In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction

12.04 - 04/12 - The scariest true stories of the internet

The rest of the day was quickly eaten away by more research, albeit it was ultimately a fruitless one. The Detective excused himself as the sun set, but not before asking Luís to send him their findings. The room was strangely quiet after he left. This whole hotel was quiet, Luís thought. He almost felt as if he was the only person in this whole building. Come to think of it, not once were they interrupted by a cleaning lady or hotel service, and the room at the other side of the thin walls seemed to be empty as well.
He walked over to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water. He was past the point where it would wake him up, but it took the clouds off his mind momentarily. The coffee on the table he dared not to touch, it had already tasted like bitter death hours ago. Maybe it was time to rest. He had maybe slept three hours in the last two days, and it was beginning to catch up to him. The hard mattress looked like a cloud straight out of the heavens to him. Somehow, he managed to pull himself together long enough to brush his teeth. When he finally fell into the covers, sleep came quick.
It did not stay for long however; a few minutes later he woke up again, staring at the same ceiling that he closed his eyes upon not to long ago. He shivered. Cold clouds formed in front of his mouth. The window to his left was black, the artificial light from the street below had been snuffed out by darkness. Lixian realized he was dreaming, although this realization was ultimately a worthless one. Dream or not, the danger would be real.
He thought back to what the detective told him. The first step was to keep his mind together. If he could manage that, all of this would be less
dangerous than a haunted house.

A knock rung out from behind the door. He knew what was coming, and this time, he was prepared. The lunky creature scratched against the wood from the other side, trying to etch his claws into any opening it might find. He closed his eyes, focused on his breathing. The air was as cold as if he was standing outside on an early winter's day, sometime past Halloween.
The scratching stopped. Lixian did not move. He heard a creak as the door was opened by an invisible hand. No steps followed, but nevertheless he knew the creature was inside the room now.
Something stood next to him. He could feel the cool air on his face as the creature breathed. Stay calm, he told himself. Remember what the Detective told you.

A safe place. The dream took place in his mind. He could redirect it, reshape it. He breathed in sync with the creature. In and out. In and out. It felt as if he was falling into his mattress.