The nightmare I dream of

The buffet

I wake up after a dreamless night. Same bed, same room, same clothes, and this time utterly alone. I carefully slide out of bed, my feet sinking into the soft carpet. In the corner of my eye, I notice the door to the rest of the house is ajar. On tiptoe, I creep toward it and peek through the opening. A long hallway stretches out before me, with dark wooden walls, a deep red carpet, and paintings adorning the walls. I can go left or right. With no one in sight, I open the door wider and step into the hallway.

Muted sounds come from the right, while the left is eerily silent. I wonder which way to go. The left seems safer, with no people to encounter, but the right could be where they guard the exit. I decide to suppress my curiosity and take the safer route to the left. But after a meter or two, I turn around. Sometimes you have to take risks, right? Isn't that what they always say, to step out of your comfort zone? So, I turn and sneak to the right.

The voices grow louder and as I walk further I feel a gust of wind brush past me in a hallway that has no windows. A cold shiver runs down my spine, and I feel warm breath on my neck. Frozen with fear, I stand still as the breathing continues. Slowly, I turn around, and less than a meter away stands Caiden.

"What are you staring at? Move along," he says, gesturing for me to walk ahead. But I keep staring into his light brown eyes. Had I imagined that dark red gaze? It's impossible for eyes to change like that, right?

"Hello, earth to..." He struggles to remember my name, because apparently, I'm not that important to him. "Alexandra," I whisper, hiding the irritation in my voice. If he's going to sneak into my room and drain my energy or whatever, he could at least remember my name.

"Alexandra, glad to see that your brain is working again" I hide my annoyance, bite my tongue and turn around. I feel his gaze on my back, and as I try to take a look at him in a mirror, we make eye contact and he starts grinning.

Walking down the long hallway, I count the doors we pass. Two on the left, three on the right, until Caiden points to the next door on the left. A thick, double door with a carved wooden frame that seems to tell a story. I take a moment to take in the door. It is beautiful, it really feels like a fairytale house.

"We don't have all day." As he says this, I feel his warm breath on my neck again, like a predator about to devour its prey. My breath catches, and my body tenses even more. But I gather myself and place my hands on the cold, golden handles, opening the doors.

All eyes are on me, and I need a moment to process everything. The room is as large as my entire ground floor. There are two exits: the door I just came through and an open passage on the right side of the room. Huge chandeliers hang from the high ceiling. In the center of the room stands a table over eight meters long, with grandiose chairs on either side, each with its own story to tell like the door.

Seated at the table are men, women, and children. Some are hidden behind large flower arrangements and an elaborate breakfast buffet spread across the table. Caiden gives me a shove in the back and points to the only empty chair. Great, I'm the last one.

As I walk to the chair, I see Cealyn leaning against a cabinet, staring at me with boredom. The woman who... I've lost track of time. I have no idea what day it is or how long I've been here. I wonder how she and Caiden are siblings-they look nothing alike.

I sit down. To my left is a boy, no older than twelve, dressed in a white suit. He stares ahead, as if in a trance. To my right, at the head of the table, is a girl around eighteen. She sits relaxed, one foot pulled up against her body, the other dangling above the floor. Her black hair with red tips cascades over her shoulders, and she wears black jeans with a large black hoodie.

She looks at me. "Why are you still in your pajamas? We've been here three days." Three days have passed, of which I was awake for only small fragments. And indeed, I'm the only one still in pajamas. I barely had time to change, not even knowing where to find clothes. Does that mean they didn't get any visitors?