I don't know what this dream means. Even now, every time I think about it, the hair on the back of my neck still stands on end.
Everything felt so real.
In the dream, I suddenly found myself in the White Expanse. There was no sky, no sun, no trees, no sound. As far as the eye could see, there was only an endless stretch of white, as if I were in an empty world.
I was standing alone.
At first, I tried calling out to someone, but my voice seemed to be swallowed by the silence. There was no answer.
Not knowing what else to do, I started walking, hoping to find a way out of that strange place.
I had no idea how long I had been walking when I finally saw someone in the distance.
As I drew closer, I realized it was Leya.
She looked just as confused as I was.
“I'm looking for a way out too,” she said.
In the end, we decided to walk together.
A little while later, we found Nia.
What frightened me even more was that Nia was asleep on the white floor, crying. Her tears kept streaming down her face even though her eyes were tightly shut.
We woke her up.
When she opened her eyes, Nia looked terrified. She said she didn't know how she had ended up there.
Now the three of us continued on our way.
Not long after that, we met Jeremi.
Looking puzzled, Jeremi asked,
“What are you doing here?”
We could only look at one another.
No one knew the answer.
Jeremi eventually joined us and walked along with us.
We kept moving through the White Expanse, which felt as if it would never end.
Then we met Daryl.
The moment I saw him, I stopped.
His body looked perfectly normal.
But…
Daryl had no face.
Where his face should have been, there was only a large question mark.
I wanted to ask what had happened to him, but my mouth felt numb. Strangely, Daryl himself seemed calm, as if there were nothing unusual about him.
He simply joined us and walked along with us.
The longer we walked, the more oppressive the atmosphere became.
Then, in the distance, we saw someone else.
As we approached, we realized it was our mother.
She looked confused too.
“Where's your father?” she asked softly.
I could only shake my head.
Mom eventually joined us and walked along with us.
Now the six of us walked on without knowing where we were headed, hoping that someday we would find a way out.
I had no idea how long we had been walking.
It felt as if time had stopped.
Suddenly, we saw a man standing alone in the distance.
As we drew closer, my heart began pounding faster.
It was our father.
But…
something about him left all of us frozen in place.
Dad had no face.
Where his face should have been, there was only a large question mark.
Before we could reach him, a pair of enormous white wings suddenly grew from Dad's back.
The wings slowly spread open.
Not a sound could be heard.
Dad didn't say a word.
He simply turned around and walked away from us.
All we could do was stare, unable to chase after him.
After a while, we continued on our way.
Then, finally…
in the distance, we saw what we had been searching for all this time.
A way out.
Its light was blindingly bright.
But standing at the very end of the path, Dad was already waiting for us.
Behind him stood a quiet, two-story house.
The house stood alone in the middle of the endless white expanse.
The closer we got, the worse I felt.
The house felt so unfamiliar…
but at the same time, for some reason, it also felt incredibly familiar.
When we finally stood directly in front of Dad, he slowly opened both arms.
Even though he had no face, I felt as if he were looking at us.
Then, in a very calm voice, he said,
“Welcome Home.”
I woke up immediately.
Breathing felt difficult.
My heart was beating incredibly fast.
For several seconds, I just sat there on my bed, trying to convince myself that it had all been nothing more than a dream.
But even now, one question continues to haunt me.
Why didn't Dad and Daryl have faces in the dream?
And… what house was Dad referring to when he said,
“Welcome Home.”