I jolted awake, heart hammering against my ribs, convinced I was still trapped in the nightmare. Or was I?

A voice, thin and reedy like a child's, sliced through the darkness. "Close the door."

My eyes darted around the room, but the blackness was absolute, a suffocating blanket. Panic tightened its grip as I tried to reach for the lamp. My limbs felt heavy, unresponsive. Why couldn't I move?

"Close the door," the voice repeated, a little louder this time. It wasn't a request, but an icy command that sent shivers down my spine. Then, blackness.

I gasped, sitting bolt upright in bed. Had I woken up again? A disoriented haze clouded my thoughts. Was this just another layer of the dream, a cruel trick of my mind?

"Close the door."

The voice was persistent, each repetition growing clearer, closer, as if the speaker was right beside me, breathing down my neck.

"Close the door."

"Wake up."

A new voice joined the chorus, deeper and raspier, definitely a boy. They sounded distant, echoing in a vast emptiness, yet somehow immediate, as if they were whispering directly into my ear. The voices swirled around me, a maddening symphony of dread.

Again, paralysis gripped me. My limbs felt like lead weights, my body a suffocating prison. Cold dread washed over me. What was happening? Other voices joined in, a jumbled mess of whispers and shouts, too indistinct to understand.

"Close the door."

"Wake up."

"Open the window."

"Hide."

"Get up."

Finally, I broke free, gasping for air as I frantically sat up. My hand trembled as I reached for the lamp, desperate for the comforting glow, but I hesitated, my fingers hovering inches from the switch.

"Don't do it."

The voices erupted into a frantic argument, a cacophony of whispers escalating into a maddening debate. Louder and louder they grew, yet they remained whispers, an unnerving contrast that threatened to shatter my sanity. I clapped my hands over my ears, trying to block them out, but they were inside my head, a relentless torment. My breath hitched in my throat, ragged and uneven. Enough. I screamed, a primal yell of defiance and terror, and slammed my hand down on the switch.

The room flooded with light, revealing grotesque figures lurking in the shadows. Their forms were vaguely human, but twisted and distorted, their eyes gleaming with malevolent hunger. I should have listened.

'Close the door.'

'Don't turn on the lamp.'

Now I am one of them, forever trapped in this nightmarish loop, haunting the dreams of others.