Nightmare
He was standing in a cloud of dust. Disorientated, Adam looked around and tried to suck in every hint, every sound or shape that provided answers to the mess of questions already forming in his head. He tried to listen but the only thing he heard was his own rapid breath and the blood pulsing in his ears. He wanted to take a step, but his body wasn't responding when his mind willed his limbs to move. He tried to call out for help but when he opened his mouth, he formed the words but there was no sound coming out, no matter how hard he tried.
"Your fault." Adam slightly jumped as a voice to his right whispered something into his ear. "You lied, didn't you?" This time, it came from the left. With wide eyes, Adam searched around but he was still alone. The cloud of dust around him had almost settled now and with shock, he realized that he was standing in the middle of the street in Virginia city. Looking down his body, he saw that he was only wearing his nightshirt… again. People were walking past him but nobody seemed to be aware of him standing there all alone like a lost child. Suddenly there was a bloodcurdling, high-pitched scream to his left. Startled, he turned in the direction it came from and finally located it in a small alley next to the saloon. Despite being a bright and sunny day, the alley was dark and Adam could barely make out movements, accompanied by a little whimper drifting over to him. He moved closer to be able to see clearly what was going on. There were two shadows; One was strong and tall built, so Adam assumed it was a man. The other shadow was down on its knees in front of the man. It had a slender and delicate built and judging from the wasp waist and puffy dress skirt that had gathered on the floor around its knees like a cotton cloud, he assumed it was a woman. Thinking he had disturbed the two of them in a rather private moment, Adam was about to turn away, his cheeks tinged red, when he suddenly heard an alerting noise from the couple. It was a gasp, no… Rather the sound of choking. Someone was desperately trying to fill their lungs with air. Adam turned around sharply and stopped breathing for a few drawn out seconds as he could clearly make out, that the man had his huge hands tightly gripped around the woman's throat, squeezing, with what seemed to be inhuman strength, the life out of her tiny frame. And then, Adam just stood there, eyes wide open and fixed on the scenario in the alley, unable to move. His mind was screaming at him to go to them and save her, to fight for her life, to at least call for help, anything, but it was as if his body didn't belong to him anymore. He could only watch as her gasps stopped, her hands stopped clawing at the firm grip around her throat, her shoulders slumped and as the figure hovering over her finally released her, Adam watched as she crumbled to the floor in a lifeless heap. The man stood there for a while, examining his work while his chest rose and sank heavily. Then, he took something out of his pocket. It was fastened to his coat with a chain. He clicked it open and looked at it before clicking it shut again. He was about to put it back in his pocket when he stopped mid-motion and brought it up closer to his face again, clicking it open, looking at it and closing it before it finally went back in his pocket. Adam recognized it as a pocket watch and right then and there, Adam knew who the man was despite being hidden in the shadows. With his body finally kicking back in, Adam looked around and shouted at the people passing him by.
"Quick! Someone was murdered in this alley! The perpetrator is still there! We need to catch him! Look!" Adam screamed at the townsfolk close by but they weren't even batting an eye at his desperate cries. Why? Why was nobody helping him? Or even looking at him? But there was someone looking at him. Turning back to the alley, Adam saw that the man was staring at him. His head was still shielded from looks by the black shadows covering him and making him appear as a faceless monster, but Adam knew he had a face. It was a face everyone knew. The man straightened up threateningly one last time before he took off and Adam was about to chase after him when a painful grip on his shoulder held him back.
"What?!" Adam snapped, on the verge of exploding into the person's face who had held him back. He was in pursuit of a murderer; How could they stop him?! Ready to hand out a piece of his mind, Adam turned to the owner of the hand on his shoulder and froze immediately. The person behind him had no face. His mind went blank, the murderer forgotten. How was this possible? In the corner of his eyes, he saw more people approaching. They all had no faces. Feeling the panic slowly rise in his chest, Adam tried to retreat but the death-grip on his shoulder made it impossible. His eyes nervously darted from one faceless creature to the next as they came closer and closer…
"LIAR!" Hands were closing around his throat from behind him and then the world tilted and everything went still and black.