For the very first time in his life, Somnu woke up from a dream. Too bad his reality had been plucked from him.

  Replaced by his nightmare.

  [ERROR! ERROR!]

  [Processing…]

  [Sleeper falsely relocated!]

  [Unable to access Mind Palace…]

  [Unable to initiate System… Sleeper is defective!]

  [Processing…]

  “Who the hell are you calling defective?! You’re the one with the errors, dumbass-!!”

  CRASH!

  Somnu barely avoided another long, appendage-like whip from his pursuer before picking up speed once more.

  He ran as fast as he could, ignoring most of the weird pop-up screens showing up around him.

  The loud crashes on his heel gave him no time to consider anything about his situation. Only that he had suddenly opened his eyes and found himself running through what seemed like giant withering trees surrounded by a murky, cold fog.

  And yet, despite the rotting stench and eerie misshapen giant roots occasionally blocking his way, he needed to keep on running.

  Running again, all his life, he was always running.

  And yet, what choice did he have now? The distorted figure many times his size currently chasing him didn’t seem keen on talking things through.

  Neither its glowing crimson eyes, nor the hot steam leaking through its sewn lips hinted at anything besides putting Somnu on a spinning grill like freshly harvested corn.

  To make matters worse, the hideous thing seemed to be some kind of bad joke, looking far too similar to Somnu. After all…

  “Hey! Can’t we talk this out?! Mano o mano?! Er, scarecrow to scarecrow?!”

  Somnu was a professional scarecrow. He had multiple outfits and all, and was donning one of them right now.

  Nevertheless, that did not seem to help at all. On the contrary, actually.

  At the very least, the scarecrow boy running for his life hoped these weirdly familiar pop-up messages that looked straight out of a video game would be helpful in some way.

  However…

  [Due to your current state, you are unable to accept the System.]

  [Recalibrating…]

  “Hey, can you do that a little faster?! Your big straw friend behind me isn’t letting up!”

  [New System creation in progress…]

  “And how long do you need for that?!”

  [Expected time till initiation: 03 Hours 26 Minutes 51 Seconds.]

  “I don’t have that much time! I’ll be crow-food by then!”

  Nevertheless, Somnu kept running with no idea of where he was, or how he had gotten there.

  Only that his day had started as any other day, at midnight.

  The time when everyone in town typically went to sleep.

  Everyone, except for him.

  ***

  Night fell on the town of Duskville, marking the hour of restful slumber. And everyone heeded it.

  Everyone but one.

  The one who escaped the night, on all previous nights.

  It was midnight and the beginning of October’s last day. The winds had grown chillier as of recently, more so after sunset.

  That spelled trouble for Somnu. His nights were long, especially in the winter time. Preparing more firewood soon was a must now that his work would slow down during the upcoming season.

  However, his mind was too occupied to think of such things right now.

  After all, it was that time of the year again.

  That day.

  “...”

  Sitting on his late mother’s bed, Somnu simply stared at the wall opposite to him.

  The markings of his heights at different ages, the childish drawings that lacked young imagination, the wall was filled with such trivialities.

  And yet, the deep red defacement in the center of the wall stole all the attention. The one depicting a hand-drawn symbol of a skull.

  To make matters worse, the skull was clearly grinning, leaving the old dried-up blood dripping down from its teeth and all the way down to the hardboard floor.

  Tracing the remnants of that day down, Somnu shuddered and sat up straight as soon as his eyes met the faded red splatter. No matter how hard he had scrubbed them, nothing could erase them.

  The autumn chill suddenly grew colder. Without realizing it, Somnu shut his blurring eyes and dug his nails into his palms in an attempt to fight off the involuntary shaking invading his nerves.

  His breathing suddenly turned heavier. Beads of sweat ran down his face.

  The rapid pounding of his heart grew louder and louder, threatening to break through his rib cage.

  Had Somnu believed in deities, he would have gladly called for their aid, but he knew better. At the end of the day, when everyone else would put their heads on a pillow and rest, Somnu would be awake, and alone.

  If there had ever been deities before in this world, they were likely all dead by now.

  No one was coming to help stop the clattering of his teeth, nor the quivering of his lips.

  He only had himself.

  And then…

  BEEP! BEEP!

  BEEP!

  BEEP! BEEP!

  The alarm from the kitchen brought him back to reality. His newly harvested corn had finished boiling.

  He needed to turn off the stove, he was taught to be careful and responsible with that. He needed to get up. He had to.

  Forcing his breathing to calm down, he slowly opened his aching palms while reminding himself of one thing.

  The serial killer had been caught by the police. The murderer was going to serve a life sentence for what he had done. The evil man will be judged by whatever deity awaited him in the afterlife, assuming any of them still existed.

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  As resentful and aggrieved as that made him, there was nothing Somnu could do to change any of it now.

  I chose to change… To try and move on… He reminded himself. I don’t want to keep living like this…

  “Hah…”

  Letting out a long breath, Somnu opened his eyes once more and stood up to face the grinning bloodied skull one last time. Clenching his teeth, he turned around, walked out and locked the door behind him.

  On his way to the kitchen, a corner of his mouth curled up slightly.

  Despite it all, It was now time to relish in some corn, his favorite ever since childhood.

  However, as soon as he got there…

  “CAAW!! CAAW!!”

  “?!”

  Somnu turned around and saw a crow trying to force its way through the little crack in his kitchen window. Beside the weird nasty look in its eyes, something about it seemed odd.

  As he looked closer, its form suddenly distorted.

  What…?!

  For a brief second, he could’ve sworn he saw some kind of glitch happen to the bird before it went back to normal.

  Must be the migraines again… Or too much gaming… he guessed as he walked closer.

  Still wearing his work clothes, he sneaked up and scared it off.

  “I didn’t work hard for months so you can keep stealing my corn! That’s mine, you got that?! Get out of here!”

  He made sure to shut the window completely before rushing back to turn off the stove.

  “You shouldn’t be flying at night either! What is even happening with them lately?” He mumbled as he emptied the boiling water and took out a steaming corn stick.

  Despite his complaining, he knew the recent unnatural behavior of the crows was why more farmers came to rely on his specific set of skills.

  After putting way too much butter and salt on his corn stick, he walked to the living room, sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. It was time to watch the popular superhero show. He needed to catch up on the episodes that came out during the day.

  A moment later, he finally took a big bite.

  “Aw, that’s hot!” He let out, feeling the tingling on his tongue. “Dammit, it’s so good though. I’m proud of myself!”

  Then, suddenly, while looking back at his corn stick, for a brief moment, it almost looked like a cockroach instead.

  “The hell?!” He blurted out, jerking his head back from his food.

  Blinking his eyes a couple of times, his vision returned to normal. This hadn’t been the first time something like this had happened, so he brushed it off as some light hallucinations from the lack of sleep again.

  Looking back at his hard-earned corn, he grinned and dug into his food, relishing in every bite.

  People usually say food tastes better with company, but Somnu wasn’t sure of that.

  To him, the best tasting food is the one he planted, protected and harvested himself.

  And come morning, he would do the same old thing again as always.

  Go out and protect the crop.

  After all, he was a professional scarecrow, the only one around.

  He just needed to get through the night again.

  And through this whole day after.

  It was Halloween.

  ***

  Morning dawned on the town of Duskville, and everyone woke up. Everyone, but one. The one who spent the night completing puzzles, copying portraits, watching new episodes, reading novels, playing video games and any other activity that helped him fill the hours left till sunrise.

  It was his daily routine.

  After taking his morning shower, Somnu glanced in the mirror and gave himself a grim smile. He hadn't slept a wink as always, but at least the nineteen years worth of dark bags under his eyes were barely visible. Perhaps they had become part of him after so long. He was grateful for that, considering his pale complexion.

  He put on his professional work attire. With every wash, the same old ripped overalls were becoming tight for Somnu’s average height and lean muscles. In fact, he had just finished sewing a new patch on it to add to the collection. His lean upper body was similarly covered by a worn-out short mantel robe only coming down to below the shoulders, covering his tattoo of a different time and version of himself.

  Although he had tried many times to style his neatly cut white hair, it never listened to him, leaving a few strands rebelling down his face. He wished they would at least hide the scar over his left eyebrow, but they seemed to prefer the other side. Even the piercings on his left ear were plain to see, a constant reminder of a different time.

  Thankfully, his trusty patched-up straw hat helped to cover everything down to his short, clean cut black sides anyway.

  “Professional scarecrow, rolling out!” He said, to no one in particular.

  Putting on his brown leather boots, he walked towards the door.

  Just as he turned the knob, his purple eyes reflexively glanced at the hung up halloween costume to the side. He never got the chance to wear it as a kid, never even tried it on.

  “...”

  Recovering himself a moment later, he stepped out of his modest two bedroom house.

  Next was a quick check up on his little corn farm next to his home. He made sure his tools and sickles were still there, then scared the few crows and birds he came across before finally making his way to the bus stop.

  It was time to go to work.

  These damned crows better not eat my corn while I'm gone! I need to find a better method to keep them away while I’m out!

  After taking the packed bus and sitting in a window seat near the door, Somnu’s mind wandered while looking out. Thankfully, no one was sitting next to him. Not that he minded, but everyone kept his distance from him for a good reason. It was better that way.

  Whether they were afraid of him or simply didn’t want anything to do with him, Somnu used to agree this was the best option for everyone.

  However, if he truly chose to change, to move on, he would need to change that somehow.

  To do that, he just might need a miracle.

  Who would be stupid enough to hang out with a scarecrow anyway?

  “Excuse me?”

  “Hmm?”

  Just as Somnu was scoffing inwardly at himself, a smooth and elegant voice made him turn his head to the side.

  He tried to force his eyes up to meet the person, but they seemed to stop just around her chin. At the very least, he was able to see her fixing the golden hair reaching just below the leather jacket covering her shoulders. Around her moving wrist was some kind of feather bracelet that seemed oddly familiar to him.

  For an instant, Somnu’s vision blurred again, but he quickly recovered.

  “Is this seat occupied?” She asked in a low tone.

  Huh? She wants to sit here? Next to me? Who is she? Forget that, score!

  “Hello?” The stranger added after not getting an answer.

  Dammit, I got distracted…

  “Yea… No, it’s not.” He answered, finally.

  “Oh, great! Can I sit here?” She asked again, her voice still music to his ears.

  Music that almost felt…

  “A-actually, you can have my window seat!” He blurted out, immediately getting on his feet.

  “!”

  Startled, the golden-haired girl tried to assure him.

  “W-wait! I’m fine sitting here!”

  She affirmed, but Somnu was already up and standing in the bus aisle next to her.

  “No, you can have it. This is my stop anyway.”

  He lied.

  Before waiting for a reply, he made his way to the bus door in the middle, it had already been open for a few seconds now.

  “?!”

  Just then, he stole a glimpse of two people getting on the bus from the front. Obvious siblings. A tall well-built guy around twenty years old and a shorter well-proportioned girl wearing glasses, the younger sister by a year.

  Crowshit! Not you two again… I’m not…

  “Somnu!”

  “Please, wait!”

  Like a fleeing cat, Somnu was already out of the bus, leaving the two unable to chase after him as the door closed behind him.

  Dammit! Did they have to be on the same bus? I was totally going to go back to hit on that beauty and get her number… She seems new to town.

  “...”

  I can’t face you… Not yet. He narrowed his eyes slightly. But maybe soon, I hope… I’m working on it, even though I just blew a perfectly good chance that fell into my lap…

  Watching the bus drive away without him, Somnu couldn’t help but hunch forward slightly.

  His next crow-scaring job was at least three bus stops away and waiting for the next bus might take over 15 minutes. Usually, there wasn’t much need for a bus in this town, but it was the busiest time of the year for Duskville, also occasionally known as Terror Town.

  That old geezer will definitely have something to say… I guess I’ll walk… Or run…

  He was fast on his feet, always had been. He was used to it.

  It was a change of plans, but he would rely on his feet instead of the bus today.

  Whether he knew it or not, everything that happened in a day was always for a reason.

  And although his day had started at midnight like any other day, he could never have guessed that it would be his last day.

  A murder of crows hovered in the air far above him, signaling the arrival of the blood moon…

  And Somnu’s nightmare.

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