Chapter Text
Diary Entry: Strange Dream – 10/19
Had the weirdest dream last night — and when I say weird, I mean weird weird.
So, I was just doing normal stuff. Playing Minecraft on my laptop, closed it, took a shower, went to bed. Totally routine. Then I guess I “woke up” in the dream, not in real life , at like 3 a.m. I was lying there in bed, not moving, and at first everything seemed normal. My room looked the same… until I noticed something in the corner.
There was this guy. Tall, with long dark hair. maybe curly? I couldn’t see clearly in the dark. He was just standing there, watching me. Not doing anything, just watching. It wasn’t even that he looked threatening. it was his eyes. They were like a cat’s. You know, that green-gold shine that catches the light in a creepy way? Yeah, that. Absolutely terrifying. 0/10, do not recommend.
Then I actually woke up . late for work, of course. Still don’t know why they’ve got me starting at 8 a.m. now. Means I’ve gotta be up by 6 or 7. Tragic. :(
— Avery
The bus was freezing this morning. Snow had just started to flurry outside, tiny white dots against the gray sky. Avery sat hunched in one of the cold metal seats, eyes glued to his phone. Buses were never really his thing , either too quiet or too loud, but for a broke student, they were the only way to get around. The bus rolled to a slow stop, almost losing its traction on the road against the ice, which just so happened to send Averys phone flying into the stagnant air and onto the ground.
He’d be lucky if the old thing didnt snap or completely shatter right there. He stood up from the seat and quickly grabbed his phone. Just as he was standing up, the people at the stop had began to load onto the bus, including what looked like a Taller, Darker man. Avery barely saw him step by himself as he stood up but as he looked back—he was gone.
Avery quickly glanced around but. nothing. nobody like that man was anywhere. He was hastily reminder that he still had to get off this bus and actually make it to work on time.
Work was..odd for him today. Every few moments, Along with a cold blow of wind like someone had opened the doors on a cold windy day, He’d see the man from his dreams. It was like he was a distant memory. Déjà vu would be a better term. Like seeing an ex and having everything come back to you at once—a gust of cold air again.
Avery was working the counter today, Taking orders, sending them to the kitchen, all that ‘fun’ stuff. It all felt like a loop normally but not today, not because of that dream. Whenever someone wasnt ordering..meaning Avery was doing nothing. He’d have his diary out and be doodling the man. ‘Was his hair curly or was it more like..together? like dread locks maybe..?’. The image of him was being tossed around with this or that for a while. Different drawing coming to the same general idea of a darker man, tall, with long hair and dressed in a black hoodie and jeans. Everything about this guy was so..bland..almost too bland. like someone you see that you can sense or just..know.. that theres more to them. Whatever it was. or whoever it was. Avery did not like. He was snapped out of his thoughts and drawing when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Avery probably looked more startled than he usually did as he was on edge..but it was just his co-worker and peer…
“You good? You look like you just saw a ghost”
The guy chuckled and gave Avery a friendly pat on the back. He was out of his work uniform now, wearing just shorts and a T-shirt—an odd choice, considering it was literally snowing outside. Avery glanced at the digital order screen in front of him. 12:15. His shift was finally over.
“Yeah, I’ll go change, then we can head out.”
If the flurry from earlier wasn't bad enough, this was it. It had completely began to snow outside. The barely 5 minute walk from their workplace to the bus turned into 10 minutes of nearly getting knocked over by the sheer force of the wind, and this caused them to almost miss the bus completely. It was definitely quieter than during the morning rush at least.
It gave Avery a little space to think–more like little to none with his friend chatting his ear off next to him about god knows what. Avery had a little clearer picture of the man. Still tall, dark, definitely curly hair and those absolutely just..haunting yellow eyes. At first, they looked golden. In his memory at least. But they were definitely yellow. With all the times he kept seeing the man in the corner of his vision, the thing that always stood out was those bright yellow eyes.
They looked like they could burn a hole through a piece of paper or if you looked too long, you’d get turned into gold. So yellow eyes, the same black hoodie and jeans. An average guy. But why would he see such an average guy in his dreams? If it was a dream at all, Avery wasnt sure. It seemed to real to be a dream now. Especially since he remembered it all too well. It was too vivid. Too lifelike. Too real. Too heavy. Like the burden of a secret that nobody else knows but you. It was physically–taking a toll on Avery.
He could feel a knot turn and twist in his stomach from the thought. The thought of such an ordinary man making Avery feel sick and pale was astounding to him. Unfathomable even.
Averys thoughts were cut short yet again by his friend. Oh bless his poor friends heart for having to watch Avery almost gag at his own mind. He turned to look at his friend but as he did, he shivered, A gust of cold and dead air hit him. And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw him. but it was different this time. like every thought Avery just had about how the man made him feel had manifested itself into a different and distorted version of him.
Avery’s hand shot up to his mouth as he felt his stomach almost come up through his lungs and throat. He looked back at his friend but just as the grotesque man that was just there in place of him was there, he was gone and replaced with his friend again, who had a look mixed with worry and disgust on his face.
“Are you sure your good?”
Avery nodded slowly and let out a breath. what the hell was that. the man had just been there–clear as day and in a split second he was gone. His friend passed him whatever energy drink or lean combination he had to drink today. Atleast it would maybe un-knot his stomach, somehow, magically, with whatever copious amounts of caffeine was in it. Rather not get sick during his already grueling classes..
As the day went on, Avery began to believe that the dream—that dream—it became more life-like. Like it got more vivid as time passed. It just kept lingering in mind like a plague, like that distant image of that man was so close yet so far. It was close to him, like it was sitting behind him in his class and watching him.
Like those yellow eyes were right behind him, burning into him slowly but surely.
Avery sat typing away at his computer. His professor lecturing as background noise at this point. Truely, he should pay attention in the class, he was getting too close to the edge of failing, hanging on for dear life at this point. But he had more important things to attend to now. He needed to figure out who, or what, was watching him last night. It was too real. Too conscious to be considered a dream, he’d already ruled that out by now, but then what was it?
Maybe he was crazy? Avery was seeing this man everywhere now, even when he mistook his friend for the man, it was too real. It was like the man had replaced his friend and then went away in a flash. But that didn't feel like just a mistake. Like he turned his head a little too quick. It was real.
But nothing out of the ordinary, aside from the possibility of Averys mind slowly deteriorating now. Everything else was normal. He’d wake up, go to work or class, go home, and play games, nothing was different he thought–
Wait.
Wait. wait. Wait.
That laptop.
The laptop Avery was using right now.
The one that had a blank google doc open for his notes from class.
This very laptop was a new thing in his life.
Recently, he’d found it in one of the storage lockers at work and took it. I mean, the thing was locked in there seemingly on purpose and it powered on just fine so.
It worked well, for a laptop he had found in a locker at least. It had just enough room to run his apps and it even came with minecraft installed. That was just a nice added bonus he had guessed.
‘This world’, no seriously thats what the world was called. There was already a world made when he loaded up the game for the first time. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He had his part of the world and there was only one thing out of the ordinary.
400 blocks from his base was a mine.
In this mine was a chest, full of what Avery thought to be the original owners things, and a book.
The book was..errie..to say the least.
“Whatever you do, at the crossroads, dont turn left.
Dont be fooled. It’s listening
You can’t outsmart it
Its listening tom e
Its watching me
It isnt from this world
At the crossroads dont durn left
At the crossroads DONT turn left
At the crossroads dont turn left
ATt the crossroads dont durn left
At the crossroads dont turn left
At the crossroads dont turn left
At the crossroads dont turn left.”
And then a random string of numbers and dashes that, at a glance, was un-solvable.
That book had Avery creeped out for a little while–i mean as it would creep out anyone–finding a random book on a minecraft world that was already there. But he hadnt thought to much about it, Hell, he didnt even know which was left and right. But it had sub continuous made him a little more aware. Aware of himself turning in ways he thought were left, getting a little too eerie of a feeling from the littlest things.
Avery made his way along the cold and dark streets once again. It was practically a routine for him to come back to his apartment late at night now. Even later if he was working nights. He lazily put his key in his door and it unlocked with a click. Avery’s apartment wasnt much, to be fair, he didnt have much to his name. He was a college student, probably going into so much debt, with a job that can barely feed him half the time.
He wasnt exactly living in the lap of luxury.
Avery showered quickly before practically falling into his bed. He did not have the energy to do anything other than sleep right now. It was like the weight of all the crazy shit that had happened finally caught up with him–the knot in his stomach, seeing the man more than enough times to feel comfortable, and the rest of his usual issues.
But whatever all of that was, it could wait till morning now.