"Darling where are you?" he cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled the question while continuing searching for her in the woods.

He heard her giggle before came her reply, "Why should I tell you? That will spoil the game! You have to find me on your own."

Though he could still her speak and laugh and knew that she wasn't in any danger but something akin to dread was settling in his heart, something was so wrong, something that he couldn't pinpoint.

"It's getting dark, darling. Please come out, I surrender!" he accepted the defeat in hopes that she will come out from her hiding place. But she didn't.

Instead, he heard her blood-curdling scream that had his heart sink. He ran towards the direction from where he could hear her scream and soon enough he did found her. Her pristine white dress had turned red as blood continued to flow from her body. He wanted to move, wanted to aid her but he couldn't. It felt as if he was being held by some invisible force. Something so strong that he couldn't even move his finger.

The feelings of helplessness seeped inside his body as tears rolled down his cheeks. She looked at him with blank eyes, all the love and adoration gone, her eyes had turned empty, "I wish you could have found me earlier. I had loved you so much and you failed." were her last words.

The moment she breathed her last, the moment he felt his body loosen. The strong shackles dropping off and he rushed forward to take her in his arms but instead of covering the gap, the distance between them kept on increasing. No matter how fast he would run in her direction the distance between them continued to increase.

"SHONA!" he could only yell as blackness clouded his vision.

****************

"SHONA!" was the name that Ye Hai woke up yelling. His whole body shaking, Ye hai was covered in sweat and he was breathing hard as if he had run a marathon.

Running a hand through his hair, Ye Hai looked at the clock on his bedside table; the neon blue digits showing that it was half-past three. Same time, same dream and it's been 20 years that he had been having these nightmares but nothing has changed.

20 years ago, when Ye Hai was 12 years old he had been involved in a very serious accident. He was coming back home after celebrating his and his brother's birthday at his favourite amusement park. The day had been so much fun but the night turned out to be a tragedy. Ye Hai and his twin brother Ye Tian had chosen to stay at their grandfather's place as he had a surprise gift for the twins back at his place while his parents went for a romantic long drive.

It was the fault of a drunken driver who on losing the control on his truck slammed it directly into Ye Hai's parents' car throwing it down the bridge. They were dead even before the help arrived. All of a sudden the happy family of four was reduced to two.

That night not only took Ye Hai and Ye Tian's parents from them but it also gave them something in return. A curse. That's what Ye Tian calls it, for it was that night that both the brothers started having these nightmares that involved people dying.

Their parents, this woman named Shona, a 5-year-old kid who looked like Ye Hai, a newborn baby and sometime Ye Tian. It was absurd to dream about such people and they were extremely horrible that these dreams managed to scare the invincible Ye brothers. People feared them, respected them for they had the money, power and aura for it but nobody except their grandfather and their psychologist and psychiatrist knows that there is something that the brothers are afraid of.

Ye Hai rubbed the skin over his chest; today he had dreamed of that woman named Shona. The one which always left a heartache after it was over. He took off his t-shirt and went downstairs to the kitchen and wasn't surprised to find his brother sitting on the stool with two mugs of steaming hot coffee on the counter.

"Shona." said Ye Hai.

"Myself." came Ye Tian's reply.

Another thing that was off the tangent was that these particular nightmares had this particular timing fixed but not a day. Every time they would wake up from their nightmares at half-past three and they had a nightmare every other night but not in order.

The Shona woman was always lying in a pool of her own blood, their parents' accident would play like a movie, the 5-year-old kid falling down from the terrace, Ye Tian being stabbed by a knife repeatedly and that newborn baby? That was the scariest for they always see him drowning in a bathtub. Those who never witnessed it wouldn't realize how scary it is to find a dead body of a newborn baby lying in the bathtub overflowing with water.

"Grandfather has appointed a new doctor, Meng Yao. She will arrive at breakfast and will be starting the treatment from today only." informed Ye Tian.

Ye hai frowned, "Why didn't he tell me that?" he asked.

Ye Tian exhaled deeply and took another sip of his hot drink before he added, "She will be staying with us here as a part of the treatment. To observe our behaviour and all that shit."

"Ah!" groaned Ye Hai. His grandfather didn't inform him because he was aware that Ye Hai would never accept someone unknown, a stranger in his personal space while Ye Tian won't mind. Had Ye Hai been informed of this beforehand he wouldn't have agreed to the arrangement. He wasn't as accommodating as Ye Tian.

"Let's give it a shot, hhmm?" Ye Tian knew that his brother must be thinking of a way out, "I am having this feeling that the time has come."

Ye Hai scoffed, "Like what? End of this world, eh?" he let out a mirthless chuckle.

Ye Tian stared at his brother with a serious look on his face, "End of our misery." his tone had such conviction that Ye hai couldn't say a word in protest.

"It feels as if the time has come that everything is gonna be fine."