"Jianyu! can't you see what all these have become?"
"Jianyu! save me!"
"this is all your fault! this is all your fault"
"Go to hell Jianyu!"
all those words echoed around Jianyu, he felt trapped. every side "No matter which way he looked, the blurred figure of his schoolmates were everywhere."
- their faces all blurred, pointing fingers and shouting at him. Some were either lying unresponsive on the floor while others laughed and mocked him.
What was going on? Why are they surrounding him?
GO AWAY! GO AWAY!
Jianyu tried screaming but no sound came out of his throat. Which one of his classmates did this? who? Why was he here? Why why why! Why couldn't he talk? Why couldn't he see their faces?
he broke down into tears and collapse down in front of them. Hugging his knees to his chest. His vision was getting blurrier and blurrier. From afar, he saw a very familiar male. he couldn't figure out who it was but he was rather acting different from the rest, instead, he had his hands tucked into his pocket watching jianyu. His back leaning against a wall.
Help me…
Jianyu mouthed towards that unknown male, from jianyu's perspective it seemed like the other male had heard him and was stunned. Jianyu continued looking at him with pleading eyes, he was the only one not pointing fingers nor laughing at him. but then that other male had just turned around and left without a single word, leaving Jianyu there all alone.
They moved towards Jianyu, this time their faces were much more clear, their eyes, their pupils, it was red as if it was full of resentment upon seeing jianyu. They walked closer and closer, this made Jianyu feel suffocated, he needed to get out, he needed to leave. He tried standing up but they pushed him back down.
Jianyu was trying to avoid those in front of him but he didn't realise those behind him and bumped into them. He turned and mumbled.
"how dare you hit me!"
"ZHOU JIANYU I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET EXISTING!"
Someone pushed through the crowd, at first, Jianyu thought it could be the familiar male from earlier. But this one had a different vibe. He looked way older. Not even someone in their 20s, it could be someone in their 40s. No, maybe even in the fifties. He grabbed Jianyu's throat with so much force. This male was odd - his face was still blurred, jianyu couldn't tell who he was. The odd male's hand reached out and grabbed Jianyu's neck, suffocating him.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! GO DIE GO DIE!"
The odd male lifted him up, leaving his legs hanging begging to be let go. Jianyu's hands tried to forcefully hit the other male's hands but this hands felt oddly different. It was solid hard, not only that, it was also cold.
Was this person dead? Jianyu looked at him and his eyes travelled through all the other students. No it was not just this person in front of him. The others looked the same, all with what looked like rock hard skin.
Is everyone here dead? Why was he the only one suffering?
"Jianyu! You killed all of us! Die go die!"
"Die! Die!"
The voices grew louder, screaming and screaming and screaming—--
Until it went dark.
Jianyu bolted upright in bed, breath hitching, his skin damp with sweat. His chest rose and fell rapidly, heart pounding.
Thankfully it was all a dream.
This kind of dream, he had it for 1 month straight. Each dream felt connected.
The first dream was when his school was under attack - each student had a mission and it allowed them to gain abilities if completed. These abilities? It allowed them to use it for each round.
At first these dreams, Jianyu felt that it was just a coincidence and his mind was just messing with him. But came the 2nd dream, 3rd dream, 4th dream, 5th… 6th….
They were all connected. Each time the 'round' ended, he would wake up and each dream started from where he left off.
But this time, it wasn't a round. In fact it was him getting attacked by his schoolmates and a strangely odd man.
Jianyu thought for a long time, dreams to him were usually easily let go but these dreams? These dreams were just hard to forget.
He realised something, those weren't just the students from school, they were those who died in his dreams. As to why they were targeting him, he was not sure either. But the question was that old man, who was he? Never in his dream had he encountered an older male.
There was another unknown male present there too, just who exactly were these two?
Jiaquan rubbed his eyes, it was too late to think about this. He had a long day tomorrow but he couldn't just fall back asleep. Each time that kind of dream happened it usually took the whole night and by the time he woke up it would already be morning.
This time however, was different. He sighed and reached for his phone on the nightstand, mostly to check the time — maybe distract himself for a bit. The lock screen lit up.
"5:54" other than the time, there was something else Jianyu had noticed, A widget on the top left corner. One he hadn't remembered adding.
[ 6 days left ]
The numbers were dull grey, almost blending into the background. He blinked, stared. Tapped it. Nothing happened.
It was probably some dumb countdown thing he had set up and forgot about. Maybe one of those study apps or a daily reminder he messed with weeks ago. He pushed his suspicions away and tossed the phone back onto the bed.