The dreams started somewhere in late October. At first, they were of a quite nature, I hardly noticed them. They were just another step on my way to consciousness.

Yet as the time went on, they got stranger, and more vivid. At first, I could just see everything, like a ghost walking around a memory. Then came the sense of touch. I could brush my hands along the solid stone walls. Then I was able to taste the smell of dust in the air. I could feel the water running down the long cave tunnels. Each night a new ability. Yet it was all in the same place, the same dream. I carried a torch down the long, narrow tunnels. That’s all I ever went, the tunnels.

Came December, and I could hardly stay awake. I spent most of my time in bed. These dreams, they were thrilling. What was at the end of the tunnel? The suspense was killing me. My parents urged me to stay awake.

“Stay with us, Victor,” they begged. “Don’t slip away.”

But I did. I slept, awaiting the dream, not knowing what will happen next.

No dream came for a while. Just darkness.

Then I opened my eyes.

I knew this feeling. I was awake. Wide awake. Yet I wasn’t home. Everything was dark. I lay on my back on a cold, damp, and hard floor. Slowly, I sat up. Cautiously, I waved my arms around. A wry smile played on my lips. Yes, I knew where I was. In the tunnel, in the cave. Yet this was different. Where was the light, and why was I lying down? I stood, feeling stronger than I had in months. Father was furious when he found out about the sickness. “You’d think,” he roared. “That in our day and age. We’d have a cure for this. For goodness sake. They said we lived in a time of enlightenment.

Enlightenment?” He flipped over a chair, his eyes steaming at the doctor. “What good is an, enlightenment if they can’t cure my son?”

But I did not feel sick. Not in the dreams. No, in the dreams, I couldn’t feel more alive.

My hands grasped the narrow tunnel’s wall for direction. This was new version of the dream, so I did something new, something I had never tried. I began to hum. The thing about humming, is that it hardly ever stays at a hum. It tends to turn into a whistle, then a song. I sang quietly, trying to calm my excitement.

My hand stopped. Something I had never felt before in the tunnel, never seen. A turn. Not just any turn. A sharp corner. Yes! Yes! Bravo! It took all my self-control and proper upbringing to stop myself from jumping with delight. A corner! Surly this was a start of an adventure. Deeply, I exhaled and walked around the bend.

The smell of dust faded. My brow furrowed. I placed my hand to where the bend once was. My heart froze. I do not know if with terror or delight, but it made my chest heave. My hands scurried up and down. There was no corner, but a wall. I walked both right and left, yet there was no doubting it, I was trapped.

“Hello?” Came a voice. It was soft and weak, like it was starved.

Slowly I turned around. There was another person here? There was never another person here. This was my dream.

“Yes?” I said, slightly miffed.

“Hello?!” the voice said again, a little louder this time.

“Yes,” I said.

“Hello?! Hello hello hello!” The voice was a girls and it was terrified.

“You’re real?!” She heard her stand.

“Of cores I’m real, what else would I be?” My hands ran along the tunnel, trying to see where she stood.

“Another voice in my head,” she suggested. I heard her spirits sink. “I keep thinking I hear people. Just now, I thought I heard singing. It mocked me, starting at a low hum, then turning into a whistle, like an ever growing chuckle.”

“Oh, well sorry about that,” I said. “That was just me. So tell me, have you been here long?”

“I don’t know,” She said, almost in tears. “I can’t rember.”

“Can’t rember?” I asked. “Why not?”

“I don’t know!” She was on the edge of tears. Though, I could not see her, I knew she was holding her hand to her mouth and shaking her head. Mother had done such a thing when the doctor told her…

“I can’t rember a thing, a thing!”

My fingers brushed over the cold damp rock. My other arm was outstretched for her.

“That’s not true, for you rember hearing me on the other side of this bend. Have you tried to go down this tunnel, or are we walled in?”

“I don’t know,” she sobbed. My eyes rolled.

“You haven’t tried to go further?”

“I was too scared,” she whimperd.

“Of what?” My outstretched arm touched her shoulder. It was cold. She let out a shriek and jumped.

“What was that?!” Her voice was filled with terror.

“Just me, hold me arm.”

With a death grip, she clutched my wrist. I continued to walk down the tunnel. There seemed to be no fourth wall, just another tunnel. It was long and wet. Water swam over my shoes. I froze for a moment. The water was cold. Very cold.

“What is it?” the girl trembled. “What happened? Are you still there? Hello, hello?!”

“Shush woman, will you?” I snapped. I took another step, and the water came up to my ankle.

The girl shrieked again.

“What is it now?” I snapped.

“There’s water!” she exclaimed.

Strange, I never remberd water in my dreams. There walls of the tunnel were always damp, but there was never water.

“Yes, I know.” I pulled her along, but she stood still.

“Oh what is it now?” This was supposed to be my dream, my adventure, why was she here? She was ruining everything, slowing me down.

“We can’t go in there,” she whispered.

“And why not?”

“Cold water, it’s bad for you. I-I could get pneumonia, I-I could die.”

I clenched my jaw, and exhaled deeply. This is why men never bring women on adventures, they are much too practical.

“What’s you name?” I asked.

“A-Arie,” she said.

“Arie, what are you so afraid of?”

Slowly, I continued to walk, pulling her into the water with me. It climbed from my ankle to my knee. The water felt like little daggers stabbing into my leg with each step.

“No!” She shrieked, when she felt the water rise.

“Come on Arie,” I soothed. “Nothing to be afraid of. Just some water.”

“No!” she shrieked. She leapt from the water, then shriek again. “There’s a wall!”

She cried. “A wall! There wasn’t a wall before. Ow, ow, the water!”

“Come on Arie,” I held my frustration down. My legs were turning numb. “A little cold never hurt anyone.”

“Ow! Ow! It’s burning! My feet, their burning!”

My brow furrowed. It was never hot by me. “Come, it get’s colder where I am.”

Yet Arie continued to whimper. “No, no. It’s too hot, oh, it’s like flame! It burns, it burns!” I could here her sob loudly, chocking on her tears.

“It gets colder, come one. It’s not like you can go back.”

“No, no, I’m too afraid!”

“Afraid, what of?” I tried to calm her. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. We needed to move.

“No, no! Stop, stop moving!” That is when I had enough. We were going to go through this lake if it killed me. I dragged her deeper into the water. She tried to claw my fingers from her wrist.

“No! No! You devil you! Let me go! It’s too hot!”

“It will only get hotter if you keep standing still,” I seethed.

Arie paused, not saying anything for a moment. “Why are you shaking?” she asked.

“Because, I’m bloody freezing, and all you’re doing is standing there. Look, the only way we can get through this is if we keep walking. You cannot just stand there because you’re too afraid to move on.”

“Why?” she whimpered, reluctantly following me.

I let out a sigh of relief. I led her deeper into the lake. I bit my lip, trying not to think of the cold water, slowly climbing up my leg. It came up to my waist. I held back tears. I didn’t want to go on. I knew soon the water would go over my head, and I did not know if I could do that. Then I realized-- I had too. If I didn’t, Arie wouldn’t go either. If being buried under a river of freezing liquid is what I had to do to get us out of here, so be it.

“Do you like swimming in freezing water?” I asked.

“Freezing for you maybe,” she whined. “I feel like I’m being burned at the stake.”

“Well, if you want it to end, you’ve got to move on.” I felt the water rise. It was now at my chest. I breathed short, sharp breaths.

“But- but what if we die? Oh! It’s at my shoulders!” She screamed.

“Shh,” I coaxed. I do not know if I was trying to calm her or myself, but it seemed to work. The water bit my neck. Like little needles of frost. I felt her grip my hand with all of her strength.

“Oh! My feet, they can’t touch the ground! Oh! Oh! It burns it burns!”

“Shh, shh,” I whispered. “It’ll be fine.”

“No! But—but what if I drown? What if I burn? What if I die? Oh no! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!” She sobbed.

“Shh, shh, Arie, where ever you’re going I’m coming with you,” the water slipped into my mouth. Yet she continued to sob and scream.

I began to hum.

She stopped. “What are you doing?” she asked.

I began to whistle, for a hum never stays at a hum.

“What are you doing? Are you mocking me? I knew it! I was going crazy. You’re nothing but a voice in my head!”

“Oh?” I sang. “And how do you know you’re not just a voice in mine?” I continued to sing, and walk. The water rose above my head. We continued to walk and I continued to sing. Like waves of ice, it flew over me. I held Arie’s hand tightly. Out of utter terror, I sang. I sang and sang and sang the fear away. I sang the fear away until it was nothing but darkness. I felt Arie’s grip loosen, yet I held it tighter.

There.

In the distance.

Small, yet bright.

The tiniest little speck of light.

Hope fluttered in my chest. I pulled Arie towards me. I ran under the water, running to the light. It grew, brighter and brighter with each step.

“Were almost there Arie,” I sang, “we’re almost there!”

The light flashed before my eyes. Bright, it burned my eyes. I ran, my other hand out to touch the light. Like a thousand watts of lightning, it zapped me. The light ran through my soul.

Unbelievably bright.

Like a song it sung through my veins. A thousand life times in one flash of light.

I awoke on the ground. It was soft. It was light. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Everything was white, and soft. I stood up. Next to me lay a girl. Arie. She awoke with a jerk.

“Where are we?” She heaved. She looked around, a smile flashed across her pale face. She laughed, relived. “We did, it! We made it out alive!”

I wry smile played on my lips. “No,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow. “No?” she asked not understanding.

“We’re not alive. Truth of the matter is, we never were.”