Rain's room was buried in paper. Sheets covered the floor, the desk, and even parts of the walls. Notes, sketches, and messy descriptions filled every page. Some were stained, others crumpled from being stepped on. They were records.
Records of the creatures he had encountered in the Dream Realm. Nightmares. Rain had written about wolves made of shadow, winged creatures that hunted in the marsh, faceless figures that whispered in the Whispering Woods. Many of the pages ended the same way.
Death.
After years of this, writing the notes had become routine. For Rain, dying in the dream realm was almost normal. A long yawn came from the bed as he slowly opened his eyes. He was back in his room again. Which meant only one thing. He had died.
It had been like this for as long as he could remember. The nightmares had started when he was six years old. His parents thought it was just a child having bad dreams at first. They took him to doctors, therapists, anyone who might help. Nothing worked.
Because the problem wasn't that Rain had trouble sleeping. The problem was what happened after he fell asleep.
Rain pushed himself up from the bed and reached for one of the scattered notebooks on the floor. he put on his headphones and blasted music on max volume, He flipped to a new page on the notebook and began to write.
Night 1,270.
Died again. This time at the hands of Moth Man.
Its skin is strong enough to bend steel, and most of its speed comes from its wings. Even the wings are just as durable as the rest of its body. But no matter how powerful a nightmare is, there is always a weakness...
Outside his room, someone was knocking on the door.
It was Crimson, one of Rain's three roommates. Crimson had bright red hair and a massive build. He was a total gym rat. He had a ton of talent for building muscle, but absolutely zero brains for knowledge. That was why everyone just called him a musclehead.
As the clock struck 10:00 AM, Crimson's patience hit its limit. The knocks became louder. And louder. And louder.
He banged on the wood so hard that the noise echoed down the hall, eventually waking up their other roommate, Nathaniel.
Nathaniel was different. He was the same height as Crimson, athletic but actually smart, with long hair tied back. He stepped out of his room, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"HEY!!" Nathaniel yelled. "CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN? SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!"
Crimson paused his banging and looked over. "If you want me to keep it down, then you should help me unlock this door!"
Nathaniel just stared at him. The more he looked at Crimson, the more his head started to hurt. He was so mad he was about to explode, but he took a deep breath and forced a wide, terrifyingly angry smile onto his face.
"Crimson," Nathaniel said, his voice dangerously calm. "Follow me."
Crimson blinked, confused, but followed him down the hall. They stopped in front of the small wooden cabinet hanging on the wall near the front door. Nathaniel pointed at it.
"Open it," Nathaniel ordered.
Crimson opened the little door. Inside hung a row of spare keys—house keys, bathroom keys, and master keys for all the bedrooms.
"What do you see?" Nathaniel asked, his fake smile twitching.
Crimson scratched his head. "Uh... keys?"
SMACK!
Nathaniel slapped the back of Crimson's head.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Crimson yelled, grabbing his head.
"YES! KEYS!" Nathaniel shouted, completely losing his temper. "There is a spare key right here! You could have just used the key to open his door instead of banging on it like a caveman and waking me up from my dream!"
Nathaniel shoved Crimson, making the big guy trip over his own feet and fall to the floor.
"This is exactly why everyone calls you a muscle head!" Nathaniel yelled, starting to comically kick Crimson in the legs and sides. "All brawn! Zero brain! You don't use your head for anything!"
"Ah! Ow! Stop!" Crimson curled up into a ball on the floor, covering his head to protect himself from the kicks. Fake tears streamed down his face. "I'm sorry, big brother! Please, I won't do it again! Have mercy!"
"I'll show you mercy when you learn how to use a doorknob!" Nathaniel scolded, kicking him one last time for good measure.
When Nathaniel was finally done, he stepped back, rubbing his temples. Dealing with someone this stupid actually made his head hurt.
"Why are you even bothering that bastard anyway?" Nathaniel sighed. "He doesn't even sleep. He probably just has his eyes wide open, blasting music, and writing about how he died in his dreams again."
Crimson sat up, rubbing his bruised arms. "I know, but we have class today! It's an extra credit day for the spring finals. We just show up for an hour, and we're done." Crimson suddenly grinned, a mischievous look crossing his face. "Except for the final exam in three days. Luckily, it's online! Hehehe."
Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "You're only happy because you can cheat while doing it online."
"It's not called cheating," Crimson said proudly. "It's called doing it open notes."
Nathaniel stared at him. "Do you even know what open notes means?"
Crimson smiled widely, his eyes bright. "Nope!"
Nathaniel groaned in physical pain. He grabbed the spare key from the hook. "Just... follow me."
Crimson scrambled up and followed him down the hall to Rain's door. Nathaniel slid the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open.
The moment they stepped inside, their shoes crunched against the sea of scattered papers. Rain was sitting at his desk, his back to them. He had his headphones on, and the music was so loud that Nathaniel and Crimson could hear it perfectly from the doorway.
It was "Sunflower" by Post Malone. Rain was completely in his own world, vibing to the beat and mumbling the lyrics under his breath.
"Da-da-ne-ha-ha-na-da-da..." Rain sang quietly, completely oblivious to his roommates standing right behind him.
Rain finished writing the last sentence in his notebook, closed it, and spun his chair around to get up.
The timing was horrible.
As soon as Rain turned, he saw two tall figures looming over him in his dark room.
"WAAAH!" Rain screamed, jumping back in his chair.
Rain's sudden scream scared Crimson so badly that Crimson jumped into the air. "WAAAH!" Crimson screamed back.
SMACK!
Nathaniel slapped crimson right across the face.
Rain blinked, confused. "Eh?"
Crimson held his cheek, equally confused. "Eh? Hey! What was that for?!"
"You screamed too loud," Nathaniel said flatly.
"I screamed because he scared me!" Crimson yelled, pointing at Rain. "Why didn't you slap him too?!"
Nathaniel shrugged. "I don't know. Because you're a muscle head."
Crimson gasped, clutching his chest as if he had been shot. He dropped to his knees, fake crying dramatically. "Why does everyone hate me?!"
For some reason, seeing Crimson act like a giant baby made something snap inside Nathaniel's brain again.
"Stop crying, you idiot!" Nathaniel yelled, and immediately started beating him up again.
"Ah! Ow! I'm sorry!" Crimson wailed, curling back up into a tight ball on the floor while Nathaniel kicked him in the sides.
Rain sat in his chair, his headphones resting around his neck, watching his two roommates brawl on top of his nightmare records. He didn't say a word. He didn't even look surprised.
To Rain, this was just a normal morning.