"Just what in the world is happening?" Laura said without any life in her voice, almost whispering to herself. "This isn't real."

"How could a person just turn into sand?" Alex asked himself. "I mean, I'm not dreaming right?"

Silence answered their questions.

I didn't know what to do. I don't even know if I can accept what happened. Just like the two, I pondered if this was all just a dream, but a single pinch on my arm answered my question, or was it also part of the illusion?

Nila was still silent, her hands still trembled. She sat underneath a desk, her eyes glued to what Raf had become. She was terrified. I couldn't blame her. She and Laura must have seen something truly gruesome. Seeing your friend disintegrate into sand bit by bit, it's not a good sight to watch, especially since there isn't anything you can do. All that's left is to cry as you watch your co-worker slowly die. Grief had already enveloped her like a suffocating cloud, and that very cold cloud was sending shivers down her spine, repeatedly until she was reduced to this traumatic state.

I couldn't offer any words of encouragement. Not even a simple "It's alright." I mean, I am depressed as well. Raf is the very first friend I made in this new stage of my life. He's the type of person who will stick with you even after retirement, but now all he can stick to are my clothes. The very thought that these particles of sand latched on the fibers of my pants were once a living breathing human darkens my vision. I want to puke so badly but I don't want to trouble the others. Putting up a strong front is for the best.

I sat next to Nila, ducking under the desk. I rubbed her back and continued to do so indefinitely until she calmed down, attempting to provide a semblance of comfort. It's only wishful thinking but I don't know what else there is to do.

In the silence, my eyes were drawn towards the sand. Every second I look at it, the more I want to take my gaze off it, but I can't. Raf... he didn't deserve this.

As we huddled in the dark, I could feel Nila's tear-streaked face pressed against my shoulder.

"Everything will be fine, right?" she asked, her voice a bit horse.

"I..." All of a sudden, the image of Raf's face materialized in my mind. A tear slid down my cheek. "It's going to be alright." I said, sniffling afterward.

This is so unfair. He's been nothing but trouble and hasn't even done anything that he promised. What about his work? What about the vacation we planned? Who's going to Italy with me now? Who's going to help with finishing this project? Even until the end, he hasn't done anything of significance. Heck, I'll probably be a bit amused if he got his paycheck cut or got demoted to a janitor for his tardiness. But even so... I didn't want things to end this way. Raf, with all his flaws—lazy, dim-witted, and frustratingly unproductive—didn't deserve such a gruesome fate. I once thought he was worthless, and I still probably do, but now that he's literally worthless sand, I'm beginning to regret every bad thing I thought about him.

I began to feel nauseous. It's as if a hollow pit formed in my stomach and sucked away all the vitality in me. I could feel the weight of reality sinking into its depths, and my mind may soon follow afterward.

In some way or another, Nila must have noticed this. Despite her cowering state, she patted me on the head. I could feel that her hands were still shaking with every stroke. "Live up to what you said," Nila whispered. "You said everything is going to be alright. Let's make it true."

My tears began to fall, and I couldn't stop it—I didn't want to stop it. I wanted to be strong, but it looks like I'm the weakest one here.

With this I also realized something. The sand in front of the coffee machine, it's definitely Gabrielle. And all the other sand appearing in the office, those are people as well, right? Again, I want to puke my brains out from the realization, especially with Gabrielle since he's one of the people I grew a bit close with. We couldn't even witness his final moments, nor everyone else. It's unreal. It's unfair. But as of now, I've shut my mind. I want to rest for a bit.

"Raf... Gabrielle... Please come back to us."

I was woken up by something, and as my ears adjusted to my fatigue, I realized it was Nila's screams.

I quickly got out from under the desk and stood up. I was probably asleep for around half an hour or so. Nila stood leaning at a desk, her hand scrambling for anything it could reach, while the other pointed at the front of the room, at the complete darkness. She was shaking.

"What's going on?" I asked in confusion, grief still lingered in my voice.

She grabbed a stapler from the desk and threw it across the room to where she pointed. Oddly enough, I didn't hear it crash on the ground. Instead, there was this sort of rain-like grumbling.

"T-There's s-something there," she said. The shaking of her voice was far worse than her body.

I couldn't see anything. I squinted to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I finally saw it. It was just its silhouette but I'm sure there's something there—something not from this world. It's as if the darkness walked. Black voids for eyes peered through and stared at us. Even with the dark room, its eyes were too dark and stood out, much like a hole poked through the fabric of reality.

"The sands are shifting," A guttural voice resonated from the creature. Its voice was deep, almost beyond recognition.

"What the hell is that!" yelled Laura, pointing at the thing as well. She saw it too. He and Alex were in the very back of the room. They must have gone there to go as far away from Raf's remains as possible, trying to escape reality in their own way. Alex was speechless. He could only stand there with his mouth agape while holding Laura's hand.

Laura took the initiative, running out the door while pulling Alex along.

I tugged on Nila's arm. "We need to leave, now!" I exclaimed. She didn't move. Her gaze was set on the creature as if it had frozen her in place. She was sweating all over, and her arm was shivering cold.

The rain-like noise continued, growing stronger. It was approaching us. A chill went down my spine. I could feel why Nila was too scared to move. No one would know what to do in the presence of such an unknown.

I took a breath in and slapped my cheeks to calm myself. Without a second choice, I pulled Nila's arm like it was a game of tug of war and forcefully dragged her out the door.

She finally regained her senses and ran by herself. We eventually caught up to Alex and Laura.

"What do we do?!" exclaimed Alex.

"We don't! We just keep running!" yelled Laura.

It was a good plan, the only one applicable in this situation. No way in hell we were doing anything else—fight it? no way!

"Everyone... please... wait.." I heard a cry from behind.

I turned to look back and saw that Nila had fallen behind. Her feet jittered as she ran. It was clear that her body wasn't built for a chase.

"Hurry up!" yelled Alex. "I can hear it coming!"

He was right. The sound was coming closer, probably just a turn from the corner away.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We can't stop! Just keep running to the exit!" Laura yelled.

I don't know if they noticed Nila's struggle. I get that realistically, it was best to leave behind those who can't keep up, to give the others an opportunity to escape. But I won't allow this. I've already lost enough friends. I'm not leaving behind anyone else. We'll all survive this.

"Guys, listen! I have a plan!"

Cornered and gasping for breath, we barricaded ourselves in the storage room. It was still a ways off from the exit, but it was the best place to get some rest.

"Just what the hell was tha-!" Laura quickly covered Alex's mouth with her hand. "Shhh!" she hissed, placing her finger parallel to her lips.

Alex took a quick sniff of her hand and immediately calmed down. His muffled voice sounded beneath the cover, "Smells nice."

She quickly retracted her hand and pinched Alex's cheek.

"Now's not the time for that," she said.

Ignoring their banter, I scavenged the room for anything that could serve as a weapon.

"Take this," I said to Alex, handing him two objects.

"What do I do with these?"

"Take a guess."

He took another look at the objects in his hand and I saw the moment it clicked in his mind.

"Holy... This is going to be awesome!" he exclaimed.

I also handed a few things to Nila and Laura who also got the assignment.

I caught the moment a sweat slid down Laura's forehead. "I get what you're thinking of but this means that we'll-"

"Fight it? Yes," I finished her sentence.

Nila gulped.

"No! We can't possibly fight that thing!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh!" I whispered. I held out my hand and showed it to them. It was shaking. "I'm scared as well. But... we can't stay here for any longer. We don't know what that thing is capable of. And it'll only be a matter of time until it finds us.

"How can you be sure it will find us? If we just barricade the door and keep our mouths shut then we'll be fine, right?" she argued.

"That's thinking too positively. It might work, but would you either run to safety and risk yourself for a couple of moments or spend God knows how much time here while our anxiety builds up every second from not knowing if we're truly safe or not?"

She didn't reply.

The room grew silent.

Just from looking at everyone's eyes, I know they agree with my reasoning, but the fear of going out of this room is pushing them to hesitate.

Alex sighed. "Fine, let's do it."

Nila tugged on Alex's shirt, shaking her head, scared of going through with the idea.

He brushed her hair and smiled at her.

"But on one condition," he said.

"Go on."

"No one else will die. Promise me that."

I smiled and nodded at him. "I promise."

"3... 2... 1..." I counted down. "Go!"

Alex swung open the door and dashed outside.

"Shit!" he suddenly yelled when he looked at the hallway.

There, just a few feet away, stood the creature. Its black eyes peered through the darkness, glaring straight at us. It's as if it already knew and had waited for us to come out, blocking our path to the exit.

Nila saw the creature's form and took a step back, almost collapsing on the ground.

"Don't falter!" I yelled. "Do it!"

Alex ran to the monster, yelling. His voice was breaking from the fear. I could feel that every step had hesitation in them. He was marching straight into the unknown, to confront danger head-on, but even so, he continued to run forward. Once close, he held out the two objects I gave him earlier—an aerosol can and a lighter. He quickly flicked the lighter, producing a small flame. Then he pointed the aerosol can nozzle on the flame. With just a click, the lighter's flame ignited the gas coming out from the can. The fire spread out, rushing forward from where the can was pointing to. It was now a flamethrower.

Alex approached the creature further with the fire still spewing forward. The hot flame had made contact with the creature. Without wasting another moment, we all threw everything at it—matches, alcohol, sanitizer, and everything we found in the storage room that could ignite. The plan was simple, burn the hell out of that thing.

The objects flew across the hallway and made contact with the flamethrower's fire. Some exploded into fireworks of flames almost immediately while some landed on the creature before exploding into a burning fury. The creature groaned as if screaming for its life. Alex continued, mercilessly torching it. Then, little by little, the creature became quiet.

"Did we get it?" said Alex, his voice elated. He stopped pressing on the can's head, stopping the flame.

An air of silence blew through the hallway as we waited for the result. The dark eyes that peered out weren't there anymore, and the rain-like sounds that accompanied the creature had ceased as well.

Alex breathed for a bit. "Looks like it worked."

He turned around and walked towards us but suddenly... a deep chuckling echoed in the hallway.

Again, like black holes appearing in the darkness, the monster appeared. It was laughing at us. Our plan had failed.

Nila's knees completely gave out and she fell to the floor, shaking while stopping her mouth from screaming.

Laura, desperate, threw the leftover bottles of hand sanitizers at it. Alex saw the bottles before they made contact with the creature and in quick response, reignited the flame and blasted the makeshift flamethrower.

Suddenly, the flame quickly subsided. From a rampage of fire, it had turned into a tiny ember until it lit up no longer. The can was now empty. Worst of all, the sanitizers didn't ignite.

From the flame dying, I was able to see a glimpse of what the monster was. It was completely brown. A human-shaped mass of sand. And the sanitizers... those were sticking out of its body as if sinking into the creature. Parts of the bottles that hadn't sunk were crumbling to sand while the fluid inside of them was already gone.

This creature, I'm sure of it now. It's the reason for everyone's death.

Suddenly, I saw the creature's hand reach out from the darkness. Then, its finger latched onto Alex's shoulder. He couldn't react in time to dodge it. All of a sudden, the area where the creature had touched him crumbled. It started with his clothes, then... his skin, then... his flesh. Alex didn't scream, but he did look on with horror, frozen from the fear. His shoulder bone was already exposed, but even that turned into sand in just a second. Ultimately, his arm completely fell to the floor. Blood oozed from it. A second later, the blood turned to sand as well, with the arm continuing to crumble.

Laura screamed, sending an ear-piercing noise across the hallway.

Nila closed her eyes, blocking her view from the nightmare that was occurring.

All I could do was stand there and watch.

Alex, having watched a part of him disappear, didn't even flinch. Instead, he turned his head towards us. The image of his face was forever etched into my mind.

"A-Alex... you have to r-run..."

The crumbling crept up his shoulder and now moved on to his chest and back, exposing his ribcage with all his organs in full display, some of them twitching and beating.

He shook his head as if telling me, "It's already too late."

He turned away from me and took a deep breath. I could see the back of his lungs expanding as he breathed.

"It's up to you now. Please... protect them for me."

Then, Alex screamed. His final war cry echoed in the entire building. He took a step forward and swung his remaining arm, punching the creature.

It was futile. It didn't even budge, as if he punched a wall.

He couldn't retract his fist, it now began to sink into the creature's body.

But Alex didn't stop there, he wasn't done. He walked forward, pushing his fist deeper into the creature, yelling from the top of his exposed lungs. He continued to walk forward and the creature moved with him. He was pushing it. Alex, in his last-ditch attempt, chose to push the creature out of the way so we could escape.

I wanted to help him, but one touch from that monster would mean death. I know, I'm a coward who could only watch as his friend suffered until his very last moment. I couldn't imagine how much pain he was feeling, to have your body disappear bit by bit. All I could do was shed a tear while hoping for the best, cheering him on in my mind.

Alex continued, taking step after step. The creature finally retaliated, pushing Alex back and touching him on his arm and head, turning them into sand.

Even with his brain slowly being exposed and without any arms, he kept moving forward. He slammed his face into the creature and pushed with his entire body. In one final surge of strength, Alex pushed the creature out of the hallway and into the cafeteria. Then, he kicked the floor, sending him and the creature off balance. I could hear the creature groan as it fell to the side, followed by the sound of sand raining on the floor.

Without a second to waste, I grabbed both Nila and Laura's arms and ran across the hallway, utilizing the exit that Alex sacrificed his life for. Once we were out, we didn't even look at what had happened to Alex or the creature—we didn't have the guts to see what our friend had become.

All I could do was run like a coward and remember his face... his words.

My tears began to fall but I stopped myself from crying any further. This time, I'll be strong, just like him. Because in Alex's final moments, he was smiling.

"I promise, I'll protect them!"