THE LAST DREAMER

Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that something was following him.

The sensation wasn't new; it had been lingering at the back of his mind for weeks now. But today, it was worse. The presence—whatever it was—had a weight to it. It was pressing in, suffocating him from all sides. Even as he walked through the crowded hallways of his high school, trying to push his thoughts away from the nightmare that had woken him only hours ago, he felt the eyes of the world on him. Not the real world, of course, but the world inside his head.It had started as a dream. At least, that's what he thought. But each time he woke up, a piece of the dream lingered, like a phantom sensation that he couldn't shake. The girl in the white gown—the figure standing in the forest, watching him with pleading eyes—she had *felt* real. He could still remember the cold air of that place, the rustling of dead leaves beneath his feet, and the terror that had gripped him when the trees began to crack and warp. But most of all, he remembered the warning.

*"It's too late to go back, Ethan."*

His footsteps faltered as he rounded the corner toward his first class. He blinked, trying to focus, trying to shake the strange fog that had settled in his brain. The world felt *off*—a little too sharp, a little too unreal, as if he wasn't quite seeing things for what they were.

He opened the door to his first class, finding his usual seat at the back of the room. His best friend, Daniel, was already sitting there, eyes glued to his phone. Daniel's ever-present grin was stretched across his face as he looked up at Ethan.

"You look like hell, man. Didn't sleep well last night?" Daniel asked, a teasing edge to his voice.

Ethan forced a smile, though it felt hollow. "Yeah, something like that." The truth was, he hadn't slept at all. Not really. Every time he closed his eyes, he was back in that other world—falling through the ground, witnessing the unraveling of reality. And when he wasn't dreaming, his mind was filled with a dull hum, an incessant noise that refused to be ignored. Sometimes, it felt like the hum was the only thing anchoring him to reality.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the creeping sense that he was forgetting something. Something important. The more he experienced these dreams, the more fragments of his life seemed to slip away. Names, faces, even memories of people he once cared about—everything was fading, like it was being erased, rewritten.

Ethan rubbed his temple as he took out his notebook, trying to focus on the lesson. But his mind wouldn't cooperate. A sharp pulse of pain shot through his skull, and for a moment, he could have sworn the world around him flickered. His vision blurred for a split second, and when it cleared, the classroom didn't feel like the same place. It was as though it had shifted—distorted. The desks were too far apart, the walls too close, the ceiling too low.

A chill ran down his spine.

*Not again.*

He blinked rapidly, his hands gripping the edges of his desk. The world was shifting. Again."Ethan?" Daniel's voice cut through his thoughts. "You good?"

Ethan looked at him, startled. The world seemed stable again, but the unease still gnawed at him.

"Yeah, fine," Ethan muttered, trying to shake off the disorientation. "Just tired."

Daniel didn't look convinced but didn't press further. Instead, he slid his phone across the desk, the screen displaying a news article. "You seen this? They're talking about that missing girl again. Her name's Maya." He tapped the phone, and Ethan's eyes automatically focused on the image.

The girl in the picture looked so much like the one from his dreams. She was young, with long dark hair and a soft expression that reminded him of someone who had just woken up from a deep sleep. He had no idea why, but his chest tightened when he looked at her face. She had that same distant look, that same kind of sorrowful awareness, as though she knew something he didn't.

Ethan stared at the screen, the image swimming in front of him. He had to shake his head to clear his thoughts.

"Yeah," Ethan replied, though his voice felt distant. "I saw it. Missing for weeks, right?""Yep. No sign of her. Strange thing is, no one's seen her anywhere, but people swear they've seen her in dreams. Like, she's popping up in everyone's subconscious or something," Daniel said, a smirk tugging at his lips as he added, "Maybe she's got a thing for haunting people's dreams. You gonna be okay with that?"

The words hit Ethan like a thunderclap. The room felt like it was closing in again, and the pressure in his head intensified. Maya—she wasn't just in his dreams. She *was* his dream. He had seen her. She was the girl from the forest. The one who had been reaching for something. The one who had looked at him, pleading for help.

His heart started to pound, and he swallowed hard, suddenly unable to breathe. His fingers clenched around the edge of his desk.

"Ethan?" Daniel's voice sounded far away, distant, as if he were speaking from another world.

"Yeah, I… I need to go," Ethan muttered, standing up abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. He couldn't stay here. Not like this.

Without waiting for Daniel to respond, he bolted from the classroom, barely aware of the looks he was getting from his classmates. He rushed down the hallway, his mind racing.

The walls seemed to close in again, warping, bending. The air around him felt too thick to breathe."Stop," Ethan muttered to himself. "Focus. You're just tired. You're just imagining things."

But the more he tried to convince himself, the stronger the pull became. The world wasn't right. He could feel it in his chest, in his bones. Something was happening. Something he didn't understand.

Ethan's feet carried him down the school's empty stairwell, the noise of the bustling school day muffled by the tension that gripped him. He reached the bottom floor and pushed open the door to the courtyard.

He needed to get away. To think.

The courtyard was empty. It was the perfect place to clear his mind, the quiet of the space a welcome relief. He stood there for a moment, letting the cool air wash over him. But it didn't help. The hum was still there, thrumming in the back of his skull, like a warning.

Ethan's hand shook as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He stared at the screen for a moment, feeling an irrational sense of dread creeping over him. The name Maya had taken root in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more it consumed him.

He tapped the search bar and typed it in.

Maya Wilkes. Missing.The results flooded in: news articles, local police reports, and social media posts. But it wasn't the articles that caught his eye. It was the comments.

"I saw her in my dreams last night. She looked scared, like she was running from something."

"Same here. I don't know what it means, but it feels real."

"I heard she's been visiting people's dreams, warning them."

Ethan's heart skipped a beat. The sensation of being watched, of being followed, intensified. The pieces were starting to click together, but they made no sense.

Was she real?

The girl from his dreams.

The missing girl.

The one who had warned him.

The one whose face haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

Ethan's breath hitched as he scrolled through the comments, each one feeling like a piece of the puzzle falling into place. Maya wasn't just missing—she was reaching out. In dreams. In the very same dreams that Ethan had been lost in.

He wasn't sure how, but somehow, their fates were tied together. And with every passing day, he was losing more of himself in the process.

"It's too late to go back, Ethan."

The words echoed in his mind again, sharp and cutting. He needed to figure out what was happening. And fast.Because something was coming. Something far worse than he could ever have imagined.