Thud…

As my hearing returned, I could hear them running.

The relentless thuds outside grew louder, clashing harshly with the stillness of my room as I struggled to steady my breath.

Huff...

“S…sis, are you alright?”

Vivian’s voice pierced through the fog in my head.

My vision remained blurred; it took a moment before the shapes in front of me sharpened.

Four of them stood crowded around me, their faces streaked with tears, confusion, and fear.

Seeing them calmed me.

“Nothing happened… just a nightmare,” I whispered, trying to push away the residue of terror still clinging to me.

“But you have nightmares almost every day.”

However, Mom’s voice cut through the thick air—familiar, yet echoing too closely with the one from my nightmare.

For a heartbeat, the line between dream and reality blurred, leaving me gasping and unsteady.

The room tilted, the world smearing at the edges as my mind scrambled to understand where I was.

My throat went dry in an instant.

Words tangled and died before they could leave me.

A tremor crawled down my spine—cold and merciless.

My hand flew to my neck on instinct.

The memory slammed into me violently, as if invisible hands had wrapped around my throat again—squeezing, dragging me back into that place.

Just when the panic threatened to swallow me whole, a warm touch on my forehead snapped me back.

I looked up to see who it was, only to find Vivian’s worried eyes staring back at me.

Eyes that normally questioned, pierced, and noticed everything… now softened, filled with nothing but worry.

Sigh…

A shaky breath slipped out of me.

“I’m okay.”

Vivian frowned the moment I said that, as if the answer itself bothered her.

Then, in a voice barely above a whisper meant only for me, she asked,

“Are you sure?”

I gave her a small, soft smile.

“It’s nothing.” 

She didn’t look convinced, but after giving her what little reassurance I could, I turned toward Mom.

“It’s nothing new. It’s been years. The younger ones still get scared.”

Aria and Yuriya looked like they were about to cry again.

“If you say so, go back to sleep,” Mom replied.

“…Why?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

“What do you mean, why? You only slept for half an hour. You still need another hour and a half.”

Her words pressed down on me like cold stone.

The dream wasn’t finished.

And going back to sleep meant going back to the place I barely escaped from.

A cold pulse of fear spread through my chest—sharp, silent, unseen.

“Absolutely no excuses this time. You almost fainted last time because you didn’t sleep.”

“I know, Mom,” I forced a small smile. “I wasn’t planning anything.”

I looked around.

“…But who came into my room?”

“Oh, it was me,” Zain answered before anyone else. 

“Yuriya forgot her toys here, so I came to get them and found you like that.”

My gaze shifted to Zain.

He looked away immediately—too quickly. His hands twisted at his sides.

He was lying.

He came because of me. 

He was worried about me.

And the weight of his concern settled heavily on my shoulders. 

“Did I scare you?” I asked gently.

Zain didn’t speak. His silence was enough.

I gave him a softened smile. “I’m okay.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but—

“Kids, outside. Let your sister rest,” Mom said firmly.

They nodded, but two pairs of eyes lingered on me—trembling, unwilling to look away.

Mom paused at the door before closing it.

She hesitated.

I watched the way her fingers tightened on the handle…

The way her lips parted but didn’t move.

A small, bitter part of me almost laughed.

Even now… she still can’t….

After another brief moment of silence, she finally began to spoke.

“…You know you can talk to me,” she finally said.

“You never say anything about your dreams.”

“You’ve tried things before, but nothing changed,” I replied, my tone edged with firmness to hide the heaviness in my chest.

“But—”

“And we already have other things to worry about. I’m fine.”

A heavy silence settled between us — thick, suffocating, heavier even than the nightmares themselves.

Mom studied me quietly, her eyes searching for something…

As if she already knew about the cracks in the mask I wore. 

Then she closed the door.

Click…

After the click faded into the silence—

I exhaled shakily.

I was terrified she would see through the facade I had carefully crafted for years.

If she did… I didn’t know what I would do.

What can I do?

“Ha…Ha…”

A bitter, trembling laugh escaped me.

Sniff…

I curled onto my side as tears slid down my cheeks, warm against the cold settling inside me.

I knew the darkness was waiting.

It always waited.

And the moment my eyes slipped shut—

It came.

The darkness rose like a living thing, twisting itself into my mother’s shape once more.

Its fingers wrapped around my throat—slow first, almost gentle—

Then tightening with a cruel rhythm, loosening only to squeeze harder,

Each pulse of pressure echoes the terror in my chest, mocking my every heartbeat, my every thought.

Each breath was a battlefield.

Every time, I wondered if it would be my last.

Every time, I wished it were.

But the darkness never granted me that mercy.

Mom told me to talk to her…

But how…

A root she never meant to plant—

A shadow she never meant to become—

Yet one that grew in here, deep and twisted, wrapping around the parts of me I could no longer reach.

Hah… and she wanted the truth.

I stopped thinking. 

My mind went blank, but the tears didn’t—sliding down my cheeks of their own accord. 

All I wanted… was for the dream to end.

When I finally woke, the sky outside my window had darkened.

An hour and a half had passed—

But inside the dream, it felt like an eternity.

Sigh…

I pushed myself up.

I needed to finish my homework.

Spend time with my siblings.

And wait…

Wait for the next dream

The next Nightmare…