I had no idea about the presence of the bus, the pocket knife, or even my initials. However, I strongly believed in my instincts, my sixth sense, and my intuition that guided me towards the path I was supposed to take. It was the same intuition that had led me to seek out Chiara, and it was the same intuition that was leading me now. It was a feeling of deep certainty that I was on the right path.

I could see the admiration in her eyes, as if she believed I had all the answers. However, the truth was that I was simply improvising and hoping for the best. Perhaps it was some sort of cosmic alignment that led us to this point, or maybe it was just a stroke of luck. Regardless, the present moment felt like it was meant to be.

During the bus ride, she leaned her head on my shoulder, seeking comfort from me. I could tell from her breathing that she was struggling to fall asleep, despite her efforts to relax. And remembered that she mentioned only being able to snooze of within the dream when she was exhausted. Almost like passing out.

When the bus finally stopped and we got down. There was no shattered window or bottomless pit for her to jump into. Not a single dramatic or traumatic event, finally. Instead, the bus simply stopped and opened its back door. As we stepped out, I couldn't help but steal a glance at the driver's seat.

It was completely empty.

But that was it, we had finally made it.

The sense of relief that washed over me was almost palpable, and as I looked around at our surroundings, I was struck by a sudden wave of familiarity. It was as if I was seeing everything for the first time, yet at the same time I knew it all too well. I took a deep breath, savoring the moment of that small victory.

For the first time in our adventure, we weren't lost.

"Are you sure we are in the right place?" She asked, visibly confused.

I chuckled.

"Why? You didn't expect my dreams to look like this?" I arched one eyebrow and gave her a side smile, she bumped my shoulder slightly with her fist.

"I-" She started, probably thinking she had offended me in some way.

Everything was exactly like how I remembered. The playful blend of pastel colors on the buildings and nonsensical street names brought a smile to my face. I smiled at the giant tree with purple leaves towering over the little town, providing a sense of comfort. It was as if time had stood still since the last time I visited this dreamland.

It was a unique blend of the different places I grew up in. It was a mix and match of houses from all the states I had lived in, the schools I had gone to. I remember the military base, almost hidden behind a hill; the entrance of the subway next to a house I knew was really a shopping mall, bigger on the inside than what you would imagine.

"Remember, I used to lucid dream a lot." I explained, and started walking. I wasn't sure where to go exactly, but so far my instinct hadn't failed me. "So I started building this place little by little. Have you ever played The Sims?" She chuckled and nodded, a bit calmer than before. I felt calm too.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the world seemed like a brighter place. We walked up to the ice cream truck and asked her what flavor she wanted, she immediately smiled.

"Strawberry?" She responded, hesitantly. I shook my head.

"There's none of those boring flavors here," I pointed at the truck, completely empty. "Anything but that."

"Anything?" Her eyes sparkled, her smile widened.

"Anything."

"Then, one that tastes like ink and leaves, like my favorite book." she responded immediately, and the second later the truck came to life.

If it had been real, it would easily be marvel of engineering, with a complex system of pipes and tubes that twirled around it, like a giant's organ. We watched in awe as it pumped out the ice cream, seemingly effortlessly. A small cup emerged from a tube in front of us, landing softly into her hands. Then, it pumped a perfect sphere of ice cream in the most beautiful shade of dark blue.

She looked stunned, delighted. And I felt proud of my childhood creation.

As we sat down on a nearby bench, she took a lick of her ice cream and closed her eyes in delight. "It's just like I imagined," she said with a smile.

I decided to try mine, which I described as "raindrops on grass", my new favorite smell. The flavor was subtle and refreshing, like a cool breeze on a hot summer day.

Like her.

That uncomfortable feeling was nowhere to be found, this was my safe place and now finally I was in peace. The bench was surrounded by trees, their leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. We started walking again when we were done, things were just falling into place, finally making sense.

She was still visibly startled, jumping with every shadow, every time we passed a corner. I couldn't stand seeing her like that anymore, so I sat her down in the porch of a house and she looked at me with eyes that were capable of shattering my world into a million pieces.

I could tell she was still processing what had happened earlier. I tried to lighten the mood by telling her a funny story, but she didn't seem to be listening. Instead, she was staring off into the distance, lost in thought.

"I still think something's wrong." She stated the obvious, I sighed. "No, don't get like that. This is amazing but we haven't figured it out."

"I haven't forgotten about that." I said, very carful of my word choice. "But now that we're here I figured I could give you a bit of peace." I left suddenly like a complete moron.

I knew there was still an issue at hand. Her not being able to wake up, the fire in the city, how hostile everything around us was to her. It was true, I hadn't forgotten about it, but I had truly thought that by finding my dreams I could at least give her a safe place to be in.

"No, you don't get it." She bit her lip. "You said these are your dreams, right?"

"Your mom never taught you not to judge a book by its cover?" I sat down with her. "Just because I look like this it doesn't mean-"

"Why do I know how many bedrooms this house has?" She interrupted me. "Or that one of them is all pink from the floor to the ceiling?" I froze, she sighed. "I have a terrible feeling about all this."

I held her hands, both of them this time, and looked straight into her eyes.

"I'm not going to leave you alone again. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was going to wake up." I said, she looked back into my soul.

There it was, that stupid song again.

Was it coming from the headphones she still carried around?

Her fingers trembled, she shook them vigorously. She brought them close to her ear, listening intently for any sign of noise. After a moment of silence, she passed them over to me, and I repeated the same process with no success. It wasn't until we turned around that we realized the sound had been coming from behind us all along - from the very house she had mentioned earlier.

This time it was her who took the lead, tugging on the collar of my shirt, urging me to stand up. Her movements were purposeful, and I couldn't help but be drawn to her new determination.

"What's wrong?" I asked, a bit concerned.

"You said you got to me because you felt something pulling you towards me, right?" She asked, I nodded. "I feel something pulling me towards this place, and the music is coming from here."

I deeply regret not pleading with her to stay back, not taking her by the waist and pulling her away from the danger. At that moment, I was still naïve and underestimated that place. Perhaps if I had only been more assertive, more insistent, then things might have turned out differently.

To our surprise, we noticed some movement inside. We cautiously entered the house, and we found that there were people inside. This was the first time we had encountered anyone outside of the main bus. At least the remains of what would have been people in another life.

"I don't remember this place." I whispered, while we passed someone standing next to the entrance and talking through a rotary phone.

I couldn't make up the words, there were no more than muffled sounds produced by a black silhouette, a shadow.

"I do, I would dream about it when I was little," she said and smiled sadly.

Scratched polaroids were dispersed on the floor, a doll rested against the corner of the stairs that took us to the second floor. She held it on her hand, like a relic from a past so far away it was almost vanishing.

This time we didn't find confusing hallways, doors that took us nowhere. As we explored the house, we caught a glimpse of another shadow in a master bedroom, standing in front of a mirror, but they didn't seem to notice us.

We continued walking until we reached the all-pink bedroom that she mentioned earlier. Inside, we found a spacious and well-furnished room with a comfortable bed. The room was filled with a pleasant fragrance, and the walls were adorned with beautiful paintings.

"It's weird," she said with a hint of confusion in her voice. Her eyes wandered around the room, taking in the sights. "I used to dream about this place when I was a little girl, and I remember it vividly. But for some reason, I can't seem to recall anything recent."

She sat on the bed as she spoke, I couldn't help but notice the way she hugged one of the pillows, I wished she had hugged me instead.

"I mean, isn't it odd?" she continued, her brow furrowing in concentration. "You remember what you did earlier today, or whenever that was, but I can't seem to do the same. It's like my memories stop at a certain point, and everything becomes a blur after that."

I tried to put myself in her shoes, imagining what it must be like to have such a gap in my own memory. It was a strange feeling.

"Do you think it's because of the dreams?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to upset her.

But she shook her head, her expression thoughtful. "I don't know," she said slowly. "But I have a feeling there's more to this than just dreams."

In many ways, we shared a lot of similarities despite our obvious differences. While she stood out like a sore thumb in that pink room filled with plushies, dressed entirely in black, I couldn't help but feel a sense of kinship with her.

After all, I looked like that too, standing out like a beacon in the middle of the dreamlike town that I had learned to call home for so many years.

I felt that we were kindred spirits, two lost souls who had finally found a sense of belonging in each other's company. Or at least that's what I wanted to believe.

"Do you think anything in here will help you remember?" I asked, she shook her head. "Then, why are we here?"

"Because I remembered something from here, when we were sitting on the stairs. That's why I came." She kneeled on top of the mattress, looking for something in one of the bed posts.

I choked at the sight of the back of her thighs and couldn't help but notice how short her shorts were. For a moment, my mind went blank. Her toned thighs glistened in the sunlight, and I found myself struggling to regain my composure.

Fuck, this was the worst possible moment to feel like that, and then I couldn't help it.

She was undeniably cute and hot, and I was starting to feel like I was losing my grip on reality. I needed to gather my thoughts and make a plan before I did something that I would regret later.

Deep down, I knew that she probably did not even consider me as a romantic interest. She was going through a tough time, with so much on her plate - stress, confusion, and fear were likely at the forefront of her mind. As much as I wished that she would think of me in a different way, I knew that it was unlikely. I was probably the least of her concerns.

"Found it! Here!" She said and patted the bed next to her, still kneeling.

I kneeled where she signaled, with my leg brushing hers slightly. She didn't seem to notice, maybe she didn't mind.

"What are we looking for exactly?" I asked, but she just pointed at the bedpost.

A few scratch marks that at first didn't seem to have any importance. But no, of course they were important. Everything about that place was.

"JD?" I gasped and started coughing. "How? This doesn't make any..."

"Dreams don't have to make sense, dummy." She said and smiled, mocking my words from before. She still seemed tense but a sense of confidence started decorating her face. "I think I did this, in my dreams. A long time ago," she bit her lip again. "I think you were right. We are connected Jasper. Whatever it is that's happening, we were meant to be here... together."

That moment felt like pure magic. We were lost in our own world, a world where time stood still and nothing else mattered. The thought of leaving that moment, that perfect moment, was unbearable. We were cocooned in our own little bubble of happiness, completely unaware of the outside world.

That would have been the perfect time, a happy ending of just us staying forever inside that dreamland, that fantasy. Damn, there was even a bed beneath us!

And her lips looked so soft...

But the shadows that before didn't seem to pay any attention to us, slowly began to gather at the door of the bedroom, as though they were quietly observing our every move.

The once peaceful atmosphere was now filled with an eerie feeling, as they loomed over us, casting an ominous presence that seemed to grow with each passing moment.

As soon as we noticed the presence in the room, adrenaline shot through our veins. We didn't even need to communicate with words, we just instinctively knew that we had to get out of there.

I was able to get through the shadows without any issue, but they had a hold of Chiara, their hands gripping her hair tightly. I could hear their whispers in her ear.

The redhead let out a blood-curdling scream, which only fueled my determination to save her. I lunged towards one of the shadowy figures, brandishing my pocket knife in an attempt to fend it off. But as soon as the blade made contact, the shadowy figure simply dissipated into nothingness.

And I bumped my head into the door frame.

Seconds later she was almost dragging me out of the house, her grip tight around my arm. As we stumbled out into the street, my head was pounding with a throbbing pain. I was seeing little dots of light, probably because of the concussion.

Who would have thought things could hurt so much in a dream?

Now we were out in the open, with nowhere to go and no plan in sight. She turned to me, her eyes wide with panic.

"Now where?" she screamed at me, her voice echoing down the empty street. I blinked, still visibly confused and disoriented. "You're the one with the sixth sense or whatever you want to call it!" she continued frantically. "What now? Where do we go from here?"

A cold breeze whipped through the street, sending shivers down my spine. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to feel some warmth. My eyes darted around the surroundings, searching for any sign of life.

The street was deserted, and the silence was eerie. Suddenly, I noticed a faint glow coming from the stairs that led to the underground station. It was a dim light, but it was enough to catch my attention. I wondered if it was a trap, but I knew we had to take the risk.

"The subway!" I didn't think about it too much, we sprinted there with our hearts almost beating out of our chests.

The adrenaline pumping through my veins was almost tangible. I knew that we had to move fast if we wanted to get rid of the shadows that for some reason had decided we weren't welcome anymore. The urgency of the situation only added to the thrill of the moment.

At the time, I failed to fully realize the significance of the shadows, the symbolism of the bus, and the purpose of the house. Looking back, it seems as though I was unaware of how deep the connection of these events ran, and that they were all part of a bigger picture.

Maybe if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been too late.

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