The Rules of the Dream
848 Words
Amara didn’t wake up.
That was the first sign something had gone wrong.
The dream didn’t break.
It held her.
The plaza flickered around her, unstable, like reality itself was struggling to exist.
The sky twisted.
A crack of darkness tore through it—not seen, but felt—sending a ripple through everything.
The ground pulsed beneath her feet.
Alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
“Stay close.”
Eli’s voice cut through the chaos.
He stepped in front of her, calm as ever—but this time, she noticed it.
The tension in his shoulders.
Even he was on edge.
“What’s happening?” she asked, her voice unsteady.
“They’ve locked onto you.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Who are they?”
Eli didn’t answer immediately.
That silence—
It was worse than anything he could have said.
The ground split.
Not into stone.
Into shadow.
Darkness poured out like smoke, twisting into shapes that barely looked human.
Tall.
Broken.
Wrong.
Amara stepped back instinctively. “Those things again…”
“They’re not just watching this time,” Eli said.
One of the shadows moved forward.
“You don’t belong here.”
Its voice echoed unnaturally—layered, distorted.
Amara shook her head. “I didn’t choose this!”
“Yet you remain.”
The air tightened.
Her chest felt heavy.
Her body refused to move.
“I can’t breathe…”
Eli glanced at her. “You’re fighting it wrong.”
“What?!”
“You’re thinking like this world controls you.”
His eyes locked onto hers.
“It doesn’t.”
The shadow lunged.
Everything slowed.
Amara saw it coming—
The reaching darkness.
The glowing eyes.
The end.
No.
The word hit her mind like a spark.
And the world obeyed.
Light exploded beneath her feet.
A barrier surged upward, slamming into the shadow and throwing it back.
Amara gasped.
“I did that…”
A faint smile touched Eli’s lips.
“Now you’re starting to understand.”
The other shadows rushed forward.
Faster.
Hungrier.
More desperate.
“There are too many!” she shouted.
“Then stop thinking like prey,” Eli said, stepping beside her. “You’re not.”
Another shadow struck.
Eli lifted his hand—
—and it vanished.
Just like that.
Gone.
Amara stared at him. “How are you doing that?”
He didn’t look at her.
“I learned the hard way.”
The world trembled violently.
The plaza began to collapse.
Buildings twisted.
The sky spiraled downward.
Reality was breaking.
“What’s happening now?!” Amara cried.
“They’re forcing the dream to collapse.”
Her heart skipped.
“And if it does?”
Eli finally looked at her.
And for the first time—
She saw it.
Fear.
“You don’t wake up.”
The words hit like a blade.
“I’m not dying here!” she shouted.
“Then fight.”
The shadows attacked all at once.
Amara closed her eyes.
Not in fear—
But in focus.
Her thoughts slowed.
The panic faded.
And beneath it—
She felt it.
The connection.
The dream.
Waiting.
Listening.
I’m not trapped here.
This place responds to me.
Her eyes snapped open.
Power surged.
Light exploded outward.
The shadows were thrown back.
The collapsing world froze mid-destruction.
Everything stopped.
Eli stared at her.
“…Well,” he muttered. “That’s new.”
A presence stepped forward.
Stronger than the rest.
Familiar.
Amara’s breath caught.
“You…”
The tall shadow.
The first one.
The one who had been watching her from the beginning.
“You are learning,” it said.
“And that makes you dangerous.”
Amara clenched her fists. “Tell me what I am!”
The shadow tilted its head.
“You will remember.”
It raised its hand—
And the world shattered.
Amara woke up screaming.
Her body jolted upright, breath ragged, heart racing out of control.
Darkness filled the room.
Real.
Solid.
Safe—
No.
Not safe.
Her eyes moved slowly to her bedside table.
Cracked.
A deep fracture split through the wood.
Like something had struck it from inside the dream.
Amara’s hands began to shake.
“This… isn’t possible…”
Her phone buzzed violently in her hand.
She flinched.
Tunde.
“Amara?? I had the strangest dream about you. Call me.”
Her blood ran cold.
Later, at the café—
Tunde leaned in, his voice low.
“Tell me I’m not crazy.”
Amara forced a smile. “Depends…”
“I saw you,” he said.
Her heart stopped.
“You were somewhere… not here. And there were shadows.”
The world around her went quiet.
“And the worst part?” he added.
“You looked right at me.”
Amara’s fingers tightened around the table.
That night—
She didn’t want to sleep.
But she knew she had to.
Because now—
This wasn’t just her problem anymore.
As darkness pulled her under, one thought echoed louder than the rest:
If I lose control of this—
I won’t be the only one who disappears.
- Writer
