A Never-Ending Nightmare

The voices echoed in my head as if coming from a distant place, but the reality before me was still, painful. Yuka’s words about Ryuji controlling everything behind the scenes kept ringing in my ears. I couldn’t shake off the feeling of suffocation. I tried to take a deep breath, but the air in my chest was heavy.

I opened my eyes in the middle of the night. The room was dark, except for a few lights that crept in from outside through a small window. The dim light cast long, eerie shadows on the walls. I slowly got out of bed, my body exhausted from all the thinking and worry. I walked toward my small window, the one through which I often watched the world, feeling detached from it.

..."The truth may be too heavy to bear, but it’s always there, watching you, waiting for the moment you break."...

The streets of Tokyo at this hour looked different. The night changes everything. The buildings that were lively during the day now seemed like silent blocks of cement. Cars passed slowly, as if moving through a dream, and the people walking on the streets looked like ghosts—faceless and voiceless.

This was the time I usually thought about the things I couldn’t escape. My mind was filled with all the events that had started to unravel before me. Ryuji wasn’t just a bully; he was a gang leader, and the network he ran was deeper than I could’ve ever imagined. My friends, the school—everything was under his control. How had I not noticed this before? How could I have been so blind?

I decided to leave the house. I didn’t know where I was going, but I felt the need to escape everything, even if only for a few moments. I quickly put on my clothes and slipped out quietly without anyone noticing. The air was slightly cold, but I didn’t care. The streets were almost empty, and there was something comforting in this silence, something that made me feel alone, but in a soothing way.

..."Running away isn’t the solution, but it makes the pain seem less, if only for a moment."...

As I walked through the dark streets, I found myself in front of Yoyogi Park once again. This park always held mixed memories for me. A place that had once been our sanctuary, but now felt filled with secrets. I entered the park quietly, the only sound being my footsteps on the damp ground.

I sat on one of the old iron benches, staring up at the sky covered in clouds. The air was cold and damp, and the darkness enveloped everything around me. I began to think about everything that had happened—Yuka, Ryuji, all those secrets I hadn’t known about. The world around me felt like a never-ending nightmare.

Then, suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but the sound became clearer. Someone was walking toward me. I slowly lifted my head, my heart beating faster. There was a girl, probably around my age, walking in my direction. I didn’t recognize her at first, but something about her face seemed familiar.

..."Sometimes, strangers come into your life to change everything, to reveal secrets you can’t understand."...

She was wearing a long black coat, and her hair was slightly damp, as if she had just come from a storm. She looked at me with her dark eyes, then sat down on the bench beside me without saying a word. There was something strange about her calmness, the way she moved. It was as if she had known me for a long time, though I had never seen her before.

“You’re here too?” she asked softly, as if she knew me well.

“Yeah…” I hesitated, unsure of what to say.

“Everything seems strange, doesn’t it?” she said as she looked up at the sky, then back at me. “The world isn’t what it seems. There’s so much we hide from ourselves.”

I looked at her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

She smiled a small smile, as if she knew something I couldn’t understand. “We all hide from something. We try to escape the truths we don’t want to face.”

..."Sometimes, the truth reveals itself through strangers."...

We sat there in silence, just me and her. I didn’t know if I should ask her who she was or why she was there. But in that moment, I felt like I didn’t need answers.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***