“As usual, going in a more fun direction here”

Fred Arrendale couldn’t sleep. He was too alert, too conscious of things. He was lying there in the dark, in bed, in much the same way that people would wait for a train, staring at the sign above the platform- the one that read, “Train arriving in fourteen minutes.”

Fred was convinced of just that, that the train would arrive. When, after a time, he heard no answering squeal of breaks, and saw no sign of slowing yellow carriages - when the nothingness of sleep failed to embrace him - Fred looked at the sign again.

The time was the same.

_I’ve been lying here for at least thirty minutes, why can’t I get to sleep?_

Determination set in. _I’ll get to sleep eventually._

The train, to Fred’s mind, would eventually arrive. Problem was it didn’t, problem was, Fred couldn’t get over.

Bzzzt!

_Some kind of noise_, Fred thought. His frustration had grown now. It was like the darkness in the room. It was all around him. _Fuck it! I’m going to sleep._ Fred flipped over in the bed, like some kind of Olympic pole jumper, thumping his head to the pillow.

_I didn’t do anything wrong. Why is it that bitch is always on my case? I do everything asked of me, and this is how I get treated. I don’t want to think about this. I just want to get to sleep. Gahhhhhh! No more! _

Fred had a job at the local job centre, and for the most part, things were good, serene even. But every now and then something would happen. Fred would become upset, he would obsess over things.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

Fred’s eyes opened in the darkness, and he shot upright in the bed. _What the fuck is that?_ His gaze swept the room like the Medusa of Greek myth. _Nothing_. After a few seconds he threw himself prostrate again.

_I know that these things shouldn’t upset me_. Fred was consoling himself now. _But they do. I really wish they didn’t. I wish….._

Bzzzt!

Before Fred could react, the room was suddenly bathed in white light.

Fred tried to move. He couldn’t. His eyes tried to dart from side to side. They wouldn’t.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

This time the sound was right at his ear. _What’s happening? Oh god! What the fuck! _Fred’s mind was racing with possibilities now.

Suddenly Fred’s body started to rise and rotate. Hovering now, a foot above the bed, his eyes caught sight of his bedside dresser, then the bedroom window, and finally, the ceiling.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

_I’m lying in mid air!_ Fred thought. Then panic. _Oh god! What is this? Why why is this happening to me? I shouldn’t have got upset. Life is too short! I’ve wasted so much time! Please god, don’t let this be_, he trailed off.

There was movement in the room. In spite of his paralysed position, Fred could hear a shuffling sound, like someone awkwardly moving. All of his will was focused on his peripheral vision, on the bottom of his eyes.

Bzzzt! _That sound again, but much closer_, he thought. Then he felt a puff of air on his face. _There’s definitely something there_. Fred couldn’t take it anymore, his bladder - the only thing he had any remaining control over - released. At the same time, the white light which had lit up the room so starkly went out, and the force which had lifted Fred and held him captive, suddenly let go.

When his body hit the bed, Fred woke up. He couldn’t believe it at first. He jumped out of bed in a panic. Standing there trembling, he thought about everything that had happened. _A nightmare, holy fuck, theeeee nightmare_, his mind stretched “the” until it became almost Shakespearean. He sat down on the bed and rubbed his face with his hands.

From the darkness, he heard a sound, “Bzzzzt!