I Couldn't Tell You Who It Was

Act 4

A certain webpage describes events as follows…

This is about my classmate, “A.”

A had a bright personality and horsed around with his friends a lot. He knew what was fun, so he was popular among his peers. One could call him the life of the party.

Our peers listened to A very well, so the teachers all asked A for help when they were trying to control the class. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that our class revolved around A.

Then one day, A, who was always bright and energetic, slumped over his desk and looked like he was in pain. I was worried about A, so I asked him if he was sick. A just said that it was nothing and that he was fine.

That wasn’t all. A’s grades weren’t stellar, but he was always diligent and actively participated in class, hence why the teachers liked A. But that day, A looked distracted all day, mumbled incoherently, and kept staring out the window or at the classroom ceiling. He didn’t even answer when the teacher called on him.

That went on for about one week. A’s complexion turned very bad, and I could see the bags under his eyes grow darker. He grew thinner like he wasn’t eating properly. I asked once again if A was worried about something.

Finally, A told me, “I’ve been having the same dream for the past week.”

I’d had nightmares consecutively before, so I could relate to A’s fears. I asked if he saw something frightening, and A shook his head. A said that his dream wasn’t scary.

Before A told me his dream, I thought he was acting tough because his face was that of a frightened person as he recounted the dream to me. Perhaps my thoughts were written all over my face, since A stopped and reassured me again, “It’s not scary.”

The following is A’s not quite scary but slightly bizarre dream, as he recounted.

A was in the dark. A soon realized that he was in a mansion with all the lights off. As his eyes grew used to the dark, he could see a long corridor lined with antiques and the extravagant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It was a grandiose house, much like one from an old fairy tale.

Perhaps it wasn’t all that dark, since it was a dream after all. I’d never experienced it, but I heard many dream of looking directly into the sun. My dreams all had faded colors and always took place at night or on a foggy afternoon. A said it was the same for him. A said he roamed the darkened hallway like he would in broad daylight.

A said that perhaps he was looking for the exit, which made sense to me since in most cases, one was rarely aware when they were in a dream. In any case, A continued to wander that mansion for a week. As he wandered, A said he found something unique about the mansion.

One, the mansion’s floor plan was simple.

There was an endless corridor, and doors lined both sides. He said it was a place with just that hallway and rooms. One day, he simply walked continuously, yet he had never seen the end of the hallway.

Two, the doors in the hallway were each of a different shape and color.

One door was like a metal-grill door one would see outdoors, leading to a garden. Each door was a different height, and it reminded A of Alice in Wonderland.

Three, some doors were open while some were closed.

They were all opened to varying degrees—some were wide open to allow anyone to see inside. Yet not all the open doors meant that he could see inside.

The cautious A tried his best to peer into some of the open doors, but he couldn’t see what was inside without going in. I wasn’t sure if it was because A’s imagination was lacking or if it was filled with a black fog as A told me.

Four, A tried to find an exit in that house, but none of the doors looked like the exit.

A said he walked around the house until he happened to wake up. No, to say “walking around” wasn’t the most accurate, since he didn’t go inside any of the rooms. He simply walked straight down the hallway, endlessly…

“That’s why I’m exhausted.”

According to A, he walked down the hallway for a week, so he looked extremely exhausted. A added that he didn’t feel well-rested even when he woke up.

Then A smirked, “But I think I found a way to end it all.”

“What is it?”

The face A made then is burned into my memory.

“I saw a room with no door. That was the only special one, so I’m sure that it’s the exit.”

After he said that, A slumped over his desk and fell asleep. I was pretty surprised, so I tried to wake A up. But right then, the bell rang, so I couldn’t shake him awake. I left A to sleep and returned to my seat.

The teacher saw A asleep in class and frowned, understandably. The teacher told A’s desk buddy to wake him up. The person next to A shook them. However, A didn’t budge.