I’m in a cave. I’m running. I don’t know why. A rumbling noise behind me. I glance back—nothing. I keep running. The noise grows louder. And louder. And louder. I’m out of breath. I glance back again—a boulder. Chasing me. I try to escape left. Right. A jagged stone wall looms on either side. My heart pounds. The ground trembles beneath my feet. I dart forward, the echoes of the cave distorting the distance between me and the boulder. The rumble feels close. Too close. Dust kicks up with each step, clinging to the stale air I’m gasping for. I glance left again—the jagged stone presses in, unyielding. My chest burns. My legs falter. Nowhere to go. The roar behind me swells, consuming the cave like a living beast. Every second it draws nearer. Every step heavier than the last. Every heartbeat thunders in my ears.

Then—a light. A flicker ahead. The end of the tunnel. I’m running harder now. The boulder crashes behind me. I reach the exit. I jump. I’m flying. For a moment, I’m free. The cave dissolves beneath me, the boulder’s rumble fading into silence. The darkness bleeds away until there’s nothing left but white—endless, suffocating white.

I land on my feet. The ground beneath me—white. Above me—the sky, white. There’s nothing to be seen. I stand there. Frozen. My chest is heaving. The air feels… different. It’s not the thick, suffocating air of the cave. Something lighter. Cooler. I breath it in, but nothing changes. My feet are planted on the ground. Everything’s smooth, featureless.

I spin around, searching for the cave, the boulder, anything to anchor me to where I was. But there’s nothing. No rumbling, no jagged walls, no echoes. Just silence. An eerie, consuming silence that presses against my ears. The whiteness swallows everything, endless and empty. There’s no horizon. No up, no down—just me, suspended in this vast, formless space.

Panic wells up. I try to move, but my legs feel heavy, like they’re wading through thick air. There’s no point of reference, nothing to guide me, nothing to run from anymore. Just this infinite white. My breath quickens again, but it doesn’t help. My chest tightens as I take a step forward, hoping the ground will meet me, but it doesn’t feel like walking. More like floating.

I land on my feet. White. Above me, the white sky. Below me, the white ground. Nothing to be seen. My mind races, struggling to comprehend this strange emptiness. Everything is white, featureless, stretching into eternity. It feels like time has stopped.

But then, something shifts.

A flicker at the edge of my vision, barely there—a shadow, maybe? No, a shape. It bleeds through the whiteness like ink through paper, spreading, staining the void. The white begins to fracture, cracks spreading out from where I stand, each one filled with fragments of a different reality. City streets emerge from the breaks, buildings rising through the cracks like dark growths. The space twists, warps, and suddenly the whiteness crumbles away like broken eggshells, leaving me standing on cold pavement.

I’m in the city. But something’s off. The city is eerily deserted. The streets are silent, the shops and schools stand empty. A man approaches from behind, his presence unsettling. I turn to face him, a chill running down my spine. He touches my shoulder lightly. I flinch. My feet start to run. Don’t know why. My legs feel like lead. Every step heavy and labored. I cannot stop. I’m glancing back. The man’s face is blurred. His gesture ambiguous. Fear propels me forward.

The city warps around me, the fear from the boulder’s chase still echoing in my mind. The city’s familiar streets twist into a surreal labyrinth, and I am left running, lost in a maze of my own fears. I’m running. He’s not. He calmly chases after me. I can’t throw him off. Can’t put any distance between us. I turn right. He turns right. I turn left. He turns left. I jolt forward. Nothing changes.

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I’m out of breath. I stop for a second. He comes closer. Step by step. His steps still calm. I stare into his dark eyes. They lock onto mine with an unsettling calmness. I feel his gaze pierce through me. As if he could see right into my soul. My chest heaves with each frantic inhale. I try to muster the strength to move, but my legs are encased in lead. Heavy and unresponsive.

I take a step back. It feels like I’m moving in slow motion. The man’s expression remains unchanged. His demeanor eerily serene. The city around us continues to twist and warp. The familiar streets now a disorienting maze of shadows and distorted buildings. My heart races as I struggle to navigate this nightmarish landscape. But the man’s steady approach is inescapable.

Desperation fuels my next move. I dart down an alley. Hoping to lose him in the labyrinth of twisting streets. The alley’s walls are lined with crumbling bricks. Their surface rough and cold against my fingertips. I glance over my shoulder, but the man is still there, his steps deliberate and unhurried.

The alley opens into a small, dimly lit square. I stumble into the center, my breathing ragged and uneven. I turn to face the man, trying to catch my breath. His presence is relentless, his eyes never leaving mine. I feel as though I’m being drawn into his gaze, caught in an invisible web of fear.

I notice a doorway in the square, half-hidden in shadows. It’s an old, rusted door, its surface covered in grime and cobwebs. I run toward it, pushing it open with a forceful shove. The door creaks and groans as it swings inward, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.

I hesitate for a moment, glancing back at the man. He is still advancing, his expression unchanged. The fear that grips me drives me forward. I take a deep breath and plunge into the darkness of the staircase, the door slamming shut behind me with a resounding bang.

The stairs are steep and uneven, each step echoing with a hollow thud. I descend quickly, my heart pounding in my chest. The darkness is complete, enveloping me in a suffocating blackness. I can barely see my own hands in front of me. My footsteps reverberate off the walls, creating an eerie cacophony.

Suddenly, the staircase ends, and I stumble into a small, dimly lit room. The walls are lined with old, dusty mirrors, each one reflecting a distorted version of myself. My own image is fragmented and warped, the reflections twisting and shifting with every movement.

I collapse to the floor, my body shaking with exhaustion and fear. I look around the room, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The mirrors seem to close in on me, their surfaces reflecting my panic-stricken face from every angle. The man’s footsteps can still be heard, faintly echoing through the darkened corridors beyond the room.

As I sit there, my breath coming in ragged bursts, I hear a soft, unsettling sound. It’s the faintest whisper, like a distant echo, but it seems to come from all directions. The whispers grow louder, converging into a dissonant chorus of voices. They speak in fragmented phrases, their words unintelligible but filled with an underlying menace.

The whispers grow louder, merging into a cacophony that drowns out everything else. I cover my ears, trying to block out the sound, but it seeps through my defenses. My mind races, trying to grasp at the fragments of reality that slip through my fingers.

The man’s footsteps approach the doorway, and I can see his shadow fall across the room. I brace myself for whatever comes next, the fear consuming me. I close my eyes, trying to steady my breathing, but the whispers and shadows continue to close in, my own reflection staring back at me from every angle.

The room begins to spin, the mirrors warping and twisting, and I feel a sudden jolt as if I’m being pulled into the very fabric of the nightmare itself. The fear and exhaustion overwhelm me, and I lose my grip on reality. The shadows stretch out, enveloping me in darkness, and I’m left suspended between fear and the unknown.

With a final shudder, the world around me dissolves into a whirl of darkness. The echoes of the whispers fade, leaving only the pounding of my own heart in the silence. I am plunged into an abyss of nothingness, the nightmare collapsing around me, leaving me alone in the void. The man pulls out a gun. A gunshot. I’m in my bed again. Staring at the ceiling. Out of breath. Soaked with sweat. Another one of those dreams. Another one done.