This story, is short and quite frankly, not very good. It is however important to me since it marks my return to writing after a long period of ‘writers block’ for me.
Not to much else to say that I’ve not already said here, so on with the story

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“Awful places these, aren’t they?”. The man’s voice surprised Nicola. She hadn’t noticed him sitting down, but now he was next to her talking to her.
“Err..mmm”. She was a little unnerved, his sudden arrival and breaking of all normal protocols and talking to a stranger about something other than the weather and why the buses where always late. They always where and now Nicola wanted one to arrive more than ever.
“People always coming and going, never coming to here, always just passing through…” The man cast his gaze around the brightly light, sterile white walls of the bus depot waiting room. “…Sad soulless places, really”. The man when on.
He didn’t seem like a crazy person, but then how could Nicola tell? She followed his gaze around the large space. There where not many people here this late at night, but Nicola hoped there where enough, in case he was some sort of madman, But he didn’t seem crazy, he seemed, just sort of normal, even nice maybe, Nicola thought.
The man feel silent and strangely the quiet which had been comforting before now felt wrong. Maybe the man was just ‘normal’ and wanted a talk, was that so wrong?
“Yes, but as bus stations go it’s not bad….It’s clean and safe”. Stick to nice safe subjects, Nicola decided.
“Yes, clean and safe and good attributes to have in a bus station. But so many stories half told…”. The man seemed to be distracted by something in the distance.
“Sorry, stories half told?”. Nicola asked. The man didn’t seem to hear her at first, his gaze was fixed on a closed newspaper stand at the far end of the room.
She wasn’t going to push the point, the man didn’t seem interested in her now, maybe that was a good thing. She took a good look at him while he was looking away.
He was dressed smartly, but causally. Dark trousers, not well ironed, blue stripy shirt with a colour full patterned waist coat worn, open over the top. Not stylish, but quite normal looking.
“Yes, you get the bit in the middle of the story, with out knowing where it started or…” The man was talking to her again, but his head was still turned away. “…where it’s going to end. You just get the person going to from A to C passing through here, B, in the middle”. He turned back to face Nicola. She realised she been looking at him for a little to long.
She looked away, embarrassed. Nice eyes, she thought.
“Yes, not my favourite of places, bus stations. But as you say there could be much worse”.
“You see lots of bus stations then, do lots of travelling?” Nicola asked. She didn’t know why she asked, the question slipped out before she thought about it. Don’t show an interest, don’t engage. It’s not what people do in bus stations, they wait, get on the bus when it arrives. If you must talk it will only be to moan about the weather or the late buses or something like that. Anything to avoid making a connection.
But why? Nicola suddenly found here self wondering. Maybe so she doesn’t appear to others to be that mad lady who talks to strangers on the bus? This man wasn’t mad, he seemed harmless and nice. His voice was very calming.
The man’s face frowned for a moment. “Yes I seem to be ending up in places like this a lot recently. And travelling? Oh yes I do a lot of that”.
Nicola relaxed, she knew he wasn’t a crazy person now, but still there was something different about him.
“So where is your, C then?”
The mans eye’s sparkled and he smiled. It was a genuine warm smile.
“Ah so you have been paying attention then, good, excellent in fact. Most people would have not really been listening to me, hoping that if they don’t say anything that I’ll go away and leave them alone. But no not you, I knew you would listen, you would take an interest”.
Now nicola frowned a little. “You did?”.
“Oh yes…oh no, not like that I’ve not been stalking you or anything like that. No you okay here with me…right now”. Again the man looked distractedly at newspaper stand.
“What is so interesting overth…oh”.
“Yes, you saw that didn’t you?” The man exclaimed excitedly. “I knew I’d chosen the right person here”. He turned to face Nicola again.
“You choose me!” Nicola was suddenly worried again. “You, cho…”
“Yes, but that’s a good thing and not at all important right now. Tell what you saw just then, exactly!” The voice was now urgent, coming in quick bursts.
“I was a tick of the light, something in my eye…I don’t know”.
“No it wasn’t. That’s what it relies on people not wanting to see what it really is. But you’ve not told me what you saw, now tell me!”.
Nicola looked around the room, looking for help maybe. The man was crazy and while his excited voice was loud enough to be heard by several people sitting near, they where all trying not to hear it. Pretend he wasn’t there and hope he didn’t bother them. Nicola knew that look, she had done the same thing her self before.
“Errm, it was like a heat haze around that couple over there”. Nicola told him. Dammit! Why did I tell him that, it’s only going to excite him more?
“Yes a heat haze, good description, I like it!” He turned away again. “A heat haze around that couple, who now appear to be sleeping. Don’t think that’s odd since they where both awake and talking to each other a few seconds ago?”
Nicola looked at them. The young couple where slumped against each other. Apparently sleeping.
“So what’s wrong with this picture then?” The man asked.
“Well they could have been very tired, it is late, but still it’s odd to go to sleep just like that…”.
“In the middle of a sentence, no, that’s not odd, that’s something making them sleep. But no, that’s not what’s wrong”.
“…It’s not a peaceful, sleep”. Again Niocla found her self talking to this crazy person, encouraging him, but this was interesting her now.
“Yes!”. The man said with child like glee.
She looked right past the man to sleeping couple. There faces where not calm and relaxed like they should be when asleep. There expressions where fixed, tense. The man was even sweating. And Nicola could see the shimmering again. It surrounded the couple! It wasn’t a trick of the light, she seen out of the corner of her eye’s, it was…something.
The couple suddenly awoke together with a start. They looked at each other but said nothing and moved apart from each other on the chair.
“Yes you can see it can’t you? When it’s not in someone you can see it! And yes I know they are awake”. The man’s intense blue eye’s seemed to be looking though Nicola to her very core.
“So what’s it doing now then?” He asked.
“Err, I can’t see it now”. What am I doing, talking to this man? Nicola wasn’t sure which was more worrying, having this strange man next to her talking about this, or seeing this strange shimmering.
Without looking away from his intense study of Nicola, the man asked. “So what’s wrong with the happy couple now then?”
“They don’t seem, quite so…er coupley now?”.
The man’s fixed stair suddenly changed, he smiled again. “Not so coupley, yes I do like you, a lot. Very good”.
Despite her worries Nicola couldn’t help be smile along with this strange man.
“Do you see it now?” He asked her. Nicola’s eyes flicked around the room, again she saw it first out of the corner of her eye. The shimmering seemed to hover over a man reading a newspaper. As Nicola turned to face the man, the shimmering descended on him and in a moment his head slumped back. He was asleep.
“What is it? What’s going on here?” Nicola asked the man. He clearly had some idea of what was happening here, he must. It started when he sat next to her…
Could he be doing it? Nicola asked her self.
“A dream parasite most likely, but this one is not behaving normally. They are normally, random, senseless entities just attracted to sleeping minds. Harmless”.
“What, are you talking about? This is crazy”.
“Yes normally harmless” The man ignored her and continued. “I’m not sure about this one. It’s moving with purpose and I think that purpose is malevolent. But I don’t know why”.
He was clearly mad, but equally something very strange was happening her and this man seemed to know about it. If whatever was happening was dangerous, begin next to this man might be the safest place.
But what about everyone else?
“This is crazy! There is no such thing as…”
“Isn’t there? Do you want to take the risk that this is all in your head? It’s moving again”. The man pointed to sleeper on the bench. The shimmering appeared around him again and slowly moved away, the man awoke with a start.
Both the man’s and Nicola’s gaze’s where fixed on the shimmering patch of air as it moved towards a group of 4 girls. One of them was already asleep, the others talked and laughed loudly.
“Can’t they see it?” Nicola asked.
“No it’s just you and me that can”. The man turned to face her. “And in any case if they could they would dismiss it as a ‘trick of the light’ as you did, people tend to ignore what they don’t understand”.
The shimmering enveloped the 4 girls and with in moments, their loud chatter stopped.
“We have to do something!”. The man nodded and smiled again.
“Yes we do. A few moments ago you didn’t believe your eyes and now you are asking me what we can do. I knew I had chosen you well, thinking clearly in a crisis, thinking of others. Yes I was right to pick you”.
Nicola didn’t know what to do and this strange man wasn’t giving her any help. She needed to do something. Anger suddenly flared in her, she started to stand up.
The man put his hand on her shoulder. “That won’t help. If we disturb them the others might take action”. Nicola looked at the mans hand on her shoulder.
“What others?!” She asked, sharply.
“Look the others that have already slept, carefully, don’t be to obvious about it”. Slowly Nicola finished standing up, adjusted her top and looked around as casually as she could manage. The three people that slept where all looking at the four girls currently asleep. The anger Nicola had felt was flowing away from her now, it was replaced by fear. Nicola sat down.
“We can confront this thing physically. The bodies it controls are not it’s own. It has no care what might happen to them. No we need to fight this thing on it’s homeland”.
“What, confront it. It’s homeland. What are you talking about, this is all crazy. And what is this we?”
The man nodded his head slowly. “This is understandable. You have coped very well with this so far, but you now feel fear a very real and deep, primeval fear, the fear of the unknown. That fear manifests it’s self as anger, this is good you can use that anger to good effect. You will need it”.
He was right, the fear she had felt before was rising and getting stronger in her all the time. The four girls awoke together as the shimmering hovered over them. It then moved to the girls left. It was getting closer to the Nicola and the man.
“Why will I need it?” Nicola asked, already fearing she knew what the man was going to say.
“Because you are going to fight this for me. That is why I chose you, I know that you can…”.
“But how, what can I…why can’t you”.
The man looked at the shimmering patch of air, it now hovered over two bus company people sitting at the enquires desk. They where directly behind Nicola and the man. He smiled and looked back at Nicola. “All very good questions and I can only answer them in the briefest terms here and now. So I can’t confront this thing, it is only real in dreams, I don’t and can’t dream, I don’t exist in it’s space. You are the perfect one to confront this thing in your dreams. You have proved your self to be open minded, you think with out panic in crisis and you are concerned with the welfare of others. Most importantly, you will know what this is going to try and do, because I’m about to tell you”. Nicola’s glance flicked over to the enquires desk, the two staff there where now asleep. “You will need to face this thing in your dreams, that’s where it is real, here in this world it is insubstantial, barely real. As to how you will fight it, I don’t know, but what you must remember is that it is your mind, you can use the full resources of that mind to do what you need to do”.
The shimmering rose from the two people and the enquires desk. Nicola looked around, almost in panic. There was no one else left now, everyone else had been asleep. The shimmering moved towards her and the man.
The fear she felt now, full on terror. They where next and she had no idea what to do. Nicola wasn’t even sure she believed what as happening to her.
“Do you trust me?” The man asked. The could moved ever closer to them. Nicola glanced at the man and then looked back at the shimmering patch of air. “We don’t have much time, do you trust me?” The man asked, he grabbed her hands and held them tightly.
“I don’t even know your name”.
“And I don’t know yours either, that is not what I asked. It is important that you tell me, honestly, do you trust me”.
Nicola pulled her gaze from the shimmering cloud, now just a few meters away from them, and looked in the man’s eyes. She didn’t know why, but yes she did trust this strange man.
“Yes”.
“Good”. suddenly she felt very sleepy. “Don’t fight that now, you need to…”
The clam darkness of sleep took Nicola before the man could finish what he was saying.

Nicola awoke with a start. She glanced around her, confused as to what had just happened. She felt a moment of panic as she remembered…
Was it a dream or something else?
The panic quickly subsided. She was still in the bus station, sitting where she had been before the man had arrived. Everything was alright.
But no it wasn’t. Nicola remembered what the man had said, she needed to confront this thing in her dreams and the last thing she could remember was falling asleep. Was this a dream. She looked around the station again, feeling panic rise in her.
The station was totally empty. She was the only person here. This was a dream. That mean’t whatever it she had seen as a patch of shimmering air, was real here. This was it’s homeland.
The panic fit Nicola full on now. She pulled her arms around her protectively. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in to a little ball.
But she stopped. The strange man had said this was her own mind, this was her homeland too. Nicola stood up.
“Right then, if this my dream then I set the rules and really don’t want to be here”. Nicola closed her eyes and concentrates for a few moments. She reopened them.
“That’s better”. Now Nicola was standing on a stony beach with tall chalk cliff faces rising behind her. The sun was setting. Nicola smiled, the panic fading rapidly. “My favourite memory”.
“Now this is more like it”. The man’s voice suddenly came from beside her.
“Mmm, yes. This was at the end of one of those eternal days of summer that I seem to remember from my childhood”.
“Yes, this is a good safe memory. You’ll be okay here for a while. But you will need to face this thing some time. You will have to leave this memory”.
Nicola sighed. “I know, but not yet”.
“No you don’t have to leave yet, but soon maybe. Look”. The man pointed out to the horizon. Something was moving out on the sea. It was too far away to make it what it was, but Nicola could see it was large and moving quickly. All she could see from the shore was the plume of spray it was generating and a tiny black dot in the middle of the plume.
“What do I do, now?” Nicola asked.
“Face it”. The man told her.
“With what and how?”
“As you said your mind, your rules. I’m sure you’ll think of something”. The man seemed somehow smug to Nicola now.
Right. Let’s get ready! She told her self as she braced her self, as if expecting an impact.
The plume of spray was much closer now, but she still couldn’t make out any real detail at it’s centre. There was just just a black dot, true it was a bigger black dot, but still just a dot.
“It will try and use your fears against you, those things that you try and burry deep in your mind. It will try and dig them up, make them real for you. It can…”.
“This isn’t helping” Nicola said through gritted teeth, not taking her eyes off the approaching, thing.
“But you must know. Forewarned is forearmed”.
Suddenly a thought crossed Nicola’s mind. She turned to face the man. “So how am I supposed to arm my self against my fears. Do you have any hints or clues for me?” Nicola wanted so badly to turn back to the sea and the approaching thing, but this was more important, she told her self.
The man looked out to sea, for the first time looking worried. “It is almost here, you must protect your self”. He pointed urgently. Nicola’s chanced a quick glance towards the waves. There was a definite shape to the thing now.

“So tell me how to do that!”. Nicola’s fear was becoming anger now. That was good, the man had told her that.
She looked back at the man and for the first time realised the thing wasn’t making a sound. All she could hear was the gentle lapping of the waves on the stony beach. Things started to become clear to her.
“Your fears, it will use them against you. You must face those fears, look them full in the face and not be effected by them. You must dig those fears up from the…”
Nicola turned and ran.
“Come back Nicola, you must face this hear and now, or it wins”. The man shouted after her.
“I never told you my name”. Nicola shouted, not bothering to turn. “And you don’t exist in dreams. You are it!”.
Nicola didn’t know if running would do any good in a dream, but it seemed as good a plan as any. It didn’t sound like the man was running after her.
The running is probably not helping then, she though. She stopped and turned back to face the man.
The world had changed. Gone was the beach at sunset from Nicola’s favourite memory and in it’s place was a desolate rocky plane, under a sullen, red angry looking sky. Nicola was standing on an outcrop of jagged volcanic glass.
Nicola looked around the new landscape. The flat plane of rock stretched from horizon to horizon, with only the odd bolder or fissure to break seemly endless monotony of the plane. There was no greenery, no sign of life at all. It was all lit by the sullen red light of a boiling sky.
“Not my favourite place”. Nicola said quietly to her self.
There was no wind, there was no sound of any kind.
“So what how” Nicola asked, wanting to break the unnatural silence.
Suddenly the silence exploded behind Nicola. She span around to face whatever had made that sound. A beam of brilliant white light stabbed down from the sky and started to scan the land below. The beam was accompanied by a sound unlike anything Nicola had ever heard. It sounded like hundreds of distorted voices shouting something, or was it just screaming?
Nicola couldn’t tell, but the sound chilled her to the bone.
The beam flicked off after a few seconds and the silence returned. That was worse than the sound of the beam.
It was looking for her, she knew, there was nowhere to hide on this barren plane.
The beam lanced down from the sky again, it was much closer this time, right at the base of the obsidian mountain. The sound shook ground and pummelled Nicola’s body.
She started to move up the mountain, away from the fierce light.
Again the light blinked off. Once again the silence was worse. Nicola knew there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, it was only a matter of time before the light found her. That couldn’t be good. The silence was just the precursor to that.
The beam appeared once again. It was right next to her this time. The Sudden melstrom of light and sound made Nicola lose her footing and she slid down the cold, hard glass of the mountain side.
She hit an outcropping of the dark glass, hard. Her breath nocked from her lungs, Nicola tried to stumble up, but the light had found her now.
It surrounded her. It was ice cold and the sound moved beyond just loudness and became a physical force pounding on every sense. It was thousands of voices, some screaming in pain or anger, others calling out, some crying her name…
And the light, it was burning right through Nicola, she could feel it burn through to her bone.
Nicola cried out in silent agony.
Everything stopped…

Nicola opened her eyes.
The light, the sound, the rocky plane, it was all gone. She was back in the bus station.
Stunned by the sudden change Nicola just sat there for a few moments, not daring to move. Had it just been a dream or was she still dreaming?
Nicola’s eyes slowly scanned the room. There was no one here apart from her.
“That’s not right”. She said under her breath. This was still a dream, which meant it was still here, somewhere. It knew where she was now, but then it did before, didn’t it?
It had found her in her favourite memory. It had been there right next to her, disguised as that strange man, or maybe he had been part of this right from the start? Had that been part of the dream too?
It had wanted to try and trick her in to facing her worst fears, it had needed to know what scarred…
Dammit! Nicola realised she had thought about her worse fear. She had just given it what it had wanted.
The lights on the far side of the bus station went out with a loud click. Nicola then realised she hadn’t moved yet because she couldn’t move. All she could do was move her eyes.
The lights on the other side of station went out. Nicola couldn’t see that side, but she knew the darkness was closing in on here now. Nicola felt the cold stab of fear in the pit of her stomach.
Another loud click and the next row of lights in front of her went out.
The inky blackness was getting closer.
Click and another set of lights wen’t out. The fear in her rose, it knew what to do now.
Nicola knew it was out there waiting on the edge of the darkness, just beyond the reach of the light.
Click.
She couldn’t see it, but she knew it was there. She could sense it, feel it’s hunger.
Click.
A single row of lights above Nicola where now the only ones left on. Panic filled Nicola’s mind.

One by one the lights at the end of this row started to go out. The circle of light around Nicola shrunk.
There was just one light left on now, it was right above Nicola. The light slowly started to flicker and fade.
It was all around her now, closing in.
Then a single thought surfaced in the sea of panic in Nicola’s mind. My mind, my rules.
The darkness moved closer every second.
Nicola thought of the beach, the sunset, the memories of that wonderful, warm summers day.
The darkness hesitated.
Nicola couldn’t close her eyes, she couldn’t shut out the horror of the darkness around her. In her head she couldn’t see the beach, there was only darkness.
But the darkness hesitated.
Nicola couldn’t see the beach, but she could hear the gentle lapping of the waves on the stony shore.
The darkness pushed in towards Nicola.
It had her now, the cold darkness absorbed her arms and legs, leaving only chilled numbness.
Nicola was disappearing in to the void.
No, not like this, she thought. I won’t go like this!
The darkness was suddenly and briefly lifted by the twin beams of the buses headlights. They blew away the darkness around Nicola, but it was too late. It was inside her now.
That didn’t matter, what was left of Nicola had a plan.
The bus was approaching way to fast, it could never stop in time. Nicola could only see it out of the corner of her eye.
The bus hit the glass wall at the front of the station and plowed through it. It was only a few meters away from Nicola know, she couldn’t feel her body now, so she knew this wouldn’t hurt at all.
It suddenly realised what was happening and it tired to leap from Nicola’s body, but it was too late. The Bus smashed in to Nicola’s body.

Nicola opened her eyes as a strangled gasp escaped her open mouth.
The buses headlights shone through the glass wall at the front of the station. Around her people got up. Nicola glanced around, trying to get her bearings. Some one got up from next to her and quickly walked off.
Did she know that man? He walked away quickly, but he wasn’t getting on the bus. Nicola couldn’t see him clearly, everyone else was heading for the open door in the glass wall the bus beyond that.
The man glanced back at her and smiled, just as he walked behind the closed news agents stand. Nicola got up and hurried after him.
“Sure you want to go that way, miss. It is the last bus out of here tonight”. One of the station employees called after her.
“Yes, just a moment”. Nicola said as she rounded the corner of the news agents stand. There was a short corridor to the main entrance. One of the glass doors was swinging closed, but the man was nowhere in sight.
Nicola looked back at the bus and the station employee. “It’s either this or walking”. He said.
Nicola took one look back at the entrance doors and then walked towards the bus.