Dream Trap || ONC 2021

Chapter Twenty: Up

There was a drift through her ear, and she got up. She had woollen clothes and jacket on her. Lisa moved her head over to the right and she could see the snowy roads and the trees covered with white flakes. It was falling heavier here than in the cabin. She touched the window, sure it was still cold. Then Lisa began to take walk, she was transported to a room that was one floor up. It had a small table, a chair, and a lantern. She found a pair of matches in her jacket. That was miraculous but seeing herself safe was already a miracle. She lit the lantern and held it up. There came a circular patch of light through it, she faced it around. On the right of the table was a big black trunk and to its right in the corner was an ottoman upon which a box was placed, she lifted the cardboard flap, inside were stacks of papers. Written in longhand, the handwriting was very precise with each sentence properly aligned on the foolscap paper. She stretched out her hand to pick it up and the floor below her creaked. She picked the first file. It was neatly labelled as a file of Arthur Hutchland. He was 54, with more wrinkles than most of his age. White unkempt beard with blue-green eyes, that kind of thing where someone's eye color looks different with the amount of light on it, the descriptions were also very in-depth. He was British, travelled to America to see her granddaughters who seemed to stay in Portland. Then there was a stop, double line left, and in bold letters it was written, SYMPTOMS.

The light flickered inside the lamp, Lisa looked outside the window. The great white emptiness looked over her, ready to pounce in on her when she was the most casual. Ready to scare her into rigidity,

"What are you gonna send me? Monsters? I'm through with them." She thought, a puff of air came out through her mouth. She set the lamp down on the table, through the little light at the left of the lamp there was a brown leather-bound notebook. She picked it up, it was cold, and the leather had started to become stiff. The smoothness of the notebook suggested that the person who's the notebook was had used it frequently. Lisa put down the papers and opened the notebook. On the front page it said: This book belongs to, Annie Kinns.

On the next page was a note,

To the next reader, If you've reached this level then it's purely because Derkan is probably afraid of you. She was afraid of me, I know it. Now, I got stuck in this mess in the year 2014. I am 16 years old as of now but who knows how old I would be in this dream. Anyway, if you know about Derkan then that's wonderful news but if you don't then you should probably let go the hopes of getting out of here. But I have collected a few notes here which you can read and find out the exit. I was driving my bicycle when it started to rain, and I came into Rosalind. I had the dreams and blah blah blah... you know how it goes, its same for everyone. So one day, someday, I got dreamt into the real Rosalind. The actual Rosalind which exists in an entirely different location of the Universe. It scared me because people here in Rosalind are actually from the 19th century. I started investigating around the people who lived here, Linda, Jeff, Oscar, and Poppy are the people I know, if you meet any of them then know that your way of exit is closed. See the story boils down to this, there was a huge sinkhole formed in the 1800's, they said that hell had broken up but now as we know, Derkan had picked it up from the earth and taken it with her to the speed of light. So what that means is that the village of Rosalind was picked up by Derkan it became her dream. The village you and I saw is the dream of Derkan in which if we walk, we are getting ready to transport into her mind. And we're gonna stay there until we disintegrate into atoms. But me and the four above mentioned have compiled this notebook to give you a chance of escape. Read the symptoms and understand the difficult, plan accordingly to each dream. Remember nobody can dream infinite, there has to be a similarity in some. I hope you make it or if not, we are welcome to take you in.

Yours well-wisher,

Annie.

Lisa snapped the notebook shut. She was breathing heavily, she slipped the notebook in jacket and grabbed the file and began to descend the stairs. Below, the stairs gave away to the front door and on the left side was a door. She got down and turned back to face the kitchen. She went in. The kitchen was marbled with a table on the side. She looked outside, it was empty still. No monsters, no strange feelings, nothing. Was she really that powerful that Derkan, or whatever the creature was, was afraid of her? Or was she just the weakest and the most fragile person who was saved up as the last treat. The silence and the emptiness brought butterflies to her stomach. She sat down once more the chair and placed the file on the table and opened it.