horror story: the white room and the man who asked my name

I wasn't going to post this but here we go.

First time I had the dream was fall 2023. I was exhausted, passed out earlier than usual. When I opened my eyes I was in this room. Walls, ceiling, floor. All white. All empty. No windows. No door. Just me.

Then from behind me, a voice.

"What's your name?"

Low. Soft. A man. I turned around and there was nobody there. The room had sound but no source. I closed my eyes without answering and woke up.

Okay so the next day things got weird FAST.

A coworker I'd literally never spoken to kept staring at me. Not glancing. Staring. Then on the subway a homeless guy looked up and said my name. My full name. Correctly. And then a random kid on the street grabbed the back of my neck and SMILED at me.

"Unnie. I saw you in the white room."

I'm sorry. WHAT.

That night the dream came back. Same room. Same voice.

"What's your name?"

I didn't answer again. And then closer this time, like right next to me:

"If I call your name... you'll come out, won't you."

I went to a psychiatrist. Stress-induced hallucinations, she said. Gave me sedatives. But when I took them and fell asleep the room was CLEARER than ever. He kept getting closer. His voice felt like it was inside my ear.

"Your name... I already know it."

Third night he finally showed up. White shirt. Black eyes. Completely average face. Except. He had no mouth. The voice came from inside my head, not from him.

"If you don't know your name... you can't go back."

Then one day my phone rang. No caller ID. I picked up.

"If you don't say your name, this keeps repeating."

Click. Gone.

I told my closest friend everything. A few days later she went silent. Stopped replying. I checked her SNS.

She had posted: "I know the name now. In the white room."

And then the night it peaked.

I woke up from sleep. Except I was still in the white room. Not dreaming. Just. There.

My friend was there too.

She walked toward me, smiling.

"You have to say your name here too. Or you're the one who stays."

I ran. There was nowhere to go. The walls just kept going. And then HE appeared again.

"The name... only you can say it. That's the only way I can leave."

I screamed.

Next thing I knew I was in a hospital. Apparently I'd been unconscious for several days.

After that, the dream stopped.

but sometimes.

sometimes there's a man standing under a tree on my street.

and he mouths my name.

no sound.

just the shape of it.