"Oh, no! Not again!"
Oxy could not believe it because she returned to the principal's office. Not the principal's office in her world. But the office with strange red lights flashing all around and very messy.
"Hey, welcome back!"
A voice greeted her. But that was not what she wanted to hear.
That's the boy. Helio was standing in front of the window.
"Why did I come back here again?" Oxy got up from the sofa where she had woken up. "I just wanted to sleep well tonight!"
"Hmm, poor you," said Helio, but not sound sympathetic at all. "But I have bad news for you. You're not going to get a good night's sleep tonight, my friend."
"Why?" asked Oxy in a demanding tone.
"Because your body has been divided in two. When you fall asleep here, you will wake up in your world. And when you fall asleep in your world, you will come back here." Helio explained as if he was explaining something normal in life. But that's not normal for Oxy.
"Seriously! This is a worse nightmare!" Oxy protested. She did not accept. And this place was indeed a nightmare!
"Then how can I rest? I will die because I never sleep anymore!"
"I'm so sorry for you. But that's what happen here," Helio turned to the window. "Look."
Oxy approached Helio. She stood next to him. The window opened and the wind blew inside.
"There are a lot of people who will die because of this," said Helio.
The fog outside had disappeared. She could hear people screaming. That's a human voice!
"Oh my God, what's happening?" asked Oxy horrifyingly.
"They are people from your world," said Helio. "They trap here, somehow. Irons are chasing them now. They have to wake up or they..."
"... will die," Oxy seemed to know the last sentence that Helio wanted to say.
Helio was silent for a moment. Then he nodded. "Yes, you're right. Every human who ever trapped here would not sleep anymore."
"Insomnia. That's the symptoms." Oxy muttered, trying to understand the situation. This was not just a dream. Everything was related. This dimension and the deaths in her world.
"Brain Fog Effect," said Oxy.
"What?" Helio looked confused when he heard that.
"They call it the phenomenon of Brain Fog Effect. The beginning of the effect is insomnia. That means people won't be able to sleep. And now I know why. Because of the fear of returning to this place. But they have to wake up, which means they will suffer for not sleeping much."
"Well, it seems like what you're saying." Helio nodded. "At night, Uron walks around the city to hunt. So don't come out from this Red Castle."
"But somebody must help them!"
"Relax. I just only can do this."
"What?"
Helio pointed his rifle out the window, he focused his eyes on the target. Then he fired shots.
Oxy was slightly taken aback by the sound of gunshots that close.
After all, how did Helio get permission to use a gun? Isn't he still underage to use firearms?
"D-did you shoot Uron?" asked Oxy.
Helio shook his head. "They can't die with a single shot. And this isn't a gun," he answered. "This is for opening the gate."
Seeing Oxy still confused, Helio pointed at the table.
"Take the binoculars and see for yourself." He said.
Oxy still did not understand but immediately took the binoculars. She used it, turning the focus to the furthest distance he could get. And he saw a human disappearing into a black hole in the air. Uron tried to enter the black hole but the hole immediately closed.
"Black hole?" Oxy asked.
"That's how I open the small gate for humans," Helio explained. "So I could bring the human back."
But Oxy felt it was still not right.
"But why not fired the monsters?"
"Must I?"
"Of course! We must get rid of the monster to save people!"
Helio just laughed hearing how enthusiastic Oxy was
Oxy watched the situation outside again with binoculars. "There is no fog anymore..." she said.
The sky was still red just like before. But the fog was gone. So she could see the city more clearly. Not a very good sight. Only an abandoned city was like. Broken cars were everywhere, also the ruin of buildings and public stuff.
"It's nighttime," Helio said. He pointed to the sky. "There's a crescent moon in the sky. And there is no fog. That means... it's night. If it's the day, the city will be foggy. And there won't be a crescent moon."
"Is there no sun?"
"I've never seen the sun. According to the book I read, the sun is a big ball of fire that illuminates the world. Right?"
Oxy nodded. Not only "school", but Helio also never saw the "sun".
Then, they heard another scream and howl of Uron.
Helio took his rifle again, trying to find the human.
"I can't find her..." he said.
"We should get close!" Oxy tried to find it from the binoculars too.
"You can't get out of here, it's not safe," Helio shook his head.
"But the women need help!"
"If you walked out from here at night, you won't come back here," Helio warned her. "Red castle is the safest place here. don't ever try to break my rules."
"If this place is safe, why aren't they come here?" asked Oxy confused.
"They can't see Red Castle from outside," Helio replied.
"Why?"
"I don't understand either. I ever got lost when I tried to come out at night. I had to hide from Uron all night because I couldn't see The Red Castle. Red Castle was invisible at night from the outside. Mr. Dome said the red castle was protecting itself from being discovered by Uron. So we can't leave here."
"But how I could find this place?"
"That's what I want to ask you too. Maybe you're just lucky. Walking inside the fog for the first time then find the red castle! Human outside is not lucky as you are."
They heard the scream again.
"Oh, no. What should we do? She will die soon!" Oxy felt frustrated.
Helio tried to use his rifle again to find the woman. But their view was limited from here.
"It's useless," Oxy protested.
"Oh yeah? So? Do you have a better idea?" Helio was starting to look annoyed.
"We should get rid of the monster to save people!"
"Haha, you're so funny. You've only been in here a few hours and hoping for killing those monsters. Don't ever try that. They're dangerous. You can't do anything when you get close to them."
"But it's useless. Fired the black hole from here to bring people back. They will fall asleep and come back here again," protested Oxy.
"Well, you can come up with a better idea then," Helio said.
But Oxy didn't have the idea. She felt afraid every time she heard the voice from outside. One by one humans will die here.
"It's going to be morning," Helio suddenly said. "Just wake up now."
Oxy blinked, unable to believe the night was very short in Cerebra.
"Get up and go see Mr. Dome. Ask him how you can get a good night's sleep."
Helio's voice seemed to drift away from her ears. She heard the sound of an alarm in the distance.
And when she opened her eyes again, she was in her room.
Oxy groaned in frustration because she was tired. She hadn't slept for a second and now it was morning.
"Hey, turn off that annoying alarm!" Darren shouted from outside.
Oxy immediately turned off the alarm. God, she was so sleepy.
She had to see Mr. Dome today.[]