chapter 17

AN ENDLESS nightmare—that's how Althea describes the thing that kept haunting her in her waking hours. Her hands were trembling, holding onto the sleeves of her pajamas, while the man in front of her would lean forward slowly in her direction.

His eyes were glowing red, his lips curled into a frightening smile, and the shape of his teeth was sharp and rigid. He was a monster, a devil of some sort.

And in one instance, the man comes, launching himself in her direction, and she almost screams at the top of her lungs.

"Horrible . . ." Althea mumbled to herself when she realized it was all a dream. She found herself drenched in sweat, her chest gasping for air as she almost flew through the bed with her disheveled hair.

When she looked through the four corners of the room, the first thing she noticed was the flare of the candlelight and a chair by her bedside.

It looked like time had passed since she fell asleep after dinner. The sky was still dark and rigid, while silence was her only c