Chapter 2 :
John didn't look back.
He couldn't.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel as if letting go—even for a second—would shatter whatever fragile control he still had.
The message burned into his mind.
DON'T LOOK BACK
So he didn't....He drove.
Faster than usual.
The road felt longer today… or maybe shorter. Time itself seemed off, stretching and folding in ways he couldn't quite explain.
His breath slowly steadied.
The city returned.
Cars. People. Noise.Normal.
Just normal.
And yet—Something lingered.
A feeling he couldn't shake.
A shadow at the edge of his thoughts.
Then… it came back to him.
The dream.
John frowned slightly, his eyes fixed on the road.
It hadn't felt like a dream.
Not really.
"I don't even remember my dreams," he muttered under his breath.
He never did.Not once.Not ever.
Even on restless nights, when his body twisted and turned,
When something heavy sat on his chest—when he woke up gasping—there was nothing. Just emptiness.
But last night…
Last night was different.
It wasn't clear. Not fully.
Just fragments.
Broken pieces.A sound.
Low at first… then rising.
A deep, violent rumble—like the earth itself was tearing apart.
Then—Water.Endless.Towering.
A wall of it swallowing everything in its path.
Buildings… streets… people.
Gone.
John's grip on the wheel tightened unconsciously.
He could almost feel it again.
That pressure.
That overwhelming sense of something unstoppable.
Something final.
"I don't know how to describe it…" he whispered.
Was it a dream?
Or something else?
John shook his head sharply.
"No. Enough."
He didn't believe in that kind of thing.
Visions. Premonitions. Signs.
That wasn't him.
He was a practical man.
Always had been.
If something couldn't be explained, then it simply meant he didn't have all the facts yet.
That's all.
Nothing more.
Nothing supernatural.
Nothing.He blinked.
The office building came into view.
He had arrived.
John slowed the car, parked mechanically, and turned off the engine.
For a moment, he just sat there, staring ahead.
Silent.
Then he grabbed his phone.
Hesitated.
The messages were still there.
He locked the screen without opening them again.
"I'll deal with it later," he said quietly.
A lie.
He stepped out of the car.
The air felt… normal.
Too normal.
He walked inside.
"Morning, John."
John looked up.
"Morning, Alex."
Alex Carter stood by his desk, holding a cup of coffee, his usual calm expression in place.
"Rough night?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You could say that."
John forced a faint smile and moved past him, dropping into his chair.
The office buzzed with the usual rhythm—keyboards clicking, phones ringing, quiet conversations drifting through the air.
Routine.
Predictable.
Safe.
John turned on his computer.
Emails.
Reports.
Deadlines.
He tried to focus.Really tried.
But his mind kept slipping.
Back to the car.
Back to the mirror.
Back to that voice.
"…You're starting to see it."
John clenched his jaw.
"Focus," he whispered.
Minutes passed.
Maybe more.
He couldn't tell.
At some point, almost without thinking, he reached for his phone and unlocked it.
Just to distract himself.
Just something normal.
News.Headlines.Scrolling.
Then—
He froze.
His thumb stopped mid-motion.
His eyes locked onto the screen.
Breaking News: Massive Earthquake Strikes Japan's Coast — Tsunami Warning Issued
John's heart skipped.
"No…"
He tapped the article.
Read it once.
Twice.
Again.
The details blurred together, but one thing stood out—sharp and undeniable.
The time.
The exact time the earthquake struck.
John's stomach twisted.
"That's…"
It matched.
Perfectly.
The moment he had been asleep.
The moment—Of the dream.
"That's not possible…"
His voice was barely audible.
Earthquakes happen.
Every day.Some small.Some devastating.
Sometimes followed by tsunamis.
That wasn't strange.
That wasn't impossible.
So why—Why did this feel different?
John quickly opened another site.
Then another....Same report....Same time.....Same warning.
It was real.
All of it.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
"This is just coincidence," he said, shaking his head slightly. "That's all this is. A coincidence."
But the word felt weak.
Empty.
Useless.
Because there was something else.
Something worse.
John had never remembered a dream before.
Not once in his entire life.
No matter how intense it felt in the moment—no matter how real—once he woke up, it was gone.
Like it had never existed.
But this one—It stayed.
Every detail.....Every sound....Every feeling.
Still there.
Clear....Alive.
And now—Real.
John's breathing grew heavier.
But what truly made his blood run cold…
Was the number.
Casualties.
Missing.
Entire areas swallowed.
He stared at the screen, unable to look away.
The images.
The destruction.
The water.
That same—Endless—Wall.
His hand trembled.
"That's what I saw…"
The words escaped him before he could stop them.
Suddenly—His phone vibrated.....John flinched.
The screen flickered.
A new message.
Unknown Number.
His chest tightened.
Slowly… he opened it.
One sentence.
This time—Different.
THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
John's reflection appeared faintly on the dark screen.
For a split second—. !!
It smiled
.
"If this was only the beginning…
then what had he already seen—and what was coming next?"