He wiped his tears with his small hands, then got out of bed, heading to the bathroom to wash his face. He walked with heavy steps, as if carrying a mountain of worries. Every step was difficult for him. He said to himself, "I cannot carry out these evil thoughts, I am not like that… I am not evil."
The atmosphere was very quiet; this quietness increased his fear and anxiety. He reached the bathroom and began washing his face with cold water. He raised his head… and saw in the mirror a red smile stretching from ear to ear, with red spots around the eyes. But when he blinked, his face returned to normal.
It was as if it were silent, and he couldn't say anything, trembling violently. He stepped away from the mirror quickly… and looked behind him. He found nothing… but his heart did not calm down.
He returned to his room with hesitant steps, his mind still stuck on that smile he saw in the mirror. He lay on his bed, trying to sleep. He closed his eyes… and dozed off quietly.
In the morning, he woke up to his mother calling him for breakfast. He got out of bed, went to the bathroom, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. He completely forgot everything that had happened yesterday, thinking it was just nightmares.
He went to the living room, sat on a chair, and greeted his mother, father, and brother Tony. Mark's father asked curiously, "Where is the coffee for your mother?" She replied, "Here is your coffee," and Mark's father smiled and said, "Thank you."
Tony was busy with his phone. His father looked at him and scolded, "Put that phone down and talk to your family, you fool!" After finishing scolding Tony, he started a conversation with Mark, asking about his studies and school. Mark replied, "It's good, Dad."
Then Mark's mother said to his father, "You're late for work, dear." He looked at his watch and said, "That's true, I must go to work," and left quickly.
After finishing his breakfast, Mark got up again when he heard the school bus horn! He said goodbye to his mother and brother…
He rushed out of the house, but he saw a crimson balloon on a tree in his garden. When he approached the tree, the balloon disappeared. He said to himself, "It's just my imagination."
He got on the bus, greeted the bus driver Dextar, his friends, and all the students. He sat on a seat, talking to his friend Sarah… and he dozed off on the seat, finding himself in a mental hospital, wearing the hospital pajamas, walking in the hospital searching for someone to ask or help him.
But there was no one in the hospital, and the doors and windows were opening and closing, the lights flickering rapidly. Screams and terrifying laughs could be heard, while he ran trying to escape.
He found a… strange room! Written in blood: "There is no nightmare more terrifying than the truth?"
He opened it and was shocked… many corpses were on the floor, decapitated, blood filling the room. Behind the corpses, the same balloon he saw in the morning in his garden, with writing on it: "Are you ready for what's coming?"
He approached the balloon and saw an opening… he entered. He found more corpses and blood. Among all those corpses, there was one corpse that started speaking, saying to him: "Is that you, Mark?"
He woke up screaming! Everyone on the bus was surprised, laughing and mocking him. As for him, he was shocked, trying to be strong in front of his friends and the students, and he smiled and said, "I was joking with you."
After that, everyone on the bus… their eyes changed, their voices became strange, their eyes red like wild animals, and their facial features were stranger, as if they were demons, and the bus changed, and they started saying to Mark: "We are the ones joking with you, not you."