Run Rabbit Run (REMAKE)

ch. 06

He woke up on the ground, his head feeling like it's been hit against a wall. He slowly opened his eyes only to find bright light shining at him. His eyes wandered around the room. Where was he? He slowly sat up on his knees. He wasn't ready to stand up yet. He could hear loud buzzing coming from the lights. The room was covered in yellow wallpaper with an old moist carpet. It had a weird smell too. When he turned around he saw an exit to the room. Well not really. He saw many walls with the same ugly yellow color. It looked like a never-ending maze.

He slowly walked to the nearest wall and carefully stood up. He had to hold to the wall so he wouldn't fall. His head was hurting like crazy and his glasses were slightly cracked. He waited a few seconds before walking out of the room. He looked around helplessly. This was a weird dream, a lucid dream, probably. He must have fallen and passed out.

She woke up abruptly.
"What the fuck?"  She yelled and immediately got on her feet. That was a bad idea. She fell to the ground. That was enough to make her look around. The only thing she could hear was a buzzing. It smelled awful at this place. She looked around her, searching for Yoshida, but she was alone. She stood up and started to wander around the place. She never had a dream like this before. "It must be a lucid dream, maybe yoshida and i passed out from the cold?"

""Is anyone there?" Her eyes immediately snapped open. She looked around to see where it came from.
What the fuck was happening?
"Makoro?" It called out again. She knew that voice. It was Tsukishima's. She doesn't usually have dreams with her friends in it. Yet she quickly ran the way it came from.
'This place feels like a maze' she thought.
"Kei!?" She yelled in desperation.
"Say something so i can find you!"
What was she even thinking? This is just a dream, he won't answer.
"Terrence!?" His voice called out.
It was closer this time.
"I must be close" she thought.

She ran around a corner and stopped. She looked up and Kei was staring back at her.
"H-hey.." she said carefully, this dream was....weird to say the least.
"Hey..." He looked just as confused and sceptical as her.

They just stood there, looking at each other

"Is this......really you?" He asked, which made her even more confused.
"What do you mean 'really me'?" She looked at him anxiously.
"This is a weird dream" he said.
"I should be the one saying that, since this is MY dream" she chucked nervously. She wanted to wake up as soon as possible.
"No... It's not this-" he cut himself off.
His eyes widened.
"Terrence... What do you remember last before you woke up here?"
"I-i don't understand... This is just a dream, right? Why are you asking me-"
"Answer the stupid question, Terrence" he took a step forward.
She took a deep breath, panic slowly crawling into her mind.
"I was hiding with Yoshida... We were playing hide and seek with makoro... We were hiding  behind a dirt hill in a
forest a-and it was foggy.... but now I'm having this weird dream and i-" she stopped talking.

Tsukishima took a shaky breath.
"M-me too. I was running from him when i took a turn and.... That's all i remember"
"What? No, that's bullshit... This is MY dream, you're not real" her eyes were traveling from one place to another, one walk to the other. She was scanning their surroundings. Her breath was getting shallow and fast.

Her eyes landed on his eyes. Oh, those golden eyes, always full of annoyance and dissatisfaction. She's never seen this emotion, at least not like this. His eyes were open wide, terrified and nervous.

She realized then...

...That this was not in fact a dream

She took a step closer

And another

And another

And then another

Until she was standing right in front of him. She could feel his breath hitting her face, confirming her discovery. She grabbed his hand that hung unmoving next to his hip.

"Tsukishima-" she cut herself off. Something was wrong.
"Terrence, i- i can't feel you" he said.
She understood once she looked down at her hands. Kei was gripping her hand tightly, or it looked like he did. But she didn't feel anything, only a little bit of pressure.
"Okay what the fuck" he yelled as he let go.
"What the fuck is happening" tears were starting to fall down her face. She placed her hands on her face, not feeling anything either. Tsukishima meanwhile was circling around the room. They knew something was terribly wrong, and that it wasn't just a nightmare.

After a minute of silence, Tsukishima still circling in panic and Terrence covering her face with her palms, she spoke up
"If we are here, that probably means the others are here too."
"We have to find them..." She continued,
"we'll stick to each other, alright? I want you on my sight all the time" He nodded, finally stopping his endless circling and they took off to find their friends.

It felt helpless...

They were walking around for what seemed like an hour, without any luck. They checked their phones but there wasn't any signal, and the clock stopped working too. Not just on their phones, but on their watches too.

"How is this even possible?" Terrence asked, knowing he wouldn't give her an answer.
"I don't know"
"We were in a forest and now we're in God knows where, just wandering around. What the actual fuck is happening? None of this is possible. What even is this place? It looks like some liminal back rooms of a retail outlet. It also very much seems like we're going in circles. Bet everything looks the same, so we don't even know we're trappe-"
"Shut up Terrence. You're thinking too much. It could be a mutual dream? it's a dream that is shared by two or more people, i remember reading an article about it a few years back."
"You think that is the case?

He opened his eyes slowly. Slightly blinded by the light. He was sitting against a wall. The buzzing immediately got to his ears.
"Ugh, turn that off" he mumbled.
Wait

What the fuck

His head snapped up and looked around.

"How- how is this possible?" He didn't recognize his surroundings. Where was he?
"It must be a dream, am i in a coma?" He thought. Then he got on his feet and decided to explore his surroundings.

After 10 minutes of exploring he found nothing.
"Guys?!" he tried calling out but no one answered.
"Why would i even call out to them? This us just a dream" After more and more walking he realized how big that place was. Something inside him started to doubt if this is just a dream. Everything felt too real, but at the same time it was all dead inside. He shook of the thought and continued.

He was panicking. It was an endless maze. He was speeding up, though he didn't really want to. He quickly turned left at corner and then again and again and again and again. It wasn't the best action, he will get tired soon. He turned around the corner and BAM.

He ran into someone...

They both fell on the ground and when Yoshi looked up to see who it is...
"Seiji!!" He yelled and ran to him. Seiji was laying on the ground.
"Ow" he mumbled before looking up. "Yoshida! You're here too!" He said, surprised.

"What? What do you mean?" This was just a dream.

Seiji hugged him tightly. And he did the same. He was so scared of being here alone, thank God he found Seiji. If he's here, then that means others must be somewhere here too.

Hopefully

After a good minute or so of hugging they finally let go.
"Something is weird" Seiji said.
"But i don't know what changed" he was thinking for a second before grabbing Yoshidas hand.
"What the-" he looked at Yoshi's hand confused.
"Can you feel me touching you" he asked.
"Uhh, no i don't." Yoshida answered.
"Holy shit i don't! What the- what the fuck!" Yoshida panicked. Seiji did too, he just didn't really show it.
"What is this place" Seiji asked no one.
"I don't know but we have to leave. And find others. " Yoshida stated.
"Wow, since when were you so serious" Seiji looked at him, trying to lighten up their situation.
"Seiji this IS serious! If you are here, that means others are here too. We have to find them" Yoshida said and helped Seiji get ln his feet. And with that, they were on their way to find others.