Taking a short bath, Yuriel returned to her room and sat down in front of a mirror. She stared at her delicate reflection, drying her wet black hair with a towel. Amidst all this, she observed her eyes, now more sunken, hiding an ocean of madness behind her indifferent gaze.

Noticing this, Yuriel's body trembled as she realized the severity of that dream. She had been changed in subtle ways, but it was definitely there. Looking back to the dinner earlier, even her mother noticed too and became concerned.

Clicking her tongue in frustration, Yuriel wore her pajamas and went towards her desk. There was an open note, written with words that looked like random scribbles of an asylum patient.

It was a description of Yuriel's dream, describing the feeling of nothingness she felt in the white space. All of it were still vivid, the sensation of complete nothing, despite having awareness.

Agony seeped from her bones, and her mind began throbbing in pain just by remembering it.

Grimacing, Yuriel lifted the note and flipped through its pages. It was also her diary, used to record her dreams, or her experiences in the dream space. It had been years since she first encountered this phenomenon, but not until recently did it got worse.

Staring at her bed, Yuriel couldn't help but furrow her brows and frowned heavily. She did not want to experience that nightmare again, but she certainly have no choice in the matter.

Yuriel had thought of an idea to resist that white space, but she wasn't confident enough to succeed. She knew what she's capable of, and her ability to control her dream only works to a certain extent. What she needed is a powerful will and mind, that alone allowed her to endure all these years.

Yuriel closed her note, placing it towards the drawer. There, she found a family portrait, partially burned from the side. Aside from Yuriel and her mother, her father was cut from the photo. Obnly his lower torso was visible, while the rest had been turned to ashes.

Yuriel sighed, closing the drawer before carefully laying down on her bed. There were many things for her to do, like school projects and assignments. But Yuriel couldn't be bothered after this recent development.

Right now, Yuriel's mind was in turmoil and she forced herself to calm down by taking deep breaths. Time flew by, and Yuriel couldn't sleep as her eyes rejected the sense of drowsiness.

My body is afraid, she thought, noticing it shaking as if facing an inevitable death. However, that resistance soon ended as darkness took her unknowingly, while she was gazing at the bright stars.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

......

Yuriel opened her eyes, seeing the white space once again. It was unchanging and forever nonexistent, yet the first thing she noticed wasn't the space, but herself. Right now, Yuriel felt mad, insane, and completely crazy by simply existing here.

It was painful, to exist in a world where there is nothing. Yuriel lost everything, barely maintaining herself from having no sensation. She wanted to scream, but there is no sound. She wanted to cry, but no tears came out. She just couldn't feel anything.

Why am I here? She thought. Who am I exactly? She wondered. What is the world? She asks. What was the meaning of everything? She pondered.

Standing in the white space, Yuriel contemplated all of those questions and searched for answers. She couldn't find any, something meaningful enough against her existential doubts. But then, she remembered the quote of her father used to say, coming from one of his favorite philosophers.

"I think... therefore... I am." Yuriel muttered, ruminating upon the words René Descartes once uttered.

Yuriel suddenly remembered her father, her mother, her brother, her memories, her everything. But all these anchors were weak, she realized, and that it's not enough to resist the reigns of the white space. However, she can still fight the madness that surged against her, using nothing but will and mind.

She gritted her teeth, the sensation of overwhelming pain and nonexistent sensation, eating one another. Then time passed, her mind, just like before had begun adapting to the white space. Her shattered thoughts became coherent, and chaos became order.

Yuriel's mind was exhausted, but he endured while remembering all her memories. This kind of thing isn't new to her, but it's certainly not something she can get used to.

Eventually, the crazy thoughts in Yuriel's faded overtime. Rationality returned to her gaze, and ravings of uncontrollable emotions calmed down. At that moment, the white space didn't feel so cold anymore. The silence was also replaced by a rhythmic sound, lullabies of Yuriel's childhood echoing somewhere, everywhere, all at once.

Looking at her surroundings once more, the white space vanished and was replaced by an empty room. It wasn't just any room; it was Yuriel's own, back when she was still a toddler.

Witnessing this, her expression became stiff, surpised by the outcome.

Most of the things in this room are toys, mostly giant plushies displayed everywhere. Staring in silence, Yuriel's mind eased and she slowly processed what happened. The clash of chaos and nothing still affected her, which is something she can't shrugged off.

"Zero space..." Yuriel says, picking up a certain toy. "The state before dreams are created, or better yet, after they are destroyed."

Yuriel pieced the things she had learned, recalling her first and current interaction with this new world. The white space appeared when she reached edge of her dream, now it created a dream of her past memory.

With that in mind, Yuriel thought of an hypothesis after all her observations. The dream had four stages, each of them unlocking new abilities for Yuriel.

The first stage was dream living, which allows Yuriel to fully become aware in the dream, even influence it. The second is dream walking, which allows her to travel not only from her own, but also others dreams. That had been her only experience, until the zero space appeared and showed a new possibility.

Creation and destruction.

The white space exists at the point where dreams are destroyed, and dreams are not created. So when she is here, Yuriel can easily create and shatter her own dreams. That means right now, she had a freedom to project any imaginations she wants.

"But, I can't carelessly enter the zero space." Yuriel sighed, still enduring the pain she experienced. "If I wanted to remain sane, I have to avoid this place."

Although she had recovered, the feeling of madness had pushed Yuriel to her limit. The fact that she remained sane is a miracle, which had been cultivated the dreams space all these years. Perhaps she didn't notice, but maybe, Yuriel had been long insane.

"No use pondering about that." Yuriel said, throwing the thought at the back of her mind.

She didn't have time to lament, right now, she need to learn more about the zero space. If she could understand it's every nature, she might be able to end her suffering entirely. That's why she began experimenting, dreaming of her school.