No. This can’t be real. Around me is nothing short of a maze: an array of walls and darkness. It’s cold, like the last breath of a sinner. I wish this was all in my imagination. But it feels too real to be a dream or a delusion. This is my reality.

I can hear screams in the distance. I am definitely not alone here. And sitting around is not gonna do anything short of kill me. So I sit up, my skinny, naked body shivering in the chilly air. There’s even a fog coming from my breath.

I try to navigate myself through the corridors, each one as long as lifetimes. And by the time I reach the end, I find only more corridors. More lifetimes, and more questions. But no matter what, I must escape from this maze.

Then I make it a different corridor. Sweet Jesus. It isn’t different because of its structure. It’s different because of what it has: carnage. Bodies are draped around like an explosion of gore. Multiple arms. Multiple legs. Multiple ribs. There must’ve been a whole group of people who were ripped apart. Whatever did this, they’re nothing short of monstrous.

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Then I hear the voice of another one of its victims. “Stay the fuck away from me!” the voice screams. Gunshots follow, resembling the burst of a rifle. But then the gunshots stop. Screaming of a human being ripped apart, along with the gurgling of blood, is accompanied by the laughter of whatever is killing him. “恐怖. 恐怖. 恐怖,” it drones.

The voice is like the sound of iron being thwacked against a skull. Whatever is saying it, it's as terrifying as the word it continues to groan: terror. What’s worse is that each one of its footsteps is loud, louder than even its voice. Every footstep is like a heartbeat which continues to beat even if you hate it. And the worst part is that it's moving.

Shit! It’s getting closer! I turn to run the other direction, each leg moving with as much energy as I could muster. But with each corridor being so long, it's as if my steps are as short as one’s patience. But the monster’s footsteps are getting louder. And stronger. Until it’s right behind me. “恐怖.”

I jump out of my bed with sweat falling like the rain drops on my window. I pant like the chaotic yearns of an artist as I slowly regain ground on my world. Okay. I have to be calm. Okay. I have to be calm. And maybe tonight, I won’t have any more dreams.