HATCH

III

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: CRINGE STUFF AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.⚠️

Hearing someone banging on the door woke me up. I jolted upright and stared at the door fearfully.

"Aniki... A-Aniki!" I frantically called him, getting off the bed to shake him awake but he wouldn't budge.

"Hmmm..." he hummed, keeping his eyes closed and rolling over to the other direction.

"Please, wake up! Someone's banging on the door," I cried.

To my frustration, I was alone tonight. I ran to the door and grabbed Aniki's chair from his desk, blocking the door with it.
After that, I sat on the floor, crying my eyes out. I was so frightened.

When the banging finally stopped, I stayed on the bed and blankly stared at the wall in front of me. I was too petrified to lie down and close my eyes even for just a few seconds.

My eyelids felt heavy after what seemed like eternity. I collapsed on the bed, rubbing my eyes. I felt drowsy and yawned. Hopefully I would be able to sleep now.

I woke up. As expected, there was no sunlight coming from outside.

I checked the alarm clock by the bedside but I couldn't tell if it was morning since it was in a twelve-hour format. Seven thirty.

Remembering Aniki, I checked if he was already awake but to my surprise, he had already left his spot. All that was left was a messy comforter and a pillow thrown to the side.

I panicked, thinking he had already gone outside even with the scary lady roaming around. I was worried that he might have gotten hurt or worse.

So I quickly threw the blanket away and ran outside. The chair that used to block the door was back in its place in front of Aniki's desk.

The second floor was still empty and dark as always. To be honest, I was still too horrified to walk around the halls but I had to find Aniki.

"Aniki?"

No response.

I went downstairs, only to see Aniki fixing the lights in the living room.

"Aniki?"

No response.

"Aniki!" I repeated, louder this time.

Aniki jumped in shock, almost falling off the ladder. He slowly turned his head to me.

"H-Hey."

"Hi. What's wrong?" I asked. There was something off with him.

"The lights. I was fixing them," he pointed to the ceiling but his expression displayed a hint of fear and confusion.

"No, not that. Is something bothering you?"

Climbing down the ladder, Aniki looked me in the eye seriously.

"It doesn't make sense, yn," he took a deep breath. I didn't know what he was talking about so I just stared.

"Morning never came! " He exclaimed and my eyes widened.

So he finally realized, huh.

"I swear I slept at around eleven thirty. And now it's... what? Eight? But it's still dark outside? It's supposed to be eight in the morning."

I just listened to him as he ratted on and on about it. There was nothing I could do, really.

"Tell me I'm wrong. Please tell me I'm only dreaming," Aniki pleaded.

"I could say the same thing to myself," I pulled him to the sofa and we sat beside each other. For a moment, I totally forgot about that lady. "It started four days ago. I woke up and noticed that the Earth stopped spinning." I thought for a while and decided not to tell him about the hatch that was in my bedroom. I didn't intend on sleeping there alone. "That's all. I don't know. It just happened."

Then I remembered the lady again but maybe it was just probably in my mind. So I didn't tell him about it. This nighttime thingy however, was indeed happening. I knew I wasn't crazy because Aniki noticed it too.

He stared at me as the silence continued.

"How do we get out of this loop?"

"I have no idea. I just... gave in. I had no leads," I shrugged my shoulders dismissively. At this point I was already lost. I already gave up. "You know what? We should just get something to eat."

I stood up and pulled him together with me to the kitchen. The lights were fixed too and I thanked him for that. We made ourselves a simple dinner and a glass of carrot juice each, forgetting about the whole situation for now.

"By the way, what were you saying about a lady walking around here?" Aniki suddenly asked.

It was the question I dreaded since I didn't want to talk about that nightmare fuel image of that person I've seen.

"Nothing. Maybe I was just tired," I lied. "Jet lag."

He nodded, finishing his carrot juice after taking the last bite of his tuna sandwich.

"yn," Aniki's voice was serious. "There's got to be some way to get out of this situation." He paused. "I mean, I just can't believe this is happening, is all. Should we just step out of the gates?"

That was when it hit me. I was only waiting for Aniki to return. It was his absence that stopped me from leaving.

"You're right."

Suddenly, there were footsteps again. It sounded like it came from upstairs. Aniki must have heard it too because he looked at me wide-eyed.

"What was that?" He asked, warily whispering.

"Shhh. Quick, we need to hide!" As I shushed him, I took his large hand in mine and began to run to the nearest locker.

We ended up going to the storage room but there was only one locker available.

I quickly opened it and went inside. Aniki hesitated to enter since there was little space but I couldn't let him get caught.

Without warning, I forcefully pulled him in, shutting the locker door quietly.

My eyes scanned the outside through the slits of the door. I could still hear the lady's groaning in the hallway. The noise reminded me of a zombie.

"Who-"

I covered his mouth as quick as I could. The lady was coming to our direction.

¬.¬

yo btw i forgot... 'yn' means (your name)

it was supposed to be written as '(y/n)' but i forgot to edit them and i was too lazy to do so

anyway, enjoy now that aniki has finally noticed :D and that the woman is chasing you both >:D