1 Hidden from Sigh (1/2)

As school ended, Tristan Flores packed his bag and made his way to his part time job. As a high school senior who turned 18, the future was bearing heavily on his mind. His goal was to do well in the finals and hopefully get into a decent university.

In the smallish bookstore that basically sold academic texts, Tristan sat behind the counter with a dead look on his face. The cars whirred past on the road outside as he looked on, dazed. It was at that moment, he felt the sky suddenly darken and a loud boom of thunder sound out.

”Huh? The weather was forecasted to be clear skies, but now, there's a sudden thunderstorm?” Tristan wondered as he rested his chin on his hand, scrolling through his phone. The shop was empty with the exception of him and he was bored.

Suddenly, the door to the shop exploded and a woman was blasted into the store and crashed onto the front desk, shattering all glass panes and blowing Tristan away onto a wall, fear writ on his face.

The woman who crashed here was caked in dark red blood. She looked at the injured Tristan and made a creepy smile before leaking blood from her mouth. Then she breathed in... and exploded into a pool of blood that splattered the store as well as Tristan. However, it wasn't just blood that exploded, but her body exploded to send a powerful shockwave that brought down several shops in the district. Tristan fell unconscious.

When he woke up, Tristan was in a hospital bed. His entire body was covered up in cotton and he couldn't feel his body. He could see silhouettes looking at him and discussing something, but he couldn't make anything out. He passed out again.

Tristan suddenly opened his eyes and he was in the bookstore. When he saw that, he sighed in relief.

”So that was a dream! Scared me to death!” Tristan patted his chest to calm himself.

Yet, suddenly he felt the sky darken and and a loud boom of thunder. The door to the shop crashed into thousands of pieces as a ghastly woman blasted in, blood seeping out of every orifice. The creepy smile on her face, as if playing with a toy. Then she exploded.

Tristan opened his eyes panting heavily. He had been having this same dream for the past half year, ever since the shop he was employed in part time exploded along with several other shops in the district due to a gas leak in a restaurant. The dream had haunted him constantly and his performance in school had dropped significantly.

He consulted the post trauma psychologist assigned by the hospital after his injury several times, but no matter what suggestions they gave, they were useless to him. Today, he decided, would be his last visit to this psychologist. He had already been looking for an alternative.

At the psychologist's office, Tristan discussed his frustration with the psychologist's practices and he nodded.

”Tristan, I have been talking to authorities about your case, because it is very special. After much discussion, I have brought a person who can explain some things to you.” The psychologist said as a man in a suit and black shades walked into the room. Tristan remained stunned, not understanding what his psychologist meant by this.

The man in the suit looked at Tristan for a bit before nodding.