I was in the lift with (the other) Jessie and Weihan. It was sort of a cargo lift, like the old ones you find in old shopping centres. Suddenly this man came into the lift. He was clad in a grey, crumpled polo tee with faded jeans, like what a typical construction worker would be wearing.

He turned to me and asked if I had change for his $1000 note. Instinctively, I smelt a rat. But before I could react, Jessie turned over and replied, "Yes, I have." I didn't know if I should be bewildered by the man's dubious behaviour or Jessie's casualness towards the matter. Hello, it's not every day that that you even see a $1000 note dangling in front of you. And why would Jessie have so much cash with her?!

There was a sudden chill down my spine. What if Jessie also realised something was amiss, and she was doing this to save our skin? Out of fear, I posed the stupidest question on earth.

I imclined my body 45degrees towards the man, with my voice quivering, I asked, "Are you a robber?"

Half expecting the man to explode into laughter, yet worrying that my fears are not unfounded, the man actually replied, "Yes."

Such a resounding 'yes' it was. Weihan stared at me blankly and I looked helplessly at Jessie. My god, the lift door isn't going to open anytime soon.

That man whipped a knife out of his pocket and the next moment, the three of us were a squatting down, fear-stricken. At that point I wanted to slap myself, why did I ever ask such an obvious question? I should have smiled politely and waited for that stupid lift door to open right?

The man cornered me with the knife in his hand and forced it on my throat. I felt a piercing pain and fresh blood trickled down my neck. Although it was just a sharp poke on my neck, the pain was simply excruciating and it made me feel very faint. When the man ordered me to give him all my valuables, I didn't have the strength to retaliate. With blood still oozing from my wound, I handed him my pouch and wallet. I could have fainted any moment.

The lift door finally opened and he dashed out into the lobby. I was almost certain the incident was over, that we have been robbed in the lift and I'll awake to find myself into the hospital. Yet Jessie did the most craziest thing of her life. She flung herself to the exit and tugged at the man's jeans.

My goodness, I really wanted to cry. And Weihan didn't even do anything to stop her. Fearing for her safety, I grabbed her skirt with all my remaining strength and shouted for her to let go. Uncertain if she did heed my advice or the man simply shoved her aside, I felt compelled to do something more.

I crawled out of the lift and managed to stand up on my feet. I hid behind the wall and watched as the man retrieved his bike, telling myself the least I could do was to get the carplate number into my head. But he spotted me from a distance and a second round of nightmare began.

He flung his bike on the floor and charged towards me. I could feel my pulse racing right up to my neck, to the region where he conveniently stabbed me. I staggered to the lift and shouted for Jessie and Weihan to run for their safety. But the two of them simply laid on the floor of the lift lobby, motionless. From the corner of my eye, I saw a couple approaching our direction. "So they'll be rescued," I comforted myself.

The next instant, I did the most selfish thing of my life. I pressed the lift button for who-knows-which-level and hoped the lift door would close before that thug catches up. For once, the lift door obeyed. It brought me to the level which I needed the most: the bus interchange. Number 1: I can board any bus and get away from that cursed place. Number 2: the place is so crowded that it would almost be impossible to nab me.

I hopped onto a bus that was moving off from the bay and reached for my handphone to dial the number that I've never dialled in my entire life: 999. Yes, some policeman picked up the call and I remembered mumbling that I was at the interchange and I've been robbed. Yet the dumb guy couldn't even get my location right and caused me to lose my cool.

Finally, I shouted through the phone with all my might, "I told you I'm at the interchange! I'm on the bus hoping that it'll bring me to the nearby police station. My two friends are still in the building. Can you just go and save them?!"

Then it suddenly occurred to me I'm halfway to safety, yet my friends are in greater danger than before. What if, just what if the robber didn't give chase and caught the both of them instead? Stupid me, why didn't I think of it previously?

I was overwhelmed with guilt. Never mind the bloody neck and the pain that wouldn't go away. It was so irresponsible to run away without them. So what if I did it to call the police, that's not justifiable! I had to go back to save them......

And then I woke up. I find myself lying on the familiar bed, on the familiar pillow, staring at the familiar ceiling. Okay, that really was a nightmare.

But hey, if you really followed my plot and believed it, I've succeeded in being a story-teller. Even if you carried a skeptical attitude but read on to find out the truth, I've half succeeded. At least you found the story credible enough to read on :)

Anyway, it wasn't just any story k. I really dreamt it. Everything mentioned did happen in dreamland. And I really wanted to turn back and save them.

The worst nightmare I ever had, that's it.

Relaxation time! :) :)
http://www.bored.com/mysticalball/index.htm

I took 5 minutes to be fascinated about the game, another 5 minutes to unravel the mystery. See if you can beat my record!

Yeah, don't doubt your eyes, there's something known as bored.com. I was so bored in my current workplace that I resorted to it. Never mind, 7 more hours and I'll regain freedom forever.