I ended up on the second floor of the school, near the teachers lounge, it seemed like an unscathed safe area. I looked around to find any abnormalities, only a few rotting corpses of some juniors was gathered in a corner near the wall.
I recalled what Arushi said to stop a Pishach and its nightmares we must use a burning iron rod but she thought it would be easy to make a heated iron rod in the physics lab but to reach the physics lab we must reach it first.
I know you must be thinking I have a better plan to stop the Pishach but in fact I didn't have a plan at all, just a makeshift idea.
I heard crying coming from the teachers lounge and quickly realized that I should run. I remembered the stories from the English class and realized that a Pishach can effectively make mirror copies of itself in a nightmare that it creates and that it was also clear that they are shapeshifters who feed on flesh as well fear of humans so I needed to be brave and fearless.
Also, I needed to find the rest of the survivors in the nightmare, they had a decent chance to survive because the Pishach didn't have control of the nightmare fully, not yet. It was struggling itself in its play even after murdering so many of souls he wasn't able to kill us all at once instead he swallowed up in his nightmares individually.
I ran away from the cries with the stench of rot increasing, wrapping up my senses of smell, the creature was not yet chasing me hunting me, I concluded that someone else is being hunted right now.
This was the time for me to put pieces of my idea into an action plan. Instead of going somewhere everyone was trying to go now, making it easing to murder us one by one. I decided to go to a place where a heating rod can be more easily found.
The closed canteen has fire and iron on the ground floor. Watching my steps carefully, trying not to disturb any of the corpses I slowly moved through the corridor toward the stairs.
When I reached the stairs and looked down from above, I lost all hope because the school building was no more four floors, it was four hundred floors, at least that's what it looked like from the point I was standing.
The stairs were flooded with fog, a place where in my conscious mind I wouldn't dare to go.
I heard footsteps running from the left side of the hallway followed by screams and cries. It was Jessica running for her lives, I realized the creature was behind her, she tripped and fell and didn't stand up again, I knew what was happening the nightmare was eating her alive.
The cries behind her growing, almost like a girl shrieking and then I saw the most horrifying of the things, it was the Pishach in the skin of Ishita, naked, the body all twisted up bleeding, one of her hands was bigger than the other one with sharp claws, the girl was dragging that hand crying in pain and when she reached the already paralyzed Jessica she jumped on her, chewing a chunk of flesh from her shoulder and swallowing it whole, again the creature screamed in pain. The human hand scratches itself.
Before Pishach saw me I hid myself against the wall and slid down the stairs of fog. The fog itself was un-breathable, only filled with odor, I quickly opened my shirt and tied it around my mouth to at least filter some of the fog out.
I must have gone down at least four floors when I stumbled upon a body and tripped down on the stairs and landed on the ground. I quickly stood up because now the disturbed body was screaming, acting as a siren for the Pishach.
I ran away from there toward the other end of the hallway, there was another set of stairs used by the teachers and staff. It was clear of fog and I realized I was on the fourth floor but these stairs were different though they were clear of fog the stairs also went up in numbers, I realized that this nightmare is nothing but an uncontrolled illusion and jumped from the fourth floor.
At any normal day I would have died but I realize that this is a nightmare where a Pishach is hunting us and that the time has stopped in this nightmare so no natural causes will kill us.
As I hoped I landed on the ground floor but the jump took a physical toll on my body, even though I was unhurt I felt the sharp pains of cracking of bones. The pain was so unbearable that I screamed but quickly bit my hand instead of screaming.
I heard footsteps approaching me. It was Vivaan. He was alive, I was so happy to see him that I forgot all the pain but he stopped in his tracks suspicious of me and asked where my shirt was., I was skin naked from above.
I told him I used it as a mask to get through the odor of fog which he didn't believe me about but then I told him that I have a plan to stop the Pishach. He was surprised.
He asked me for how and he was gonna say the word Pishach but I quickly covered his mouth whispering that the nightmare listens.
I asked him to follow me to the canteen, I think he understood my plan then.
We walked across the hallways for an hour or so but weren't able to reach the canteen but Vivaan wasn't worried at all, in fact he was acting strange, I asked him where was he transported? to which he replied nothing with a frown forming on his forehead.
I realized something was wrong here, I asked him what is your name I simple question to which normal Vivaan would have replied in a split second but this Vivaan was saying nothing, only staring at me.
I quickly stepped back and realized the Pishach has shapeshifted into Vivaan and tears rolled down the side of my eyes, it meant he was dead and I ran away from there but strangely the Pishach didn't follow me only cried standing there. I looked back for a second and the scenes made me trip, two black shadowy hands growing from his mouth, splattering his skull.
I fell on the corpse and it started screaming, I realized the decaying eaten flesh was of Arushi, she was dead too. I realized everyone was dead.
I was the last survivor and I lost all of my hope to live and waited for the Pishach to kill me desperately, as quickly and swiftly as possible.
But then I saw the gate to the canteen, having no hope to live from this nightmare, I wanted revenge and see to that the Pishach was dead.