𝐈. 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧

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Y̷̝̦͑ȍ̴̬͝u̶̦̟͆ͅr̵̠̍ ̸̤̝́͂͝d̷̦̂͊̐ë̴̛̹́á̵̦̌t̴́̄͘ͅḣ̷̩̅ ̴̼̊̐͂ẃ̸̮͕̓́i̵̤̐̅̈l̷̜̣̻̔̆l̷̗̪͔͆͒ ̶̡̗͍͛ḇ̷̍̿è̴̱͓͠ ̵̝͎̕î̴̘͓ǹ̶͇ ̶̮͌t̵͚̐̂h̵̭̭̟̀e̵̲̍̈́ ̸̧͕͖̃͋ḩ̴͔̈́͊̒ą̷͕̯́̅ń̸͈d̴̖̃͌s̵͙̳͗̐̅ ̴̡̡̖͐̀ő̶͎̒f̶̙́͂̚ ̴̗̚å̴̺͘̕ ̶͉̱̪͝m̸̱̍a̷̼͝n̷̖̓ ̸̤̱̗̈́̂i̵͉͎͈̊̇ñ̸̥͙͋ ̶͙͌̾a̵̼̚l̴̛̦͍̓ĺ̵͈̌͜ ̶̡̡͈̉̓b̷͔̝͎̃̿l̴͓͋̽̾ḁ̴̟̟̓̀͝c̸̢̬̉ķ̴̱͕͝.̷̨̥̬͛̉
——

Park Soomi

Echoing whispers. Incoherent words. It was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing, and yet the overlapping voices alone were enough to elicit a feeling of chaos and fear. I mindlessly ran around with no clue as to where I was going, searching for an escape that may not exist in a place that I couldn't visually perceive.

The voices were escalating in volume, causing my heart to beat faster. I couldn't comprehend a single word until one clear voice pierced through the jumbled noise.

"Your death will be in the hands of a man in all black." The words came out of nowhere, and then all went silent.

Until the sound of a blaring gunshot broke the eerie stillness.

My eyes snapped open, ears still ringing from the resonating crack of the bullet. Cold sweat dripped down my forehead as I clenched tightly onto the silk sheets beneath me, attempting to calm my pounding heart. The world around me warped back into reality, my mind coming to terms with the fact that everything had been a fabrication of my imagination.

What kind of nightmare was that? It felt so surreal, yet at the same time, it was the most authentic fear I had ever experienced.

The sun had yet to rise, but I didn't feel like going back to sleep and succumbing to the darkest depths of my mind.

Instead, I carefully got out of bed and cracked open the door, trying not to wake up my brother in the next room over.

It was going fine until my clumsy self tripped over the end table in our living room. The piece of furniture came crashing down with a resounding thud. As I scrambled in the dark to clean up the mess, the door behind me clicked open.

"Soomi? Is that you?" the voice groggily mumbled. I hastily got up as the light switched on.

"Sorry for waking you, Jimin." I saw him wipe the sleep from his eyes.

"No, it's cool. What are you doing up?"

"I'm just heading down to the café for some coffee and fresh air," I replied, leaving out the part about me being irked by a nightmare.

"At this hour? Do you want me to come with you?" His concern and protective side managed to peek through the drowsiness.

"I'll be fine. Besides, you should go back to bed since you were up so late."

"Hmm, okay, but be safe. Don't forget your phone."

"Don't worry, got it here." I waved it in the air. He nodded with half-lidded eyes before returning to his room.

A gentle, cool breeze greeted me as I walked outside. It felt nice, like an inviting blanket of comfort. It enticed me to abandon the car and walk to the café so that I could enjoy the breeze for longer, but the view of the dark sky brought me back to my senses.

After a few minutes of driving, I parked on a curb near the café.

Walking in, the aroma of freshly baked pastries and coffee filled the room. The establishment itself was void of people at this early hour other than one employee, the new barista who started working here a month or two back.

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