Turning the corner, my shoe skidded across the hard concrete ground, scraping some of the soles of my shoe off. I turned around with a quick jolt to look to the streetlight behind me.

Nothing. Once again, just my mind playing games with me. This wasn't the first time, and certainly not the last either. The thing I saw in nightmares was becoming real. It copied the movements I would make, copying the voices of the loved ones I once trusted. Family meant no more to me, nothing but a lost memory of childhood friends and birthdays, candle smoke filling our lungs.

It beckoned to me once more, its voice is hoarse and scratchy.

"Rocco." It commanded, "Come."

Its words reached my ears, becoming dark smoke, twisting around me, curling their tendrils around my throat. I felt numb. My head was clear, my objective comprehensible; to escape this nightmare.