dReAm!

       Santonio Goretti woke up with terror because of a scary dream during the night. He gets scary dreams often but recently the number has been increased. He is twenty years old, brave and tall with a fit body,small beard and sharp eyes. He lives with his mother Maria Goretti in the house of his ancestors, a deserted, very old and dark palace surrounded by forest with wild animals and native tribes. His father Adriano Goretti died when he was six years old, the reason of his father's death is still a mystery to Santonio, his mother never told him the reason behind it and she skips the topic whenever he asks her about it. Satonio studies at St. Francis college which is located in Marletta, a small town with different traditions.

       Santonio drove his car five miles and reached the college. Winter has arrived, college was covered in snow and looked gloomy. As usually he was late and ran hurriedly to the class room. He stood there in shock after noticing that it was empty. "Surprise" was written on the black board. He moved on to the next class which was also empty. He went to office to enquire about it and found no staff in the office. He checked the calender, it was Monday, he got confused and couldn't understand what was going on. Santonio called his friend Dangelo and asked, " Where the hell are you?". Dangelo replied, "we have a surprise for you!".Santonio asked,"What surprise? Why the whole college is empty? First tell me where are you?". Dangelo said,"I am at haunted Dojo,come fast." he hung up.

       Santonio had no idea what was happening, he was suspicious,confused and terrified. Haunted Dojo was an old house stuck by lightning, it was named in such a way because of death of the whole family inside the house. When the lightning stuck the house they were all burned to death screaming and suffering from unbearable pain. There was a legend about them returning from grave as ghosts after some rituals being performed by the tribes calling the help of nature-which was the cause of their death. There were mysterious deaths of persons in that house since many years. Santonio reached Haunted Dojo, called Dangelo and asked,"I have reached the place,why have you asked me to come here? Where are you?". Dangelo replied,"Don't ask, you will spoil the surprise. Come inside, I am in the dining room.". They used to go inside the building alone in childhood due to the challenges over bravery, so Santonio knew the location of the rooms.

       Santonio entered living room, it was very dark and dirty, covered with old spoils and spider webs, with old paintings of persons of family mentioned in the legend. He climbed the stairs slowly, which lead to the dining room after taking a left at the top of stairs. As soon as he reached the room, he couldn't breath because of the filthy smell which he may never forget in his life. He stood there stunned with the horrible and terrifying picture captured by his eyes. His heart stopped beating for a second, he couldn't move a muscle neither he could utter a single sound. After a moment when he was back to consciousness, he observed dead bodies murdered through inhumane ways, internal organs were pulled out of body piercing the skin and muscles, eye balls were removed from some bodies, few bodies had many needles pierced through skin covering the whole body, there were many more inexplicable means through which they have been mutilated.

       Santonio observing the room with heart skipping a beat, but couldn't notice Dangelo anywhere in the room. He shouted for him again and again, there was no reply and this was the most horrific moment. "Do you like the surprise?",whispered Dangelo from behind, Santonio turned back with fear and stood there in shock after looking at Dangelo covered with blood, holding a butcher knife with his left hand and eyeballs with his right hand. Dangelo said," Come friend, lets play with these eyeballs, fast!, or else they will eat us and we might end up in hell.".Santonio was confused, couldn't understand what he was saying, sweating like a terrified lonely child in a house. Santonio said with a cracked voice," Why are you doing all this?". Dangelo said," I don't know." followed by a huge laughter, he added,"Why are you all asking me the same question? Eloisa asked me the same question.". Santonio shouted with anger,"What? What did you do to Eloisa? I will kill you if anything happens to her.".Dangelo replied laughing,"I just wanted to play with her but she didn't listen, so I made her sleep by chopping her head off. I am very kind hearted, so I just made her sleep, otherwise I would have killed her.".

       Santonio shouted with pain, he rushed towards Dangelo with anger, holding a rod to beat him but slipped because of the trap by Dangelo, fell down and got hit his head with the ground, thereafter became unconscious. Dangelo shouted," Wake up! What were you thinking? I just wanted to play a game, why did you try to hit me?". Santonio became conscious, tears fell down his eyes and said," How can you kill her? she was our best friend since we were kids, we played together, ate together, went to school together!". Dangelo with anger shouted," I told you I didn't kill her, I just made her sleep.". Santonio held a rod secretly behind him, he acted as if he is becoming unconscious and hit Dangelo suddenly.

       Dangelo fell to the ground, Santonio rushed out of the nasty dining room, ran down the stairs, came running towards door and found that it was locked. He was trembling with fear, went on to search for another exit towards the backyard, got struck by a hard thing from behind, with a bleeding knee he fell at once. Dangelo said," You are doing a mistake, it is not a good choice to be my enemy, you have seen where my enemies ended up.". Dangelo was about to chop his head off with the butcher knife. Santonio said," How did you turn into this cruel animal, you used to be a kind hearted, loving person.". Dangelo said," I was like this all the time, how do you think Doriano died?". Santonio replied in shock," You killed him!! Yes, it makes sense, the blood, the knife and marks on his body, that were identified at the place of his death, which people thought was a suicide." he added," but why are you doing this? You considered him as your brother.". Dangelo said," They were all enemies of this town, they used black magic on me and caused me trouble.". Santonio said," They? What do you mean by they? You killed anybody else?". Dangelo  replied," How do you think Gavino, Leandra, Manlio died? I punished them" continued with laughter," I won't spare anybody who use black magic against me.". Santonio threw dust in his face and started running towards the tunnel which leads to the garden behind the Dojo.

       He crawled through the tunnel with an injured knee, Dangelo from behind caught his legs and tried to cut his leg off, Santonio kicked him and crawled through the tunnel and reached the garden. He ran though he was bleeding, his aim was to save his own life and more importantly to save the town from Dangelo. He rushed to Police Station and explained everything to them, Dangelo reached there and entered into the station with his butcher knife which was covered in blood. Santonio requested police to arrest him, police caught Santonio's hand and threw him towards Dangelo and said," Dangelo, do what ever you want but please don't hurt us with your black magic.". Santonio stayed on ground in shock, when the people whom you trust the most and feel safe around their presence turn into evil, where does one go for help. Santonio stayed there helplessly with no strength left in him, he just wanted to go back to home to his mother.

       "Dangelo! Wake up! you are already late to your college",shouted his mother Brigida Marino. Dangelo woke up in terror, he couldn't move, sat on his bed freaked out, covered with sweat. Dangelo Marino was a young boy, twenty years old, adventurous and confused, thin and intelligent, aimed to become famous. His father Eligio Marino was a farmer, they lived in a small town Anziona nearby Marletta, he studied at Francis college. Brigida said," Why do you look so frightened, you again had a scary dream?". This one was different, usually he used to be the victim but in this dream, he took lives of many. He started to college, confused between dream and the reality. "Late again!",shouted Eloisa from neighborhood. Dangelo confirmed it was just a dream, he remembered her chopped off head in his dream. Dangelo," Why aren't you coming to the college?". Eloisa replied with laughter," I am not feeling well.". Dangelo laughed and said,"How many times will you use that excuse! Anyway, I am getting late, I will keep moving. Have a nice day!". Eloisa winked and said," Tell Santonio that I asked for him.". Dangelo said,"Alright, Alright, I have to go now, bye!".Eloisa said,"Bye, have a nice ride."

       Dangelo drove his car to college and reached class. He stood there in vain, it was the most shocking moment of his life, class was empty and even more shocking thing was when he read "Surprise" on the black board. He went to office and found it empty, it was Monday. His cell phone rang, he lifted the phone from Santonio, confused. " We have a surprise for you in Hanted Dojo. Come fast",said Santonio and hung up. A tremor of fear passed through Dangelo's spine. He was shocked to death, that was the most terrifying moment of his life. Dangelo hesitantly went to haunted Dojo and to his surprise there were dead bodies everywhere and exactly the scene looked similar to that in his dream. He thought it was impossible, how could that even happen! Santonio was naked and chanting some Latin spells with a bloody knife beside him.

       Dangelo with fear ran out of the building and rode off to the railway station which was nearby. He took a breathe finally and started drinking water. A blow on his shoulder with a rusted rod! he shouted tearing his throat with pain. He turned and looked at Santonio praying and attacking him at the same time. Dangelo without thinking for a second, he ran towards his car, he got slipped and fell on the railway track, his leg got stuck in the junction, he couldn't move. The train was coming fast from the opposite side, Santonio was running towards him to kill him. Train was getting way too closer, he was fighting to move but his efforts were not useful. He closed his eyes giving up, the train rushed onto him and passed by.

       Dangelo was still alive! he realized he was in a dream. That was the scariest moment in his entire life. He was so terrified, for the first time he thought he might die out of fear, his pants were wet. He was lost, he couldn't do anything. He cannot die in a dream, he had no clue how to wake up from sleep. He roamed across but he didn't know what to search for. He was afraid what would happen if he was stuck here and never woke up. He jumped of a building and found that he was still alive.

       There was rainfall, he thought that it must mean something, soon he heard a familiar voice whispering "not again!", he woke up and found that it was his mother splashing water. I was the best moment of his life, he has never been more happy before ever. Each breathe was better and sweet. He hugged his mother thinking she would never understand how scary it would be to get lost in a dream and knowing already that it is a dream.

       He met Santonio and Eloisa and shouted,"I love both of you!". He hugged them tight and whispered in their ears,"never, ever leave me!!".