Eternal Forest

- Still, I ripped their mouths open, what were they hoping for?

The sky outside the window maintained its appearance, a clear blue sky, without any impurities or darkness.

- And here everything was unchanged. It seems that I will have to get used to this state of affairs, and if I suddenly come back to my reality, I will only rejoice, because I assumed the worst, that's how we live. And therefore, you have to think in such a way that even in such a situation to wrap the environment in your favor.

I shifted my attention suspiciously to the clock with its invariable "23:61," and then to the sheet with the painted circles.

- Oh, I'd forgotten to erase them.

I got out of bed, sat down at the table, took a pencil in my hand more for thinking than for drawing, and examined the dream points, which were tied more to memory than to anyone else.

- Yes, not everything went according to plan, but nevertheless, I got rid of the dogs, and now I can sleep peacefully onward. The only thing that bothers me is that there was pain in my sleep, and it was quite natural, albeit muted. That's disturbing.

I looked at my hands.

- It was hard, of course, and there was no blood at all, even though the dream was natural... Well, natural enough, realistic enough. What if it wasn't a dream at all, but a teleportation to some real place? Would defeating the dogs have any effect on what happens next? Hmm... You can expect anything. Time in the dream didn't clarify much, mostly just brought unpleasant feelings. It is too clear, and in it I realize that I am dreaming, and immediately - full awareness...

My hand automatically began to twist the pencil - adjusting to the rhythm of my thoughts, then began to toss it, trying to catch it masterfully. The pencil was falling. I picked it up off the floor to continue trying unusual movements, finally getting away from my initial thoughts.

- It gives me a chance to relax. It's a good thing I wasn't in an empty room, or I would have obviously started to go a little crazy. It's a great distraction from the difficulties, maybe I'll leave something else. I'd better not yet, though.

I began to look at the figures on the clock.

- A three whale clock that stops time... Though it's hard to judge time being in this room. Who made this clock in the first place? Why didn't he care about it, since it was lying next to a trash can? Do I have a Chronos living next door? Locked in some room? How am I doing now? Have we swapped places with him? That Greek mythology... I remember someone talking about the three whales, but I don't remember where it came from... I wish I knew better history at times like this. It looks symbolic, but the symbolism is unclear where it came from. Yep, something about the foundation of the world.

23:61:00 20.06.2020

- Had conditions been the same, I would have just gone online and found information about it... Though I doubt I would have looked for anything at all if I hadn't gotten into something like this. I might have dug up some information just to celebrate the find, but even then I would have considered it unnecessary. In this setting, I would learn nothing.

The sky outside the window maintained its unchanged appearance.

- "In a very serious room there is a very serious table. After a trillion, trillion seconds it will be possible to get out of it." So much for console "cheat" commands. It's just like that game... Except the room isn't as empty, and you don't hear voices lecturing about morality. Maybe that's where they give out the clock, too. Well, how does he time those trillion-trillion seconds? There could have been a clock for that, too. I really don't have them working at all, so three minutes is an eternity to me. Legally, it wouldn't pass.

I turned the watch around in my hands, groping its shape.

- Not a single seam or hint of carving... It looked like I was encountering something truly mystical...

My gaze fell on a piece of paper.

- I need to carefully erase what is drawn. Still, blank paper is better. Where is the eraser? Oh, here...

I slid the sheet of paper with the past dog plan to me and erased it.

- Great! Now I can continue to use the paper. Maybe I'll keep it somehow. It's not so much fun to beat myself up anymore. But maybe something will come to mind... I can still throw objects on top.

I began to juggle two pencils. But soon I got tired of it, and I put them in a drawer.

- Man, the room isn't so much fun anymore. I feel like I'm in solitary confinement, only I have objects at hand. I'm already in withdrawal from not being able to go online... As depressing as it is, I have to get over it. What else is there to occupy myself with?

An umbrella bag caught my eye.

- Great, an umbrella! I can try to balance with it!

After this phrase, a tired exhale came out of me.

- Eh... That's probably why acrobats in the circus were once popular. Desperately trying to calm myself down? That's all I do while I'm here. And how long is this going to last? Maybe it's just temporary. And in just a few seconds I'll wake up from a scary and insanely long dream?

I glanced at my cell phone, and then at my desk.

- Feeling bored is not the kind of need this room is capable of filling... Especially given the non-working state of the phone, and the games there all require the Internet, few run without it.

I walked to the corner of the room and picked up my umbrella.

- Trying to become an acrobat and an artist so I don't go crazy. Maybe all the security guards feel the same way? Even the old guards pull the TV with them and try to stay awake, well, or sleep in secret. There's so much on the phones, especially in my spare time.

I put the umbrella on the chair and sat on the bed.

- And what about the TV shows... I've watched so many anime, and they've all been home for a while. Maybe I should draw "manga"? Entertain myself with it. True, the sheets would run out faster, and while "getting a hand", ha ha ha... This is real. While I'm learning, I'll have to get my hands full, too, so that it rubs off into a new sheet.

My eyes are staring at the ceiling.

- And why does it feel painful and boring in this room? What is it for? Maybe it's to encourage something? Or is it just something that leaves one to be human? I hope I don't go crazy and have permanent amnesia... What if that amnesia happens when I don't notice it? It's like people in black, just oops! And no memory!

I got out of bed and sat down at the table.

- Perfect place for solitude, except that I should think about what to do here in the first place. I can't determine the longevity of the problem, how long I'll be here. Sure, I didn't have too much fun in the army either, but it's much more deplorable here.

I picked up the pencil again to twist it in the fingers of my hand. Then started just drawing circles and ovals and swords. Drew facial features on these circles and ovals. I tried to draw hands and just different figures. After filling out the entire sheet, I slapped myself on the hand and everything erased, beautifully, translating all the graphite into pencil.

Again and again, I filled the sheet with drawings, trying to pick up my skill at it. Occasionally there were breaks, but only by waving an umbrella and juggling objects. After alternating, the sheet was filled about 6 times and erased without saving. The sheet with the circles about the past dream with the dogs was erased with the eraser over and over again, with only the sheet with the forest out of the remainder.

I looked at the clock, making sure it was unchanged, then lay back on the bed waiting for sleep. Because of fatigue and a sense of satisfaction, going to sleep was instantaneous, and before my eyes were already autumn trees, fallen leaves, and 3 dead dogs, without a single drop of blood.

- Apparently, these dogs really are bloodless.

As I approached them, I saw that their skulls were crushed, and their torn off mouths lay nearby.

- Three mongrels with long mouths, how many of them there were in the villages. My fear must have been exactly what provoked them to attack. Could they have been peaceful? Probably not.

As I turned back, I saw a pile of leaves by the tree that were crumpled, as if someone had been sitting on them. I had my doubts about the existence of that pile as it was, after which it became whole.

- What? Was I just imagining it? Or had that pile changed?

As I remembered the room and turned back, I saw a house suddenly appear, and other houses nearby, as if they and the park had moved from the center of town.

- My house! So this is a dream. Yes, apparently it is, a very unstable place, and since it is a dream...

The dogs were lying on the ground, and a sense of dread that they would come to life took hold of me. The dogs' eyes became animated, and they began to rise without jaws, like zombies, except for the one that had no head. They began to try to pounce on me, but without their jaws they could not bite.

- Go away, you two!

After these words, I ran toward the trees in search of a stick. Either from a false memory or in reality, the stick was behind a pile of leaves on the opposite side of the tree. I picked it up and began beating the unwilling dogs to death. They really weren't dying and couldn't bite because of their lack of mouths.

- Die at last!

I remembered the third dog, began to hold one of the remaining ones by the neck with a stick, whereupon my foot pressed on its skull until it crushed it, and the last shiver went through the dog. The other froze, then tried to run.

But I was faster and grabbed the fleeing dog with my hands. It began to wriggle and break free. With my right hand I held its body and my left hand held its head. Putting one foot on the dog's head, I crushed its skull. She let out her last whimper and the body stopped moving.

- Apparently this is a sure way to kill them, that dog never got up, someone would have found this massacre cruel. But what could I do? Besides, it's like survival, either I'm them or they're me. Even though I could not die, it was better to spare myself unnecessary pain.

Stepping away from the dogs, I turned my gaze to the park.

- The autumn trees look beautiful. If I were an artist, I would definitely be inspired, though everything is so familiar... It seems to have always been in my mind, but I haven't enjoyed it, and it's hard now, seeing those bodies. I need to hide them at least.

I wanted to look at the dogs, but they were gone.

- Where are they? They were just here! Oh, man... If this were just a dream, I wouldn't even have noticed. Apparently I have my awareness. And my fears... Better not to think about them in this place. We have to do something if this is a dream...

I tried to imagine flying and taking off, but my attempts were unsuccessful.

- That's right, I didn't always fly in my dreams, either. Does that take practice? I thought awareness would make me do it here. Is there a reason for that? Or is this not a dream at all? It's strange, I've seen this place somewhere, I must be dreaming about it...

A moment later the swamp appeared, instead of a golden sunset the sky was shrouded in dark clouds, and a feeling of chill filled my nose. There were bushes all around me. Losing my balance, I fell on them, scratching myself a little.

Dark blue mists enveloped the swamp and floated through it as if dancing.

- This isn't serious, what kind of bacchanalia is going on here?

My words seemed to make the place shift. Feeling the hard asphalt with my hand, and then the curb, I saw an empty city that was dead and gray, without a single soul.

- What the...

A room appeared before my eyes, then, it changed to a swamp, then a room again, and then there was a rapid flashing of different spaces: then a city, then an ancient castle, a prison, a cemetery, finally a room appeared and in it were 3 gray figures.

- What is going on here, who are you?

After the question these 3 figures slowly turned around and the room grew darker, then abruptly their faces appeared with empty eye sockets... I woke up.

- Fuck! What the hell was that!

My head started spinning fast and looking around the room.

- They were gone, what was that all about? Everything just started to flicker...and these figures...who the hell were they? Why were they here?! In this very room?!

I got out of bed and sat down at the table, and I took a pencil in my hand and started twirling it.

- Who were these three people anyway? They are as foggy as that fog from the swamp. Why had this movement started all over the place in the first place? And the surfaces were clearly felt... The sidewalk, the room... What happened at all? I could, of course, say it's a dream, but judging by my experience with dogs, I would come back to these three foggy personalities, and there was nothing but holes in their eyes, like... I don't know... It was something creepy and fuzzy, unlike what I had seen before.

23:61:00 20.06.2020

- Maybe if I go back I can do something? Or just go somewhere else, like before? I don't know, but I'll obviously go back to them, it's not like I can just leave so easily on my own... Though there's a quick shift of spaces, but it stopped here. Could they be to blame for that displacement? It doesn't look like it, after all, they only turned around at the question, as if it were an uninvited arrival... So who are they?

My pencil stopped and began to draw their misty figures.

- Their eye sockets were as empty as the abyss... What were they anyway? Why were there three of them? There were three dogs, too...

I kept drawing those figures.

- Were they looking outside? Could they have seen the way those dogs re-attacked? Very likely... When this house came up, the dogs came back from the dead, but without the jaw, maybe these shadows had been watching the whole time and started throwing back and forth? These would be far more dangerous than the dogs, if all those transitions were on them and not on me...Then we need to get away from them somehow...But something is keeping me awake...Their eyes? Or their foggy appearance... Why are they like that?

After examining the drawing, I made a decision to leave it.

- I need to prepare myself, nothing is clear yet. I have to decide something, but what? Head smashing works on dogs, but these are people... Or not people? How do I deal with them? I'd better think it over, I can't go after them without a plan. Can I run away? I think I should run away right away and get away from them, that would be the first plan. If it doesn't work, I'll wake up and make a new one.

The pencil was left on the table beside the drawing, and I lay back on the bed, with its characteristic creaking sound.

- It's good that the creaking sounds are there, it's even pleasant somehow, but okay, let's get started.

Closing my eyes, I tried to fall asleep. Nothing happened for a while, then the eye sockets stared out of the overcast light of the room exactly when I woke up, and then immediately disappeared.

- What? That was it? They're gone? Who called them here in the first place? Apparently, they're not a threat... it's for the best. I could walk around the room, hopefully it wasn't locked like the one I was sitting in.

The door was open, but there was only a brick wall behind it.

- You can't be serious! I'm locked in my sleep now, too! I don't want to be here!

After my scream, the room disappeared and a beach with a view of the endless sea appeared. But the clouds had not disappeared, everything was gray and the sand was pale.

- Uncontrolled teleport, or something ... But the weather remained the same, even strangely, the sound of the sea is pleasant to me, I definitely heard it, not a bad place, except for the weather. I hope they are not around....

Started looking around the beach. There was nothing but sand and pine trees behind. As I approached the pine trees, I noticed the fallen needles.

- How many memories... I remember how uncomfortable I was walking barefoot on them, my childhood... How long ago it was... I was lucky to have parents. Maybe beyond the forest, I'll see the city. I must go.

As I walked deeper into the forest, I saw white buildings not too far away.

- And there's the city.

The pine forest never ended. I ran, but the white buildings didn't come any closer. It felt like I could run forever, but they would never come any closer.

- Why couldn't I reach them? How far was I from the beach?

When I turned back, there was no beach, only pine trees somewhere deep in the forest. When I turned toward the town, it was gone, too.

- What? Now the town? Great, it seems to be something incomprehensible again, and how do I get out of the woods now? Eh... Why am I going anywhere at all? Should I just wish I were somewhere else? I could try.

It took me a while, but it didn't work.

- How do I move around at all, and what are these traps? How do they work? I had no choice, so I had to keep moving. It doesn't matter which way, I'll go straight ahead, no matter where it leads.

About ten minutes passed, but the situation did not change. Eternal pines were everywhere.

- I had been walking for a long time and absolutely nothing was happening. Maybe I should wake up and think about it. No, I'd better keep walking, nothing is happening in the room either...

More time has passed, but nothing has changed. A perpetual walk in a huge pine forest. The weather remained overcast.

- Should I try to fly or something? After all, it's a dream... I can do anything I want. But it didn't work that time... Didn't I try hard enough?

I stopped and started jumping on the spot.

- How does that work? I'm pretty sure the teleport to the beach was out of my will! Gee... Okay, I just have to keep going. Forever wandering, or forever sitting, which is worse? Obviously the second one.

My wandering continued until I saw an open space ahead.

- There seemed to be something there!

Having accelerated my step and changed to a run, I saw a small clearing in the middle of a circle of pine trees. There was a hut on it, and a small pond nearby.

- Great, now we need to see what's in it! I think I was brought here for a reason.

I went out into the clearing and began to walk on the clean green grass, as if there had never been a wind to bring the needles of pine trees.

By the threshold there was a concrete slab instead of a mat, a sort of water basin on the left with a built-in faucet, and on the right was a metal wicket that covered part of the lot where there was a mini vegetable garden. Farther out were bushes that appeared to be branches without leaves.

- Fall or something... I guess it's weather everywhere, but the place where the dogs were was much prettier.

The lock was hanging nearby, but it didn't close the door.

- It was open, so I could go in.

When I opened the door, I saw a table covered with oilcloth, two old chairs, stools, shelves with dishes, and a brown monolithic floor.

- Well, it seems quiet in here. We'll have to see what's in the other rooms. Hopefully there won't be a brick wall behind the door like there was in that room with the three figures.

I opened the next door. Behind it was a dark, unlit hallway, then, a bright light came into my eyes.

- What the!

I fell to the floor. Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, followed by a piercing scream... It was a man with the head of a goat....

There was an awakening.