The glass shard in Sam's hand shimmered under the pale morning sun, but the warmth she expected was absent.It was like the shard itself held onto the chill of the nightmare.A cruel souvenir.
"Sam… are we really out?" Wang asked quietly, though his voice carried a weight of doubt.The world looked normal again. The road, the trees, the distant buzz of the teachers giving orders.But Sam knew better.
"Not entirely," she replied, pocketing the shard carefully. "I think we punched through the first layer… but the Mirage isn't done with us."
They walked in silence toward the group, eyes scanning the faces of their classmates.Most of them looked unaffected, as if the horror had never happened.But Sam noticed subtle cracks.Too-wide smiles.Empty gazes.One girl gently picked at invisible petals in the air, giggling to herself.Another boy stared at the sky, mumbling about colors that didn't exist.
No...Some of them were still trapped.
Wang leaned closer, whispering urgently, "Sam, I think it's got them. They're still inside... but they don't know it."
Sam clenched her jaw.
This was bigger than them.This was no simple hallucination anymore.The Blooming Mirage had sunk its roots into their school, their friends, maybe even deeper—into the city, the world.
She glanced at the teachers.
They looked... too calm.Too polite.Were they part of it?
She shook the thought away. That way lay madness.
The rest of the day passed like a sick joke.
The tour went on as if nothing was wrong.But to Sam and Wang, everything felt like a performance.The vibrant colors of the exotic flowers looked exaggerated.The tour guide's voice seemed hollow, rehearsed.
When they entered the greenhouse, Sam's heart nearly stopped.In the far corner, she saw it.
A vine, different from the others. Blackened, pulsing faintly with an eerie red glow.At its base… fragments of mirrors embedded in the soil.
Proof.
"Wang," Sam whispered. "The Mirage is still here. That's the root. That's the real one."
They needed to act. Fast.
But how?Would anyone believe them?And what if… the Mirage was already controlling the adults?
The walls seemed to close in.
That night, back at the lodge, Sam couldn't sleep.Every creak sounded like vines slithering under her bed.Every whisper in the hallway made her blood run cold.
She sat up, heart racing.
Wang knocked softly and entered.
"Sam… I did some digging online." He showed her his phone, screen dimmed."The Blooming Mirage. It's a real thing… well, a legend. Thai folklore. They called it the 'Garden of Endless Sleep.' Some say it used to bloom during wars, trapping soldiers in their nightmares. It feeds off fear, yes, but it also leaves behind seeds in your mind."
Sam swallowed hard.
"Which means… even if we get out of here… it'll still be with us."
Wang nodded grimly.
Sam stared at her reflection in the dark window.For a moment… she thought she saw flowers blooming behind her eyes.
"No," she whispered to herself.She wouldn't let it win.
They had to expose it.Burn it at the roots.
Even if it meant risking everything.
But the Mirage wasn't going to make it easy.
The next morning, the bus doors didn't open.The road ahead… gone.Only a suffocating field of flowers stretched endlessly in every direction.
Sam and Wang realized the horrible truth.
The Blooming Mirage had let them think they escaped.
But in reality…They were still inside its garden.
Only now…It had gotten smarter.
And the game was no longer just about hallucinations.
It was about breaking their minds.Bit by bit.
Until they forgot they ever wanted to escape.
Sam clenched the shard in her pocket.
Not yet, she thought. You'll have to do better than that, Mirage.
This was no longer a trip.This was war.
And she and Wang were going to burn the garden down.
Even if they had to burn themselves with it.