Like a Dream

“Fire!”

“Chris, get up—now! Move!”

I’m buried deep in the fog of sleep. Waking up feels like one of the heaviest, most impossible things I’ve ever had to do. Everything inside me is overwhelmed—so much that I can barely register what’s even happening to me.

I force every ounce of strength I have just to open my eyes, to take control again—but I’m still disoriented. It’s not laziness or exhaustion holding me down. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to come back to myself.

Then I hear shouting outside the tent where I was sleeping.

“Damn it! WHERE IS MARCUS?!”

That snaps me back.

Within seconds, I recognize Josh—my cousin—yelling at someone, his voice sharp, frantic… desperate.

An alarm goes off inside me. Anxiety starts creeping in fast, threatening to consume me before I can stop it. I try to steady myself with a few deep breaths before doing anything else. I can’t afford another episode—not now.

Still half-asleep, I try to sit up, but desperation makes my movements clumsy and uncoordinated. My hands shake. Panic starts taking over, and the flood of catastrophic thoughts in my head makes it even harder to move forward.

Get it together for once in your damn life. Come on.

The shouting outside doesn’t stop—it only feeds the panic clawing its way through me.

I rush to get dressed, throwing on a jacket and my boots, but my hands won’t cooperate.

“No one’s answering, Josh!”

Aaron comes into view as I step out of the tent, phone pressed to his ear, running a hand through his hair over and over again, pure nerves.

“What the hell—?”

The words die in my mouth.

A massive cloud of dark smoke rises from the other side of the forest—the same direction Dalia, Rebeca, and Elizabeth headed yesterday. Now that dawn has broken, the daylight makes everything clearer… more horrifying.

Fire.

It’s tearing through part of the grounds without mercy.

I shake my head weakly, unable to react—unable to stop trembling.

No, no, no… NO.

Panic and dread crush my chest, my heart pounding so hard it feels like it might burst out of me. I swallow hard, but the catastrophic thoughts come anyway.

I can’t move. I can’t process what I’m seeing.

All I can do is stare at the inferno devouring everything in its path.

“We have to go—now!” Josh shouts, yanking me back to reality.

I tear my gaze away and face him. He looks terrified, pacing back and forth.

“How can we leave without them?! We have to make sure no one’s still there!” My voice barely comes out, strangled by nerves.

“M-maybe they got out before…” Aaron sounds just as shaken as I am—I’ve never seen him like this. “Maybe they’re not there… maybe—”

I shake my head, and he falls silent.

“I’m not leaving until we know for sure.”

“But if they’re not there, we’ll be the ones who get trapped!”

My fists clench at my sides. The breathing isn’t helping much anymore—not with everything raging inside me. But I force myself to hold it together.

Now is not the time to fall apart.

I have to stay strong. For them.

Josh could be right. Maybe the girls escaped—I pray to God they did. But we don’t know that. We have nothing certain.

“Josh…”

“We’re risking everything either way.”

Desperation starts mixing with anger, spreading through me from head to toe. I can’t believe this—can’t believe he’s even considering leaving them behind.

I get that he’s scared.

But we can’t just give up.

Not when lives might still be on the line.

“Stop thinking like that and let’s just do something already!”

His jaw tightens as he glances back at the fire. My patience is wearing thin—especially because he still won’t decide.

Aaron draws my attention again with a frustrated exhale.

“Just tell us what we’re doing! Damn it, Josh—look! We don’t have time!” The gray-eyed, dark-haired boy looks even more shaken now.

But Josh just stares at us, no trace of agreement in his eyes.

“Don’t you get it? If we go in there, we’re dead! That fire is tearing the place apart! If we don’t move, it’s going to burn us alive right here!”

He looks straight at me.

“I can’t risk you like that, Chris. Just—understand.”

“Damn it, Josh! We have to do something—now!”

My voice comes out sharper this time, more desperate. But he doesn’t react. He just stands there, lost in thought—and it’s driving me insane.

It’s frustrating. No—worse than that. Disappointing.

His friends are in danger, and he won’t even try to do anything.

If he won’t act… then I will. I’m not standing here doing nothing.

I watch him shake his head, then drag his hands down his face. I can’t take the silence anymore.

“Are you coming with me or not? Tell me—now! We don’t have time!”

Josh and Aaron exchange a look. I curse under my breath. They stay like that for a few seconds too long—and I’m done waiting.

I turn, ready to go on my own, but Josh grabs my arm.

I look at him.

There’s resignation in his eyes… and fear.

He nods.

That’s all I need.

The three of us take off, sprinting straight toward the raging fire.

We don’t stop running. The cold air from the snow-covered ground disappears, replaced by thick smoke that immediately starts choking us. Heat lashes against my face, but I don’t slow down.

I start coughing—hard. The smoke burns my throat, makes it feel like I’m suffocating. I can hear them coughing too, just as badly.

The smoke blinds me now. Everything turns into a blur of gray and white, but I can still see it—

The fire.

It’s right there. Close. Violent. Devouring everything.

Searching is almost impossible. Debris is everywhere, scattered across the ground. Seeing the destruction only tightens the panic in my chest.

Then I hear Aaron’s voice—rough, shouting something I can’t make out at first.