I felt a sudden force pulling me forward, my eyes swung open instinctively and quickly, I felt the seatbelt loosening as relief rushed over me. None of it was real, I am safe…

  I smiled with elation, but it quickly dissolved as I caught the look of my buddies, they all look puzzled and frightened, only Fuji was just snickering over nothing. Did they… experience what I sensed?

  I met Akira’s eyes, his eyes stared back at mine alarmed, mouth slightly open. My mind went numb as my body stiffened in horror, why does he look so scared? I looked over to Diana, her hands were clinging tightly onto her dress, I could see her shudder a lot as she gave me a look as if I was an unconscious person found on the floor.

  I didn’t even dare to look at Fuji because I know even a glance will make him burst out laughing for no reason, I didn’t want to look at anyone else, but I forced my eyes to look over to Adithi.

  She was tensed and concerned, I could see her worry lines forming in between her eyebrows, I threw back a guilty face at her.

  “What happened?” I asked cluelessly, my voice came out raspy, almost like a vocal fry in the morning, “Why do you all look like as if someone was murdered in front of you?” I tried to joke, but it was instantly met with silence...

  Diana looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown by how pale she was.

  My heart pounded in my chest and ears, I felt the air suffocating me again as it pushed against my throat to close up, I felt my hands starting to get sweaty as I tried to brush it on my trousers, my head started inventing thoughts of accusation in my head.

  ‘Did I do something while I was sleeping?!’

  ‘What if we crashed at the exact tree?!’

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  ‘Oh my god, why did I fall asleep?? I don’t even know if I am awake or not!’

  ‘This is a dream, right?! If it is real life, then I am not real.’

  ‘What if- ‘

  “Diana forced me to slam the brakes,” Akira explained to me as he interrupted my dwelled-on brain, he turned to face back at us, his arm rested on the driver’s seat as he took a glimpse at the three of us at the back.

  “She told me that you were speaking stuff and she got scared.”

  He scoffed, and then burst into laughter, Fuji found it as a safe-zone and let out a howl of laughter as he and Akira slapped both of their hands together like brothers.

  “This is not funny!” Diana snapped fiercely, her voice scared Akira as he flinched and stopped laughing. Fuji returned to his cold, chill state.

  “You didn’t even hear what Rosie said!” Diana bellowed angrily, her volume of her voice rising as she expressed her anger.

  “Okay, okay, relax princess. What did Rosie say in her dreamland?” Akira mocked ironically while trying to hold in a fit of laughter by pursing his lips together and sealing them shut with force.

  Diana opened her mouth to speak but instantly shut it.

  “What’s wrong? Did you forget it?” Akira asked, voice cold.

  “Yes…” replied Diana, she kept her head down in shame.

  “Thank you for wasting seven minutes worth of energy and time on this useless conversation,” uttered Akira, he was not sarcastic this time…

  Diana became teary, as her eyes darted down to the floor, she twisted herself to the front as she still stared at the floor.

  I felt sorry for her, but I was already trapped in my own panic room to even think about anything else but the dream. I tried to speak, about the tree, about Akira’s slurred words and the creepy smile not reaching his eyes, but I felt my words trip over in my head as I fought my vocal cords trying its best to tighten up, but my mind decided to throw an impulsive rebuttal that ended the battle:

  ‘He will judge you A LOT, its best to just keep it all in rather than getting laughed at again…’

  I tried not to give in, but I had to… It’s better than being called ‘delusional’ or ‘scaredy-cat’. I sat in silence as my thoughts and flashbacks about the dreams occurred.

  I wanted to scream, but the silence was too thick to break as we went further from home…

  Home…

  ‘I will be fine after this. Why am I worried over a small thing? I am just overthinking,’ I muttered to myself quietly to break out of the delusional state.

  I pulled out my phone from my pocket to distract while we were ten minutes away from the shop.