8:45 am

There was a voice echoing around your room. What was the cause of it? You opened your eyes and blinked back at the image of your mother. She had her hand over horrified. What was up her ? “-------, what did you do to your hair?” What had happened to your hair? You ran your fingers through and remembered its unfortunate cut. You pursed your lips and sat up. You flipped your arm over and stared at the II. You rubbed your face and got out of the bed, following your mother into the kitchen. She had already set out a cereal box for you. Mmmm, just how you wanted to start the day. You poured the cereal into a bowl and showered them with milk. You scooped a bite into your mouth lazily. If you could, you would have skipped breakfast. Your freaking mother and her home schooling…

You ate while your other arm swung beside you. Was it never going to work again? You drank the last bits of milk and dried your lips. Your mother took control of you instantly. She threw you into normal clothes and sat you at the table to begin a lesson. Who cared about whatever she was teaching when the back of your head tickled from the hair? Everything that was routine turned into a blur. Nothing mattered; you just waited for Sunday to come.

1:27 pm

You tapped the wall as everyone waited for Yunho to arrive. He lived so far away! Things had become such a pain. You couldn’t focus on anything but NIGHTMARE. The feeling of being attacked, killing, and loneliness kept coming back to you. You had acquired an obsession that you frankly didn’t want. Junsu and Changmin were holding up a conversation. Actually, Junsu was trying to get away from Changmin. Why, he wasn’t really annoying. Yoochun and Jaejoong were talking about stuff they had read, but you didn’t care. You didn’t want to think of NIGHTMARE anymore than you had to. Dae and Erika were complaining to each other. They both received at school when they got back. People were talking. Sudden injuries were just too weird.

A train came into the station and you watched as people got on and off. You were looking out for that distinctive figure. You first saw his hair, then his face and features. As he got closer you actually recognized him and waved for him to come over. With Yunho there, Yoochun led the group away. He was taking you to his sister’s bar. Of course you weren’t drinking; you were going to be in a private room, but you would still have the services of drinks and food. It felt weird to be with those people. You weren’t in NIGHTMARE and nothing was happening. From the outside it probably looked like a group date… with an extra guy. To you it felt like planning for war. Talking about battles that could end your life, sounded peachy. Erika and Jaejoong called Haruka and Amara. Their phone bills were going to toxic later.

When the crowd sat down Changmin immediately ordered himself a hamburger. He was lucky they actually sold food in the bar. You didn’t want to waste any time. What was the most important thing about NIGHTMARE? , you didn’t know and just blurted out the first thing that came to you. “You guys need to start carrying weapons on yourself.” Everyone looked at you with confused faces. Why were they confused? It was a perfectly logical statement. They were getting their asses kicked by people that somehow had weapons. If they didn’t want to die they needed to bring weapons with them. “It’s just like how I always have a knife on me and it comes with me to NIGHTMARE.” You slid the knife out and laid it on the table, letting everyone know it was there.

Dae slid into her seat, away from the table. She looked at the knife carefully, afraid of what it was. A murder weapon. “What?” She was an idiot. How was it hard to understand? Weapon hurt people and protects the user. Duh. You put your elbow on the table and held onto your face.

“I always have my knife with me. It becomes an accessory and gets taken with me to NIGHTMARE. Remember what that voice said to us? ‘Always be prepared. When your eyes open, you will only have what you are wearing to help you.’” You were proud of yourself for remembering that. But you would never forget a single detail about NIGHTMARE. It was stuck in your memory. “If you were to always have something with you it would become an accessory and go with you. Like with Amara. Don’t you always have pens or something in your pocket?”

Amara spoke what she was doing. She ped her jacket and pulled things out. Cool, she had pockets on the inside. Amara placed three black pens, two red pens, two mechanical pencils, a flash drive, a pack of gum, couple of Won, and a deck of cards onto her bed. Her stabbing of the random girl in NIGHTMARE helped prove your theory.

Junsu was imagining the junk with a stern expression. “That sounds right. Those American kids probably did that too. The guy with a knife, a chain, the girl with a nail file.” He tried to remember what else was used against him. “But what should we bring? More knives?” You shook your head. He needed to be more creative with his violence. Anything could be a weapon, even a spoon. He just needed to know how to use them correctly… or violently.

“Anything. What are you good with? I am with knives. Yoochun would be good with a paintbrush. Changmin with chopsticks, and a fork. You just have to find out what you are trained with.”

He tilted his head cutely. “A soccer ball?” Why was he saying it like a question? If that was his skill then he should have been proud and shown it. You bit your lip before replying.

“If you can carry a soccer ball with everywhere you go then that is fine by me. What about you guys? Dae, Erika, Haruka, don’t you carry a purse around everywhere?” Dae nodded, Haruka replied yes, and Erika shook her head.

“I have a cell phone, and I am not hitting someone with my phone. I was lucky I didn’t have it with me in our first nightmare. It would have been cracked and water damaged and all kinds of crap. Purses are pretty useless. Don’t say anything because you don’t have one either.”

Dae drank a sip of water. “I don’t want my purse to be damaged. I’ll just stick to a chain and cross. It would work better.” You nodded agreeing. Whatever would work for them worked for you. Jaejoong slid your knife away from him and started thinking.

“I can bring boxing gloves with me. It wouldn’t be that unusual.” Was that what Yunho did to make his body so hot looking? Yoochun started circling his finger around the rim of his glass. The glass started vibrating and sending high notes into the air, distracting you momentarily.

“I wouldn’t bring a paint brush, I would bring paint.” What? Wasn’t paint expensive? He was willing to waste it on… painting people? “Paint is very toxic, at least the paint I use is. If I put it in our attackers’ mouths then they would rolling around sick. I am willing to spend some extra money for our lives.” Dae made an oohing sound, like she was impressed with his sacrifice. It was a nice gesture though. To him, money was less of an issue than the safety of your lives. How sweet.

Everyone went quiet as a waitress handed Changmin his burger and asked if you needed anything else. You all said no and hoped she would just leave. It was a private room for a reason. She bowed and left. Finally. Changmin took a bite out of his burger and tried to talk and chew at the same time. You tuned your head away, not wanting to see the contents of his mouth. “Can I bring a gun?” You slammed your hands on the table, stood up, and glared at him.

“Are you ing kidding?” You disguised your disgust for the repulsive thing with logic. “How are you planning on taking something like that with you? How would you go to school? Where would you even get one? No, pick something else.” He swallowed his bite and started to explain his thinking.

“Well, maybe I could carry it around only on weekends or something. Besides, you carry a knife around.” You shook your head. He wasn’t getting it.

“That wouldn’t work. It probably wouldn’t count at all. Besides, you don’t even know how to use a gun. And I am fine with a knife because it is easily hid and I don’t go to school like others. I just stay in my home.” He sighed and took another bite. “Changmin, shooting games are different from real life, even if you are in some nightmare.” Jaejoong slid your knife even farther away from him. It was starting to annoy you. “What is your problem?” Junsu stiffened because you sounded like his brother.

Jaejoong pouted. “Nothing, I was just wondering how we can still understand Haruka even though we aren’t in NIGHTMARE. I thought the translator thing would only work there.” The group all turned their heads to the side thinking of how strange that was. Haruka’s voice crackled through Erika’s cell.

“Sou desu ne.”

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