Nightmare’s Call

Just as Lin Sheng had anticipated, on the third day, he experienced the same nightmare again, and this time, it happened in the middle of the night.

After having supper with his dad, Lin Sheng went back to his bedroom and hit the sack. Ten minutes into his sleep, he dreamt again.

The footsteps outside the door were approaching quicker than the last time.

However, it seemed as if he was prepared for it; Lin Sheng woke up before the person who made the footsteps opened the door.

The encounter this time confirmed his suspicions that it was not a fortuitous phenomenon. The nightmare had to have some hidden meanings that he was unaware of, just like the past-life memories that he had awakened for no reason.

In the days that followed, the nightmare still arrived on schedule as soon as Lin Sheng fell asleep. He tried to take control of his body in his dream but it was to no avail.

Every time, the same fear struck him. In the dream, the woman in white who sat silently at the table always maintained the same posture. She would twitch and sob in a strange manner, while the footsteps came from the same direction in the corridor.

So, Lin Sheng used an alarm clock to wake himself up in advance to avoid accidents.

The loud alarm would go off each instance and wake him up just as the footsteps entered through the doorway.

It was a precautionary measure that he had put in place…

And things went on this way for two weeks.

“My calculations show that since the third dream, the overall length of the dream is about thirty-five minutes.”

“There are fluctuations in the fourth to the seventh dream, all within the five-minute range. This shows that the dream isn’t long.”

It was nighttime, and Lin Sheng was sitting in front of the desk lamp, carefully checking the dream data that he had recorded.

“I should probably just take the average, then I’ll have the approximate length of the dream.”

The length started from the beginning of the dream to when the footsteps entered the room. Lin Sheng obtained the data from his previous two dreams.

Spinning a pencil in his hand, Lin Sheng’s face was calm. Had it not been for the sweat on his forehead, he would not have believed that he had just experienced the same nightmare.

“What I need to do next is regain control of my body before the footsteps come through the door.”

Lin Sheng knew himself well. He was not a school bully or a genius. He only had one strength—calmness. So, only by taking advantage of that strength could he win the tug of war with the nightmare.

Although he had no idea what victory would mean to him, his physical instincts warned him that he could not let the maker of those footsteps catch him…

Absolutely not.

Lin Sheng began to write, jotting down several points of data in his notebook. Then he closed it, got to his feet, and looked out the window into the distance.

The moonlight was gentle, but he felt a chill. Lin Sheng turned around and was about to get into bed but hesitated all of a sudden. “Bah, I think I’d better not sleep.”

He remained silent for a while before he stood up again because as soon as he fell asleep, he would face the same nightmare again, and the experience had made him begun to shun the bed. But it was not a solution. Not sleeping would take a toll on his health.

Silently, he picked up his wind-up alarm clock, carefully set the time, and fell back in bed with his clothes still on.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the bed was a warm and cozy place, but for Lin Sheng, he felt like he was on hot bricks. He still had the nightmare, though with the alarm clock going off seven times during the night, he finally made it to dawn without incident.

…

“What have you been doing lately?” Shen Yan looked at Lin Sheng in horror. The calm and healthy friend of hers now looked pale with ugly dark circles. “You look as white as a sheet. Young man, you need to learn some self-discipline,” Shen Yan said, shooting out her mouth.

Lin Sheng yawned helplessly. Despite sitting in the noisy classroom, he was extremely sleepy and about to doze off. The noise around him seemed to be muffled by a thick layer of soundproof fabric; it did not bother him at all.

“I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few days,” Lin Sheng said.

“Did you have a wet dream?” Shen Yan got closer with a perverted look on her face.

“Get lost! It was a nightmare.” Lin Sheng sounded dejected.

“A nightmare managed to turn you into this?” Shen Yan was dejected too.

“The nightmare’s been repeating itself,” Lin Sheng said in a whisper. There was nothing secretive about it because many people had the same experience. It was just that their situations were not as bad as his.

“You’ve been experiencing the same nightmare? Then you should go online and check it out. It’s said that some people can control their dreams freely and turn nightmares into sweet dreams. It seems magical,” Shen Yan said after some thought.

“Really?” Lin Sheng had checked, but he could not verify its authenticity.

“Really. I’ve had nightmares before. You shouldn’t read horror stories before you go to bed, and you mustn’t have fear in your heart. Otherwise, you’ll surely have nightmares,” Shen Yan said.

“Is that so?” Lin Sheng nodded.

He had also checked those claims, but he could not verify them.

“You’d better believe it. I used to have nightmares, but after I discovered this method, I never had a nightmare again. You dream what you scheme,” Shen Yan said.

“Really?” Lin Sheng blinked and said nothing more.

“You look so dead. Do you want me to take you to the gymnasium afterward?” Shen Yan became perverted again.

“Forget it.”

“Tsk-tsk. Now, not even the gymnastic suits and long silky legs can evoke your interest?” Shen Yan sighed.

“I just want to have some good sleep now.” Lin Sheng felt helpless.

Lin Sheng got home after school in the afternoon and was surprised to see his parents at home.

His mom, Gu Wanqiu, was cooking in the kitchen, and his dad, Lin Zhounian, was sitting in the living room reading the paper. His elder sister, Lin Xiao, was not there as she had returned to college.

Seeing Lin Sheng arrive home, his dad put down the paper and looked at him worriedly. “Why have you been looking so pale lately? Are you sick? Son, never underestimate the slightest illness. Some illnesses can kill.”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Lin Sheng changed into his slippers. “It’s just that I haven’t gotten enough sleep recently.”

“You’d better be. Son—”

Before his dad could finish, Lin Sheng dropped his bag and entered his room. The door was slammed shut with a bang. Then, there was silence.

“This kid…” Lin Zhounian looked at his wife, who had come out to see what was happening. The two of them looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.

“Dad’s still ill. We mustn’t let anything happen to our two children,” Gu Wanqiu said.

“I’ll keep an eye on them, don’t worry. Now, go and make dinner.” Lin Zhounian waved at her.