15th of November, Sunday evening.

Nathan was soaking wet as he reached the front entrance of his apartment. The downpour had suddenly started when he was only a five-minute walk from home, so he decided to rush it all in one go instead of finding cover. ‘Even without the nightmare, my luck is still as shitty as it used to be…’ He couldn’t help thinking as he fished for the keys inside his pocket.

The moment Nathan was inside the house, the first thing he did was to carefully place the plastic bags filled with goodies on the tiled floor. Not only were his hands burning from the burden of having to hold onto them for so long, but even the scabs on his knuckles were starting to tear apart.

“Phew,” Nathan allowed a sigh of relief to escape his mouth, as the pressure on his arms disappeared. Removing his not-so-trusty boots by the door, Nathan felt his socks were wet from moisture. He quickly removed them and let them fall to the floor as he hung the chilly coat in its usual place.

Walking around barefoot always felt better. Even more so, when he had wiped the place clean. The next thing Nathan did, was to take the groceries from the floor and place them one by one in the fridge or cupboard. And, by the time he was done, his fridge was on the verge of bursting. Ever since he moved into the building, it was not once filled to the brim like that.

‘This should last me two or three weeks,’ thought Nathan as an evil grin surfaced on his face. Just recalling Henry’s expression when told he was a dick, was more than enough to make him laugh. By no means did Nathan think what he did was right, he could have threatened Henry from the start with the voice recording to get the rest of his pay, but the little devil he never knew he had inside him decided to act otherwise.

Sobering up from that feeling wasn’t easy, but he might as well enjoy it since everything ended up alright. Having taken care of everything else, Nathan removed the rest of his sweaty clothes and placed them in the laundry. A hot shower was in order and nothing could stop him now. Nothing except his phone’s ringtone.

“Who dares interrupt my bath!” Nathan shouted to no one in particular as he brushed the shower curtain open. Naked as he was, Nathan answered the phone without even looking at the name. “Hello?”

“Oh, you finally picked up the phone!” Roger’s voice came from the other side of the phone.

“Roger? What’s up, everything alright?” He asked, knowing full well that Roger wouldn’t usually call this late on a Sunday evening, being too engrossed in his games. “I don’t know Nathan, you tell me?” He asked worriedly before adding. “I’ve been calling you all day yesterday. Why didn’t you answer?”

Looking at his call history, there were 7 missed calls. ‘Well, that’s troubling...’ He thought and answered. “Sorry, I was out yesterday and forgot my phone charging at home.” A small white lie never hurt, better than worrying the guy any more than he already was, Nathan added in his mind as he asked. “Did you need me for anything else? I was ready to take a bath.”

“No, just checking on you,” Roger said, procuring a small chuckle from Nathan. “Who are you, my mother?” He said jokingly awaiting Roger’s comeback. “Haha, no it’s just that you’ve been acting a little weird lately and I got worried. Just making sure everything was alright,” Nathan didn’t say it, but he was happy to have such a good friend. “Thanks, I guess? Don’t worry too much about it. I am all better now.”

“Is that so? Ok then, I’ll let you take your bath then. See you at the Uni tomorrow.” He said and instantly hung up, not waiting for his friend to answer. A small smile surfaced on Nathan’s face as he closed the bath’s curtain once again.

*Ring-a-ling!*

“Damn it, Roger!” He said irritatedly, as he flushed the curtain open for the second time. “What?!” Nathan asked angrily, waiting for Roger’s snarky remark. Alas, the voice on the other end of the phone sounded feminine as it said. “Hello? This is professor Lexie Keller calling. Is this not a good time to call?” Feeling the blood drain from his body, Nathan found it hard not to choke.

Ms. Lexie, the psychology major instructor of Oakwell Uni had taken the liberty to call him, and he just screamed ‘what’ in her face. ‘I am dead meat,’ he accepted his future but answered anyway. “Eh, no, no! This is a perfectly good time professor? Ehh, did you need me for something?” His words were barely making any sense as a chuckle echoed from the other side of the phone. ‘Ms. Lexie is laughing? The ice queen is actually laughing on the other side of the phone?’ Nathan wondered in disbelief while she answered.

“Forgive me for laughing, but it’s already Sunday and you still haven’t submitted the major application form. Have you decided on psychology as your major? If so, you should submit it to my office by Wednesday morning.” Ms. Lexie said casually, already knowing the answer. Nathan was one of the few students who had managed to earn a scholarship, meaning he was one of the brightest of his bunch. Securing him in her class meant she might have the chance to teach a future psychology expert, and those didn’t come by easily.

Either way, it would be good for her too. Having a student more focused on her lectures than on her body was always refreshing. “Eh, application form?” Nathan repeated like a parrot, as his mind quickly spun. ‘That’s right! With all the nightmarish troubles I’ve been having lately, I forgot all about it!’

“Yes, I’ve been mentioning it at the end of my lectures all week. Did you forget?” She said questioningly and all Nathan could do was let out an awkward laugh. “Haha… Forgive me, professor. I’ll have it ready by Wedne… No, I’ll submit it first thing tomorrow morning!”

“Okay, don’t stress too much about it. Since you’ve come to a decision, everything is fine. Good night, mister Raycraft.” Ms. Lexie said and waited for a few seconds. “Good night, Ms. Keller.” He said in return and pressed the red button to end the call.

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“Sigh…” Letting out a tired sigh, Nathan closed the shower curtain skeptically before finally taking a shower. With hot water flowing down his body, he finally felt at ease. However, his thoughts seemed to constantly revolve around the dreams he had last night.

This was the perfect time to think about all the shit he had gone through, and so he did. ‘Did I finally get rid of that nightmare? No, was it even a nightmare?’ He wondered while recalling their fight. At the time, he had stabbed the beast’s throat with a knife, giving him a glimmer of hope, but where had the knife come from? Nathan couldn’t help wondering as his mind brought forth part of the thread he had bought online.

“Remember, the most important part is to understand this is your subconscious. You make the rules there. The nightmare wants you to believe you have no control over it. Once you realize you are the one in charge here, dealing with it shouldn’t pose too much of a problem.”

‘Did the knife appear just because I wished for it?’ Nathan thought of a possibility as another question was raised in his mind. ‘Did I really have control? No, if that were the case, then why didn’t the nightmare just disappear when I wished for it?’ Left with more questions than answers, Nathan decided to drop the matter and focus on something else.

His memories of the past were pretty much a ticking time bomb, so he decided to ignore them altogether. ‘Soul threads,’ those two words had already appeared, or at least been hinted, thrice in his dreams. The first time was when the ‘nightmare’ died. A whirlwind of silver and black threads escaped its body before entering Nathan’s.

The second time was inside the blob’s memory, when it tried to bend the silver soul thread to its will and failed in doing so. And, last but not least, she… Nathan’s hands were clenched tightly in a fist as he recalled the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes upon, Ayla.

‘That reaper also said something about soul threads…’ Recalling her facial features was enough to bring a flush across Nathan’s face, but it also sent goosebumps running down his spine. Just recalling that sense of helplessness before her was enough to send him in a state of extreme restlessness. Taking a deep breath, Nathan raised his head to look straight at the faucet, the hot water splashing on his face assisting in driving her form out of his weary mind.

‘What are they though? Since she took a look at mine, I should have some, right?’ Feeling a measure of logic behind his guess, Nathan recalled how the blob felt when the silver soul thread was making its way around its body. Even though he had seen it hundreds of times, Nathan sensed no such thing as soul threads coursing through his body, making him reconsider.

‘Is there something I am missing? Something like a key point. Wait a minute… A key point?’ Having had a flash of inspiration, Nathan mused while mumbling.

“The blob repeatedly tried to keep the thread inside its body, but it always ended up escaping its grasp.” That was the first clue, meaning there had to be a reason behind the blob’s failure. ‘Then why didn’t they leave mine as well?’ Recalling how the black and silver threads rushed inside his body, Nathan reconsidered their present location.

‘They went straight for my heart,’ that seemed to be about right, the black and silver soul threads never coursed through Nathan’s body, they moved directly towards where his heart was located. ‘The blob never had a heart to begin with… Is that why it couldn’t ‘store’ them?’

Proud of this revelation he had, Nathan closed his eyes and emptied his mind, searching for the soul threads hiding inside his very heart. And yet, he still couldn’t quite sense them.

‘Maybe it’s impossible for humans to feel them… Even if we have them?’ Thinking it was probably impossible for him, Nathan quickly gave up on trying. Alas, a small part of him whispered in his ear, telling him otherwise.

Ignoring the odd feeling for now, he turned the shower valve off and opened the curtain. In a steam-filled bathroom, Nathan’s water-dripping figure emerged, skinny and red, like a well-cooked lobster. He didn’t need to search for a towel as he had one prepared beforehand, along with a fresh set of clean clothes.

‘I shouldn’t complicate things any more than that.’ With a sound thought, Nathan drove the random thoughts out of his mind. ‘After all, if the post I bought is real, I can finally sleep free of those… Well, dreams, nightmares whatever the hell they are.’

“I-Don’t-Care!” He said one word at the time as his steamy figure emerged from the bathroom.

*Ruumbleee*

Looking down, Nathan recalled he had yet to eat and decided to make a lavish dinner before signing out for the night.

~~~

“Why…” Nathan said to no one in particular as he looked around him. A big brown door was a few meters away from him, just waiting to be opened. “Why am I here again?! Damn you, Elliot Goodsky! Some self-proclaimed dream specialist you are!” He screamed, well aware that no one was here to reprimand him for it as he stared at the remarkably white ceiling.

‘Ok, calm down Nathan, there has to be an explanation for all of this…’ Looking down, he couldn’t help feeling a little light. “Why am I naked...” With a question that wasn’t even a question to begin with, Nathan looked at his little buddy waving hello at him from down below.

‘Great, as if things weren’t bad enough already…’ Thought Nathan as he moved towards the sole door to the room. ‘Wait a minute…’ A flash of inspiration halted Nathan in his tracks. ‘There is a small chance this is my subconscious… Anything I wish for can turn into reality in here right?’ With an interesting thought, Nathan wished for a pile of gold to appear.

Sadly, the chances of raining gold were like in reality; nil. ‘No? How about a weapon then? Anything is fine, rocket launchers will be appreciated though!’ Still, nothing appeared. ‘Okay, okay I get it… Just give me a pair of clothes at least!’

Nathan wished with all his might, but in the end, even after 5 minutes had passed, nothing happened. Left with no other choice, Nathan snorted in defeat and moved to the door. With a light turn of the doorknob, the nightmare’s street, as he had come to call it, emerged once more. The moist bench, the buzzing light bulb, and finally the mist.

‘Thankfully, the dogs don’t seem to be around this time.’ Letting out a small sigh of relief, he had no such plans as to shout for confirmation. Slowly, Nathan’s naked figure had once more found itself before the very Victorian-era house he had last died in. ‘I wonder if Ayla is still here?’

He had thought hard about whether he should come back here or not. Ayla was not only dangerous but pretty as well, making it a not so difficult choice for Nathan. After all, if he had to choose between seven-eyed dogs, something worse, and Ayla, he would take the third choice any time. At least until he figured a few more things about this world. No, Erion, was it?

With that being said, Nathan knocked lightly on the door. He didn’t say anything, fearing the dogs might hear him, or worse, it would count as a question in Ayla’s ‘game’ of answering questions.

*Click*

This was the second time he heard that particular sound but, sadly, Nathan wasn’t as excited as he was the first time he did.

‘I hope she hasn’t thrown away my clothes… Wait, what of my body? Will I have to remove them myself?!’ With those disturbing thoughts, Nathan’s naked and skinny figure passed the front door entrance.