Chapter 17: The Dream Trap
The next morning, the memory of Blackwood Manor was still fresh in my mind. Sam and I were both visibly exhausted, the events of the previous day weighing heavily on us. At breakfast, our classmates bombarded us with questions about our harrowing experience.
"What was it like? Did you see any ghosts?" one of them asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
Sam and I exchanged a glance before he responded. "It was intense. The place is definitely haunted, but it's more..."
I paused mid-bite, suddenly feeling a strange sense of disorientation. Something was off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
We continued our day, going through the motions of classes and training, but everything felt slightly out of sync. It started with small things—the clock in the classroom seemed to be ticking backward, and the colors of the walls appeared more vibrant than usual. At first, I thought it was just my imagination playing tricks on me.
During a break, I pulled Sam aside. "Do you feel like something's off today?"
He nodded slowly, his expression mirroring my unease. "Yeah, it's like everything is...wrong somehow. I thought it was just me."
Our instructors' faces seemed oddly distorted, their smiles too wide, their eyes too bright. Conversations felt disjointed, as if we were missing vital pieces of information. Even the air felt different, heavier, as if we were moving through a thick fog.
As the day wore on, the feeling of unease intensified. In our Paranormal Investigation class, Professor Henry's voice sounded distant and echoey, as if he were speaking from the end of a long tunnel. The EMF meters spiked erratically, and the normally reliable equipment began to malfunction.
"Something's not right," I whispered to Sam as we watched the readings fluctuate wildly.
"I know," he replied, his face pale. "But what can we do?"
By lunchtime, the strangeness had reached a fever pitch. The food on our plates looked unappetizing and slightly off-color. The dining hall, usually bustling with chatter, was eerily silent except for the occasional scrape of a fork or the whisper of hushed conversations.
"Kan, I think we need to figure out what's going on," Sam said, his voice trembling slightly. "This isn't normal."
We decided to skip our afternoon classes and head back to our dorm room to regroup. As we walked through the corridors, I noticed that the shadows seemed to move of their own accord, slithering along the walls like living creatures.
"Do you see that?" I asked, pointing to a particularly unnerving shadow that seemed to stretch and warp.
Sam nodded, his eyes wide. "Yeah, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore."
Back in our room, we tried to piece together the events of the previous day. The investigation at Blackwood Manor had been intense, but we had made it out—hadn't we? The more we talked, the more we began to question our own memories.
"What if we never left the mansion?" I asked, the thought sending a chill down my spine.
Sam's eyes widened. "You mean, we're still there? And this is all..."
"A dream, or some kind of illusion," I finished. "That would explain why everything feels so off."
We decided to test our theory. Sam pulled out his EMF meter, and I turned on the digital voice recorder. The readings were erratic, and the recorder picked up faint whispers, indistinct but chilling.
"We need to wake up," Sam said, his voice filled with urgency. "If this is a dream, there has to be a way out."
We tried everything we could think of to break free from the illusion. We pinched ourselves, shouted, even tried to physically hurt ourselves, but nothing worked. The dream held us in its grip, refusing to let go.
As evening fell, the strangeness of our surroundings only grew more pronounced. The moon outside our window was an unnatural shade of red, casting an eerie glow over the campus. The stars seemed to swirl and shift, forming strange patterns that made my head spin.
"We're running out of time," I said, panic creeping into my voice. "We have to find a way out."
Sam nodded, his face set with determination. "Let's go back to Blackwood Manor. If that's where this started, maybe we can find a way to end it."
We made our way back to the mansion, the journey feeling surreal and dreamlike. The landscape around us shifted and changed, trees morphing into twisted, grotesque shapes, and the path under our feet seeming to stretch endlessly.
When we finally reached Blackwood Manor, it was even more foreboding than before. The shadows seemed to pulse and writhe, and the air was filled with a low, menacing hum. We pushed open the heavy front door and stepped inside, the darkness swallowing us whole.
"Let's find the master bedroom," Sam said, his voice barely a whisper. "That's where we started the EVP session. Maybe we can finish it and break the loop."
We navigated the twisting corridors, the house seeming to shift around us, guiding us to our destination. When we reached the master bedroom, we set up the recorder and began the session again.
"Is there anyone here with us?" Sam asked, his voice steady despite the fear in his eyes. "Why are we trapped here?"
For a long moment, there was nothing but silence. Then, the recorder picked up a faint, ghostly whisper.
"Release us."
"What does that mean?" I asked, my heart pounding. "How do we release you?"
The whisper came again, clearer this time. "Find the key."
"The key?" Sam repeated, looking around the room. "What key?"
We searched the room frantically, looking for any sign of a key. Finally, hidden beneath a loose floorboard, we found an old, rusted key, its surface covered in strange, cryptic symbols.
"This has to be it," I said, holding up the key. "But what does it unlock?"
As if in response, the walls of the room began to tremble, and a hidden door slid open, revealing a dark, narrow passage.
"Let's go," Sam said, gripping the key tightly. "This has to be the way out."
We stepped into the passage, the walls closing in behind us. The darkness was complete, and I could feel the weight of the dream pressing down on us. We followed the passage until it ended at a small, ornate door.
"This is it," I said, fitting the key into the lock. "This has to be the way out."
The door swung open, and we stepped through, into blinding light. I felt a sudden, jarring sensation, as if we were being pulled out of the dream and back into reality.
I woke up with a start, lying on the cold, dusty floor of Blackwood Manor. Sam was beside me, groggy but awake.
"We made it," he said, his voice filled with relief. "We're out."
I looked around, the mansion now just a dilapidated old house, the shadows no longer menacing. We had escaped the dream trap, but the memory of the endless loop and the chilling whispers would stay with us forever.
"We should get back to the Academy," I said, helping Sam to his feet. "And maybe next time, we'll think twice before investigating haunted mansions."
Sam laughed weakly. "Agreed. Let's stick to less spooky assignments for a while."
As we made our way back to the car, I couldn't shake the feeling that the mansion had let us go, but not without leaving a mark. The world of the paranormal was vast and filled with dangers we had only begun to understand. But for now, we were free, and that was enough.