After arriving in a new town with his mother and sister, 18-year-old Daniel finds a mysterious corridor under his new house, and beyond it, a mysterious old man who traps him on the other side. There, Daniel finds another dimension filled with nothi...
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In his slumber, Daniel could clearly feel how he was being pushed and pulled by something around. Tides of destiny, strings of fate? No matter the name which he thought of the circumstances were irresistible. He walked across Lake Hoover. He remembered seeing it during his car ride to the town. There was something off about that scene. The veil surrounding the dream made him take that as an obvious thing, but as he focused and concentrated he noticed that Lake Hoover was simply not there - a dry crater was the only thing that was left of it. The desolate landscape surrounding him from all sides. No trees, no greenery.
He blinked.
And the scene has changed before his eyes. He thought he had gained control over the dream, yet it felt like something was controlling the dream for him. He was standing at the far end of the blue corridor. Looking at his younger self standing on the other side. He was looking at the scene from the old man's eyes. In an instance, he made the run for the door, but as he did 2 days earlier, he slammed the door shut in front of him. He bashed the door twice with a furious fist. Daniel could feel the man's emotions. He felt all of it. Anger, disappointment, sadness. All of it covered in... nostalgia... A certain level of longing for something that was lost many, many years ago.
The dream snapped in a second and Daniel was back in his room. His eyes opened to the sight of the shadowed silhouette sitting on his bed. It was coated in the overarching presence of shadow, only his green gaze piercing from beneath the overwhelming darkness. Daniel's heart started pounding restlessly, almost like wanting to jump out of his chest.
Daniel blinked. And the man was gone.
He looked at the clock. It was 1:44 am again. Sunday already. The moon was enlightening his room with its calm white glow. The shadows were all gone and the world around him was different this time. Cold, unwelcoming. Or was it him? Just anxious beyond a normal level.
Daniel stood up, put on his clothes, took the key to the basement, and went downstairs. That man clearly wanted something from Daniel. Was it connected to his mom? What was she not telling Daniel about him? Now, he was done running from the shadows. Tonight he was going to cross the corridor.
Daniel walked downstairs with a certain level of confidence this time. There was no way something could scare him. He has seen enough things to be sure of what could happen next. All his visions and nightmares.
The basement was the same. All the furniture around, table at the center, and all the boxes... He noticed something was off about the boxes. They weren't scattered the way they used to. Someone moved them and organized them a little.
-Was it mom? - he thought, and with that thought the anxiety surfaced again. It was as if his confidence was lifted - put to a test. He understood that - knew he could not fear, fall into these patterns again. Standing in front of the closed metal door, he looked around the room. All the dark cavities between the single pieces of furniture were covered in shadow. Dark, and unwelcoming. He had to be sure he was safe. Scouting around the room, with his rested eyes in one of the cavities there stood the pair of green eyes. They watched his every move since he entered the basement. Was it another nightmare? Was it all another hallucination? He stood still and stared back at these eyes. They didn't move... and so did he. As a car drove by the street with its white headlights it lit the room, giving a shape to the silhouette in the cavity.
