Playing The Dreams // a Dreamcatcher story

Chapter 22

❝ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝. ❞

~

The girl stood amidst the sound of rain and the smell of petrichor. Her hair and shoulders were drenched with the rainfall, streaming down to her boots. Once she had come back to reality to realize where she was standing, she quickly ran towards one of the benches with the neon lights and hugged herself to keep her from the cold. Her lips quivered in the cold. She looked down and saw that she was now in her red outfit she wore for the 'BOCA' promotions, but she was more curious of her surroundings.

Neon lights, old movie posters, Chinese characters, she stood in the middle of the 'BOCA' music video set. She cursed under her breathe to realize she was now alone. Shivering in the freezing atmosphere, her ears caught on something. A call?

She looked around to hear the distorted calling. "Hello?" she replied to the faint whisper of the wind. It did not seem to form any words, she was too far from the source.

"JiU..," the whisper started to feel closer. She turned to her left but saw nothing, but to her right she saw a silhouette. She squinted her eyes when the silhouette grew in size, but before she caught a glimpse of it, it started to run towards her. JiU's heart immediately started to pound violently, almost ripping through her chest.

Her fight or flight mode switched on and she just ran. Her legs and arms swung to give her more speed while the figure came closer. She lacked oxygen, but there was no time to just pause and take a breathe.

She kept running. Every step faster than the other, but she was not even close from running away. It was like she was stuck in that chase. She ran and ran, but she could not get them off her tail. She did not call for any help because she thought she was all alone, no one was around, only the rain pouring on her face.

She tried to turn in this one alley but slipped on her step. The muddy water splashed on body and her hands broke the fall. She grunted as she struggled to get up again; she knew it was not going to be long until they caught up. Her knees and elbows started to vibrate, her muscles were not strong enough. She slowly straightened her body but it barely made any difference since all her energy was drained on the first run.

She heard slow footsteps on the other side, what was she going to do? Internally, she panicked. She could not call for help nor cry out. She tried to run but her knees and ankles were sore after the fall. She could only get so far before..

"U-Unnie?"

JiU screamed when she felt a hand touch her left shoulder. "JiU unnie.. U-Unnie!" a cry was made, followed by a hug. JiU, still frightened, tried to shake the body off. "W-Wait!" she shouted while pushing the body away in fright, but her whole body froze immediately as she saw the face. She took a gasp and covered her mouth. Her eyes glittering in tears and her whole body just shaking in disbelief. "Gah.. Gahyeonie?"

"Unnie," she said cutely while hugging her. "I've missed you. Where were you?"

"We," JiU sobbed and began to wrap her own hands on the younger's body, "were trying to find you, Gahyeon. Where are we?"

They released the hug. "It's a long story.. But you need to listen to me unnie. I think.. I think they're trying to trap us."

"What?"

"No.. No, I mean, this is all fake. We're in a dream and they're trying to conjure up our greatest fear and turning them into nightmares. We need to find the others." Gahyeon grabbed the elder's wrist and pulled her up.

"Wait, Gahyeon! How do you know you're not just.. F-Fake too? I'm sorry, it's all too fast," she said while letting go of Gahyeon's grip.

"Unnie, I was alone. They put me in this simulation for tests, multiple times. You have no idea how alone I felt!" she cried. "Please believe me, it's me Gahyeon. If I weren't me, then I couldn't be speaking to you right now. Unnie, we need to get out of here and the only person who knows how to get out is me. I'll explain later but we need to find the others, because if we can't.." Gahyeon made a concerning pause.

"W-What? What happens?"

"They'll go insane."

➳

"Taehyung, it's happening again."

"To who?"

"Number one, JiU." Namjoon handed the tablet into Taehyung's hands. "They're interacting.. Why?!" Taehyung raged out while slamming his hands on the screen.

"Taehyung, give it time, it isn't perfect."

"But it must be. If not, this is going to ruin my reputation." He grunted in frustration. "If it happens again, prepare the backup plan."

"W-What? Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"But Taehyung---"

Taehyung gripped Namjoon by his lab coat. "Namjoon, don't tell me anything regarding this. I'm going to do it and I'm going to make this project work. If it doesn't, I will be humiliated, not just by the board members, but the whole world! If it does happen, you will put me in whether you like it or not." Taehyung let go and fixed his vest. "Don't disappoint me, find out what's happening."