Chapter 2: Nightmare
In class, as the teacher's voice droned on, her words blending into an indistinct hum, I found myself drifting into a trance. The room around me blurred and distorted, the very walls seemed to close in, suffocating. I laid my head down, a headache coming on. "Something's not right," I muttered to myself, "I don't feel good."
As I closed my eyes, I suddenly found myself in a different room. A man hung upside down, dead, his blood pouring into a vase. I opened a door and wandered aimlessly down a dimly lit corridor, the walls dripping with thick, congealed blood. The stench of decay clawed at my senses, nauseating and overpowering. "Oh god, where am I? It freaking stinks here."
Each step I took echoed like a death knell, the weight of impending doom pressing on me. A door materialized before me, a grotesque creation that seemed to pulse in time with my heart. "Is the door alive?" An irresistible force compelled me to push forward, but there was no handle. Suddenly, it creaked open, revealing a scene straight from the darkest corners of my mind.
Within the room, blood-soaked corpses rose from their gory resting places, their eyes vacant yet piercing as they fixed their gaze upon me. A chorus of eerie whispers filled the air, their voices a symphony of nightmarish sounds. I stumbled back in terror, unable to tear my gaze away from the grotesque dance of the dead.
The lifeless bodies made way for a mutilated figure lying at the center. My heart thundered in my ears as I recognized the twisted form—it was me. All the figures pointed toward what I assumed was my other half.
"Is this a test, a reflection of myself?" I asked.
An eerie scream clawed its way up my throat, but no sound escaped my lips. "Am I screaming?" The corpses around me pointed with gnarled fingers, urging me toward it. They started chanting, "Forward, forward, forward," over and over again.
The room seemed to close in on me, pushing me towards myself, the air getting thinner, harder to breathe. Suddenly, my other half grabbed me, dragging me closer to it.
There, amidst the horror, I stared at the ghastly reflection of myself. The void in its eyes seemed to mirror the emptiness within me, an unsettling reminder of the darkness that resided in the depths of my own psyche. The nightmare had me in its clutches, and the terror I faced was unlike anything I had ever known.
As I stood paralyzed, staring at the twisted reflection of myself amidst the nightmarish scene, a chilling sensation gripped my shoulder. The touch was cold, clammy, a presence that should not exist in this hellish realm. Dread washed over me, every fiber of my being screaming at me not to turn around.
With my heart pounding, I dared not look away from my other half. My breaths came in ragged gasps, my vision locked on the lifeless figure that mocked me. The sensation on my shoulder intensified, an unmistakable grip that sent shivers down my spine.
I finally shut my eyes, but the grip tightened, an unrelenting force that refused to release its hold on me. My mind raced, thoughts spiraling in a frenzied dance of panic and despair. "Am I going to die here? Is this the end? Have I finally gone insane?"
As the grip on my shoulder grew stronger, a sudden violent pull yanked me off my feet. I was dragged into a sea of blood. Every movement was a struggle; I couldn't breathe, I couldn't wake up. I tried swimming, but chains held me in place.
The grotesque figure that had been my reflection reached out with distorted limbs, its fingers elongated and twisted, eager to claim me as its own. Its smile was twisted.
As the blood closed in around me, I fought against the darkness that threatened to consume me whole. This all started to feel normal. I stopped fighting for a moment, realizing I was becoming it. The world of the living felt like a distant memory, a reality that had been shattered beyond recognition.
The darkness closed in, and my consciousness slipped further into the abyss. There was so much pain. "It hurts, it hurts so much, I can't breathe."
A voice was heard, a snapping noise, and my vision began to shift, slicing through the darkness. My body responded with a violent start. As I got up, I sent my chair crashing back, falling to my knees, gasping for air. I lay down on my back, my vision still going back and forth between that realm and this one.
My heart thundered in my chest, my breaths ragged and desperate. The remnants of the nightmare clung to my thoughts, the terror still coursing through my veins like poison. I felt like I was still drowning, struggling to break free from its hold on me.
"David, David, are you okay? Hey, can someone call the school nurse?" The voice was a lifeline, a beacon of stability in this chaos.
The students all around tried to see what was happening. I saw one run out the door to get the nurse. Through the haze, I realized it was Ms. Smith, my teacher, kneeling beside me. Her hands reached out, attempting to offer assistance, but my disoriented mind struggled to process the world around me.
I tried to speak, to explain the torment I had just endured, but my words were caught in my throat. The only thing I managed to say was, "I… can't… breathe…." The walls were pulsating—or at least, that's what it looked like to me. My senses were a jumbled mess.
Ms. Smith's voice held a soothing quality as she continued to speak, her words a distant murmur as I fought to regain my composure. Her touch was gentle, grounding me in the here and now. It took every ounce of my willpower to focus on my breathing.
My breaths gradually steadied, and I fell asleep.
The security guard came in and saw me lying there. "Hey, what happened here?"
"Never mind that, carry him to the nurse's office," Ms. Smith exclaimed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone