Nocturne of Nightmares: A Retelling

Chapter One

IT FELT LIKE ONLY A SECOND LATER that I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by darkness. What just happened? At first, the darkness was so complete that I thought the town was experiencing a blackout, but my vision slowly adjusted. I was in a bedroom - my bedroom? My breath caught in my throat as unease began to bubble in my stomach.

Something was not right.

It took every bit of willpower I had to keep myself from panicking. This bedroom was not mine, but even so, somehow, it felt familiar. Where the heck am I? I fell asleep in the living room, didn't I? I started to turn on my side, but froze, eyes widening at the sight in front of me. In the dark, I saw the figure of a young man lying down next to me, and I felt as if my heart was about to jump right out of my chest. What in the world? Confused as I was, I took a closer look to find that the man was sleeping peacefully. He seemed harmless enough.

"Excuse me," I whispered, shaking him by the arm. The stranger groaned, his brows scrunching. "Wake up," I tried again, and his eyelids fluttered for a moment as he tried to get up.

"Where..?"

I sat up and faced him. "Um, do you know where we are? I suddenly woke up here and..." I trailed off when the young man looked up at me. His eyes - one was sapphire blue, the other cinnabar red. Captivated by his mystical appearance, I inadvertently let out a small gasp. "Wow. Your eyes are so beautiful."

The young man immediately covered his face with his hands. "No, don't look!" he grimaced.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, but he only turned away. Did I offend him?

"Stay away!"

"But -" I'd wanted to put my hand on his shoulder, to try and calm him down.

"Man, you're so damn loud."

I jumped in surprise, and the guy beside me seemed to be taken aback, too. Looking over my shoulder, I found someone else staring down at me. He looked scary, with a deep frown set in his brow and hair like fire.

"The hell are you being nosy for, huh?" he asked me.

"I-I'm sorry..." I was also even more confused.

Out of the blue, a very loud yawn echoed in the room. In the corner, someone stretched up with his mouth wide open.

"What time is it?" he asked. "Hmmm? It's still dark. Can we go back to sleep?" The realisation in his eyes became contentment, perhaps because he had not fully woken up to assess the situation. His eyes closed again for a few seconds before shooting open, and he screamed. "Where am I? Who are you people?"

Beside him, a young woman was forced awake by the commotion and started freaking out, too. That made five of us. Five complete strangers, all taken to one strange place.

"Hey, hey, calm down," said the fiery-haired one, his tone significantly improved since he last spoke. "I think we're all in the same boat here. But why are we here?" he asked softly, as if he was talking to himself.

"I can't be here, I have a date tomorrow!" gasped the girl, her eyes were big and blue, cutting through the dark. She had skin as pale as a porcelain doll, and her hair came down in pretty neat waves, even though she was dressed for sleep. "I have to get home."

"Everybody, settle down," the fiery-haired one started to take charge of the situation.

I had just noticed that he was wearing a varsity jacket with a fleur-de-lis printed on the left-hand side of the chest. I think I know that school... I stood up to get a good look at him, but then he walked towards the centre of the room.