FOUR

As the sun rise up to the sky, Sasha got up from the bed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. She did not really want to think a lot about the disturbing experience she had last night.

Suddenly, her father walked in the room. There was a smile on his face, as if something good happened.

"Sasha, were you playing the keyboard last night? It sounded good." He said, feeling proud his daughter can play the piano well.

Sasha froze. She hadn't been playing the keyboard. She had been too scared to even move. How could she possibly play it? She looked at her father with a growing sense of unease.

"Uh, no, I slept in Sam's room last night so that's impossible."

Her father's smile faded, and a look of fear crossed his face. Sasha knew then that something was terribly wrong.

"Oh" was the only thing that left his mouth.

Sasha's heart raced as she tried to make sense of what her father had just said. How could he have heard her playing the keyboard in the middle of the night when she had been sleeping in Sam's room? The memory of her giggling and talking to someone at 1 am came back to her, sending shivers down her spine.

"Maybe it was the neighbor" He said, trying to lighten up the mood and convince both of them that it was nothing scary.

Sasha nodded in agreement, and gave her father a reassuring smile "Yeah, most probably. There's a band nearby anyway, it could be them practicing last night."

After agreeing with Sasha's explanation, her father nodded and left the kitchen to do his own task. Sasha stayed behind, feeling a sense of relief but also a lingering unease. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was definitely off, but she tried to push it to the back of her mind and focus on the tasks of the day ahead.

Her dad left her alone in the kitchen, she then went to get a glass of water to calm herself down. Sasha felt like there was no other explanation for why the this misfortune keep on happening except for the Runia.

With a growing sense of dread, Sasha realized that she was in over her head. The world of the Runia faith was a dark and mysterious place, and she had no idea what she was getting herself into. All she knew was that she had to find a way out, before it was too late.

Sasha tried to erase the lingering fear from her memory. The events of the previous day continued to possessed her mind, crawling under her skin, waiting for the right time to consume her whole.

After she had her breakfast, she searched for Sarah once again, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want to say anything bad, but I can't stop feeling like there's eyes somewhere watching me all the time."

"I think it is time for you to cleanse your room," she looked at Sasha with concern.

"With the sage?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes, with the sage. People back in the days used sage to banish evil presence. You can take some in my room, just use it anytime you need."

Later that day, Sasha went about her chores, getting by her daily life just like every other day, hoping to remove the eerie feeling that still remained in the air. She was supposed to cleanse her room as Sarah had suggested earlier, but as the hours wore on, it had slipped away into the back of her mind.

As the moon finally climbed towards its zenith, Sasha found herself tossing and turning in her bed, unable to sleep despite the weariness that weighed on her like a lead blanket. She covered herself with her cover and rolled over to the side, but no matter how she tried to settle, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her from the shadow.

And then it happened. Sasha felt her body slipping into slumber; more precisely, dozed off because her consciousness was still fully awake. Out of the sudden, she felt uneasy, she tried to jolt herself out of her sleep, but to no avail. The feeling of being trapped in her own body was all too familiar - she had experienced sleep paralysis too many times before.

But this time, it was not like any she had felt before.

Just as she felt herself regaining control, she was plunged back into the dream-like state. She tried to scream for help, but her voice was silenced. Panic rose up in her, a sickening feeling that she was trapped, forever lost in a looping nightmare.

She struggled with all her might to rouse from her slumber, fighting against the exhaustion of looping phantasmagoria of horror and terror.

"What is happening?" Sasha's thoughts raced as she struggled to break free. "Am I dead? Am I forever trapped in this dream?" She tried to wake herself up, to switch on the light, hoping it will ward off the horrifying entity and flee the room, but she remained trapped, unable to escape.

She gasped for air, eyes wide awake. Her heart was beating so loud, it drowned all the other sounds around her. Sasha threw her blanket off and got up on her feet, running to her door to seek shelter from her sister. But the minute she opened the door, a creeping hand grasped on the door frame from the side, sending shiver down to her spine.

A grotesque creature slowly crawled out from the wall, it was covered in a slimy and sticky substance. As it stood in front of her, it's hollow eyes was staring right into hers, almost like bottomless pit that devoid any emotion and compassion. It stood in front of her with it's mouth hanging wide open.

The creature movements were slow, but Sasha was struck with terror she couldn't move her feet. She can hear the scream of agony from all over the wall, crying of help from death and torture. The gooey substance that came out from it's mouth spread across the floor, inching nearer to her feet by every second.

She wanted to scream, and run away from this nightmare, but her body was paralyzed with fear. All she could do was stand there, as if her feet glued to the ground, and watching in horror as the creature devoured her very soul.

Sasha's eyes flew open, she gasped for air as she jolted out from her bed. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out from her chest, her hand was shaking uncontrollably. She fumbled for the light switch next to her bed, her fingers was trembling with fear as she finally managed to flicked it on. The sudden burst of light lit up her room, she was indeed all alone and it was just a dream.

Relief washed over Sasha as she was finally safe, for now. She took a few deep breath to calm her beating heart, repeating 'you are safe' to herself again and again. Although it was just a nightmare, she knew something had changed. It was nothing but a bad feeling, a sense of foreboding that caused goosebumps all over her body.

It had been a warning, catastrophe is bound to happen, sooner than she thought. Something had been unleased, an evil malevolence, she could not go back in time to fix it, the only thing she could do is to face what was to come.