"gasp!"

Elvin woke up drenched in sweat. She was feeling her whole body weak and her heart was beating very fast. She felt upset and anxious. After getting herself calm, she looked around her room. Everything seemed normal and real to her.

It was a feeling she couldn't describe, she somehow knew that this place was the real world and everything was a nightmare and it was all over now, yet she couldn't help but feel that everything she saw in her nightmare was real.

brrring-brrrring-

Surprised at the sudden sound, Elvin turned towards where the sound was coming from. It was her phone's alarm ringing and it had 'group work, Xyz café ^^' as the alarm name.

"sigh... it was the alarm" Elvin closed her alarm. She remembered the group work assigned by her teacher, she had planned to meet with her friends today if it was sunny. Elvin opened her window and looked outside. It was merry and bright, not gloomy and eerie like yesterday night or in her dream. She took a notebook and started writing everything she remember about her dream instead of getting ready.

She stopped writing and bit her nails thinking about the next scenes in her dream. It was the worst, in one of them she died while on the other she found a corpse similar to her. After some time she started writing again.

After writing everything, she checked again making sure she didn't forget to include anything. After confirming everything was there, Elvin closed the book and locked it in the last drawer of her study table. While going downstairs she met Gilbert who reminded her of her dream. She was nervous inside but didn't show it outside.

"You woke up early Gil?" Elvin asked Gilbert while trying to sound calm with a smile.

"Oh? did the sleeping beauty woke up?" Gilbert sneered at her "I am not early, you are the one who is late. You missed the breakfast as well as your plans with your friends"

Hearing his words she frowned and glanced at the time. it was 11:56 am. "...well, why didn't anyone woke me up?"

"Seriously? you are not a kid. you should take care of your things okay?"

"what about you?"

"What?"

"you look like you just woke up" Noticing the dark circles under his eyes she asked, "...did you not sleep well?"

Gilbert didn't reply but just started at Elvin.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" She asked feeling annoyed and weird.

He ignored her and walked toward his room. Elvin stared at her brother. She felt bothered by her brother's reaction. He seemed to be very sensitive toward the word 'sleep' and also got an ominous feeling when she asked about it.

After watching Gilbert go inside his room, she went downstairs. Her mother was working on the laptop while her father was nowhere to be seen.

"good morning mom"

"um"

Hearing her mother's cold voice, she smiled. Her mother has always sounded cold but she knew she was a warm and considerate person inside. Her mother is an independent and strong woman with great leadership skills and a calm mind than her father. Since she was a child she admired and aspired to be a person like her mother.

She went inside the kitchen to find something to eat. There were sandwich which was enough for two people. After eating her fill, she took the rest of the sandwiches and went to Gilbert's room. She wanted to observe him more since he always gave her an unsettling feeling and also because of her dream. When she reached his room she hesitated whether to go inside or not. Finally decided not to, she turned around planning to put the sandwiches back so he will take eat them later.

" Are you not coming in?" Hearing Gilbert's voice behind her, she turned and observed him.

" you knew I was outside?"

"hmm... is that sandwich? good timing. smells good"

Elvin rolled her eyes and gave him the food. She went to her room ignoring her annoying brother. She wanted to find something useful from him, maybe she should check his room once. Frwaswas how he looked before, there's a possibility that he might also have a nightmare like her.

As she was about to enter her room Gilbert's voice sounded next to her

"hey I am planning to give you a gift soon. You might like it very much"

"you..." She glanced at her brother with complicated emotion. She didn't hear any sound of him walking toward her, no matter how engrossed she is in thinking she would subconsciously pay attention to her surroundings as well. Yet now she didn't even notice anything. Also, her brother is not someone who will give gifts or anything like that without a reason or meaning which makes it more puzzling.

'Why would he give any gift when there's no reason to? That's not like him. It's not my b'day nor has there been anything special recently... not only that, his smile... it's similar to my dream.'

Elvin was startled at her discovery. She tried her best to control her expression and said 'Whatever' in an annoyed tone and closed the door.

Gilbert watched his sister with a smile. As soon as she closed the door, his whole face turned expressionless and gave off a gloomy vibe. Hearing the high-heels click-clack down the corridor, he turned and with a light smile he said "I think I finally understand how much excitement you both felt all this time"

To be continued...