“Interesting, ain’t it, kid?” the old man sputtered, spittle flying out of his mouth.

  Eliam Edward sighed, trying his best to ignore the poor old man’s advice. He understood that the old man was just trying to help him, but it was unnecessary. At this point, he figured that Jericho was aware of this and just bothered Eliam for the hell of it.

  Jericho’s hunched-over figure visibly sank as he sighed, “Damn kids these days. I hope you’ll never end up hopeless like me.”

  Eliam scrunched his face. Why was he going around and calling himself hopeless? Jericho may have been annoying, but it was somewhat concerning to see him so down.

  Jericho stumbled out of the grocery store, leaving Eliam to wonder what had happened to him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do so for long as the next customer walked up from the checkout line.

  “Can’t you hurry up? I have kids at home waiting to be fed!” the middle-aged woman hissed.

  It took everything Eliam had not to tell her to shut up. Why couldn’t people recognize that everyone had their problems? It wasn’t his damn fault that she had decided to prepare dinner for her family last minute.

  He finished typing in the serial numbers for all the produce she brought him, and the woman left in a huff. Sometimes, Eliam was tempted to go slower than usual simply to aggravate the person more. He never did, but he could only imagine their reactions would be entertaining.

  “Eliam! Glad to see you working hard!” his manager, Sam, said as he walked by.

  Eliam fought the temptation to roll his eyes. Instead, he gave Sam a tight smile, which seemed to satisfy him.

  Thankfully, his shift would be ending in a few minutes, and the next person would take over. He much preferred the morning shifts such as these as they allowed him to have the rest of his day to relax. Whenever he had night shifts, he ended up sleeping in and waking up just to go to work.

  As soon as the clock ticked to one, he saw his replacement walking over. Melany was a blonde and petite woman who seemed to be much too mature to be working as a grocery clerk. Eliam knew firsthand how little he got paid here, and he couldn’t imagine that it would be much better for her.

  “How’s your day been?” she asked as soon as she noticed him glancing at her.

  “Fine,” he responded dully. What else was he going to say?

  She nodded and promptly took over his spot. That was the one thing he did like about Melany. She didn’t try to stall like some of the other employees.

  He gave the usual heads-up to Sam and quickly left after that. There was absolutely no reason to continue staying after his shift.

  He walked out to the back parking lot and got into his beater Chevy Silverado. It wasn’t in great condition, but it worked well enough. He couldn’t afford anything else anyway. He plugged the keys into the car and started it up to nothing. He tried again, and this time, the loud engine chugged away.

  He pulled out of the lot and onto the street. It would be a boring ride home, as always.

  ***

  As he pulled into his driveway, he noticed an extra car. That was not a good sign.

  He quickly hopped out of his car and walked into his house.

  “Oh… uh, Eliam, you’re home early…” his mom stuttered. Next to her was a deceitfully friendly-looking man. His father. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

  He glared at her and stormed upstairs to his room without a word. What a joke. She had promised him that she would stop letting that man back in here. Yet, he always came back. His mother continued to listen to his father’s meaningless promises that he would stop drinking. Sure, he wouldn’t for around a week, and then he would go right back at it. It wouldn’t be long after that until he started screaming at them again.

  “Eliam… is that you?” a soft voice called out to him.

  He turned to find his younger brother peeking out from his room. Unlike Eliam, his father’s presence didn’t anger him. It scared him half to death.

  “Yeah, it is Max,” Eliam said with a sigh.

  “Is he… still here?” Max shuddered.

  Eliam nodded. “Relax, I’ll make sure nothing happens, alright?”

  Max nodded, although it was clear he wasn’t convinced. Eliam knew this, yet there was nothing he could do.

  He sighed as he dragged himself back to his room. It was tiny, but at least it was his own. It wasn’t always like that, but ever since his sister moved out, he was able to have his own space. His sister was older than them and shared a similar sentiment. Right as she turned eighteen, she moved out immediately. He hadn’t spoken with her since.

  Eliam was planning to do the same. He may have been seventeen; however, his birthday was in just a few days. There wouldn’t be any celebrations or anything of the sort. Well, maybe he’ll take his brother out and do something. Besides that, he will just be preparing to move out and get an apartment on his own. He had been saving up for a long time, and he had enough to sustain himself for a long while.

  The image of his brother filled his head for a moment, prompting him to release a sigh. He almost felt like he would be abandoning him. He doubted his mother would put an end to her miserable pattern with his father, not even for her kids. Max would have to live through that all alone.

  Well, it’s not like Eliam was dying or anything. He just wouldn’t constantly be there to support Sam.

  “Eliam?” Max said, right outside his door.

  “Jesus Christ Maria, I’m just having a sip! Fuck!” his father’s voice echoed from below.

  “And so it starts…” Eliam said to himself with a sigh. He was about to put his headphones on when a slight knock at his door startled him.

  “Eliam… can I come in?” Max’s soft voice asked.

  Eliam frowned as he let Max inside. Max may have been ten by now, but his parents’ arguments still scared him half to death.

  “You can… but you gotta get used to it, Max. What are you going to do when I leave here?” Eliam asked.

  Max stared at the ground, fearing dancing at his shoulders. He knew that Eliam would be leaving soon.

  “I know I have to be stronger, Eliam… but I can’t! Please don’t leave me here alone!” Max cried.

  Eliam grimaced but shook his head all the same. “I’m sorry, bud. It’s not just you who’s slowly going insane here.”

  Max’s face welled up with tears as he turned to face the corner. Perhaps he would have left; however, the argument their parents were having banished such thoughts from his mind.

  “Fuck you bitch! You were probably hoeing around while I was gone. Don’t even try to lie to me!” his father roared.

  “Excuse me, Christian? What the fuck is wrong with you? I work my ass off for these kids of ours while you sit around and drink! Go fuck yourself!” his mother screamed back.

  Eliam sighed as the argument continued for hours.

  ***

  “What do you mean the coupon doesn’t work? Your app said it would!” The old woman cried.

  “As I said, the coupon expired two months ago. It no longer works.” Eliam said with a frown.

  “That’s ludicrous! The person that I usually go to always lets me redeem it!” she continued.

  “Well, they are wrong,” Eliam said.

  “Bring me a manager!” the woman growled.

  Eliam sighed and called in Sam. Moments later, Sam walked up to them.

  “What can I help you with today?” he asked with a magnificent smile.

  “He won’t let me redeem my coupon!” she said with a huff.

  Sam took a look at the coupon she was holding and smiled. “Hm, I’ll have that redeemed for you right away!

  Eliam subtly rolled his eyes. He wasn’t surprised at Sam’s blatant disregard for policy. He wanted to maintain the store’s image. Unfortunately, this meant screwing Eliam over in the process.

  “Thank you, sir… you’d better teach your employees what your rules are. This one seems to be in the dark.

  “I will make sure to do so.” Sam laughed.

  The woman nodded and left in a hurry. After waiting for the woman to leave, Sam glanced at Eliam, gave him a quick smile, and went back to his business. Of course, he wasn’t actually going to be lecturing anyone.

  He turned his attention to the setting sun. He had been called in to work a later shift today. Apparently, someone called out of their shift, making Sam desperate for someone to fill it in. Despite preferring mornings, Eliam still needed money, so he readily accepted.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea since Eliam didn’t get much sleep that last night, but whatever. Still, he wanted the big paycheck since he would be turning eighteen the next day.

  Thankfully, the rest of the night went smoothly, and Eliam was even able to be sent home early. He hopped into his beater car and left the empty parking lot.

  His thoughts continuously went back to the fact that his father was still staying with them, and his mother continued to let him have his way. She always went from banning his father from alcohol to allowing a little bit. Soon, that would turn into whatever he wants as long as he swears he can ‘handle’ it. What a joke.

  As he drove, Eliam caught a glimpse of a familiar face on the sidewalk. It was Jericho. What was that old man doing out this late?

  He slowed down to get a better look at him. He wasn’t worried about holding up traffic as there was no one on the streets as far as he could see. It was rather late.

  He watched as Jericho walked down the street in a hurry. He was a hell of a lot more mobile than whenever he saw him at the grocery store. Suddenly, another man came into Eliam’s vision. He seemed to be trailing behind Jericho suspiciously. Was the old man being chased?

  Eliam considered calling the police but wrote it off. He had no proof of anything yet. For all he knew, the two men were completely unrelated.

  That thought process was quickly shut down.

  As the man got closer, Jericho swung around and slammed his fist into the man’s face. There was no time to dodge or anything of the sort. He was down just like that.

  “What the fuck?” Eliam shouted to himself. Was that really Jericho?

  He tried to get a closer look, but it was dark. He couldn’t confirm anything.

  The blaring sound of a horn snapped Eliam back to his senses as he focused back on driving. Unfortunately, he was currently on the wrong side of the road, and there was a huge truck right in front of him. There was no time to move.

  The truck slammed into Eliam’s car and crumpled it completely. Eliam jerked forward straight into the airbag while the car roof nearly collapsed onto his head.

  Hanging on to a shred of consciousness, he glanced over at Jericho, who was staring at him with a frown.

  “Shit,” he muttered as he felt his brain shut off.

  ***

  A gust of dry air slowly awakened Eliam. It was odd because the last time he checked, he was in Florida.

  He picked himself off the floor, his hands pushing hard on the rugged terrain. Around him were countless cliffs and canyons, all of which were completely barren. There was not a single plant anywhere in sight. Directly behind him was a massive cliff, only adding to the atmosphere.

  At this point, Eliam figured that he must have been dreaming. There was no way that he had gotten transported to wherever the hell he was. It simply wasn’t possible.

  Unfortunately for Eliam, he didn’t have time to be dreaming like this. He was supposed to be moving out soon, and he would much rather do that. He was well aware that dreaming didn’t work like that, but he didn’t care. He was leaving.

  Unfortunately, all the worthless tricks he had seen on TV seemed not to work. All pinching himself did was put him in a lot of pain since he did it considerably hard.

  As soon as he realized he was stuck, he decided to start walking around. There was no point in stagnating in one spot.

  He took a few steps forward and realized that he had three choices. He could go into the canyon straight ahead of him, to the cave that was to his left, and to the relatively tighter-looking canyon to his right.

  He figured that he might as well go straight. It seemed to be the most open and had the most potential to lead to something relatively interesting.

  He sighed as he moved forward, waiting for something to happen. He hardly remembered dreaming in the past.

  Soon, the canyon he was walking in started to get tighter and close off. Eliam kept edging forward, fearing that this long walk was for nothing.

  Yet, as he continued, he eventually saw a small hole where the canyon converged. He silently slipped through it and gasped. He had expected to enter some sort of small dark cave, but instead, the area was insurmountably large.

  Bright orbs of light were embedded into the sides and roof of the large opening to provide light. In the center was a large cathedral that seemed akin to the gothic ones he had seen only in pictures. It was grand. That was simply the only way he could find to describe it.

  He slowly walked toward the cathedral and observed its surroundings. Everything was completely still and seemingly lifeless. He gradually neared the large entrance and went inside.

  The design of the inside was just as magnificent as the outside. He couldn’t see as much detail as he would have liked as it was all rather dark inside, but he could see enough to tell that it was breathtaking.

  As he continued, he noticed statues of various people and creatures. He wasn’t sure what they were, but he could tell they were not human. There was strange writing that likely described what they were, but he couldn’t read it.

  How did his brain come up with all of this? The level of detail he was observing was insane. The only dreams he remembered from his past were blurry images of places he went to or saw every day. Never anything like this.

  Soon, he neared the end of the building. There was an empty altar, along with more intricate statues. There was also a large mural on the wall. From what Eliam could tell, there was a group of colorful people fighting off a humanoid creature with strands of darkness flowing off it.

  There were four people in total, and each of them had something unique about them. One used a katana with some sort of blue beam coming off it. Another utilized a humongous great sword that almost seemed impossibly large. Another was pointing a bow at the creature, with small spears of light emanating from it. Finally, the last person waved around a distinct wand. Out of the wand spew a great wall of flames, encircling the creature.

  It was all very interesting, but Eliam was becoming increasingly concerned. There was so much detail behind everything he was looking at. Clearly, there was also lore behind this odd existence since there was a plethora of writing everywhere, but he just could not read it.

  Although he may have reached the end of the cathedral, that was just on this floor. Eliam could see staircases that led to another above this one. He could also see a single staircase behind the altar that led to some sort of space below.

  He decided to continue his exploration on the second floor first. Basements were always creepy to him, and he would have preferred to avoid that encounter.

  Eliam climbed up the fancy stairs and ended up on a sort of balcony that overlooked the first floor. There was even more artwork up there, but besides that, it wasn’t anything different from what he saw on the first. He sighed as he glanced at the stairs that led to the basement. He really didn’t want to go down there.

  Yet, there was nowhere else to go, and Eliam also didn’t want to walk back to the intersection where he started. Plus, it was all just a dream, so what was the harm in going?

  He sighed, prepared himself, and walked back down until he was right in front of the stairs that went downward. Telling himself it was all a dream, he slowly made his way down. Surprisingly, the quality of the architecture around him did not deteriorate. Actually, it almost seemed to be getting even nicer.

  After a few minutes of descending, he finally reached the bottom. He entered a hall that had an opening at the end of it. However, there were various rooms before that. He spent some time investigating each one of them but did not find anything interesting. Only dusty tools remained in them.

  Feeling a bit frustrated at the lack of anything substantial, he ended up going straight to the exit at the end of the hall.

  As soon as Elaim entered, he almost seemed to be in an entirely different place. Specifically, his surroundings had become very dungeon-like. Great, this was just what he had feared. He turned to go back; however, right as he did, a subtle shaking started.

  He looked at the entrance, and suddenly, a bony hand shot out of the ground. Slowly, the hand pulled itself out, revealing a bare skull.

  Eliam stared at it for a second before quickly gathering his senses and hightailing it out of there. In hindsight, he should have probably gone over or around the skeleton to retreat out of the dungeon. Unfortunately, his instincts took him the opposite way.

  As Eliam ran, more and more of those skeletons started to pop up. The dungeon started to open up into multiple twists and turns, so he just went in whatever direction. A stream of fire suddenly blocked the path he was going, causing him to nearly stumble into it. He gulped as he heard a storm of rattling behind him, no doubt a large group of skeletons coming his way.

  He clenched his fists as he took a few steps back and jumped over the fire beam, missing it by only a few inches. He turned back only to watch the skeletons do as he did and jump over the beam.

  “What the hell is going on?” he cried as he began to sprint again.

  This odd dream had quickly turned into some sort of nightmare, and Eliam was not okay with it. Another hand shot out of the ground, causing Eliam to trip. This ended up saving him as a razor-sharp boomerang came ripping toward him from some sort of gleaming shadow creature in the distance.

  He quickly smashed the hand holding him onto the ground, but it held onto him tightly. He frantically slapped at it until it finally let go. He continued to run desperately, hoping for just something to go right. His only hope was to find the exit or perhaps loop back around to the entrance.

  Suddenly, a loud screech shredded Eliam's ears as he instinctively rolled to the side. It was a good thing he did since a large crash sounded in the place he was just at. He quickly pulled himself up to come face to face with a huge skeleton rat.

  He screamed as he backed away and fled into a small tunnel the rat couldn’t follow him into. He kept running until he fell through a hole in the floor and landed on his ass.

  “What the fuck! Just let me wake up already!” he cried, knowing that it was of no use.

  He took a moment to breathe since nothing seemed to be attacking him and slowly pulled himself back up. He gingerly walked through the tunnel until he once again entered a large clearing. The room was largely empty besides a door in the corner and the blue handle of a katana sticking out of some sort of altar.

  He slowly investigated the area, praying that he was finally safe. He had no idea how he had managed to escape that literal hell hole alive, but he had a feeling that he would not be able to repeat that run. If it were not for his ungodly luck, this nightmare would have gone in an entirely different direction.

  He glanced at the sword for a moment, but it was pretty clear that pulling it out would be a trap of some sort. He would most definitely not be going anywhere near that sword. In fact, that door looks much more appealing to him.

  He scampered off toward it, and right as he was about to pull it open, something odd happened.

  “Hmm, you aren’t going to try to take it?” a curious feminine voice sounded.

  Eliam slowly turned around to find himself face to face with a sharp-eyed woman. She was dressed in priest garbs and had light blue hair cascading down her face. Her eyes were yellow and almost lifeless. It didn’t help that her skin looked like it had seen the sun for ages; she was sickly pale.

  Eliam knew that was a silly thing to think, yet he couldn’t help it. Something was definitely very off about her.

  “I have no interest in that sword or this place… or anything here for that matter. I would really like to just leave!” he stated.

  The woman stared at him for a moment, likely surprised at his confession. Soon, her look of surprise shifted into one of amusement.

  “What makes you think I would just let you leave like that? You do know where the sword is after all. I apologize, but it would be foolish for me to let you live with this knowledge,” she responded.

  “I don’t intend on telling anyone. I simply would like to leave and forget about this place,” Eliam said.

  The woman grinned. “You could easily be lying. You could even simply choose to change your mind. I’m sorry, but you’re too much of a liability now. Congratulations, you found the secret. Now, prepare yourself…”

  “Secret? Wait… hold on!” Eliam cried as he watched the woman walk up to the blue sword and pull it out.

  With a flash, the pale woman released the sword from the altar and pointed it at Eliam. Her eyes narrowed at her target, and she moved.

  Eliam didn’t even have time to blink. In an incomprehensible amount of time, the woman crossed the room and impaled him in the chest.

  He stumbled backward as blood started leaking from his mouth. He tried to speak, but the amount of pain he was going through was nothing like he had ever felt before. He couldn’t form a thought, let alone words.

  “Pathetic.” The woman pulled the sword out of Eliam and whipped it to the side so as to fling the blood off the blade.

  Eliam stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before falling to his knees. He found his thoughts becoming slower as warmth leaked from his body. He was dying.

  Wait…

  Wasn’t this just a dream?

  Eliam smirked as he felt himself slipping away. Yeah, that’s right. It was all just a dream. A really bad dream.