Lloyd stared at the ceiling, refusing to close his eyes.

It wasn't that he wasn't sleepy, but he really didn't want to sleep. Not that he knew why. Usually sleep was the best part of his routine. Especially after a bad day. It was a way to escape reality, just for a little while.

Yet, here he was, eyes getting watery as he struggled not to blink. Quite silly, when he thought about it. Heck, even if he didn't think about it, it was still really silly. He just wanted to sleep. It got darker and his eyelids slowly got heavier. No. He didn't want to sleep. Who needs sleep anyways?

His room filled with low whispers. Voices speaking, as far as he could tell, gibberish, were coming from all around him. He quickly opened his eyes. The voices stopped immediately. He wrote it off as a dream. Damn it. He'd fallen asleep.

Why wasn't he supposed to do that again?

He couldn't remember. He picked up his phone to see how long he'd been sleeping. It was exactly 03.00 AM. Curse. There was still three hours till school. He didn't even feel tired. More like the opposite.

How long had he been sleeping again?

He had no idea when he'd fallen asleep. Maybe around midnight? Probably. He sighed. There was no way he'd fall back asleep, he felt way too awake. Three hours was enough sleep, right?

He made a motion to sit up, but stopped midways. He had noticed the black figure in the corner. Or- maybe he just now realised that it wasn't supposed to be there. He stared at the figure with wide eyes. An uncertain wave of unease rushing over him. Then it started moving towards him.

Lloyd had always joked that he'd be the last to die in a horror movie, because certainly he'd know to run if something that looked slightly threatening started moving towards you in a dark room, yet here he was, not moving an inch. Just starring in horror as the figure moved closer and closer to his bed. The figure didn't get clearer as it came closer. It was just that, a figure. A shadow.

It grabbed around his wrists and crawled upon him, pushing him down. He couldn't feel the figure itself. Just the coldness spreading from it. It pressed itself against him. Clawing it's nails into his wrist. He tried to yell, but he didn't have air. Tried to breathe, but got nothing. It was getting colder.

Then everything became dark.

He felt ice cold water getting thrown in his face and he bolted up hoping his mom wouldn't see it necessary to fill another bucket. Then he froze. He wasn't soaking wet, and his mom wasn't there. His room was dark and empty. He reached for his phone and checked the time.

02:59 AM.

He sucked in a sharp breath as he remembered everything that had just occurred.

But it haven't even been 03:00 AM yet. He thought. It was just a dream. He looked at the seconds on the watch of the phone ticking closer to 03:00 AM. His heart started to beat faster the closer it got.

Screw this, dream or not. He thought as he jumped out of bed, ran towards his door, slammed it shut behind him and leaned against it to keep it shut. He let out a shaky breath of relief.

Dream or not dream. He'd made it out.

"Lloyd?" He jumped at the sound of his mom's voice. Then he sighed in relief as he recognized her and figured she'd awoken at the sound of the slamming door. "Lloyd, sweetie, what are you doing? Are you okay?" Her voice was soaking in worry, and Lloyd felt guilty. He'd worried her again. She didn't have any reason to worry thought, right? He was fine.

Then Lloyd suddenly became aware of how weird this situation must seem. Not to speak of the fact that it wasn't even 12 hours since she'd came home to him in the middle of the living room, just talking gibberish, only for him to remember nothing of it. Gosh, she must think I'm going insane. Lloyd thought, as he slowly stepped away from the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine, mom. No need to worry." Crap, his voice was shaky.

Her expression softened. "Nightmare?" He just nodded, and she pulled him into a hug. He let out a shaky breath he didn't even realised he'd been holding. "Can I sleep in your room tonight?"

"Of course-" His mom rubbed his back. "Lloyd, are you sure everything is alright?" He nodded, even though he suddenly felt like nothing was right at all. His door had cracked open a little bit. He pulled away and went to collect his stuff, even though he really didn't feel like going back into his room.

He reached out to open the door fully, but froze with his hand on the doorknob.

"Lloyd," His mother's voice sounded fearful. "what happened to your wrist?" He felt a wave of anxiety wash over him, yet again as he checked his phone. The clock still showing 02:59 AM. He threw a quick glance on the clock on the wall. 04:15 AM.

"Lloyd?"