Stuck Between a Dream and Reality

She just called. My phone rang, and for a second, I thought I was imagining it. But no, it was real. She told me to meet her in the morning at my house terrace. My heart started racing.

Morning came, and I barely slept. The second my eyes opened, I ran upstairs to my terrace, and there she was. Standing there, staring at the sunrise like she had never seen it before. The soft sunlight made her hair glow, and for a moment, it felt unreal. She turned, walked straight toward me, and without saying a word—hugged me.

“I don’t like how things are going,” she whispered. “I just need you to stay, at least until everything feels okay again.”

I felt her grip tighten, and when I looked down at her, I saw her eyes watering. That moment—it killed me. I wanted to ask what was wrong, to fix whatever was hurting her. But instead, we just sat down, leaning against the old lotus-shaped water tank, watching the morning light spread across the town.

Her hair moved slightly with the breeze, and the golden sun reflected in her eyes. It felt peaceful but terrifying. Something about it made me afraid. “What happened?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. “Is everything okay?”

Then—

Flicker.

Everything around me shook for a second. Flicker, flicker, flicker. Like an old TV glitching. The colors dimmed, the sounds faded. And suddenly, I realized.

I wasn’t awake.

This wasn’t real.

I was stuck. Not asleep, not fully awake. Just trapped in between, in a place where I could feel everything but control nothing.

My mind started racing—why was I seeing this? Why now? Why was she saying these things? This never happened before. Not in real life, not even in my usual dreams. Where were these moments coming from?

I panicked, trying to break free, trying to wake up. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop thinking. I couldn’t stop feeling.

Then—

Darkness.

I woke up.

Alone. Sitting in my room, staring at the wall, trying to catch my breath. My phone was next to me. No notifications. No missed calls. No messages. Just silence.

I picked it up, opened our chat, scrolled through our old messages, and just stared at her picture. My chest felt heavy, and before I even realized it, tears started falling.

Reality is cruel. These nightmares won’t stop—they just keep coming back to make me cry, to remind me that I’m alone. Until today, I was managing, finding distractions to push her out of my mind, to forget what I felt for her. But with just one message, everything fell apart again. Why does she still have this hold on me? Why does it feel like I owe her something, like I should do anything—everything—for her? It’s suffocating, like I’m stuck in a loop where she’s always at the center, no matter how hard I try to escape.