2.

After a while of wandering around an empty building, I finally come across a way out of it. Such an odd feeling has grabbed me, and it is more numbing than anything else despite the fact I feel everything a part of me come into contact with. The whole thing is odd. I feel content and curiosity and lack doubt and fear, even with the fact I feel watched somehow. The wandering too, it could just as easily have lasted fifteen as it could have lasted an hour and I cannot tell which it is closer to.

Outside, it is bright though I cannot see the sun in the sky, there aren't any clouds either, so obviously enough it is daytime. It is neither warm nor cold, no wind at all not even a light breeze. Had that feeling again that there was someone nearby watching me, stronger now than before, still, I cannot see anyone or anything that could be watching me.

I sit down on a wooden bench for a bit, had no idea what I was going to do, where I could go or even what the hell I could do with the situation I find myself in, and I'm still calm, as calm as calm can be. A man wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown comes close and sits next to me. Where did he come from? Proof, perhaps, I am not alone or proof I am alone in the presence of another. Being somewhat surprised to actually see someone else, I don't quite know how to react. The man, however, didn't seem so surprised about coming across me. A conversation begins.

'First time here?' the man asks me while looking straight forward and not at me.

'Eh, where is here exactly?'

'I don't know where this place actually is or even if it exists at all, but as for where you are, you probably are wherever it is that you last went to sleep.'

'What do you mean by that? I don't understand.'

'Your mind, your subconscious has been brought here. Your body, however, is right where you left it. It can be quite disorientating, especially first-time round.'

'Great,' I think to myself, the first sign of intelligence since I awake, and it has me questioning the word intelligence. 'My mind?' I speak with a sarcastic tone that even surprises me.

'Yeah, your brain waves are working overtime, and you just like me, you are in some sort of virtual dream world. Not only that, but it is also quite likely that there are probably hundreds or maybe even thousands of people right here, right now.'

Brilliant, I must be in some sort of broken-down nut house where all the nuts have run riot and vacated the vicinity, all apart from this guy, that is. This guy does not appear to be all that much older than what I am. He is far too young to be senile though the state of his mental health has to be somewhat questionable.as it is, it is too difficult to discern as to if there is anything problematic about him.

'If there are hundreds or thousands of people here, right now, then how come I can only see you?'

'Brain waves my friend. You see, there is just no way of knowing just how many people are actually here as for any two people can, as long as their brain waves are diverse enough, occupy the same space at any one time.'

'And how is it that you know all this?'

'I have been coming here after I have fallen asleep, every night now for almost two months; I have been able to find out one or two things.'

For the first time since this guy approached, he looked toward me. I don't know why but I was beginning to believe what this guy was telling me.

'Alright, so what else can you tell me?'

'Brain waves are kinda like radio waves. We are like two stations on a dial right next to each other, sometimes they may interfere or interact with each other, our brain waves are probably so similar that they allow us to see each other, and because of this, there will be some people that I will be able to see that you can't and some people that you may be able to see that I won't be able to, and who knows how many more people there may be here that neither of us can see?'

'I cannot see anyone else other than either of us. How is this happening? Who is doing this to us?'

'No idea, haven't been able to figure that out yet, I am not even sure if this is something that is being done to us or something with which we are meant to be a part of, but what I do know is that a war is coming and we are the ones to fight it, as for seeing others, don't worry about that for you will, in time.'

'War? What do you mean by that? And, what if that is something I do not want to have anything to do with?'

The sky darkened briefly and quickly returned to what it had been prior to that darkness hitting.

'Oh, time for me to get up, my alarm is going off. When you wake up for real, you will wake at wherever it was you were when you fell asleep, by the way my name is Keith. Nice to meet you.'

'My name is Karl. Nice to meet you too ... I guess.'

With that, Keith stood up, looked at me, gave me a wave and simply just vanished. I wandered around for a few hours, done a bit of exploring, didn't come across anyone else which I thought was a little strange as if things weren't strange enough though Keith did say I would see others, in time. The conversation I had with this Keith person had led me to expect to see at least a few other people though so far, he was and is the only one I have come in contact with.

3.

Soon enough I wake up for real, at least ... I wake to what I hoped it was real, back in my own bed, no longer as thin as I was in my dream or virtual world or whatever place it was that I was in. back to my usual self, for a while anyhow, with something more weighing upon me than what I was used to. I guessed I had to wait until I'd fall asleep again to find out if what I had experienced was more than just a dream; if I was to go back again then there must be something to it, it had most definitely felt real.

From that chat with Keith, I got answers to some of my questions, and this would only lead me to have a whole load of new questions, what did he mean a war is coming? What war? Where? And what did he mean by saying that we are the ones to fight it? Yeah, I just had to wait to fall asleep again to try and get some more answers and that is if indeed any of what I experienced was or is real at all.

The next night, it would appear that the night before would indeed become more than a one-off experience and as well as that, things would begin to get a little more ... intense. I met Keith again, by the bench where I met him the night before. He told me he had no time to explain, and that he knew where I happen to be when I am in the real world. He needed me to trust him, wake up, and attend to an occurrence not all so far from my home.

A car had crashed just up the street and around a bend, not far from where I live, and Keith told me that he needed me to wake up and get to that car quickly and aid the occupants. But how do I do that? How do I wake up?

Keith started shouting at me, 'wake up, wake up now'.

I want to do what he asks but I am at a loss. He pushed me and I just take a few steps back not knowing how to react. Keith pushes me again and this time I fall and as I am about to hit the ground there, I wake up on my bedroom floor, I had fallen out of bed.

'What the hell is going on?' is all I can ask myself while attempting to deal with the pain dispensed upon me.

I put my trousers and shoes on and go outside. There does seem to be some sort of hullabaloo close by. Indeed, there had been a car crash not far from my house. When I got to this car, I had to slap myself in the face just to make sure that I was indeed awake. There was a shadow like creature on the bonnet of this crashed car. It moved up and onto the roof, with its actions suggesting to me as to a fact that it was trying to get inside, or at least to the occupants inside the car.

This creature, it was small, childlike, I could see right through it. It looked at me, its eyes are like two blood red lights on a large bat shaped dark mass, and they brightened at it turned its head towards me. As it looked at me, a pair of huge dragon-like wings stretched out behind this creature. It appears more like a shadowy mass than something whole, a non-corporeal being or something to that effect, a living Gargoyle lacking all substance, a monster that belongs in nightmares. I had never before experienced fear like I did in this moment. Every fibre of my essence tightened, confused as to if I should be going defensive or offensive.

Snow started falling suddenly and heavily. I'm at a complete loss to understand any of this. Such a strange moment, a moment in which I felt in no way cold. Sure, why would it be cold? It may be late in the night, but it also was right smack in the middle of June, summertime. I must be dreaming; Christmas is half a year away. All this is so weird, stranger than weird. It cannot be actually happening, can it? No time to question, I had to act, didn't I? I was sent here with a purpose, wasn't I?

The snow had distracted my attention away from the car so when I look back toward where it should be, I could no longer see it. Despite not being able to see this car, or the shadow creature attempting to get into it, and with it snowing heavily on a warm summer's night, I allowed my gut feeling to rule my head. My gut was telling me I should be calling for an ambulance, so that is what I did. I grabbed my mobile and called for an ambulance then moved to where I thought the vehicle should be/.

A moment or two passed, the snow not only stops falling but also vanishes completely, disappearing from reality, I could see the crashed car again and an ambulance would soon arrive. I stayed where I was until it did, stating nothing more than the obvious to the arriving medics, sure what could I tell them other than I live nearby and heard the crash and came running?

The creature I had seen was gone. Had I interrupted it? There had been just the one man inside the car, he was still breathing when I got to him, still alive so off to hospital he would go and back to bed is where I would go.

Keith was still in the dream world when I got back, and I explained what I had just been through after which Keith began to explain a few things to me. What I had seen was something called ... a Dream Demon, one of many in existence, apparently. They can alter perception which is how I could see snow and also how the crashed car had to me seemingly disappeared.

This world we are now in, a place we go while we sleep, has been created to bring people together to fight these demons and I guess whether willingly or not, I have just joined the fight. He, Keith, seemed to be contradicting himself a little from the first conversation I had with him, but I wasn't going to question that any further, not yet anyhow.

One thing we know is that these Dream Demons need to feed, and they feed on us, real people, so the one sure way of killing them is to starve them, prevent them from getting to us or anyone else. Save ourselves, kill the demons. This is what we must do. Sounds easy, right? Aw, this is the craziest thing I have ever known, and I have been thrown right into the middle of it.