The faceless head hovered directly before my nose.
With a trembling hand, I searched for the spinner—but it wasn't with me. I remembered leaving it on the desk beside my phone. Both of them were far beyond my reach now.
Neither of us moved for a long while—neither I nor the thing before me.
It was as if we were locked in a contest of endurance.
Whoever moved first would lose.
After what felt like an eternity of suffocating stillness, the head tilted further.
Then it raised its arm.
Its fingers—no longer fingers but claws—reached my neck.
Something cold and sharp touched my skin.
My body, once rigid with terror, began to move—but not by will. It trembled. Violently. As though a fatal fever had seized me.
The claws pressed deeper into my flesh.
A metallic scent invaded my nose.
'You're next!'
When the words began hammering inside my skull again, I nearly closed my eyes—ready to surrender to the fate awaiting me.
Then—
Behind the faceless monstrosity—
I saw a yellow, pearlescent eye.
It stirred something familiar.
'The fluffy ball…?'
But something was different.
It wasn't one eye.
There were two.
Two yellow eyes staring at the creature before me as if it were prey awaiting the strike.
Those eyes sent a shiver through me far worse than the horror standing inches away. My headache intensified, splitting deeper into my skull.
As I stood mesmerized by those twin yellow eyes, the faceless creature seemed to sense it too—
That something lurked behind it.
Watching.
And when it turned around with terrifying speed—
---
I awoke to the sound of birds nesting in the tree within our courtyard.
I was in my room.
Sunlight flooded it.
'Wait—when did I fall asleep?'
I scrambled through the folds of the night that had frozen my limbs in terror. No matter how hard I tried, my memory ended at the moment those yellow eyes pierced the darkness.
I sat up slowly.
'Did I sleep… or did I faint?'
After what I had seen—and the migraine that tore through me—I would not dismiss the possibility.
Instinctively, I rubbed my neck, remembering the claws that had pierced it.
I leapt from the bed and rushed to the mirror.
There—
A thin, dark-red line had dried against my skin.
It had flowed from a small, precise wound at my neck and stopped only because it found no reason to continue.
"Impossible!"
It had been real.
I had been one step away from death.
A current of terror coursed through me.
The medication!
I rushed to the trash bin near the door, digging through it frantically for the discarded pills.
Nothing.
It was empty.
Where had they gone?
They were here last night—
I grabbed a damp tissue and wiped away the dried trace of blood as I searched every corner of the apartment for any sign of the medication.
Nothing.
My father stood in the hallway, watching my frantic movements.
"What are you looking for?"
"My medicine. I threw it in the trash by mistake—but now it's gone. There's nothing in the bin at all."
"Why didn't you ask from the beginning? We gave the trash to the cleaner. Go out and buy more."
"Alright."
I didn't hesitate.
Despite what they did to me, the medication was the barrier keeping my mind from collapsing completely.
I changed quickly, washed my face, grabbed the prescription, and hurried outside.
The sky was overcast, threatening rain. I hadn't brought an umbrella.
But that wasn't what concerned me.
The pharmacy was only two streets away.
Still, I had never liked that walk.
Why?
Because on the way, there was a pet shop.
I had to pass it every time.
I was afraid of dogs.
But after last night, fear of a beast behind bars would not stop me.
The moment I walked past, barking erupted. The dogs lunged against their cages, as if they wanted to tear through them and reach me.
Just imagine what they would do if they managed to break free.
'How are these supposed to be pets?'
I ignored them and continued walking.
Finally—
"Welcome!"
A receptionist greeted me with a bright smile.
I handed him the prescription and asked for one box of each medication.
He examined the paper, flipping it left and right, up and down, as though studying an ancient manuscript.
When he finished, he frowned.
"Miss, there's no such medication. This is the first time I've heard of these names."
'Perhaps he simply doesn't carry them… and doesn't want to admit it.'
Look at him, trying to deceive me at my age.
"Alright, thank you. I'll ask somewhere else before heading home."
As I reached to take the prescription from the glass counter, a young man stepped out from the door behind the receptionist.
With a polite smile, he said, "Hello. Do you need anything?"
I picked up the prescription and replied, about to leave, "No, thank you. I already asked this gentleman here, and he said they don't have it."
"...Miss?"
He looked confused.
"Which gentleman? There's no one here but me."
"…"
I turned slowly.
The man standing beside him—
Still smiling that bright, welcoming smile—
Sent a cold shiver crawling down my spine.