Devendra sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the ceiling. His body felt heavy, like every muscle had been weighed down by countless nightmares. The soft hum of the fan seemed louder than usual tonight.
The village dreams had returned. Not the usual, crowded nightmares—but an empty village. Streets deserted, houses broken and hollow. Even the sky was a dull red, the kind that pressed down on his chest. He wandered the streets in his mind, searching for her—the girl who had haunted him for years.
"I… I have to find her," he whispered to himself. His voice sounded strange to him, small and fragile, yet trembling with fear.
But no matter how far he ran in that dream, she never appeared. The houses loomed over him, silent, indifferent. His footsteps echoed across the empty paths, and his heart pounded.
"Why am I thinking about her?" he muttered, clutching his head. "She… she's already hurt me so many times. Why do I feel… restless?"
The village seemed to shift, the shadows deepening. Each step he took made the air colder, heavier. He stopped at the center of a broken square. The wind whispered—soft, almost like laughter.
Devendra's body tensed. His heartbeat raced. Every hair on his neck stood up. "No… not again," he breathed. He turned in every direction, but nothing moved. Nothing but the wind and the hollow echoes of his own footsteps.
And then—just for a second—he thought he saw a shadow flicker in the corner of his vision.
His heart slammed against his ribs. "No… she's not here. She can't be here…"
But the memory of her laughter, sharp and cruel, pierced his mind. It was almost as if she were still controlling the space around him, even in her absence. Devendra pressed his palms to his eyes, trying to block the sensation—but it only made it stronger.
"Why am I… still afraid?" he whispered. He sank to the ground, knees to his chest, feeling the weight of years of nightmares pressing on him. Every memory of being lifted, touched, trapped, haunted him anew.
He forced himself to look around one last time. The village was empty. Silent. Broken. She wasn't here.
And yet… the dread remained.
Devendra's breath came in ragged gasps. "I… I need to… I need to get back."
Even as he woke, the lingering terror didn't leave him. The room was quiet, the moonlight pale on his floor, but his body still shivered. The memories, the fear, the relentless feeling of being hunted—they weren't gone. They would follow him into the waking world.
And he knew, deep down, that this was only the beginning of another long night.