Episode 05:
The alarm clock screamed into Alok Fanando's dreams like a cruel joke.
Another Monday. Another week. Another pointless march into the same gray routine that had been suffocating him for years.
The apartment felt colder this morning. Not from the weather — from something else. The silence in the walls seemed to listen, as if the entire building was holding its breath.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes.
The faint headache from yesterday's strange incident still lingered — the man in black, the flicker of the streetlamp, the way his pendant had grown icy against his skin. He tried to convince himself it was nothing. Maybe stress. Maybe sleep deprivation.
Maybe.
He walked to the small kitchen, where Mina sat at the table, knees tucked under her chin, scrolling her phone. She smiled when she saw him — one of those rare smiles that made the whole world feel less heavy.
"You look tired," she said softly, handing him a cup of instant coffee. "Did you dream again?"
Alok froze mid-sip.
She didn't know about the dreams. He hadn't told her.
"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
Mina frowned. "I don't know… just… you've been talking in your sleep lately. Calling someone's name. Freya, I think?"
The coffee suddenly tasted bitter.
"I don't know anyone named Freya," Alok lied. But the name felt strangely familiar in his mouth, like an echo from a memory he shouldn't have.
The day at the factory was as uneventful as always machines whirring, the smell of burnt metal and grease, the constant hum that seemed to eat away at his thoughts. But today, something was… off.
Every time he turned, he caught glimpses of a figure at the far end of the factory floor. A man in a long black coat, face obscured. Always too far to see clearly. Always gone when he blinked.
By lunchtime, Alok's hands were shaking. He decided to take the long way home, avoiding the usual bus route. But the streets felt unfamiliar like someone had rearranged the city while he wasn't looking.
It was then that he noticed…
The man in black was following him.
Alok turned into an alley, quickening his pace. His heartbeat was loud enough to drown out the city noise.
When he looked back, the man wasn't chasing him. He was just… standing there. Watching.
Then, without moving his lips, the man's voice filled Alok's head.
"She's not who you think."
The world tilted.
The alley spun.
And for a split second, Alok swore he saw a dark sky full of alien stars where the afternoon sun had been.
When he blinked, the man was gone.
The city returned.
Only the pendant around his neck remained changed warm now, almost burning.
And in the distance, faint but unmistakable… a woman's voice.
Whispering his name.