Sleeping is dangerous, you never know what psychopath awaits you on the other side... There are no good dreams, there are only lucky ones. And once your mind can dream, the only one you can rely on, is not your friends, not your family, but only on yourself.

Hello, I hear in the darkness. How’s life over there? The voice asked.

It’s horrible. I can’t find my parents. I can’t find any of my friends. Food is getting scarce since no one can really work well. And I have no idea where I live. I’m sleeping under a bridge right now!

Oh how pitiful. But, you know, I know that you are lying to me. How? I can hear it in your voice. Yes. That’s right.

I hate my own voice.

By the way. Have we met before?

I don’t know? How could I know? I can’t see you. It’s pitch black right now. I hear him start laughing.

Oh no. How did you survive all this time, Theo? He continues to laugh.

What do you mean? Why are you laughing?

We are not that stupid, now are we? This is a dream, isn’t it. You are conscious within a dream, aren’t we?

Yes, I shout loudly.

Around my neck I feel two hands tightening and squeezing hard. It’s suffocating.

You see... You can feel everything, it’s like magic, he says whilst squeezing even harder on my neck. Yes, and you get to make those horrible noises and suffer at your own stupid hands.

I try to scratch my way out of his hands as I start to flail trying to kick him. But, he starts to punch me in my sides, in my stomach, in my ribs, over and over again with his hands still around my neck.

Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. I’m just curious. He says while he keeps punching me. I have to wonder, dear Theo. How did you get to have such a nice life, he says as he drops me. So, why don’t you stop lying to me and get to the truth. There’s no way you were lucky enough for 26 years. There’s no way you didn’t run into some atrocious monster in this vast pool of infinite infinities and have not lost to at least one of them. So, what’s your secret? What do you bargain with? How did you beat the rest? I ask, because I don’t know about you… But, I use this time more for unloading all my anger issues at myself and at this cursed world we live in. It simply keeps me happy and motivated while awake. You can call this some form of therapy. Why? Because like you, I barely got to know my parents. Who knows how lost they are and in which hellhole they are. So sometimes, like now, I meet someone interesting. Which means, I got to know how you survived and why are you so calm about this?

Because there’s nothing I can do about it, can I? I can’t help but fall asleep. I can’t help but be dragged into these nightmares. And there is nothing I can do about it. So, if I’m lose and am beaten or even killed. Who cares? All the friends I make change, disappear and die. I don’t have a family. And even if I did, I wouldn’t know where to even find them. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, I don’t know shit about fuck all. So, I try to live wherever.

Well, that’s boring. You’d think someone that grasps the general pieces of this would understand the concept behind it all. Guess I was wrong. Now, I have to wonder if you are even worth left living, he says as he cracks his knuckles. So, I’m going to do you a favor. And trust me when I say this, it is going to be a favor to kill you. I’ve seen nightmares which you can’t even comprehend. I’ve heard stories which haunt me to this days. So, if you think your place in this universe doesn’t matter. If you take whatever life you have for granted. If you reduce yourself to something less than a roach. It is going to be my pleasure to reduce you to atoms. That way, at least, you’ll have a purpose again. You’ll literally matter, he says as I hear him walk towards me.

Wait! I shout at him. You said you wanted to know how I survived all these 26 years, right?

Yes, he says as he stops.

Kill me, try to take my place. Do anything to pull me out of the place I am in right now. And you will die.

He starts laughing.

What do you think I am? Fucking stupid? That’s clearly a bluff, he says whilst getting even closer.

No. No, I am not. There is a timer and an alarm. If I don’t wake up within 8 hours and 15 minutes after I have fallen asleep, a stake will pierce my heart. If you’ll take my place, you will die. Why? Because there is a fine way to getting out of the bed without setting off the contraption. Tempt me, and I will take you down with me. I might not be as strong as you. But, what I do have, is no fear of dying. You wanted to know how I survived. This is how. Like a coward, even if I have to kill myself over twice.

You fucker… Fine… But, don’t think you’re out of the woods yet. You might’ve survived tonight, but, you never know what’s waiting for you next time you’ll fall asleep…

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