"OK... OK, everything has a logical explanation. The man in black told me to look inside... but inside what? These rocks? How does he expect me to do that?"
But how could I know if he was real? I had fallen asleep in the right tunnel, then I was surrounded by rocks, and that long fall... everything suggests I was dreaming.
A long silence followed. Many questions came to mind: How did I wake up back at the starting point? Why was I so tired and in such a bad state after just five minutes of walking?
All these questions were giving me a headache. After several minutes of thinking, I decided to take the tunnel straight ahead, sincerely hoping I could get out of the first floor.
The tunnel ahead looked exactly like the one on the right… The only problem was that on the rocks, there were drawings of the man in black. But the strangest thing was that their eyes seemed to follow and stare at me.
After an hour of walking, the same thing as yesterday happened—I was exhausted again. Out of breath, my legs and feet ached. As someone athletic, I was used to five-hour hikes.
I dreaded this moment, but I had to check my watch. I lifted my arm, and the timer showed ten minutes.
"AAAAH AAAAH AAAAH!" I laughed. The exact same thing as yesterday. So I'm supposed to fall asleep now? Is that why you're looking at me? You want to see me despair? I shouted.
I stood up—it was awful. The moment I got up, my legs trembled, and a wave of overwhelming fatigue crashed over me. But I stayed standing.
With every step I took, it felt like the bones in my legs were shattering.
My vision flickered. I was unbearably sleepy, but I couldn't afford to sleep.
A minute later, it got worse—my whole body was trembling. I was hungry, and my throat was dry, even though I had eaten and drunk before leaving.
Trying to keep walking, I tripped over something. As I tried to catch myself, I grabbed the rocks.
To my surprise, they were warm. But what confused me the most was—if the rocks were warm, then why was I so cold?
A freezing wind came out of nowhere, touching me the moment I thought about how cold I was.
The wind was strong—too strong. But the most alarming part was that it kept getting colder.
It was so cold that my head started hurting terribly. I couldn't even move my fingers anymore. My whole body was trembling from the cold.
I knew it was only a matter of minutes before I died of hypothermia.
In a final act of desperate hope, I dropped my bag and started running while screaming:
"I'm going to make it! If luck is against me, then I'll force it to be on my side! I will succeed!"
But after only a few seconds, I collapsed. My body couldn't keep going. I knew this was the end.
Just as my eyes were closing, I saw someone walking toward me. It was a black boy with dreadlocks. He was tall, and his head was covered in blood. His smile and the way he looked at me sent shivers down my spine.
Just before my eyes shut completely, I clearly saw his face—it was me.
He laughed, pointed at me, and started running toward me. My eyes closed, and I lost consciousness.
…
My eyes opened. I sat up and looked left and right—and then I screamed.
I was back at the starting point.