SPECIMEN #05: "Dream loop.hmtl"

[FIELD REPORT – Anon /x/ Thread | 4chan Archive]

When I was 14, I had a nightmare during finals week. I’d been pulling all-nighters, scrolling between homework tabs and Reddit, my brain fried from caffeine and noise. That night, my laptop overheated and shut off mid-essay. I passed out with the screen burned into my eyelids.

I dreamed of snow. A silent field. White and endless. I was barefoot, shivering. Then I saw them—two massive wolves. Pale as bone, circling me. They didn’t growl, didn’t rush. They bit slowly, deliberately. Their mouths were warm. One looked at me with eyes that weren’t animal. They were mine.

I woke up crying. Couldn’t look at a screen for days. I wrote it down and forgot it.

Years passed.

This winter, after weeks of burnout and insomnia from remote work, I felt that same static in my chest. I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t sleep. My devices buzzed with updates, deadlines, noise.

One night, I left my apartment and walked into the woods behind my building. I wasn’t sure why—just needed silence. Needed to disconnect.

That’s when I found it.

A golden laptop, half-sunken in wet leaves. Open, glowing.

It had no logo, no ports. But the screen was on.

Frozen on an image:white wolves, mid-snarl. One had blood on its snout. The other looked out of the screen, straight at me.

I didn’t move. I knew that image. Not just from the dream—but pixel by pixel. It was exactly the frame I had seen in my nightmare ten years ago. Down to the position of the fur. Down to the fog in the background.

The screen didn’t flicker. The image didn’t shift. But the longer I stared, the more I felt something inside the computer staring back. Quietly. Waiting.

I backed away.

I returned the next morning. The laptop was still there. Still on. Same frame.

I didn’t touch it. Just took a photo. My phone battery dropped to 0% immediately after.

I haven’t slept since.
Sometimes I hear panting behind me when I scroll too long.

If you find the device—
Don’t open it.
It doesn’t need to move to watch you.