《Nightmares Diary》 New world... And there it was again. An oversized diamond, motionless at my door. No face. No features. No eyes, no hands, no mouth, no legs, no feet. Nothing. Yet, in a voice as calm as a courteous guest, it asked if it could come in¡ªto murderize me. Props for honesty, I guess...? "H-Hey, hi!" "Hello?" "Could you let me in, to kill you?" I froze, my mind stuttering like a broken record. Instinct almost had me checking the door¡ªto make sure it''s properly closed. Even though I had a perfect system, I still reacted! "Ah, pretty please?!" It continued... I answered, keeping the polite tone. "Uh... I''m good as I am for now..." "Oh... Are you sure?" "Y-yeah..." "Sure-sure? No changing your mind?" "Nh... No, thanks for the offer though...?" "Awh..." Through the peephole, I watched it linger, motionless, crystalline facets swallowing the dim corridor light. Then, in a low, almost comically defeated whisper, it muttered: "Damn..." The thing slumped¡ªdespite having no shoulders to slump with¡ªsinking into a ridiculous depressive episode before finally gliding away. Not unusual. Just life. Because the world is ruled by things like them. Most of them are geometrical, like the diamond from earlier. They don¡¯t force their way in. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.They knock. They ask. They wait. If you refuse, they leave. A delivery service of some sorts... Until they find an unlocked door... That¡¯s it. That''s the rule! No second chances. No warnings. No dramatic chases. Just death¡ªswift, precise, inevitable. Stabbing. Biting. Crunching bone. Rending flesh. Crushing you under. The exact method? Up to their imagination. They do follow the rule, though... These ones are odd. Fat, bloated mockeries of the last person they ate. May look human-ish... clearly the farthest thing away from human. No discrimination in killing; men, women, children, elderly... Predators with no mercy nor agenda. Yet they don¡¯t lumber. They don¡¯t lurch. They don¡¯t hunt. Instead, they obey their own, almost cartoonishly stupid rule: they ignore you if your shoelaces are neatly tied. I triple-knot mine. Bathed them in superglue. I even sleep with my shoes on. Because the moment they see loose laces? You¡¯re already dead. No struggle. No scream. Just a blur of movement, and you¡¯re gone. The pain? Depends on your luck. Maybe you get swallowed whole. Maybe you get chewed. Just because your laces were untied... Heh, a twisted joke. They move faster than thought, yet they are repelled by the idea of potential chase? Maybe they can only dash once. Maybe that¡¯s the limit of their killing motion. I don¡¯t intend to find out. The animal-shaped giants. Pigs with 10 rows of serrated fangs, twisted into idiotic grins. Cows that reduced people to puddles under their hooves. Fish that shouldn¡¯t even be able to move on land¡ª but do. Effortlessly. Just don¡¯t look into their eyes. Not even a glance. Not even a flicker of curiosity. Eye contact for even a fraction of a second? Overkill. Because the moment you lock eyes? They''re already dancing in a rain of your blood and gore. And no, you can''t check out their tails or asses! Because as soon as you glance their way, eyes pop-out everywhere on their bodies. ... Don''t ask how I know... Also, don''t ask how in the fuck I''m still alive... Just take my warning, okay? Or don''t, it''s up to you! I''ll only say this once.
EXTRASTORY / A survivor''s story: And there I was, on the beach¡ªeating sand and swallowing salted water, running from this thing. To my left, the ocean. To my right, sand. Straight ahead¡ªmore sand. Turning back? Not an option. So, I kept running, slipping, stumbling, my feet losing grip on the shifting grains beneath me. Fatigue gnawed at my legs, my breath ragged in my chest, my heart pounding as I felt the distance between me and the inevitable narrowing. Then, through my bloody-blurry vision, I saw something; a fridge? Broken, literally cut in half, just the door left¡ªbarely. But hell, refusing a free shield at that moment? Who''d be more insane, me or the form? I grabbed it with my final scraps of strength, CLOSED IT UP, then lifted the cold, jagged metal like the make-shift barrier it was. Slowly, backing away, maybe, just maybe, I could do something? Prolong my pitiful little life just by a few more minutes? I dunno, my mind drowned all logic in prayers, all asking for any escape. Then... what happened next¡­ ... was fucking idiotic... That damn form stopped. Knocked. I shit you not, it fucking knocked on the fucking fridge door. It didn''t walk around. It didn''t crush me. It didn''t kill... It just followed the damned rule. Then, in the most casual, polite tone, it asked ¡°May I come in to kill you?" It even said, "Pretty please!?¡± I was baffled, but I didn''t let the chance slip, so I told it a firm no immediately! IT. FUCKING. WALKED AWAY, SULKING...