46 Nightmare (1/2)

Catherine observed the girl in front of her while remaining silent. The girl was smiling at her, waiting for a reaction.

'Mommy? I think I would remember if I had a daughter,' she thought.

She took a quick glance at Joshua, not sure what to think.

'Is this why you refused to talk to me? No, there has to be more.'

The blow she had given Joshua wasn't too violent, he should wake up in a few minutes. Until then, she had to learn as much as possible about the issue. The girl was a nightmare creature created by Joshua, thus, she suspected she was still bound to the role she had been given in the bad dream Joshua had. For now, she decided to play along. She smiled at the child and told her:

”Welcome back, sweetheart!”

Catherine carefully approached her and pat her head. The girl purred like a kitten as she did that. Now that she was close, she noticed a few uncanny details about her appearance. For example, the girl had a scar around her neck, almost as if it had been slit. A few other hastily healed wounds were present on her body. Normally, a spiritual body can heal its wounds without leaving any trace, the presence of scars indicated the spirit in front of her was low on energy. Nightmares fed on their host and Joshua hadn't slept for several days so she didn't have any chances to recharge. This was reassuring, Catherine's soul was much more powerful than the girl. Once someone became lucid while sleeping and escaped their dream bubble, their form was similar to a soul projection. She could, therefore, use all her regular mental abilities without issue. She was, thus, confident to handle the matter once and for all.

After a few seconds, Catherine withdrew her hand.

”So, what have you been up to lately?” she asked.

”Mommy, I want to play a game!” the girl said, ignoring her question.

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Catherine instinctively bit her lip. The whole scene was uncanny and she wasn't at ease. Still, she continued to play along and asked:

”Oh, what do you have in mind?”

”Hide and seek! It will be fun! Daddy should join us!” the child replied and began walking toward Joshua.

”You too, Mommy? You're just like Daddy.”

”What do you mean?”

”You don't love me, do you?”

”...What makes you think that he doesn't love you?”

”Isn't it obvious?” the girl said pointing at her scars. ”I didn't do anything to him. He just attacked me out of nowhere.”

The girl's expression had grown rather sinister and she no longer pretended to be a little angel.

”Tell me, 'Mother'… What is my name?”

Catherine obviously didn't know the answer to that and remained silent.

”Figures. Well, we're gonna play hide and seek whether you like it or not.”

The girl's figure became blurry and soon began to split over and over. Soon the room was filled with creepy looking children, all staring at Catherine. They all began to speak at the same time.

”The game we play has only one rule: If I manage to reach Daddy, I win,” she said giving Catherine an inhuman smile. ”Oh and by the way, I'll only say it once so remember my name: it's Diana.”

As soon as she said that, the many girls all rushed toward Joshua's unconscious body. Catherine didn't waste time. She gathered some energy around Joshua and created a wall of ice around him, stopping them net in their track. Seeing this, about half of them turned their head toward Catherine and charged at her instead. Their appearance began to change as their teeth grew extremely large and various tentacles spawned from their bodies.