Scary Dreams

9 p.m.

Bryan let out a yawn and stretched his body to an elastic limit. His body made crackling sounds as if all bones had been smashed. This was as a result of sitting all day going through case files.

After he left the friendly Café, he had gone straight to Raymond Street. The piece of information that Mabel gave him made him think twice on some certain matters.

He had his own suspicions though but he believed that he still needed to find out if Gael was involved with any other victim after all; he couldn't have had problems with all of them, right?

What he was sure of was that this killer treated weak people like evil spirits that needed to be exorcised. Now that he considered it, is it accurate to label Angelina as a weakling after she broke up with him and chose to do what her family wanted?

Bryan was totally exhausted. He was glad that he was able to take some time off to cool off before this bomb was dropped on him.

He put away everything and went straight to bed. After lying down for a few minutes, he jolted awake again.

He hadn't eaten dinner!

Bryan rushed out of bed and went to the kitchen. He had stocked up.

There was nothing that could satisfy his instant hunger; everything needed to be cooked!

After a while of consideration, he decided to eat some cornflakes and milk. It would at least hold him up till the morning.

This incident made Bryan consider a life with a wife. She would cook him delicious meals and take care of him. Sadly he didn't have any plans of getting married soon. For the most part, his job could get very dangerous and people might target his family or if something happened and he needed to take off, how could he do that with his family?

Better to stay single a little bit more. Plus, you don't even have a girlfriend! Bryan almost face palmed himself when he realised that he hadn't had a girlfriend for almost all his life.

The only person he had loved or thought he loved was Anna. That was until he pulled the trigger….

After the quick food, he went to bed again. The night was windy and cold, thankfully he had brought several blankets over.

He set his alarm for 5 a.m., put down his phone in recording mode, placed his sun glasses on the table to overlook the whole room and also placed darts under his pillow.

These were necessary precautions whenever he slept here, he felt insecure. He wouldn't be surprised if someone was secretly stalking him.

As for when he was at Sapphire hotels, he still took precautions but because the hotel had a good security system, he was a little relaxed.

For someone with a lot of experience, he had gone through a lot.

There was a case he had worked on. It was a homicide case. After investigating and getting closer and closer to the truth, the killer had paid him a visit one night; he wanted to take away some crucial evidence or maybe end his life, he wasn't sure.

Back then, he had formed a habit of putting sound systems in his apartment that would pick up any sounds that came from other parts of the house. This was a trick he learned from Anna, it was to ensure that he would wake up if someone entered his house.

This was before he learnt to switch houses. But luckily for him, he woke up just in time to find the strange man standing close to his bed….

Another good thing was that he had cameras installed in his apartment and was able to capture the intruder's features and half his face. He used some darts on the man but he escaped; he didn't want to use his gun just to avoid mistakes.

After the man was arrested, he confessed to the crimes.

That was long ago, and today, he had many more ways of being alert.

Sleep finally came as he felt himself drift off the edge of consciousness. His body relaxed.

….

"Have you seen my pen, the one with the red cover?" Bryan turned on the bed and groaned. He hated being disturbed so early in the morning.

"Wake up, Bryan or I'll pour cold water on you!"

"Why do you keep disturbing my sleep just because of this pen?" Bryan opened his eyes and closed them again. The sunlight was so blinding.

"Close the curtains!" He pulled a pillow over his head and turned his body to the side.

"Come on, you know Ken doesn't have all day!"

"Fine." Bryan threw the pillow away and rolled out of bed, "how did you get in here? You always enter this house like you own it!"

"Then use some sound systems just so that you'll know when I enter!"

"Anna, I swear you're getting on my nerves!" Bryan walked towards the bathroom.

"Say that again and I'll haunt your dreams!" Anna threatened. Their early morning banter was usually like this.

After washing his face, Bryan came out again and was stunned.

"Anna? How is this possible?" He felt like he was seeing a ghost. Anna died years ago right?

"What's possible?" Anna didn't spare him a glance as she continued to rummage through her bag.

"You died, I saw you…" Bryan trailed off.

"Really? So you want me gone so badly?" Anna joked.

"Of course not. It feels weird, like I've been dreaming, I have this other consciousness that you died." Bryan found it very confusing.

"Bryan, I'm not dead. Now if you want me to still have my head, let's try and meet Ken as quickly as possible!"

Bryan stood rooted to the ground.

Ken? Wasn't he dead too?

This was weirdly familiar. It was after we met Ken that we got involved with the gangs and the politicians, after that I set up a fight that ruined two gangs and some rich business men and it also caught the police's attention.

That's right. He remembered why he did it; it was to exact revenge for Anna's death….

"Anna, maybe we should not handle Ken's case." Bryan said seriously.

"Are you nuts? This could lead you to find your mother!" Anna protested. She was doing this for him yet he wanted to back out?

Bryan didn't know what to say.

"Look, everything you think you know is just a nightmare. Mr X is a two faced bastard that needs to be brought down!" Anna went over and held his cheeks while explaining it to him.

"Everything is a nightmare…" Bryan repeatedly said the lines. When he said it for a fifth time, the scene changed.

Images flashed through…

Anna was kneeling before him, he put a gun to her head, she cried and begged him to stop, he was helpless, he pulled the trigger, there was a jarring sound, laughter broke out, blood was everywhere…

The scene changed again. His father was cursing him and pushing him out. He threw a knife and it pierced his chest…

The scene changed yet again. Anna was standing before him with bloody hands…

"What have you done, Anna?" Bryan asked, his heart beating faster.

"I don't know, everything is a nightmare…"

Bryan looked over and saw the bloody corpse on the floor.

Anna broke into a smile, "you weakling…"

"You won't get away with this!" Bryan shouted at the top of his voice.

"Go on Bryan; show me that you're not weak. Kill me!" Anna kept laughing uncontrollably like she was out of her mind.

"I can't, you…"

Anna pushed him down. Bryan quickly got up and found a gun.

Anna knelt down and grabbed his leg…

Bryan was filled with fear…

Suddenly, Anna began chanting, "the weak has been exorcised, you're next… the weak has been exorcised, you're next… the weak has been exorcised, you're next…"

Bryan froze and his hand hung in mid-air. Suddenly, people from everywhere began chanting the same thing.

Bryan felt his head pound and screamed while covering his ears to block out the painful and sorrowful voices.

Hands reached out and grabbed him. His body went numb and he was cold all over.

"Son, why did you kill them?"

"Mom?" Bryan asked and removed his hands from his ears, "you're alive?"

"No. You killed me remember? Just like you killed Anna and all those people…"

The chanting began again.

Bryan cried loudly and fell on the floor….

….

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!" Bryan screamed and panted heavily. He was on the floor and his body was cold. It was silent except for the beeping of his alarm.

Bryan looked all over the room before he got up and sat on the bed.

"Everything is a nightmare…" He said softly, "I'm sorry."

He was still horrified by that nightmare. Was Anna haunting him?

He sighed deeply. That dream was a twisted version of what actually happened.

He closed his eyes and images of Anna kneeling in front of him and grabbing his leg in fear as she pleaded for her life flashed through his mind.

"It wasn't my choice, Anna. Forgive me." He wept.

For the first time since arriving in Haston city, Bryan wept for Anna….