C1 - Dumbfounded Memories

Narrator's POV

Once on a chilly night of August 24, there were two kids who were together in a kid's playground. The kid with a teal hair yelled at his pink-haired buddy as they both ran around the swings, slides and seesaws.

"Can't catch me Edra!" Raziri, the little boy with the pink hair sheepishly yells at his friend.

E'rald, the teal-haired kid's name, smirks at his remark. He then dashed further, catching up to Raziri's pace. E'rald successfully tagged his friend. "Hah! You're it!"

"Oh man." Raziri then slowly but tirelessly falls down on the ground, admitting defeat.

"Yes! I won." E'rald exclaimed with a delighted tone. "Buy me ice cream tomorrow." He went beside Raziri and sat down.

"You always keep winning. This is the third time you've won." Raziri pouted.

"Well like I said, I'm always faster than you." E'rald replied.

"Yea, yea. What flavor do you want?"

Raziri and E'rald both continued to talk and bicker, back and forth. At times, they'd laugh loudly because E'rald would crack up jokes for Raziri. Their smiles bring them both warmth and comfort, as if the only place lighting up the playground was just him and his friend. But obviously, there are lights around. It's just, surprisingly dim.

"We should head back now." E'rald says.

"Yea, I think we should go - wait, what is that?"

Raziri spotted a tall, dark yet distorted figure across E'rald's back.

"What? What do you mean 'what is - Oh no."

E'rald's eyes looked at the figure in fear. His heart began to pump loudly and fast. He hurriedly grabbed Raziri's hand, pulling him away and making a run for it. Raziri, still in shock at what's going on, asks E'rald.

"Edra, who was that?"

Raziri was not given a response.

They just continued running, and running, and running.

Raziri lets go of E'rald's grasp. He noticed he was completely silenced by him.

"Edra, please, tell me what's going on. I'm - "

"You are the reason why."

Raziri gasped. He covered his mouth and his foot stepped back from what he heard.

"E-edra. . . ."

"You. Ever since I met you, this keeps happening to me."

E'rald looked at Raziri with a menacingly dark look, and his eyes looked entirely in black hue. He stomped towards Raziri. The pink-haired kid began to run, but he tripped.

"I should've never met you. If only I never met you."

Raziri looked at E'rald in fear, and saw him holding a stone. "No, no, no, E'rald! Stop!"

E'rald didn't listen. He stepped on Raziri's leg as the pink-haired lad yelled in pain. Tears started falling from his eyes, while looking at his friend in disbelief. "E'rald. . ."

"We should've never met at all."

Suddenly, E'rald raised the stone, then hastily lowered his hand - smashing the rock onto Raziri. The latter screamed in pain.

"AH!" Raziri's body jolted as he woke up in panic.

It was a nightmare, another one at that.

Raziri took a few deep breaths. "That was, traumatizing."

He then looked around his room. He wore himself in pajamas, the clock was striking at 4:35 in the morning, and the dimmed photo facing him. He took a deep sigh while his hand pinched his forehead.

"Why did I dream of that? A new one at that."

Raziri began to wonder, why is he having this nightmare. And surprisingly, it's the dawn of the same date in his nightmare - August 24.

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