This same path again.

Nightmare 03 – This same path again.

I woke up from my bed, bolting upright. My head was fuzzy, and I used my thumb and middle finger to press my temples as I recall…

“I died…?” I muttered, then swallowed a lump in my throat. “Was that a dream?”

Memories of events—in a dream had flooded inside my head. I was in a park at night, and I saw a girl in white. She stabbed me with a knife and then I died.

“A nightmare.”

That might be a better term for it. That was not a dream. It was a nightmare where I possessed all my senses, if not even sharper, making it unbelievably realistic.

I let out a deep sigh to escape my chest, then looking at the curtain, which was illuminated by the sunrise, I rose from my bed.

[ [ [] ] ]

I have found you already. So, hey… When will you find me?

[ [ [] ] ]

The girl in white resembled a ghost called White Lady.

They were associated with tragedy, accidental death, murder, and suicide. The causes varied in different stories, but they all came back as spirits, which in some instances, brought misfortune to people, or even death.

However, that didn’t matter right now.

The important point was that the voice I heard yesterday morning was the same as the girl in white. I was certain of this. So, what did this mean? I heard her voice and it caused me to experience that nightmare? In the first place, did I even hear anything?

If it was my imagination, then everything last night was just a pure fantasy meant to scare me. Nothing more. If it was something else, for instance, the girl in white was not just a simple nightmare, then what was that all about?

She knew me, and I probably knew about her too, based on how she talked...

Really, having amnesia was just a huge problem.

I didn’t even know if I had done anything to her to make her hate me enough to kill me…and also kiss me—well, that was all a hypothesis though. Even if the voice wasn’t my hallucination, there was always the possibility that the nightmare, with a trace of a dream, was a pure product of my mind.

So, whether she was just a character in my mind or something else, I could not be sure yet.

[ [ [] ] ]

The girl in white was inside my nightmare. A colorful nightmare.

[ [ [] ] ]

“Reiji,” Masayuki called out as I changed my indoor shoes to outdoor ones. “Let’s have some ramen.”

“That’s okay but,” I glanced at my side where Yuka stood, having finished changing her shoes. “Will you come too, Class Rep.?”

“She’s probably minding her weight.”

“I will go,” she replied casually as she peered at Masayuki. “Once in a while isn’t a bad thing.”

“I knew you would say that.” Masayuki grinned as his taunt had worked on Yuka. “Let’s go to the one near the station then.”

We walked down the wet slope. It rained hard last night due to the storm, but it lessened this morning. Still, it continued raining until it stopped several minutes ago. Masayuki grumbled since the classes weren’t suspended as he had hoped.

As I looked towards the road, seeing other students walking to their respective destinations, I quietly whispered without the two hearing it, "This same path again."

The road I walked every day was the same, a single path to the train station. I had never taken a different route nor did my friends lead me to a place that could be considered far to this road. Weekends didn’t let me explore my hometown too since my parents wouldn’t allow me to go outside. They were probably scared that something might happen to me again.

Since I was involved in a certain incident six months ago, my world had just been my house, the school, and this path.

“Maki, Yuka, can we go somewhere?” I asked them after we left the shop where we ate ramen.

“Sure, you bet! I’ll take you to the station,” he joked.

“No, I’m asking seriously. I want to go to the park.”

“Reiji-kun, what’s wrong?” Yuka asked with a worried look. "You know your parents asked us to watch you so you will go home straight from school, right?"

Yes, my parents did give the two that responsibility. Going to the ramen shop was a kindness from the two of them. But…

“I…” It seemed that these two wouldn’t let me go after all, so I switched back to a joking manner. “I just want to explore the city. You know places like the park, cinema, or the riverbank…”

Wait, cinema and riverbank, why did I suddenly think of those?

As I was bewildered, I saw a glimpse of their expression. I was surprised.

They were both shocked, but most of all, Maki had an air of animosity, and Yuka was somehow threatened.

“We-well, I was just curious. That’s all.” I smiled wryly at the two of them.

“…All right, Reiji, I’ll take you next time somewhere,” Masayuki grinned.

“He-hey, Maki—”

Masayuki glared at her before facing me again. “But not today, okay?”

“…I understand.”

We walked silently after that as we headed to the station. The time did little to register in my mind as I thought of various things and soon, we were in our neighborhood already.

Masayuki was the first one to separate from us since his house goes in a different direction. And when we reached the intersection where our paths diverged, Yuka suddenly spoke.

“Reiji-kun… No, nothing.” She smiled at me. “See you again tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

She trotted away as I stood and watched her back.

“Why are you two using a fake smile?” I silently asked.

With no one to answer, I slowly started walking in my house’s direction. I gazed above. The sun was starting to set, and the sky was red, different from the blue that I admired. Somehow, this sky that I was seeing was different from the usual sky of every day.

Something was changing. Is it myself, or the things around me?

Both, I thought.

If this continued, my memories might just come back. And the reason why I suddenly thought of exploring the town was probably because of that nightmare. It was because of that girl.

A phantom that leads me to my past. I hope so…