Chapter 24: Nightmare

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Nightmare

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"I... I can’t tell you. If I say it out loud, it means I’ve finally lost it. My brain is... it’s misfiring. It has to be." I said in grief. My voice shaking from fright, my bed spread covering my entire body.

"Your brain is just trying to protect you. It’s a good brain. But right now, it’s trapped in a loop. I need you to give me one physical detail...it doesn’t have to be the ’scary’ part...just a color or a sound. Start with why you even stopped."

I paused in silence for a while, before replying "w-well umm...A cat. I heard a cat near the alley on 4th. It sounded... lonely. I just wanted to see if it was stuck."

"Okay. A cat. That’s a normal thing to check on. You’re a good person. Now, keep your eyes on the ceiling. Tell me about the alleyway itself. Was it dark?" Mataguchi questioned. He seemed curious to know even though his tone didn’t show it.

Trying to help.

"That’s the thing... it didn’t end. I looked in, and the walls just... stretched. Like the brickwork was being pulled into a horizon that shouldn’t exist. And then I heard her."

​"Keep breathing. Slowly. What did she say?" Mataguchi asked.

​"Just one word. Over and over. ’Mummy.’ But she wasn’t... she wasn’t solid. She was flickering, like a streetlamp about to blow out. Like she was being edited out of the world while I was watching." I was trembling in fear but still trying to regain my confidence, my hand holding my bedsheets tightly for confort.

I felt like a child having a nightmare.

I wish this is a dream, just another nightmare I could wake up from.

"You’re doing great. You’re describing a visual anomaly. It’s just data. What happened when the flickering stopped?" Mataguchi added his tone was still the same while he walked, well I heard his foot steps.

"It just... snapped back. The alley was short again. Normal. There was a man there. Just a regular guy in a coat. I almost felt relieved until I looked at his hand."

​"What was in his hand?" Mataguchi questioned further.

"The girl. She was holding his hand. She was still glitching, stuttering in and out of existence but he was just walking with her. He looked right at me. He could see her. He knew what she was, and he was just... taking her somewhere."

​"Stay with me. Deep breath. You aren’t crazy. you’re a witness. You did the right thing telling me. Now, I want you to close your eyes and just listen to the rain on my side of the phone. I’m not hanging up until you fall asleep."

"Wait... you actually believe me?" I asked, my eyes wide in the dark room, a massive wave of relief crashing over me.

I know it his just trying to help and not actually buying into any of it buy his acceptance of my condition was all I needed to feel belonged.

Like I’m not alone. Yeah I’m sure I ain’t.

"Of course I do," Mataguchi replied. "Don’t worry. I will investigate it. For now, keep this entirely between ourselves. Understood?"

"Ah, yeah. I will," i stammered. The terror in my chest began to recede, replaced by a profound sense of gratitude.

I wasn’t sure if his okay with just playing along or just truly trying to help but to make it okay for both me and him I agreed.

"I’m... I’m really glad I’ve got a friend like you, bro," i added softly.

"It is no problem. Now, just listen to the rain."

"Yeah sure but I’m not a kid" i replied my tone sounding like my usual self but underneath a shacking feeling of fear still lingers.

For now I’m had a bit of confidence to cover my self.

"Right"

"Okay see you this weekend" i replied before hanging. My eyes tired and sleepy. My energy exhausted from worry.

Let me just rest up a bit, I have to apologise to the others.

Erza must be angry with me now.

I tossed the phone onto the nightstand, the screen fading to black. Silence rushed back into the room like cold water, thick and suffocating.

​I’m safe, I told myself, clutching the heavy duvet to my chin. Mataguchi knows. I’m in my bed. The door is locked.

​So why were my eyes still darting toward the shadowy corners of the ceiling?

​The sheer exhaustion was a physical weight crushing my skull, dragging my eyelids down until they felt coated in sand. I wanted nothing more than to drift off, to let sleep wash away the metallic taste of bile in my throat and the ringing in my ears. But every time I let my eyelids flutter shut, the darkness behind them pulsed.

​What if she’s in here?

​The thought pierced through my fatigue like a jagged blade. The door was locked, sure, but what did a locked door mean to something that didn’t even obey the laws of physics? Something that could blur, edit itself, and tear through the fabric of reality?

​I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing a deep breath into my trembling lungs.

​Stop it. You’re losing it again.

​Flicker.

​My eyes snapped open.

​There, in the dim light filtering through the rain-streaked window, right at the foot of my bed.

​A tiny, static-drenched outline stood motionless.

​My heart slammed against my ribs with a sound so loud I was sure it echoed in the quiet room. My breath hitched in my throat, freezing into a silent gasp.

​It was the child.

​She wasn’t fully formed, she was a cluster of jagged, grey pixels, her tiny frame stuttering violently against the dark carpet. Her head was tilted at an unnatural, sickening angle, covered in matted black hair.

​I tried to scream, but my throat closed tight. I tried to pull back, to scramble against the headboard, but my limbs felt like lead poured into heavy iron casts. Paralysis chained me to the mattress. Sleep deprivation had locked my muscles, leaving me a helpless spectator in my own body.

​Blink.

​I blinked, hard.

​When my eyes opened, the space at the foot of the bed was empty. Just the dark silhouette of my clothes rack.

​"Haa... haa..." A ragged, desperate pant broke from my lips. Sweat stung my forehead, cold and slick.

It’s a hallucination. It’s just a shadow. Sleep deprivation makes you see things.

​I stared fixedly at the empty spot, refusing to blink again, my vision burning around the edges.

​Flicker.

​She appeared closer. Right by the side of my desk.

​This time, a low, buzzing static hummed in my ears, sounding like a television tuned to a dead channel. Her dull crimson eyes caught the faint streetlight from outside lifeless, empty sockets staring right through me. Her small, pale lips parted.

​"M...um...my..."

​No sound actually came out, but the word echoed directly inside my head, high-pitched and distorted by digital feedback.

​No, no, no! Get away! I screamed internally, my fists clenching so hard my fingernails bit into my palms, drawing painful heat. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t run. The air in the room grew suffocatingly cold, heavy with the smell of ozone and wet pavement.

​Blink.

​Gone again.

​I was weeping now, hot tears slipping down my temples and sinking into the pillowcase. I couldn’t keep my eyes open much longer. My brain was shutting down, forcing my heavy eyelids to droop despite the primal, clawing terror threatening to shred my sanity.

If I close my eyes... she’s going to stand right next to my head.

​She’s going to touch me.

​Flicker.

​A shadow hovered at the edge of my bed, reaching out a tiny, pixelated hand

​Click.

​The sudden, soft sound of the bedroom door unlocking broke the oppressive silence.

​The glitching child dissolved into thin air, scattering like static dust into the dark.

​I couldn’t even turn my head to see who was entering. My heavy, sluggish eyes could only focus on the soft, warm light spilling in from the hallway, cutting through the absolute darkness of my room. Footsteps drifted closer soft, measured, carrying the faint, comforting aroma of warm broth and lavender.

​A hand, gentle and solid, rested against my feverish forehead.

​"Kageyama-kun..."

​It was Maria. Her voice was a soft, muffled blur, coming as if from under deep water.

​I tried to part my lips, to tell her to leave, to run, to lock the door from the outside before that thing came back, but my tongue felt swollen and useless. All that came out was a faint, broken sigh.

​"Shh... it’s alright," she murmured softly.

​Through the blur of my drooping eyelashes, her silhouette was warm and grounding. She didn’t look like a ghost. She didn’t glitch. She was real. Solid.

Maria?

​Maria pulled the heavy duvet up over my shaking shoulders, tucking it snugly around my chest. Her hand moved to my hair, her fingers gently stroking the damp locks away from my forehead in a rhythmic, soothing pattern.

​"You’re burning up," she whispered, her voice laced with maternal warmth and deep worry. "You worked yourself too hard again... poor child."

​Her hand was warm against my icy skin. Every stroke of her palm seemed to smooth out the chaotic, jagged edges of my panicked mind.

The static in my ears slowly faded, replaced once more by the steady, rhythmic patter of the rain pounding against the window pane outside.

​It was just a nightmare... a small, exhausted part of my brain pleaded. Just a hallucination...

​Maria reached over, placing a folded, cool, damp cloth over my brow. The relief was immediate, soothing the fiery ache behind my eyes.

​"Sleep now," she hummed quietly, her hand returning to stroke my hair softly.

"Erza isn’t mad at you. We’re right downstairs. Nothing is going to hurt you here."

​I couldn’t respond. My vision was fading fast, the edges of the room turning completely pitch black.

The terror that had gripped my chest for hours began to loosen its hold, washed away by sheer physical limits and the gentle, constant touch of her hand.

​As I finally tumbled over the edge into a deep, dark unconsciousness, my last fading thought wasn’t of the glitching girl or the dark alleyway.

​It was the lingering, flat tone of Mataguchi’s voice on the phone.

​"Don’t worry. I will investigate it."

​And with that final anchor holding my shattered mind together, the darkness took me completely, pulling me into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

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"All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

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