Nightmare

"What's wrong with you two?"

Loreto's voice made the respective women look at him in shock, neither Judith nor Jessica noticed when he had gotten so close to the car. Then, his right hand opened the car door that gave access to the driver's seat.

"What happened?" He said before closing the door.

Both were looking stunned, but what most impressed those eyes of theirs were the sparkles contained in them. The black-haired man had never seen anything like it before.

"Father… look ahead."

"What the-!" His hand couldn't stay steady on the steering wheel and fell.

His eyeballs popped forward. On his broad back, cold sweat poured out and bathed his skin in pure fear. Like the other women, Loreto saw everything beyond his home disappear.

In front of him, there was only outer space and countless stars shining in the background of this desolate sky. What was strange about all this was that the air inside the house didn't go out into the void.

"How is that possible?" His arms still didn't have the strength to stay outstretched on the steering wheel. Behind him, Judith and Jessica were still hugging and admiring this otherworldly panorama.

'Am I dreaming?' His hands twitched tightly.

The pain of feeling his nail digging into the flesh of his palm didn't let him cling to such illusions. Loreto's lungs expanded and contracted over and over again, with no signs of pause.

The family drama didn't last long, however. That same glow that turned the terrifying dream into a real nightmare came once more. Inside the white car, screams of terror echoed. The light engulfed everything and everyone, from the house to its inhabitants.

Only the emptiness of outer space remained.

.

.

.

"AaaAAaaHh!"

"AAaaAaHh!

"AaAAAaaaHhh!"

The three frightened mice fell into red upholstered armchairs, cushioning the fall of their beautiful buttocks. Before they could even jump out of these red armchairs, chains made of some powerful metallic material bound their arms and legs. They got stuck to the point where they could only move their heads sideways.

When the momentary tension ceased, the group of mice could finally see where they were.

The space in this new place was gigantic. Either to the right or to the left, armchairs and more armchairs could be observed as far as their eyes could reach. At the center of it all was a huge circular wooden stage.

In addition to all this football stadium scene mixed with theatre, another thing that drew attention here were the red armchairs. From time to time, people fall into them as happened with the Esmorte family.

The screams of these people flooded the strange place, but its absurd size prevented its effective propagation. Loreto saw with astonished eyes that sea of ​​people trying to free themselves from their seats, without any success.

'Where is my family?' He thought.

Those same stunned eyes calmed as the figures of the people he was looking for came into view. Judith was on his right, filled with dread. To the right of his only child, Jessica didn't look any better. Her breasts rose and fell like the elevators in a office building crowded with impatient people.

"Are you all right?" Despite his best efforts, he couldn't break free from these silver chains that held him back.

"Yes..."

The dark-blond haired girl was no different from her father. As she tried so hard to detach herself from the silver chains, red marks began to appear here and there on her white skin that was similar to peeled cassava.

In the end, Judith gave up on continuing these frivolous acts.

Jessica didn't respond, but at least her breasts stopped bouncing. The rush of air that escaped her lungs carried more than just gaseous carbon dioxide, it also carried with it the feelings of frustration and fear she was feeling.

'What's going on?' He stopped resisting and just stood there like his daughter.

The Esmorte family has never been so close to despair as it is now. The silver lining in this situation was that so far everything was fine. To the joy of some and the sadness of many more, this state of confusion did not last long.

In the center of the wooden stage, something changed.

"Good morning guys!"

"Welcome everyone to our game!"

"As you can see, our participants are all ready!"

Drums trembled, roaring.

Glitters erupted, exploding.

Trumpets hummed, singing.

Fireworks were fired everywhere in this huge theater. All this mess didn't matter to the audience, though. After all, in the center of the wooden stage a female figure dressed as a clown appeared. This clown was wearing a short black skirt, long plaid tights, and a low-cut shirt with long sleeves that outlined her curves.

Furthermore, she was wearing a smiling white mask and a funny hat.

The reason people were able to see this clown despite the distance was because that same clown was being presented through a huge hologram. Her gigantic legs were spread, allowing the people below her to glimpse the contents her skirt hid.

But to the disappointment of many, no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't see anything. Then, in front of everyone's eyes, the giant hologram of that clown in the center of the wooden stage clapped her hands in repeated applause.

"Please take a look at them! These are the lucky participants of the time!"

Then, something amazing happened.

The three members of the Esmorte family, who were tense looking at the giant hologram, saw their mouths open when they noticed that small white balls began to appear in all corners of the theater.

They were eyeballs, several hundred million of them.

These countless eyeballs flew around the theater, facing the so-called lucky participants.

"Did you like them guys? This time we-" The clown stopped talking and faced a corner of the theater.

"Hahaha! Here is what I was about to speak of! Take a look at that guy over there!" Her gigantic fingers pointed to the same corner of the theater she had been looking at so far.

The sea with eyes in the sky then turned to see the curious scene of someone managing to break free from part of the silver chains!

More and more eyes were converging to see how this person managed to pull off such an impressive feat.

The person in question had both arms broken, blood flowing from his frightening wounds. However, despite proving to be so deplorable, all those floating eyes were even more curious.

"Guys, our scientists are getting better at developing human behavior! That bastard in front of you is proof of that! We're getting closer and closer to reach our ultimate goal!" Her arm twisted and stretched forward as if it were made of gum.

In a few moments, the crippled man was seized by that monstrous hand. The man screamed, full of despair and fear. Still, however much the crippled man writhed like a thousand worms drowned in boiling oil, nothing could be done.

"Who wants this one? Our dear Myriad Corpse company will open this specimen here for our premium sponsors! Don't worry, it will be restored and ready to be used by its new owners!" Her smile was charming.

A few eyeballs twitched and glistened, making her smile even happier.

"Very well folks! Now that I've introduced you to the lucky ones this time, it's time to tell them the truth. How will they react this time? I'm so curious!" She bounced around like a bunny and rubbed both of her hands over her flushed face.

Gradually, the childish acts of the holographic monster lost their intensity.

"To all the lucky guests, you have been selected to participate in our big event! You might be wondering, what the hell is going on here? I'm dreaming? When is this going to end?" Her arms rose open towards the sky.

The crippled man in his right hand was visible to everyone.

"You all are human beings generated by our AI!"

Her right hand then closed, crushing the man into a bloody mess!

"This is not a dream, this is a grand test!"

The viscous scarlet liquid ran down her right arm and down her neckline.

"The test ends when someone wins!"

The world stopped spinning.

The audience went silent.

The reality crumbled.

'What… what if this monster is telling the truth? Was everything I experienced false?' Loreto's teeth were being rubbed against each other. The dispute between them found no winner, and only increased the nervousness the black-haired man was feeling.

Loreto Esmorte was living the worst nightmare of his life.