I was out with a group of friends; I couldn’t remember who they were. We were out at a coffee shop having supper. It was already very late into the night. The sky was dark and it was a moonlit night. There were no clouds, no stars, and we couldn’t feel the slightest of breezes. People who were at the coffee shop were eating, but very slowly. On their faces wore bizarre stares out into open spaces, like there was something out there that really caught their attention. ‘Still’ was the word to describe the atmosphere. I seemed to be in a daze as my vision was slightly indistinct.


Most hawker stalls were already closed by then. But at those stalls, there were still signs of smoke and the smells of food, as if the hawkers were still there. It beats me too, if you would ask me why. My friends and I had our fill and strolled down the empty and darkened street. Parallel rows of shop houses lined the road as it got dimmer and dimmer. Fewer street lamps were working as we walked. We slowed down and stopped by a shop house. On its door were the Chinese character for ‘big’ and some other characters, of which I could not see perceptibly. There was something that drew our attention to it, and it was the same something that made us curious of opening that old metal door. A school bus from nowhere picked us up before we could push the shop house door open.


Where were my friends now? Apparently, I was with another group of friends on the bus now. I heard from them that there was a second oral presentation to be done.


“What is this? Haven’t I done one oral presentation just recently already? There really is a second one? When is that? I am so not prepared for it!”


2 of my classmates, Joshua and Regan were in together with me for the presentation. They seemed prepared somehow, although I had never seen their second presentation before. They did not hold any script in their hands.



“Why was I notified only now? Why is it at the last minute?”



I guessed that I had to come up with something impromptu. There were 2 other members in my presentation group too, but I couldn’t figure out who they were. It was just vague to me. Soon after, I realised I was back at the shop house with my new group of friends. I had the feeling that I never got on that blue and white school bus before. You know why? My hands were still on that door about to push it open.


As we stepped into the shop house, we lifted the dusty black curtain which hung down right behind the door. It was dark, but there were a few yellow lights that shone toward the centre of the room. The floor was carpeted red and the air-conditioner seemed to have been just switched off as the air felt dense, and cold. The setting was like a cinema theatre. There were steps and a big projector screen right in front, but there were no chairs. No soul was to be found, yet the awkward silence that suffused the room spoke otherwise. I felt slightly claustrophobic in that shop house, or whatever you would call it.


My heart began to pound because I was afraid I did not know what to say for the presentation. Strangely, I wasn’t even aware what kind of speech I was to give. I did not have any content with me! The other friends of mine just smiled to me, but they did not speak a word. I looked around- the projector light was on, there was a video being played in black and white. I tried to say something, and I did. I don’t know what I said though. The presentation was over in a while. I looked to the front, there were chairs now, but they sat no visible soul.


- - - - -


“Where am I now?”



I was on a white-tiled ground, on all fours. There was this little life-form, black and white, that kept walking towards me. I chafed as I shoved it aside. It felt cold, and had the texture of a lizard’s skin. It went a metre backwards. However, to my surprise, just as I turned my head away, the corner of my eye caught the glimpse of it moving back to its original position. I stood up and ignored it as much as I could. I surveyed the room I was in. It was white and was glassed all over. It looked like an operating theatre. I was alone, with that thing.



-Clink-



I was running. Running away from something huge, like an aura that was about to overwhelm me if I did not run fast enough. I ran along the corridor and into the glassed room. I hopped over the little being, and barged out of the back door. I saw that I was panting for breath, but I wasn’t any tired. I rushed into a silver-coloured van that was stationed right before the back door. I was in frenzy and panicked about the steering wheel.



“Ouch!”



I was fumbled across the seats and hit my head on the car door as somebody else took over as the driver. It was the creature beside me, LIFE-SIZED! It gave me a fixed jeopardizing stare as the van accelerated out onto the roads. At no moment did it look away.


Shit. My hand phone dropped from my pocket into the side of the van door. I reached for it and with a bit of luck, I got it back. I couldn’t find any chance to make a call for help. My perspiration trickled down my face like strings of fallen beads while I gripped tighter to the seat. I could not believe my eyes.


“What’s happening?!!”


The van sped up a hill which spiralled upwards and I was getting nauseous. I grabbed onto the door handle and gave it a strong tug. I got off the speeding monster. With haste, I stood up with minor abrasions and scurried down to the parking lot below. At random, I made my way into a car. There were 2 people in it. The boy and his mother didn’t look surprised in any way to see my arrival. I drove the car as fast as I could away from the direction of the silver van.


The car came to an abrupt halt at some high-rise bungalow. It appeared so much like a 25-storey sky-scraper, but there was an apartment on the first floor that stretched quite widely. The apartment was half torn down- a whole wall was gone. The three of us proceeded into the cavernous apartment.


The television was on, there were people watching it. All their faces were in shock. Eyes wide open. The television projected the same black and white images mentioned earlier. I looked no further as I hurried up the stairs to the second level. It was all getting on my nerves. Even as to where I was heading for, I had no clue. I just wanted to figure out how to get out. There was a metal door that stood in front of us. It took on a similar design to that of a submarine door, excluding the knob. A code was inscribed on the door, “220324”. I wasn’t able to focus well, but somehow or other, we turned some gadgets on the door and the code matched with another set of numbers.


-Open sesame-


The light that came from the apartment faded away upon entering the new room. It was dark. I was afraid and my heart pounded so hard that I could hear it ever so audibly. I tiptoed and saw silhouettes of terra cotta soldiers that filled the room. It was an ambush. Where did all the golden advice of “curiosity kills the cat” go to? None of us could anticipate what was in store for us now.



There was a voice which spoke; perhaps it was my instincts speaking to me. I had a feeling that we should gather together and charge in the middle of the army to break their wall as they would march towards us like a wave. It was the only chance we had left because we were not armed in any way and were no match for soldiers.



“CHARRRGEE!!”


-Flash-



I remembered picking up dynamite I found in the van and threw it in the middle of the army. I cleared some way for myself to proceed to the exit. Shouts from the soldiers echoed in the room, with screams that replied... Everyone else died. My shirt was stained red of fresh blood. I staggered into the next room. I collapsed on the floor. The door closed behind me. “No more...” I thought to myself. I panted hard and this time, I was exhausted. I lay on the floor out of sheer exhaustion as I repeated the words, “No more...no more...”



Beside me was a girl who appeared unscathed. I didn’t know where she came from, neither did I know her. She seemed lost though. My eyes were closing, my body was weak... I didn’t know what was happening still. I wanted to get out of the place.


Just then, a lady emerged from a wall with an axe which was stained with dried blood...


She had an expressionless face and looked as if she was possessed...



Dark were her eyes as she gazed deep into mine...




She raised the axe...





I squinted as the reflection of light rays from the axe shot my eyes...






I grimaced...





Perhaps it was the last time that I would...



-Silence-

- - - - -







I woke up.



This is what might happen when the subconscious mind runs wild and free at night.




A terrible nightmare it was.