Seulgi was having a restless night physically and metaphorically, trashing about the bed and moaning. Suki had seen her human do this before. Not too often, but enough to know that trying to help by staying next to her human and purring into her subconscious would not work. Being a modestly rational being, she chose the path of wisdom and jumped off the bed before she got flung off.

  Looking over her shoulder, she knew this one would st a while. So, the cat chose to jump up on the back of the couch and watch her human from afar.

  Seulgi was indeed in the midst of a nightmare. A particurly virulent one, at that.

  Seulgi was trapped in a kaleidoscope of images that cycled from her friends being hurt, an unknown yet familiar presence that was always just a shadow away, bodies and body parts of people she had known or had met. The threat was always looming behind her in a shadow. The smell of blood and viscera was the thing perfume. The thing in the shadows would toss bodies and parts of bodies at her making her always weary and wary in ways she had not thought were possible.

  She was tired, in her dream world, but she could not stop. The shadows were always just behind her. Even in the brightest room, she would still make a shadow, so it was always there. Hidden. Waiting. Patient as a stone.

  Inside her dream, her heroes showed up. Immaterial being made of light came to hug her and give her respite. These super-luminous beings surrounded her, nearly touching. They did stand close enough that she fell to the ground in exhaustion. Even in her dream, she fell asleep. Once the nightmare subsided, the three spoke without words. Two of the three flittered off, once again being about their business.

  The third was half again rger than its companions. Its brightness could be measured by sor luminosity. If this being managed to break out of her dream and visit the waking world, the Earth would have evaporated in seconds. In her dream, she still felt a genial warmth that soothed her scarred psyche.

  Any nightmare beast would be incinerated in less than a second if it bathes in this divine light. Oddly enough Suki had her own ‘light beast’ when she dreamed, too. She would shamelessly occupy this Light for hours while basking in its radiant heat. What could the being do with this hedonistic cat? It was used to it, so it would just stroke her with its non-existent hand, spreading nuclear warmth across this cat’s back.

  Not being given to introspection, this was just how things ought to be according to Suki. So, she accepted that this was just how it was supposed to be and didn’t overthink it.

  Seulgi, on the other hand, was effectively doing the same thing, just at a lower level. She was asleep in her dream, still basking in protection and heat. She would flip in both her sleep and her dream to match her position in her dream and her bed.

  Seulgi would have been very much like her cat and just accepted it if she knew what she did. She would have had just as much care as well. It just was. Seulgi was given to more introspection than the cat, but when it came to soul-searching dreams, she didn’t bother. She just accepted what was good and discarded the nightmare fuel when she could. Some stuff stayed, everything else melted like snow in sunlight.

  And thus passed a few hours until her stomach woke her up just before dinner time came around. It was not the most pleasant couple of hours, but she’s had worse. Not that she wanted to relive those moments. She put those thoughts on the mental back burner and got up to get something to eat, so she could go to bed,

  She chuckled at herself for that thought.

  Before she started anything, she went to the bathroom to expel some doubt.

  Once done, she moseyed into the kitchen and started rummaging to find something more interesting than toast. She thought that she could get away with making some soup from a can rather than making it from scratch she normally could and would. After this week, she thought that pampering herself was in order.

  She got out a soup pot, a spoon, and a can of soup. She put the soup in the pot, put some water in the can, and then added that to the soup in the pot and lit the fire on the stove. Still having some self-pride, she added flourishes to make it more homey and taste a bit better. She might not be willing to go all out, but she could still add some touches.

  While the soup was heating, she thought that she ought to check on people. So, she got her cell phone from the bedroom and went to plop on the couch. She made a note of the time so she could evenly space time between getting back up and stirring the soup.

  First, she called Katie, as this would likely be the shortest call. Not because she didn’t like the girl, but because she didn’t really know her. Katie picked up the phone on the third ring. Yes, she made it home without any problems. There were no sketchy people around when she got home. She had notified her apartment security of the need to be more observant but did not give them too many details. Everything was locked, secured, and safe. She was currently wrapped up in her favorite onesie, a comforter, and a pint of ice cream. There was a K-drama pying when she called, so she let the girl go so she could keep watching the show.

  Nayeon was doing pretty much the same thing as Katie, except in pajamas instead of a onesie and watching a comedy. Other than that, it was nearly the same conversation. And it was over just as fast.

  Yeji answered the phone, huffing and puffing. She was working out instead of scking off. Seulgi scolded her at the notion of her working out. She replied not to worry as it was leg day, so not using her hand. They both knew that was an evasion as the blood pressure rise alone could re-open the stitches on her hand. But, they both pretended that they didn’t know this.

  She pulled her soup off the heat and poured it into a bowl inhaling the heady scent.

  She called Soo-Young, she needed to see if the girl would answer the phone. This time she did. Soo-Young was going to call her after her shift was over. Seulgi could hear the tail-tale sounds of the kitchen, orders being made, pced, and sent out. The cnking of pted and bowls said where she was. Seulgi knew that she didn’t have time to chat, so asked her to call immediately when she was off work. Soo-Young said that she would and rang off.

  That was a load off her mind.

  She called Joo-Hyun next. Just like Yeji and Nayeon, she was already in for the night. However, she was reading a book. She agreed with 1950’s American comedian, Groucho Marx, who said ‘I find television very educational. Every time someone turns a TV on, I open a book.’ She was ready with a few questions.

  First and foremost: What was going on? That opened the floodgates. Seulgi was getting tired of repeating herself, however, JooHyun deserved the full story, so Seulgi delivered it. There was a lot that was not pertinent to her so Seulgi glossed over those bits. After about two hours, or one hundred and twenty-two chapters, worth of information, JooHyun was satisfied with what was told her.

  Further questions revolved around things that had no answer. Who was it? How long has this been going on? How long will they need to keep this up? Would this person go after Soo-Young and her as well? Seulgi had no answers and told her as much. She can only guess so much about the mind of a psychopath. And even if she had an intelligent guess, it does not mean that she’ll be right. That’s the problem with trying to guess what this person is thinking.

  At this point, there was a banging on Seulgi’s door. It got louder after a second. Seulgi let out a cry of surprise and dropped the phone. A tiny “Seulgi? Seulgi!” came from the phone as she got up and went towards the door.

  She crept up to the door, freezing when the knock came a third time. She opened the door’s camera and saw half of a bck coat and nothing else – the person was too close to the camera to see a face.