Whispers of the Past

The silence of my dorm room was a fragile thing, easily shattered. Daniel’s steady breathing was a constant reminder of the normal world I was trying to inhabit, a world where sleep came easily and nightmares were mere inconveniences. But tonight, even his presence couldn't hold the darkness at bay. It seeped in through the cracks, through the thin walls, through the very fabric of my consciousness.

I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, or rather, the absence of it. Behind my eyes, the familiar stone walls of the maze began to rise, cold and imposing. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and something metallic, something like old blood.

*“You call that effort, boy?”*