Jung Xiao’s breath ca out in shallow gasps as the thing slithered toward her, its body jerking and twitching with unnatural movents.
She tried to push herself further back into the wall, but there was nowhere to go.
Suddenly, the bathroom light flickered and went out, plunging the room into darkness.
The only light ca from the creature’s glowing eyes, which hovered re inches away from her face now, its breath cold and rancid against her skin.
"You’ve always known I was here," it whispered, its voice a venomous rasp.
"Hiding just beneath the surface. You can’t hide from forever, Jung Xiao."
In sheer desperation, Jung Xiao lunged for the door, her fingers fumbling with the handle.
She yanked it open and stumbled out into the hallway, slamming it shut behind her.
Her breath ca in ragged gasps as she leaned against the door, her heart hamring in her chest.
She glanced toward Yu Holea, who was still sitting in the chair, seemingly undisturbed.
But sothing was wrong.
Yu Holea’s posture was stiff, too still.
Her head was tilted at an unnatural angle, her eyes wide open, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Jung Xiao’s blood ran cold as she realized Yu Holea wasn’t moving. She wasn’t breathing.
Jung Xiao’s throat tightened as she took a shaky step forward.
"Yu...?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Before she could get any closer, Yu Holea’s body twitched violently, her head snapping upright.
Her eyes, once warm and comforting, now glowed the sa sickly red as the creature from the mirror.
"You shouldn’t have run," Yu Holea’s voice was distorted, layered with the sa inhuman tones as the creature.
Her mouth stretched into a twisted grin, eerily similar to the reflection. "It’s already too late."
The room around Jung Xiao began to warp, the walls pulsing with dark veins as they closed in on her.
Jung Xiao stumbled backward, her heart pounding in her chest as the once-familiar apartnt transford into a nightmarish landscape.
The floor beneath her feet cracked open, revealing a dark, swirling void.
From the shadows, the creature from the mirror erged, its form shifting and twisting as it slithered closer.
Yu Holea—no, whatever it was now—stood behind it, her grin growing wider as the creature reached for Jung Xiao.
"You can’t run from yourself," they both whispered in unison, their voices blending into a single, haunting echo.
"Noo! Ahhhh!" Jung Xiao shouted.
Suddenly a golden light enveloped Jung Xiao and a calm voice said,
"I didn’t know I could look so ugly."
When Jung Xiao heard the voice, her trembling quietened down and she turned to look at Yu Holea.
This Yu Holea looked very normal. Like a human.
The floor which had cracked earlier closed up.
The creature and ’Yu Holea’, stared at Yu Holea with red eyes.
Yu Holea rolled her eyes,
"Don’t look at like this. I will think you have fallen in love with ."
The creature: "..."
’Yu Holea’: "..."
Jung Xiao: "..."
Yu Holea chuckled when she saw their reaction and walked up to Jung Xiao.
’Yu Holea’ suddenly lunged in Yu Holea’s direction, but before she could reach, Yu Holea flicked an exorcism talisman, and ’Yu Holea’ scread and backed away.
Yet she couldn’t avoid her fate and vanished.
"Ah...now it is cool." Yu Holea said calmly. "Her face, made feel as if I am truly...ugly."
Jung Xiao asked in a panic,
"Holea? Is it truly you?"
"No." Yu Holea shook her head and said with a serious expression,
"Just wait for a few minutes and my face with be twisted in a creepy smile and I will beco a ghastly figure."
"Wait, what?" Jung Xiao blinked, her panic rising again, the pit in her stomach tightening.
Yu Holea nodded seriously, crossing her arms and pacing as if she were thinking deeply.
"Yep, any minute now. I’ll turn into a terrifying creature, probably start slithering around, grow claws... maybe even so glowing red eyes for dramatic effect."
Jung Xiao’s heart pounded as she took a cautious step back. "You’re not joking, right?"
Yu Holea paused, then glanced at Jung Xiao with a glint of mischief in her eye.
"Of course, I’m joking! What kind of horror movie do you think this is?"
Jung Xiao patted her chest as relief settled in her heart.
Yu Holea extended her hand and said,
"Let’s go."
Jung Xiao held Yu Holea’s hand and the room around her shifted.
Whoosh.
As Jung Xiao opened her eyes, she found herself in her bed and her hand held by Yu Holea.
So Yu Holea entered her dream and rescued her?
What type of godly power does Yu Holea have?
After a few seconds, Yu Holea’s eyes fluttered and she opened her eyes.
Jung Xiao stared at Yu Holea in admiration and asked.
"How? How did you enter my dream?"
Yu Holea smiled,
"It’s not a big deal."
Looking at the sweat on Jung Xiao’s forehead, she picked up a glass of water and passed it to Jung Xiao.
Jung Xiao drank the water without any hesitation.
Once she finished drinking, she heard Yu Holea say,
"The source of your nightmares has been found."
"Is it?" Jung Xiao asked with surprise.
Yu Holea nodded. Before seeing the dream catcher, Yu Holea thought that Jung Xiao’s nightmare was because of a dream demon.
However, after hearing information about Jung Xiao’s childhood, she realized that things were different.
Maybe a dream demon did try to worsen the nightmare of Jung Xiao, but the main reason for Jung Xiao’s nightmare was her childhood as well as the dream catcher.
"The dream catcher," Yu Holea began, "isn’t just so ordinary trinket. It’s been feeding off your fears, amplifying your childhood traumas, making them worse.
It beca a conduit for your subconscious pain, and... sothing darker latched onto it."
Jung Xiao’s hands trembled slightly as she lowered the glass,
"What? No! I’ve had that dream catcher since I was a kid... It was supposed to protect from nightmares."
Yu Holea’s expression softened.
"That’s what they’re ant for, yes. But sothing happened along the way. It absorbed too much of your fear, your pain, and it beca corrupted."
She paused, then asked gently,
"Do you rember when the nightmares started? Not just recently, but when they first beca unbearable?"
Jung Xiao thought for a long while but even after a long ti, she couldn’t rember,
"I don’t rember...for so reason I don’t rember anything about my childhood. I only started to rember things once I turned 10."
Yu Holea understood.
Maybe Jung Xiao had suffered so childhood trauma or seen soone’s death which had affected her.
If this was the case then, it would explain why the creatures in Jung Xiao’s dream always kept on saying that she couldn’t escape from them.
Maybe she had forgotten or was forced to forget that traumatic past, but her subconscious mind rembered it.
The dream catcher Jung Xiao had was a genuine one, but...it stopped working when one of its strings broke by mistake, and instead of helping catch the nightmares, it worsened those dreams.
"When you were ten, that’s when your mories started. But what about before that? Sothing must’ve happened that your mind is blocking out. That’s why these nightmares have been so persistent."
Jung Xiao’s eyes widened, her fingers tightening around the glass.
"You think I’m repressing sothing? Sothing... awful?"
Yu Holea nodded, her tone gentle.
"It’s possible. The human mind has ways of protecting itself from trauma. Sotis, it buries mories so deep that they’re nearly impossible to recall.
But even if you don’t rember, your subconscious mind does. It holds onto the pain, and the broken dream catcher—" she gestured toward the trinket hanging limply near the bed—"has been amplifying that pain, making it worse over the years."
Jung Xiao glanced nervously at the dream catcher, her mind racing.
"So, it’s not just a demon... Is it my own mind creating these nightmares?"
"It’s both," Yu Holea explained.
"Your dream catcher was ant to shield you, but once it broke, it beca an open door.
Instead of protecting you from the nightmares, it began trapping your deepest fears and feeding them to whatever dark entity was nearby.
The demon latched onto that, using your forgotten trauma as fuel."
Jung Xiao’s heart sank.
"But what could be so terrible that my mind would block it out completely?"
Yu Holea considered her for a mont, then sighed.
"There’s only one way to find out."
"What?" Jung Xiao asked.
"Your parents." Yu Holea said softly.
Jung Xiao fell silent, before asking,
"Can’t you just find it? I don’t want to contact them..."
Yu Holea shook her head.
In fact, she could. It was very easy for her. However, the problem was...what if the thing that Jung Xiao forgot was sothing she could never overco even during her adulthood?
What if after knowing the past trauma, Jung Xiao’s condition worsens?
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