Eliam awoke with a gasp and wasted no time taking in his surroundings. He was by himself in a foreign bed with a plethora of tubes and other contraptions connected to him. He was in the hospital.

  He took a moment to recollect his thoughts and quickly remembered that he had gotten into some sort of car accident coming back home from work. What a way to celebrate his 18th birthday.

  A couple of knocks sounded at the door to his room, and it quickly opened up. His mother walked into the room and visibly lit up when she saw him awake.

  “Eliam! You’re awake?” she asked, although it was clear he was.

  He nodded and couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw his brother trying to get a better look at him. The hospital bed was high, and Max wasn’t quite tall enough to see it.

  “I’m glad… we were all worried about you,” his mother said quietly.

  “Yeah! Mom and Dad didn’t even argue while you were here at all!” Max said.

  His mother looked away awkwardly for a second but recovered all the same. “I understand that you just woke up, but I was wondering if you were all right with us taking you back home today. We don’t have enough money to keep you here any longer and…”

  “That’s alright,” Eliam said. He perfectly understood and didn’t blame his mom. Their insurance wasn’t all too good. He wasn’t aware of how long he had been in here, but it must not have been cheap.

  His mother nodded with a sigh. “Then I’ll go deal with whatever paperwork that needs to be done. You’ll need to sign a few things since you’re eighteen now, but I’m sure we’ll be able to figure it out.”

  After that, she left Eliam and Max to use their own devices. Well, it was just Max since Eliam couldn’t do much. After some time, his mother came back and handed Eliam some papers to sign. He did so despite a few of the nurses coming and telling him that he should stay for longer. He simply ignored their advice and finished what needed to be done to get out of there.

  Once they finished, everyone packed into their mom’s small car and drove home. It was mostly a silent ride, and Eliam wondered if they would ever question him about the accident. He wasn’t keen on explaining the whole thing, but he figured that they would be curious. For some reason, his mother couldn’t manage to keep eye contact with him. He wasn’t sure why but assumed it was because of the whole accident thing.

  On the other hand, his brother seemed enthusiastic about the whole thing and was fidgeting in excitement. Was he happy that Eliam got hurt?

  He brushed it off as some sort of misinterpretation and continued to stay silent for the rest of the car ride. His mind floated off to that weird dream he had. He still remembered the entire thing, which he found odd. He had never really been able to do so before.

  His mother pulled into the driveway, and he sighed as he noticed that his father’s car was still there. He knew that Max had stated that they had stopped arguing for some time, but he wasn’t exactly sure how long that was.

  “Christian will be glad to know that you’re okay,” his mother suddenly said.

  Eliam did his best not to glare at her as she looked away. He was sure that his father didn’t actually care much and that his mother was just saying that. After all, if he cared that much, wouldn’t he have come as well?

  As soon as they entered the house, everyone could smell the strong scent of booze. It was clear that the lack of arguing wasn’t because his father had decided to put his alcohol problems aside. His mother just stopped pressing him about it while Eliam was gone.

  “Hey, bud! Glad to see you okay!” his father murmured as Eliam walked by.

  He ignored him and went straight up to his room, which his father didn’t like because a flurry of footsteps could be heard behind him.

  A strong hand gripped his shoulder and flung him around.

  “I said I’m glad you’re okay!” His father said with a menacing smile, alcohol breath blowing in Eliam’s face.

  “T…thanks,” Eliam said.

  His father nodded and went back downstairs to further gorge himself on alcohol. His mother said something to his father, but she wasn’t going to push the issue further.

  A few moments later, Max knocked at Eliam’s door.

  “Come in,” he said with a sigh. He was in the middle of powering on his computer to play some games and relax, but it seemed that wouldn’t be happening quite yet.

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Eliam!” Max said with a smile.

  “Yeah… me too. How long was I gone for?” he asked.

  “Hmm, I think around three days. I heard you got in a car accident, but Momma told me not to bother you since you were sick,” he responded.

  Eliam nodded. “Yeah…”

  “Are you really going to be staying for longer?” Max interrupted.

  “What? No?” Eliam said in surprise.

  “But Momma said you were going to…” Max said with a frown. Was this what he was excited about?

  Eliam narrowed his eyes as several worrying questions popped into his head. He slowly motioned for Max to move to the side as he left his room and marched to his mother’s bedroom.

  “What is this nonsense that Max is talking about? Why does he think I’m staying?” Eliam asked.

  Of course, his mother knew he planned to leave as soon as possible. He hadn’t exactly been quiet about it, after all.

  His mother refused to look in his direction. “I… We didn’t have enough money to pay for your bills… we had to find some alternative way to pay…”

  A look of horror came over Eliam’s face as he started to realize what she meant. He quickly pulled out his phone and checked his bank account. Almost everything was gone.

  “What the fuck? What did you do?” he cried.

  “I said we had no money! What did you expect me to do? Drown us in debt?” she yelled back.

  Eliam clenched his fists in anger. How could they do this to him? With this amount of money, he wouldn’t be going anywhere, and his parents knew that. He knew that allowing his mother to be attached to his account was a mistake.

  He slammed the door to his mother’s room and stormed off to his room, but not before his father could get in between him.

  “The fuck do you get off talking to your mother like that?” he growled.

  Eliam rolled his eyes. “Ah, I see you convinced her to do this, didn’t you? What? So you could buy more booze with money that’s not yours?”

  His father snarled as he brought his fist back to hit Eliam. Although he saw it coming, he was not fast enough to dodge. The punch slammed into his face, throwing him to the ground.

  “You like that, bitch!” his father screamed as he prepared to pummel Eliam once more.

  This time, Eliam was quick enough and dodged the next punch. He rolled out of his father’s attack range and quickly got back up to his feet. He stormed off to the front door. He was getting the hell out of here, money or not.

  As he left, he could hear his little brother crying, his mother screaming at his father, and everything all going to shit. He didn’t care any longer. He was leaving, even if it meant living on the side of the road.

  He slammed the front door open and stormed out, not even bothering to close it. He could hear his mother calling out his name, but he ignored her all the same. He was done.

  Thankfully, he had his keys on him, so he was able to hop into his car and drive off. It was in his name, so he didn’t have to worry about any legal stuff. He didn’t know where he would go, but he did know that anywhere was better than there.

  After driving for hours in some random direction, he ended up in a public parking lot. He sighed as he stopped his car and stared at the windshield.

  “I guess I gotta sleep,” he murmured to himself.

  He dragged himself to the back of his car and laid down on the back seat. He didn’t have a blanket or cushion, so he would just have to deal with it.

  He stared at the roof of his car for what seemed to be an endless amount of time until finally, he felt sleep overcome him.

  ***

  A gust of dry air woke Eliam up as he slowly awakened. It was odd, almost like he had done it before.

  He slowly picked himself up to find himself staring at the same canyon he had been yesterday. Eliam wasn’t exactly caught up on dream research, but wasn’t it pretty odd to get the same one twice in a row?

  He looked around at the different paths he could take and found that they were the same. He could go down the large canyon, into a cave, or down a tighter canyon.

  He stood there for a moment, wondering if he should go through with this again. The memories of his last trip came back to him, and he still remembered getting stabbed. Now that he thought about it, that was very painful.

  He hesitated to take a step yet did all the same. He didn’t know how to get out of this horrible dream any other way, but he didn’t feel like standing there for hours waiting for it to happen.

  This time, he took a right and went down the much tighter canyon. This canyon seemed to be much shorter than the other one and quickly led him to a cave with a small clearing inside. On the other end of the clear sat a chest with various carvings and structures around it. Unfortunately, a platinum statue of an armored man stood in the way.

  Eliam took a deep breath and took a step forward, toward the chest. As soon as he did, the statue flinched and turned to look directly at him. It pointed the large sword it held at Eliam and suddenly started sprinting.

  He panicked and turned around to run out of the cave. He only made it about four feet before he heard a large swooshing sound and watched as the top half of his body slid off the bottom half. He felt an intense pain for a moment before everything went dark.

  ***

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  Eliam shot up, slamming his head into the roof of his car. He tightly clutched his chest, taking in big gulps of air. He frantically surveyed his surroundings, only calming down when he concluded that he was back in his car.

  What the hell was going on? Yet again, he could vividly remember the dream he had. The pain of being split in half was still fresh on his mind.

  He rubbed his aching head as he pulled himself into the driver's seat. The scene of the parking lot brought back the events that had occurred yesterday. Eliam shook his head to himself as he started the engine and pulled out.

  Why did his mother tolerate their father? It simply made no sense. She was the one ruining their family.

  He continued to drive in the opposite direction of his home. He wasn’t sure where he was by now, just that it was far away. His options were pretty horrible, but he knew he had to probably get a job somewhere. He needed to recuperate his lost funds. Unfortunately, that meant he would have to live in his car for a while.

  He hadn’t been completely drained, but his assets were in the realm of a few hundred dollars. For now, he needed that for food and gas. His tank was already getting rather low.

  He pulled into the first gas station he saw and shut off the engine. He dragged himself out of the car and put his card up to the kiosk. After a few moments, a beep sounded, and the card declined.

  Frowning, Eliam tapped the card to the kiosk once again. A few seconds passed, and the same beep sounded.

  “What the hell,” he grumbled.

  He locked his car and walked into the nearby gas station. Thankfully, he was the only customer inside.

  A slight shuffle brought Eliam’s attention to the counter. A tall, greasy man stood behind it, with some sort of cheesy uniform on. Long strands of black hair stuck to the man’s face, scabs plastering his wiry frame.

  “Hey, uh, your card reader outside isn’t working for some reason,” Eliam said.

  After a few seconds of silence, the man grunted. “Alright, kid, tell me which pump ya at, and I’ll charge ya here.”

  Eliam nodded and stepped forward, holding out the card. The man snatched it and slid it through his register. A few moments passed, and the man shook his head.

  “Declined, kid. It ain’t our machines.” The man held his card out back to Eliam.

  “Listen, sir, that isn’t possible. I just checked yesterday…” Eliam paused.

  His heart jumped into his throat as he glanced at his pocket, where his cell phone was.

  “Listen, kid, I ain’t have all day. Can ya take your card and leave?” the man asked.

  Eliam nodded and accepted his card back. He stalked back to his car and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He quickly went back to his banking app and entered the required credentials.

  His eyes quickly scanned over the number displaying the money in his account. It said zero.

  He nearly slammed his phone to the floor but hesitated. If he did that, then he would have no way to get another. Eliam glanced at the fuel gauge to see how much longer he could go. He had less than 40 miles left.

  He checked his phone for the nearest town within 40 miles, and nothing came up. A loud groan escaped his lips as he felt his head limply hit the seat rest.

  After coming to terms with everything, Eliam stepped out of the car and walked back into the gas station. The greasy man was giving him a questioning look that seemed to be only a few steps away from being hostile.

  “I hate to bother you again, but… it seems I’m out of cash…” Eliam winced at the man’s growl. “Is there any possibility I could some gas still? I don’t have enough to get anywhere.”

  “Boy, what the hell does this place look like to you? We don’t do handouts,” the man snarled.

  “I understand that, but… I’m really in a tough spot right now. I should have had money, but it was taken from me, alright? I just need a little help,” Eliam muttered.

  The man scoffed, “Listen, kid, I ain’t got shit for you. Now, get the hell out of here before I make ya.”

  Eliam sighed as he turned around to leave. He wasn’t sure what he could do. His mind wandered to the idea of his mom picking him up, but he quickly shook his head. He would never be going back there, even if it meant trekking to the nearest town by foot.

  “Wait,” the man sputtered right as Eliam was pushing the exit door open. “I’m not giving out no handouts, but if ya need a job for a couple of weeks, I can provide one for ya. I’ve been needing someone to watch the station during nights.”

  Eliam glanced back at the man. “Can I leave my car here? It’s kind of where I’m sleeping right now?”

  The man paused. “Sure, but pull it out back behind.”

  Eliam nodded and thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll accept.”

  The man nodded. “Good. The first shift starts tonight at nine. Better get some sleep before then.” He paused. “I’m Josh, by the way.”

  “Eliam… Eliam Edward.” he nodded.

  Truthfully, he had been worried as to how he was going to manage. This opportunity, although rather odd, was at least a chance to save back up without really spending anything.”

  He parked his car behind the gas station as instructed. It was already two, so he had to prioritize getting as much sleep as possible before his first shift. He propped himself back into his spot and laid down. At first, he had trouble even closing his eyes as his mind wandered to the dreams he had been having.

  He knew that was all they were, yet they felt so real. It was likely some side effect of that car crash he had. Who knew what the hell had happened? Eliam probably hit his head or something. He brushed it off and eventually forced himself to keep his eyes shut. It wasn’t long after that sleep took him.

  ***

  Eliam yawned as he sat up, his palms scraping across the hard floor. The sun radiated heat onto his face, which was odd considering it was supposed to be dark by now.

  He rubbed his eyes as he took a few looks around and found himself in the same canyon as the last two nights. He was back.

  He stood up, now thoroughly worried about why he had come back here. He knew that dreams were not supposed to be this deliberate. They weren’t supposed to feel this real. What was worse was the pain.

  He still remembered the first two times he had been forcefully ejected from the dream. It had been through death. They weren’t normal ones either. The first time, he had been stabbed in the heart, and the second involved his entire top half being sliced off. Needless to say, it was incredibly painful.

  He took a few moments to observe himself. There was no visible damage anywhere. He was not injured, aching, or anything else. He was perfectly fine.

  He glanced at the three different paths he had to choose from. He could either go straight, to his right, or his left. Unfortunately, two of those paths ended in his death.

  His eyes glazed over the path to the left. That was the only one he had not explored. He felt himself shake as he took a few steps toward it.

  He didn’t believe that he would be back here, but now that he was, the fear of pain was real. It wasn’t even dying itself. It was how he would likely do so that scared him. If pain was possible, then wasn’t torture also possible?

  The last thing Eliam needed was to be stuck in his dream world, tortured for who knew how long. Eliam shook his head and continued walking to the left. There had to have been some sort of time limit. Surely, there was no way he would be stuck here without dying.

  As Eliam walked, an intricate door came into view at the end of the canyon. He slowly walked up to it. It was rather large but still manageable. He turned the knob and pushed it open. He was greeted with another set of stairs that descended into darkness.

  He gulped as he carefully made his way down them. He had nowhere else to go. This was the final path.

  After moving downward for a couple of minutes, he entered into another grand room. At the center was a large statue of a moving figure holding a blue katana, similar to the one that had killed him a few nights earlier.

  He stepped foot into the room, eager to search for a way forward. That would prove to be a mistake as a whispering noise filled his ears.

  He quickly sourced the noise to some sort of nun-looking person who was walking out from behind the statue. Covering their face was a mask, one that had a sad face carved into it.

  “Uh, hello? Sorry if I trespassed or something. I don’t know why I’m here,” Eliam called out.

  The whispering only grew louder as the nun took a step his way. Eliam slowly backed up, terrified to make any quick movements. The nun continued to creep closer, whispering some unintelligible noises at Eliam.

  By now, he was terrified, so he turned away from the nun and started to run back toward where he came from.

  The whispering stopped, and there was nothing but the sound of Eliam’s footsteps for a brief moment. That was until a piercing scream filled the air with so much force that it caused Eliam’s eardrums to burst.

  He felt himself screaming as he fell to the floor, clutching at his ears. Moments later, a hand wrapped around his head and pulled.

  ***

  When Eliam opened his eyes, he took a moment to breathe, testing if he were truly still alive. He sat up, very nearly overwhelmed with what had just happened. He knew that something was wrong. What he was experiencing wasn’t just some nightmare.

  People weren’t supposed to remember their nightmares, let alone the vivid pain he felt. He shuddered as the image of his head getting ripped off replayed in his mind. Whatever that thing was, it couldn’t have been human. The whispering, the strength, the sound. It was all so unreal.

  He shakily checked the time. He only had a few minutes before he was supposed to start his shift. He pulled open his car door and fell as he was getting out. His legs took the brunt of the fall, opening up large gashes on both of them.

  Eliam groaned as he wiped himself off. He dug through his car until he found a few bandages and wrapped them around his legs. After all of that, he finally made his way back to the gas station.

  “The hell happened to you?” Josh asked as Eliam entered.

  “Nothing,” Eliam grumbled.

  “Whatever, kid. All ya need to do tonight is to watch over the station and make sure nobody steals anything. Oh, and also work the register… do you know how?” Josh said.

  “Uh, I think… can I look at it?” Eliam asked.

  Josh motioned for him to come around to the back of the counter. Eliam wobbled over, hissing as he grazed his knees along the wall of the counter.

  The way the register was configured was similar to how he was used to at his previous grocery store job.

  “So?” Josh asked.

  “I think I can work it easily enough. I just have a few questions,” Eliam replied.

  After thirty minutes of basic training, Josh bid Eliam farewell and moved to leave.

  “Oh, and ya shouldn’t need to use this… but just in case something happens, the panic button is underneath the counter… Only press that if ya are in a true emergency.” Josh gave him a quick wave and left.

  Eliam stood there for a moment, taking everything in. He was by himself, living in his car and working at some random gas station. Yet, he didn’t regret a thing. Maybe he did feel bad for his brother, but that was beside the point. He was finally free, and nothing felt better than that.

  For the next few minutes, he watched as cars would pull in to grab their gas and leave. Eventually, his first customer came through. They immediately went up to the counter and grinned.

  “Can I get a pack of cigs and twenty-five on the diesel?” the customer asked.

  Eliam nodded, immediately moving to grab a cigarette pack. There were a plethora of brands to choose from; however, Eliam was told that Marlbros was the typical brand.

  Eliam put them down on the counter, and the man didn’t say anything, so Eliam assumed he had chosen correctly. He tapped a few numbers into the register and nodded to the man.

  “The total will be 34.19,” Eliam said.

  The customer narrowed his eyes, shook his head, and slammed three bills on the counter. He left without saying another word.

  Eliam glanced at the total amount, and it was exactly 35 dollars. The man may not have liked the price, but he wasn’t a thief.

  He gathered up the money and put it into the register. He proceeded to pocket the rest of the change as Josh told him to do so if anyone overpaid and left.

  It was like this that the night continued on and eventually ended. Nothing of note happened, besides a few angry customers, but Eliam assumed that was normal. Josh was back by 5 in the morning, so Eliam was allowed to go and sleep then.

  Eliam slowly laid back down in his car, staring at the roof of his car. He was deathly tired but he just couldn’t bring himself to go to sleep. Not after recalling those dreams he had been having.

  The thought of staying up crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head to it. He would be a zombie by the time of his next shift. There was no way he would lose this job by messing something up because of a lack of sleep.

  He took a deep breath and tried to relax himself. After a few moments, he started to drift off. Maybe he wouldn’t be subjected to that dream anymore.

  ***

  Eliam awoke to the heat of the canyon, frustration building up in his body. Why was he back?

  He jumped up to the ground with a growl and glanced in every direction he had to go. They were all the same. Three directions. Three deaths. There was nowhere else to go.

  A spark of fear clenched his heart as he realized that he would have to encounter those nightmarish creatures again.

  Elaim shook his head and did something he had not done before. He sat down. He would not be getting chopped in half or ripped apart again. Instead, he decided that he would be waiting for this shitty dream to come to an end naturally. It had to, right?