The Waking Dream

Daniel sat at the breakfast table, staring at his cereal like it had personally wronged him.

He hadn't slept since waking from the unfinished world. Not really. Every time he closed his eyes, he felt like he was somewhere else. A place where the buildings never stopped shifting, where people weren't finished yet.

His wrist burned. The mark hadn't faded.

His mom walked past, setting her coffee mug down. "Daniel, honey, can you grab the orange juice?"

Daniel nodded absently, stood, and opened the fridge.

Inside—

He froze.

There was no orange juice. There was no food at all.

The fridge was empty.

No milk, no eggs, no leftovers from last night. Just a blank, sterile white interior.

Daniel blinked.

And suddenly—

Everything was back.

Cartons, bottles, the full shelves of food. Like it had never been empty at all.

His hands clenched around the fridge handle.

His mom frowned. "Daniel?"

He swallowed hard, forcing a casual tone. "Yeah, got it."

He grabbed the orange juice and shut the fridge door, heart hammering.

That wasn't normal.

That wasn't just a dream.

Something was wrong.

Daniel needed answers.

At lunch, he found Marcus first.

Marcus was mid-bite into a suspicious-looking chicken sandwich. When he saw Daniel's expression, he paused, slowly lowering the sandwich.

"Okay," Marcus said. "That's the face of a man who's either seen a ghost or failed a math test. And judging by the sheer existential dread happening in your eyeballs, I'm guessing ghost."

Daniel sat down hard. "I think I'm awake in the dream."

Marcus blinked. "That sounds… deeply concerning. Wanna back up?"

Daniel rubbed his temples. "Things are wrong. My fridge, empty one second, normal the next. Lights flickering weirdly at school. And the worst part—" He pulled his sleeve back, showing the mark on his wrist.

Marcus whistled low. "Dude, that's not a dream tattoo. That's like, 'Congratulations, you're cursed, enjoy your slow descent into madness' type of thing."

Daniel sighed. "I know."

Marcus picked up a fry and pointed it at him. "Okay, serious question. Do you think you're asleep right now?"

Daniel hesitated.

That was the terrifying part. He wasn't sure.

Before he could answer, Kaia dropped into the seat next to him, looking just as shaken.

She slammed a notebook onto the table.

"We have a problem."

Marcus looked between them. "Cool, yeah, just hijack my lunch with your ominous energy. No big deal."

Kaia ignored him and flipped open the notebook. Inside was a drawing.

Of the machine from the unfinished world.

Daniel's stomach twisted.

Kaia tapped the page. "I drew this the second I woke up. I don't know how, but I remembered every detail."

Marcus leaned in. "Okay, now I feel left out. What machine?"

Daniel and Kaia exchanged a glance.

Daniel took a deep breath. "Reality is being built, Marcus. Or… edited. And we saw part of it."

Marcus was silent for three full seconds.

Then he popped a fry into his mouth.

"Well, great. Fantastic. Love that for you guys. Reality is a construction site. No notes."

Kaia shot him a look. "This isn't funny."

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you want me to process this with crippling fear instead? Because I can do that too." He leaned forward.

"I mean, do you hear yourselves? You sound like a bunch of government conspiracy theorists who just found one weird internet post and decided, yup, everything is fake. It's been fun playing along but this is getting ridiculous."

Kaia's eyes darkened. "Then explain this."

She turned to the next page of her notebook.

It was Daniel's symbol. The same one burned into their wrists.

Marcus stopped chewing. "Okay, yeah. That's… that's not great."

Daniel exhaled. "We're not crazy, Marcus. Something's happening to us. And I think it's getting worse."

And just as he said that—

The cafeteria flickered.

It lasted less than a second.

One moment, they were sitting at the lunch table, surrounded by other students, the normal chaotic noise of the cafeteria.

And then—

Silence.

For the briefest moment, everything froze.

The people at the other tables stopped moving. Stopped breathing.

Even the air felt wrong.

Then—a flicker.

The cafeteria shifted.

For a split second, Daniel wasn't in the school anymore.

He was somewhere else.

A war-torn street, smoke rising in the distance.

Then—flicker.

A burning city, the sky black with ash.

Then—flicker.

A dark hallway, lined with mirrors.

Daniel gasped.

Reality snapped back.

The cafeteria noise returned all at once, voices, laughter, the distant sound of a soda can opening. Everything resumed like nothing had happened.

Kaia's face was pale.

Marcus, still mid-chew, blinked slowly.

"Okay. So. Quick question." He swallowed. "What the actual hell just happened?"

Daniel couldn't speak.

Because deep down, he knew.

They weren't in the dream anymore.

The dream was in them.

*****

Daniel couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

After school, as he walked home, he kept glancing over his shoulder.

And then he saw him.

A man stood across the street, perfectly still.

Not moving.

Not blinking.

Just watching.

Daniel's blood ran cold.

The man wore a black coat.

The same coat as the one from the unfinished world.

Daniel's pulse pounded.

That wasn't possible.

It wasn't real.

And yet, the man just stood there, like he had always been there.

Watching.

Daniel blinked.

The man was gone.

That night, Daniel sat in his room, staring at the mark on his wrist.

He had tried rubbing it, scratching at it, nothing made it fade.

His phone buzzed.

Kaia: I saw someone.

He texted back.

Daniel: A man in a black coat?

Kaia's response was immediate.

Kaia: Yes.

Daniel felt a chill.

They weren't alone in this anymore.

And whoever was watching them—

They weren't supposed to be in the waking world