Do you want to take a look at the edge of your dream while you are awake
Duncan's smiling words sounded to Shirley like a deep temptation coming from the dark abyss of the sea. She felt a shudder in her heart and instinctively resisted this suggestion, but she couldn't suppress the urge to do so.
In this nightmare that has tormented her for eleven years, outside this locked house, on the street that she had never seen with her own eyes eleven years ago...what exactly could be going on
She subconsciously took a deep breath and turned to look at the small window not far away.
A dark red hue like dried blood filled the small window, preventing her from seeing the scene on the street. She had never looked out the window on that morning illuminated by the fire eleven years ago, so in this dream, the scene outside the window was hidden in the chaotic light and could not be seen clearly at all. Even the living room outside the room, when she looked through the door, there was only a hazy darkness.
The dream reflects her own memories and cognition. Eleven years ago, she failed to escape from this dry hut. Eleven years later, is it really possible for her to walk out of this room
"Can people really walk around in their dreams..." Shirley couldn't help but mutter to herself, "I don't know what's out there... Is it just nothing out there
"Dreams are a reflection of the human subconscious, and the human subconscious often remembers details that even the person himself cannot perceive," Duncan's voice came from the direction of the door. "Perhaps you will still be trapped outside that room for eleven years, but the light and shadow in the window, the sound, and the things he remembered through intuition, all fill in the gaps outside his dreams. In those details, you may be able to glimpse some clues.
"Of course, the decision is his. If he agrees, you will continue to spy on his dreams. You will stay there, worried. As long as you are there, the nightmare will continue. You can sleep peacefully, but there will still be no sunny morning tomorrow."
Ah Gou bit his lips hard, and then made up his mind as if he had used a little effort: "You... want to go out and take a look."
"Okay," Shirley nodded, moving aside to clear the door, "You stay with him."
A warp shadow, a mobile natural disaster, took the initiative to express his desire to walk with him - it should have been a terrifying invitation, but for some reason, Agou suddenly felt relieved that time.
It was as if a cluster of cool light suddenly appeared in the endless white and dark nightmare, making it impossible to relax at all.
You feel like you must be crazy, and gradually become crazy while living with the evil god.
Zhang Chen followed Agou, and the two of them walked through the wooden door of the large room and retreated into the living room of Zhang Chen’s childhood memory.
Duncan also followed beside us. The Deep Hound seemed very relaxed. He was watching Qi Zhou carefully and pretended to listen carefully from time to time to see if there was any abnormal movement under the street.
Seeing this, Agou was a little curious: "What is Duncan doing?"
"Investigation," Duncan said in a deep voice, "You are retreating into the unknown area of the dream... From here on, it is not the area that exists in his memory. Theoretically, the things behind will be more and more inclined to his subconscious imagination and weak emotions. When fear is dominant, those imaginations and weak emotions will often generate some... friendly things."
Ah Gou was very surprised: "Zhang Chen even understands that?"
"I know a little bit," Duncan shook his head, "You are at least an orthodox Deep Devil..."
Shirley didn't pay attention to the conversation between Agou and Zhang Chen. I was paying attention to the living room to see if there were any clues.
A chaotic and hazy white darkness enveloped the slightly shabby hall, as if a dispersing smoke filled the space. I saw the wooden shelves against the wall and the tables and chairs on one side of the living room. There was also a wall clock that looked very old hanging on the wall. The hands under the dial seemed to be distorted and vague like shaking smoke, spinning in circles meaninglessly.
Under the floor in the middle of the living room, Yindang saw a deep scratch.
This is the trace left behind when Zhang Chen broke in that year.
Besides, there was no blood, no corpse, and no signs of fire in the living room - the "fire" seemed to be confined to the street inside, or it might simply be because in Agou's subconscious, the fire had always spread outside the room.
We walked through the living room and came behind the small door.
There was a small hole in the door, leaving only the upper door frame and a few broken pieces of wood hanging under the door frame, which was obviously also the work of the Deep Hound.
Further in, it was no longer a street engulfed by fire.
Zhang Chen suddenly stopped.
Before you even get there, you suddenly realize what you are really afraid of and resisting.
"Agou?" Duncan noticed Agou's determination and looked up curiously.
Agou bit his lips tightly, as if he didn't hear what Duncan said. You stared at the street in the small door, looking at the mist filled with distorted red light, feeling that every cell and every nerve in your body was tense, shrinking, and fearful.
You seem to see your parents who never came back before you left home, and see us falling down at the door. You even dare to imagine what the scene will be like, and what will happen if you take a step out.
Then, you heard the clatter of chains.
Zhang Chen took the initiative to walk back, leaned his head to look in the direction of the street, and then retracted his head.
"Ah Gou, something's wrong. There's something scary in there. It seems... it's coming out."
Agou looked at the empty eyes of the Deep Hound without any meaning, and you pursed your lips: "Thank you."
Then you took a step forward and walked out of the door of your home eleven years later.
The streets were filled with a thin layer of fog. In the thin dark red fog, the outlines of houses and street lamps, as well as the twisted and undulating road surface, could not be seen vaguely.
The buildings in the distance were shaking abnormally in the fog. They had not yet been burned into frames by the small fire. They appeared in lacquered white or dark red tones, and the edges were trembling like shaped flames. From time to time, there were popping sounds coming from somewhere unknown, as if the small fire was still spreading wherever it could be seen.
Tiny sparks, dust and ash were floating in the air, mixed with a pungent smell.
Shirley frowned slightly.
The fire under the street had not yet been extinguished, leaving only traces of the fire before it was burned. There were ashes in the ground and suspicious piles of molten metal in the corners of the street, proving the real existence of the small fire.
But I don't see anything that might not be related to the solar fragments.
But on second thought, that seemed very unusual - after all, it was just Zhang Chen's dream, a stage woven together by your memory, cognition and imagination, and it really brought everything back to eleven years later.
With that in mind, I followed Ah Gou and walked quickly along the street that had been burned by the small fire. Suddenly, I stopped.
Agou turned around in surprise: "Mr. Shirley?"
Shirley frowned and waved her hand, listening attentively to the movements around her.
Just now, I seemed to hear a powerful voice whispering something in my ear.
I struggled to figure it out for a long time, and suddenly walked towards a pile of ashes on the side of the road.
This is a pile of twisted white ashes, with some charred white fragments in the middle that seem to be unburned. There is not even a spark burning next to the ashes. If you look carelessly, you can vaguely see that the ashes vaguely represent a curled up... "person".
Shirley stared at the ashes for a long time, then quickly bent over and listened attentively—
".....You...want to die..."
The ball of ash murmured heavily.
Shirley opened her eyes slightly.
Agou, who was following me closely, also heard the whisper, and the boy's reaction was more straightforward:
"What the f*ck is that?!"
Shirley turned her head slightly, and Agou quickly adjusted his words: "Uh, you mean that's terrible..."
"... You still hate his straightforwardness just now," Shirley's mouth twitched. In fact, I was also startled by the murmur of the ash, but was completely covered by Zhang Chen's shout. Then, my eyes fell on the even smaller pile of ash on the street.
The heavy, continuous and overlapping whispers, accompanied by the ashes and sparks floating under the street, drifted into the ears of Agou and me.
“Do you want to die…” “Help…” “…Go home…” “Someone please help…”
A creepy feeling spread in his heart, and Agou subconsciously leaned closer to Duncan, feeling his muscles tense up.
You dare to fight the cultists with a demon hound, but you have no resistance to that kind of pure weirdness and evil.
What's more, that is your own nightmare - the most difficult thing for people to fight is always the terror in their own hearts.
But at that moment, you suddenly became confused:
Is that really my nightmare
Is it really not a dream? Why do those "cries for help" that you should have encountered and imagined appear at the "edge of the dream" that is not far away from your memory and cognition
Agou subconsciously looked at Shirley, but saw that the former was also turning her gaze towards him, her deep eyes full of scrutiny and thought.
"It could have been just a dream."
Shirley said in a deep voice.