Chapter 3: Dreams

"Nightmares that keep you from sleeping and make you afraid to dream."

Being watched by the darkness, it's as if our conscience is peering at us, often triggered by fear and pain. Sometimes, we feel as if a venomous snake is about to strike, or the high-voltage wires are about to short-circuit, causing our brain waves to wake up. The shadows that constantly watch us, always from the opposite side of the bed. Halfway through sleep, sometimes it takes the form of pain that jolts us awake, repeatedly, day after day.

Sometimes, the chaos of this imagination remains when we wake up, lingering as it searches for fading memories. Then, slowly, our brain makes it disappear, adjusting back to reality.

Chapter 3: Dreams

"Thump, thump."

The sound of military drums continued, serving as signals to the soldiers, displaying the grandeur of the naval fleet and the disciplined troops. The fleet consisted of large warships, and the soldiers numbered in the hundreds.

These drum signals were orders from the naval military unit. They instructed the soldiers to disembark from the ships, swim to the island in synchronized waves, and conduct military exercises.

"One, two, one, two."

The rhythmic counting accompanied the soldiers' coordinated running. Their trainer ran beside them, and the imprints of their footprints remained on the beach. The vigorous sound of "thump, thump" echoed as the soldiers, now united, waved to the tourists who had gathered on the island to watch. Tourists, both local and foreign, eagerly captured the moment with their cameras, as such sights were rare. The disciplined soldiers returned the greetings of the spectators.

The local residents, initially reserved, resumed their daily activities once the military exercise had passed.

Phak said, "Can you believe it? The naval forces are here to take care of the island."

"Nah, it's normal. Happens once in a while," Nick added reassuringly.

Phak said, "Don't tell them we have to run ten kilometers and then swim back to the big ship."

Nick chuckled, "Well, it's better than you, right, Phak? Haha!"

"Got news? Ever thought about rejoining the military?" Phak asked Nick quietly.

Before the sky turned gray with heavy clouds, during a time when the mist was approaching and the rain and wind were sweeping through, they had to rush back to the resort. The scene of order in the room was replaced by pouring rain and scattered leaves.

"Drip, drip."

Water droplets slowly dripped from the roof to the ground, forming ripples as they merged into multiple waves. These waves combined with the fresh river water flowing from the mountains and the sea water known as "brackish water." A bridge connected the fresh and sea water, teeming with various aquatic life from both sources, resembling something out of a high school science textbook about estuaries, helping to understand the nature of the real world. Water from the river flowed into the sea, creating a two-colored water source where the murky forest river water met the sea water.

"raindrops"

"lightning flash"

In the end, the sound of rain came with the thunder passing through, the wind blowing so strongly that they had to retrieve items from their lobby, which served as their shelter, indicating the arrival of the approaching storm.

"rainstorm" 

The continuous downpour caused branches and tree trunks to bend and break along the island's road. Only when it subsided did it destroy everything.

Even the internet was gone with the rain!!!

What was damaged and destroyed might be the conveniences, but in return, nature that had been simmering during the past rainy season had recovered. The forest river now flowed vigorously, and the streams were teeming with water and fish, a way of life that city people, especially those living in the city, would never understand. It was a scene of villagers collecting leaves, branches, and bracing themselves against the cold at the riverbank. It was a place where ponds filled with brackish water would soon be teeming with fish. As the sun set, casting an orange-red hue, the sun's rays gradually disappeared into darkness. Soon, villagers would take out flashlights and shine them into the sea to catch fish at night, a way of life that was simple and traditional, unlike the touristy activities Phak used to engage in. However, it was the island's way of life, a way of making a living that was intriguing and not so different from the way we used to catch fish in the fields instead of the sea."

"Drip, drip."

"Drip, drip."

"Drip, drip."

"Rustle."

"$@%$%^&^..."

The sounds of people conversing in the bathroom.

Or perhaps it was the sound of the wind harmonizing.

Phak's restless face indicated that he was disturbed, feeling lethargic, half-closed eyes, and drifting into slumber.

Repeating and repeating, as the body responded.

"Thunk."

"Thunk."

"Crack, crack."

"Crack, crack."

"Thunk."

"Thunk, thunk," until the sound woke him up a bit, taking a brief pause.

"Flutter, flutter, flutter."

"Whoosh."

He woke up abruptly from his bed, in his imagination, outside the room and in the room, much like a day the world was falling apart. But in reality, what his body showed contradicted the environment, with no sound at all.

"But the voice grows louder when I close my eyes, until it starts to echo.

"What time is it now?" 11:00 PM.

  "Breath" 

The trembling, shuddering sound made the person almost unable to endure it, until they had to forget for a while to vent their frustration.

"Hey."

"Don't knock now."

"You stupid cat."

"Get out."

Then, not long after, the knocking sound became even louder, much heavier than before, many times over.

"Thud, thud, thud."

It sounded like someone was knocking on something.

Without hesitation, the person picked up the beer bottle left on the bedside table.

"Crack."

Held it tightly.

"Crunch."

Until the bottle almost cracked.

Then, slowly, they stepped out, very slowly.

Before glancing at the mirror through the curtains, not in a hurry."

"Fwoosh!"

The sound of the curtains being quickly pulled open, attempting to look left and right, not even a trace of a breath, any movement, animals, or even the sound of the wind.

About 2-3 minutes passed until they realized that there was nothing unusual, so they cautiously went to open the door to go outside.

What they heard, however, was complete silence.

There was no sign of a cat or any other sound.

It was very strange for Phak.

"Is it some kind of prank, or am I just imagining things, wasting my time for real?" Phak woke up and asked his older brother, Nick.

"A cat knocked on the door really loudly," Phak explained.

Nick replied, "What cat? It's been with me all day and night," leaving Phak bewildered.

... "So, what was knocking? It can't be the wind."

It was completely unexpected!

"Plus, it was so happy, especially with that cat. It played so much that it kept me from sleeping all day. I even took some pictures of Phak, and thanks to that cat, there's a panda in the background."

Nick and Night took Phak out into nature to prevent him from spending too much time in his room. Sometimes the sounds of the forest, the rivers, and the streams, and the lush green trees could make things better. It was a morning when Phak was very excited. For the backpacking trip to the island's hidden waterfall, the three friends drove their motorbikes to the papaya salad restaurant that Phak had been to before and then walked about 1 kilometer to reach the secluded waterfall. It was like a stream flowing from the island's mountain before it flowed into the sea. As they walked, there were many branching paths, making it easy to get lost. The forest was so dense that they couldn't tell directions or anything at all because they had no experience in hiking.

"Sak Sak"

The sound of cutting through the woods along the path to create an open trail for us to find our way back, as well as to watch out for dangers from animals or poisonous plants. Snakes, thorns from the bushes, and many discarded items, including modern ones, have been left behind at the edge of the forest. It's a place where people leave whatever they want!

They continued on their journey, the atmosphere here was quiet and the journey was long. They cut down trees in the forest to make a path before reaching the spot they were looking for.

The sound of a stream flowing!

"Can you hear it, everyone? The sound of the stream means we're getting close," Brother Nick tried to get everyone's attention.

The sounds of the forest, along with the flowing stream, and the singing of birds, were heard. There might even be more animals than that, to the point where we couldn't pinpoint the source of the sound. It sounded like crickets or the sound of roosters echoing from the leaves blocking the sun as we walked, or it could be the sound reflecting off the stream flowing through the lush forest.

"Actually, we can go much further, but it's too dangerous," Brother Nick informed everyone.

Moreover, there were many people who had come to cut down trees in the area where they played in the water.

"There are people around here," Phak expressed surprise, even though they had traveled a long way.

Nick said, "Well, normally, there shouldn't be anyone here."

"But they must be locals," Night suggested, raising doubts.

"It's probably those unauthorized loggers!" Phak added his opinion.

"It's possible. Maybe it's their territory," Nick replied.

"Who are they?" Phak, who was secretly curious, asked about the third person pronoun.

"Just some troublemakers," Nick ended the conversation because he didn't want to provoke or argue with Phak.

The next day, Phak went running again, just like he used to. The weather was excellent, and Phak enjoyed doing things alone, which often led him to encounter strange occurrences.

In the evening, Phak ran as usual until around 5:30 PM.

The sound of a car speeding by suddenly startled him, almost brushing against his shoulder, making Phak jump more than he should have.

"Hey!! Where are you rushing to? Can't you see anyone?" This surprised Phak, and he couldn't help but glance and listen secretly to see where the car was heading.

Before regaining his composure, he continued running. Not long after, Phak began to jog, a bit more than he should have, and started to feel winded. The sudden change in the air made him shiver.

In the backwoods where Phak was running continuously, he came across a path leading deeper into the forest. Every side of the forest was so quiet that it felt abnormal. It was eerie and very scary. The forest was silent, with no sound of the wind, so quiet that he had to take out his earphones and cautiously look around, sensing that something was not right. Normally, there would be monkeys coming out, but this silence was unusual.

The atmosphere at this moment was described as the "silence of power," and it was so quiet that it felt excessively silent. It felt like someone was around, watching Phak in the forest, even though there was almost nothing there, as if he were in the wilderness.

Phak didn't wait around. He hurriedly ran out of the forest behind him. Not long after arriving at the resort, he felt exhausted, not only from running but also from the anxiety he felt earlier.

"Pok."

Phak tried to gulp down his beer to relax.

However, Phak's anxiety intensified.

...

"Open the door, please.

Open the door...

Open the door...

Open it...

Open it..."

The tone of the voice gradually changed, mimicking the voices of everyone Phak knew on the island: Nick's voice, Night's voice, a woman's voice, and strange, unfamiliar voices.

"Open the door, please!!!!"

The loud voice echoed in Phak's dream, jolting him awake. He rushed to the window, half-awake, because it felt so much like a dream that he had to check. It left him restless that night, waking up at 3 AM or 4 AM, half-asleep and half-awake, before eventually falling back to sleep.

"Help me, please!!!!"

"Let me in."

"Bang, bang."

"Open the door."

"Open the door now!!!" Before it turned into the image of a woman with long hair, wearing a long white dress, standing and knocking at the door and window.

"Peng, peng, peng."

"Peng!!!!" the sound grew louder and louder and louder.

"springing out of slumber" 

Phak woke up abruptly, and he was in the middle of opening a YouTube channel for podcasts about the formation of rain clouds and the sound of thunderstorms on his phone.

"lightning flash"

The sound of thunderstorm narration was playing from his phone.

  "switch click" 

Before Phak closed the YouTube channel to relax, he found himself still lost in his imagination, unable to be in complete silence due to the fear from the dream. With his mind still running, Phak couldn't stay in complete silence. He was afraid of what the dream had done to him. He discreetly glanced at the window immediately to check what he had encountered in the dream.

"Fuu," before Phak took a deep breath.

"There's nothing here."

"Damn, what's going on again?"

"Hope I won't dream like this again."

The haunting voices echoed in Phak's ears again and again.

"Why won't you open the door for me?"

"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill all of you!"

The next morning, Phak recounted the dream to Night.

"Damn, Night, I had a really bad dream. I met a woman wandering around the room."

"Damn, Phak, that sounds really creepy."

"Have you ever had a customer experience something like this?"

"It seems like it's happened before, but not often. I think some people have a sixth sense. How did it feel?"

"It felt like she was escaping from someone, and then I woke up. I looked at the window, and she was a woman in a white dress with long hair. She walked around the room and wouldn't go anywhere. She almost looked like she was trying to come in through the window. A shadow moved straight towards the door, and then I woke up again. It repeated three times until I finally realized I was awake. Damn, it was the same dream three times. It was so creepy that I couldn't even look out the window."

"In the dream, I felt like I couldn't breathe, like someone was choking me. Damn creepy. When I woke up, I was lying face down, almost unable to separate the dream from reality."

"And another thing, it felt like she wanted me to open the door for her. Damn it! But who would want to open it? It's good that I could force myself not to. If I had opened the door for her, it would have been even scarier."

"From what I've heard, maybe you should try changing rooms to see if it gets better."

"That's a good idea. Just thinking about the door opening makes me shudder. I don't know what I would do if someone came in."

"Let's hope there won't be any knocking on the door tonight."

"That would be good."

"Oh, is there something else?"

"The maintenance guy who likes to knock on my door, he's dead. Looks like he got bitten judging from the wound. Probably a snake. Both of them are dead, hiding under the resort's porch."

"Your room, right? And what about those strange sounds in the room?"

"Yeah, it's not far from my room."

"Shit, so what's knocking on your door now?"

"I have no idea. Maybe it's something other than just my imagination."

The unexpected appearance of the cat that ventured out and ended up succumbing to snakebite, or perhaps it was a replacement for Phak, was indeed a strange coincidence.

"What do we have here!"

Phak had room 307, a room next to the one where you could see room 305. That night, before going to bed, Phak had been staring at room 305 from room 307. The sound of knocking was still audible on some days, and there was no one in front of the room. It was eerie and made his hair stand on end. Phak didn't want to pay attention to that knocking because he wanted to forget about it. Sometimes it could just be a sound inside his head. After that, not long after, Phak's daily routine, whether he was running or doing anything alone, didn't have anything unusual, and the knocking sound disappeared.

Soon, a booking occurred, which was unusual because the resort rarely had guests, and this time, it was a woman who came alone and decided to stay. She greeted Phak with a friendly wave.

"Hello there," the young woman greeted with a wave.

Phak was sitting in the lobby of the resort.

"Um, well, hello. Um, did you come to inquire about a room?" Phak stammered because he had never had a guest before. The woman in front of him just laughed and smiled, which left Phak somewhat awestruck, especially by her beauty.