In Your Dreams

Chapter Five

The walls of my apartment were alive, their color shifting into a deep, blood-red hue, pulsating with a heartbeat of their own. The floor trembled beneath me, the very foundation of my home turning against me. My breath came in shallow gasps, and no matter how much air I pulled in, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. All I could do was watch.

Kenny stood in the middle of the living room, holding the bottle of pills, his eyes boring into me, his lips twisted into a disgusted sneer. He was no longer the gentle, kind man I had laughed with just hours earlier. His face was shadowed, the corners of his mouth curling upward in a grin that made my skin crawl.

"You really think this is normal?" he asked, his voice distorted, echoing in the narrow space. "You think you can hide who you really are?"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The walls pulsed harder, the deep red turning darker, almost black, the sound of my heartbeat filling the air. Each thud felt like a knife against my skull, a pounding that wouldn't stop, wouldn't let me breathe. I could feel my chest tightening, the pressure growing unbearable.

Kenny's sneer deepened, his eyes narrowing as he threw the bottle on the ground, the pills scattering across the floor like tiny, white bullets. "You're pathetic," he spat, his voice a low growl, dripping with disdain. "You think anyone could love someone like you?"

The room twisted, the floor dropping out beneath me. My knees buckled, and I collapsed, my hands scraping against the now pulsating, fleshy surface of the floor. The walls closed in, the red mass moving, pressing against me, suffocating me. I tried to scream, to shout for help, but my voice was lost in the deafening roar of my own heartbeat.

Somewhere, hidden within the shadows, I heard laughter—a familiar, low, sinister laugh that sent a shiver through me, one I recognized all too well. The faceless man was there, lurking, watching. His laugh echoed through the room, blending with Kenny's twisted grin, until all I could hear was the overlapping sound of their mockery.

Suddenly, everything turned dark, the laughter stopping abruptly, leaving me alone in the silence, the weight of it pressing down on me.

I gasped, my eyes snapping open, my body drenched in sweat, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. The cold darkness of my room surrounded me, the familiar shapes slowly coming into focus as I struggled to calm my breathing. I blinked, my mind racing, the remnants of the nightmare clinging to me, refusing to let go.

My hands were trembling, my fingers still curled as if I could feel the pulsing walls beneath them. It took me a few moments to realize that I was in my bed, not kneeling on the floor. It was just a nightmare. Kenny wasn't here. None of that had happened.

The events of the previous night came rushing back, each memory hitting me like a blow. The date, the laughter, the warmth, and then—the pills. The hurt in his eyes, my words lashing out, telling him to leave. I squeezed my eyes shut, the shame washing over me again. It was a mistake, all of it. I shouldn't have let him in. I shouldn't have let myself hope.

I glanced at the time on my phone. It was barely three in the morning, and it was Monday. Realization set in that I had slept a whole day away, and I was still tired even after sleeping so long. There was no way I was going back to sleep, either, not after that nightmare. The thought of closing my eyes again, of seeing that red, pulsing room, made my stomach twist. I sat up, wrapping my arms around my knees, trying to steady my breathing.

I stayed up, the hours dragging by in a blur. I tried to distract myself—turning on the TV, scrolling aimlessly through my phone, anything to keep my mind from drifting back to the dream, to Kenny, to the faceless man. But nothing worked. The unease lingered, a constant presence at the back of my mind, gnawing at me, refusing to let go.