Shadow World: The Dark Side of Imagination

Chapter 3: Michaels Nightmare

Michael woke up, screaming out in fear as he saw a man with an axe standing over him. The man was looking down at Michael with a hateful expression, his hand wrapped around the handle of the axe and he was about to swing it down on Michael's head. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact to hit him, but when he opened his eyes again the man was still standing there, without having made a move towards him.
"W-what is happening?" Michael asked, trying to get up off of the ground.
The man smiled, a dark smile on his face.
"You should be afraid" he said. "I am going to kill you."
Michael looked around him, seeing that the man had disappeared.
"Where did he go?" he asked.
He stood up, shaking his head as he looked around the room. A few minutes passed and he finally stood up.
"What is going on here?" he asked himself.
He walked around the room, looking for clues as to what had happened. When he looked back in the mirror, he saw his reflection staring back at him.
His eyes widened in shock, seeing his own face.
"This isn't possible!" He screamed. "I'm not Mike!"
Michael ran out of the room, slamming the door closed behind him. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He pushed harder, trying to force it to open, but it just wouldn't.
"What is happening to me?" he asked himself. "Why can't I leave my room?"
He felt like he was being held captive inside his own body, unable to do anything except stare at the walls of his room.
After a while, he gave up and sat down on the floor.
"Why am I here?" He asked himself. "Who am I?"
Michael took a deep breath, calming himself down. He decided that he needed to try and calm down, hoping that it would bring him back to his normal self.
"Calm down Michael," he said. "Everything is going to be okay."
He stood up and walked back towards his bed, sitting down on the edge of it. He lay back on the mattress, laying on his back as he stared up at the ceiling.

**Memories**

"Michael, wake up already!" His mom called.
Michael woke up, opening his eyes and seeing his mother standing above him.
"Hi mom," he yawned. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she replied. "How are you?"
"I'm good," he answered. "How long was I asleep for?"
"About an hour."
"Wow," he said as he sat up in bed. "I must have been tired. What time is it?"
"It's 7:00 AM," she replied. "You have to hurry up now or you won't make it to school on time."
Michael got out of his bed, stretching his arms and legs as he got up.
"I'll be right down mom" he said. "I just need to take a quick shower first."
"Alright" she replied. "Have fun."
He went into the bathroom, taking a shower and getting dressed. After finishing up, he went back into his room and saw that his mom was gone.
"I guess she left" Michael said. "I better get going."
***
When Michael arrived at school he went straight to his locker, opening it and taking out his books. He put them inside his backpack, putting it on his shoulder and walking to class. Once he entered the classroom, he noticed that everyone was staring at him.
"What is wrong with these people?" He asked himself.
"If they are going to talk about me then at least tell me why they are doing it."
Everyone looked at him as if he were crazy, laughing at him.
"Get a life people," he said. "There is nothing funny about me."
Michael sat down at his desk, placing his bag on his lap as he waited for the teacher to show up. He waited for what seemed like hours, but it turned out to be only 30 minutes.
"Alright, students" Mr. Morton, the teacher, said as he walked in. "Today we are starting a new unit on biology. I hope everyone has studied hard for this test."
Michael looked down at his notes, reading through them a little bit to make sure that he wasn't missing anything.
"Great, I can finally relax" He thought to himself.
Mr. Morton started explaining everything that he had in his notes, going step by step until he finished. He passed out the tests and the students started working on them.
"Can you please open your book to page 35?" Mr. Morton said. "We will start on the last lesson in the chapter today."
Michael opened up his biology book and found the exact spot that Mr. Morton was talking about. He opened it up, finding the diagram that showed the structure of human cells. He looked at it carefully, trying to figure out what each part was.
"This is so easy" Michael said to himself. "I am going to ace this."
The bell rang out as the students got their tests back. All of them were passing, including Michael. Mr. Morton looked at all of them before picking three students who would receive extra credit for answering the questions correctly.
"Mike!" Mr. Morton said. "Is there anyone else you want to give some extra credit too?"
"No sir" Mike said.
"Alright then" Mr. Morton said. "Let's see how well you did."
He took out a sheet of paper, marking a "B" next to Michael's name.
"Very good" he said. "Keep up the good work."
After the test, Michael went back to his locker, putting his books back inside it. He looked around the hallway, noticing how empty it was.
"Why is it so dead today?" He asked himself. "Usually there is a lot of people here."
He walked down the hall towards his next class, walking down the stairs and heading outside. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining brightly and the breeze gently blowing against him.
As he walked towards the cafeteria, he saw a group of kids sitting at one of the tables, playing with their phones and texting.
Mike came down as well.
"Hey guys" He said. "What are you doing?"
The kids stopped talking and stared at him.
"Nothing" One of them responded.
"He said nothing" Another one added.
Mike gave them all a slap into their face, knocking all of them out.
"What the hell!" One of the kids yelled. "What was that for?"
Mike laughed.
"This isn't a joke" He said. "I'm serious. You are messing with the wrong guy."
They all got up as they looked at each other.
"We're going to ask our parents to call the police" They said.
"Good luck with that" Mike said. "Because if you do I will come after you and beat the crap out of you."
"We don't want to mess with you anyway" Another kid said.
Mike came over to Michael that was staring shocked at Mike.
"Oh no no no" Michael said. "What happened? Why did you do that to those kids?"
"They were annoying me" Mike said. "So I knocked them out."
Michael started laughing.
"Ha ha, that's hilarious!"
"Shut the fuck up dude!" Mike said
and knocked Michael out.
"If you dare to defend the kids, I will kill you!" Said Mike.

The Memory started to vanish again.
"Wake up you fool" an unknown voice said.
"Who..." Michael realized that it was no other then the Axeman. "Where am I?"
The Axeman pulled out a knife, threatening Michael.
"You better remember" He said. "Or you won't live to see tomorrow."
Michael woke up again, still in the same place. He tried to get up, but he couldn't.
"Damn, he really is holding me prisoner" He thought to himself. "What is he going to do with me?"
He looked around, seeing that he was in a small room. He had no idea where this was, but he didn't care either. He just wanted to get out of there.
"Wait a minute" Michael said as he got up. "How did I get here?"
He walked around the room, looking for any clues as to what had happened and how he ended up in this room. He saw a mirror on the wall, so he decided to look at his reflection.
"Buh" his reflection said.