16 Dreamland

"That's, of course, assuming it takes you a full 4 years to complete the engineering program. Now, please, Max, return to the desk. You need to sign those documents. Congratulations!"

The jury congratulated me while I read some of the documents.

The terms stated that if I were to finish the program ahead of schedule, I would receive the remaining Additional Financial Aid for living expenses in its entirety.

On the other hand, the expenses for the years of schooling I wouldn't attend wouldn't be covered, and in the unfortunate event that I dropped out or faced expulsion from the department, they could potentially require me to reimburse the funds through agreed-upon installments. 

Of course, I wasn't planning to drop out, but it did give me a bit of a fright.

"Max," Professor Milik began, "The Olympiad is scheduled to commence precisely 8 weeks from today on the 21st of September, and conclude on the 22nd of September, right at the beginning of the semester. However, I require your presence at MIT in just 6 weeks. This year's IMC is taking place in London, and we've chosen four of our students, including you, to represent us. I'd like all of you to gather here on the 4th of September, where we'll go over some problems together."

"Of course, you still have the option to withdraw if you don't feel like flying out to London"

I mulled it over for a bit, but 6 weeks sounded like a sweet amount of time for me to chill out in Chicago. I mean, I'll probably start getting bored if I stay in one place for too long.

"Sure thing, Professor. I'll be there. But, uh, is there anything particular I should be brushing up on for the Olympiad?"

"I'll send over everything that could give you an edge to your email later today, don't worry"

"Um... should I leave my email?"

"You already wrote it on the paperwork," he shot me a confused glance.

"Oh, yeah... right."

I don't know why, but sometimes it feels like the simplest stuff just slips my mind.

Once our conversation wrapped up, I stepped out of the office, noticing two other students queued up for their turn outside.

Hopping into another Uber, this time for the ride from Massachusetts to New York, I decided to give Oliv a call. I filled her in on the good news about getting the scholarship and gave her the heads up to start packing for our flight to Chicago, set for the very next day.

When I finally made it back to my apartment, it was nearly nightfall.

That Uber driver had pulled a stunt, leaving me stranded way further from my destination than we had initially agreed upon. I didn't hold back, giving him a single-star rating on the app.

It was only after that small act of justice that I began to feel a bit better.

It took me a solid couple of hours to cram all the essentials I'd need in Chicago into two bulky suitcases. The last item on my checklist was grabbing a driver's education program, which set me back a hefty $425 for just 8 hours behind the wheel.

Now I was depressed. Staring at my bank account balance almost got me crying. That was my last expense, I was completely broke. 

Granted, come September, I'd receive a monthly cash injection of $600 for food and other expenses, and I got my dormitory cost covered too, but I knew I had to buckle down and wrap up that Weather App I'd been working on to try and pull in some cash.

Just like any other day, I crawled into bed, half-expecting that same recurring dream to play out once more, with those four blue comets streaking across the sky, trailed by the cute green ones. But tonight, as I closed my eyes, everything changed.

I was completely aware. Fully conscious.

I found myself inside of my dream, but it was as if the dream had transcended the bounds of reality itself. All I ever saw was the dark sky, but this time I stood up and looked straight forward.

What I saw was an endless glassy plain that seemed to stretch out much further than what should be possible.

The plain was evidently divided into two halves, while I stood at the very center of the division between them.

The right half was painted in a shade of green, radiating with a mesmerizing azure glow, while the clouds were playing shadow games upon it.

But then, the left half had a tranquil shade of blue with a watery, liquid quality to it, like an endless ocean spread out as far as the eye could see.

I turned my head around to check out the other side, and that's when I damn near lost it. I stumbled and crashed down to the ground, my heart pounding like a jackhammer.

Nets, man! Enormous, monstrous nets that stretched from the ground all the way up to the freaking infinite sky, like some messed-up spider's web nightmare.

The sight of those tangled threads made my skin crawl, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something sinister lurked within this surreal dream world.

As I took a closer look, I didn't spot any creepy crawlies or movement within those gigantic nets, so my heart rate finally dialed down a notch. Though, I don't know if I even had a heart in this weird place.

Yet, on careful inspection, another division was at play here. The threads on my left had a yellowish hue to them, almost like the color of a fading sunset. Meanwhile, the ones to my right were pure white.

This world, was like it had been split into four distinct colors. On one side, there were those endless threads, like paths of infinite possibilities. The other half, though, was just flat-out barren, devoid of anything, like a void of empty darkness.

But there was one more unsettling detail that, in hindsight, I wish I'd never noticed. In certain spots amidst those dense nets, there were gaps, like eerie orifices devoid of threads, almost like sinister entrances or holes deliberately crafted for something or someone to enter.

Now normally I'm not the type of guy to recklessly dive headfirst into something that might be dangerous, but in the end, this was just a dream. Right? 

Right?!

I've had a few lucid dreams before, and they've taken me on wilder rides than this bizarre scenario. So I picked the closest such entrance on the right side of the pure white threads and slowly approached it.

When I looked inside, all I could see was a never-ending tunnel made of those same threads. It felt like there was no end in sight.

I made a couple of steps in slowly and then I picked up the pace moving further inside. At that moment I heard a soft rustling.

"Szzzzzz..."

I turned around and that's when I knew I fucked up.

The threads behind me were pulled and drawn together tightly. The way back was shut.

Realizing that the only way left was forward, I walked faster and faster, I started to run. I didn't seem to get exhausted in this dreamland, hell was it even a dream? After a good couple of minutes of running, I came to a stop.

I tried digging through the threads but to no avail, they were hard, not soft like spider threads.

And right then, I started to catch onto some spine-chilling background noises, a voice that I'd encountered in the past, now even more subdued, and it seemed like it was emanating from deeper within the tunnel.

"Noli... audi... Domi..."

I did my best to stay as hushed as a ghost, holding my breath and desperately trying to tune in to the unnerving sounds.

"Nolite... audire... Dominu..."

"Is this Latin?" I thought

"Here comes the Sun!!!, doo-daa-doo-daa, Here comes the Sun!!!"

"Shit! What the F was that!", I screamed in a panic as the alarm clock woke me up from my sleep.

Dragging myself out of bed, I noticed my entire body drenched in sweat, like I'd just taken a dip in the deep end of a pool.

"Why are you screaming, Max? Chill out..." - Lucas, who seemed to always wake up early turned in my direction and and delivered his words with the most laid-back, chill vibe ever. He was probably high as a kite that morning. 

"I just had the realest dream of my life."

"Uhhh... Interesting... What' it bout'?"

"Explaining it to you right now would be a whole saga," I replied before making a beeline for my laptop. I couldn't afford to let the details of that dream slip away before I had a chance to dissect them.

'Nolite audire Dominu' had that unmistakable ring of Latin. Swiftly, I yanked out my laptop and fired up Google Translate, and, as I'd suspected, it indeed turned out to be Latin. However, the meaning left me scratching my head.

"Do not listen to the Lord."