Elias sat at his desk, fingers hovering over his keyboard, but the words wouldn't come. The glow of his laptop screen cast shadows across the room, the only source of light in the otherwise dark apartment. His mind felt heavy, burdened with a weight he couldn't shake.
The dream still lingered—no, not just the dream. The experience.
It had been a week since the second dream, and in that time, his life had started to feel… disjointed. He would walk into a room and forget why he was there. Conversations with people felt strangely familiar, as if he had already lived through them. At first, he brushed it off as stress, but it was happening too often now.
More than once, he had written something down only to find it already written in his notes. Even stranger, there were moments where he knew what someone was about to say before they even opened their mouth.
It was as if time itself was slipping, folding in on him in ways he couldn't understand.
Elias leaned back, rubbing his temples.
"This is insane…" he muttered under his breath.
The Doubt Grows
The thought of telling someone had crossed his mind multiple times. But how could he?
Hey, I think I'm having visions of the future. Also, I might be losing my mind.
Yeah, that wouldn't go well.
And yet, despite the absurdity of it all, he couldn't ignore the unease that gnawed at him. Something was happening to him, something beyond logic or reason.
His phone buzzed, dragging him out of his thoughts.
Noah: Hey, coming over. Need to talk.
Elias sighed. Noah was persistent, and honestly, maybe that was a good thing. He hadn't seen his friend in a few days, and maybe a distraction would help.
A Conversation with Noah
When Noah arrived, he immediately made himself at home, tossing his jacket over the back of a chair and opening Elias' fridge.
"Do you ever have anything good in here?" he complained, settling for a bottle of water.
"I eat to survive, not for pleasure," Elias replied dryly.
Noah smirked. "Yeah, well, you look like a guy who hasn't been sleeping. What's going on?"
Elias hesitated. Should he say something?
"It's just… stress. Writing isn't going so well."
Noah raised an eyebrow. "That's crap and you know it. Come on, man. You've been weird lately."
Elias exhaled, gripping the edge of his desk. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't push them out.
Noah studied him for a moment before speaking again, softer this time. "Look, whatever it is, you can tell me. If you're losing your mind, I'll be right there with you."
That made Elias chuckle, even if it was short-lived. He wanted to tell him. But he wasn't ready.
Not yet.
The Third Dream
That night, he fell asleep at his desk again, the weight of everything pressing down on him.
And just like before, the dream came.
The same girl was there, but this time, she stood closer. Her voice was still broken, words lost between moments of clarity and distortion.
"…careful… not alone… must remember…"
Elias tried to speak, to respond, but his voice was locked away. He felt trapped, unable to control anything.
Then, suddenly—
A shift.
He was somewhere else.
A street he didn't recognize. Buildings different from his time. People dressed in clothes that didn't belong to the present.
And then—darkness.
Elias woke up gasping, his throat dry as sandpaper. His hands were trembling.
This wasn't just a dream anymore.
Something was wrong.
And for the first time, he was afraid.
To Be Continued…