Thunderclap

They walked along the barrier, hands brushing against its cool, glassy surface.

Each step was carefully calculated—eyes scanning for even the smallest crack, a shimmer, a seam. Anything.

"There has to be an edge," Amanda said under her breath. "Nothing is endless. Not even illusions, and since there is a wall on this side, there has to be one at the other side."

"No edge so far," Wei replied evenly, his gaze fixed as he looked far ahead.

"We keep going," David said. "Even if it's a prison, there must be a door."

"How do you know that?" Luis snapped from ahead, his shoulders tense. "What if there's nothing? What if we're just rats in a maze with no exit?"

"We're not rats," Nisrine murmured. "We're human, so let's just try different things for now and I'm sure we'll find a clue."

Luis let out a bitter laugh. "Will we? Or are we just pretending not to panic while walking in f***ing circles?"

Despite the boxer's rising agitation, the group pushed forward. Each of them continued pressing and prodding at the invisible wall that shimmered faintly with each touch. The surface remained smooth, unchanged and impenetrable.

As they walked, the illusion of progress began to crumble.

No signposts. No variation. No proof that they hadn't just looped back to where they started.

Their path stretched endlessly beside the barrier. The white light surrounding them was not warm or inviting—it was sterile, detached. There was no sun, no shadow, no ceiling or floor. It gave the impression of movement without any destination.

Time slipped from their awareness. Their phones remained dead. David's pocket watch and Amanda's digital wristwatch still frozen at the exact same moment—despite their countries lying an ocean apart.

Even their bodies offered no clue—no hunger, no thirst, no aches of exertion. As if the place suspended the rules of biology along with time itself.

Luis finally stopped, panting with frustration. "This is pointless. We're going nowhere."

"We're trying," Camila argued, her voice cracking. "We have to try something!" however it was clear from her shaky voice that he too was starting to panic.

Wei remained silent, but even he had slowed his pace. His hand occasionally hovered over the barrier as if trying to feel more than see.

David exhaled sharply. "We can't stop. If we stop moving, we lose hope. So we must keep going, no matter how long it takes!"

"We've already lost it," Luis muttered, pacing a few steps ahead of the others like a predator stalking a cage too small for its fury.

The tension spread like fire in dry grass—restlessness laced with a rising sense of dread.

Adam trailed behind them all, his pace slow, head low. While the others searched for cracks in the wall, he searched for cracks in himself.

His thoughts spun in circles, as empty and pale as the space around him. Every time he tried to focus—Who am I? What came before this?—he was met with that same excruciating pain.

The headaches were brutal now.

A dull throb had been building behind his eyes since they started walking. Now, it pulsed like a drumbeat. His temples pounded and his vision swam.

He stopped walking for a moment, leaning forward, pressing his palms to his head, breathing through clenched teeth.

I need to remember. I need to—

"Hey."

A soft but cold voice cut through the fog surrounding his thoughts.

He turned slightly.

Amanda stood beside him, brows furrowed. "Are you alright? You don't seem very well."

"I'm fine," he lied quickly, trying to straighten. "Just a headache, and I believe the other's don't have it any better than I do honestly."

She raised an eyebrow. "You looked like you were going to pass out."

"I'm not. I just…" He hesitated, then shrugged. "This place. It's messing with my head. All of this—it's hard to process."

Amanda looked at him for a long moment, her medical instincts flaring, but she eventually nodded. "Let me know if it gets worse."

"I will," he murmured.

But he wouldn't. Because how could he explain the pain that came not from fatigue or stress, but from trying to exist?

They resumed walking.

The group's formation had become loose—everyone lost in their own spiral of thoughts and fears. Camila murmured to herself under her breath. Luis paced like a caged animal. Nisrine kept glancing behind her, as if expecting something to appear. David remained focused, but even his limp seemed heavier. Wei was the only one whose face remained unreadable, a picture of unsettling composure.

Then—

BANG!!

A sound tore through the void.

A deep, echoing thunderclap, sharp and monstrous, cracked across the space like a whip.

It wasn't like any thunder they had ever heard—there was no sky, no clouds, no storm. Just pure, concentrated sound, vibrating in their bones. Coming from all directions around them.

The sound had meant nothing to the others—just noise.

Only Adam did recognize it. It sounded exactly the same as the previous thunderclap that woke the others from their slumber when he first regained his consciousness.

"Aaaaah!" Camila screamed.

Amanda gasped almost at the same time before falling to the ground, or whatever they were stepping on.

"Aargh!" Luis dropped to the floor, hands clutching his skull. David followed, his face twisted in pain, gritting his teeth as he collapsed onto one knee.

Wei staggered, his eyes wide—but no scream left his lips. Only the quick, harsh rhythm of his breathing gave away the torment he was enduring. His fists clenched, nails digging into his palms.

Nisrine collapsed beside Adam, her knees buckling, her hands shaking violently as she cradled her head and whimpered incoherently.

Adam stood frozen.

He blinked. The others were writhing. Screaming. Crumbling.

And he felt ... nothing.

No pain. No pressure. No ringing in his ears.

Just the chill of realization crawling up his spine.

He dropped beside Nisrine, heart pounding.

"Nisrine!" he said, grabbing her shoulders. "Hey! Are you okay? What's happening? Can you hear me?"

She didn't respond. Her lips were moving, but no sound came out. Her eyes were glassy, lost in a private war against the pain.

His gaze darted across the space—Amanda was curled into a fetal position, her nails digging into her arms. Luis was on all fours, growling curses in Russian between groans. David lay on his side, chest heaving.

Only Wei still stood—barely.

And he…

He was untouched.

Why?

What was he?

His hands trembled as he held Nisrine gently, feeling the heat radiating off her skin. It was unbearable to watch, this helpless torment, when he stood like a ghost among the broken.

Why me? Why am I not like them?

The white void around them seemed to glow brighter—almost pulsing now.

Watching.

Waiting.