Tony and Diana began searching for every possible way to get help.

  “Ahem. The whole family having the exact same nightmares every single night? I think you folks should go to a hospital instead of coming here,” the young police officer said, his eyes filled with concern.

  Tony walked out of the police station with heavy steps, his shoulders slumped. He had known this would be the result, yet the disappointment still hit him hard.

  After that, he and Diana tried reaching out to relatives, friends, and acquaintances … but almost no one believed them. Those who did believe either lived too far away to be of any help or were too scared to get involved.

  “There has to be something inside the house. We have to find the clue in there,” Tony insisted.

  They moved back into the house and searched every corner they could, turning the place upside down, but found nothing. Josh came over; he was the only one willing to help.

  “Do you have any items that could be cursed? Like a strange-looking statue, or maybe some kind of antique vase?” Josh asked.

  “No way. I don’t even like antiques. And Diana, if something’s too old, she just throws it out to make more space in the house,” Tony replied.

  “Hmmm … then how about I sleep here tonight and see for myself?” Josh suggested.

  “No! It’s too dangerous. You don’t have to get dragged into this.” Tony shook his head.

  “Don’t worry. You know I like these kinds of cases. Besides, maybe it’s something like a family-wide sleep disorder after all, who knows? And I came prepared.”

  He unzipped his backpack and pulled out a bunch of random-looking items.

  “This here is holy water from Notre Dame Cathedral, this is pure salt, pure silver, consecrated garlic …”

  Diana’s eyes lit up with a faint glimmer of hope, and Tony let out a long breath.

  “I don’t even know how to thank you. Just promise me, if anything strange happens, you have to pull out and stay out of this.”

  “Alright, alright, I get it,” Josh agreed.

  That night, Josh got what he wished for: he entered the same nightmare Tony’s family had been trapped in. Taking a deep breath, he stood in front of the main door, scanning the darkness outside.

  “This is messed up. I’ve never heard of anything like this before,” he said.

  Then he began trying out the things he had brought.

  “They’re showing up here too … weird. Maybe this isn’t even a dream?” Josh muttered.

  “It is a dream. I set up a camera, and when I watched the footage, I saw my whole family just lying there asleep while we were stuck in here,” Tony explained.

  Josh went through every item he had brought, but nothing worked, not even a little.

  “Damn … this is bad,” he whispered under his breath.

  That was the fourth night. The next morning, after waking up, Josh said:

  “I’m going to find Martin Banes. He’s one of the most skilled spiritual experts I’ve ever met. I’m sure he can offer some kind of help.”

  But things did not go well.

  “Damn it, he’s not home! I’ll try to find someone else,” Josh told Tony over the phone.

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  And worse yet, Joseph was still pulled into the nightmare with Tony’s family when he slept in his own house.

  “This is so screwed up,” Josh said.

  “I’m sorry, this is all my fault...” Tony covered his face with his hands.

  “Shut up, T! I’m the one who chose to jump in, so forget about blame or regret. We don’t have time for that,” Josh said. “After each day the trap holds us two hours longer than the last. Tonight’s the fifth night, that means we’ve got, what, eight more times? No … seven at most. So it means when the thirteenth nightmare comes, it’ll never end. We have to find a way out before it’s too late.”

  He showed up at Tony’s with an AR-15 style rifle, a Remington 870 pump-action shotgun, and a couple of pistols: a Glock 19 and a SIG Sauer P320.

  “You think these will work?” Tony asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s better to be armed than not. I even brought silver bullets,” Josh replied.

  The sixth night began with two deafening gunshots and Josh’s desperate screams right after they entered the dream.

  When Tony and Diana rushed downstairs to the living room, they saw nothing but long smears of bright red blood across the floor, leading toward the main door. Something had dragged Josh away, and from the torn nails and the trail of blood, it was clear he had fought to cling to the floor until his fingers split.

  Tony lost control. He grabbed the rifle lying on the ground and charged outside. And after stumbling around for a while, seeing nothing but endless darkness, damp soil, and a bone-deep cold that seemed ready to kill him, he was forced to retreat back inside.

  He slammed his head against the wall until blood ran down his face.

  “Tony, please stop! I need you! The kids need you!” Diana begged.

  He collapsed onto the floor, hands gripping his own hair, trembling. Hot tears leaked between his fingers. His friend of twenty-six years was dead because of him.

  When they woke up, Josh’s body in the real world had vanished. Tony checked the security camera footage and saw him sleepwalking, getting up, heading into the bathroom, and closing the door.

  Tony searched the tiny forty-square-foot room but couldn’t find a single trace of him.

  From that night onward, Diana’s mental state also became so unstable that she started talking to herself.

  She disappeared on the ninth night.

  It happened while Tony and Derek were poring over the ancient demonology books Tony had gathered, as Diana took Vivian to the restroom. The father and the son knew something was wrong when Vivian ran out alone and burst into tears.

  According to the little girl, Diana turned toward the window and mumbled something under her breath. A moment later, it swung open on its own, and she climbed through before jumping into the endless dark beyond.

  When Tony woke up, his wife was gone from the real world, just like Josh. It was already five in the afternoon by then.

  “Only three days left … God, please help us,” Tony prayed.

  He might have done something irreversible if not for Derek and Vivian.

  On the eleventh day, Tony finally managed to contact Martin using the phone number Josh had left behind. A young man’s voice came over the line:

  “Oh, yeah, I’m Martin. I was in Vineland these past few days handling a case. There was no cell service there, sorry about that. But how did you get my number?”

  Martin practically shouted when Tony finished telling him the whole story.

  “What?! Josh is dead? But I remember he had a few items that should have had at least some effect!”

  Even though it was past nine at night, only thirty minutes later, a boy who looked like a high schooler showed up at Tony’s door. He had short, spiky black hair, a thin face, and eyes that seemed unusually bright.

  “I’m Martin,” he introduced himself, pushing the door open as he stepped inside.

  Tony’s eyes went wide. If it weren’t for the voice matching the phone call, he would have thrown the kid out right away.

  Martin searched the whole house before saying:

  “I can sense leftover magical residue here, but can’t identify its type. It’s strange, and very powerful. Could be a level-two creature.”

  Tony couldn’t help but frown.

  Magical residue? And now there are levels of monsters, too?

  “You can just get the fuck out if you think this is some kind of video game. We’re not in the mood for jokes, and this place is dangerous,” he snapped.

  Martin shrugged.

  “I don’t plan to stay long anyway. I’m only an apprentice druid, which is about the same as a level-one creature. This whole thing is way beyond my ability.”

  Tony froze, eyes squeezed shut. The call from Martin had given him a sliver of hope, and now even that was slipping away.

  Vivian and Derek emerged from their room, their faces streaked with tears. The three of them clung to each other, sobbing in silence.

  Martin took a deep breath at the sight. His jaw tightened before he said:

  “I’m not joining this case directly, but I’ll help however I can. These are all my personal defensive items. I’ll also report this to the Mariana Department of Ether Security, and they’ll send someone. You have to hold out until help arrives. Just don't fight, because your resistance is useless. The best thing you can do is run and hide as well as you can. I’ll wait nearby.”

  In their growing despair, the twelfth night came.

  The dream lasted twenty-three hours.

  When Tony and his children woke up, it was already eleven at night. A cold dread told Tony that something terrible was going to happen soon, and he wasn’t sure if his family could survive long enough for help to arrive.