"This is just the beginning! The angel has spoken to me. We are being punished! Surrender yourselves to him if you want to be saved!" The preacher gave his usual lecture even though he was only called to lead a prayer for the soul of the deceased Cecile Montenegro. "Sacrifice that's what's important to you! Attend the services and cleanse your spirits!" His hands were trembling as he pointed at the gray sky.

A day after they learned about the bully's death, all the students were required to attend the group prayer for Cecile at the school's gymnasium. It was really early and most of the students, though freaked out and sorry for Cecile's death, would rather spend their time being productive or hanging out with their friends. Many of those present fiddled with their phones or chatted with the student beside them.

Tina was nowhere to be seen. Cecile's friends were still blaming her for the death of the tall girl. Yesterday, it was as if all eyes on the campus were glued on Tina. There were whispers all around her, quietly calling her a murderer.

But, how could that happen?

Was Cecile's death really caused by Tina's dream hopping?

"Let us all pray together," at last, the preacher said.

Claire bowed her head and repeated what the preacher dictated. Some of the students did, too.

When the group prayer was over and the students spilled out of the gymnasium, Claire noticed Geraldine stride from the outside and rushed toward her boyfriend, Hans Luke, only to strike his face with her manicured nails. The scratch immediately turned red.

"What the fuck?" the boy touched his aching face, looking at the girl like she just lost her mind.

"Fuck you!" spat Geraldine. She had been crying, tears flowing from her eyes and her nose filled with snot. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" She kept on hitting Hans Luke's chest.

The boy looked honestly lost. "What the fuck have I done!"

One manicured finger pointed accusingly at him. "You dream hopped into Johnny's dream and killed him!"

"What?"

"You were so fucking jealous of him that you finally ended his life, you sick bastard!" Geraldine wiped the tears and snot on her face gracelessly using the back of her hand. "I love him! I told you. I love him, too. But I broke up with him because I wanted to be with you, you asshole!"

"What? Johnny? Is that what you call Arevalo? And he's dead?"

Hans Luke looked confused but his girlfriend was so sure of what she was accusing him of. She threatened, "Tonight, I'm gonna dream hop into your dream and ask you if you have anything to do with Johnny's death. And if you really killed him, you'll never wake up."

"You don't know how to kill someone in those dreams." The boy shook his head.

"Oh, but I do." Geraldine crossed her arms near her chest. "Tina told me. Dreams lie but dreamers don't. As long as you have the intent to hurt or kill, you'd be able to. That's how she killed Cecile."

Claire gasped and her eyes and Hans Luke's met. How could the girl announce such a dangerous piece of information in front of everyone? Some might use it to their advantage and hurt, or kill, someone.

"Baby--"

Geraldine brushed Hans Luke's hand away and exited the gymnasium.

Claire decided that Jonathan should know about this. He was the Dreamweaver but did he know that something this terrifying could occur because of the abilities he awakened from the dreamers? That they could be murderers?

The boy didn't attend school that day. In the morning, as Yulo drove her alone to the bus station, Claire thought Jonathan just did not prefer to attend the group prayer, but, he also missed classes.

The next day was horrible.

Geraldine was dead. She didn't wake up and her friends said her corpse had a horrifying look on her face. Like she died in anguish.

"Fuck!" Hans Luke was raking his now messy hair with both his hands. He looked awful as he shrank in one corner of the room. "It wasn't me! I couldn't do that to her! Fucking shit. Who did it? Who the hell fucking killed my Geraldine?"

"I didn't kill him!" Will was running away from a group of boys along the corridor. He was being accused of murder. Because he was the only person who had a grudge against their friend, the group said. "No, really, it wasn't me! I didn't even dream hop last night!"

"This is bad," Wendy whispered to Claire.

"Yeah," she agreed. It was like hell in school. They weren't aware of the count of deaths that could have been caused by dream hopping, but they were sure it was plenty. Claire took her bag and told her friend, "Tell them I got sick."

"Are you going to Jonathan?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Maybe he can do something." Anything.

Claire headed straight to Jonathan's room, but even how many times she knocked at the door and called his name, he didn't respond. She ran down the stairs and headed into the kitchen. "Linda," she called the caretaker.

The woman was piling something inside the cabinet and almost jumped at her call. She immediately closed the cabinet and faced Claire, a bit of white powder stuck on the sleeves of the brown blazer she wore. "Claire, goodness. I didn't expect you here at this time. W-why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Claire shook her head. "Uh. Yeah. But, I'm looking for Jonathan. Is he here?"

"Yes, He's in his room. He's quite ill."

"Oh." It would be rude to force Jonathan to speak to her if he was sick. Instead, she told the caretaker, "Could you, please, tell him to talk to me when he's better?"

"Yes. Yes. Sure," the older woman smiled at her. "Would you like to have some tea?"

"No thanks." The girl walked back to the third floor of the mansion and stood right outside Jonathan's room's door. Then, she noticed a bit of an opening in the ceiling.

It was a hatch.

She hadn't noticed it before and now realized that it lead to the mansion's attic. The only place she hadn't gone into. Maybe Linda thought that she didn't have to show it to the girl so she didn't include it in the tour before. It was just an attic, anyway.

But it was the only place in the mansion where she hadn't tried finding Keith.

Keith.

Because of the events happening with the dreamers, she had forgotten about him. Also, she had this crazy theory in her mind that maybe Keith did grow up and just hid his identity. That he was Jonathan. But, then, what about his family? Were they also alive somewhere? She hadn't had the chance to talk to Jonathan about these either.

Well, no harm in trying. She could try looking for clues in her dreams again while waiting to talk to Jonathan about the dream hopping incidents. And she hoped they could talk as soon as possible.

Claire walked toward her room and plopped down on her bed. She tried so hard to fall asleep, but she couldn't. She spent hours in bed tossing and turning and waiting for Jonathan until, at long last, she found herself inside the mansion, but not quite the real place. She was dreaming.

She figured even if she hadn't seen the attic, she could still search for the boy in there. It was her dream, after all.

Floating up the stairs, she watched the little devils float all around the house. Second Floor... Then, the third floor. She positioned herself below the hatch. She imagined it being open and letting her in. In a quick moment, she was inside somewhere dark. When she opened the window, she realized that it was not some dirty, old attic. She was in an empty room more spacious than her bedroom. On the white tiles were symbols she saw in their church downtown. Red stains were visible here and there. And though dreaming, Claire shivered.

What is this place?

"Claire." It was Keith's familiar voice, behind her. His eyes were hollow and before she could call his name, he jumped toward her.

Her soul felt cold and a scene played before her...

It was a stormy night.

Katarina Belmonte, dressed in a gown and a red cloak, was trembling in fear as she put two thin hands on Keith's small shoulders. They were inside the master bedroom, his sister Katie sleeping on the bed. "My love," she said to the boy, "you'll be alright."

"This is crazy, Katarina," her husband, Fernando Belmonte, also with a red cloak, was pinching the bridge of his nose. "He'll know. And if he knows, we're dead meat."

"You said he was asleep!"

"Well, yes. Right now. But when he tries to possess the other kid--"

Katarina stood and looked into the eyes of the man. "I will never let that demon possess our son. He's too young and he's kind!"

"This has been our tradition." Fernando's hands caressed the woman's arms. But she remained cold and rigid. "Katarina," he called her name softly. "It's not so bad. I have been possessed in a very long time and I'm okay."

"I don't want him to be forced to kill."

Fernando kissed her temple. "He'll get used to it. We are used to our customs."

"No. I never liked our family and our customs. We're all insane." Katarina was firm. She woke up Katie and ordered her to put on her cloak. She put one on Keith, too. "Did you drink Linda's tea?"

Keith shook his head.

"Good. You won't fall asleep. Your sister did but you can hold her hand and guide her, right? Remember, when you hear the sacrifice shouting, head to your dad's office and turn the second candle holder beside the shelf to open the passage. Run as fast as you can. Don't look back. You will find Maria Suarez. She'll take care of you." She caressed his cheek. "I love you two so much." Her voice cracked as she hugged her children.

A knock resounded from outside the room. It was Linda, asking them if they were prepared for the "joyous" event.

Katarina wiped the tears on her face and exited the room with her husband. They carried two children cloaked in red who, Katarina told Keith, would be his and his sister's decoy.

Keith and Katie waited for the screams of the sacrifice and when they heard them, they rushed out of the room.

But their father was waiting for them in the hallway. Only, his throat was slit and blood oozed from the wound. He was dead, a walking, moving corpse. The demon had completely taken over him.

The fiend was dragging the lifeless body of Katarina, her heart ripped out from her chest.

"K-k-ke...ith..." the monster was trying to say.

Keith and Katie screamed at the top of their lungs and dashed into the office room of Fernando Belmonte, their now-dead father.

"K-keith!" It was just behind them, and because his sister and he were both cloaked, the demon had no way of telling them apart. Its hand reached toward Katie, dragged her, tore her gray eyes, and ate them to possess her body. But it realized she was not the boy. It threw away the dying body of Katie. Her body hit the music box and it fell and opened, the music of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" filled the silence inside the room.

"Sister!" Keith called out. He was so afraid and he wanted to run away but the secret passage wasn't opening. In a desperate move, he picked up the phone and tried to ask for help. He dialed the number he couldn't forget: Claire's landline. The girl's voice was heard from the other line. "Claire? Claire! T-they were murdered! My family! They were murdered!"

The demon caught him. Keith's screams became anguished wails when it poked his eyes and took away his eyeballs. Dark red blood flowed from the empty sockets of his eyes. It traveled to his cheeks and stained the white floors. Then, his body convulsed as the monster broke all his arms and joints. He could faintly hear Claire's voice from the phone.

"Claire..."

Then everything went black.

Claire gasped as she woke up. That was one hell of a dream... Or not. Was that really what happened to Keith and his family? If yes, then it was no doubt horrible. And frightening. What should she do? Didn't she need to get out of this freaking house before she got dragged into some weird custom?

Tea... Katarina had mentioned not to drink Linda's tea.

My gosh! Was it the reason why she was sleeping so much lately? Was the caretaker making sure that she'd be asleep when something sinister was happening inside Palasyo Marilag?

And the sacrifice... what was that?

All this time was Keith warning her? To make sure nothing bad happens to her?

Claire shook her head. She was debating whether her dream was really Keith's memory or not when she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, it was Linda, holding a white gown and a veil.

Word Count: 2,250
Total Word Count: 19,526