chapter 2

"Brian! Brian!" A 4 Year-old girl calls out to Brian, who is playing in front of his house. "Why do dogs bark so much?" She carelessly drops the puppy she's holding to the ground. "I don't like it at all." In a shocking move, she swiftly pulls out a knife from her other hand and stabs the dog in the stomach.

Little Brian screams in horror, "Why did you do that? You're so evil! So evil! Don't talk to me!" He bursts into tears, repeatedly shouting, "You're so bad, so bad, so bad, so bad!"

"Brian" makes an innocent face and asks, "Why did you say that? Now you too..." But just as the girl pulls out the knife to attack Brian, he suddenly wakes up from his sleep, gasping for breath. With a racing heart, he clutches his chest with his hand, comforting himself. It was around 10 o'clock at night.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Brian gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom, shaking off the lingering fear and unease from his disturbing dream.

Someone bursts into laughter, "Ha...ha....ha...ha....ha, why are you so spooked? It was just a dream! And yet, you're still trying to wash away the fear, literally!" chuckle, ridiculing Brian's reaction, "You're acting like it actually happened!"

Brian's eyes frozen in terror, he stumblingly retreats, his faltering steps carrying him involuntarily to the bathroom's distant corner, as if some unseen force is driving him to seek refuge in the cold, dark recesses of the tiny space.

" You?! You?! No, why?! It can't be? No no no no no no ..." As soon as Brian recognizes the sound wave, he becomes terrified and instinctively covers his ears with both hands, pressing them tightly against his head as if to block out the unsettling noise.

Immediately thereafter, a long tree branch, about the size of a hand, suddenly emerges from the mirror and wraps around Brian, ensnaring him before he can muster the strength to break free. The branch lifts him off the ground, holding him captive in its unyielding grip.

A menacing, dramatic laughter echoes through the air - "Ha...ha...ha...ha...ha...ha..." - and then the same head he thought was just a dream emerges from the mirror.

Brian tries to scream, but the tree branches swiftly cover his mouth, forcing his jaw shut and muffling his cry of agony.

"This body is mine to control now, and you are powerless to resist, no matter how hard you try."

Using her branch for leverage, she pried open Brian's mouth and attempted to go inside. Brian couldn't understand why something so large was trying to enter his mouth, but he realized one thing: from today onward, he would no longer be in this world.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Brian collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face. But as he looked around, everything seemed eerily normal. He was too weak to even lift his body off the ground, and eventually, his sobs subsided into exhaustion. He fell asleep right there, unable to muster the strength to move.

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"Brian, wake up! It's morning already. Are you going to college or not? I have to go to work too, you know. If I keep coddling you, when will I have time for my own job? Get up! (shouting louder) Get up, or else you'll be the one to suffer the most!"

[ Brian's mother, Xylia D'Souza, is a dedicated civil servant and homemaker, known for her infectious enthusiasm and insatiable curiosity. Her warm and engaging nature has a way of winning people over. Following her husband's passing, she left her in-laws' household and now resides alone with her son, Brian. ]

Despite repeatedly calling Brian, Brian does not come down.

"This boy is getting lazier by the day," she muttered angrily as she went upstairs to wake Brian up. As soon as she opened his bedroom door, she tried to rouse him by shouting, "Wake up, it's already morning!"

"Who's screaming?" Brian yells, snatching the mobile phone from the bedside table and flinging it towards the door, where it hits Xylia's head.

"Aaaaaaaaa..." She falls to the ground, screaming in pain.

Xylia's head began to bleed. Brian's eyes gleamed with uncontrollable greed as he witnessed the scene. Driven by an insatiable hunger, he approached his mother, who lay writhing in agony. With a twisted sense of urgency, he reached out and touched her forehead, feeling the warm, wet blood trickle beneath his fingers.

Witnessing this, Brian's mother began to tremble uncontrollably. Paralyzed by fear, she sat frozen, unable to move. The sight of her son in such a state filled her with a terror that overshadowed her anger, leaving her more scared than furious.

Xylia's fear surges even higher when Brian places his ear front of her chest to listen to her heartbeat.