You wake up covered in sweat, just like you did when the worst of your memories crawled its way into your dreams. Your alarm fills the air with its tones as you roll to your side and smack desperately at it, trying to turn it off.

Could that have been real? That dream seemed to be so real, like nothing that you have ever experienced before. You scratch the sore spot on your head and finally get out of bed to prepare for work.

You don’t quite have all the time you need to get ready and get to work on time, so you have to make a sacrifice. That one last thing you always intend to do to be ready for work is left for the next time.

Things haven’t been the best in your personal life these days, and now you believe the fatigue is finally starting to get to you. If you can just get on the path to work that feels like an automated journey, you’ll make it through the day.

You manage to step outside your front door, dressed in something that your boss will find passable. You’ve made it to the start of another day.

**

On Your Commute

You wish you could be going to work without feeling nervous and sick. You think again about how you’ve not been getting along well with those that should be the closest to you in your life. You used to see eye to eye on everything, now you feel so alienated from those around you that you would be better off just sitting at work. Your co-workers truly know so little about you that you feel some level of social safety there. It’s always so easy every day, everyone just says, “Hi, how are you today?” Then the questioned always just responds something like, “Good, how are you doing?”

That just about covers most of your interactions at work. Of course, there are a couple of co-workers that are closer to what a friend or confidant would be. You can tell them whatever you want. You’ve got the safety net that they will always be segmented from your friends and family. The only time that there could possibly be any cross contamination would be at holiday events.

Something jars you out of zoning out and thinking about your life. At first, you aren’t even sure what it is that took you out of your daze. You just know that suddenly you are much more aware of everything around you. You were on autopilot, now you look around alertly.

You notice a figure through the window of the vehicle. You notice it, because you’ve seen the same figure a couple of times now during your commute. Your conscious mind doesn’t normally register people you see on your way to work. Everyone just shyly looks away before ever making eye contact. That’s how you know you’ve seen this figure a few times on the way to work. You remember, this day, seeing the figure. If this is a movie, you would be excited; instead you are just creeped out.

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You shrug and decide to pretend to yourself that you are in a movie and get a quick jitter of excitement. Then you yawn and return to your standard morning thoughts. You’d love to get that promotion that seems to keep skipping you. You know you are better than the others at work; you try not to let that fact show in your attitude there. You could really use that extra bit of cash that would come with the, hopefully, only slightly, infinitesimally larger amount of responsibilities.

During the final portion of your commute, as you walk up toward the doors to your less than exciting job, you see the strange figure again.

“Why are you following me? There’s nothing different about me. Go away... Would you just go away?” You say to the figure that stares at you now, even as you are inches from face to face.

There is a response, but it isn’t verbal, just in the form of a twisted facial expression. The expression confuses you more than anything and sends a shiver down your spine. The strange way the cheeks tense, the eyebrows furrow, and the ears twitch sends you a couple of steps back.

You become more resolute by the rude way this stranger is addressing the situation.

“Hey creep! I’m talking to you!” You raise your voice and know that a couple more people have their eyes on you. You’d normally be a little embarrassed by attention drawn to you by an outburst, but this time it makes you feel comfortable.

Again, the figure shivers and twitches in ways that make your own back tremble, briefly, from shoulder to waist. There’s definitely something off about this guy.

“Asshole! Go away.” You feel a flaming heat inside your body. You think it is a feeling of total rage, and you are just not sure why you’ve been set off. You move up on the figure and shove him. He is almost limp like a noodle. He boughs like he’s made out of rubber and then strangely collapses into the grass.

You look around and notice that a couple of your co-workers are also walking into the building, and rather than get involved, they cover their eyes. It is as if they are pretending that all is normal and nothing is happening.

You stand domineering over the creepy creep. You crack your knuckles on your main hand, preparing to throw a punch, and then flex your fingers.

You hear a sound coming from the guy like a giggling little girl. No, you think it might be some sort of a gurgling sound. The figure rises in a way that defies sense, like a balloon with too little air suddenly getting a rush of air to fill it back up again.

The giggling, gurgling sound stops as the man stands up straight again after bouncing around between the ground and his final standing position. He stares at you, intensely.

One thing that you know for certain, you definitely can’t go into work after this. Your bosses may have just seen your outburst. If they thought this man is a family member or friend, which they might think, they may just force you into one of those anger management classes.

You take several lung filling breaths and stare back into the man’s globular eyes. His eyes grow wide as you feel a sensation that your body is spinning around the axis of your eyes. It isn’t really, of course, but you are starting to feel dizzy.

You are light headed and your legs begin to feel weak. Maybe you are hallucinating. Yes! You start to run. You are going straight home. You need to get in bed and sleep all of this off.