Ai was standing in the middle of a flowing river. The water reached no higher than her knees, yet the current was unnaturally strong, rushing past her legs with a force that made it difficult to maintain her balance. She stood motionless, her clothes dampened by the water, while an inexplicable sense of dread settled deep within her chest. Slowly, she turned her head, attempting to make sense of her surroundings, but there was nothing to be seen. No riverbank, no trees, no distant lights, not even a horizon. There was only an endless expanse of pitch-black darkness, stretching in every direction as though the entire world had ceased to exist beyond the water beneath her feet.
She couldn't remember how she had arrived there. She couldn't even remember what she had been doing before finding herself in that strange place. And yet, something felt terribly wrong. Her eyes were already filled with tears, which slowly rolled down her cheeks without any apparent reason. Confused, Ai raised her left hand and gently touched her face, as though she needed to reassure herself that she was still there, that she was still real. Her fingertips brushed against her damp cheek, but the simple act brought her no comfort. She remained alone in that incomprehensible darkness, surrounded by the relentless sound of flowing water, with no idea of where she was or how she could possibly escape.
Then, something appeared in the river.
A little distance away from her, a small figure slowly emerged from beneath the flowing water. Ai's attention immediately shifted toward it. The figure was so tiny and fragile that it seemed incapable of resisting even the slightest movement of the current, as though a single touch from the water might be enough to shatter it. A dark red dress clung to its small body, its colour strangely vivid against the surrounding darkness. Ai stared at the figure, trying to understand why the sight of that dress felt so familiar. Something about it stirred a distant memory within her, something buried so deeply that she could almost feel its presence without being able to bring it into the light of consciousness.
Before she could make sense of what she was seeing, the figure suddenly disappeared beneath the water.
Ai's eyes widened.
The river continued to flow, but its colour began to change. The clear water around her gradually darkened, spreading outward from the place where the figure had vanished until the entire surface was stained a deep, crimson red. The colour resembled the dress the figure had been wearing, almost as though the river itself had absorbed its very existence. Within moments, the water around Ai had taken on an unsettling, blood-like appearance, and the darkness that surrounded her seemed to grow even heavier.
Fear seized her.
Ai instinctively tried to move, desperately searching for a direction in which she could run, but there was nowhere to go. The darkness offered no path, no escape, and no indication of where the river might lead. She turned her head from side to side, her breathing growing increasingly uneven as she searched for something—anything—that might help her understand what was happening. But the river continued to flow, indifferent to her terror, carrying its crimson waters into the endless blackness.
Then, without warning, something struck her leg.
The impact came so suddenly that Ai lost her balance and fell forward onto her knees. Her hands plunged into the crimson water, sending ripples across its surface. For a moment, she remained frozen, staring at the red liquid surrounding her fingers. She wanted to look beneath the surface, to discover what had struck her, but the thought alone filled her with such overwhelming dread that she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut, desperately wishing that whatever nightmare she had found herself trapped in would simply come to an end.
And then she heard them.
Whispers.
They began quietly, almost imperceptibly, drifting into her ears from somewhere she couldn't identify. One voice became two, two became several, and before long, an overwhelming multitude of whispers surrounded her. They seemed to come from every direction at once, overlapping and blending into one another until their individual meanings became impossible to distinguish. Ai couldn't understand a single word, yet the voices continued relentlessly, pressing against her consciousness as though they were attempting to force their way inside her mind. She felt surrounded by an invisible multitude, something vast and indistinct drawing closer with every passing second. It was as though countless unseen hands were reaching toward her, desperately clinging to her, refusing to let her go.
Ai remained on her knees with her eyes tightly shut, unable to move or even comprehend what was happening around her. The whispers grew louder, their overlapping voices filling the darkness until there was no room left for any other sound. She could feel her own fear rising with every passing moment, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wanted to scream, to call for someone, anyone, but the words refused to leave her throat. And then, just as suddenly as they had begun, the whispers stopped.
Silence returned.
For several moments, Ai remained completely still, afraid that even the slightest movement might bring the voices back. Gradually, she loosened her tightly closed eyes and began to open them. Her vision was blurred, and she could barely distinguish anything in the darkness at first. But as her eyes adjusted, she noticed that someone was standing directly in front of her.
A small boy.
He stood a short distance away, motionless in the crimson river. His figure was diminutive, almost delicate, and there was something strangely gentle about the way he stood. Yet, when Ai tried to look at his face, she found nothing there. No eyes, no nose, no mouth—nothing that could identify him as a human being. His head was nothing more than a blank, featureless surface, swallowed by the darkness that surrounded them.
And yet, Ai recognised him immediately.
She didn't know how. She couldn't explain it, nor could she understand why the sight of a faceless child should stir such a powerful feeling within her. But there was no doubt in her mind. Somehow, beneath that featureless appearance, beneath the unnatural stillness and the darkness concealing everything else, she knew exactly who the boy was.
The child himself seemed almost harmless. His small stature gave him an air of fragility, and had Ai encountered him anywhere else, she might have mistaken him for someone who needed protection rather than someone to fear. But it was his shadow that made the sight unbearable.
It stretched far beyond the limits of his tiny body, extending across the crimson river and into the surrounding darkness. The shadow grew longer and longer, spreading over everything in its path until it seemed to consume the entire world. The little boy stood quietly at its centre, almost insignificant compared to the immense darkness that followed him, and yet everything around Ai appeared to belong to that shadow now.
She couldn't look away.
Then, the boy spoke.
His voice was quiet, almost innocent, carrying none of the menace one might have expected from such a horrifying apparition.
"It's a promise, okay?"
Ai's eyes widened.
And in the next instant—
She woke up.
Ai abruptly shot upright in her bed, drawing in a sharp breath as though she had been struggling to breathe moments earlier. Her heart was pounding violently, and her chest rose and fell as she desperately tried to regain control of her breathing. Sweat covered her forehead and clung to her skin, leaving her clothes damp and uncomfortable. For several seconds, she could do nothing except sit there, staring ahead with wide, disoriented eyes, attempting to separate the nightmare she had just experienced from the reality surrounding her.
The darkness was gone.
The river was gone.
The boy was gone.
Yet the words remained somewhere inside her mind.
It's a promise, okay?
Ai slowly turned her head toward the mirrored wall on her left. Her reflection stared back at her, pale and bewildered beneath the reddish flush spreading across her face. Her eyes were wet, and tears continued to gather along their edges, slipping down her cheeks even after she had awakened. She looked at herself for several seconds, unable to understand why she was crying or why a dream should have left her in such a state. Finally, she raised a hand and wiped away the tears, rubbing her cheeks as though the simple gesture might help her regain her composure.
But something still felt wrong.
Her body seemed unusually warm, her head felt heavy, and a strange weakness had settled into her limbs. She tried to convince herself that it was merely the lingering effect of a particularly disturbing dream, but even that explanation failed to ease her discomfort.
At that moment, the bedroom door swung open.
Anna hurried inside, her expression filled with concern. She looked toward Ai, then immediately noticed the sweat covering her forehead and the unusual redness of her face. Her eyes widened as she approached the bed.
"What's the matter?" she asked hurriedly. "I heard a loud BANG downstairs, so I rushed up here! What happened? And why are you covered in sweat? Just look at your face—it's so red! Are you all right?"
Ai turned toward her, still struggling to gather her thoughts. For a moment, she considered explaining what she had seen, but the images of the crimson river and the faceless boy seemed too strange to put into words. She lowered her gaze and took a slow breath before answering.
"No… it's nothing." Her voice sounded weaker than she had expected. "I think I had a really strange dream, and I don't know…" She paused, searching for a way to describe the unfamiliar sensation lingering throughout her body. "My body is acting strangely."
Anna's expression immediately grew more serious. She moved closer to the bed and placed the back of her hand against Ai's forehead, checking her temperature. The moment she felt the warmth of Ai's skin, her eyes widened.
"You have a fever!" she exclaimed. "Just feel how warm your forehead is!"
Ai raised her own hand and placed it against her forehead. She remained there for a moment, feeling the heat for herself, before slowly nodding.
"Yeah… you're right."
Anna straightened up, her concern now accompanied by the practical determination of someone who had already decided what needed to be done. "You should get some rest. Don't worry, I'll bring your meal up here, and I'll tell Grandpa as well. He's really good at taking care of sick people, so he'll know what to do." She began turning toward the door, but then added, almost as an afterthought, "Although he's occupied at the moment."
Ai lifted her head.
"Occupied?" she repeated.
Anna stopped and looked back at her. For a brief moment, she appeared to have forgotten something rather important. Then her expression changed as the memory returned to her.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I think I completely forgot to tell you."
Ai stared at her, waiting for an explanation.
Anna glanced toward the open doorway before turning back to her.
"There's someone downstairs."
Chapter ends
To be Continued