Purgatorial Night

One autumn evening, a man in his late teens was sitting down in front of his computer screen. His room's door was locked, isolating himself inside. The man had his earphones on, rendering the ambiance around him less audible. His room was dim, the only lights he had were coming from his computer screen and a small lamp standing on top of a bedside drawer. His eyes were focused on a woman looking at him from the other side of the screen through a video call. He had an adoring look as he stared at her who looked back at him with the same expression that he had.

"Dan?" asked the woman, snapping the man out of his daydreams and back to the present. She had a strong Malaysian accent in her voice as she said that.

Realizing what was going on, Dan immediately covers his face with his hands while chuckling. The woman had a playful grin on her face seeing his reaction.

"I was adrift in my thoughts again, wasn't I?" Dan replied.

"Mhmm"

"I'm sorry Alli, it's a bad habit."

"Nah, there's nothing wrong with that love. At least you give me lots of attention, that's what matters ok? You look cute."

"I guess. We've been together for a few months already…"

There was a slight pause. Dan looked at the time shown on the bottom right of his computer taskbar – June 4, 2014. 11:04 P.M. – it was getting late.

"Alli, I think you should go to sleep now; it's getting late already. We can continue watching the show tomorrow, we're always together most of the time anyway."

"Mm," Alli shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow, love."

They both waved at each other with a smile on their faces. Soon, Dan's smile turned to a pout and his eyes started looking downwards. Seeing this, Alli's eyes raised – her face starting to imply uncertainty and worry.

"What's wrong love?"

Dan shook his head slightly and gave off a small smirk. His eyes were shining every time he looked at her face, but a hint of sadness drawn on his face could only make Alli frown.

"Nothing, I just don't like whenever we say goodbye."

Alli breathed for a bit, a mild sigh of relief before giving off that adoring look once more. She moves her face closer to the screen, closed her eyes, and smiles brightly at him.

That is cute. Dan thought.

"Hmph," sighed Dan.

"No more looking sad, okay?" asked Alli.

"Fine."

"Besides, you're the one who said we're always together, right?"

"Mm."

"Enough worrying then, I love you a lot, okay? I'll go to sleep now, see you."

Alli was waving goodbye to Dan who was still looking salty as before. Alli chuckled and said "I love you" with a smile, followed by her leaving the video call. Dan heaved a great sigh as he found himself alone both through his computer and in his room. He stretches his arm up in the air and yawns before standing up from his chair and picking up his phone lying next to his keyboard on the desk.

Walking back towards his bed which was next to the window showing the streets outside, his phone lights up and vibrates. Dan looks at it to see a message notification coming from Alli. He unlocks his phone and heads over to the SNS app, seeing Alli's message:

"Good night love, I love you a lot. Please don't worry, ok?"

It was followed by a sticker of a cutely drawn bear holding a large heart in front of it. Dan smiled cheerfully as he lay down on the cotton cushion of his bed, holding his phone above him with both of his arms extended straight upwards. His eyes wandered around the room while he was stuck in his mind. A few seconds later, he starts typing on the on-screen keyboard, writing the words "I love you too. Good night."

The words "seen" popped up in a moment in a smaller font – in the bottom right part of the message that he had just sent. Immediately, he receives a reply from Alli – it was a photo of her facing the camera with a smile as she lay down on her bed. Dan's eyes brightened as he laid his eyes upon the photo, suddenly rolling around his bed while keeping the phone close to his chest. Not long after, Alli's message was followed by another message from her saying "good night", and soon she was offline from the app.

Afterward, he continues typing another sentence.

"Btw, what food is your favorite again?"

This time, there was no response.

Haiz. She just slept on me. He thought.

With his girlfriend asleep, Dan went to the home screen of his phone and opened a video streaming app, and started scrolling through a library of recommended videos. He continued to scroll for over a minute; a list of videos about the supernatural and crimes passed by the screen. His eyes reflected the blank expression on his face, sometimes his pupils would dilate whenever certain videos passed by, but he never tapped on any of them. Soon enough, he drops his phone on his bed, right next to him.

Looking around his room, he stands up from his bed and walks towards the window – observing the dark gloomy street outside with minimal visibility only coming from the lights of houses and the headlights of cars passing by. He looks over at the driveway of their home.

"I wonder when they'll be back home," he muttered to himself.

They say they'll be back by 7 A.M. tomorrow. Dan thought.

He picked up his phone and turned it on, checking the time that was present on the lock screen, it read "11:39 P.M."

Doing what needed to be done, he puts the phone back on the bed and stands erect while staring at the wall. While doing so, he suddenly feels a stinging sensation in his head that left him incredibly dizzy. He touches the part of his head where the pain was coming from and starts to massage it, hoping it'll ease the pain. Fortunately for him, it started to subside. Yet, as soon as it did, he started contemplating:

Might have been caused by my lack of sleep. He thought.

Not long after that thought crossed his mind, he decided to lie back down on his bed. He turned off the lamp, wraps himself up in his blanket, and closed his eyes. He stayed in one position for a few minutes, followed by slight movements and adjustments. A while had passed, and he decides to open his eyes.

Nothing. Still silence, there was less noise outside now; he could no longer hear any cars passing by. Dan grabs his phone lying next to him and turns it on – immediately flashing the bright light at him, his eyes abruptly close in reaction. He slowly opens them as he starts to lower the brightness of his phone.

"Hmm. Only 20 minutes huh?" he muttered.

Uncertainty flooding his mind – opposing the idea of falling asleep – he stands up. He was wide awake; he heads over to his computer which was greatly illuminating most of the room. On it was an article about people dying in their sleep. Dan's eyes raised in confusion as he looked at what was in front of him.

"I don't remember opening this."

He then sits down on his chair as he continued reading the article.

"4 teenagers in Oak Town in the last few months were found dead in their bed. Experts suggest that these incidents might've been caused by sleep apnea. Although some would claim otherwise. Some claim that there might be supernatural events happening in the area – a claim that many would find to be irrational. Investigations done on the incidents have mentioned a similarity within the victims, that they were all smiling. Survivors of the said incident have described the experience as "being stuck in a loop while trying not to die."

Dan immediately closed the tab, leaving much of the content unread.

"Weird," he muttered.

He shakes his head and takes a few deep breaths.

"Guess I won't sleep," Dan said playfully.

His eyes still staring into the computer screen; it did not take him long before he decided to move the cursor once more. This time he opens a video streaming site and browses tons of videos on the home page.

"Maybe, something funny?"

He continued scrolling and came upon a video about a sleep demon, which he immediately scrolls past. A few moments after scrolling a bit more, he came upon a video that suited his tastes – a video game gameplay by a famous content creator on that site. His face gleamed in excitement upon seeing it but immediately soured upon realizing that the content creator was playing a game about sleep.

"Haha, must be a coincidence," he said to himself, chuckling afterward. After a while, his chuckles started to slow down and his face started to stiffen. He stands up from his computer chair and starts walking out towards the door. He reached for the doorknob and twisted it, opening it, and revealing the dark hallway outside leading to a dim-lit living room downstairs. He walks downstairs slowly, peering over the stairs' railings to see what awaited.

As luck would have it, there was nothing but a clean-living room with an empty sofa. The room was made visible by a small light on the wall leading to the kitchen.

I guess I'm lucky that's always on at night. He thought.

He started walking slowly downstairs, and as he took his final step in front of the sofa – attempting to sit down on it – he hears a loud ringtone playing from upstairs. Surprised, his head immediately faced the direction of the sound, his heartbeat was making it clear that he did not know what to expect.

"That's my phone."

He starts walking back towards his room and sees his phone lit up; he could feel the vibrations coming from it on the floor. He walks closer to his bed to see who it was and saw that it was a video call request.

"Alli?" he muttered.

Immediately, he grabs his phone and answers the call. The screen loaded for a while, and he waited and stared at his blank phone screen. It took a while, a long while, but much to his surprise, there was a person on his phone looking back at him.

"Alli? How are you awake?" said Dan, there was a hint of Malaysian accent in his voice as well.

"Surprise!" replied Alli as she smiled at him.

Dan's breathing started to calm down. He heaves a large sigh as he falls onto his bed lying down.

I feel so light. He thought.

"Is something wrong love?" asked Alli, looking at him through the phone."

Dan continued to deep heavily; his body started to lose all its built-up tension. Dan looked back at his phone and sees Alli staring at him with worry all over her face accompanied by a faint repeated sound that sounded like a "hmph". Dan raises his body and sits on his bed with his back against the wall.

"There's nothing wrong, I'm sorry I worried you."

"What happened though?"

"Just a sudden paranoia. I read this weird article on death by sleeping."

"Woi! I don't like talking about these kinds of topics."

"Fine, I won't. Although, I do wonder why you are still awake even this late. It's almost midnight, you know?"

"I know, but I really can't sleep. I don't need to wake up early tomorrow anyway so here I am… and – I kinda missed you while I was trying to sleep."

His eyes were locked into her eyes, he was having that adoring look on his face again. It didn't last long though, something just had to disturb him. Dan scratches his head slowly while slightly shaking it. He was feeling the same headache as earlier once more, this time its area was growing.

"Love?" asked Alli.

"Don't worry, just another headache," Dan replied.

Although saying that, his words were followed by a slight groan of pain, but only lasted for a few seconds before it completely disappeared once more. Alli could only stare and worry as Dan went through those, leaving her asking questions:

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Maybe, you're thinking too much into that weird article you talked about."

"Not really."

There was a small pause, Alli was thinking, and Dan was still recovering from the pain.

"I know!" Alli cheerfully said. "I have an idea on how to make you forget about that bad memory, heh."

"I wonder what crazy ideas you have in store this time."

"Heh, it's just questions that'll help us get to know each other more."

"Fine, ask ahead."

"Mm"

Alli's eyelids were left slightly opened as she stared at Dan with a suspicious but playful look. Dan looked back at her with the same expression and chuckles lightly.

"What country do you want to go to?" Alli asked.

"Eh, I thought I already told you about this before?"

"Hehe, I forgot."

"*sigh*, you… keep forgetting. Anyways, it was Japan."

"Oh yeah right, Japan."

Soon after that question was answered, Alli then soon followed up with another one:

"I feel shy asking about this one…" said Alli embarrassingly.

"What?" asked Dan.

"Well…"

"Well? Spit it out, woi." He looked at her suspiciously.

"Well, the thing is… If we ever had children… How much would you want?"

"You… we're still dating, you know?"

"I know, but…"

"Fine… but I'm not sure on this one. To be honest, maybe 2-3 would be enough?"

"Oh, okay… bye!"

She abruptly turned off her camera but left her microphone open. She could be heard reacting embarrassingly from her side. Hearing this, Dan couldn't control himself and laughed silently.

"Woi, turn on your camera," said Dan.

There was no response coming from Alli's side. It took a few seconds, but Alli's camera had turned on, showing her only showing her upper face, looking at him with a playful look of suspicion. The two went on for a while, laughing and talking to each other. More questions followed, not realizing the time that has passed.

"Holy crap! It's 2 o'clock already!"

Both had shocked expressions on their faces. They started scrambling to go back to sleep and started waving to each other goodbye. Once again, Dan was left in a void. He lies down on his bed and stares at the ceiling.

I still don't feel sleepy even after 2 hours… Might be insomnia. He thought to himself.

"What a weird night, that was the first time she ever slept that late and talk to me."

He had an obvious smile on his face while he thought of things, shaking his head in disbelief. He turns his eyes somewhere else, towards the open door leading to the hallway; the light from the living room was reaching his room. He also noticed the lights of his computer's CPU still flashing.

"Oh crap!"

He immediately stood up from his bed and turned off the computer properly, then burst out of his room towards the living room. He searches for the living room's main light switch and then turned it off. After doing all of that, he crashes on the sofa and heaves out a sigh of relief, and starts calming himself down.

"This night hasn't failed in giving me anxiety. Mom and Dad would kill me if they found out that the electricity bills suddenly skyrocketed."

He lets out his last deep breath and looks around.

Suddenly –

His stomach growled like it hasn't been fed for days, Dan instinctively stands from the chair and walks towards the kitchen, flicking the light switch along the way. As he walked to the fridge, he was touching his belly in a circular motion and his eyes were drowsy. He grabs the refrigerator's door handle and opens it – a collection of food and drinks were present inside it. He grabs a sandwich and immediately starts heating it inside a microwave on top of the kitchen counter – setting it to 3 minutes. He stood straight while he stared at the rotating transparent plate inside the machine.

While waiting, he raises his hands in front of him and glances over his fingers, its edges were dark.

"Gosh, what happened to these?" asked Dan.

Dan was left thinking for a while as the microwave continued to heat his food, slowly nearing its process. It continued for a few seconds, and then –

DING!

Dan's eyes were enlarged, his body stopped moving, and he had become a statue. His breathing started to grow deeper; his hands started to shake.

I don't remember turning on the lights in the living room… He thought to himself. He hesitantly turns his body around, starting with his head, and moved his gaze towards the living room and the area beyond it – a hallway connected to two rooms. Peering from over the room to the right was a head. Everything around it was dark, although it was obvious that its eyes were staring right at Dan with a large grin on his face.

He froze, staring back at them.

And then.

A tall figure abruptly comes out of the door and starts running toward Dan aggressively as his smile got absurdly larger.

Dan lets out a blood-curdling scream as the tall figure started to exponentially decrease the distance between them – each footstep made it move faster than a cheetah.

…

The scenery immediately changed, he was back in his room in the middle of the night, sitting on his computer chair while looking at the computer screen with an adoring look on his face.

"Dan?" said a female's voice.

Dan shook his head and looks at the screen to see Alli there looking at him with a confused look on her face. She was waving at him to try and get his attention. Seeing this, Dan covers his face and blushes.

"I was adrift in my thoughts again, wasn't I?"

"Mhmm," Alli replied.

"I'm sorry Alli, it's a bad habit."

…

It was bright outside; the sun's rays were peering over Dan's room through his window. The ambiance outside had grown exponentially louder than when it was last night. Dan was on his bed lying down with his eyes closed and a smile on his face; his skin was pale. People were surrounding him; flashes and shutters went off as pictures were being taken. A female's sobbing voice was heard from downstairs.

Suddenly, his phone vibrates. His phone screen lights up, revealing the date and time – June 5, 2014. 8:02 A.M., as well as a message notification from Ali:

"Alli replied to your message: 'Sushis, why?'"

A few moments later, another message from Alli pops up:

"Love, did you hear about the sleep demon incidents? I just found this article online about an incident in your city, it's creepy. Being stuck in an infinite loop of suffering sounds like hell."