Chapter 340

People knew the cave by its name: The Slumber Pit. They didn't know much about it beyond that. Few had ventured into it, even fewer returned. The ones who did seemed different—more alive, in a way.

Their eyes gleamed, their smiles never left their faces, their laughter echoed where it shouldn't. For a time, the town called it a blessing, a place of wonder. But then, they started to notice things. People started to vanish. Not completely. Not at first. But over time, the changes were too obvious to ignore.

Sarah had heard the stories. She'd heard them long before she thought to go looking for it. The whispers about the cave. How it promised the kind of dreams no one could ever find awake. She had always been a skeptic. People had too many wild ideas, too many tall tales. But when life started pressing harder, when the weight of the world felt too heavy, she couldn't help but wonder.

The town had warned her. They all did, all the time. But that didn't stop her.

They told her it was a place that drew you in, sucked you dry without ever letting you see it. It drained the soul, piece by piece, while it gave you the kind of rest you could only dream of. They told her the cave would pull you into deep sleep.

They said the best dreams you could have were in there. But then, as the time went on, the dreams stopped being enough. The people who came out… they didn't leave whole. They looked younger, but tired, their faces pale as if they had spent years in the darkness of their minds.

But Sarah had never been afraid of something she couldn't see. She had spent years chasing after something she could never quite catch. And maybe, just maybe, this was the answer.

It was a dreary morning when she finally made her decision. A chill hung in the air, but it didn't bother her. She threw a bag over her shoulder, checked her flashlight, and set off toward the woods.

The wind blew, and the leaves swirled at her feet, like they knew something she didn't. It was a walk she had made a hundred times before, but today it felt different. The woods felt more oppressive. The trees loomed higher, their branches reaching toward the gray sky, a sky that seemed to know too much.

The cave was there, nestled between the rocks, hidden from the world except for the narrow opening she knew all too well. It was a yawning mouth, dark and unwelcoming. But Sarah wasn't about to turn away. She stepped forward.

The entrance was just wide enough to let her through. The light from her flashlight reflected off the wet walls, casting long, distorted shadows that made the cave seem alive. She held her breath and kept moving forward, feeling the temperature drop the deeper she went. The damp air clung to her skin, the smell of earth and stone thickening with each step.

And then, as she walked, she noticed something. The silence. It was absolute, not a single sound to disturb the stillness. No dripping water, no movement in the distance, nothing. It felt… wrong. The silence pressed on her chest like a weight, squeezing the air from her lungs. She tried to shake the feeling, but it stayed. The deeper she went, the harder it became to breathe. She couldn't explain it, but she felt watched. It wasn't paranoia. It was as though something in the cave was aware of her presence.

It took her longer than expected to find the spot. The place where people slept. There was a small clearing in the middle of the cave, a wide stone slab that seemed untouched by time. Sarah stepped toward it, her heart racing now, not from fear but from anticipation. She sat down.

Her hands trembled as she set the bag on the ground. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and waited. She waited for something, anything. A change, a pull, a sign.

The first dream came swiftly.

She was back at home, but it wasn't like she remembered. The house felt warmer, brighter, more alive. Her mother was there, younger, full of laughter and joy. It felt real. She could almost reach out and touch her, could almost smell the sweet scent of the apple pie baking in the oven. Sarah tried to speak, but her mother didn't hear her. She could only watch, helpless, as the dream unfolded.

It wasn't just the dream that felt real. It was the warmth, the comfort, the sensation of being home again, something Sarah hadn't felt in years. She could have stayed there forever.

But then, there was a shift. The world around her began to distort. It wasn't violent, just subtle. The edges of things blurred, and Sarah felt herself fading. The dream didn't last. But she didn't want to wake up. She wanted to stay in that world, to forget the one she had left behind. She closed her eyes, willing herself back into the dream.

That was when she felt it—the pull.

At first, it was small. A tug in the pit of her stomach, like she was floating. Then it grew. It wasn't physical, but it felt like the cave was taking something from her, like it was leeching the very essence of her being to keep the dream alive. But Sarah didn't care. The dream was too sweet. Too perfect.

She slept.

Time didn't exist in that space. It didn't matter how long she lay there, her body sinking deeper into the stone, the warmth of the dream holding her tight. Every time she woke, she would drift back into the same place, back to the same warmth, the same comfort.

She thought she could stay there forever, but each time the dream started, it felt like something inside of her was weaker. A part of her soul—something she couldn't name—was slipping away, leaving her empty.

It wasn't just the dreams that were changing her. She had noticed the others. The ones who came before her. They hadn't looked like the people who walked into the cave. They looked… younger. But wrong. Hollow-eyed, thin, gaunt. They didn't speak. They didn't move much. They sat in their own little corners of the cave, eyes unfocused, lost in their own dreams. Their bodies seemed less real, as if they were fading with every passing moment. Every second spent in that place, they were slipping further into the abyss.

One day, after she had returned from the dream, Sarah looked at her hands. They were pale, too pale. She hadn't noticed it before, but the skin felt thin, fragile, as though it could tear apart at any moment.

She ran her fingers over the stone floor, the rough surface scraping against her delicate skin. She felt the tug again. It wasn't just the dream this time. The cave was drawing from her, not just her dreams, but her life.

She tried to leave, to stand and walk away, but the pull was too strong. Her legs wouldn't move. She closed her eyes again, hoping for just one more moment of peace, just one more dream to comfort her.

But when she opened them again, everything had changed. The stone around her was darker, colder. The dreams had become a cage, a prison that had swallowed her whole. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Her body was empty now. She could feel it. The last remnants of her will had drained away, replaced by an insatiable hunger for the dream. The cave had taken everything it needed.

The last thing Sarah saw was her own reflection in the cold stone, her face no longer hers, but a hollow mask staring back. A faint smile tugged at her lips, as if she had found peace. And then, she slept.

But this time, she didn't wake.