My Phobia Man

5. A Part of Me

Soon, the nuisance learnt that the dreamcatcher had no effect on the nightmares, no matter how many he used.

From the day I heard him nail the dreamcatchers on the wall to the day he got rid of them, there was no improvement. His music playing continued without a pause and on the third night, I woke up with a piercing scream which even my earbuds couldn't prevent me from hearing. Taking off the earbuds, I waited for the music to come, but that night rather than music, it was the voice of smashing.

Tearing... breaking...throwing...

Based on the sounds, mixing his sobs, I guessed he was destroying the useless amulets.

"Good that you noticed they are useless," I remember mumbling in the dark room. Though I tried so hard to detach any human emotions from my heart, that night I felt an excessive amount of pity for the nuisance.

Who would know better than I the pain of unavoidable despair and helplessness?

Well, although we were alike, he was surely stronger than me. After all those crying and destruction, I thought he would stay at home in his misery, but no. At eight am the next day, I heard the loud slam of his door and he left with slow steps.

Only after he left, I managed to relax and sleep.

Even though I slept through a good portion of the morning, the little legs of time dragged themselves in a killing slowness. I did my best to focus on my work, but my unruly mind kept drifting off to the nuisance. I knew what it felt like when you realised that there was no remedy for your pain, the frustration and the disappointment. Therefore, I pitied the nuisance and somehow felt a connection between us. For the first time in four years, I got curious about someone. I wanted to know the cause of his nightmares, I wanted to ask him how he managed to live normally during the day.

However, being a contradictory man, I also wanted him to stay away from me and forget about his tiring existence. I was doing okay on my own, so I didn't welcome any interference to my lonely life.

Being immersed in those contradictory thoughts, I almost failed to hear the return of the nuisance if only there wasn't a loud thud and the curse coming after it. Wondering what happened, I moved to the door with soundless steps, but when I stepped on something hard, I stopped and crouched down to pick it up.

It was a shapeless yellowish/whitish small stone.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5...5? Oh damn!"

I heard the nuisance mumbling to himself and realised he was looking for the small stone which jumped into my flat from under the door. Well, I didn't want to talk to him, but throwing back the stone under the door sounded so childish.

"Where are you?!"

I opened the door and looked at his crouching figure on the ground with disbelieved eyes. He looked at me behind his black sunglasses and flipped his blue bangs without standing up.

"Sorry to bother you. Again," he said with a tired smile, "I just fell down and lost one of my stones."

He looked so tired, so I didn't have the heart to mock him. Slowly, I crouched down, keeping a safe distance from him and put the small stone on the ground towards him.

"You found it! Thank you!" he exclaimed with relief and put the stone into the red pouch in his hand, "have you ever tried natural stones for nightmares?"

I gave him a look saying 'really? Come on!'

The nuisance puffed and let out a soft chuckle, "I am desperate, so I am willing to try everything."

That remark made me shut up. I had a huge dreamcatcher tattoo covering the back of my hand, yet I had the audacity to mock his stones. He was diligently looking for a way out of his misery, yet I was rolling my eyes for his effort. I was a bastard...

"I am sorry, hope it works this time," I said sincerely and closed the door slowly with my heavy heart.

That night, I didn't go to bed, but sat on the sofa and waited for the nuisance to go to bed. With an unopened book on my lap and anxiety in my heart, I waited and waited until 2 am, but there were no screams or music.

"It is good that it worked," I murmured with relief and put the book on the bookcase. I rose on my numb legs to go to bed, but then I heard the scream. My feet froze on the spot and I felt my breathing hitch. Sadness ran through my veins when I heard the desperate sobs on the other side of the wall.

The more he cried, the more I felt trapped. My breathing got unstable and I realised I was about to have a panic attack. Hastily I grabbed my keys and ran out of my flat. Without waiting for the elevator, I climbed down the stairs one or two at a time and threw myself on my night bench in the garden.

The night breeze provided me with the oxygen I needed and I felt my stiff muscles relaxing. When I was okay again, I looked up to the nuisance's window and saw there was no light.

"Did he really go back to sleep, knowing what awaits him in the sleep?" I mumbled with astonishment.

After the events following Somsak's... death, I couldn't sleep, not even for ten minutes. I still remember some of the nightmares that haunted me. By that time, my parents even had to forget about their grief and take care of me as well as the horrifying events. Being a weakling, I let the fears consume me and various phobias popped up. I needed medication to sleep for a while, so seeing nothing but darkness in the nuisance's window made me amaze.

"You should be so strong," I said towards the certain window and rose to my feet. Only after that, I realised the colourful feathers in the huge green trash bin.

The remains of the dreamcatchers...

Unconsciously, I rubbed my tattoo as though I could take it off by rubbing and send it too to the trash bin.

The dreamy yellow feathers of the tattoo moved under my fingertips, but remained rooted. Indeed, like the pain, the tattoo was also a part of me.

***

A/N: Surprise! An extra chapter ^^

Now we have a glimpse of Veera's sad past, how did you like the chapter?