Nerve-wracking

Surrounded by the darkness, she wasn't sure what was this place. She was lost in this dark abyss and didn't knew the way out. She was tired now, tired of running in different directions yet reaching nowhere, tired of trying to be brave when she was everything but that. After few moments of silence when she thought nothing can go wrong now, she heard something. Sge turned and saw.. Nothing.. No! She was sure she heard that, it wasn't her hallucination. She was terrified yet didn't lose her facade of being the strong girl she is trying to be since the time she landed here. She looked everywhere but she wasn't able to locate the source, releasing a defeated sigh, she wandered her gaze above her and shrieked at the sight. He, with that terrifying yet the most attractive smirk on his face, was watching her from the building above her. He glared at her with those piercing eyes and evil look on his face. She didn't realized she was shivering and sweating badly and suddenly he was there just an inch away from her face. She felt like he snatched the oxygen from the atmosphere leaving her breathless. She started gasping for air. And then... Thud! She woke up sweating and breathing heavily. She observed her surrounding before taking a sigh of relief. It was a nightmare, again! But what's the gurantee it won't be a nightmare the next time? She knew her nightmare will soon turn to reality and this nightmarish reality will make her life hell. ••••••••••

On the eve of the driving school's simulated road test, all twelve of my students signed a petition demanding I be fired. "Coach Sutton, we paid to get our licenses—not to hear you tell us every day we're going to kill someone." "All you ever do is slam the instructor brake or grab the steering wheel. Anyone who learns from you is doomed." The ringleader, Sienna Vaughn, threw a petition in my face before uploading a carefully edited video online. In the clip, I repeatedly stomped on the passenger-side brake and barked orders for students to pull over. Caption: "Gold Medal Coach... or Crazy Coach? Students are too terrified to touch the wheel." What she left out was everything that happened a split second before: the child who ran into the crosswalk just as I hit the brake, and the box truck drifting into our lane the instant I grabbed the wheel. Months earlier, when my previous class crashed on the freeway, I injured my knee pulling students out of the wreckage. The damage never fully healed. Ever since then, I'd become stricter behind the wheel. I braked when they ran a yellow light. I took the wheel if they didn't look in the mirror when changing lanes. Anyone who dared to touch their phone would have their training ended on the spot. But while I was at the hospital for a follow-up appointment, I overheard Sienna laughing in the stairwell. "Coach Sutton's just traumatized. Once we get her fired, let's see if she still sticks her nose into everyone's business." When I returned to the driving school, the owner, Victor Cross, told me to apologize and smooth things over. I looked at the twelve signatures on the petition and smiled. "Sure. Starting today, I won't touch the passenger brake for any of you."

Before the drop tower started, my best friend gave a look, and my boyfriend, with perfect tacit understanding, suddenly unbuckled his safety harness and ran off with her. I was left completely stunned on the drop tower by myself. My boyfriend stood in the safety zone with a beaming smile. "Freya said you're a scaredy-cat and need to be frightened more to get braver, so you're riding alone." The drop tower started. Looking at my comical appearance when terrified, my best friend held her stomach, laughing uproariously as she took photos. My boyfriend opened his mouth to say something as he helplessly steadied the camera lens for her. I couldn't hear the words he said, but I guessed it must have been: "Once you've laughed enough, don't tease her again. It's bad enough Cleo's so shy." I'm a timid person. Growing up together for twenty years, this was always how they accompanied me to build my bravery. When we were little, my best friend intentionally threw pebbles to draw over stray dogs. Then, he carried her on his back to climb up a wall, leaving me to be chased by the dogs and run all over the courtyard. During high school, in the vaulting class, my best friend suddenly pulled away the mat. He laughed and kicked away the rolling foam pad, watching me receive two bloody gashes from the impact. In college, we went on a night hike together. My best friend intentionally shook me off, and he followed her into the bushes to make noises, leaving me in the dark, so terrified I couldn't catch my breath. Every single time I shook with fear, it was met with a bout of loud laughter from my best friend. And standing behind her, he was forever saying a single phrase: "Don't do it next time." However, each "next time" would turn into a new joke for her happiness. The drop tower climbed to twenty meters, and the sensation of weightlessness pushed right up to the back of my throat. Suddenly, though, I felt there was nothing left to be afraid of. The drop tower reached the ground, and two pairs of hands reached over to support me. I pushed them away. "From now on, I don't need you guys to help me build my courage anymore."

I'm learning to swim when my childhood friend, Vivian Thorne, fakes a cramp. My boyfriend, Oliver Wilde, suddenly lets go of my hand and swims toward her. I'm left alone in the two-yard-deep pool, completely stunned. After Oliver carries Vivian ashore, he smiles as he watches me thrash around. "Vivian says you rely on me too much and need a push to learn, so just swim over here yourself." I choke on water and sink. At the sight of my struggle, Vivian laughs so hard she slaps her thigh. Oliver says something to her, then drapes a towel over her shoulders in resignation. Even though I can't hear what he says, I bet it must be, "Now that you've had your laugh, don't tease her the next time. Aria is already pitiful enough with her fear of water." It's true that I was born with a fear of water. I've known them for seven years. All this time, Oliver and Vivian have been tormenting me under the guise of helping me overcome my fear of water. In college, at the beach, Vivian deliberately pushes me off the speedboat. Oliver jumps in to shield her and watches me swallow a bellyful of seawater in the waves. On the graduation rafting trip, Vivian suddenly capsizes the kayak. Oliver swims over to pull her up and watches me slam into a rock, my leg bleeding nonstop. Last year at the water park, Vivian shoves me down the waterslide. Oliver slides down to catch her and leaves me in the pool, nearly suffocating with fear. Every time, my fear and despair are met with a burst of laughter from Vivian. Meanwhile, Oliver stands behind her, always saying the same thing. "No more next time." However, the next time always turns into Vivian's new way of having fun at my expense. Water floods into my mouth and nose, the suffocation shooting straight to the top of my skull. But suddenly, I realize that I can actually float on my own. I grab the safety rope and haul myself ashore. Two pairs of hands reach out to pull me up, but I push them away. "From now on, I don't need you two to help me build up my courage anymore."

The new security guard watching over the neighborhood is a university student named Jake Gould, who happens to be sponsored by my wife, Jenna Hudgens. My mother-in-law's illness suddenly gets triggered for no reason. But Jake has the audacity to have my car clamped over the excuse that I've illegally parked it. I'm worried that my mother-in-law's condition will take a turn for the worse, so I quickly call an ambulance. But as soon as I leave the apartment block, I see the ambulance's tires getting clamped down as well. Furious, I yell, "How dare you clamp an ambulance! If anything happens to Mom, I will never let you off the hook! Now unclamp the ambulance right now!" Jake looks at me with an aggrieved expression. "Mitch, I was just doing my job according to the policy. Can you please not make it difficult for me to do my job?" Jenna begins shifting the blame to me coldly. "Jake is a newbie, which means he must be listening to his boss' instructions. Why are you acting like a madman for no reason? "Besides, your mom seems to be in good health. Why does she even need an ambulance, to begin with? From the way I see it, she's just kicking up a fuss!" At that moment, the doctor suddenly yells, "The patient's heart has just stopped! She won't make it if we don't go to the hospital right now!" Jake's expression goes stark white immediately. He then rushes off to remove the clamps.

In 1982, Anne Stewart and Jack Miller successfully rocked America with their song Terrifying. Anne and Jack had incredible popularity as artists. They were like a magnet as well as a money field for businessmen in the entertainment world. Unfortunately, a tragic incident occurred, Anne and Jack committed suicide in the middle of the last concert on New Year's Eve. A big riot occurred as a result of that. Hundreds of spectators died from crowding and trampling each other when they wanted to get out of the area to save themselves. Not to stop with these conditions, the next day the three states where Anne and Jack performed concerts experienced a major hurricane disaster. Many people died and hundreds of major public facilities were badly damaged. People began to associate the song Terrifying with a curse. They assumed that Anne and Jack were involved in the illuminati sect and worshiped Lucifer. As a result, the authorities banned the song's circulation in all media and destroyed millions of copies. Since then, Terrifying has never been heard from again, and Anne and Jack's names have sunk to the bottom of the deepest trough. -*- In October 2023, a group of teenagers broke into an old house to live stream on TikTok. They found a cassette tape containing the song Terrifying. And without realizing it, they've brought back a long-lost terror!