CHAPTER ONE: THE DREAM
Mariam felt her legs held by unseen hands as she mutters in her head, "Somebody, help!"
The continuous cry for help was dismissed by a hiss from an unknown figure who approaches her like a skull of flames. She felt her heart in her mouth with the horror before her as she tries to move but effortlessly. Hysterically, the laughter echoes from the scary figure with eyes burning with rage and hell.
"Who are you?!", Mariam asks as she wails uncontrollably.
"I am the missing rib that completes your body", the voice responds with hissing sound reverberating everywhere like the trepidation of the earth.
"I have come to remind you of your clandestine", the voice echoes with sarcastic laughter.
"Please, let me be. I don't know you!", Mariam thunders back at the voice struggling very hard to break herself free from the invisible hands holding her legs.
The whole place seems empty and lonely with no single human on the old tarred street full of debris and dark water as the acrid smell of stench filled the air.
Mariam still tries to wonder how she finds herself on this lonely street of horror because she remembers putting her son, Charles to bed after reading his favourite bedtime stories to him.
She starts to draw a flashback of her daily routine at the office in Sandhurst. That day was indeed a perfect Friday for her at the office because she was given a treat by her Supervisor, Dr. Gibson at the Orthopedic Department for her unwavering medical aids to patients for that week.
Of the truth, the lunch with Dr. Gibson was great because it has been six good years she had last experienced such warmness from anybody due to her continuous struggles to work hard for the upkeep of her family.
She still recalled herself laughing cheerfully to every joke heard during the lunch. She'd sensed some sparks while she and Dr. Gibson were at the table but none of them actually showcased any sense of romance. To her, it was just one of the office romances that co-workers experience without any string attached.
"Did I offend Dr. Gibson by rejecting his offer to take me home?", she asks herself subconsciously.
The howling sound of a wolf facing the full moon brought Mariam back to her reality as she trembles with sweat all over her face.
"Please, don't kill me! Who are you?", she inquires again.
"My darling Mariam", the voice calls as the the image of a young handsome man appears in front of her.
"Jame...Ja...Jame...Jameson!", she stutters.
Just then, the alarm clock woke her up to the present day reality on her bed.
She holds her head with both hands as she sobs quietly saying, "OMG! It's just a dream again".