"You are where you need to be," a voice sounds from within the shadows and I jump in fright.

"Who are you?" I ask, my voice trembling.

"A guide, you could say," the voice says again. The male sounds so close to me, but I still can't see a single thing - not a light on the ceiling if I'm in the hallway or a star in the sky if I'm... somewhere else, somehow.

"I'm sleepwalking," I conclude to myself, though I've never done it in my life.

"Lillian," the man says, catching my attention. How does he know my name?

I shake my head. "What is going on?"

"You tell me," he says. "We are standing in complete darkness. But why?"

"How would I know that?" I ask, throwing my hands out in frustration though the stranger can't see me do it. "I must have fallen asleep at my desk again and I'm having a very vivid, very weird dream. I'd like to wake up now."

"Let's say that it's a dream then, if that makes you more comfortable," the man says, and I can hear amusement in his tone. "Why would you dream about standing in the darkness like this?"

"As if this being real is an option," I grumble, though the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end in apprehension.

"Focus, Lillian," the voice says in a soft tone. "Why are we, in this supposed dream, standing in complete darkness?"

"I forgot to pay my electric bill?" I ask.

The man sighs.

"Hold your hand out," the voice says and I look around nervously, still seeing nothing.

"Why?"

"I'm going to prove this isn't a dream," he says.
I roll my eyes as I stick my hand out in front of me, my eyes closed since there is no point in them being open.

I jerk back when I feel pain on my finger. Though I can't see it, I can feel the blood beading from the small wound on my fingertip.