Almost instantly all the shaking stops. I don’t let go of her though. I’m still trying to process what she just said. What did she mean by wake up? Am I asleep right now? Has this whole day only been a dream?

"Um Yukio, what do you mean by wake up?” I ask while pulling back from her “Do you know what’s happening right now? Is this really all a dream and I'm actually sleeping?"

I wait for a response but she doesn’t say anything. She’s just staring at me with a blank expression. It actually makes me feel uncomfortable enough to avert my eyes away from her and to the rest of the class. Where I notice something even more disturbing.

All our other classmates vanished. The only people now in the room was me and Yukio.

With my fear raising, I look back to Yukio in the hopes she was say something "Yukio can you please tell me what's going on? You have to know what's going on... what is happening... is this actually a dream? Or am I just going crazy?"

Still no response. Instead she robotically stands up and walks to the door of the class. Once there she stops for a second to look at me as if to tell me I should follow her. Only I’m not sure if I should. The whole thing just feels so ominous.

When I don’t stand up, she turns away and steps out the door. The quietness of the now empty class was almost deafening. My body begins filling with anxiety. I’m afraid to follow her, but I get the impression that if I don’t, it may be the last time I ever see her…

… I have to follow her. She’s been the only person to show me any sort of kindness for years and I can’t imagine she would have something bad in store.

I jump up from my seat and run out the door so quickly that I don’t even take my backpack. Once outside, the rest of the campus is just as quiet and empty as the class was. It makes it easy to find Yukio walking towards the entrance of the school.

It doesn’t take long for me to catch up to her "Yukio I'm here! I trust you and I’m going to follow you, but can you at least tell me where you're going?"

She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t even look at me. Only continues walking with a purpose towards something off campus. It makes me a little nervous that she isn’t saying anything. Not nervous enough to stop following her, just nervous enough to put me on alert.

We walk outside the schools gate and in the opposite direction of the parking lot. Which I don’t remember ever going. This direction leads straight to a town I’ve never seen before. A town that, like the classroom, everyone looks to have suddenly vanished.

All of the cars sit empty in the middle of the street with their engines still running. Though there wasn’t any accidents or any cars that looked like they coasted to a stop. They were all lined up as if they were queuing for something.

The rest of the town looks remarkably clean. Almost as if were a display model. Perfect signs and decorations everywhere. Walking through it, I notice a building that’s identical to one from earlier. And when I look at the other buildings, it’s the same story with them. The cycle of buildings keeps repeating.

As we continue walking though town, the amount of things in the street slowly start to lesson. All of the cars, street signs, and writing on buildings start to disappear little by little until all of the buildings are blank and the streets are empty.

That’s when I see where Yukio is taking us. Towering above us is a massive gray wall that cuts off the street. So tall and wide that it looks like it goes on forever. It’s entirely blank except for a single door that Yukio is walking to.

We get to the door where she doesn’t hesitate to open it and stand beside it as if she’s presenting it to me. Looking inside, I see nothing. Just an empty black void where light from the sun isn’t even able to penetrate. I can't even tell if there is a floor on the other side of the door. It's like the door leads to a room of infinite nothingness.

I ask Yukio "Do you want me to go in there?" to which Yukio says nothing, only blankly stares.

The darkness of the room is so intimidating that I don’t know what to do. Do I trust this girl I barely even know and step inside? Or do I turn around and go back to the life that I wanted to abandon anyways?

Deciding is easier than expected. I don’t want to go back to my life. Taking my chances with the ominous, pitch black room that the girl I've only known for a few weeks is cryptically telling me to go into is preferable to going back to my parents.

I take a step forward to where I’m standing directly in the doorway. Yukio is still looking at me in silence, but I figured I would give talking one more try "I don't know what waits for me in that room, but I trust you. If I never see you again, I'm really glad I got the chance to know you. You really are the most important person in my life after all. I hope I'll be able to see you again soon."

Again there’s no response. So I give her one last hug before I go. She doesn’t say anything, though she does hug me back. I hold her a little too long because I’m stalling. But after a certain point, I needed to let her go.

After letting her go, I turn to face the door once more. It’s so much darker when I’m facing it. So dark that I can’t even see if there is a floor. But I have faith in Yukio. I take a deep breath, then move my foot over the doorway and into the darkness.

Dropping my foot down, it makes contact with the floor. Though I still can’t make out exactly what I’m standing on. I bring my other foot in to where I’m now completely standing in the darkness. Not knowing how much around me is actually solid, I’m afraid to move around. Then not long after moving my whole body into the room, the door shuts behind me.

In a panic I turn around to try and open it again. Only when I lunge for the door, it’s no longer there and I fall to the ground. Nothing is there anymore. The gray wall that was once behind me is now a black void like the rest of the room.

The panic starts to set in. I try looking around to see if I can make out anything, but it’s emptiness everywhere I look. The only thing that I can even see is my body, which is strangely lit as if it weren’t affected by the darkness at all.

I begin wondering if I made the right decision. The purpose of this room is a complete mystery and I walked in without even having a second thought. Will whatever waits for me in this place be better than the life I had at home?

Yes. I don’t care what waits for me here. If it means never having to see my parents again, then this place is worth the risk. And if being here leads to my death, then so be it.

There is still nothing around me though. Nothing to move towards and seemingly no purpose of being here. That is, until I see a bright light out of the corner of my eye. When I turn to face it, I see a light with no discernible shape off in the distance.

Now I know that you're not suppose to head towards the light at the end of a dark tunnel, but going towards it is my only choice right now. If I am dying, then I don't think I want to fight it. All I'm hoping for is a chance that there is a better life waiting for me.

After getting up from the floor I immediately begin running towards the light. The light gets bigger and brighter the closer I get to it. Only I still can’t make out if anything is actually there. Same as the black void, it was an endless nothingness, but with light instead of darkness.

Once I get close enough, all the darkness is now replace with the light. With it completely engulfing my body, I begin to feel lighter. The feeling of lightness increases until I get the sensation that I am floating.

My legs stop moving as I can no longer feel any contact with the floor. The floating sensation completely overtakes me and I get and overwhelming sense of comfort. My body naturally moves to where my back is laying flat on what feels like a cloud.

It’s all so relaxing that I feel my eyelids having trouble staying open. What I’m feeling right now is the most comfort I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s making it almost impossible to actually stay away. I’m just so tired that I need to close my eyes.

But the comfort doesn’t last long after closing my eyes.

I feel a sudden jolt that gets me wide awake again. My eyes still have trouble opening, but not out of tiredness, but because of how sensitive they feel. All the comfort I was once feeling is also gone. It’s replaced with pain whenever I move any body part. My whole body feels stiff and it’s hard for me to swallow.

Once I can keep my eyes open long enough for them to stay open, I see that I’m no longer in the void. I’m in some sort of room I’m unable to make out just quite yet while my eyes still adjust. But one thing that I can make out is that there is something going into my nose and down my throat. I'm afraid of what it is so I don't move around much.

Giving my eyes more time to adjust, I’m able to more clearly look around the room. The first thing I notice is a chair next to the bed I’m laying in. But just past it, I’m see a bunch of medical equipment, letting me know where I was.

This is a hospital… and the thing in my throat must be a medical device.