Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 41

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Clara bellowed into the night sky.

She collapsed on top of Jack, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

"Ba-Babe? Honey... Please wake back up. Don’t-don’t do this." She pleaded with all her might.

She began shaking the man’s unmoving body, sobbing as she repeatedly called out his name, as though saying it enough times could somehow pull him back from the Nightmare.

"...."

The children stood there in shock.

Their brains were still refusing to process what was happening.

How had Jack fallen into the Nightmare so easily?

If he had been about to fall asleep and couldn’t hold on any longer, there was always the option of using the anti-sleep pills, right?

So what had happened?

Why hadn’t he taken them?

Clara was still screaming and shaking Jack’s body until his limp form slid onto her lap, completely unmoving.

"Jayden, Asher... Come wake your father up for me! Don’t let him go!"

She turned back toward Jack and shook the man repeatedly.

"Come on, Jack. Don’t do this to me. Please... Please wake up already for me. Jack."

Tears cascaded down Jesse’s face as she watched her mother slowly descend into madness.

She was screaming like someone who had just lost the most important thing in her world.

Jesse couldn’t take it anymore.

She rushed toward her mother and wrapped her arms around her from behind.

"Mu-Mum, you heard Asher. Dad has gone into the Nightmare."

"....?!"

Clara whipped her head around and glared at the girl as though she had just uttered a blasphemous word.

She shrugged her shoulders violently, trying to get Jesse off her.

Then her hand flew forward with almost lightning speed.

PA—!

A resounding slap landed across the girl’s face.

"Mum!" Jayden shouted.

The sound of the slap finally snapped him out of his shock.

Jesse clutched her cheek, sobbing from both the emotional and physical pain.

Clara lifted a trembling finger and pointed it at Jayden with a furious look on her face.

She then turned back toward Jesse.

"How dare you speak like that about your father? Who gave you the right to say my Jack gave up, huh?! He is merely sleeping and will wake up if I call him harder."

Fresh tears began falling from Jesse’s eyes.

Her mother was in so much denial that it seemed like nothing they said could reach her.

Clara was about to turn back around and call out to Jack again.

Asher sniffled, forcing his tears back.

He then slowly walked toward his mother with shaky footsteps.

Crouching down in front of her, Asher reached out and held the woman by her shoulders before she could scream again, forcing her to look at him.

"Asher, help me wake your father up, okay?"

She tried to turn back toward Jack, but Asher’s firm grip stopped her.

Staring straight into her tear-filled eyes, Asher felt a heavy pang of guilt and pain wash over him, threatening to spill out in the form of tears.

"Mu-Mum, listen to us. Dad is gone. There’s nothing we can do that will bring him back now. The Nightmare has claimed its first victim."

"...."

Clara blinked several times, as though she was still trying to process the boy’s words.

Jayden stepped forward as well and crouched down in front of their mother.

He nodded his head solemnly.

"Let go now. He’s gone."

Then—

"NOOOO!"

Clara screamed louder than before as she looked back at Jack’s body.

New waves of tears cascaded down her face.

"He promised... He fucking promised when we were taking our vows never to leave me. How dare he go now?! Aaaaaah! This is impossible!"

Jesse shifted closer and hugged the woman from behind.

Jayden and Asher moved in as well, holding their mother in a warm embrace as they began sobbing together as a family.

Miss Mia had already told Asher that going into the Nightmare was synonymous with death.

Barely anybody had ever come out of one alive, so they had no choice but to weep for their lost family member.

The heavy feeling of loss and sorrow hung thickly in the air as the Dawsons mourned the death of the head of their family.

Asher ground his teeth angrily and dropped one knee to the ground when something struck him hard.

Blinking, he looked downward, breaking away from the tight embrace.

He sniffled and wiped his face for a moment to get a clearer view of what he was looking at.

It was a neatly folded piece of paper and a small bottle—the same bottle that had housed the anti-sleep pills before they were distributed among the other family members.

Reaching forward, he picked up the piece of paper first.

Sniffling and wiping his runny nose once more, he tentatively unfolded the paper.

Hearing the sound of paper unfolding, Jayden broke away from the hug and looked at Asher, who was preparing to read.

"What’s that?" Jay asked with a curious look.

Asher scanned the paper once before giving his reply.

"Seems to be a letter."

Jayden was immediately intrigued.

He shifted closer, leaning over Asher’s shoulder to read along with him.

The letter read:

"To my dearest family; I know you all must be saddened by the fact that I succumbed to the Nightmare."

Asher’s jaw clenched tightly as he could almost hear his father’s voice speaking to him in his mind.

But he continued reading.

"...Honestly, I couldn’t bear to see my family slowly losing their minds due to sleep deprivation. The pain of having to watch my kids want sleep so much but can’t sleep because of the fear of death burdened me.

Especially with the fact that I’m the cause of all this, as I brought our family into this cursed city."

Asher’s tightened jaw loosened for a fraction of a second as he stared at the letter.

"I was also worried that if all of us slept at the same time, we would still die. Not until Asher brought the information to us, and I was glad. Hence, I decided to make this sacrifice for you all."

’Wha—?!’

"...I took some sleeping pills to hasten the process. I’m sorry for doing this to you all because I know that my dearest Clara would be crying her eyes out.

So help me, kids, to console her and then sleep soundly, for I will try my hardest to resist whatever challenges the Nightmare tosses at me to give you all that good, sound sleep."

"But why?" Jayden asked, his voice cracking as the tears he had been holding back threatened to spill the more he read.

And now, they had reached the last sentence Jack wrote.

"...Don’t hate me for doing this, and likewise, don’t cry for me. I’m not a coward for giving up so fast. I’m just a husband and, most especially, a father. Bye; I love you all."

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