Prologue

City X. Hospital. 23:47

In the dark corridor not far from the door to the room stood a doctor and a nurse, talking passionately about something, but trying not to make any noise.

- Doctor, do you really think it's possible to survive with injuries like his? Even if he could, he would be crippled for life! - the girl in the nurse's uniform raised her voice a little.

They were talking about a recent incident that had happened at a children's pizzeria where a child had been injured. The injuries were very bad, so the boy is now in the Intensive Care Unit, hooked up to life support.

The doctor decided to remain silent for the time being and instead turned his gaze to the small window on the door that gave him a glimpse of what was going on inside.

And in the room Yuki was lying, most of his head was covered in bandages, which were soaked in scarlet blood, creating a very unpleasant picture to the eye. There was no way to change them because of the great risk of further harming an already half-dead patient.

- You see, even realizing that his future life is at stake, we still have an obligation to take care of him and do what we can. Besides, that's what we get paid for, - the middle-aged man said in a slightly droopy voice.

He hated to realize that even if he got this boy out of the other side of the world, it wouldn't do much for Yuki. Not unless a miracle will happen.

- ...

The girl was silent and decided not to say anything. Shewas too aware of this child's bad situation, but there was nothing she could do about it.

By the way, only one person entered this room the entire time, and that was a woman in her thirties.

She sat in silence for a long time, only occasionally stroking the boy's head and whispering something in his ear. As soon as one of the nurses noticed this, she immediately called security and began to ask the visitor questions such as "Who are you?", "What is your relationship to him?"

But she could not get an answer. The woman only showed her charming smile or said in a sweet voice that she had known the boy for a long time and they should not worry.

The nurse was quite patient, but she knew she wasn't going to get an answer. She simply told the guard to escort her out of the patient's room.

After that, the girl went over and examined the boy, trying to identify any defects or clues that might indicate that this woman had done something, but to her regret, and happiness at the same time, she found nothing.

The nurse exhaled and left the room, turning off the lights behind her so that the boy could rest in peace, even though he could not feel anything. After all, half of his head had practically become a tortilla.

But was it really that simple? Heh, of course not. Everyone is hiding something, and Yuki had something to hide.

Nightmares.

After Mike started bullying him, the boy started having Nightmares. At first everything was fine and such dreams were rare, so Yuki tried not to pay attention to them.

But each time the nightmares became more and more real, so much so that the boy sometimes couldn't distinguish them from reality anymore, and their frequency of occurrence only increased.

Gradually, he stopped getting enough sleep, causing bags to form under his eyes from lack of sleep. But no one paid any attention to it, as if they did not notice the change in him.

He had wanted to tell them about his illness many times before, but the fear that Mike would only bully him more by finding another reason to do so prevented him from mentioning anything about his dreams.

But the Nightmares didn't care. He started seeing them more often, they became more realistic each night. It even got to the point where he could hear different noises from behind the door that led to his room. Sometimes it was laughter, then a heavy sigh, or the sound of footsteps headed for his door, but immediately silenced as soon as they reached it.

Even the touches were so realistic that it was no longer possible to tell the difference between true and false. The pain, too, was like reality. And all of this frightened the boy even more.

There was nothing else except for the flashlight that was with him every time, well, except for the two bears that had been with him since he was born.

The doors were always ajar, which was very disturbing. If you closed them, after a few minutes they were slightly open again, and the same thing happened to the closet.

But it was the darkness that was most frightening.

Yes, the darkness, and exactly what it hid within it.

The only source of light was that flashlight, but there was one problem - there were only two batteries, indicating that it wouldn't last all night, so you had to save them.

Yuki himself always appeared in the same place, namely on the floor, in front of his bed.

One day, though, the boy decided to go out into the corridor of the left door to see if there really was anyone here but him. And that was his greatest mistake.

Just three steps after he left his room, he saw bright red eyes staring at him in the darkness, only about three feet away.

Then he did not know what to do. He felt the greatest fear of his life. There was no point in running, he knew that instinctively. Even to move was frightening.

Those eyes inspired intense fear, but at the same time, they were still there, just following the boy himself.

That time he woke up 30 seconds after this encounter and made a mental note that he would never leave the room in his dreams again.

But now he has nightmares every time, and therefore, until he's dead, then....

Yes, you guessed it right, he lives in his Nightmares.

***

Night 1. Beginning

Ugh, my head is cracking, but I can't figure out why? Man, what time is it?

...WHAT, it's only 12:00! (of the night). It's weird, usually by this time I'm already asleep and it's pretty hard to wake me up, even if I'm sick with something.

And why am I the one sitting on the floor? I definitely remember that....stop....I...I don't remember anything.

I really don't remember anything! No, I remember my name, my relatives, but... I don't remember what I did yesterday, and I can't remember anything at all!

Wait, don't panic, don't panic. How can you not panic when you can't remember anything? My heart began to beat even faster with fear, and it was hard to breathe.

I desperately tried to remember something, at least yesterday, but the results were pitiful.

There was a flashlight lying next to me, which I was surprised because I never had one. But here it was... so big and black, and next to it were two batteries.

Without thinking, I quickly put one of the batteries in the flashlight, and immediately turned it on, trying to ease my fear.

At first I thought it would help me, but I guess I was wrong, because it only made me more nervous. The darkness only became thicker, which made me nervously move the flashlight from side to side, trying to find an invisible enemy who was skillfully hiding from me.

Strange thoughts began to creep into my head, making my situation even worse, after all a child's imagination is capable of much, because thanks to it, a child sees what an adult does not see

Different silhouettes began to loom in the darkness, subtly hinting to me that I was not alone here, but I could not prove it. As soon as I pointed the flashlight to where I thought the entity was, it disappeared.

And it was impossible for me to go near the doors. Fear screamed at me that as soon as I did, I would regret it, if I had time to do so.

So I just shined a light on them, but even that didn't help much, because as soon as the light from the flashlight came through the gap between the doors, it was spared by the darkness, not giving it the slightest chance.

All of this was putting a lot of pressure on me, which made my hands tremble, and it was quite easy to notice, because the light from the flashlight was trembling, too.

I thought that nothing worse would happen, but I soon realized that I was wrong.

About an hour later, I heard footsteps on the stairs. And that already made me shed a few tears, because it became obvious that I wasn't alone.

Turning off the flashlight, I started listening to the footsteps, trying to figure out where it was going.

Because of the fear and the adrenaline in my blood, all my senses were heightened to the limit and I could hear every rustle clearly.

The creature's footsteps were directed toward my room, as they became more and more distinct, but to my surprise they were not heavy.

But then the sound stopped abruptly, making me even more anxious.

Why had it stopped? Was it waiting for me? What would happen next? Will I die? What does it want? Who is this creature?

Such thoughts began to fill my head more and more, making my heart beat faster and faster.

I urgently needed a plan of action. Even though I realized it, it was harder to do!

What should I do? Hide? Bad idea, it would find me wherever I was. Run? First of all, where to? And secondly, it's dangerous and stupid, there's only one staircase to the second floor, and that creature is definitely standing near it.

There was only one solution. It is very stupid, but there is no other choice. It wasn't.

I went to the left door and put my ear to the crack, trying to hear any sounds, but it was all in vain, a dead silence. So there was only one solution left.

Damn, this is the stupidest thing one can do in this situation, but I have no other choice! I mentally prayed to everyone I could that no one would be here.

I opened the door just enough so that I could stick my head and arm out a little bit. Yes, my plan was to turn on the flashlight and thereby illuminate the hallway.

It's the stupidest decision I've ever made, but I can't think of anything else, and no one could think of anything normal in a situation like this.

- * inhale * * exhale * * inhale * * exhale *

I took a long time to gather my thoughts, my adrenaline was so over the top because of fear, not allowing me to think normally.

It was the only way I could tell if it was my fantasy or if there really was someone here.

*(Click)*

Suddenly all the darkness disappeared, giving my eyes a long corridor, I did not notice anything at first, and I was already glad, but it can not be so simple. And I was right.

A sudden movement at the end of the corridor caught my attention. I saw something go behind the wall! All I could see was a hand, which for some reason resembled a woman's, and long hair, which was a little short of my gaze.

But it couldn't be a woman, because it was too tall about 2 meters tall! What kind of creature is this!!! What does it want with me?! Does it want to kill me?!

Where the hell am I! Where are my parents?! They must have heard that.

...

Or the creature had already managed to kill them....

But a sharp laugh, which somehow resembled a woman's, quickly brought me out of my thoughts.

I quickly turned off the flashlight, ran into the room, and closed the door, trying to quiet the shivers that were all over my body. I hoped more than anything that I was just imagining it, but reality thinks otherwise.

- *hah* *hah* - I'm not alone in here! - I whispered.

To be continued....