IT FELT LIKE ONLY A SECOND LATER that I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by darkness. What just happened? At first, the darkness was so complete that I thought the town was experiencing a blackout, but my vision slowly adjusted. I was in a bedroom - my bedroom? My breath caught in my throat as unease began to bubble in my stomach.

Something was not right.

It took every bit of willpower I had to keep myself from panicking. This bedroom was not mine, but even so, somehow, it felt familiar. Where the heck am I? I fell asleep in the living room, didn't I? I started to turn on my side, but froze, eyes widening at the sight in front of me. In the dark, I saw the figure of a young man lying down next to me, and I felt as if my heart was about to jump right out of my chest. What in the world? Confused as I was, I took a closer look to find that the man was sleeping peacefully. He seemed harmless enough.

"Excuse me," I whispered, shaking him by the arm. The stranger groaned, his brows scrunching. "Wake up," I tried again, and his eyelids fluttered for a moment as he tried to get up.

"Where..?"

I sat up and faced him. "Um, do you know where we are? I suddenly woke up here and..." I trailed off when the young man looked up at me. His eyes - one was sapphire blue, the other cinnabar red. Captivated by his mystical appearance, I inadvertently let out a small gasp. "Wow. Your eyes are so beautiful."

The young man immediately covered his face with his hands. "No, don't look!" he grimaced.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, but he only turned away. Did I offend him?

"Stay away!"

"But -" I'd wanted to put my hand on his shoulder, to try and calm him down.

"Man, you're so damn loud."

I jumped in surprise, and the guy beside me seemed to be taken aback, too. Looking over my shoulder, I found someone else staring down at me. He looked scary, with a deep frown set in his brow and hair like fire.

"The hell are you being nosy for, huh?" he asked me.

"I-I'm sorry..." I was also even more confused.

Out of the blue, a very loud yawn echoed in the room. In the corner, someone stretched up with his mouth wide open.

"What time is it?" he asked. "Hmmm? It's still dark. Can we go back to sleep?" The realisation in his eyes became contentment, perhaps because he had not fully woken up to assess the situation. His eyes closed again for a few seconds before shooting open, and he screamed. "Where am I? Who are you people?"

Beside him, a young woman was forced awake by the commotion and started freaking out, too. That made five of us. Five complete strangers, all taken to one strange place.

"Hey, hey, calm down," said the fiery-haired one, his tone significantly improved since he last spoke. "I think we're all in the same boat here. But why are we here?" he asked softly, as if he was talking to himself.

"I can't be here, I have a date tomorrow!" gasped the girl, her eyes were big and blue, cutting through the dark. She had skin as pale as a porcelain doll, and her hair came down in pretty neat waves, even though she was dressed for sleep. "I have to get home."

"Everybody, settle down," the fiery-haired one started to take charge of the situation.

I had just noticed that he was wearing a varsity jacket with a fleur-de-lis printed on the left-hand side of the chest. I think I know that school... I stood up to get a good look at him, but then he walked towards the centre of the room.

"Does anyone have any idea where we are?" he asked.

The boy who'd yawned earlier followed him. "Jeez, why are you starting with that? Shouldn't we get to know each other first?" He smiled at each of us. It was nice of him to try to make everyone feel at ease. Eventually, the tension in the room subsided. "My name's Thoma."

For a while, everybody just looked at him without a word, so I introduced myself next. "I'm Ziya."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Ziya!" Thoma smiled then as if I'd done him a great favour.

"Well, then, my turn," muttered the girl in the nightdress. "I'm Monica! I'm a fashion design student, and I have a really cool boyfriend. Awh, I miss him right now," she pouted. There was something childlike about Monica's charm. It was kind of adorable.

"Sure you do," laughed Thoma, though he seemed to sympathise with her.

"Ray."

That's it? I thought as Varsity Jacket spoke. That's your grand introduction? I was honestly expecting more dramatic flair. He seems pretty bossy, but not very talkative. Ray must have caught me staring at him because he turned to face me.

"Wh-What?" I asked nervously.

"You there," he said, and I realised that he wasn't looking at me anymore. "The sooner you talk, the faster we can start planning things out."

I peeked over my shoulder to see the quiet young man with heterochromia standing up. He slowly let his hands fall, finally revealing the shine in his eyes. I meant what I'd said before; his eyes really were beautiful.

"My name is Subaru."

Subaru.

Something about his name struck a chord within me. He glanced at me, his red eye glimmering from behind his bangs - even his hair was otherworldly, as silver as moonlight, but I was drawn to that eye. How awfully familiar it seemed. Did I know this boy? I tried reaching back into my memories, but had no recollection of ever meeting him.

Is it just my imagination?

"So, now that we know each other, isn't it a bit less scary?" asked Thoma, pulling me from my thoughts. He chuckled, and I smiled; I was glad that someone like him was here to lighten up the mood.

"Right, now that we've introduced ourselves," started Ray, "let's try to figure out where we are and why. Everyone gather 'round." We all huddled to sit in a circle on the carpet. "Has anyone ever been here before?"

My eyes scanned the room from one corner to another. It seemed normal, bland actually, aside from the fact that a blood moon was all that illuminated us, albeit dimly. The room had four single beds, a closet, and a bookshelf. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, but I could not shake this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Nope, not me," answered Thoma.

"Me neither," said Monica. "This place is too creepy for my tastes."

Should I mention it? Ray turned to Subaru, and the latter shook his head. Then, Ray eyed me. "Not really, but..."

"But?" he enquired, brows raised.

"I just have a feeling. I guess that's not very useful information, is it?"

As I'd expected, Ray did not respond. His next question was for everyone: "Can you tell me the last thing you did before coming here?"

Monica giggled, "I was snuggling with my boyfriend. It was very warm and cosy." She cupped her chin, blushing. "This is so embarrassing. We were on the couch and -"

"Okay!" Thoma stopped her with a chuckle. "Me next. I remember browsing the internet while getting ready to sleep. Nothing unusual."

That all sounded pretty normal. I thought of how my night was the same way. "I was on the couch, waiting for the latest episode of my favourite TV series. It airs at ten, which is usually past my bedtime."

"Ten at night?" queried Ray. I nodded, and he rested his index finger under his nose in thought.

Thoma hummed, "Now that you mention it, it was around the same time for me, too." Ah, that could be a hint.

"Something was ringing," Subaru spoke up. "In my ears."

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I felt that, too!"

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

When the bell chimed ten o'clock, I was overcome with drowsiness.

"How about you, Monica?" asked Ray.

"Hmm, I don't really remember, but maybe? I was sitting with my boy-"

"Enough about your boyfriend," he interjected, and Monica pouted, glaring daggers at him.

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

"I don't need to know," he bit back. "It's not relevant here."

Thoma shrugged, and then he looked at me and made a face, teasingly mocking him. I almost laughed, but I bit my lip and held it back. Although we were all strangers here, Ray and Thoma seemed liked they knew each other pretty well - either that or Thoma teased everybody. Ray pursed his lips together, leaning back slightly as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Okay, so we've pinpointed three things about this situation," he said, lowering his arms so that his hands dropped over his shins. "First, none of us have been here before. Second, we all felt sleepy around ten at night. Third, we all experienced tinnitus."

"Tinni-what?" asked Monica.

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

"Ooh! That sounds smart," said Thoma.

Curious, I turned to look at Ray. "I'm impressed," I told him. "Are you a doctor, Ray?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "I'm still a med student."

Out of nowhere, Thoma swiftly slapped Ray's leg.

"What about you? What were you doing?" he asked. In annoyance, Ray jerked his long legs back. His answer: he'd been studying when the bells had tolled. "Whaaat? That's boring. Who studies on a Friday night?"

"Yeah, Friday nights are supposed to be for fun!" Monica chimed in, and I thought about the assignment I had been neglecting and whether or not Anna had started on it.

"I know, right?" Thoma agreed. "Partying with friends, drinking booze, getting wasted."

The two of them shared a high-five that made me smile. With them around, the atmosphere in the room felt far less tense. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, though.

"If you have time for idle chatter, then you have time to give insight about this situation." Clearly, Ray was not entertained.

I looked to the others, but they seemed to be out of ideas. They hadn't noticed. "Guys, listen," I piped up, and they all turned to me expectantly. "We came here at a certain time, right? Well, there aren't any clocks here. After we sat together, I looked around, and that's one thing I noticed."

"Wow, you're right," said Thoma, scanning the room with the others. "I've been wondering what time it is, but I always forget to ask."

"Is it because..." Subaru's face lit up in the dark, as if he was experiencing a moment of clarity. "Does anyone have a watch?"

Ray immediately put his hand forward. We exchanged looks, all thinking the same thing.

"Right, let's take a look," he said, and we held our breaths in anticipation as we leaned closer to confirm our suspicions.

"It's dead," noted Subaru.

The hands on Ray's wristwatch told us something. Time stopped at ten. With absolutely no sense of time, it felt as if our last thread of hope had been cut. Dread washed over me as a brief silence engulfed the room.

Thoma sighed, blowing the tresses of his chestnut brown fringe. "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?"

"A different universe?" I asked.

He explained, "Time is a construct. It's physically impossible to freeze, given the laws of physics on Earth. The only way we can 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. It could also mean time is still running, we just don't know how quickly."

"That's the most sensible thing you've said since we woke up," uttered Ray. For a moment, he almost looked like he wanted to pat Thoma on the back.

"Hey, I may not be as diligent as you, but I know my way around science," he chuckled.

"You're on to something, but -"

"We're just here," Subaru concluded.

Ray folded his arms again. "I was gonna say that."

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"Travelling to a different dimension would require deliberate effort," continued Ray. "But we didn't do anything."

"Right. We'd need to create a rift in space and go through it like a portal," Thoma confirmed.

"Well," I breathed. "I wasn't exactly the top student in my physics class. Tearing through space and bending time isn't my specialty."

"You're funny!" he laughed. "I like that!"

Maybe Thoma's sense of humour was rubbing off on me, but that joke was made up entirely of truth. Still, it felt satisfying to know I'd made him laugh.

"Wait, so you're saying we're on Earth, but not on Earth?" asked Monica. "I'm so confused. I just wanna go home!"

"This is more likely to be a dream," sighed Ray.

Onceagain, silence overtook the room. I was about to say something when a littlegirl's laugh filled the air out of the chilly blue. Indescribable terroroccupied my body, freezing me in place, as the girlish giggle echoed louder andlouder in my ears.

"I don't like this anymore!" cried Monica, as she clung to Thoma for comfort, the laughter growing louder still.

They can hear it, too? I desperately resisted the urge to panic; if I started panicking now, Monica would only be more scared. As soon as I clenched my fist, the giggling stopped, and immediately after, I sensed something coming from the only door in the room. Everyone stared motionlessly at that door, hearts racing from the sheer sense of fear and dread, when suddenly, a creak.

A little girl with auburn hair stood in front of the door. Then, she began to approach us wearing an unfaltering smile.

"Oh boy, this is starting to creep me out," murmured Thoma.

As the door continued to open from behind her, the little girl laughed again. "Do you want to come?" she squeaked.

It was just a kid. At least, that's what I kept telling myself, but I couldn't seem to shake off the distress she harboured with her.

"Who are you?" probed Ray, uncertain of what tone to take with her.

She merely laughed.

"Maybe she wants us to follow her?" Monica suggested, sweat trickling down her brow. In spite of her nerves, she slowly let go of Thoma's arm, looking intently at the little girl in front of us.

Why do Monica's eyes look somewhat vacant? "Monica, wait!" I called out to her, but she knelt down before the little girl, who giggled in response.

"Do you know where we are?" asked Monica. Without an answer, the girl smiled and turned away to leave. "Wait!" Monica begged, but the girl did not listen.

Before anyone could stop her, Monica got up off the floor and ran after her.

"Monica!" I tried, but she was quickly gone from sight, leaving us all at a loss of what to do next.

Out of nowhere, we heard a shrill cry of fright.

My throat was bone dry, as though I'd been the one screaming. When I realised that the cry had to have come from Monica, I got to my feet in the hopes of going after her, but Thoma caught my arm.

"Don't be reckless," he told me, but all I could think was that Monica was all by herself.

"We have no idea what we're dealing with at the moment," added Ray. "The best thing we can do right now is stick together."

I knew that they were right, that nothing good would come from me trying to go alone, that I needed to calm down and get a hold of myself. I just wished we could have told Monica the same.

Thoma released my arm as Ray explained, "We all came here scared and confused, so let's do what we can for each other."

My eyes widened at his words. I didn't think Ray could be encouraging. He had been so brash all this time that it had become nearly impossible to imagine him being anything but.

"Okay," I subsided. "I just hope Monica's alright."

Ray nodded. "Right, let's head out and investigate. Take what you can to protect yourself, something you can use as a weapon."

With Ray's direction, we sifted through the room for anything with which to equip ourselves. Once armed and hopefully dangerous, we cautiously made our way out into the hallway. I'd found a baseball bat inside the room, while the guys each armed themselves with random objects.

"What am I gonna do with this book, whack someone on the head with knowledge?" whispered Thoma, unimpressed.

"In that case, you should use it on yourself, too," retorted Ray. I didn't know if Ray had been the one to give Thoma the encyclopaedia, but judging by his reaction, I assumed it was not his first choice.

"Are you alright?" I checked in on Subaru, who was walking behind me, holding a plunger. He just nodded.

"Everyone just stay close," Ray reminded us as we trudged through the darkness.

Before long, we heard a horrendous crunching sound. Someone or something was having dinner. We exchanged silent nods and apprehensively turned around the corner. I could not help but gasp at the inconceivable sight: a human leg lied on the floor, bloodied, and just a few steps away. When I looked down the hall, down the dark and seemingly unending tunnel, I saw a terrifyingly hideous figure.

A... monster?

Before I could process whether or not this was real, the creature let out a guttural roar. I could not have imagined this; the thing was grotesque, a deformed amalgam of limbs and heads, protruding from one larger body. It had no face of its own - one could hardly call it a face - but a great white eyeball, beneath which a toothy, blood-soaked crevice stretched down to its chest.

"HU-UNGRY!"

Its voice shook the room - its primary voice; for the creature had many. One could hear the desperate, agonising cries coming from somewhere deep within its being.

"What the hell?" breathed Thoma.

"MOMMY... I'M HUNGRY..." the monster muttered and moaned, while the dismembered leg moved as if being pulled by someone. "HELP ME, MOMMY. I'M HUNGRY."

The creature emerged from the shadows, revealing Monica's bloodied body. Oh my God... I covered my mouth with my free hand to refrain from shouting. N-No...

"That's..." started Ray, but he could not complete that sentence.

What the hell is happening?!

The creature's mouth gaped, its teeth sharp and gory. Monica lied dead beneath it, but the space beside her suddenly unfolded in bright light. The sound of the monster's fangs munching and grinding echoed through the hallway.

Dead? Just a second ago she was happily going on about her boyfriend, and now... Everyone was probably thinking the same thing. Unable to accept the facts right in front of us, we just stared at Monica's massacred body, when a strange mist suddenly appeared next to her, from which a little girl materialised. It was the same little girl from before, smiling happily as she rushed into a man's arms.

"Daddy!" she chirped, giggling again.

"Monica! How's my little girl?"

"Monica?" I shivered. "What the heck is going on?" In my confusion, I turned to look at Ray for some reason, as if he could provide me answers.

"Does this mean that these were Monica's childhood memories all this time?"

That made sense, in as many ways that it didn't. If these were her memories, why was she the victim of them? Had she been the one to bring us all here, and how and why? And what was this hideous creature? Little Monica and her dad were smiling happily, their joyful expressions a sharp contrast to the tragedy on the ground.

Was this their game, some sick and twisted plot to feed their putrid pet? "Are we being shown her memories?" I tried to understand.

Ray hummed in uncertainty. "Maybe. But now..." He glared at the monster, and it scowled back at us like we were next.

"We should get out of here," stated Subaru.

"Hey, that's my line! Let's go!" Ray ordered.

The guys started running, but I just couldn't. My legs wouldn't stop shaking, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Oh, come on! Run, Ziya! I tried to take a step back as the monster approached.

"GRAAAHHH!"

Ray was the first to notice that I had not moved. "What are you doing?! We gotta get outta here!" Speechless, I gritted my teeth and mustered all my strength to turn myself around, to follow him. "Hurry!" He stretched his hand out towards me, and I ran faster to catch up.

But right as I reached out to take Ray's hand, the bells from before rang violently in my ears. And sleepiness overtook me.