respond. He didn’t even twitch. The man gave no sign that he had heard her.

“Hello?” she asked, trying again and waving her hand in front of his face.

She looked around to see if anyone looked as if they heard her. She waved her hands at them. No one looked her way. They all just kept staring straight ahead, their eyes glazed over and vacant. The older man in the corner just kept humming his tune.

She got up and crossed the room to the wall, running her hands through her dark blonde hair as she went. This had to be a dream, right? A place she didn’t recognize, no memory of how she got there, and nothing with her other than the clothes she wore. It absolutely had tobe a dream.

She leaned against the wall, refusing to sit back down with the vacant people; they gave her the creeps. This had to be the most ridiculous, pointless dream she had ever had; nothing was happening in it. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, leaning her head back against the wall. She broke that pose only once to see if she had her cell phone with her. Stranger things had happened in dreams before. Alas, she did not have her phone, and so she went back to fuming at her subconscious for keeping her here.

A door suddenly opened in the wall, which was remarkable because there hadn’t been a door in the room at all. Cadence stood straighter, eager to see what would happen.