Here’s another of the short stories!

Considering that I was cruel last time and gave no warnings, I’ll be kind this time and say that this story I would classify under the genres of Horror and Psychological.

This story is rather creepy, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, I suggest you pass on this one.

Author: Temptress_♡
TL: Calamansi Ensj
Editor: Mandarin

12:00

Today seemed to be one of the colder winter days.

Everyday, I would go to the gym to stay in shape. To do that, though, I had to cross a road in front of my house. On that day, I was once again waiting for the lights to turn green before I crossed. In the darkness, I somehow found a faint patch of darkness on the other side of the road. As soon as the light changed, I ran towards that object. It was a black cat. It must have been hit by a car, as its limbs were twisted in all the wrong ways. Even so, it didn't seem to have bled much. I felt sorry for the black cat, so I carried it all the way to the other side. I then tried to open its eyes to see if it was alright. When I had separated the eyelids just enough to almost catch a glimpse of the eyeball, the cat opened its eyes and scratched at my face. "Aaah!!!" I let out a sharp scream.

"Go away! Ahhh!"

12:00A.M. The clock was pointing at exactly 12.

'Phew… It was just a dream. A bad dream. Whew…' I let out a breath and looked into the mirror. Thankfully, I didn't see the scratch mark from the cat.

Since the nightmare had made me really thirsty, I gulped down the glass of water next to me as fast as I could. After drinking all that water, I needed to pee, so I walked into the bathroom and turned on the light switch. 'Eh? What's this?' The lights didn't turn on. I thought the light bulb had broken, so I decided to just turn on the living room light, instead, and do it. Fumbling my way across the living room, I turned on the switch, but the living room lights didn't turn on either. It was strange that the lights wouldn't turn on, so I tried to find the fuse box. 'Oh dear…' The circuit breaker was turned off.

I put my hands on the fuse box to turn the circuit breaker back on. Even though I tried my best to move it, the breaker just refused to budge. 'What the heck? Why's it doing this? Dark…!'

"Dark… so dark… turn on the lights, please…!!"

12:00A.M. The clock was pointing at exactly 12. I was short on breath.

'Hah… Hah… What the! A dream, again? A dream within a dream? Hah…' I walked out onto the veranda as I muttered to myself. The winter air was cold, but it allowed me to dig my way out of the nightmare. 'I wonder what that dream was supposed to be… It doesn't really make me feel good…' I felt a little scared, so I called a friend. Thankfully, she answered the call despite the late hour.

Thanks to her sense of humor, I was able to calm down quickly and go back to bed. I let out a sigh as I covered my head with my blanket. Doing this was a habit of mine from my childhood. "Isn't it stuffy inside?" other people constantly asked me, but sleeping like this felt irresistibly warm to me.

However, right before I got to close my eyes, I felt something move under the blankets, and I lifted the blanket immediately.

"Kyaaaah!!!"

I screamed. The black cat from my dreams was glaring at me. I fell down from my bed and screamed without stopping.

"Kyaaah! Ahhh!!"

12:00A.M. The clock was pointing at exactly 12.

A police car and an ambulance arrived at a hospital nearby.

"Detective Park! Did you get into touch with the patient's guardian?! How is she doing?"

"That's… The woman had passed away by the time we arrived. She died at 12:00A.M. She didn't bleed much, but her limbs were twisted to the point where she couldn't even use her hands. We're still trying to figure out which car hit her."

"Damn… How cruel… Secure the area immediately and try to find witnesses. Detective Park, let's go back, then."

– I'm living in a dream. I'm not alive, and I'm not dead. It's not yesterday, and it's not tomorrow. It's 12:00A.M. I am stuck at the hour called 12. Somebody… Save me… Help… Someone… Find me…

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