The Girl Who Dreams

Chapter 12: The Invisible Man

Its already past ten in the evening and you had just gotten home from a twelve-hour work shift.

You feel very exhausted as your eyes begin to feel heavy. You remind yourself that you still haven't eaten dinner so you try your best to fight it off. Ever so slowly you make your way towards the kitchen and grab some food. A sandwich and a bottle of water should do the trick.

You hurriedly eat dinner as another wave of drowsiness washes over you.

And finally, after what seemed like forever you change into your pajamas and prop yourself with pillows. Fortunately, tomorrow is the rest day, which means you can sleep up all night.

Thus begins your journey into dreamland.

Or so you thought.

Suddenly you feel wide awake. You reach for your phone right next to you to check on the time. It was 2 am.

You try to enter dreamland again but to no avail. You kept tossing and turning.

A sense of dread looks over as you can't help but feel that someone's watching.

The room's pitch black. The only light that was visible is the small lampshade on the far side.

You shake your head. Surely you were just imagining things. Or could be that the stress from work has finally caught up with you.

You check the time again. It was now 3 am.

But an unexpected loud bang made you even more wide awake. Who else could be awake at this hour?

Part of you wants to stay in bed, while the other wants to check the noise out.

It could just be mom preparing the ingredients for breakfast. Or dad sneaking so he could ear his favorite snack without mom's knowledge.

For some unknown reason, the air suddenly got colder so you wear your favorite hoodie.

You make your way downstairs.

"Mom? Dad? Anyone?" you called out.

No answer.

Your heart begins to beat faster.

You call out again.

Still no answer.

You take a peek towards the kitchen. It was a mess, as various pots and pans lay on the floor. You hastily place them back.

And that's when you saw it.

A tall, mysterious figure right in front of you.

Do you dare talk to it?

You are now in a fight or flight situation.

And you choose the latter.

Without even daring to look back, you run fast to your room. You click on the lock just to be safe.

You breathe a sigh of relief as you think to yourself that you are finally safe.

But clearly, you are wrong.

The mysterious figure is now right inside your room.

Feeling helpless, you slump to the floor. You brace yourself for the impending doom, but to your surprise, the mysterious figure doesn't move. It was just standing there. Quietly observing you.

"What do you want?" You scream as tears started running down your cheeks. You feel different emotions surge over you. You close your eyes, hoping to wake up somewhere else.

And then you wake up.

But you aren't in your room.

You find yourself still in the office. Your desk is surrounded by mountains of paperwork.

You take a peek around. You breathe a sigh of relief as you see your fellow officemates buried in their work. At least you're not alone.

You turn next to your friend, Hector.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Only an hour. And the manager's pissed."

You let out a small laugh.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice an unknown person on the far end of the room.

"Who's that?" You ask Hector.

"Who?"

"That. You can see him, can you?"

Hector shakes his head. "You probably need some coffee man, you know to keep you awake. Here let me get you some."

You don't even dare to look back. You just focus on your work. Soon enough you completely forget about the mystery man. Hector comes back with two cups of coffee.

The mysterious man just stands there.

Watching your every move.

And then he disappears.