Ep2

I still can't believe it, or maybe I just don't want to believe it, unable to come up with an explanation for what is happening, all I can do is stare aimlessly at the television.

"It can't be the same girl.." I said to myself

"The police are looking at the possibility of murder..."

I turn my back, my throat becoming dry.

"... They're also not ruling out an undiagnosed condition, considering the damage on her neural functions..."

"What on this ever living green earth is going on?"

Soon the noise from the TV fades as I make my way to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Neural damage?"

I take a cup putting it under the tap turning it on, absentmindedly filling my cup. The water soon starts to overflow from my cup.

"Monica was... eaten by that monster."

But I thought it was just a really bad dream?

"Did all of that.... actually happen?"

I close my eyes tightly, trying to shake away and forget that horrifying vision I witnessed last night.

"(Y/N)?"

"There's no way it could've actually been real, right?"

How did she died in the dream and how the news said she died are completely different. Its all just a coincidence.

That is what keep on trying to tell myself.

"(Y/N)!"

I feel a hand land firmly on my shoulder startling me.

"Aaah!"

I jump out of skin, my heart pounding like a drum, I turn around finding my mother turning the tap off.

"Why are you so jumpy this morning?" She asked me worryingly.

I slowly catch my breath, putting a hand on my chest to calm my thundering heartbeat.

"Jeez, mom! You scared me!"

"I didn't mean to scare you, honey, you just have been so out of it. I've been calling you for a while, but you didn't respond. You even let the tap running. What's wrong?"

My mom's loving concern makes me want to cry, but I hold back the tears welling up my eyes, I badly want to tell her everything that happened to me last night, I really do, but...

I can't do that.

I take a steady deep breath, closing my eyes as I exhaled.

"It's nothing, I was just watching a scary movie last night."

I'm sorry, mom. Even I don't know what is going on, or what I have gotten myself into.

"That's why I keep telling you to stop watching those movies, they make you more paranoid by the minute, silly little girl."

My mother laughs, unaware of my troubled thoughts.

"Sorry, mom."

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

Yeah, something sweet would be nice, I need to focus on something else for while. It was all just bad dream after all, I should just forget about it.

I sigh, following my mother to the dinner table, then the guys I met in that nightmare suddenly comes into mind, I wonder what happened to them. Do they even actually exist? Or just a figment of my imagination?

"Hey, Hey." Anna spoke, immediately leaning over the table just as I sit down.

"Oh, are you that enthusiastic to study?" I asked her.

"What do you mean? I'm only this eager when I have some gossip." She replied to me

Rolling my eyes subconsciously I reply back.

"Aha, So what is it about this time?" I asked propping my arm on the table resting my head on my hand.

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

My eyes widen in surprised, sitting up straight I bring my arm down on to my lap, though Anna's tone is so casual, all I can do is lower my eyes.

"Its crazy. I've seen her a couple times before."

"Well, she is pretty relatively famous on social media"

"People look up to her as a fashion inspiration, and she and her boyfriend are really cute together." She kept on speaking while showing me Monica's profile on her phone.

The girl smiling so happily is the exact same person I met in my dream.

Poor Monica... Why would something like this happen to you?

I have only met her yesterday, but I can't help but feel torn up about it like I have known her my whole life.

"The world's so scary these days."

"Y-yeah it is."

Monica died in that place, but it was just a dream, a very bad dream.... Right?

At home, I stare at the flickering cursor on my computer screen.

"Right..."

All day long, I've been trying to shake off my worries and doubts, but in the end, I can't help but try and understand of what happened.

"Monica died in a nightmare in that dimension... and she died in the real world due to a brain damage."

Trying to search things up, I type some words into the search bar.

Could the real world and the dream world be really connected to each other? Is it possible for a nightmare to become reality?... Wait?

I'm suddenly hit with the same overpowering drowsiness from last night, I blink, trying to keep my eyelids open. The cursor flickers, I try to hit the "enter" button to search but...

No

The sounds of the bells start to reverberate in my head.

Ah! Make it stop!

I desperately resist the urge to fall asleep, but the last thing I see before passing out is my desk clock hitting 10 pm. I soon open my eyes, and sure enough. I'm back into the world of nightmares. My body suddenly stiffens at the same surroundings from last time reemerge. Who knows, maybe I might be next on that things menu.

Why? Why is this happening?!

"(Y/N)?" a voice spoke, the voice belonging to Thoma

Ah...

I quickly sit up looking at Thoma, then to both Subaru and Ray who are all looking at me.

Everyone's here as well.

Seeing them before me relieves a bit of my anxiety.

" Hey Subaru..." I spoke to him.

"What is it? Are you okay?" He asked me a bit concerned in his voice

I replied nodding my head silently, smiling at the three of them, but before I knew it the next moment, something I tried holding back finally lets loose, and feel something hot roll down my cheeks.

Huh?

"Oh my gosh, why are you crying?" Thoma asked me really concerned, rushing immediately to my side.

Ray grabs Thoma's shoulder bringing him back.

"Don't crowd her space moron."

His attention soon turns to me.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked me, worryingly.

"No, I..." I stared replying, quickly wiping my tears away.

"Monica... I don't understand what is happening here, just this is all so unnerving, but seeing all of you here makes me feel so much better." I finished saying.

As soon as my cheeks are dry from my tears, I feel the sting in my eyes once more, I bite my lip. Without saying anything Subaru pats my back softly and reassuringly.

"I am glad you're all doing okay." I grinned lightly, trying to hold back more tears before they fall down.

"I was so afraid after hearing about Monica."

"I understand what you mean. The news was so concise about things, but knowing what happened here, it makes things much more complicated." Ray said, me staring into the dark abyss right before me.

This is where Monica died. We will figure out what really happened to you Monica, I promise that.

In my heart, I offer a small prayer within me for her.

"For now, let's head back to the room we originally appeared in. " Ray spoke up

Ray is so considerate, thinking ahead of things. He must have noticed the way I was starting at the hallway earlier. He may be a bit bossy, but he is surprisingly kind. So then we headed back to the room, once we entered into the bed room Thoma spoke up.

"So I've been thinking about this over all day." He looked at us all and we turned our attention to him waiting for him to continue to speak but...

"If we die here, we die in the real world as well." Subaru continued his sentence.

I tried my best to avoid thinking about it till now, but the reality of things hits me like a tons of brinks.

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

"Nightmare world..." I copy saying it to myself.

"Sleeping are dreaming are functions of the central nervous system, when you really think about it that way, Monica passing away due to a sever brain injury makes a lot of logical sense." Ray continued saying.

Subaru then cup his chin in thought, I looked over at him and ask.

"What's wrong Subaru?"

"This feels like some kind of game. We are up against something unknown to us. and as long we stay alive, we will win."

We are talking about the serious life and death here, and he is treating this like it some sort of game?

Is he really not scared about this? What a weird guy, I don't know whether he's too carefree or just a plain moron.

"That's a nice way to look at it, but setting is so ominous that I'm not having fun at all!" Thoma laughs at his own joke he made, making me chuckle a little with him.

"Get real guys, do you think this is all some sort of joke? We all can die here!" Ray snapped at us, snapping me back to the reality of this.

Thoma gives a expression as if he was just slapped in the face by Ray.

"We don't know anything about this world. If we're going to survive this, we need to learn everything we can about this place." Ray continued saying.

"You're right. It's a little scary, but if we don't explore outside, we won't make any progress." I nod in agreement. " We don't know what's outside of this building, so why don't we start off looking there?"

The thought of opening a door to find that monster sends cold shivers down my spine.

Besides, I'm anxious about what will actually change by us finding more about this place. As if Ray was reading my thoughts he lightly pats me on my head.

"Right. To borrow your analogy, we'll win this game. No matter what."

Thoma nods in agreement, his eyes lighting up. A slight smile even crosses on Subaru's face.

Ray really does make a good leader.

I thought this to myself, with our outlook a bit more positive, we decide to explore what we begun to call "The Nightmare." I took a little time to look around the room noticing the window, I walked up to the window looking outside, The blood moon high in the sky shines down on us. While still looking at the moon Thoma brings me back to the present.

"Are you ready, (Y/N)?"

"Yeah, let's do this thing." I nod at him grabbing the baseball bat I had last time. Then the four of us head to the door. Before leaving Ray gives us intructions.

"Okay, splitting up would help us recover some more clues faster, let's meet back in this room in half an hour."

"But we don't have any way o tell time." Thoma stated.

Sensing Thoma would say that Ray takes some things out of pockets.

"Are those stopwatches?" I asked

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

Ray expected us to appear back into the nightmare world again, so he came prepared.

While I spent my time denying the truth, Ray was already busy trying to find a solution. I have to give him some credit for that.

I gasp lightly, returning Ray's smile with my own.

"That's a genius idea Ray!"

"I replaced the batteries in these things, so I know they'll last us a while."

"Let's see if it work now." Thoma said grabbing one , we all watch intently as he presses a button to start it.

"Aha!" I let out a small victory cry as we see the numbers run, ticking up as the seconds pass on by.

It works!

We each then take a stopwatch, and while the three of us are still unsure on what exactly to do, Subaru grabs a flashlight, switching it on and walking out the room.

"Hey, Subaru, Wait!" I called out to him, he looks back at us and points eastward.

"I'll go check over there."

"Alright, just make sure to get back her in 30 minutes." Ray said, Subaru nodded and disappears down the hallway.

Is he really that fearless?

"He is a odd one, isn't he?" As if reading my thoughts Thoma spoke what I was thinking.

"You can tell buy his uniform he is still just in high school, which is impressive, he is younger than me, but will he be alright on his own?" My comment fades into the darkness.

"It's pitch black." Thoma said while walking down the hallway narrowing his eyes.

Ray turns on his flashlight, but doesn't aid us to see whats ahead of us.

"This hallway is like a long endless tunnel" I stated. " I can't believe Subaru walk out here all alone."

Then to add to my already shocked nerves, I felt a cold breath on the back of my neck. My body stiffens a bit, my mind reminding me of the sharp fangs of the monster from last night, ending my whole body in goosebumps.

What was that?

I quickly went to cover the back of my neck with my free hand turning to see Thoma smiling brightly at me.

"Are you scared?" He asked me teasingly.

"Jeez! Thoma."

Of course the hell I am scared, the real quiestion is, are YOU scared? To be honest, I feel stupid on being so scared easily, but can you really blame me.

Trying to hide my embarrassment, I gave Thoma a good slightly hard slap on his arm.

" Ow, Ow! Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

I scrowl at him as he laughs at me. I noticed from the corner of my eyes seeing Ray looking at us to see what's going on.

He didn't noticed I was about to cry, right?

"No need to be afraid, I'll let you come with me." Thoma softly spoke.

"O-oh, No, I-It's fine. "

I can't be looked after all time, I need to pull my weight around too

"I'll go the other way."

"Alright then." He responded looking concerned. "See you later."

Thoma then waves as he heads the opposite direction of me.

"Okay I need to be heading off as well." I say to myself, staring down the darkness, but as soon I go to take step in, my feel my legs freeze.

I have never been in a place this dark before.

I shake my head, trying to refocus, then I find myself turning to the direction Ray is heading.

So much for not being scared.

I suddenly inhaled as I had the sense of someone, or something moving behind me. I clutch the baseball tight, holding it close to my chest.

"You know, if your so scared, you should have said so earlier."

What the-? Its Ray, is he already back?

Feeling Ray step right beside me, I let out a big sigh of relief knowing its him and not something else.

"I-I'm not scared. I am just..."

Ray then lets out a small quite chuckle.

This is too embarrassing.

"You don't have to push yourself too hard." Ray pats my head softly. "Given the circumstances, it's perfectly normal for a human being to be afraid, however, I question the mental health of those two fearless fools."

"Normal for a human..?"

I don't really understand what he means, but maybe this is his way of trying to make me feel better? Wait, doesn't that mean Ray is scared as well.

Ray walks ahead of me, but then he stops, turns and smiles at me. Its a comforting smile, warmer than any I have seen from him so far. I get the sudden urge to rush over to his side.

"What's the matter? Are you not coming with me?" He asked me.

I shake my head and smile at him.

"I'll be fine alone, Ray. The least I can do is look around."

"Suit yourself, just be back on time."

I nod and he leaves, taking the straight path ahead of him.

Okay (Y/N), let's do this thing.

I took off, but in a while I find some stairs that take me down to the first floor.

"This door is massive." I spoke to no one in particular.

I reach for the rusty door know, and it creaks horrendously as I turn it.

Oh boy...

Opening the door, I take a step into the courtyard outside.

"This place sure needs a lot of cleaning. "

The grass is overgrown and the flowers near them are mostly dead and wilting.

Hmm? This place feels so strangely familiar.

I walked through the courtyard, looking straight ahead to find a towering gate

"This feels familiar, Have I been here before?"

For some reason, I start to feel nostalgic, as if remembering my long forgotten childhood.

Could this be connected to my missing memories?

"Then again, this is all just a dream..."

BEEP, BEEP!

Out of nowhere, the stopwatch beeps, reminding me what I was having to do.

Time to head back.

I eye the gate one last time before turning away and heading back. When I finally make it back to the room I sat next to Ray as we all sit on the floor.

"Okay, so everyone is back?" Ray spoke

"Yeah." We all nodded

We all look at each other, then looking back at Ray.

"Okay, reports."

I was the first one to raise my hand, and Ray nods at me.

"I went to the first floor and found the entrance of the building. There's a dying courtyard playground just outside and a huge gate, but..." I trailed off at the end

"But?" Subaru said urging me to continue.

"It's kind of strange, but I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."

" I feel the same way." Thoma stated.

Ray narrows his eyes at us.

"Not the courtyard, but I found a study hall in the east wing ." Thoma continued tilting his heads. "I feel like I've taken a class here or something."

"You too?"

I tried reach far back into my memories for any other clues.

"oh! I nearly forgot, I found a name on the gate. It was backwards, so I couldn't read it properly, but this place... It seem like somewhere kids have stayed. "

"maybe it is an orphanage?" Subaru said

"Why would we be at a orphanage?" Thoma questions.

"We can't be sure of that quite yet." Ray answered. "What about you, Subaru?"

"I-" He started but then suddenly stops.

"Subaru, What's wrong?" I asked him concerningly.

He still says nothing, worried, Thoma shakes him, he still doesn't answer but staring somewhere, so I follow his line of sight, freezing immediately. Thoma noticing Subaru staring he spoke up.

"What's wrong? Where are you-?" Thoma also freezes looking at what we were looking at. I hold my breath.

"That's..." Ray trailed off.

Outside the door, a little boy is standing quietly. When I think back to the events of last night, I realize they were the someone's childhood memories of this place.

Who is that?

I feel like I've seen him somewhere before, but for some reason sorrow tightly grips at my heart.

He's not doing anything?

The boy stares at us for a few seconds and then turning away leaving.

"Hey wait!" Without thinking I call out to the small boy, I immediately cover my mouth with my hands.

Why did I do that?

The boy looks over his shoulder casually looking at us, then turns back continue walking.

"It seems he wants us to follow him." Subaru stated.

Ray then stands up from the floor, stepping ahead.

"Follow him? Are you nuts, you can't be serious?" Thoma spoke to Subaru. "What if he is the monster?"

Subaru replied monotoned as ever.

"There is only one wat to find out, now is there."

Subaru get up next and follows Ray's lead and head to the door as well. Thoma turns to me grabbing my shoulders, looking at me as if he is panicking.

"(Y/N), tell me you're staying here, please?"

I don't know why, but I don't feel scared or threaten by the small boy.

Wanting to know the reason for this pitiful sorrow I am feeling, I pull myself together and stand up as well. After a while, we all end up following the small boy, we kept on following him down the stairs and leading us to a basement.

"Okay, now what?" Thoma spoke

Without a seconds notice the small boy walks straight through the door without even opening it. We all gasp a little looking at each other, jaws dropped in a horrific awe.

"What was that?!" Thoma hisses dramatically. "That was a ghost, a gosh damn ghost!"

"We have came this far, we have no choice but to follow him." Ray said annoyingly for bit. "Maybe we can find some answers behind this door." Ray walks up to the door, grabbing the door knob opening it, we were soon taken from the dusty record room filled with books through to the stark room in the back. We all gasp from what lies before us, on the bed in the room, lies a young gorgeous man.

"Is he alive?" Thoma asked.

I bite my lip, I am scared, but my feet seem so sure of every step I take towards the dark haired sleeping man.

Is he.... dead?

Despite my growing dread, it is as my feet are moving on their own accord. I get close enough to see his face .

He looks like a angel...

I can't help but feel like I have seen him before though.

But where have I?

I slowly lift my hand to touch him but as soon as I do, his eyelids slowly flutter open, reveling his beautiful purple eyes.

"Oh!"

The young man groans, finally opening his eyes fully.

"(Y/N)..." he spoke softly, smiling at me sweetly, he says my name with such gravity and care.

He knows my name?

My eyes suddenly widen.

"H-Have we met before?" I asked him confusingly.

Still in the state of shock, I feel a cold touch on my face. I am suddenly overcome with a longing nostalgia that puts me on the verge of tears, but I just can't seem to take my eyes off of him. I brush away this weird mysterious feeling of nostalgia and gently remove his hand.

"I am sorry I startled you." He spoke, trying to get up, "Ah.." He softly groaned

"Who are you? "Ray started off, asking him questions.

He groans one last time till he finally sitting up straight on the edge of his bed.

"My name is.... is Licht." the man speaks.

We all look at each other, confused. Ray turns his head to me asking.

"Do you know this guy?"

We all stay quite for a moment.

I don't think I have ever met Licht before, but somehow, there's something oddly familiar about him.

Ray then turns to Licht, a serious expression displayed on his face.

"Do you know (Y/N)?"

Licht looks up to me speaking.

"(Y/N), is that your name?"

I look at him and nodding.

"I see, I am not sure how I do know your name... I don't think we have met before."

What could all of this mean?

Despite my curiosity, I decided to avoid digging any deeper then I have to for now. Besides, he might now more about this world.

"That's okay, don't think about it too hard."

"More importantly, do you know where you are?" Subaru asked him.

Licht slowly brings his hand to his head.

"I don't really know. I don't remember anything besides my name and hers, apparently."

Is he suffering from amnesia like us too?

"What were doing before you came here?" Subaru kept asking him

Licht just shakes his head.

"I know it may be hard to believe it, but my mind is pretty hollow. Nothing comes to mind."

I look at Licht, my heart squeezing, aching with sympathy.

He doesn't have any memories, huh? I know how that feels.

"You not alone Licht. I can't recall most of my childhood memories either." I spoke softly.

Everyone looks at me, surprised.

"What do you mean? That you have like amnesia?" Thoma questions me.

"Yeah that is right, but I have never really talked about it though."

Ray and Thoma suddenly fall silent, seemingly thoughtful.

"This is going to sound weird but... I don't have any memories of my childhood either.." Subaru stated

"You too? All three of you?" Thoma said surprised.

"Actually, four. I don't remember anything from before I was 8 years old." We all look at Ray as he spoke that.

No way... We are all missing parts of our memories?

"What about you Thoma?" I ask him, everyone bring their attention to him.

He looks away sighing, refusing to answer.

"I'll take that as a yes." Ray spoke turning away from Thoma.

"It was personal okay, there was no reason to bring it up." Thoma somewhat snapped, then he looks bad down awkwardly. "Its n-not like I am hiding anything or something. I just don't believe in dwelling in the past, thats all."

Maybe he is scared to recover his memories. I can relate to him.

"Ah..." Licht sighed, smiling sadly. "We are all quite unfortunate, then."

"Still thats a another clue." Ray spoke up. "We are all have chuncks of our memories missing."

"Theres something else as well." Subaru joined in, making us all turn to him.

"I didn't have a chance to say anything, but when we were searching I found a room with a bunch of beds and toys lying around."

"Children beds? Toys?" Thoma coping what Subaru just said. "A Study room, a courtyard with a playground?"

"So it is a orphanage." I said.

"What do you mean?" Light asked us, confused on what is happening before us.

"All the memories we can't recall, and all the places that feel somewhat familiar.... Are they from our missing childhood, is that whats going on?" Ray spoke. "That would explain why this place feels so nostalgic." Finishing his sentence Ray clenches his fist.

Lost memories, a orphanage...

What possible connections can my past have with this orphanage?

Then the static noise hits my ears.

"Ah!" I screamed out in a bit of pain.

This is...

Then the noise started to turn to the sound of a bell.

No, I-

"Shit, just when we were finally getting somewhere!" Ray complained, then looking at all of us quickly. " Eveyone, Tomorrow, 10 A.M. Meet me at the fountain at Stadtbelle Plaza!"

My mind then abruptly started to blur after Ray instructed that.

"Stad-" I softly spoke to myself, but before I could make any sense on what he had said, my world goes dark.

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