It was a females voice, and that of others he could not discern.

They were all talking at the same time in the same wild and unsettling staccato.
He squinted, trying to make out atleast a face but it was too dark and blurry.

Then he heard the voice, and it was sharp and melodious.

'Your old man has gotten what he deserved'. She cackled in the a mocking tone.

'They warned him to be careful. They warned him not to talk, but did he heed to their warnings? No. He thought he could outsmart them'.

She clicked her tongue in a shallow show of pity.

'No one outsmarts them'. The voice was getting clearer and more monotonous. 'No one outsmarts them'.
The others joined her in a disturbing chorus like a bunch of lethargic school children chanting the national pledge.

He strained his ears, trying to place the voice but it fitted none his frazzled brain could bring forth.

The cries kept on growing stronger pounding on his skull as determinedly as an overzealous prospector until his ears could take it no more. Then silence.

A whirring sound rang in his ears and his eyes popped open, his disintegrated mind tried to figure out where he was.

He struggled to catch his breath, a wheezing sound escaping from his chest as his lungs strained for oxygen.

The room was so dark that the only thing he could see was nothing. Then he started seeing the white blades of the fan.

His brain picked the distinct sound of the fan that was langiudly slicing the air above him which matched his ragged breathing. The fan did nothing to ease the heat though, if his drenched mattress was anything to go by.

He turned to the other dry side of the mattress and almost fell off it. It was too spare to accomodate the whole of him.

He hissed and in the dark, splayed his fingers on the leather-covered ground trying to locate the hand fan he was using before he slept off.

The gentle blows of airy heat on his wet skin somewhat cooled him off and he started drifting back to sleep. But they could come back again, his dozy mind warned him. So he threw the fan and welcomed the night's heat because it was far better for his sanity than the other side of the dream.

His sanity. The thoughts on his mind before a rather uncomfortable sleep stole him was how to keep grip on his sanity with the conviction that he was going to give his friend's advice a go.