"What do you remember about the crash?" He starts, files and pen in hand.
"Uhm," Ryven begins. "I remember the man on the radio, warning everyone about the blood moon. I was looking out the window, watching everyone tirelessly walking by, the coffee shops filled with customers."
Michael jotts down a few notes as Ryven continues.
"As the rock music my mother always listened to began playing again, I remember my father, gripping the wheel, the screeching of tires, and the spinning lights of the city." Ryven stops, looking down at his white hospital blanket.
"Anything else?" Michael asks.
Ryven shakes his head. "Not really." He mutters.
"Speak up for the recording." Michael commands.
Ryven's face scrunches up in annoyance.
"Not really." He repeats, louder and clearer than before.
"Perfect." Michael grins, causing Ryven to grimace. For a moment, he half expected it to widen, remembering the many rows of teeth.
"Now tell me," Michael continued. "Did you perhaps, dream of something? Or perhaps more of a nightmare?" He suggested.
Ryven frowned. He knew where he was going with this. And he had to decide now, tell him about his nightmare, facing the music, or lie.
Thinking about it, Ryven's mind didn't think on the decision itself, but his parents reaction.
His father was a public servant, a detective in the city's policing force. It's no surprise, that to someone who deals with the evil of both normal people and dreamers with inhuman super powers, his father didn't like dreamers. In fact, hate might've been a better word.
To law enforcement, the general public, and even people like politicians, dreamers weren't people. To law enforcement, dreamers were walking risks who were unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous in almost every way imagined.
News networks spread propaganda and info regarding dreamer conflicts almost daily, resulting in continuously growing resentment.
Finally, regarding politicians and political leaders, dreamers are seen as weapons. That's why Michael was here right now. It was his job to report any dreamers to the government, resulting in them going through special programs, schools, and institutions in which they are trained as weapons for war and other uses.
"Dreamers are accidents waiting to happen." His father used to say, his voice echoing in Ryven's head.
Ryven sighs.
"I dreamed of… a dark void." Ryven said.
The writing of a pen could be heard as Michael continued writing in his files.
"What happened in this 'void'"
Ryven pauses, thinking back to what occurred.
"It was really weird. I walked around in endless darkness for who knows how long." Ryven started.
"Roaming around, I remember spotting light somewhere in the distance. Approaching, the area got brighter and brighter. Buildings and homes started forming, and it didn't take me long to realize where I was."
"And where was that?" Michael asked, finally looking up from his files.
"My street."
He stares at me for a moment, his face scrunching before continuing to write in his files.
"Please continue."
Ryven nods.
"There, I of course went straight to my home, where I met my 'family.'" Ryven said, using his fingers to create air quotes.
"Why did you use that hand motion?" Michael asked.
"Because they weren't my real family. They were something different. Their eyes were empty and smile's so wide, their was no way they could be human.
"So what happened?" Michael asked.
"Well, I did what I had to do."
"And what was that?" Michael continued to press.
"I killed them."
"…"
The room went silent. Michael put down his pen, staring at me as I continued.
"I grabbed a knife from the kitchen thrusting it into my fathers neck." He admitted. "Black blood sprayed everywhere as I did the same to my sister. My mother however, that's when everything went wrong." Michael resumes writing.
"As I attempted to… you know, she transformed into something. An extremely large spider."
"A spider?" Michael asks. "Could there perhaps be any symbolism behind that?"
Ruven shrugs his shoulders.
"I'm like deathly afraid of spiders, yet other than that, I have no clue." Ryven tells him.
"Mmmm. Please continue."
"Well, after that, everything gets a little hazy." Ryven says, deciding not to tell him too many details.
"I remember running, getting chased by the creature back into the void. I remember roaming around again, walking for what felt like hours before coming upon a new building. It was my school. At this point, I was extremely creeped out." Ryven tells him.
"Yet I pushed forward for some reason. I mean, it's not like I had any other option. Entering the school, I saw another one of those creatures, attempting to impersonate our schools security guard. Killing him, I moved inside, making my way toward my 7th period class. Chemistry."
Michael looks up again. "Didn't you think that you were being a little to rash?" He asks, "You were litterally slaughtering people."
"I get what your saying, but you gotta put yourself in my shoes. My life was on the line, and these people weren't even human."
Michael takes a moment to note that down before continuing.
'I want to ask if he's also writing about my behavior, yet I don't think that's a good idea.'
"Entering 7th period, the creatures didn't say anything about the black blood all over clothes, nor the knife I was wielding. There, the same thing occurred. I got creeped out after a while, lashing out at them." Ryven says.
"This time however, when that spider appeared, I tried stabbing at it, yet the knife just disappeared." Ryven commented, causing Michael to give him a confused look.
"So, whatever building you enter and lash out in, a large spider, a creature you are extremely afraid of, who is dressed up as one of these people you know, then attacks you?"
"Exactly." Ryven responds. "This time, I managed to escape by jumping out the window."
"The window?"
"Mhm." Ryven nods
"Now that I'm thinking about it, it must've been super epic. Hell, even when I fell, I didn't feel much pain."
"Did the creature not chase after you?"
"No, it didn't. For some reason, it wouldn't follow me into the void."
"Huh."
"Anyways," Ryven continues, his eyes shifting towards the light peeking through the blinds on his left.
"My final encounter with that creature occurred a long while later. I remember spotting the new buildings in the distance and feeling that fear in my heart. For a long time, I kept myself away from the buildings, laying down and closing my eyes. Yet for some reason, I couldn't sleep. I felt hungry and tired, yet I could do nothing about it. It was a horrible feeling." Ryven tells him.
"I eventually was forced to go towards the buildings, finding myself on another familiar street. Yet this time, it wasn't my own street, but instead the street where our car crashed."
Michael continued flipping pages, taking notes.
"I remember finding the scene of the accident, going up to the impersonators, punching and scratching at them. For some reason, they never put up a fight. Instead, they just kept trying to convince me that they were real. It was only after a while that they finally admitted where the spider was. In a nearby alleyway, acting like an old man."
"So… what did you do with that info?" Michael asked.
"Well it was quite strange." I tell him
"I started feeling this… itch."
"An itch?! Where did you feel it?" Michael asks, finally sitting up.
"Well it was weird. I didn't even really feel it in my body, but in the air next to me. Walking towards the alleyway, it kept getting more and more irritating, yet I could do nothing about it. Entering the alleyway, I can face to face with the man who's face was covered with a hoodie. Approaching him, I realized that it was smiling. Suddenly, the creature attacked me, growing spider legs outside the man's back. I dodged the first few hits before the itch became far too unbearable to ignore."
"Then what happened?"
"Well, I remember screaming about it, stopping the puzzled spider in its tracks. It too was confused, watching me scrape and scratch at the air, finally causing a rift."
"A rift?" Michael asked, quickly writing in his notes. "That is quite rare during someone's first blood moon."
Ryven looks at him for a moment, seemingly hoping for him to explain, yet he does not.
For a moment, the two sit in awkward silence, staring at each other before Ryven finally decides to continue.
"Putting my hand into it, I pulled out a heavy, and long, single edged sword. An Odachi." Ryven tells him, trying his best for it to sound more dramatic.
"With that, my battle with the spider became far more even as I was able to fight back."
"Mmm, well if you were able to open a rift and summon your own weapon, you should've been able to disperse any weak or lesser creatures. Yet, the one you are depicting seems to be far more fierce."
Ryven nods. "I was no doubt losing to the monster, yet something saved me."
Michaels face scrunches as he looks up from his files.
"The creature called it the "death knull." It was a bell that echoed, loudly. The spider stupidly told me that it signified our time together was coming to an end."
"Mmm, that's definitely not uncommon. Most of the time, those that sleep during their first bloodmoon, survive by waiting for the bell, rather than fighting the creature."
Ryven nods.
"That makes sense since that is exactly what I did. I simply ran. The void around me collapsed and cracked, forcing me to jump around, avoiding the spider who screamed as it chased me from behind. And just like that, as the final piece shattered and I fell into the continuous nothingness below, I woke up."