The next day, Dina had to go to her writing classes. That morning, she had breakfast, got herself ready, then headed to class. When she arrived, the classroom was awfully unwelcoming.
"Ew! Is this her transformation?" Whispered Emma in disgust.
"Ekh! She looks hideous! Why does she even show up at this time of the month?"
Careless as she was, Dina ignored her completely. She took her seat in the front row, brought her books out, and placed them on her table.
Sitting behind her, the girls were eating her with their stares, fuelled with hatred.
Dina's transformation form wasn't as pretty as the other girls'. Her right eyeball was completely black with a red pupil in the middle, and her body was covered with dark smoke, making her look like a walking storm cloud.
After a little while, the teacher came. The moment he entered the classroom, Dina's look caught his attention. It was his first time seeing a transformation like hers.
"Interesting." He thought to himself, then said, "Good morning, class. My name is Rain Vrochi, your teacher for the time being. Mr. Brown will be absent today for some...well... business of his own. For that, I'll be his replacement. And I hope to be a good one too." He smiled and then started the session.
"Ehem!" Coughed Emma. "Dina! Your smoke is covering my view!"
"Oh… Uhm sorry…"
"Change your seat! We can't see the board!" The girls were fuming.
Rain looked at Dina for a moment to find thick smoke floating around her. It swam through her clothes and flew in the air like leaves carried by the wind.
"What a fascinating case!" He spoke to himself in awe.
"Mr.Vrochi! Can you please tell her to change her seat? I can't see what you've written on the board!" Emma had already hated seeing Dina's transformation, but having it seated before her made her despise it even deeply.
"Miss Dina. Please, go to the back seat. Your classmates are having trouble with your…uhm smoke."
"Mr.Vrochi, I'm afraid I can't. I have trouble with my vision. I can't se–"
"Well, we're having trouble with our vision as well! Your smoke is blocking the whole view!" Shouted Emma. The two remained quiet as they glanced at each other, creating an unpleasing tenssion. Dina was showing small threatening signs. Her eye flickered as she frowned and her smoke seemed to slowly fly towards Emma. The teacher worried, for that, he thought for a bit then called.
"Miss Dina, here." He walked towards her, and pulled her seat all the way closer to his desk.
"Every girl sitting in the left row, please move your seats slightly to the right."
The girls obeyed and moved their seats to the right, emptying the left row.
"Here we go. The left row is empty. Now, Miss Dina, sit in your own row while you girls sit in yours. This way, everyone will be pleased." He smiled, but deep down, fear was knocking on his heart.
Finally, peace was brought back, the girls took their seats and the lesson proceeded.
After two hours, the class was over. The girls gathered their books and prepared themselves to leave.
"Ugh! I'm exhausted!" Wined Emma.
"Tell me about it! All these Literary devices are torturing my brain!" Complained Lora.
As they discussed their problems, Emma looked up to find Dina gathering her books.
"Hey, look…" She whispered as she pointed towards her. Her friends stopped talking then looked ahead.
"What is it?"
"Look at how the smoke surrounds her body like that!" She commented.
"Yeah! Her transformation is terrifying!" They whispered.
As they were talking about her, the teacher called Emma.
"Miss Emma, can you come here for a minute?"
She walked to his desk and then asked, "What is it, Mr.Vrochi?"
"Before you leave, can you please gather the students' writings?"
"Of course!"
"Thank you."
Emma then walked to every girl in the class and gathered their writings. However, she left Dina for last. She stood before her seat then waited. Dina had already gathered her books, so she needed to bring them back out to get her paper.
"Hurry up!" Unpatiently, Emma frowned at her.
Dina's anger was triggered again by her behavior, but she managed to calm herself.
"Would you wait for a minute? I put it in one of my books. I don't remember which one it was." She flipped the pages fastly, in hopes of quickly finding her writing.
"Ugh!" Emma groaned. Suddenly, she felt something warm touching her shoulder.
"What the…EW!!!" She shouted as she stepped away from her.
"Huh?" Everyone looked towards the noise.
"DID YOU JUST TOUCH ME WITH YOUR SMOKE?!"
Dina silently watched her as she aggressively dusted her shoulder off.
"H–heh…" Her anger was triggered a third time, but even more intensely.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"
"I did not touch you! My smoke floats on its own!"
"LIKE I'D BELIEVE YOU! YOU LIAR!"
"Everyone, please calm down!" Rain quickly got off his chair.
Dina was fighting herself from any extreme reactions, so she held it together and looked for the paper. After one more page flip, she found it.
"Here!" She handed her the writing.
"Finally! Ekh!" Emma went to her to take it, but the moment she approached her, she noticed the smoke around her hand. Hesitant, she grabbed the sheet with the tip of her fingers.
"Disgusting!" She whispered, then pulled. However, she couldn't take it, for Dina wasn't letting go.
"Hey, let–" She stopped when her eyes looked up.
"What did you just say…?" Dina was frozen completely, with her eyes widely open, staring angrily.
"Dis…gusting…?" She had had enough. As she stood still, she felt the heat rising up in her body, slowly boiling her blood.
"Dis…gusting…?" As the word repeatedly played in her ears, her vision was getting blurry.
"Miss Dina?" Worried the teacher. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or is the smoke getting thicker?" He wondered.
Emma sensed danger and quickly let go of the paper. She slowly backed away as her eyes remained fixed on Dina. Her smoke got thicker, and her eye shone more.
"Miss Dina! Can you hear me?!" Rain's voice was no longer heard by Dina. All she could hear was the beats of her heart, gradually beating faster.
"H–huh… H–huh…" She heavily breathed.
Dina began to feel something was wrong.
Suddenly, "I sense your desire to strike, Dina…" A deep voice echoed in her head.
Her eyes opened even wider.
"N–Nightmare…?" She felt her control slipping from her hands, bit by bit.
"Shall I bring the rain of terror into her flourishing hopes, and wipe them all away?"
It growled angrily as it easily swam through her veins.
"Nightmare…! D–don't…" She hardly fought against it.
"Allow me to relieve your heart, as I rip hers off her chest." She sensed its power growing against her will, little by little.
"Nightmare! I do not wish to harm anyone…"
"I shall not harm anyone but the one harming you, Dina."
As Nightmare slowly consumed her consciousness, Dina felt a flame of rage burning her whole body.
"UGH!!" She yelled in pain as she held her right eye.
"Miss Dina!!" Rain ran to her quickly, but the moment he tried to approach her, an invisible force pushed him back.
"Ugh! What the…!
Smoke covered Dina fully, forming a massive sphere, and through it, a bloody-red light was shining bright.
Everyone stared at the horrifying scene, but none could move a muscle, for curiosity had eaten them whole.
"Emma, what happened?!" Scolded the teacher.
"I–I don't know…? I was about to take her paper then she just–" The sphere exhaled with force, blasting a rush of air that stole the words from her mouth.
"Miss Dina! Can you hear me!?" Rain called loudly, hoping for a reply. Disappointed, he backed away with a fearful heart; with a spark of amazement.
Meanwhile, within the sphere of smoke, Dina was fighting still.
"Nightmare… Sto– stop…"
"Let me out, Dina. You've been holding me in with this agonising pain." It deeply growled, craving freedom and full control.
"Nightmare… Just let it go… Please…"
"The only thing I'm letting go of, is your sense of guilt."
"There are innocent people here, Nightmare. We can't do this…"
"Innocent? May I remind you of their eyes, and how they stared at you, with disgust!"
On the other side, Rain was scolding Emma. Dina could hear their argument throught the smoke.
"Do you not think before you speak or act?! Look what you've done!"
"I did nothing! She started it! She touched me with her disgusting smoke!" Her last two words echoed inside Dina's ears.
With her red eye, she stood still and looked ahead,
"Hu–huh…" She cried as the whispers grew louder and louder.
"Eeh…" She squeezed her fist. Then, "Nightmare…"
"Your wish is my command!"