Chapter 4 Dream reality

Prologue

The white room stretched out in every direction, endless and suffocating, like a prison built from the void itself. The walls, the floor, the ceiling - all the same sterile, blinding white. No doors, no windows, no escape.

The silence was oppressive. It was the kind of silence that gnawed at the edges of sanity, forcing its way into your mind and making you question what was real and what was just the illusion of reality.

For Mathew, it wasn't unfamiliar. It was the same place he'd seen in his dreams, the same room that haunted his sleep with its vacant, all-encompassing emptiness. But now, in the waking world, it felt worse. It felt real. And the weight of it was heavier than any nightmare could have prepared him for.

It wasn't just Mathew anymore. He wasn't alone. The others - Andrew, Drake, Hermia, Peter, Isabella, and James - stood beside him, staring around in confusion, their faces pale with fear. They had no idea how they had gotten here or why they were here, but there was a sinking, nauseating feeling in the pit of their stomachs that told them this place was no accident.

And Mathew? He knew. He knew this was no random twist of fate. This place... this room... it was part of something much bigger than any of them could comprehend. A twisted design. A nightmare that had somehow bled into their waking lives.

Episode 4

Mathew rubbed his eyes, as if trying to wake up from a bad dream. He felt dizzy, his body exhausted, as if he'd been running for days, even though he knew it had only been hours since they'd entered the cavern.

"Why are we here?" Andrew's voice was strained, his eyes darting around the white, featureless room. "This place... it's like something straight out of Mathew's dreams."

Mathew didn't respond immediately. His mind was spinning, trying to make sense of what had happened. The walls of the cave, the eerie glowing light, the strange phenomenon they had been following-it all led them here. To this godforsaken place.

His breath caught as something clicked in his mind. "This is it," he whispered, his voice trembling. "The white room from my dreams."

Everyone turned to him, eyes wide with disbelief.

"What do you mean, Mathew?" Hermia asked, her voice shaky. "What are you talking about? This place looks... it looks like a nightmare."

Mathew swallowed hard. His throat felt dry, his body heavy with exhaustion. "I've seen this before. In my dreams. Over and over again. And the figure..." He paused, the words catching in his throat. "The one with the hollow eyes, the dirty wedding dress. It's here. I can feel it."

Drake's face darkened. "Are you saying that whatever's been happening to us... it's all been connected to your dreams? You're telling me those dreams weren't just nightmares?"

Mathew nodded slowly. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Whatever is behind this-this entity-it's been using my dreams to bring us here. To these places. These visions. They're real. And they're happening."

"But why?" Peter asked, his voice cracking. "Why us? Why did it choose you? What the hell is going on?"

"Maybe it's not just about me," Mathew said, his voice quieter now, as though speaking too loudly would summon the thing lurking in the darkness. "Maybe we were all meant to be here. All of us."

Isabella looked at him with a mixture of fear and confusion. "And you think that thing... the one from your dream... is going to show up? Here?"

Mathew's gaze wandered to the ceiling, the blinding whiteness above him. "It has to. It's part of the dream. The figure in the dress-it's always been there. Always waiting."

There was a long silence. The air around them felt thick, suffocating. The oppressive white room seemed to close in on them, and every step they took seemed to make the walls feel even closer. It wasn't just the physical space that was closing in; it was the pressure in their minds. The fear, the uncertainty, the creeping dread that whatever they had walked into, they wouldn't walk out of.

"What do we do now?" James asked, his voice barely a whisper. "If it's all connected to Mathew's dreams, then what are we supposed to do? How do we stop it?"

Mathew shook his head. "I don't know. I wish I did. But we can't just stand here. We have to find a way out of this place."

The silence lingered. For a moment, it felt like the very air had been stolen from the room, leaving them gasping, desperate for breath.

Then, suddenly, a loud, bone-chilling screech echoed from the farthest corner of the room.

Everyone froze.

A shadow appeared-no, not a shadow, but something much worse. A figure. Tall, thin, and impossibly twisted. Its body contorted unnaturally, as if it was struggling to stay upright. The figure's eyes were hollow, its face pale and lifeless, but the most disturbing part was the dirty, tattered wedding dress that clung to its skeletal form, the fabric dragging behind it like the remnants of some forgotten bride's nightmare.

Mathew's heart raced. This was it. The thing from his dreams.

"It's here," he whispered.

The figure moved slowly, deliberately. Its every step seemed calculated, each movement a twisted mockery of life. It tilted its head, its hollow eyes locking onto Mathew's, as though recognizing him. And then, in a voice that sounded like the cracking of dry earth, it spoke.

"You shouldn't have come."

Everyone recoiled, a mix of terror and disbelief etched across their faces. The thing-this nightmare-was real. And it was hunting them.

Drake stepped forward, his voice shaky but defiant. "You think we're just going to stand here and let you take us? We'll fight you. We'll-"

Before he could finish, the figure lunged forward with a speed that defied logic, disappearing into thin air and reappearing behind Andrew. The air grew colder, and the room seemed to darken, as if the very light was being consumed by the thing's presence.

Andrew spun around just in time to see the figure raise its bony hand, aiming for his throat. Mathew acted without thinking, throwing himself in front of Andrew.

"No!" Mathew shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the sudden rush of wind that filled the room.

The figure's hand closed around Mathew's neck, its fingers cold and brittle. Mathew gasped for air, his vision swimming as he struggled to break free.

"Get off him!" Hermia cried, rushing forward. But as she did, the figure vanished, reappearing behind Peter. The entity was toying with them, moving faster than they could react.

Peter screamed, but the figure's hand was already at his throat, tightening with an inhuman strength.

"Peter!" Isabella screamed. "No!"

Mathew, still gasping for air, turned his head to see the others struggling, their eyes wide with fear. They couldn't escape. They couldn't outrun it.

Drake grabbed a nearby object-a broken piece of rock-and hurled it at the figure. The rock passed right through it, as though it wasn't even there. The figure didn't flinch. Instead, it grinned, an eerie, unsettling smile spreading across its featureless face.

And then, the most chilling thing of all happened.

The figure spoke again, its voice now a low, guttural rasp. "This is only the beginning."

And with that, it vanished into thin air, leaving behind an unnatural silence. But Mathew knew they weren't safe. It wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

The room pulsed with an unseen force, as if the very air was alive, waiting to strike again.

Mathew's heart pounded in his chest, and his hands shook. "We have to find a way out," he whispered. "Before it comes back." One thing is for certain, one of them is about to die.

But deep down, Mathew knew. It wasn't just a nightmare anymore. It was real. And whatever was happening, they were all caught in its web.

And there was no escape.

Logic and reason has no place here. From the cave's, to the sinkhole, to this white room, and to now what looks like there deaths.

There's a short sigh of relief from everyone, for some odd reason the atmosphere seems a bit lesser, less tight, more freeing. Like you can feel your lungs finally release.

No words spoken now. Radio silence.

'Wait a minute, jannette?' James calls out with his palm directly above his eyebrows shielding his eyes from the strange brightness around his wake

'Wait what?' Drake says while getting up.

Isabella, hermia, Peter, mathew, Drake and Andrew all look to James and then to what he was looking at. To thier greatest surprise whatever James is looking at, indeed does look like jannette? She seems off...mathew immediately gets up and tells everyone to stay back. So far all his dreams have become reality, what's really strange is jannette dosen't look like jannette.

One thing is for certain with every new change that's happened, with the students being there, his visions are right, yes, but there not exactly the future, because he definitely did not dream this reality.

End of Episode 4