The lights of the outside, filtered through the blinds of the window, reflecting off the ceiling to my eyes. Despite the morning being in the far future, the city lights came close to competing with it.

  I rolled around, unable to get the slightest of sleep. Even if I could go on days without a single rest, that didn't mean the fatigue wasn't real.

  Closing my eyes once again, I desperately forget everything that entered my mind.

  ‘I wonder how long I can keep this up.’

  ***

  Fog clashed against one another, whispering through his body before evaporating into thin air. As if air existed in the void.

  Julo’s fatigued eyes slammed open, shifting towards a cluster of fog to another. Before long, the recognizable place stirred his memories once again. Looking down at the odd ground, he carefully tested the material and to his expectation, there was a force repelling him instead of a physical object.

  Julo shifted his view to above, countless cracks separated the fog, each twitching to open. But that was only the majority, for each opened crack, an eye peered through.

  And with each minute, more cracks unwinded itself.

  Used to this cycle of cracks and eyes, he sat there, not bothered by the situation, observing the eyes peacefully. More eyes opened as the dream inched closer to its end. He sighed, wondering if he'll ever get rid of this dream as the barrier below his body broke apart before falling into the abyss.

  ***

  The dimmed light bulb struggled to reach each end of the freezing room, the metallic wall reflecting rays that barely managed to be seen then as they illuminated two faces ever so slightly.

  “I'm not taking this.” Breaking the silence first, he looked at him briefly before extending his hands to the jacket's pocket. Numerous items juggled around his fingers as he took out a lollipop.

  “Why not?” He stood opposite of him, his back hugging the bone chilling wall, not feeling any type of coldness.

  The question was met with no response, they stood in silence, clock ticked closer to another hour.

  “I'll do whatever I want.”

  ***

  …

  [Wake up!] My eyes shot open, the AI still trying its best to wake me up, realizing the place wasn't familiar.

  I struggled to remember, the unfamiliar darkened room scattered each ray of light into my eyes, hardly enough to see anything.

  My vision suddenly blurred as I immediately realized the situation.

  The ground drenched in blood, my eyes numbing in pain as my lungs coughed out blood. Withstanding the agony, my head turned to the surroundings. Arms locked with chains, movement seemed impossible and despite that, I wasn't fazed.

  Quickly scrutinizing the place, the chains softly melted as my limbs were free from the restrictions of the chain. With the place barely having any lights and with the bars confiding each room, it looked almost like a prison. Which I hope it wasn't, but chances are the police won't kidnap me and lock me up here.

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  Rushing towards the bars that blocked anyone coming in, they quickly met the same fate of softly melting into the ground.

  I walked into the hallway, looking left and right and without any sense of direction, struggled to know the right way.

  The hallway spanning beyond what my eye sight could allow, one choice had to be correct. The physical stats of my legs and my entire body were below average, one mistake could lead to time lost, and time lost escaping heavily increases the chances of getting caught.

  While searching desperately, a shadow in another cell waved, catching my attention.

  “Hey! Over here.” Whispering with a hint of hopefulness, their fingers pointed to the lock holding the cell, gesturing to free them. The darkness making it impossible to figure out the person.

  Without any clues in sight, there were no other choices for me. I rapidly approached them before roughly reaching for the lock. The freezing temperatures of the metal bars emitted from both sides, bringing chicken skin. However, as my hands inched closer to it, a sudden flicker of realization flashed.

  My hands stopped mere inches away from the lock as they looked at me, pondering over why I'd stopped.

  “Hey?” Cluelessness exposed itself on their face, not knowing why, they mustered up the courage to ask.

  Before they had a chance to ask the question, I immediately interrupted it.

  “Where's the exit? You'll get in my way of escaping.”

  Their eyes widened, stunned at the unexpected statement that I'll leave them be. Still confused at the statement, their lungs slowed its pace before their face relieved of worries as they seemed to get what I was saying.

  “It's right. Call help quickly, ok?”

  Reassuring them with rescues, I looked in another direction.

  “Wait wait.” Putting me out of my focus once again, they called.

  “You're an Uncoiled right?” They asked, with worry reappearing.

  Nodding at the question, they sighed of relief, while I had no idea why they asked, I still managed to guess this place was something only an Uncoiled can safely escape from.

  I put myself into deep focus as I faced the direction once again.

  my legs twitched as the muscles squeezed themselves, pressing against the tiny veins, bulging slightly. The ground, emitting gas, barely visible to the naked eye, spiraled on the ground.

  Against all odds, no sound echoed through the hallway, working completely as I intended.

  Before long, I reached the end of the hallway.

  Sitting in the middle of the wall was a door, reflecting faint lights that scattered throughout the hallway, reaching each cell. My sensory were being hyperactive at the presence of this door, and clearly this was the main light source down here.

  Walking slowly and cautiously, my hands extended towards the handle, and unexpectedly was pushed back by a force. I pushed yet again, and was only met with more forces than before. It felt like pushing the same side of two magnets against each other.

  Without any delay, I forcefully liquefied the empty cells beside me as they slowly turned into a liquid. As they melted, the door flickered briefly, and that brief was all I needed to melt it completely.

  The outside lights flooded the hallway, multiple people’s surprised gasps echoed behind me, although faintly and weakly.

  A set of stairs greeted my eyes, and with swiftness I jumped towards the top.

  The lights grew stronger, my vision becoming clear again as I kept on climbing. Unexpectedly my vision halted, it stopped returning to its usual view.

  Confused like anyone would, I looked at my hands, trying my best to see if my vision really became worse. Becoming An Uncoiled improved my vision but returning to its past state was troublesome. Glasses were expensive and I had limited savings. With a bounty on my head, it wasn't exactly ideal.

  My hands drenched in a shade of red with clothes still wet from the blood and mouth still dripping blood.

  I stared blankly.

  ‘What?’ The imaginary blood normally disappeared after each dream and yet this one remained. I shook my hand, waving off the blood on my hand as they stained the wall of the stairs.

  For each drip it blood entered my view, my sensory choked my mind, intentionally or not.

  My eyes fixated on them as they eventually vaporized from view. Wait no, that wasn't the correct word, the true word for it would be disappeared.

  As they disappeared from the very top to the very bottom, my sensory caught a disturbing scene. The blood was being ripped apart and dragged to another place. The very top of the blood stains tore apart with an horrifying strength before spreading and being dragged to every corner of the universe. And so on, the top to the bottom or the bottom to the top. They all revealed the same scene.

  Yet, this wouldn't be terrifying if not for the fact of the strength behind the tear.

  I had seen multiple incidents of people being ripped apart in terrible incidents or black holes ripping a galaxy to shreds but this one wasn't even comparable to all of these.

  I shook my head, briefly putting myself together as I recalled the main priority. To escape.

  I could think about it all I want but that wouldn't matter if I died. And without any breaks, I walked towards what seemed to be the exit.