I fell asleep, but this time I wasn't plagued by nightmares anymore, I was having a sweet dream.
A dream as sweet as honey.
I felt at peace, as if all the nightmares I had beforehand were all meaningless.
"..."
I was at a park, my hands rummaged through my pockets in search for my phone, I didn't know why I wanted to look at my phone but my body just moved on its own.
My mind was foggy, a certain ringing resounded in my head.
[11:15] AM
The time was the first thing I laid my eyes on, the second thing I laid my eyes on was.
[September 13 2025]
I thought the date was strange, it didn't feel like it made any sense.
But I just couldn't pinpoint exactly what was so strange about it.
I raise my head and see two familiar figures.
"That swing is pretty huge"
"I think it's called the Bird's Nest Swing?"
"That is the most random thing you could remember Gabriel"
Catrina glared at Gabriel.
"I know some things"
Gabriel slightly puffed his cheeks.
"Weirdo"
"You are more weird"
"Name one thing that is weird about me brat"
"No"
Catrina raised an eyebrow.
"Why not?"
"Because you'll hit me if I am honest-"
Thud!
"Ow!"
Catrina kicked Gabriel in the Calf, Gabriel winced In pain, clutching his leg.
"What did you do that for!"
"I just really wanted to kick you for some reason, it isn't anything personal~"
"Liar"
Catrina turned her head and faced Gabriel, she flashed a brilliant Innocent smile.
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Gabriel submissively answered the Innocent Catrina, 'Why is she so violent...' He muttered under his breath.
"I heard that"
"It's your Imagination"
"..."
Both Catrina and Gabriel turned silent, they looked at the swing ahead of them.
"Who's going on it first?"
Catrina broke the silence first and asked Gabriel.
"They do say ladies first so you go"
"I'm pretty generous today so you go first"
"No I insist you go first"
Cale looked at them and narrowed his eyes.
'Why are they even bickering?'
I got up from the bench and walked towards them.
"Hey hey, how about you guys decide with a match of Rock, Paper, Scissor-"
"...?"
I stopped talking, I looked at them, I saw their disgusting grins that would make even the devil shudder.
"He's perfect, right Gabriel?"
"Yeah he is Catrina"
'Wait, what? Weren't they just bickering with each other???'
I took a step back, they took a step forward.
'Why did they suddenly decide to gang up on me!'
"It's only painful at the start"
"Don't worry we'll be gentle with you, trust us"
Yeah right!
"Listen we don't have to do th-"
"Get em Gabriel!!!"
"Shit!"
I turned around and started sprinting, running as far away as I could possibly can.
"Hah Ha Ha!"
I look behind me
"!!!"
"You're too slow!"
'Why is he so fast!'
Grab!
"Gotcha"
"Let go!"
"I won't"
"Come on Gabriel, we're friends aren't we? you wouldn't do this to me right?"
Gabriel Ignored my pleas and just dragged me back to Catrina.
"Good work Gabriel, I forgive you for your previous remarks"
"Kuk"
Gabriel chuckled, he stared back, his grin became even more disgusting.
"Kek"
Catrina covered her mouth, barely containing her laughter.
"What are you going to even do to me?"
"You will see Cale, be patient~"
Catrina started to drag me to the bird's nest swing.
"What?"
I realized now what they were trying to do.
"Don't tell me you actually think something like a swing can scare me"
I may not be someone with nerves of steel, but I knew for a fact that a simple swing wouldn't be enough to scare me.
"Oh we know, that's why we have 'tools' for that"
"..?"
Tools? What tools?
"Kuku, this is going to be fun"
Catrina and Gabriel laid me down on the swing.
I didn't resist, not because I didn't want to but because I was slightly curious for what they had In store for me.
Plus, this isn't going to kill me
***
Wobble~
Wh-What did I just experience?
I was completely flabbergasted, my entire body was still shaking like a leaf from what Gabriel and Catrina had done.
"Come on It wasn't that bad~"
Catrina said, I asked if I could use her as support In order to not fall, she agreed saying she felt slightly guilty.
How could they make something like a swing terrifying?
That took true skill to accomplish.
Gabriel turned and faced me.
"So should we go watch the movie? In half an hour it's going to start"
I completely forgot about that...
"Yeah we should, I mean the movie was the only reason I came out in the first place"
It also would've been a waste of money since I went ahead and bought the ticket
And that's what we did, we didn't stop anywhere and headed straight for the cinema
I also could walk with no problems so I stopped leaning towards Catrina
"..."
When will I stop being pathetic... I thought to myself, but I knew that If I only thought of it and didn't take any action to grow mentally.
'I will die'
My foggy mind had cleared, though It was still foggy I at least knew of this fact very well.
The practical exam was bound to be more difficult than anything I have faced ever since I first transported to Gardenia, yet
'I'm struggling with this?'
I knew I was dumb, I knew I wasn't capable, I knew there were many others that could do better than I could ever hope to do.
If such people were in my situation, they wouldn't struggle, they wouldn't even be able to understand why I am struggling so much.
I didn't blame myself for being pathetic, I understood myself better than everyone that I couldn't help but be pathetic at the beginning.
The problem was I never improved, I did improve slightly but it was too small of a gain to do anything, Of course it was better in the end to improve slightly than to not improve whatsoever but I also entertained another contradicting thought.
Could I truly blame myself for staying pathetic?
I was normal-No I was below the average, I was just a human with the ability to sense danger, that is all I have and will possibly ever have.
"Ah we're here!"
Catrina snapped me out of my self-deprecating thoughts
"Well what are we waiting for it's going to start if we just wait here!"
Me and Gabriel sighed and then followed Catrina into the cinema.
We walked to the counter, there were many people so we had to wait in line.
"This is going to take a while"
I muttered under my breath.
It took a very long time, but eventually we were able to get through the long line and get inside the movie theater.
"Where is our seat...."
Gabriel looked around to find our reserved seat.
I look at the number in my phone
B28
"Ah found it, it's over there"
Catrina pointed at the seat in the far back
"You can see that?
That's surprising?
I didn't know how to describe it otherwise, it was truly incredible observation
"Yeah I can~"
Catrina said this nonchalantly as if it wasn't a big deal, but both me and Gabriel knew she liked being complimented more than anyone
We took our seats, Catrina in the middle, I was on the right while Gabriel was on the left.
Around 20 minutes had passed before the movie finally started.
"Is it finally starting?"
"Took em long enough"
Other people who came to watch the movie complained, but the complaints quickly died down when the movie started.
"...?"
'A black screen? don't tell me they have maintenance issues again'
I waited again for another 30 minutes, I was patient, after all I really wanted to see the movie since it was my all time favorite movie in the franchise.
But the situation made no sense...
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
"This is incredible!"
"How can a movie be so moving?"
Everyone in the theater was clapping their hands, many of which were crying, all of their words held only praise for the nonexistent movie in front of them.
"What is-"
"This is a masterpiece Cale!"
Catrina next to me stood up from her seat clapping her hands so hard they started to swell, she was crying tears of joy.
Sniffle
Gabriel was no different, he was blowing his nose, tears kept streaming down his face.
Hic
He even started having hiccups.
"..."
I was a movie enthusiast, but even I wouldn't be like this.
No, this...doesn't make any-
Before I could even finish my sentence
Buzz
I heard something that eerily sounded close to a buzzing sound a mosquito would make.
The sound screeched in my mind, a splitting headache followed suit.
I clutched my head in pain, my eyes widened at what I saw on the screen.
"I-Is that..."
My voice cracked
"Me?"
I saw myself on the glitching screen, I was leaning on the wall, clutching my stomach that kept pouring blood out.
My entire body was riddled with holes, my face was barely recognizable with all the blood that was stuck to it like glue.
Then I felt a certain sense of fear looking at 'me'-no to be more precise at his eyes.
They looked straight at me, It ignored every single being in the theater and simply looked at me, they were filled with a swirling abyss, an abyss so intense It threatened to swallow me whole.
I gulped, my mouth turned dry and my heart was beating loudly, but I observed. I took in everything that my eyes could see in the screen.
The 'me' in the screen wore a black cloak with intricate silver symbols on it, he also wore a Impeccable beautiful black suit with silver patterns decorating it all over under the cloak and his hands were donned with black gloves with the same intricate silver symbols as the cloak.
I couldn't catch any other detail because.
Shaaaaa~
He turned into ash, his entire body, his cloak, his suit and gloves all turned to ash, not a single thing remained of him and his surrounding also turned to ash along with him.
Before the 'me' in the screen completely disappeared, I saw it, In his lifeless eyes regained a glint of hope and his lips parted into a smile, but even that smile turned to dust along with screen.
And that is when everything was consumed by a eerily gentle darkness.