*Beep*

*Beep*

*Beep*

*Silence*

*Beep*

*Bee--

In one swift motion, I moved my curled fist and disabled that damn alarm clock. My brain was foggy, and my body sweating from the nightmare I just had. Usually, they're the same old nightmares picked out of a couple of variations. Annoying either way.

It started a week ago, and along with it came a new morning ritual.

I scanned my room like I did every other morning; looking for something. The wall on my left contained the door to the rest of my apartment; while the drawer that my alarm clock sat upon was on my direct left, a bit away from my door. In front of me on the other side of the room housed my so called 'essentials'. My desk and computer! Oh what a joy.

On the right side of my room, the sun shined bright into... my eyes.

"Stupid curtains, I must've forgotten to close them."

I said while squinting, only finally looking up above me.

"There you are."

I attempted to say while acting calm, yet my heartbeat stopped for a couple seconds. No matter how many times it appears, I never get used to it.

The pitch black spider, the size of a mini-fridge clung onto my ceiling. I could see outlines of fuzzy looking bits, which made me flinch even more. The worst part is; it flinched in random motions every few seconds. While I knew it was a hallucination, I tried blinking to force it to go away. It didn't budge.

My inner monologue was interuppted by loud knocking on my apartment door.

*Knock!*

They only knocked once before I heard the door creak open. While in my current state of uneasiness, I was initially terrified about it. However, those thoughts washed away once I opened my bedroom door and saw my sister and niece in front of the door. To the left of them was my kitchen, right next to the bathroom door. On the right of them was the TV and couch, aka the living room.

"Thank god." I muttered.

My sisters face turned visibly confused once she saw me.

"Why are you still here James? Didn't your hours change after your promotion?"

"Oh shit, I forgot!"

"Hey! Don't say that in front of her!"

My neice chipped in, repeating what I said like a parrot.

"Oh shit, I forgot!" my neice proclaimed proudly.

I swear she did that on purpose just to get me in trouble. Tsk-tsk.

The instant my sister heard that, she gave me a deathly stare. I felt pretty soon whatever was happening to me was going to be the least of my worries.

"Why are you late anyway?"

"It happened again, you know, the nightmares and hallucinations. I didn't account for my hours shifting to an earlier time because of my promotion."

"I thought you got that checked a while ago? Why hasn't it went away yet?!" She yelled with a face that showed worry.

"Sorry, I scheduled an appointment for later today. After work, I will go immediately!"

I tried to switch the subject by remembering about the toys for my neice. The reason they were here.

"Oh right, they're in the box beside the TV."

Almost immediately my neice went running to it, and her smile went all the way to her eyes once she saw all her presents! It was her late birthday present after all. I was able to splurge after the bonus I got from my job.

The clock was ticking. It was already 6:48 AM so I excused myself from the room to my bathroom. I looked into the mirror and saw an average build, black hair with brown eyes. Nothing stood out, but I did look young. I was only 20 after all.

I quickly cleaned up and brushed my teeth. I showered yesterday night, "I'll be fine." I thought.

I said goodbye to both of them, and gave my neice a big hug.

"How lucky I am"

I thought.

"Don't forget to lock the door!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I yelled on my way out.

It was a 6 minute walk to the nearest bus station, and I only had 12 minutes to get there. Thankfully the commute isn't too long, but I am starving!

I quickly stopped by the convenience store next to the bus station, grabbed a turkey and cheese sandwhich alongside a bottle of water. I munched on it during the bus ride, but also used this time to continue thinking.

I scheduled a doctor's appointment for after work to get myself checked out. Originally it started small, with just a few nightmares, but the scariest part was when I started to hallucinate a few days ago.

Nothing necessarily harmful, but that's when I knew it was getting worse. The hallucinations ranged from seeing weird abominations in my peripheral vision to what I saw this morning.

The nightmares weren't too bad, but most of them depicted hellish like enviroments. What weird nightmares I thought--

*Ring*

Ah, my brother's callling me.

"Hello? What's up Matthew?"

I said to the person on the other line, my brother! He was older by one year.

"Are ya on your way to work right now?"

"Yep, the hours shifted because of my promotion."

He started laughing at my misery of being forced to wake up early every day.

I rebutted the moment I heard his fake laughter.

"Atleast I'm not a starving artist?"

"Man, shut up! I'm not starving! I just like eating instant noodles every day."

"Yeah okay dumbass, I gotta go, It's my stop."

"Oh okay, see you later shithead."

The call ended shortly after. He always called me every morning on a weekday and asked the same thing. "What a weirdo." I thought.

I hopped off the bus and looked up. This was where I worked at. A nice 3-story brick building, with the large branded logo that said the following:

W&H SOLUTIONS

"What does W&H stand for anyway? I've always wondered."

I was a senior engineer at a software development company, currently working on a project aimed for hospitals. Medical software, the term or whatever. Nothing cutting edge like an AI that gives you solutions, though that would be pretty cool. However my job was not that "state of the art", just something normal, an all-round utility database.

That thing where doctors pulled up all your information, put stuff in, and what-not? Pretty much that. The project's been here long before I joined the team, and we already had clients; Nevertheless, I was excited that I was working on something actually useful to people.

I actually liked my job. Even after working here for 2 years, every day still felt new.

"How lucky I am"

I thought once more.

I quickly snapped out of it once I realized my situation, and rushed through the door. Hopefully they would understand if I was 1-2 minutes late.

Seems like I wasn't alone either, as other people hurried through the door as well.

9 HOURS LATER

Finally. Off work, time to head towards the clinic for my appointment.

Unfortunately, the clinic was too long a distance to walk.

Also unfortunately, I had no car.

But fortunately; I knew someone who could pick me up!

I called my mom and explained the situation. She understood, even if it was out of nowhere. I should've alerted her beforehand when I scheduled it, but I forgot.

"Hmmm, I'm forgetting a lot lately."

A terrifying thought, so I quickly pushed it down to the depths of my mind.

The car ride was a bit awkward at first, to say the least.

"Sorry for not telling you about this sooner, mom."

"It's fine, just don't do it again. This is very serious, James."

I knew I screwed up when I looked at her facial expression. Not one of anger, impatience, or anything of that magnitude, just worry.

"I swear I'm sorry. Thanks for the ride, by the way."

"Of course."

Here we are.

I stepped out of the car and said my farewell.

"Thanks for the ride, I love you mom! I don't know how long it'll last, but I'll call you when I need a ride home. Shouldn't last too long, maybe an hour?

"Alright, love you."

As I was walking on the concrete, the sky turned crimson. My hallucinations appeared from the floor.

My vision faded as I became incredibly fatigued and dropped straight onto the concrete. My arms felt stiff and immovable.

The last thing I heard was the muffled voice of my mother crying for help.

It was pitch black, no touch, no sound, not even smell.

It dawned on my what happened. If I could have shed a tear, I would've, but I had no body.

"Where am I? The afterlife?"

"How could this happen? Mom, where are you? Take me back!"

"I'm too young to die!"

I rambled and vented for what felt like eternity, but at the same time only a few minutes.

The pitch black turned to a weird gradient, and light began to shine through. I struggled to open my eyes, as it felt like they were sealed shut.

What I saw was horrifying. The exact same place in my nightmares.