We continued walking, more slowly this time, but I felt something had changed. It was as if Anais had released some of that weight she had been carrying, just as I had done by talking about my dream. We both understood each other in silence, and although the night remained cool and calm, in our hearts there seemed to be a bit more light.

  We walked at a slow pace, wrapped in the tranquility of the Roman night. Anais's words kept resonating in my mind, and with each step, I felt a mixture of gratitude and nervousness. I was willing to be completely honest with her, to tell her what was really happening to me. But before I could gather the courage to speak, something changed.

  First it was the air, which lost its usual warmth and became heavy, almost icy. The lights illuminating the city seemed to flicker, growing weaker with each instant. A fog began to form around us, snaking along the ground as if it had a life of its own. My steps faltered, and my entire body tensed instantly. That sensation... it was exactly the same as in my dream.

  "Anais..." I murmured, though my voice came out as a choked whisper.

  She turned toward me, her carefree face changing as she noticed the expression on mine. I wanted to say something, warn her, but before I could find the words, I saw it.

  In the distance, among the shadows cast by the park lights, there was a humanoid figure that was barely distinguishable, but impossible to ignore. It was as black as the night itself, as if it absorbed all the light around it. It walked slowly, with a purpose I couldn't understand, but did so with a disturbing calm. It had no face, at least not one I could recognize, but its presence was enough to make my skin crawl and my heart begin to beat uncontrollably.

  I clung to Anais on impulse, seeking to anchor myself to something, to someone. My breathing became increasingly irregular, as if the air was failing me. But worst of all was that no one else seemed to notice it. The people who remained in the park walked, laughed, lived their lives as if that thing didn't exist, as if I were trapped in a parallel reality that only I could see."Laira, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?" Anais's voice sounded increasingly worried, but it seemed so distant.

  I tried to respond, to do something, but my eyes couldn't tear themselves away from that figure moving slowly among the humans, as if it were searching for something... or someone.

  "Anais..." I managed to say in a thread of a voice.

  My friend shook my shoulders gently, trying to make me react. "Laira, look at me! What's happening?"

  I wanted to tell her what I was seeing, what I was feeling, but fear kept me paralyzed. All I could do was hold on tighter, as if that could protect me from whatever was stalking us from the distance.

  I couldn't keep watching it. Its figure, though distant, had something hypnotic about it, as if it trapped me in an invisible web of fear. I wanted to look away, but terror paralyzed me, nailing me in place.

  Why didn't anyone else see it? Was it possible that I was the only one aware of its presence? What was that thing... and why did it walk in such an unnatural way?

  Anais's voice momentarily pulled me from that trance. "Please react," she murmured, her tone charged with urgency and desperation. She didn't understand what was happening, but her voice helped anchor me, at least a little.

  Then, like an echo drilling into my mind, I heard that voice again. The same one from the dream. A whisper that resonated like a warning: "Don't look at it anymore." The intensity of its words was like a blow, and before I could react, the figure turned its face—or whatever it had instead of one—toward me. My heart stopped beating for a second. I thought it had seen me. I felt it in every fiber of my being.

  It was that same terror that finally forced me to move. I closed my eyes tightly, breaking the visual connection with the figure, praying it hadn't realized I was watching it. I felt Anais beside me, her sudden embrace enveloping me like a shield.

  "Laira," she whispered to me while turning me away from the fog, "we have to go. Now!"

  I didn't argue. I could barely breathe, but I followed her movements as she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the park with quick steps. Everything in my body trembled, and it wasn't just from the cold of the environment; it was from the sensation of being watched, followed, even as I tried to get away.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "What's happening?" I asked in a whisper, my voice broken by panic. "Did you see it? Did you hear something?"

  But Anais didn't respond immediately. Instead, her face was tense, with an unusual determination as she led me out of the park. "Come with me, Laira," she said finally. "It's getting late, and I can't let you go home like this. You'll stay with me tonight."

  Only when we left the park did I realize the air had changed. The fog had dissipated, the cold had subsided, and the atmosphere, though still dark, no longer seemed so oppressive. I felt how the weight on my chest began to ease, but the memory of what I had seen continued burning in my mind. Had it been real? Had I been daydreaming? The only thing I knew was that I no longer felt its presence, and for the first time, I could breathe.

  As we walked through the deserted streets toward Anais's apartment, I couldn't help but look back one last time. The city looked peaceful, illuminated by the warm lights that earlier seemed to be fading. But inside me, a small voice kept whispering: I hope it didn't see me.

  Upon arriving at Anais's apartment, a sensation of relief mixed with an inexplicable desperation hit me full force. My legs trembled as I crossed the door and, before I could contain myself, I felt how tears began to flow without permission. I turned toward Anais, hugging her with all the strength I had left, as if that act were the only thing keeping me connected to reality.

  "Thank you... really, thank you," I managed to say between sobs. I wasn't sure what exactly I was thanking her for—for not asking immediate questions, for not judging me, or simply for being there, being an anchor in the midst of my chaos.

  She didn't say anything at first, but I felt her place a hand on my back, a gesture that, despite her surprise, was full of warmth and understanding. Upon reaching her apartment, she guided me toward the sofa carefully, as if afraid I might break at any moment.

  "Stay here, I'm going to get you something to calm you down," she told me softly before disappearing into the kitchen.

  While I waited, my mind kept spinning. That voice... it was the same one from the dream, but this time it didn't sound like a warning, but like something warmer, more human. I didn't understand anything that was happening, and no matter how much I tried to analyze it, the details escaped through my fingers like sand.

  When Anais returned with a steaming cup of tea, she handed it to me without saying a word and sat beside me, observing with an intensity she rarely showed. I sipped some of the tea, feeling how the warmth began to calm me, though my hands still trembled slightly. For the first time in what seemed like a long time, the silence between us didn't feel uncomfortable, but necessary.

  After a few minutes, Anais finally broke the silence. Her tone was serious, much more than I had ever heard from her.

  "Laira," she began, choosing her words carefully, "what's happening to you? It's obvious that something is going on with you... something that goes far beyond the discouraged days you usually have. This is different. What is it? Please, tell me the truth."

  The way she said it, with that tone that mixed concern, made me feel as if I were at a crossroads. I had trusted Anais in many situations, but now... would it be right to tell her everything? What if I put her in danger? What if that thing—whatever it was I had seen in the park—decided to involve her too?

  I took a deep breath, staring at my cup of tea as if I could find the answers inside it. I didn't know if I was ready to tell her everything, but part of me knew that, if there was anyone I could trust, it was Anais.

  I breathed deeply, trying to gather the courage I needed to speak. The words seemed to churn in my throat, as if they feared the judgment they might receive. But then I looked at Anais, sitting beside me with her serious, patient expression, and something inside me clung to that security that only she could offer me. I knew I couldn't keep hiding it, not after everything that had happened today. So I steeled myself and began to speak.

  I told her about the phone, that phrase in Aramaic that appeared without explanation and how since then the voices hadn't stopped. I talked to her about the voice in my dream, the same one that had spoken to me in the classroom and that seemed to guide me, though I didn't know if for good or ill.

  And finally, I recounted what happened in the park: how the entire atmosphere changed, how the fog and cold made the air feel unbreathable, and how I saw something I couldn't explain, something that terrified me.

  The only thing I couldn't tell her was the description of that thing. Just thinking about it made my chest tighten and my hands begin to tremble again. I didn't want to relive it, didn't want to give it more space in my mind than it had already taken. So I simply summarized it as "a strange being." That was enough to convey the fear I felt in that moment.

  "I know it sounds like I'm going crazy," I commented, my gaze fixed on the floor. "But everything feels so real... I don't know what's happening to me."

  Anais remained silent while I spoke, her eyes fixed on me with an intensity I couldn't interpret. She didn't interrupt me once, just listened, allowing me to empty everything I was carrying inside. When I finished, I felt as if an enormous weight had fallen from my shoulders. I didn't know if she would believe me, but at least I had said what I needed to say.

  "Laira," Anais said suddenly, her voice softer than before, as if treading carefully. "Does this have anything to do with what happened a while back? With... what happened to you before?"

  "No, it has nothing to do with that, please, believe me," I responded immediately, the fear of being misunderstood threatening me.

  Now, it was her turn to respond...