I knew I was dreaming. I saw the sight of a dark alley. It was as if I was in third person. I saw cloaked figures move around in the shadows, hunting a person.
In a planned manner they attacked him.
His body started transforming into that of a monster.
Still the figures killed him without trouble.
When the man died, a nightmare came out of his body. Without giving it a chance to escape, it was killed too.
They collected the black fluid coming out of his body and put it in a small glass bottle.
Then they fled quickly.
After this murder took place, some masked men rushed to the scene. And that was when I woke up from my dream.
I got up from my bed in an instant. Cold sweat trickled down from my head. I raised my blanket and found my clothes drenched in sweat.
—x—
I woke up at 10 AM. Since I didn't have a shift at the cafe, I went grocery shopping after taking a shower.
I did not notice anything strange on my way there, but while returning I saw my neighbour leave the building again.
I nodded when I saw her and she nodded back. She passed by me without any other pleasantries.
I didn't mind it since we were strangers. But for some reason, something felt off when I saw her this time.
It was not her mood maybe? But I felt a little depressed when I saw her face.
I felt a sense of familiarity. It contradicted our current distance but it didn't feel fake either.
I didn't give it a lot of thought and went back to my apartment.
—x—
Sitting in my room I meditated with all my focus. Ever since my first deal, the parasite's energy had started to leak from my body.
If I didn't control it properly, other parasites or people like me might detect me.
I remembered the figure of that man as well as the people in the raincoats. I don't know about the man but the raincoats hunt parasites.
Furthermore, the man had turned into a monster, he might have been infected with a parasite.
I didn't want to end up like him.
As I kept focusing on the energy being released, I was soon able to manipulate it a little.
It was being released like smoke from coal, but now I could fluctuate this energy a little.
I don't know how long I meditated for, but I was somehow able to stop the energy from being released all at once.
I could store it in certain parts of my body for a short time, but the more I did, the more pain I felt.
If I stored any energy in my muscles, they would become sore. Organs would likely be put under a lot of strain, leading to failure.
But my mastery was not at the level where I could control it to be stored in my organs or bones.
All the energy I stored was within my muscles or skin, and I could not control it further than that.
As I kept trying to increase the load my body could take, my focus was disrupted by a call.
I opened my eyes and first saw my clothes drenched in sweat again. Then I picked up my phone, I didn't recognise the number.
When I picked up the call, I heard a familiar voice.
"Yeah Aayan, I am coming in 15 minutes, be prepared."
It was Arun. And he was telling me to get ready to go somewhere. He ended the call before I got a chance to say anything.
I looked at the time and saw that I had been meditating for 2 hours. It was definitely a record that I became happy with.
I took another shower and got dressed.
—x—
There was extreme silence in the car as the three people didn't have anything to talk about.
Arun was driving the car while I was in the passenger seat. In the mirror I could see Myra looking outside the window.
I didn't stare at her for long so as not to appear like a creep.
I didn't ask Arun about our destination as it seemed to be some important task.
I could still feel that he was tired from yesterday and hadn't completely regained his strength.
The car stopped 30 minutes from my apartement and we stopped in front of some lively facility.
There was a sign on the outside which said 'Bouncy land'.
I felt my face twitch when I realised we had come here just to kill time.
Arun parked his car and forcefully led us in.
"You need to relax yourself on a holiday. We worked hard yesterday and Myra works hard everyday. If you just keep sleeping then you won't be mentally healthy."
I tried arguing with him but he just ignored me.
"He does not care what you want. Just entertain him."
Myra looked like she was used to his antics and didn't complain at all.
The employees handed us special socks with rubber grips on the soles.
Since I was here I decided to enjoy myself as well. My body was still a little sore from today's training, but this place looked like fun.
There were bouncy mats, tightropes and other play structures.
As soon as I stepped into the facility, Arun picked me up with both hands. He was already used to this and didn't bother for permission.
He didn't use any of the nightmare's strength and just lifted me a little above ground.
He then ran without warning me and jumped to a pit with square shaped pillows.
We both fell down and I drowned below the pillows.
I tried to get up but the pillows kept getting in my way. I somehow managed to stand up again and I saw Arun laughing his ass off at my failed attempts.
I picked up some pillows and threw them at his face. The pillows were too soft to hurt and he kept on laughing. It would be better to have stones instead.
Then I saw a hand moving near Arun's foot. I pointed towards it. Before he could look down, the hand grabbed his food and pulled him down.
He screamed in fear when this happened, but didn't get hurt with the pillows protecting us.
A face came out, it was Myra who without us knowing dived into the pillow bed to pull this prank.
She didn't control her laughter and it spread to me as well.
Then I felt a hand yank me down as well. It was Arun getting his revenge on me for laughing at him.
We played around in that facility for a few hours, the laughter not stopping. It was like we were little children.
Before I knew it, I had forgotten today's nightmare and my mood had improved significantly.