Echoes of the Mind

FALSE AWAKENING - A Night I Lived Three Lives

They say dreams feel real only until you wake up.
But what if... you wake up into another dream?
What if reality keeps breaking every time you open your eyes?

In one night, I lived through three layers of dreams -
a blood-soaked nightmare,
an almost-perfect reality,
and a sweet, impossible love I can't forget.

I watched my father bleed out on a hospital floor.
I saw him return home in a car we could never afford.
And I met a girl so real that even now...
I can still feel her kiss, though I can't remember her face.

When I finally woke up, I thought it was over-
until I noticed the blood on my shirt.
The hospital smell on my hands.
The unknown number saved in my phone.
And the same car horn echoing outside my window...

Now I don't know what's real.
What was a dream.
Or whether I'm still trapped inside one of the layers.

All I know is... she existed somewhere.
And I'm terrified that I might never find her again.