The gentle morning sunlight awoke Phil from his sleep, he carefully placed the sextant that was still in his hands back to its wooden box. His body started to creak due to sleeping while sitting down, Phil stood up and started to stretch when he noticed that there was something inside his pocket.
Reaching inside his pocket, Phil pulled out a small pile of fine white dust.
Strange Phil thought as he did not remember putting such a thing inside his pocket.
'That's...marble...gone...no soul...'
A voice spoke inside his head but like calling someone inside a deep tunnel, the voice was muffled and broken.
'En, is that you?'
'Yes...look...bar...'
Phil was confused at what En wanted to say when he noticed his energy bar.
(1/1)
'What? En what happened to my energy bar?'
'Incomplete...broken...reality...I...sleep...'
Phil was about to celebrate and experiment on how his power affects the real world when reality slap him across his cheeks.
'Dang it, I can't use my power in the real world then.'
Taking a small plastic bag out of his drawer, Phil carefully collected the fine white dust and stored it inside his secret cabinet. He got what En wanted to try and say, Phil knew that the fine white powder was the marble after it had sacrificed itself to him. Phil remembered what En told him that he will know after he returned to the real world what had happened to the marble. Deciding to at least respect the thing that basically saved his life, Phil kept the white dust as a memorial for the marble. Phil decided to buy a container to put the white dust like an urn so that he can store it and if there was a repeat of what had happened in his dream then he could store it inside the urn as well, even though he hated for such thing to happen again.
Phil sighed and slowly headed towards the dining room and was about to prepare for breakfast.
But when he arrived at the last landing of the stairs, he froze. Phil heard that there was someone in the kitchen, the sound of chopping and the gurgling of water can be heard from where he was standing. Phil started to walk back and get to his parent's room wanting to call the authorities for a possible break-in.
The floorboards creaked as Phil stepped on them, the sound of chopping suddenly stopped and the rapid sound of footsteps can be heard. Phil prepared for a fight, ready to duke it out with the intruder.
Phil's heartbeat started to rise when he heard the intruder quickly getting nearer, he knows that he could not use his powers and that there might be a possibility for him to be greatly injured by the encounter. Phil raised his arms ready to punch when he finally saw the intruder. Phil quickly released his tense mood and relaxed when he saw it was just Sonja.
Confused about why she was inside and how she entered his house, Phil wanted to ask Sonja when suddenly Sonja lept at Phil and embraced him.
Phil raised both of his arms not knowing what to do in the situation he has found himself in. Phil looked at Sonja who was hugging him, he noticed that she was lacking sleep since there were noticeable bags under her eyes.
After a minute Phil patted Sonja's head wanting her to release him.
"Hey Sonj, I think you should release me now."
"No, you might not return again."
"Uhm what's wrong with you?"
Hearing Phil's question, Sonja pushed him away from her, anger can be seen on her face.
"What's wrong? You're what's wrong."
Sonja started slapping Phil's arm.
"You said that we will go to school together. But I waited and waited but you never came."
Tears started to run down her face.
"After the school was over I came to your house and knocked on your door, but you didn't answer. I tried opening it and it was unlocked so I just came in. I searched for you inside and saw you sleeping, I wanted to prank you but no matter what I do you never woke up."
Sonja slowed her hits towards Phil, she started bawling in front of Phil and looked at him.
"I thought you will never wake up again. I thought you end up becoming like Eric's mother."
Phil sadly looked at Sonja who was crying, he knew that if he ever failed the encounter with nightmare origin, then what Sonja said might become true. His soul will be forever trapped inside the plains of sleep while his body, in reality, will be in eternal sleep.
Phil decided to calm Sonja down and hugged her.
"Don't worry Sonj, everything is fine."
He pats her back and escorted her towards the sofa, Phil took a glass of water and gave it to Sonja who was slowly recovering from her breakdown.
"Are you okay now Sonj?"
Phil smiled stiffly at her, not really knowing what to do in these kinds of situations. Sonja nodded at Phil her face slowly turning red, she could not believe how she just cried her heart out in front of Phil. The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward since both Sonja and Phil did not speak.
The room was quiet, Sonja stared at the glass of water Phil gave her while Phil stared at the floor glancing at Sonja from time to time.
'PSSHHHHHH'
Surprised and remembering that she was cooking, Sonja quickly stood up and raced towards the kitchen. The soup she was cooking had boiled and overflowed. Phil breathes out escaping the awkward atmosphere, Phil moved towards the kitchen intending to help Sonja prepare breakfast.
Phil was arranging the table when he remembered what Sonja just said.
"Hey Sonj, how long was I asleep?"
"It's been two days, I would have called a doctor and informed your parent if you did not wake up today. Even my parent did not know about it, I told them that I was going to a classmate's house for a project and I will stay overnight."
Phil nodded.
"How about Eric?"
"I did not tell him, he might think that it was because of him that you couldn't wake up and blame himself, he already has his mother to think about, and that alone is stressing him."
After the two of them had breakfast, Phil decided to skip his school for the morning while Sonja decided to rest for half a day since she was sleep-deprived waiting all night for Phil to wake up. Phil escorted Sonja home knowing that both her parents had already gone to work. He knows that if Mrs. Smith sees him not going to school, his ears would bleed due to her scolding, and that's not all, after the scolding Mrs. Smith would definitely call his parents and that would be another round of punishment.
"See you at lunch, this time we will go to school together."
Phil promised Sonja who nodded and smiled at him despite being sleepy and tired.
Phil went home and washed the dishes they had used during breakfast. He was thinking about how he had fallen asleep for 2 days, and what might have happened to Annie after she woke up. Phil knew she would be sad waking up without her mother by her side and returning to her bastard of a father. Phil clenched his fist and punched the air, he wanted to deliver a straight punch towards Annie's father's face, it might be because he knew how Annie's father treated her or just because he was pummeled until his bones were broken by the nightmare origin that had the face of Annie's father.
Phil sighed, he wanted to know what happened to Annie after she woke up, but due to the circumstances, he had forgotten to ask Annie where she was living. Phil really wanted to help her and see to it that Annie's dad will receive punishment for his crimes, he wanted to call Annie's grandmother and tell her what was really happening to Annie, but sadly he could not do anything.
'Why was it Annie's father anyway? Is it because Annie is afraid of her father. And why spider? Was Annie afraid of spiders?'
Phil went upstairs and took his notebook where he wrote down the findings he found inside the abyss. He wrote down his question wanting to ask En about it when he return to the plains of sleep. He looked at his energy bar which was only at 1 point, he frowned wanting to get answers then and there but En could not be contacted after his last inquiries.
Phil opened his drawer and took the energy bar he had saved inside and proceeded to eat it, but to his disappointment, his energy bar did not increase.
'Why is it not going over the limit? Can't I overeat?'
Phil scratched his head and made a decision, he closed his curtains making the room dark. He wanted to try using his powers and see what was happening. He sat on the floor and concentrated, he adjusted his breathing until he was calm, Phil then melded in the shadows and came inside it.
'Success, I can still enter the shadows.'
Phil wanted to celebrate more when suddenly he was spat out of the shadow. Phil flew across the room, his head started to ache while maddening whispers assaulted his head.
'Shoot, I promised Sonja that we will go to school this afternoon.'
Phil thought as he screamed and passed out due to his head aching and whispers inside his head.