When my eyes opened, I found myself in my own bed.My room. My blankets. My posters. My old, stupid alarm clock tick-ticking like nothing ever happened.
I laughed — actually laughed — out of pure relief.
"So it was all just a nightmare…?"
The monster who killed my family.The clown who tortured me.The darkness.The screams.
A dream.It had to be a dream. There's no way any of that shit was real.
I stretched, feeling tears of relief burn my eyes.My legs still trembled a bit, but whatever — I was home. Safe. Alive.
I almost ran to hug my parents… but at this hour they were probably having their "private time," so I went to the bathroom first. Splashed water on my face. Tried to calm the frantic beating in my chest.
When I came downstairs, my mother was in the kitchen like always, humming softly.
"Mom!" I called.No answer.
I stepped closer."Mom? Hey — are you ignoring me?"
She didn't turn.Didn't blink.Didn't even flinch.
Just kept cooking.
A chill ran up my spine.
I rushed to find my dad. He was shaving in the bathroom, foam on his face, focused on the mirror.
"Dad? Dad!"
Same thing.No response.Not even a glance.
"W-what is this…"
My chest tightened. Hard.
Then—
"Adam!"
Relief punched the breath out of me."Mom!" I ran to her voice.
But when I reached the living room, I froze.
She wasn't calling me.She was hugging a boy — a younger version of me.Seven years old. Crying into her clothes.
I was invisible.Untouchable.Dead.
My knees buckled, tears spilling as my voice broke.
"No… no, no, no…"
Then the laughter returned.
That laughter.
Reality shattered like glass.
The kitchen exploded into blood.My mother's body tore apart again, her screams echoing inside my skull.My father crawled on the ground, limbs twisted, crying for mercy that would never come.
The monster's silhouette hovered behind them — red eyes glowing, smile stretching far beyond anything human.
And then—
"Once again,"he whispered behind me,"you lose."
The world shattered completely.
I snapped back into the wooden chair.The darkness.The smell of rot.And the jester — inches away from my face.
The Real Torture Begins
A black room swallowed everything.Not a single ray of light.Not even the feeling of a floor beneath my feet.
But the laughter echoed.Always the laughter.
My heart slammed against my ribs.My ears bled.My teeth ached from grinding together.I wished he would hit me, burn me, tear me apart — anything but this.
Anything but my mind breaking.
Every illusion felt real.Every death felt real.Every scream felt carved onto my bones.
I didn't know if my eyes were open or closed.Didn't know if I was alive.Didn't know if "Adam" even existed anymore.
Then footsteps.
No — not footsteps.Doomsday counting down.
"He's coming— he's coming—"My voice broke into a child's sob."Mom— Dad— someone— please—"
The jester's voice sliced through the dark.
"Still hanging in there? You little cockroach."
He laughed again.Each laugh crushed something deeper inside of me.Something that would never grow back.
Then suddenly—
"Well… today's your lucky day. I'm releasing you.Ah— but it's too dark here, isn't it?"
He clapped.
Thousands of candles burst into flame.Their light stabbed my eyes until they burned.
My body — untouched.No wounds.No broken limbs.
It was all illusions.Every death.Every torture.Every nightmare.
But the damage was real.
The room was empty except for the chair and a doorway with white light pouring out.
Freedom.
My heart leapt.My legs failed.
I forced myself up — and collapsed, breaking the chair under me.My whole body felt numb, like fear itself was paralyzing my bones.
So I crawled.
Crawled through the blood, through the filth, through the stench of death — for freedom.For air.For anything but him.
But when I reached the door, the white light turned red.
Blood replaced the floor.Skulls lined the walls.My breath froze in my throat.
My parents appeared — alive, wounded, crying for me.
"Mom! Dad!"I screamed and crawled faster.
Then the monster emerged.Tall.Twisted.Eyes glowing red and black.Jester's laughter echoing out of its throat.
The nightmare again.
He devoured my mother in front of me.Chewed her heart while staring directly at me, smiling like a demon wearing human skin.
"You want some?" he asked playfully."You must be hungry."
Something inside me snapped.
I laughed.God, I laughed like a lunatic.
"Jester! Come out already! You psychos are predictable as fuck!"
The laughter cracked the illusion apart.Reality dissolved.
Again I was in the white room.The jester stood before me — face splitting into a smile so wide it tore the edges of his cheeks.
"So?" he asked."How was this one?Your favorite, maybe?Or was the third illusion better?"
He burst into hysterical laughter until my screams drowned under his voice.
Then abruptly, he stopped.
His eyes darkened.His smile faded into something far older, far colder.
"I think Heaven heard you scream this time," he whispered.
He leaned forward.
"Good.Now we can talk properly…lost child."