp object Tommy pulled from his sleeve. The long blades pierced his palm briefly, and the redhead let out a muffled sound of pain. Instead, Benjamin had his hand around Tommy's neck, holding him with all his might. Soon, he loosely dropped the scissors from his hand and was jerked and thrown to the ground.

               Alec raised his arm, watching the thick, warm liquid trickle between his fingers. He could feel the anger seeping through him. He heard a noise, and in front of him the two were fighting. In a second Benjamin bent down, and retrieving the weapon, pinned Tommy to the ground. He aimed for the neck, only scratching it more. Tommy twisted, managing to escape and hit him in the head with a rock. Exhausted, he couldn't crawl very far because Alec grabbed his leg.

             All three were breathing heavily, but Benjamin came slowly, wiping the blood from his forehead, holding the scissors tightly in his hand. He punched Tommy in the stomach, causing him to gasp, then leaned over him more. Tommy let out a shriek, but the forest gently hid him as the blades pierced his skin and flesh, back to back with force. Drops of blood painted his face and the frost-burnt leaves.

               "Do you want to be Judged?"

              "Do you want to live "Murderer, die!"

              With his mutilated body lying beneath him, he remembered the question from his dream. It was just before Tommy pushed him and dragged him into the inferno after him.

             Benjamin gasped, but smiled again, lowering himself down covered in blood and mud.

               "You have been judged!" He whispered to them as Tommy struggled for a last gasp of air.

               At last he stood up refreshed as if reborn.

               Alec followed him silently, hiding the traces of the deed behind the closed eyes of everyone there.

              He would be thrown into the dark abyss where the rest of the teenagers lived.

              Before he threw him, a word was engraved on his hand; judged.

             Alec lit a cigarette, remembering how the darkness swallowed the fleeting smoke. Pulled out from his pocket a paper yellowed with time and stained with blood, he scanned out the names written on it, most of them crossed out.

             "Is everyone here?"

               Alec just nodded, letting the cigarette smoke blend into the thick fog. Benjamin cleaned himself of the crimson, gooey liquid in grim silence. Satisfied, they disappeared into the shadows like two ghosts...

              The stillness in which Tommy was tossed around like a rag was disturbed by his tired panting.

               His whole body ached, the wounds stung him, crawling over the remains of those he fell on.

               A glimmer of light emerged from the obscure hell.

               Tommy held out his bloody fingers to her, vowing to finish what he started ten years ago. To kill Benjamin.

              You deserve judgment!

               It was an impulse that sustained him to survive. A hidden thought. A whisper of death...