Demon Dimensions

Chapter 04:Dream/facts in the library.

Adam tossed and turned in his bed, as if sleep had fled from him forever. He wrapped himself in the tattered gray shawl he had found in his father's workshop, unsure why he still clung to it. By midnight, he exploded into the darkness with angry, pale eyes, dark circles around them, and veins protruding, revealing the signs of extreme fatigue. Taking a deep breath, he muttered, "Damn it, I can't sleep."

He turned toward the window in frustration, glancing at the shimmering moon in the sky. Carefully, he opened the window, as if trying not to wake the world around him, then stealthily climbed out and sat on the cold roof. There, he lay back, releasing a long sigh, "Ah, the air here is refreshing, much better than that stuffy room."

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He turned quickly to find Susan coming closer. "What are you doing here? This place is dangerous! You might fall!" he asked, concerned.

Susan replied angrily, "I couldn't sleep, even though I'm a bit tired." Then, with curiosity as she played with her hair, she asked Adam, "Couldn't you sleep either?"

Adam lifted his head, contemplating the moonlight illuminating the sky. "No, I couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts are swirling in my head; I think that's why."

Susan lay back on the roof, rubbing her arms and smiling. "Ah, the weather is delightful," she added enthusiastically, "it brings a sense of peace."

She turned to Adam, gazing at him shyly, and asked, "How old are you now, Adam?"

Adam replied, puzzled, "I don't know exactly, for some reason. But according to my uncle Eric, I think I'm twelve."

Susan responded with a hint of arrogance, "Hah, you're still young. I'm fourteen." "I'm like your big sister now," she added proudly.

Adam smiled faintly, looking up at the sky. "Sure."

A moment of contemplation passed, during which the only thought swirling in Susan's mind was:
He's my cousin...
almost the same age...
alone together...
my only friend...
He's kinder...
"Even though he hasn't been here for just a few hours, he feels familiar, as if I've seen him somewhere before!!" With a blush creeping across her face, she gathered her courage and turned to Adam, "Have you ever loved someone?"

Snore... Snore...
But she found him already fast asleep. She felt a bit disappointed, yet that didn't stop her from continuing to gaze at his face for a long time until sleep overtook her...

In that cursed village, struck by plague, the absence of children Susan's age left her feeling painfully lonely. The place had suffered a deep wound that led to a decline in the younger population, from ages five to sixteen, as if life had abandoned them. Amid this emptiness came Adam, like a new dawn, lighting up the darkness in her heart. Susan felt an irresistible attraction to him from the moment she first saw him. While most of the children who survived the illness toiled at work or begged in the streets, Adam seemed like the hope that lifted the weight of loss from her shoulders, restoring a fragment of the innocence she had lost with her father.

Indeed, they lacked a comfortable bed or exhaustion to help them fall asleep; it was those moments of companionship and short conversations that were enough to lull them into peaceful dreams.

Adam trembled, sweat pouring down him despite the cool weather. He breathed heavily, as if wrestling with something invisible. Among a crowd of grotesque, headless, and limbless figures, blood flowed everywhere, bodies sprawled out, bones scattered, and fluids oozing from their flesh as they ate and tore each other apart in a scene rivaling hell.

Adam stood, his feet stuck in blood-soaked, gut-laden mud, shock etched on his face. "What the hell is happening here?"

His feet froze, and he couldn't move. He tried to scream for help, "Hey, help! I'm stuck!" but his voice was just a whisper in that nightmare. Yet it was in vain...