THE DREAM... OR THE REALITY...

There was a room at the end of the bookshelves in the library, where I was working on my part-time job. A room full of mysteries, and a board in front of the door ;

'DO NOT ENTER!'

Even the Library Head set the rules that no one could enter that room. A warning for me, but it led my curiosity run wild. So, my impulse made me open the door. Dark as it was, I couldn't see anything from outside. And, so I entered. I entered inside the mysterious room. My instinct warned for one last time, 

'No! Don't do that!' 

'It can be dangerous!' 

But my curiosity had already led me inside, and immediately I realized that I made a huge mistake. A mistake that can't be unturned or unchanged. I was about to get out of the room, but suddenly, the door got locked. The only light that was coming from the opened door also vanished. And then I started to panic. 

'What!!? What just happened?'

'I did not see anybody out there...

How can the door be closed by itself?' 

And then little by little fear came inside me to reside. 

'What am I gonna do now?' 

I promptly ran towards the door, or was I? 

It was so dark, and I couldn't see a single thing. But due to the situation I was in, my reflex sense increased rapidly. I tried searching for the door with my hand moving all over the place.

'Oh, yes!', somehow I got a hold of the doorknob after many tries and struggles. I tried to open it. But it didn't open. I thought maybe it got stuck somehow. So I tried to push it very hard. Then I thought that someone might be pulling some prank on me and locked me from outside. 

I shouted from inside;

"HELP! Is anybody outside?"

'Oh, no! What's happening? Why can't I hear my own voice?' 

I tried calling again:

"Hello! Is anyone there outside??" 

'What the heck is happening? If I can't even hear my own voice, then how people outside can hear?' 

I touched my vocal cords. I started shouting, just to be sure that nothing happened to my voice. 

"aaaaa....aaaaaa....aaaaaa.....haah!!haah!!haah!!"

I started panting heavily after so much shouting, and I sat down on the cold hard floor. Then I stopped shouting after making sure that I could feel my vocal cords moving. 

'Thank goodness! That means there is no problem with my voice... '

But that didn't mean that I was safe. Something might happen to me if would not stay alert. I got scared. I started shouting for help. But all of my shoutings remained unheard. Then my unheard shoutings turned into cries and my unheard cries changed in the form of sobbing. After some time I got exhausted and stopped. This took a while for me. I didn't know how much time I was in there till then. It might be one and a half hour to two hours already. 

'No! I can't do anything just from sobbing! I have to do something to get out of here.' 

I got all my of my thoughts back together and slapped both my sides of my face to wake all my senses. It was so dark to see anything, nonetheless to perceive. After some time, I regained some strength. I stood up and tried touching whatever I could. 

A long time had already passed by, but I couldn't find anything at my height level. And my mind blanked out too. But a small ray of hope was still there. Hope to get out of this darkness and this mysterious place. With a ray of hope in mind, I began searching my Pandora's Box of light. 

Sometimes I bumped into something hard, or tripped also, but when I tried touching it I couldn't find anything. Sometimes I fell down. I could feel the pain but could not see anything. But I kept trying. 

Like a blind man, only depending on my reflexes to understand something, I kept waving both my hands all around for a long time. I tried to move as much as possible by counting steps and some sense of direction in my mind. But I could not get to touch any wall. And so, I wondered, 'why?' Still, I continued my blind search with the little amount of hope. 

'Oh! Just now, I felt something hard. 

What is it? A box? A trunk? What is it?'

I moved my hands all over it to find its handle. 

'Oh! I found the handle.'

But suddenly my wary mind warned me about it. 

Then I thought, 'This is already so bad. If something worse is gonna happen, then I can't help it. Anyways let's hope for the good and be positive. ' 

With this thought and my fingers crossed, I tried to open the box. But it got stuck somewhere. With the darkness all around me I struggled to open it with all my strength. And then with all my hopes going down, at last, I opened the box. 

'WOW! what is this?' 

As I opened the box;

"wssshhh...... pppp..... bang!!!" 

"Huff!!... Hufff!! ... Hufff...!! "

I opened my eyes and found myself on a bed. 

"WAI-WAIT A MINUTE?!! 

Wha-what just happened??!!

Where am I?"

I looked around and found myself inside my room. Then I pinched my both cheeks really hard. 

"Ouch!! "

'So this is not a dream!? I am out of that dark mysterious room.' 

'Phew!!! Thank Goodness! I am really saved.' I thanked God really from the bottom of my heart. 

But something was wrong. Something was really wrong. It was like something was missing from my then reality. 

'But... How was I saved? 

And who saved me? I didn't see anyone coming to save me...!!

What the hell is going around?

I was just inside a dark room.

'Wait... Wait... Wait... '

"aaaa...aaaa..."

'I can even hear my voice now. ' 

I became so happy that I even started singing, not so loud though. It was like I, myself, heard my own voice after a very long time. 

'But something seems off... !! Something seems really off... !!! ' 

I got off my bed and looked in the mirror. And suddenly my eyes went to the way of the calendar. "kyaaaaaa...!!"

I was so shocked that I freaked out. It's 2012. I thought that it might be some mistake or someone might be pulling some prank on me. So, I searched for my smartphone, but couldn't find it anywhere. I went towards the direction of the calender and looked at it very intently. 

'What just happened? How is it even possible? ' 

I got so confused that I started pinching my hand unconsciously. 

Then I heard my Mother’s voice who was knocking the door very loudly. 

'thuk- thuk- thuk...!!! '

"What happened? Why did you shout? Open the door! "

I didn't know what to do. But my mother demanded me to open the door. So I went towards the door and then opened the door as cleared my voice. 

"Ahem... Hmm... Nothing happened, Mom. Um- I - I just had a nightmare." 

Well, it was really a nightmare for me. But I knew I could not say anything about that. 

"aww- My baby! Don't worry! Don't get scared!" 

Then she gave me a big hug. It somewhat relaxed me and eased up my anxiety. 

"If you want, you can sleep with me and your Dad."

But I kinda rejected that offer as I was totally confused to take any decisions then. 

"No Mom, it's okay. I'm okay now." 

"Are you sure, you are fine?" 

"Yeah... I'm fine... By the way Mom... This is... 2012, right? "

"What kind of question is that? Of course it 2012... Did you hit your head or something while you were sleeping now? " - she asked out of concern and started touching my head while looking every side of it. 

"No, Mom... I didn't hit my head anywhere... I was...just testing you...!! " - I said that while giving an awkward smile to her. Nothing came to my mind. And I made such a lame excuse. 

"You can go back to sleep. And sorry for waking you up. " 

"Why are you saying like that? Anyways, if you have any problems, call me or your Dad at once. OK? " 

"OK! Alright! So, now again good night! "

"Good night! " 

Then I closed the door. And then I lied on my bed and I got lost in my thoughts. 

'So, that means I got swept inside that box-like thing and I came back in time. I mean I was 23 years old just 5 minutes ago, and now I am back to my 14 years old self. Then was it because of that box. What was that box? Was it a time machine or what? ' 

'Hmmmm... That makes some sense. But it is also some kind of non-sensical logic. So what is it? ' 

That night I didn't get any sleep. 

'So what was that? Is this some kind of dream? Or was that some kind of dream? '

This mystery still remains unsolved till today.