THE LAST THING I FELT WAS Ray's skin on my fingertips. I awoke to the sound of sirens blaring, carefully opening my eyes as dawn flooded into the living room. The television was still on, broadcasting the 6a.m. news. Had I been here all night? 

"A young woman was found dead this morning." The news played as I tried to recall what had happened. "The victim, Monica Collins, was –"

Monica? I immediately grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

"– found dead in her partner's bedroom earlier this morning. The circumstances regarding this mysterious case are currently being investigated by the local police."

I stared hard at the television, my heart beating fast and my mouth agape. There was no way this was all a coincidence.

But wasn't it all just a bad dream?

I still couldn't believe it. Or maybe, I just didn't want to. Unable to come up with an explanation, all I could do was to stare at the screen.

"It can't be the same girl..."

"The police are looking at the possibility of murder." I turned away finally, my throat coarse. "They're also not ruling out an undiagnosed condition, considering the damage on her neural functions..." the noise from the TV faded as I made my way to the kitchen for a glass of water.

"What on earth is going on? Neural damage..?" I murmured as I turned the tap water on, absentmindedly filling my cup. "Monica was... eaten by a monster. Did all of that... actually happen?" I closed my eyes, shaking away the visions of what I'd seen the night before.

"Ziya?"

There's no way it could've actually been real, right? How she died in the dream and how the news said she died are completely different. It's all just a coincidence. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

"Ziya!"

I felt a hand land firmly on my shoulder. With a yelp, I jumped away, my heart pounding like a drum, but when I turned around, I only found my mother turning the faucet off.

"Why are you so jumpy?" she asked me as I put a hand on my chest, catching my breath and trying to calm my thundering heartbeat.

"Jeez, Mom! You scared me!"

"I didn't mean to, Honey," she said soothingly. "You were so out of it. I've been calling you, but you didn't respond. You even left the tap running. What's wrong?"

We looked at the mess I'd made, the water spilt all over the sink and counter. Somehow, the glass was still in my hand and not on the floor. Mom's concern made me want to cry, but I held back the tears welling up in my eyes. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I exhaled.

"It's nothing. I was just watching a scary movie last night." I'm sorry, Mom. I wanted to tell her everything that happened, I really did, but I couldn't. Even I don't know what happened. Or what I've gotten tangled up in...

"That's why I keep telling you to stop watching those things," she said, grabbing a cloth for the water. "They make you more paranoid by the minute. Silly little girl," she laughed, unaware of my troubled thoughts.

"Sorry, Mom."

"Come on, let's get you some hot chocolate."

Yeah, something sweet would be nice. I had a sip of my water before setting the glass down on the counter and taking the cloth from my mother to finish what she had started. It was my mess after all. In the meantime, Mom moved over to the pantry cupboard and fetched the hot chocolate, set the kettle to boil. I honed in on the sound of bubbling water, needing to focus on something else for a while.

It was all just a bad dream. I should just forget about it.

I sighed, following my mother to the dining table with our cups. The guys I'd met in that nightmare suddenly came to mind. I wondered what had happened to them, if they even actually existed. Mom and I sat quietly for a while before she asked me what I had planned for the day. She could tell that I was still troubled, but I was glad she didn't pry. At that moment, I remembered that Anna and I had agreed to meet for lunch. The thought of seeing Anna brought me some comfort; it was something normal, something to do. So, after the hot chocolate, I went upstairs to prepare for the occasion. By the time I was done, it was only nine, so I forced myself to work on my assignments for the next few hours before heading out.

When I arrived at the café, Anna waved me over to the booth where she had been waiting. She immediately leaned over the table as I sat down.

"Oh, are you that enthusiastic to study?" I asked with a chuckle as I set my bag down next to me.

Anna frowned lightly, "What do you mean? I'm only this eager when I have some gossip."

"Aha. So, what is it about this time?"

"Didn't you hear the news?" she gasped. "The news about Monica Collins?"

My eyes widened. I couldn't get away from this. I leaned my elbows on the table. "What do you know?"

"This morning, that girl died from brain damage."

"What else did people say about it?"

"That it was really weird because there was nothing else wrong with her," said Anna, scrunching up her nose. I could tell that she felt remorse for the girl. "Did you know? People look up to her as a fashion inspiration, and she and her boyfriend were pretty cute together."

Anna showed me one of Monica's online profiles. The girl smiling happily in the photos is the same girl I had met in my dream. Poor Monica – it's tragic that something like this could have happened to her. I'd only met her hours ago, but I could not help feeling torn up about it.

"The world's so scary these days," said Anna.

"Y-Yeah..." Monica had died in that scary place. But that was a dream – just a bad dream. Right?

It was difficult for either of us to try and study after that. We ordered our food – Anna had her favourite (savoury flapjacks with bacon and camembert), and I, a gooey melted cheese sandwich and some chips – and when we weren't eating, we distracted ourselves with trivial talk about boys and clothes and writing school. Anna twirled the end of her long brown braid as she vowed that she would have herself a cute boyfriend by winter break.

I smiled, "If any of us will, it's you, Annabelle Strong."

Just over an hour later, when we were ready to go, Anna informed me that she had her dad's car for the day and offered to drive me back home. It wasn't a lengthy drive, but a sullen silence seemed to extend it. I never really see Anna looking this down. I wonder, is she thinking about Monica, or is it something else? I battled with the choice of whether or not to ask her about it, and before I knew it, we'd reached home. Anna fixed her smile as she said goodbye.

"Thanks for lunch, Anna," I said kindly. "And good luck with the assignment. If you need help, just let me know!"

"It was my pleasure. And sure, I will! Thanks, Ziya."

When Anna left, I went straight to my room and finished up another essay. The time had gone by so swiftly that I hadn't even noticed it was dark out until Mom called me down for dinner. But I wasn't hungry. I stared at the flickering cursor on my computer screen. All day long, I'd been trying to shake off my worries, but in the end, I couldn't help but try to make sense of what had happened. Monica had died in a nightmare, in that dimension, and she'd died in the real world. I typed some words into the search bar of my browser. Could the two worlds really be connected? Is it possible for a nightmare to become a reality? Before I could find the answer on my own, I was struck with the same overwhelming sleepiness from the night before. I blinked, trying to keep myself awake as the cursor flickered. I moved to hit the "Enter" button, but the sound of bells reverberated in my head – it was loud enough that I winced, praying for it to stop, yet it did nothing against the drowsiness. I desperately resisted the urge to fall asleep, but alas, the last thing I saw was my desk clock hitting 10p.m.

I opened my eyes, and sure enough, I was back there. Back in the world of nightmares. I couldn't hear the monster at all. Still, my body stiffened as the same surroundings from last time re-emerged. I might be next. I thought, my eyes burning. Why is this happening?

I heard a voice then, a gentle voice, calling my name. I looked up to see Thoma standing over me, Ray beside him, then Subaru. Everyone was here.

"Thoma..." I breathed, sitting up. Seeing them relieved my anxiety.

"What's up, princess?" he smiled. "I'm glad to see you again."

I smiled back at the three of them, but in that very next moment, everything I'd been holding back finally let loose, until I felt something hot roll down my cheeks.

"Oh my gosh, why are you crying?" asked Thoma, as he immediately rushed to my side.

"Don't crowd her space," hissed Ray, and then he turned to me. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I..." I trailed off, wiped my tears. "Monica... I don't understand what happened. This is all so unnerving. But seeing all of you makes me feel so much better," I admitted. As soon as my cheeks were dry, I felt the sting in my eyes once more and bit my lip.

Subaru came forward to pat my back reassuringly. I was glad that they were all okay.

I held back the tears once again and spoke up, "I was so afraid after hearing about Monica."

"I understand," said Ray. "The news was so concise about things... but knowing what happened here, it's so much more complicated."

As Ray spoke, I stared into the dark abyss behind me. That was where Monica had died. I made a silent promise then and there to find out what happened to her, and in my heart, I offered a little prayer.

"For now, let's head back to the room we originally appeared in," Ray continued; he must have noticed the way I was looking at the hallway.

That's considerate. He's bossy, but surprisingly kind, too. I helped myself up off the floor and the four of us made our way back to that bedroom. It felt weird going back there, but it was also the only place that felt safe right now.

"So, I've been thinking it over all day," said Thoma. He looked at each of us, and we all nodded for him to continue.

"If we die in here, we die in real life, too," added Subaru as he sat on the floor.

I had tried to avoid thinking about it until now, but the reality of it hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Whether this is all real or just a dream, I don't know," said Ray, "but from the looks of it, he's probably right. We also don't know when these nightmares are going to end. Let's just call it the "nightmare world" for now."

"Nightmare world..." I repeated it to myself, as if that would help it make any sense.

"Sleeping and dreaming are functions of the central nervous system," he continued. "When you think about it that way, Monica passing away due to a severe brain injury makes logical sense."

Subaru cupped his chin in thought. "This feels like some kind of game," he said. "We're up against something we don't know. And as long as we stay alive, we'll win."

We're all talking about life and death here, and he's treating it like a game? His unfazed expression made me wonder. Is he really not scared? I couldn't tell whether he was carefree or just plain stupid. He was weird, though.

"That's a nice way to look at it, but the setting is so ominous that I'm not having fun at all!" joked Thoma. He laughed at himself, and I could not help but chuckle a little.

"Get real, guys," said Ray. "Do you think this is some kind of joke? We could all die here." His words snapped us back to reality – Thoma looked like Ray had just slapped him. "We don't know anything about this world. If we're going to survive, we need to learn everything we can about this place."

"You're right," I replied, turning my head to the door. "It's a little scary, but if we don't explore, we won't get anywhere. We don't know what's outside of this building, so why don't we start by looking there?"

The very thought of opening that door and seeing that monster sent shivers down my spine. Besides, I was anxious about what might actually change by us finding out more about this world. As if reading my thoughts, Ray lightly patted me on the head.

"Right," he smiled, before turning to Subaru. "To borrow your analogy, we'll win this game. No matter what."

Thoma nodded, his eyes lighting up. A slight smile even seemed to slide across Subaru's face. I had to acknowledge that Ray really was a good leader (and forget about the fact that he had just petted me like some kid). With our outlook a bit more positive, we decided to explore what we began to call The Nightmare. I looked around the room and noticed the window, peeked outside. The blood moon shined on us menacingly.

"Are you ready, Ziya?" asked Thoma, coming up behind me.

"Yeah, let's do this!" I curled my fingers into fists and grabbed the baseball bat.

"Okay, splitting up would help us search for clues faster," said Ray as we followed him out the door. "Let's meet back here in half an hour."

"But we don't have any way to tell the time," said Thoma.

Ray took some things out of his pockets.

"Are those stopwatches?" I noticed.

"That's right," he smiled proudly. "I figured if watches can't tell the exact time here, at least maybe we could tell how much time has passed."

He expected us to be taken to the nightmare world again tonight and came prepared. While I'd spent my time denying the reality of all this, Ray had been busy thinking of a solution. I had to give him some credit.

I gasped lightly, returning a smile of my own, "That's a great idea!"

Ray's smiled widened. "I replaced the batteries, so I know they'll last for a while."

"Let's see if it works," said Thoma, taking one of the stopwatches from him. We watched closely as he clicked the button. The numbers ran, ticking up as the seconds passed by. It worked!

We each took a stopwatch, and while the three of us were still deciding what do, Subaru clicked his flashlight on and was already out the door. I asked him to wait as he looked back at us and pointed eastward.

"I'll check over here," he told us.

"Alright," said Ray. "Just be back in thirty minutes."

Subaru nodded and disappeared down the hallway. We were just going to let him go? Is he really not scared?

"He's an odd one, isn't he," said Thoma.

You could tell from his uniform that he was still in high school. I was impressed; he was younger than me after all, but that also made me nervous.

"Will he be alright on his own?" I asked, but my comment faded into the darkness.