Layers Of Nightmare

It was pretty late on a cold night, William was still reviewing some slides and notes from his lectures. Now that the end of semester had come close, many university students were spending their days studying in their room or nearby libraries.

William was one of those who liked to study at home. He sat on his chair, while his laptop and notebook sat side-by-side on his table.

"Goodnight Will."

A male voice suddenly resounded from outside his open room, it was his roommate, Marvin.

"Ah, yes, goodnight," replied William.

William stared at the clock on his laptop showing 22:48 and could not help but curse silently at his friend.

As a socioeconomic student, Marvin hardly had any exams to study for, while he, as a science student suffered at the end of every semester.

'Oh eight hours sleep, how I missed you!' William screamed internally.

Although his wary mind really d.e.s.i.r.ed to just go to bed right next to him, he decided to push his limit for a bit and keep on studying. It was not until the clock hit 01:12 did William yank his glasses off and smashed his head onto the pillow.

His eyelids were heavy, and studying more would be meaningless anyway as his brain was too tired. Fortunately, this week was the exam-preparation holiday week, so he could wake up late later…

…

Several unknown hours later, William woke up after feeling out his dry throat. He tried to reach out for the water glass on the table beside the bed, only to realize that he had forgotten to take it in the previous night. Now, he had no choice other than getting off his bed begrudgingly and went to the kitchen.

He staggered his way amidst the darkness, slowly opened his bedroom door, then went to the right where the kitchen was.

Although he was struggling to look for the glass and sink, his memory seemed to help a lot.

After tracing the top of the kitchen table carefully, he managed to grab the glass. He took another two steps forward to reach for the tap, turned it open and filled the glass to the brim, then drank greedily. Only after that, did he notice…

'Right, why is it so dark?'

Usually, even without turning on the lights, William was still able to see the surroundings through the city lights slipping through the balcony's window. But now, he could barely see the bottom half of his body.

'The heck?' William reached for the light switch of the kitchen behind him. But after trying it a few times, he found out that the electricity seemed to shut down.

He frowned, then decided to check out the city view by staggering toward the balcony beside the living room. Fortunately, the living room in his unit was within the same compartment with the kitchen –just to its left. So, he did not bump onto too many furniture in the process.

William reached for the curtain and peered through the glass door of the balcony. The sight was enough to make him gaped in shock.

"What the…"

It looked like someone had pasted a black screen outside the balcony. There was no city light, nor moon or stars in the sky; everything was pitch black. He opened the balcony door and reached out his hand. There was nothing but empty space outside.

"Well that was stupid," he mocked himself. After all, he lived on the 21st floor. Even an insane person would not be able to put something covering the whole balcony to begin with, and he knew that his roommate was not the type of person to do such silly prank.

He realized another weird thing, though. It seemed so quiet... too quiet in fact. There was no whistling wind, no sound from the nearby construction sites that he was familiar with, not even the faint sound of faraway vehicles' engine could be heard.

His frown deepened, but he decided not to think too much about it. Perhaps, it was just the climate change thing coincided with the electricity saving hours.

Once he locked the balcony door, William staggered back to his bedroom. He fumbled around the table by his bedside before finally finding what he was looking for.

'Got it!' He picked up his phone and unlocked the screen. 'Good thing I remembered to charge it last night.'

William then turned on the torch function and viola! He could finally see.

Having done so, he returned to the kitchen and living room to check if he had dropped something.

Due to habit, his left hand wandered to turn on the light switch next to his bedroom door when he passed it.

'Gah! Of course it won't-?!'

To his surprise, the light actually turned on like normal.

"F.u.c.k!"

He immediately dashed off to his friend's room. Why? Well, it would not be fair if he got confused alone wouldn't it? By waking Marvin up, at least they could share the confusion.

"Marvin!" He bashed on the door several times. "Wake up man! I need you to see this!"

And yet, there was not a single reply from behind the door.

William twitched his eye and a corner of his lips. 'Weird… Marvin isn't a heavy sleeper.'

Usually, this roommate of his would wake up even with the sound of the bathroom door opening, which was between their bedroom. Hence, William decided to pull down the door handle and open the door to check.

"Hey, I'm coming in."

The door creaked open as William entered the room with his phone torch. But then he saw that no one was inside!

"#@&!"

This had to be the strangest occurrence ever happening to him in his life. He knew full well that his roommate was not the type to go out past 10 p.m.. He wondered if he could post it on a certain forum to earn some internet points, but refrained from doing so as there was not even a signal on his phone! Heck, no one would buy this bullshit!

Exasperated, he turned around to return to his room. Before he left, he looked at the light switch in Marvin's bedroom and tried it a few times… yep, it did not work.

Back in his bedroom, William sat on his bed while trying to fiddle with his phone to try to at least get some signal. Though after trying a few times, he noticed that it was futile.

He put aside his phone, thinking, 'Shall I go back to sleep? However weird it is, I can see into it again when the sun rise…'

Deciding to sleep, William turned off the light, pulled up his blanket and wrapped it up neatly around him. But just as he closed his eyes…

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