Dream



Anguish has taken hold of me, freezing my body like a cruel enemy. My courage has vanished, replaced by the panic that torments me. It’s maddening—I can’t react, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t break free from this strange prison that envelops me from head to toe. All I can do is stare at the disaster unfolding before me in dread…

“I’m going to die. I’m going to… die.”

I try to force myself to act with what little strength I have left, but my body refuses to respond to my alarmed mind. I can’t move. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.

Is it the terror consuming me that’s keeping me from controlling my body?

Suddenly, I feel terribly powerless. My hands tremble and tingle as they clutch at the sides of my pants. I try to take deep breaths to calm the anxiety devouring me, but it’s not enough.

“God… why can’t I react? Why does nothing inside me seem to work?”

My eyes dart around desperately, searching for a way out, blinded by the cloud of smoke filling the room.

“Damn it… where am I?”

I feel detached from my surroundings. Everything here is strange and unfamiliar—even I feel different, as if I don’t belong. I don’t recognize a single corner, yet somehow, it feels like I’ve been here before. The place looks old, outdated, making me question what time I’m even in. I know it sounds insane, but I can’t make sense of any of this.

Suddenly, my thoughts are interrupted by a new commotion. My eyes snap away from the chaos and back to the present as I hear the wooden floor begin to creak. Everything inside me jolts awake when I see the flames starting to wreak havoc dangerously close to where I stand. I try to act quickly when I realize I’m about to be trapped by that devastating inferno, but fear won’t let me. I still don’t understand what’s happening—I still don’t know how the hell I ended up here.

“Move! Move now! You have to move now! React—react!”

The flames close in rapidly, devouring everything in their path. Within seconds, I feel the heat brushing and scraping against my face, and the smoke chokes me immediately. I can’t find a way out—I can’t even see anything anymore. The smoke has spread everywhere. I’m just about to come up with a new escape plan when suddenly… I start to hear a baby crying.

Oh, shit… Yeah, it’s a baby. It’s a baby! How is that possible? What the hell is it doing here?

I move aimlessly, unsure of what to do. The baby’s cries haven’t stopped—they echo everywhere now. That only makes me more nervous and desperate than I already am.

I can’t find the source of the sound, but I suspect it’s coming from one of the back rooms. The crying suddenly stops. I’m about to think I imagined it, but that thought shatters when I hear it again—louder and closer.

“Shit… it’s a baby! What do I do?! What do I do?!” my mind screams, as terror and helplessness surge within me, making my heart pound faster. The cries are coming from the last rooms—I’m sure of it.

I can’t leave it there… I can’t leave it…

Before I can gather the courage to go after the baby, I try to steady myself and push away the catastrophic thoughts flooding my mind—but even standing up feels like a struggle. I take a breath of what little clean air remains and head toward the hallway where the room is—the place I believe the cries are coming from.

But part of the ceiling begins to collapse just as I get there. I try to dodge it, but wooden debris keeps crashing down all around the house. I run to the side to avoid it, but the wreckage seems to follow me. I don’t stop—I sprint as fast as I can toward the hallway, only to find a damn wall of fire blocking the way.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

I have to get there. I have to do something for that baby. I have to.

“You can do this, Chris. Come on!”

I take another breath, make a small leap, and then… I do it. My legs propel me forward, and in a split second, I manage to cross the massive wall of fire without any trouble.

I land on my shoulder, but the impact isn’t strong—surprisingly, I barely feel it. What the hell…?

I’m finally on the other side. I try to get up quickly and start moving toward the room, feeling anxiety and anguish seeping into every part of me.

I’ve finally found the source. The cries behind the door sound heart-wrenching—more desperate than before. Without thinking for another second… I turn the doorknob, my hands trembling slightly, but when I step inside…

What the hell…?

There’s no fire anymore. No smoke. The sound of the house collapsing has completely stopped. The silence is now unsettling—sepulchral. I can even hear my own heartbeat ringing in my ears. I’m no longer in that house.

Now I’m in a forest… blanketed in snow. A forest that, unfortunately… I recognize.

It’s strange—it’s as if that door has transported me to that wooded place where I attended a party ten years ago, with my preschool friends.

I’m back in the place where that tragedy happened… with them, and with my brother Nathan. We were seven years old, and I was the only one lucky enough to make it out alive…

Nausea suddenly hits me. A sickening, chilling sensation runs through me as I take in what I’m seeing now…

There’s blood everywhere. Dismembered bodies—like they’re children again. Pieces of each of their bodies scattered all around. The white snow stained red, covered in flesh. A tragic scene, so painfully similar to what their parents and I found ten years ago.

I weakly shake my head, feeling my courage slip away as something dark takes hold of my chest… Disgusted, terrified to the core, still trembling in my hands and feet, I take a step back.

Then another…

A third step… but I bump into something that stops me from going any further.

A chill runs down my spine, but I still force myself to turn around and see what’s going on. And that’s when I see her…

Again…