My Ex is the Horror Boss

The horror BOSS had me pinned, his slick, black tentacles stripping the clothes from my body piece by piece. I could feel the suffocating chill of his presence against my skin.

I thought I was dead.

I cursed as I opened the iMessage thread with my mysterious online boyfriend and slammed my thumb onto the send button, delivering a final, ruthless breakup text.

For a whole year, he’d been my phantom benefactor. He cleared my Amazon cart and paid off my soulcrushing student loans, yet he refused to hop on even a single FaceTime.

I never expected to fall into a literal horror game. The very second I hit send, a familiar notification pinged from somewhere deep within the monster’s massive form. I froze.

Through the bonechilling silence, a low, cold voice vibrated against me—sounding strangely pained. "Babe," he murmured. "We finally meet in person, and you're already breaking up with me?" Chapter 1 I’ve officially lost contact with my online boyfriend.

The reason? Honestly, it’s a mess. I tried to force him to meet in person. But can you blame me?

We’ve been dating for a whole year, and I still don't even know what the man looks like. At first, I was convinced I was being scammed.

Except Kael was constantly DoorDashing me meals from the city’s toprated restaurants and sending over highend Sephora skincare sets.

Every single holiday, my CashApp would chime with a transfer of several thousand dollars. The bastard never even forgot to add a note saying they were voluntary gifts.

After a year of this, a bankrupt girl like me, who used to live on maxedout credit cards, had actually achieved financial freedom.

And yet, Kael was always the one apologizing. "I’m sorry, babe. It’s my fault. I just can’t see you right now… but I love you.

You’ll have everything other girls have." I’d stare at my bank balance, my mouth practically watering. He just gave too much. "It’s okay, Kael.

I believe you." I admit, I’m a little shameless. I folded for the money. But as time went on, the feelings became real.

Outside of the total lack of physical presence, Kael was perfect. I was slowly turning into a complete lover girl—delusional and all.

Still, every time I brought up meeting, Kael shut me down. After every rejection, he’d send even more money out of guilt. He even talked about buying me a house. Damn it.

He almost swayed me again. I started testing him. "Kael, honestly, it doesn't matter if you're short, or unattractive, or even older.

I don't care." While my heart was doing somersaults in my chest, Kael replied: "Babe, I just measured myself. I’m at least sixfootfive.

I might be a little older, but I don't think I'm ugly…" I nearly threw my phone.

If you’ve got the guts to talk big, have the guts to show up! "Then… were you in some kind of accident?

Do you have some kind of physical disability?" I pushed. "Babe, I’m very capable. No one can hurt me." I stared at the message, a cold sneer forming on my lips. Fine.

What exactly are you hiding then? I reached my breaking point and fired off an aggressive voice memo: "Kael, we’ve been together for a year, and you won’t even jump on a FaceTime.

You’re either a basement dweller without a mic, or you’re running some kind of Catfish scam.

What kind of relationship is this?" Seeing I was actually pissed, Kael started apologizing while throwing more money my way. This time, I had a backbone.

I tapped refund and sent another voice memo. "Kael, do you think I’m just in this for the money? As long as you’re actually a human being, we are meeting.

I want to see exactly who’s on the other side of this screen!" The usually mildmannered Kael went silent.

The typing bubble flickered at the top of the chat for ages, but not a single word came through. My heart sank lower and lower. A dark thought crossed my mind—was he married?

The idea of being an accidental mistress made me cold. I sent the final blow: "Kael, it’s either FaceTime or we’re over. You choose." I used a breakup to force his hand. The result?

Kael ghosted me. I was so mad I was nearly in tears. I opened my bank app several times, wanting to transfer everything back and cut ties for good.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I told myself to wait a little longer—maybe there was a twist? Ugh. He just gave too much.

Chapter 2 I was tossing and turning when a call from the precinct shattered the silence. Several people who used to make my life a living hell had died abruptly.

I wasn't going to gloat, but karma clearly had a sense of humor. Being called in for questioning was absurd enough, but then a much colder dread hit me. Kael had vanished.

What if he… I grabbed my keys, desperate to get to the station. But the moment I yanked the front door open, the crisp March night vanished.

A thick, suffocating wall of white fog rolled over me. My mind flatlined. The world tilted into nothingness. When my senses booted back up, the concrete of my porch was gone.

I was standing in the middle of a desolate clearing, swallowed by endless mist. A biting chill snapped at my right wrist. I glanced down.

A glowing white bracelet was clamped tightly to my skin.

The second my fingers brushed its sleek surface, lines of text projected into the air. [Player Wren, welcome to the Nightmare Realm.] [Current Instance: "The Doll", SRank Difficulty.] [Clear Condition: Evade all unknown threats and survive until the end.] [(Note: Death in the game equals death in reality.

Your soul will remain permanently trapped in the Nightmare Realm.)] [Final interpretation rights belong exclusively to the Nightmare Realm.] I clawed at the glowing band, but my nails passed right through it.

It was a hologram. Unremovable. [Would the player like to enable the livestream? The platform takes zero commission. All tips belong entirely to the player.] Livestream?

I furrowed my brow, refusing to interact with the floating screen. After a few seconds, it timed out and defaulted to canceled. I yanked my phone out of my pocket. Zero bars.

Emergency SOS failed to connect. The digital clock was frozen dead at 7:30 PM. "Hey, what the hell are you staring at?

Stop wasting time unless you want to die!" A sharp female voice snapped through the fog. I whipped my head around. A few feet away stood a group of six: two guys, four girls.

Somewhere out of my line of sight, a stream of comments flooded an invisible screen: [Who is this player? She just popped out of nowhere!] [Checked her stats. She's a total newbie?

Talk about free cannon fodder.] [Hard to say, Maddox is there. She’s got that innocent look he goes crazy for.

Looks like he’s adding another one to his harem.] I forced my racing heart down and walked over to the group.

One of the men, wearing an expensive leather jacket, raked his eyes over me with aggressive interest. He stuck out his hand like an arrogant frat boy. "Hey, sweetheart, I'm Maddox.

Consider yourself lucky we dropped into the same slice of hell.

Be a good girl, stay behind me, and I'll keep you alive." The second the words left his mouth, a girl latched onto his arm, her face twisting with jealousy. "Seriously, Maddox?

You have the three of us, and that’s still not enough?" I recognized the shrill pitch. She was the one who had just barked at me. "Plenty, plenty. Look at you, Piper.

You’ve been with me this long and you’re still so jealous!" Maddox flashed a playboy smirk, wrapping his arms around all three girls.

Chapter 3 "Keep standing there, and the fog will eat us all alive," the remaining girl snapped. She stood close to the other guy, a silent shadow dressed in all black.

Her cold eyes flicked over to me. "Once we're inside, it's every man for himself.

Don't look at me to save your skin." She spun on her heel and marched forward, her silent partner trailing right behind.

The wall of white mist was visibly contracting, closing in like the deadly storm circle in a battle royale. Standing still meant death.

I bypassed Maddox’s outstretched hand entirely and hurried after the other two. Out of my peripheral vision, Maddox's jaw tightened.

A mocking sneer twisted his lips. [Sage is such a badass. Total girl crush!] [Acting so high and mighty while riding Seth's coattails.

The fake independent woman act is so tiring.] [Protect Maddox at all costs! At least he's honest about being a player.

He just has a lot of love to give!] A sea of bickering comments filled the invisible screen, interrupted by a brightly colored, paid super chat: [Stop arguing!

Aren't we all just camping this instance to catch a glimpse of the Big BOSS's godly face? Who cares about Maddox or Seth?

Once the supreme Big BOSS shows up, all these mortal men are absolute trash!] I’d read enough litRPG and survival novels to know exactly what kind of death game I had just been drafted into.

I dragged a sharp breath into my lungs, forcing myself to accept the twisted reality. The mist thinned ahead, revealing the looming silhouette of a building.

It was an abandoned Victorianstyle motel, its peeling paint flaking off the exterior like festering wounds. The heavy front doors gaped weirdly open.

Sickly yellow light flickered from within. As we stepped into the lobby, I realized it wasn't empty. A group of ragged guests sat hunched around the dining tables.

They were gripping rusted knives and forks, frantically dragging the metal across empty porcelain plates. The screeching sound set my teeth on edge.

At the sound of our footsteps, they snapped their heads up. Their eyes were blown wide, swirling with a feverish, scarlet hunger.

Thick saliva dripped from their chins as they stared at us like fresh meat walking into a slaughterhouse. A cold shudder ripped down my spine. Goosebumps erupted across my arms.

They might be wearing human skin, but whatever was piloting those bodies was anything but human. The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind us, shaking the rotting floorboards.

Before I could even drag in a breath, a sickening thud echoed through the room. A tiny silhouette flew through the air. It was a little girl.

She hit the corner of the wall with the limp heaviness of a discarded ragdoll.

She lay crumpled in a filthy dress, her chest barely rising as a weak, trembling whisper escaped her lips. "Daddy… please don't hit me…" Clutched desperately to her chest was an equally grimecovered porcelain doll.

She weakly lifted her head.

Thick drops of blood continuously seeped from her eyes, tracking down her bruised cheeks as she stared right at us. "Help me… I don't want to die…" My stomach bottomed out.

The air froze in my lungs.

I dug my fingernails deep into my palms until the pain grounded me, forcing back the suffocating tide of buried, filthy memories clawing at the back of my mind. "Maddox, look.

The doll." Piper tugged on Maddox's sleeve, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at the bleeding child. Not a single person stepped forward.

I clamped my eyes shut and snapped my head away.

Heavy footsteps shook the floorboards as a massive man stomped into the lobby. "Shut your mouth, you worthless piece of trash!" The greasy, bloated motel owner roared, driving his heavy boot brutally into the little girl's ribs.

A wet, sickening crack of splintering bone echoed through the room. The girl instantly went dead silent. Was she unconscious? Or dead?

I refused to open my eyes, my knuckles turning stark white as my fists trembled. Chapter 4 "Distinguished guests, welcome.

Please present your IDs so I can register you." The owner turned to face us, stretching his mouth into a grotesque, fawning smile.

The rolls of fat on his face bunched together like pale, raw meat. A wave of pure nausea hit the back of my throat.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Maddox and the others tapped their glowing bracelets, pulling out physical invitation cards from thin air.

Maddox grabbed his card and turned his predatory gaze back to me. "Wren… gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl. So you really are a total rookie?

If you don't know how it works, I’d be happy to show you the ropes." "She's a rookie?" Piper shot me a look of pure contempt. "Looks like the server bugs still aren't fixed." "A bunch of newbies accidentally dropped into an SRank instance a few days ago, right into the Big BOSS's lap.

The entire squad was wiped out in a single night." My pulse skipped a heavy beat. The precinct's phone call instantly echoed in my ears.

The people who made my life a living hell… they had all died overnight just a few days ago. "Piper, don't scare her.

We all had to start somewhere." Maddox flashed a greasy smirk and stepped right into my personal space, reaching his arms around me as if to guide my hands.

I stepped smoothly out of his reach, mimicking the gestures I had just watched.

A heavy card materialized in my palm. "Thanks, Maddox, but I'll pass." He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, his eyes raking over my body with uncomfortable intensity. "Suit yourself, sweetheart.

But you'll hit a wall soon enough, and you'll be begging me for some handson instruction." The sheer amount of sleaze radiating off him made my skin crawl.

I ignored him, watching the bloated motel owner gather our invitations and respectfully trudge upstairs.

The motel had a massive spiral staircase that coiled upward into the shadows, looking like a dizzying black vortex when you stared up into it.

The owner's silhouette shrank as he climbed, finally swallowed by the darkness of the top floor. Barely a minute passed in suffocating silence.

A heavy shadow plummeted from the ceiling. The floorboards splintered under the sudden weight. The owner's mangled body slammed into the ground just a few feet from my boots.

He hit the wood like a sack of wet cement. A thick pool of liquid rapidly expanded beneath his crushed body—but the blood was pitch black.

The sudden drop froze everyone in their tracks. Even the deranged guests in the lobby stopped scraping their knives, staring up at the top floor in dead silence.

The invisible stream exploded: [See? Even the Big BOSS hates abusers! He is so insanely hot for this!] [Hold up… anyone else notice the Big BOSS is in a foul mood?

He rarely ever bothers going after newbies!] [Didn't they say it was a glitch?

It's just bad luck for those newbies dropping in while he's ticked off… Though it's hilarious to say that, since the Big BOSS doesn't even have human emotions!] "Little girl with her porcelain doll, walking to the garden wall.

The dolly cries out for her mother, while the little birds laugh at each other…" The little girl who should have been dead with a shattered ribcage suddenly popped up from the corner.

She skipped over to us, her bruised lips humming a warped nursery rhyme. As she skipped past me, she abruptly froze.

She snapped her neck backward at a sickening angle and tilted her head. A massive, unnatural smile stretched across her bloodstained face. "You're so pretty, miss.

Do you want to be my new doll? Hee hee hee…" "You worthless little brat, just wait till I get my hands on you!" My stomach dropped.

Before I could even process the girl's threat, the flattened motel owner scraped himself off the floor.

Thick, black blood steadily dripped from his dislocated jaw as he turned his dead eyes toward us. "Identities verified.

Dinner will be served shortly for our distinguished guests." Chapter 5 Whether it was my imagination or not, the owner's dead eyes seemed to linger on me for a fraction of a second longer.

Under the cannibalistic stares of the lobby guests, the seven of us players squeezed around a single dining table.

Maddox and his three girls, including Piper, huddled together, whispering furiously. The remaining girl, Sage, sat with a cold, detached expression.

The guy in black beside her, Seth, was just as silent.

When the owner rolled out a heavy metal serving cart, every player tensed, their eyes locking onto the covered dishes with raw paranoia. "Distinguished guests, these are our house specialties.

You must be good and finish every last bite! Wasting food… comes with a severe penalty~" The food was a viscous, gelatinous slop.

It looked like rotting meat left to fester in the sun, reeking of copper and decay.

Worse, as the owner served the plates, thick globs of black blood dripped from his torn flesh directly into the food. Bile burned the back of my throat.

The other players clamped their hands over their mouths to hold back their gags. But a second later, I froze. The rest of the table stared in stunned silence.

Because the meal placed in front of me was completely normal. More than normal—it was plated on delicate porcelain.

Four perfectly cooked side dishes, a rich soup, and a steaming bowl of rice. It looked mouthwatering.

I noticed the bloated owner had pulled out a pristine white cloth to wipe the rim of my plate. He set it down with agonizing care, terrified of ruining my appetite.

The invisible livestream chat exploded: [Is this a rookie perk?

No way, since when does the Nightmare Realm have basic hospitality!] [Those other guys accidentally dropped into an SRank instance and got slaughtered, but this girl gets the VIP treatment?

The double standard is insane!] [This kind of perk is useless anyway. The food is disgusting, but it won't kill you.

With all the lethal traps ahead, she's still dead meat!] "Why the hell does she get special treatment?" Piper slammed her hand on the table, pointing a shaking finger at me as she demanded an answer from the owner.

The owner, who had just treated me like fragile glass, snapped his bleeding eyes toward Piper, locking onto her with murderous intent. All the color drained from Piper's face.

She snapped her mouth shut, shrinking back into her seat.

For the rest of the meal, aside from me, the other two guys and four girls forced the rotting slop down their throats, suppressing violent dry heaves with every bite.

By the time their plates were clean, they were all glaring at me, their eyes burning with bitter resentment. "Distinguished guests, I trust you are full?" The owner rubbed his greasy hands together like a bloated fly.

A vile mix of saliva and black blood dripped from his cracked lips. "Unfortunately, our motel is severely lacking in ingredients.

We used everything we had on you, and our other guests have been starving…" He leaned closer. "I must ask you to show some kindness.

Leave one person behind… to help me hunt for fresh ingredients and feed the rest of the dining room." The moment those words dropped, the red eyes of the surrounding guests flared with psychotic excitement.

They frantically slammed their rusted knives and forks against the tables, the deafening metal screech vibrating through my bones. My heart seized.

I knew exactly what ingredients meant. Evade all unknown threats… survive until the end… The slaughter of this instance was officially starting. I was a rookie. I had zero allies.

The sacrificial lamb was obviously going to be me. "Her! Keep her!" Right on cue, Piper shoved me hard from behind.

I stumbled forward, my boots scraping against the rotting floorboards. I was completely isolated.

Only Sage, the girl sitting with Seth, looked at me like she wanted to say something, but ultimately kept her mouth clamped shut.

Maddox crossed his arms, staring down at me with cold, arrogant detachment. "Wren. I offered you a lifeline.

I wanted to teach you how this world works." He sneered. "Too bad your pathetic pride just got you killed." Chapter 6 Before the owner could say another word, the starving guests in the lobby lost what little patience they had.

They abruptly shoved back their chairs, their twisted shadows elongating under the harsh, flickering lights as they advanced toward me.

I backed away as their human skin began to split and slough off like rotten fruit. For a split second, I caught the motel owner's expression.

His dead eyes were blown wide—but the emotion wasn't bloodlust. His pasty face drained of all color, his jaw trembling. I didn't know what the hell he was terrified of.

I just kept backpedaling, my boots slipping on the bloody floorboards until my spine slammed into the cold corner wall. "Hold on…" Sage suddenly spoke up, her fingers flying over her glowing bracelet as if scrambling to deploy a skill.

The harsh overhead lights shattered. The entire motel plunged into pitch black. THUD. THUD. THUD. Deafening impacts shook the floor.

The decaying guests that had just cornered me were launched through the air by some unseen, monstrous force, their shrieks instantly cut off as they vanished into the darkness.

Then, a freezing sensation brushed against my neck. It felt exactly like a kiss.

Simultaneously, a barrage of icy, phantomlike fingers ghosted over my skin—tracing my jawline, dragging down my collarbone, and aggressively gripping my waist.

They mapped every curve of my body with agonizing, obsessive precision.

I was being violated in the dark, but when I wildly swatted the air, my hands closed around absolutely nothing. Was it a ghost? Or some kind of ungodly creature?

The darkness amplified my other senses to a sickening degree. Every hair on my body stood on end. The frantic thudding of my heart was deafening in my own ears.

The violating phantom touches didn't last long. The icy lips dragged over my earlobe one last time in a chilling kiss.

By the time I dragged in a shaky breath, the lights slammed back on. And then I saw a scene that made my stomach heave. Piper lay dead in the dead center of the lobby.

Her body had been brutally ripped apart, reduced to unidentifiable chunks of meat scattered across the floorboards.

The stench of hot blood and ruptured organs completely suffocated the room. [Oh my god! How did one of Maddox's girls die?!

The instance literally just started!] [What the hell just happened? The stream blacked out, I didn't see anything!

Wasn't the rookie supposed to die?!] [Are you guys absolutely sure… she's a rookie? If she is, why hasn't she broken down crying or screaming yet?

This is not normal rookie behavior!] The monstrous guests, still crumpled on the floor from being thrown, suddenly caught the scent.

They scrambled toward Piper's mangled remains on all fours, instantly tearing into the flesh in a grotesque midnight feast. "Piper…" The two remaining girls in Maddox's squad finally broke, sobbing hysterically. "How is she dead?

How did this happen?!" "Piper…" I snapped my gaze to Maddox. I hadn't noticed in the chaos, but he wasn't unscathed. His entire left arm had been cleanly severed at the shoulder.

He stared blankly at Piper's remains for a second before his eyes violently snapped to me.

Thick blood poured from his mangled shoulder, splattering against the floorboards as a feral snarl bared his teeth. "Wren, you bitch!

You've been playing us!" Maddox screamed, stepping toward me. "You used a highlevel item, didn't you?!

You made Piper take the hit for you and severed my arm!" I lowered my eyes, my mind racing. He was completely wrong.

I was a total rookie—I didn't even know items existed until two seconds ago. But I rolled my eyes and scoffed coldly. "So what if I did? So what if I didn't?

Your stupid little girlfriend tried to throw me to the wolves first. This is called karma. Understand?" The reality was clear: Piper was dead, and Maddox was missing an arm.

They were never going to let this go. If I wanted to survive, I had to lean into the misunderstanding.

I had to make them believe I was a veteran player sitting on a stack of lethal items. It was the only way to keep Maddox's squad paranoid enough to back off.

Chapter 7 "We have plenty of ingredients now. Thank you for your assistance, distinguished guests." The owner lumbered over, flashing a grotesque, sickening smile.

The impact from his fall had left deep, unnatural fissures across his pasty face, making him look unspeakably terrifying. "Now, please head upstairs to rest.

And remember… leaving your room after 9:00 PM is strictly prohibited!" The moment his words dropped, the lobby lights cut out.

The only sound left in the pitch black was the wet, tearing crunch of bone and flesh. The staircase leading up was bathed in warm, glowing light. Heaven above, hell below.

That phrase flashed through my mind as I gripped the banister and climbed. In the hallway, Maddox hung back, intentionally waiting until Sage and Seth had claimed their rooms.

Then, he materialized a deck of tarot cards from thin air. He drew for himself, then for his two remaining girls. "The last one is yours." Maddox shot me a venomous glare.

Whatever item he had used on his severed shoulder had completely stopped the bleeding. I caught a glimpse of the card in his hand. The Devil. An omen of absolute doom.

But I didn't have a choice.

I turned the handle and pushed open the door to that final room. "Maddox, are you sure your readings are still working?" one of his girls asked, her voice trembling in the hall. "When we dropped into this instance, you pulled a card for Piper and said she was perfectly safe!" "Relax.

Trust me. If someone dies tonight, it will be her," Maddox snapped, his face flashing with sharp impatience. I ignored him and shut the door behind me.

The sheer terror and disgust finally caught up with my body. I rushed into the small bathroom and dry heaved over the sink until my throat tasted like copper.

Once I was empty, I crawled into the stiff bed and pulled out my phone, scrolling through my chat history with Kael. Unsurprisingly, I was probably going to die here.

Everyone fears death. The only reason I hadn't broken down screaming this whole time was pure instinct. I was used to locking my emotions away around strangers.

If I had one regret before dying, it was Kael. My one and only relationship, and we never even got to meet. Maybe it was for the best. At least… I could keep the fantasy intact.

I could die believing he was the flawless guy I made him out to be.

Logically, being trapped in a horror game where I could be slaughtered at any second, I shouldn't have been able to sleep.

Yet, against all odds, my consciousness blurred, and I drifted off. In the haze of sleep, a dream swallowed me. Through an endless sea of white fog, a man stood in the distance.

His features were striking but intensely cold, looking almost like a cursed, ancient deity.

Long, inkblack hair spilled over his shoulders, and his eyes were bottomless, terrifying abysses. I had never seen him before in my life.

But the second he opened his arms and offered a faint, chilling smile, my legs moved on their own.

I sprinted toward him, crashing straight into his chest. "Babe, welcome to my world," he murmured, his voice freezing, like a handful of fresh snow. "Kael, I'm scared," I whispered, inexplicably feeling a massive wave of safety as I buried my face against him.

His long, inkblack hair started to move. The strands surged forward like living vines, aggressively sweeping over me and binding my limbs tight against him.

A biting cold seeped into my skin. Shivering, I pushed my hands against his chest to shove him back—and my breath hitched. The solid muscle beneath my palms was physically real.

At that exact moment, shattering the dead silence of the night, that familiar, bloodcurdling nursery rhyme echoed through the darkness. "Little girl with her porcelain doll… walking to the garden wall… The dolly cries out for her mother… while the little birds laugh at each other…" The humming stretched out, the sweet, childish pitch abruptly twisting into a sharp, grating shriek as the lyrics warped into a nightmare. "Dolly, oh dolly, why do you cry… Did you remember your mother's goodbye… Dolly, oh dolly, dry those tears… Whisper your secrets and all of your fears…" Chapter 8 "Help me!" Paired with the sickening nursery rhyme, a woman's scream tore through the hallway.

It had to be one of Maddox's remaining girls. She frantically slammed her fists against a door, her voice cracking with pure desperation. "Maddox, open the door! Save me!

Open it…" But Maddox might as well have been dead. Complete silence from his room.

Driven by raw panic, her frantic pounding shifted to my door. "Wren, please help me!" she sobbed. "Wren, I know you have items!

Have some mercy, please save me…" Before she could finish her plea, the little girl's eerie, sweet voice drifted down the hall. "Miss, have you seen my porcelain doll?

I lost her…" A chilling giggle vibrated through the wood of my door. "Miss, your scalp is so pretty. Can I use it to make a new doll?

Is that okay?" The inevitable, gutwrenching scream ripped through the air.

It was abruptly cut short, followed only by the wet, heavy sound of something being dragged away down the carpet.

My chest heaved as the nightmare shattered, dumping me back into reality.

Not because of the slaughter outside my door, but because my own bedroom was rapidly filling with a suffocating, thick white mist.

Through the haze, a massive shadow hovered directly above my bed. My bed was pushed up against the window.

In the pale moonlight filtering through the glass, I caught sight of something absolutely absurd. Roses were growing directly out of my mattress.

A thick bed of deep crimson petals blanketed the sheets—perfectly thornless, swaying gently as if caressed by an invisible breeze.

Before I could process the impossibility, a thick, pitchblack appendage wrapped tightly around my waist, slowly hauling me up into a sitting position. "No… mph!" I opened my mouth to scream, but something immediately shoved its way in.

It slickly coiled around my tongue, probing deep into my mouth with a rhythmic, invasive pressure. I might not have much practical experience, but I wasn't an idiot.

The sheer eroticism of the violation sent a dangerous, electric flush through my veins.

When my vision finally focused on the writhing, slick black tentacles pinning me down, my breath caught in my throat.

The pitchblack tentacles were terrifyingly dextrous and playful.

One was methodically dragging down the zipper of my jacket, another was trailing cold, wet kisses up my calf, and yet another… was aggressively slipping its way between my thighs.

They carried an unnatural, freezing chill, yet simultaneously radiated a suffocatingly intense wave of raw, dominant male pheromones.

The phantom limbs pinned me ruthlessly to the mattress, rendering me completely paralyzed as the entire room became saturated with his scent—a dangerous, intoxicating mix of icy cedarwood and fresh blood.

A violently overwhelming cocktail of fear and pure shame flooded my system, and involuntary tears spilled hot over my cheeks.

A single tear dropped directly onto one of the slick black vines. Whether it was my imagination or not, every single tentacle instantly went rigid. They froze in place.

The invasive appendage inside my mouth smoothly withdrew, retreating into the shadows.

It hovered just inches from my face, swaying slightly back and forth like a dog that knew it had just done something bad. "Ack—cough…" I snapped my head to the side, hacking to catch my breath.

As I wheezed, the tentacle reached out with startling gentleness, lightly patting the top of my head.

If I didn't know I was dealing with a literal nightmare creature, I would have sworn it was trying to comfort me. This was it.

I was really going to die here, torn apart by these shadow limbs. My life had been a miserable grind in childhood and a numbing blur in adulthood.

And yet, at the very end, the only thing crossing my mind was Kael. My invisible boyfriend. The only person in the world who had ever actually treated me well.

The people who made my life hell had probably been dragged into this Nightmare Realm—that was why they dropped dead in the real world. So what about Kael?

He had completely ghosted me… was he dragged in here too? I had absolutely no idea if he was even alive. With trembling fingers, I blindly felt around the mattress for my phone.

I knew there was zero signal, but a desperate, pathetic hope clung to me. Maybe.

Just maybe, after I died and my body was dumped back into the real world, the message would autosend. I had no family to miss me. No ties to the world. Only Kael.

If he was already dead, then I guess I was joining him. We could finally have our meetup in hell.

And if he was somehow still alive out there… then I shouldn't leave him with any lingering hope. Chapter 9 My hands trembled as I rapidly typed.

With the suffocating weight of imminent death pressing down on me, I didn't even stop to think. "Kael, I'm sick of your games and hiding.

We're done." "Don't bother trying to meet up anymore. Don't look for me. Let's just block each other. You're a disgusting freak… I never want to see you again!" "Honestly?

I never had feelings for you. I was only ever in it for the cash.

I'm getting married soon anyway, so lose my number!" I hit send on the final, vicious text and waited in silence for the slaughter.

My chest tightened, and hot tears spilled down my cheeks. Even as I choked on a sob, I forced myself to speak into the hazy darkness above. "Mr.

Monster… I have a really low pain tolerance. Can you just make it quick?" Before the words fully left my mouth, a rapid succession of digital chimes shattered the silence. Ping.

Ping. Ping. The notification sound was absurdly out of place. And it came from deep within the monster's towering form. My breath caught in my throat. I snatched my phone back up.

The screen still showed zero bars… but every single message had a Delivered stamp next to it. At that exact second, the thick white mist abruptly receded.

The sea of crimson roses blanketing my mattress withered in an instant, crumbling into a chaotic mess of dead petals. A bonedeep chill spiked down my spine.

Every hair on my arms stood on end. As the fog parted, the true shape of the nightmare hovering above me finally came into focus.

A low, freezing voice vibrated through the air, dripping with an unnatural, wounded edge. "Babe… we finally meet in person, and you're already breaking up with me?" "A disgusting freak?

I knew it. I knew you'd hate me the second you saw me