Hah... hah... This is awful...
What's wrong with me... Why does my head hurt so much...
A sinister growl seemed to whisper in her ear. Within the hazy darkness, some twisted creature was writhing in the shadows, tumbling and crawling with a frantic energy, as if urging her to awaken.
Damn it... what is that... Hurry... hurry up and wake up!
The wet, squirming sound continued. Just as the sleeping Mei regained a sliver of clarity, fear washed over her like a tidal wave.
Is that... a tentacle?
For no reason at all, a chilling cold gripped Mei. She struggled, wanting to rise, wanting to escape, but she couldn't move her arms or legs. Even the simple act of opening her eyelids felt like an impossible luxury.
Damn it... damn it... don't come any closer.
The shadowed squirming drew nearer. It let out a sinister hiss, moving slowly... twisting... convulsing...
Damn it... what is that thing... stay away...
For humanity, the greatest fear is the unknown. The moment Mei's mind conjured the image of tentacles, this fear of the unknown coiled around her like a venomous serpent.
The squirming sound was right in front of her now, the disgusting noise right beside her ear. A sweet, cloying scent, like blood, drilled into her nostrils like poison.
Just as Mei felt herself powerless to resist, ready to scream in despair, a viscous sensation touched her ankle.
In an instant, the sticky touch turned into a bone-piercing cold. A violent shiver wracked Mei's body, and her organs seemed to jolt awake all at once, giving her the strength to scramble up.
Her eyes first registered a pure white tinged with green, followed by a somewhat disheveled figure. The figure's face was shrouded in a layer of white mist, making it impossible to see clearly.
But for the terrified Mei, that didn't matter. The moment she opened her eyes, she acted on pure instinct, swinging a fist with all her might toward that hazy face.
Her punch was fueled by terror, holding nothing back. Even a grown ruffian would have been knocked unconscious by the blow, losing a few teeth in the process.
And that was what Mei expected. The nauseating, skin-crawling sensation from before had successfully stripped away a part of her sanity.
However, the image she anticipated—of the figure being sent flying—never materialized. Mei watched, wide-eyed, as her fist passed straight through the face. The follow-through momentum caused her to stumble, and she fell forward, right into the figure.
The next second, with a dull 'thud', Mei felt her whole body slam onto the ground.
The pain, however, barely registered. Mei quickly scrambled up from the floor, spun around, and warily surveyed the scene behind her.
Then, as her vision cleared, she froze.
She saw that the figure she had just tried to attack was paying her no mind at all. It was simply reaching a hand out with concern toward another little girl.
What... is going on?
Mei stared blankly at the little girl, a thousand questions bubbling up in her mind.
It was no wonder she was so shocked. The face was one Mei knew all too well.
She was about 1.2 meters tall, with long, violet-black hair and light violet eyes. She wore a slightly dirty white dress, draped in a tattered woolen blanket, and in her arms, she clutched a pink HOMU doll.
Is this... a dream of my own childhood?
Mei's mouth fell slightly agape. Staring at the familiar doll, she felt a sense of disbelief, and the inexplicable fear from moments ago began to recede.
This wasn't the first time she had experienced such a dream.
But in all the previous dreams, she had been in a hazy,朦胧 state, only able to perceive things vaguely. This time, however, the sensation was so familiar, so real.
Including the pain, and this bone-chilling cold.
So, was that strange fear from before because of this special dream?
As the top student of Senba Academy and the young lady of the Raiden family, Mei quickly calmed herself and tried to understand the situation through a scientific lens.
First, the state of being conscious but unable to move her body was likely what is commonly known as 'ghost paralysis'—scientifically, sleep paralysis.
When a person experiences sleep paralysis, it can often lead to incomprehensible illusions or auditory hallucinations, just as she had experienced.
Usually, the state doesn't last long, and the person wakes up quickly. But when the subconscious mind doesn't want to awaken, there's a very small chance that the dreamer can use the opportunity to enter the deepest parts of their subconscious.
A so-called 'lucid dream.'
Although there wasn't much evidence to support this theory, for some reason, Mei felt that this was exactly what was happening to her.
Therefore, despite the cold, a thrill of excitement coursed through her.
A long time had passed since she was kidnapped, but Mei had always had a feeling that she had forgotten someone incredibly important.
She had originally thought that event would remain a lifelong nightmare, but today, she finally had a chance to understand it all.
"Um... hello?"
Mei suppressed her excitement and cautiously, slowly, drew closer.
Unfortunately, the two figures had no intention of responding to her. She could only watch as the boy, his back turned to her, held her younger self in his arms.
Remembering how her hand had passed right through the boy, Mei understood. In this memory, she could not interfere; she could only be an observer.
Though she felt a pang of regret, she quickly rallied her spirits.
Before this dream, she had almost no impression of the boy. And she was certain that this scene did not exist in her memories.
So the question remained: who was this boy? And why did he appear in her memories?
Holding this question in her heart, Mei slowly began to walk, cautiously moving step by step toward the boy.
For some reason, with every step she took, her heart beat a little faster, as if he were someone of monumental importance in her life.
However, when she finally stood before the boy, her excitement curdled into disappointment. She saw that his face was still veiled in that thin layer of mist.
Why? Why can't I see the boy's face, but I can see my own childhood face so clearly?
With that thought, Mei sighed and instinctively turned her head to look at her younger self, hoping to make a comparison.
But when she turned and got a clear look at herself, she couldn't help but tremble in fear.
Because she could clearly see that her younger self's pupils had, without her noticing, been stained a stark, blood-red. And in the image reflected on those tiny corneas, Mei finally saw the boy's face.
The sensation was bizarre. The eyes were so small, yet the image reflected within them was like a sharp, poisoned needle piercing her heart.
The image was so clear, and so horrifying.
It was a face that looked as if it had been blown apart by something, a face that was a mangled ruin of blood and flesh, completely unrecognizable.
Whoosh. In her frozen mind, she thought she saw her smaller self's lips curl into a cruel smile. Then, her eyes shifted slightly, locking onto Mei with a deathly stare.
That gaze was like that of a venom-laced serpent—cold, proud, and aloof, like a peerless queen looking down at her with contempt, as if she were nothing more than a worthless ant.
"Who... who are you?" Mei's voice trembled, and the panic from before once again flooded her heart.
She stumbled backward, scrambling away on her hands and feet.
When all was said and done, no matter how noble her birth, right now, she was just a fragile girl who had recently lost her father.
"Heh... is this... the future me?"
Time itself seemed to freeze in that moment. The snowflakes stopped falling, and the sound of the wind outside seemed to die.
"Truly, a fragile thing. Laughable, useless... you don't even dare to face your own past?"
Little Mei stood up. She reached out and patted the boy's head as if petting a puppy, then hooked his chin with her finger, a wanton smile playing on her lips.
"You... are simply not good enough..."
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PS from the Author: Cough cough, I got used to writing Cthulhu-style horror in my last book. How was it? Did I manage a terrifying atmosphere?
Also, the next chapter will be out a bit late. I need to start trying harder!