Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 32

"....."

"How?" Asher repeated the question with a confused look on his face.

He looked around the room for a few seconds, his mind spinning as he desperately tried to come up with something.

"First off... I need to completely lay out everything I know." The boy uttered.

After making sure they were all listening, Asher began explaining everything he knew.

From the fact that after days of continuous distorted visions and dreams, one would eventually be pulled into a Nightmare.

He explained that he knew not what would happen inside a Nightmare.

But he explained what would happen afterward if a person died inside it.

With each of his words, the horrific looks on his family’s faces became more profound with every passing second.

It was as though there wasn’t even the tiniest sliver of hope left for them.

After Asher explained everything, another round of silence descended into the room ten minutes later.

"So-So we’re basically just waiting for our death sentence in two days?" Jayden questioned with a frown on his face.

He sighed and then began walking off. Grabbing a chair, he spun it around and sat down with a heavy look of defeat on his face.

"N-No. If we can get those pills I spoke about, we can be able to delay this—"

"—Till when, huh? How long will those pills last? Till we go bankrupt? At the end of the day, we would be bankrupt, and then what? We still go into the Nightmare regardless. This situation is inevitable. Don’t you see?" Jack rebuked with a defeated look on his face.

Asher kept quiet for a few moments, thinking.

Then, he turned to face a window that looked out over the whole neighborhood.

’That woman. Now that I think about it, she sure has a lot of knowledge about all these things. Wait a second.’

He lifted his head and looked at the others.

"Guys. I promised to protect you all, and I will do so. But for now, we just need to get those pills. And currently, we all need rest. We don’t have much choice at the moment."

Looking at them all, he waited to see if they would say anything.

But at the end of the day, they said nothing.

Jack walked forward and helped his wife to her feet, who in turn helped Jesse to hers.

One by one, they began heading off to their rooms to face their new reality.

Jayden stared at Asher for several seconds before rubbing his face with his palm.

He was feeling sleepy.

He wanted to say something to his younger brother, but nothing was coming to mind at the moment.

Jayden wanted to ease Asher and tell him not to get too worked up, but the right words to say weren’t coming to him, so he simply exhaled and walked off.

As the last of Jayden’s footsteps vanished, Asher waited for a few seconds as he scanned the whole house.

The Shadows that had been chasing him earlier seemed to have gone far away from the house.

They had been so close, but not until the so-called Shadow God appeared did they all scramble away.

Far, far away, as if the Dawson’s house was a plague meant to be avoided.

"Hmph."

The boy walked off and within moments, he was back in his room.

Pulling his shoes off, he sat on his bed.

Then, he buried his head in his palms.

"Two days... Two days before the first of us gets struck by the Nightmare. Who it’s gonna be? I have no idea. Two days..."

He muttered for a few seconds before lifting his head to stare at his window.

’But how had that woman known so much? Hang on. That’s not right. I saw bags under her eyes, but compared to the others in this city, they weren’t so deep nor black. Which means she moved in recently?’

Shaking his head, that conclusion didn’t seem probable in his mind.

’... Or has she been getting enough sleep? Because from my observation, I don’t think I have seen any other person... no signs of any other person having lived in that house with her.

That means she has no family. So how does she know so much? Does she know a hack? Did she manage to-to-to—’

"...."

He was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head with a frown on his face.

"No, No, No. That’s not right. I don’t think she found a way to escape the Nightmare, right?"

He heaved an exhausted sigh as his eyes began growing weary, but he shook the sleepiness from his eyes.

"... Why am I even here contemplating when I could go over to her house tomorrow and simply ask? Yeah, I can do that."

Groaning, he rose to his full height and began pacing around the room.

"Is there really a way I can save my family? Or is there absolutely nothing I can do? According to the woman... Man, I need to know her name too."

He muttered before returning to his thoughts.

".... According to her, each pill is enough to keep one awake for just two days. And I don’t even know how many pills are in a bottle to begin with."

Rubbing his chin, he continued thinking.

’The human body can last about four days max without sleep before it begins breaking down and forcing the person to sleep. So with those pills, we can find a way to extend that time limit a bit.

Which means we have more than the two days the Shadow God gave us to come up with a solution... if there’s even any.’

Rubbing his tired face, he sat back down on his bed and groaned.

Despair and anger were beginning to overwhelm him to the extent that his eyes were becoming teary.

He just wanted to cry.

But taking in deep breaths, he sniffled and wiped his face clean.

He then leaned backward, crashing onto his bed with an exhausted sigh.

"Man.... I have no choice right now. I need to get as much sleep as I can because in just forty-eight hours, I won’t have that luxury anymore."

His eyelids began fluttering in and out, and within a minute, he yawned loudly.

Then, Asher slept.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!