She looked around at the rainbow dots that danced behind her eyelids . After being here as long as she has , she 's gotten rather used to the sheer and utter darkness that her surroundings consisted of . And for some reason , this has caused her eyes to react in the odd way of making there be color , light . She breathed deeply as she looked at the still body of Shakes . He was sleeping , causing havoc in someone 's dreams . But she didn 't feel like sleeping right now . Though Shakes seemed to enjoy these dreams . . . she didn 't as much . They creeped her out almost as much as the dreams she used to have of the hooded man . It wasn 't just that they creeped her out , but she feels so mean in them . Sometimes , she 'd crash into a person while driving in a car . It wasn 't even like it was an accident - in the dreams she wanted to cause pain to her victims . Other times she would . . . oh , some of the things she did in her dreams were so disgusting , so inappropriate there is no way she 'd want to consiously think about it . In fact , some things that she dreamed about were suppressed into her unconsious . It has been that bad . She leaned back and sighed . At times , living in this world of black nothingness can be boring . She scowled . Who was she kidding ? It 's always boring here , she 's absolutely miserable . What kind of life is she even living ? Though , there really wasn 't much of an alternative . Sure she could decide to lose all hope so she could disappear then sink into the ground . But . . . then what ? She couldn 't do that because , however crazy , maybe where she would end up would be worse than where she is currently . Now she just lives in the absense of practically everything . The place below her feet could be full of somethings that were so unpleasant that she would actually wish for the nothing that she currently has if she were there . It really wasn 't that bad . She held onto her head since her logic was so weak that even the smallest groove might cause it to shatter . A tear fell from her eyes . Staying strong was getting harder and harder by each passing day . Not that she could tell how much time has passed . It was almost like she was in a coma , or dreaming the whole time . . . at least thinking so was one of the few things that have been keeping her sane . Then , she heard the slightest sound coming from Shakes . His breathing had changed ever so slightly . When you 're in complete issolation , you begin to have heightened senses . " Good time , " she said to him . Since there wasn 't morning or night in the black void that they lived in , everyone just says that instead of ' good morning ' or ' good night ' . It helped them ignore the fact that there really wasn 't any time at all , for all practicle purposes . She reciprocated his eyebrow gesture . " What do you mean ? " Then , her eyes widened with a hope that she hasn 't had in a long time . " Well , " he began , " there was this guy I saw in the dream I was in . I don 't even want to discuss what I had been doing . . . Well , a man saw me doing the terrible things I was up to , and he screamed at me , ' Tell her I 'm sorry ! ' " He paused for a few moments . " Right , yes . I was getting to it . . . I 'm sorry . . . The man came up to me , while I was in the middle of whatever hate thing I was up to . I don 't even remember what it was . Anyway , he said that if I talked to you about it that you would know him . I don 't know . It 's crazy , but he said that he 's Soter . " She nodded at him , unbelieving . He was talking about the poodle woman before who had disappeared . Her nickname was Soter , because it means savior in greek . She had given everyone hope under the dire circumstances . She was like the grandmother , consoling them all , even though she wasn 't that much older than the rest of them . At least , accoriding to Shakes , since they only met briefly . And , of course , she was also called that because she was the first one of them in the place of blackness . " But that 's just it , " he began . " It isn 't just a dream . We go into another 's dream . Do you think that the subconsious of the person in the dream that we 're in would know of Soter ? No . Somehow , the dream was speaking to me . Or - " " Maybe we haven 't been dreaming at all . It 's quite crazy that we dream other people 's dreams . . . But I was so sure that was the only explanation . . . that 's what Soter said . . . They feel like dreams , I know , since we have no control and they 're rather fuzzy . . . " That 's when she understood it . Somehow , someway , they may not actually be where they all think they are - that of course just being the two of them , since everyone else had disappeared . Or so it seemed before . . . She felt her stomach rise with the most hope she has gotten in a long time . So long that . . . oh , heck . Time doesn 't even count in here . . . But . . . then where were they ? How could he - them all - end up somewhere else other than a dream ? She glanced back at him . He was looking at her , but patiently . She has found herself thinking more ever since she 's gotten there - and he thinks a lot as well . " You know what I 'm going to say , right ? " She sighed deeply . She had an inkling . . . . Her heart started to beat - a delayed reaction . He meant that they must , somehow , find a way to seep down into the black to leave this place . There was nothing else they could do . There was no where to go and nothing else to do . They don 't need to eat here , or anything . They don 't even need to sleep . They only do that because it 's what they 're used to . It 's strange not sleeping when you 've been sleeping all your life . Plus , of course , it was discovered that super fun things happen in those dreams . Well , at least in the dreams they do things . And though they 're insane maniacs under dire circumstances in them - at least they aren 't utterly hopeless and depressed in them . He shrugged . " Well , we don 't have much of a choice , do we ? And besides . Soter left , and she wasn 't hopeless . " She nodded . So , this could work ! It would only take forever . . . Or maybe not , because it took no time for Soter . " Alright , " she said . " Let 's do it ! " Her heart started pumping , as if the decision would cause her to instantly disappear to where ever they would go . " When is this going to happen ? " He wasn 't willing to budge his long time concentration , so he didn 't react to her at all . Not even a twitch of the mouth . When he didn 't answer , she screamed with all her might , " Tell me ! " Before , when she talked to him , she was somehow able to ignore the calamitous circumstances . But somehow , living in her own mind , has caused that to be rather difficult for her . She was no longer so sure this was going to be easy . . . She continued , " We don 't even know how long this is going to take . It could take fucking years ! " Her voice cracked , and there was no echo . Her voice carried out into the black unknown . Clearly , he was committed to his feat of disappearing . Slowly , she tried to feel for a wall behind her . When she had first come here , she had felt a smooth wall - but apparently there was no wall . She 's never felt a wall since . When she reached her hand out in vain to feel for a wall , her hand shook . And when no wall was there , she screamed while thinking , please , please , someone help me ! I don 't deserve this . . . Then , she felt a soft , slightly wet sensation on her hands . She glanced at her hands . Oh my God , oh my God , oh my God ! She was no longer in the black world . She wriggled her fingers around , laughing - yes laughing in delight of the feel on her hands . She stood up , letting the sun touch her face and warm her up . She squealed in complete and utter happiness . She was back home - no longer in that crazy black place ! She had officially lost hope , and now she was back ! But where was Shakes . . . Her breath caught in her throat , suddenly scared . She was all alone now . Looking about the area she was in , she tried to see if she could figure out where she was . She scowled , and the new - found lift in her stomach was sucked away with the strength of a black hole . There were no landmarks around , not that she could see anyway . She let herself stop thinking about him altogether so that she could instead focus on what was more important : finding her way home . store a few minutes later . She went up to the counter to ask where she was . She felt silly doing it , but what else could she do ? " Hi , sir . " She looked at the cashier . He was a muscular man , though fat , with shaggy brown hair all over him . His eyes were large yet slightly mean looking . She was able to hold her own rather well , despite his unfriendly demeanor , " I would just like to know where I am . I was driving around and I lost track of where I was . . . " She blushed , turning crimson . He leaned back faintly with blank eyes . At least he didn 't want to laugh at her . " You 're on Hazel Street , five miles west of I89 . " She managed a grin . " Thanks , " I sort of know where I am now , she added mentally . But then , her heart fell again . How would she get home , even if she knew the way ? She didn 't have her purse , and obviously her car wouldn 't be around . She moved her hands to rub her face . Except , there was something in her hands . She raised her arms high in the air ( not minding who noticed this strange gesture ) , and right in her hands was her purse . She giggled to herself , though it wasn 't maniacle at all . She had it with her the whole time ! Now , that was expediant . A smile formed on her face . She was in the city , so she was able to wave down a taxi . In no time , a taxi stopped for her and she hopped right in , happy as a kid in a toy store . Things were finally going well for her ! She looked at the roof of the car . Oh , happy day , there 's a roof , she thought , and buildings , lights , and people ! If she just had some chocolate right then , she could have been the happiest , most grateful person just then . In about an hour , she arrived at her condominium complex . Quickly , she started to pass through the lobby , but someone 's voice was calling for her . And it was familiar . He used his key and opened up the door . Her breath got caught in her throat when she went inside . It was . . . too much . She saw her old red armchair , fish drapes . . . and the picture of her mother . Oh God , her mother . What had she been thinking this whole time ? She must have been panicing . . . poor woman . . . She wasn 't able to think about her mother for long , though . Her thoughts instead shifted to the strange things that had happened to her who knows how long ago . The doors slamming . Disapearing pens . And then of course the scratching . . . Though they all seemed so simple , since they led her to her half - death . . . " Come , you should sit . " Her husband brought her out of her woes and put his arm around her . Ah , that 's comforting . . . she thought . Slowly , he motioned her to the sofa , and he sat beside her . " Now - " he began . She didn 't let him continue . She leaned in to kiss him , hungry for lip to lip contact . It had been so long . . . He didn 't satisfy her need , however . Instead , he put his finger to her lips . " There 's no time for that . " She looked at him utterly hurt , though he didn 't seem to think it was a big deal . Maybe he really did mean to leave me , and felt so bad when he found out about my disappearance that he came back to give his last good byes . A grimace formed on her face of the horrible thought . He must not love her anymore , ever since she started acting insane . She didn 't think that he noticed what was happening , but obviously he must have . " I 'm so glad you 're feeling okay . " She glowered at him . That 's all he had to say ? And besides . News flash - she wasn 't . She came back from who the hell knows where ! She didn 't want to think of it anymore . That didn 't stop her from thinking of Shakes , however . He was really nice to keep company with . . . and he was really good at telling stories to pass the time away . They had become so close when there was nothing . . . and now , he probably would never see her again . Sure he would lose hope and come back eventually , but why would he come to see her ? She was nothing to him , just the last person there was to keep company with . Literally . " Look at me , " her husband said , knocking her out of her trance . He wasn 't used to her being like this - being so lost in thought . It 's like her whole personality had changed . " It 's going to be okay . You 're here now . How about I make us some lunch . " That was just like him . Make something significant out of nothing . He was her husband , and he was back . She smiled faintly , glad for the familiar . She sat on the couch just thinking while he made grilled cheese for them . But this time , she wouldn 't let her thoughts turn sour . Life will now be getting back to normal . She was thankful for that . Nothing weird had happened to her after . . . the event occurred ( she refused to think about the ' black world ' incident ) . All she had to do was call her boss and explain that . . . Explain to her that . . . oh well , she would think of something later . She was too busy being happy for that right now . " Sandwiches are almost ready ! " He proclaimed . " Yay ! " She screamed , giddy as a school girl . " I 'm going to wash my hands . " She walked into the bathroom , turned on the sink and scrubbed her hands . When she looked at herself in the mirror , she screamed . She wasn 't herself exactly . . . She looked like someone else . Hey , sorry it took so long you guys ! I hope you like it : ) . You 'll feel some chills , I know , more than the first and second part . Heck , I was feeling some chills just writing it ! And , there are a couple swear words in here , but not many . I hate swearing myself , but in stories I find them necessary sometimes . Oh , and I believe this is also the end . . . She nodded . " Yeah , I suppose you 're right . " She leaned in for an overdo kiss . She closed her eyes and waited for their lips to meet , but when they didn 't , she opened her eyes . Her husband was no longer with her . In his place was a man all in black with a hood . It was him ! He had invaded her real life ! What had happened to her husband ? Sadly enough , it wasn 't too hard to believe that her husband was now gone and this Hooded Man took his place . With all of the weird things that have happened to her , this wasn 't so bad . At least she could come up with some explanation , that wasn 't stretched quite as much as it has in other situations . She looked at him , and jumped up from bed . He was with her ! In her dreams , she 's only seen him right before she crashed to the pavement , but here he was , in her room . He had been touching her ! Actually , now that she thought about it , what had she felt ? It felt just like a scratchy blanket was clutching onto her , just with a little more weight . But somehow , he had felt . . . empty . Now , he wasn 't even so much as looking at her anymore . He was simply twiddling his ' thumbs ' - well , more like the arms of his robe since his hands weren 't showing . He didn 't even look that scary . Heck , her husband probably was just messing with her ! He had gotten up and put on the robe , and got right back by her before her mind could process it . Maybe that 's why he felt ' empty ' - because he only had put a piece of fabric on her until he got back ? Had she even told him about her nightmares ? She must have , otherwise , how could he be lying here like this ? Clearly , he went to a faraway town to find this exact robe to mock her , and that 's why he had been gone for so long . He looked at her , and her heart sank . No eyes penetrated through the robe , but she felt . . . different . Suddenly , she had a strange thought , I 'm not your husband . Be cautious , be cautious . Her heart sank deeper into the pit , maybe even past the pit into the ground . Though that thought clearly went through her head , it felt foreign . And she knew that this . . . creature had sent her the thought . What was he ? Who was he ? How . . . ? She woke up from her terrible dream sweating , which wasn 't surprising . Since she 's been having dreams of The Hooded Man every night , sweating has accompanied it with no exceptions . She looked at the empty spot beside her . Ever since the day he didn 't pick her up at work , he 's been gone . Just gone . She had no idea where . She hasn 't even told anyone what happened . Who would she tell ? She hasn 't seen her friends in weeks . After the horrific events that have been happening to her - also known as her life , now - she hasn 't felt like doing anything with anyone . She knew that socializing would be good for her , but . . . she didn 't have the will anymore . She has let the creepy occurrences of her life be her life 's only focus , besides her job . She hasn 't even told her parents , or his parents . It was just too embarrassing . . . what would they even say , anyway ? ' Sorry about that , sweetie , I guess you never were good enough for him . ' No , they wouldn 't help . Even if he was with his parents , or knew where he was , obviously he didn 't want to be with her anymore , or he would 've communicated with her what the problem was . She is in on this alone . She sighed , and got up . Though she decided she wasn 't going to go to work today ( she decided to take up her husband 's idea of having a vacation , even though he wasn 't here with her anymore ) , she didn 't want to lounge in her bed . Because if she did , she would surely fall back to sleep and that would mean she would dream of The Hooded Man . She always dreams about him every time she sleeps . After breakfast and getting ready for the day , she decided to walk around town . It didn 't matter what she would do when in town , but she couldn 't stay in her condo . Being alone . . . scares her . Being alone equals strange things . She passed the people walking near her on the sidewalks with jealous eyes . Most that were walking around by now were the tourists . Everyone else was at work . So many of the people around now were families , friends , couples . Everyone seemed to be having a great time with their companions . She had no one . She was walking around in vain , hoping it would raise her spirits . At least nothing creepy was happening . When she was stopped at a crosswalk , she thought she saw someone that looked exactly like her husband across the street . When the walking sign came up , she speed walked so fast that she soared past everyone else . She had to go over to see her husband and demand an explanation ! She was able to get near him rather quickly because he was walking quite slowly like he always does . She touched his shoulder , and said , " Hey , why did you do that to me ? ! " He turned around and stared at her with his nose up . He gave her furious eyes and breathed loudly . " Why are you bothering me ? " He grunted . She blinked at him . He wasn 't her husband at all . . . What a stupid mistake ! He was so not him from the front . His nose was wide and fat , his hair went over his eyes which were small and bird - like . And , not the dove type of bird . " Um , I 'm sorry , sir . . . " She quickened her pace even more to get away from him . . . After walking for a block , she turned to look behind her to see if she could spot the man . She thought surely he must not still be there , with his slow moving and all , but with what happens to her , the improbable is likely to happen to her . Heck , the impossible has already happened to her . Behind her she still saw him walking towards her with a deep sneer on his face . Obviously he had quickened his speed . What does his type do to innocent ladies such as herself ? She wasn 't about to find out , so she decided to duck into some store when he wasn 't looking . . . But when wouldn 't he be looking ? Then , a thought came to her mind . If she could just reach Lakeview square where the performers are before he got near her . . . Then she 'd be fine ! Surely they 're distracting enough ! Finally , she made it to Lakeview and decided it would be a good idea to go to some store , any store . She didn 't even look back to see her husband - not - so - look - alike to make sure he wasn 't watching . That would just give him an easier chance to get her . . . and she couldn 't allow that ! Quickly , she speed walked toward the store - a convience store - and when she got inside , she was so paranoid that she ducked down behind a shelf of junk food . She just noticed how hard she was breatheing and how fast her heart was pounding . Then , she heard someone walk into the store . That was him ! Now , he 's going to come over to her . . . She closed her eyes , ready for whatever he was going to do . She could only imagine what he had in mind , and she was thinking the worst . When she opened her eyes , she laughed . It seemed as though she was no longer in the store . She was in a black room with no lights on . Oh wait - the power must have gone out . . . . But she knew that could not be the case . Even with no lights , the room would still have some light from the outside shining through . She decided that the sun must have died out , and felt behind her to ensure that the shelf was still behind her . Her hands went over a smooth wall , not a shelf . Panicing , she stood up without taking her hands off the wall . She started to run around to see how big this room was . She was running forward for only a minute at top speed , though the wall never stopped . Exhausted , she sat on the ground panting . When she could breathe normally again , she shouted , " Where am I ? Is anybody here ? " Nobody answered her , but a minute later her echo returned . She shivered . This room was enormous . If it was such a big room , then how was she still able to hear her echo ? Don 't sounds eventually drown out if you 're in a big enough place ? She closed her eyes as she had only a few minutes before , convinced that she had a narcaleptic attack or something . When she opened them , she cursed . She was still in the pitch dark room . Instead of focusing on where she was , she decided to twiddle her thumbs even though she couldn 't see them . It felt silly , but at least she was thinking about something else . Then , in the distance , she saw a bit of light . She rejoiced ! So excited , she started to run toward it . But after running for half a minute , she felt no closer to it . Between breaths , she screamed , " Hey , you . . . light ! Where are you going ? " It didn 't say anything . She closed her eyes and decided to continue to run this way . It 's not like she could see anything , anyway , besides the light . When she opened her eyes , she stopped . The light was now right in front of her . She blinked and rubbed her eyes . In front of her wasn 't a light at all . A golden retriever was sitting in front of her . She could see him clearly though she could see nothing else . He wasn 't light at all , he just looked like a dog in a fairly lit room . But , of course , this room wasn 't lit at all . She grinned widely . At least she wasn 't completely alone . . . She bent down to hug the dog and put her face in his fur . She said to him , " I 'm so glad you 're here ! Where is here , anyway ? Where are your mommy and daddy ? " The dog licked her ear , and a strange thought came into her mind , I 'm sorry , I 'm so sorry . . . The thought she could tell wasn 't her own , and she believed it rather willingly . That was the least weird thing . You know , I 'm not really a dog . . . Then , she felt a new sensation : the fur she felt on her arms left with the feeling of skin . She let go of the creature and backed away , staring at him in amazement . Now , a man about the age of thirty was standing before her . He didn 't try to take his eyes off her . His eyes had a certain quality to them that she couldn 't describe , and quite frankly made her squirm . He spoke the words aloud this time , " I 'm sorry . " She walked back to him . " Wh - what are you sorry for ? " He looked around at the black nothingness . " This is everything , " he muttered under his breathe , but it was barely audible . " I 'm sorry . What are you saying ? " She spoke as calmly as she possibly could . His expression became more fierce . He was acting utterly helpless . He started breathing hard and looking all about him , though it seemed like he was looking for an actual object . He threw his arms in the air and looked at her intensely . " This is everything . " His voice started rather calm , but became very desperate . " This is it ! No more . . . anything . . . " Her voice shook , " What are you talking about ? " She hasn 't acted this terrified in a long time , even after the weird things started happening to her on that one day . Suddenly , he was acting strangely composed again , " I 'm just sorry I brought you here . " " What do you mean you brought me here ? Why the hell would you do that ! ? Where is here ? " Tears started streaming down his face , though his composure was still the same , " It 's not my fault . It happened no matter what I tried to do ! " She sat down and dragged him with her by the arm . " You 're going to tell me what the fuck is happening ! From start to finish , you hear ? " He nodded slowly . He began his long story by telling her about how he came to be here . He too had impossible events happen to him . It started out with simple , strange things that couldn 't be explained . Car keys being in a different spot than where he set them down . His computer turning on when he hadn 't actually clicked the on button . But , then weirder things started to happen . Waking up somewhere else entirely . Seeing the time change back and forth on the clock - with the sun 's position to show for it . Pictures on his camera he never took , mostly of scenery that he 's never seen before . Then , the most horrible thing had happened to him . His best friend of twenty years disappeared . One thing that lined up exactly to what she experienced were the dreams . He too didn 't remember his dreams much before , but he started to after these events began to occur . He had dreams about a hooded man too . " Then one day , " he continued , " Life got to be too much for me . I became paranoid and thought that anything I 'd touch would do something . . . something , I don 't know , impossible . I closed my eyes , wanting it to be over , and it was . " She became scared at this statement , not because he started to cry but because he didn 't . His tone was hollow which frightened her more than any sob . " So , then we 're dead ? " She tried to mimic his hollow voice , but instead her voice cracked . He shook his head . " I 've had a lot of time to think , you know . And , my conclussion is that we 're not dead . I don 't know where the hell we are . . . but this isn 't the place of death . There isn 't enough people . " " Enough ? " She said with hope . " So there 's some , then ? " He nodded , but not happily . " Oh , there were dozens of us . There were more , but . . . " He stopped for a long moment , and she wanted to hear what he was going to say and again not , at the same time . " What do you mean , but ? " " Some of us . . . disappear . " He looked at the nonexistent ground and shook his head slowly . " Tell me . " Even though she didn 't want to hear it , she did . " Well , we know of one case . I don 't even remember his name . But he was clawing at the ground , wanting out . At this point , he no longer has any emotion in it , or at all . He wouldn 't speak to us when we attempted to initiate conversation . He wouldn 't even flinch . He was too engrained on tearing away at the ground . Before this time , he was the only hope we had . He showed us . . . what fun we did have . But I 'll get to that in a moment . Well , one day , one guy saw him disappear , like that , as if he fell into a hole he created . The other guy had stepped over where he disappeared from , but there was nothing . . . " They didn 't utter a word for a long moment , but stared at each other just because there was nothing else to stare at . Then , she realized something , " How - how can you see me ? " When she spoke , she tried to look at her body , but couldn 't see anything . " For some reason we can only see each other and not ourselves . . . " " How is that possible ? " He moved his features in a way that would show humor on someone else , but just made him seem more lifeless , " The impossible is what the possible is here . All that we get to do for fun is what we do when we sleep . When we fall asleep , we don 't slip into a dream . At least , not our own . We go into someone else 's and our subconsious causes havoc . Just like in real dreams , you don 't know what you 're doing . You can 't control them . That 's our only fun . Causing havoc . " She dared to bring it up , " What about the man that was in our dreams . . . before . The hooded man ? " He shook his head , " There never was anyone here that was him in other people 's dreams . " " But . . . what . . . how ? " He was still shaking his head , " Trust me , I know that no one 's had one of those types of havoc dreams . You just . . . know things here . Anyway , we know little , but what we do know is solid . Besides the people disappearing . . . " " But why are we here ? " " We 've all had a lot of time to think , but no one has been able to come to any conclussions . . . " She stopped him in the middle of his sentence , " Where the hell is everybody , then ? I mean , isn 't this place just a giant black room or something ? I saw you from a far distance as a light - and , you were a dog , what the fuck ? But nothing else . . . " " Well , " he began , " Once you 're here for a while . . . you lose all hope , or you live in the dreams of others all the time . And , either way , your light dies out and you start to blend in with the black . And then . . . you almost disappear . After that , you eventually disappear entirely , to who knows where . " She was already quite still before , but now she froze in fright , terrified . It took this long for it to hit her . She wasn 't going home . She 's hopeless . This is the end , as far as she was concerned . " So , you 're telling me that people could be all around us right now ? " She looked around at the blackness . She was becoming so disoriented that she wasn 't sure what was up and what was down . But then , she saw a light in the distance . She looked back at the man she had been talking to , and realized she hadn 't heard his name . " Who are you , then ? " He looked back at her , as he had been staring at the cieling . " Oh , everyone here calls me Shakes . " She raised an eyebrow and almost laughed . " Shakes ? " " Yeah , like William Shakespeare . I am known for telling the best stories . . . " She looked at the speck of light coming toward them while he spoke , she blinked , and suddenly he was standing in front of them with four legs . The being resembled a poodle . Shakes put his hand on top of the dog 's head , and brought it back right away . When the dog looked at her , she did the same thing . Then , a woman stood before her . " Oh , yeah , " Shakes said , " We all greet each other that way . And as our dog breed of choice . It 's . . comforting . " The woman , who was only a little older than she was , took over the conversation , " Yes , we can all shape shift , though that 's about the only thing we can do . It takes practice , but you 'll get it . You have all the time in the world . " In the distance , she saw a new light spark , but it was close enough to make out an outline . This time , it wasn 't a dog , but a man that looked utterly soul - less . He screamed , as loud as he could ( which wasn 't that loud ) , " No we don 't ! " And then , his light was obliterated . She swallowed , only all too sure what had happened . The woman looked her straight in the eyes , " I think I know of your husband , " she said as she started to sit down . " What of him ? " She asked in amazement . She felt the most spark in her that she had in a long time . " I - I think I 'm him . " She looked at her curiously and shook her head . But for some reason , the feeling she saw in her eyes were point enough that she was in fact him . . . somehow , in some minute way . But then , her light was fading , and she looked at her with utter terror . The terror on her face was greater then you 'd see on any dying person . In no time , she vanished . Shakes looked at her and shook his head hollowly . " I guess we 're the only ones left . For now , at least . But she was the first one . . . " The office was dead silent while she continued to stare at the ad she was putting the final touches on . Her boss had given her suggestions to make the toilet paper ad more appealing . In other words , she had to change the ad to follow his specifications . Her job is one that requires everything to be perfect , and the hard part is that her perfect is not another 's perfect . She has to , essentially , guess and check to see what others would like . She often meets up with clients to see their take on her ad , and even her family sometimes . Many would find it funny how complicated the job can be . She was hemming and hawing over one font from another that were barely different , when the scratching came . Oof , she thought . For the past month , the scratching had been on and off . Luckily , it only seemed to come on when she was bored or stressed . Ever since the day the sky suddenly turned dark , and when her purse was stolen , her life has been horrifically strange . On that day , she did call her husband to have him pick her up , even though he had work himself . When he had gotten to the facility , he suggested she get her cell phone which was in the car . She never brings it into work with her . She had to use the spare keys he had , and when she opened the car door . . . there was her purse on the front seat . Ever since , she has been in denial that the events of that day ever happened to her . But , she couldn 't deny that the scratching was very real . It made more sense than the sky suddenly turning dark or her purse being stolen , and then put into her car . . . because people have headaches , so inner head scratching isn 't such a big jump . She stopped her work for a moment because of the pain from the scratching . She has gotten rather used to feeling it . She vowed a week or so ago to continue to do whatever she was doing , or start doing something , if the scratching started , but the scratching was often hard to ignore . For a minute , she stopped thinking about the pain when she saw one of her coworkers come into her cubicle . " Hey Cindy , there 's not much left of Julie 's brownies . " After finishing , he left , and her eyes perked up . Everyone in the office knows that her brownies are to die for . She started to walk into the break room , when she overheard a conversation . But she only heard , " . . . and she 's been told that she 's going to die soon . . . " She could have sworn that he looked at her when he finished that phrase . She shrugged off the thought , understanding that he obviously was just looking around , and simply noticed her . Then she was in the break room . She saw the brownies right away , in the left corner of the ' food table ' , where they always were . She took one of the two brownies left , a plate , and found a seat . She took the first bite of it , and closed her eyes . Bliss . Then , she heard music in the background , which was strange . Music is forbidden at her workplace . . . well , it really was an unspoken rule , but no one ever dared to break that rule . She tried her best to ignore the music in favor of concentrating on the chocolate happiness in her mouth . But , the music became so loud when the male singer started to sing , " and death came seven days later . . . " The music faded into the background , and she shook it off , though the words were seeping into her soul . Death , death , death . . She looked at her brownie and scarfed it down , as if eating would make her forget it . She smiled when realized that the scratching had stopped . After work , she got into her car , turned on the music , and forgot all about the subtle strange things that had occurred . Instead , she tried to listen to the words of the songs that played and attempted to understand the meanings of the songs . In the middle of one song , she heard the singer say , " and don 't you forget it . " She stopped humming to the song for a minute . He 's never said that in the song before , she was sure of it . It was one of her favorite songs , actually , and here he was saying a new phrase . WUIT , the radio station , must have been having some sort of a contest . Perhaps it was something along the lines of guessing which words don 't belong in one of the songs played throughout the day ? ' Surely it wouldn 't be too hard to find those words spoken by him on the web . And , isn 't auto tune able to fix voices well enough to make it sound like someone is singing even if he isn 't ? " Oh - right . . . it was fine . " There was no way she would be able to explain to him what happened . . . Every strange thing that had ensued throughout the day was odd enough in her mind , if she spoke it , then it wouldn 't seem like she was serious . " Oh , same old , same old . But . . . Bob got a haircut . " He had always been interesting to hear about . . . He always described him as being this clean cut Harvard - like graduate with nice hair . They both moved to the couch to continue their conversation . " Yeah , but he shaved it all off . " She gasped . He never seemed like the type that would shave his head , even if she 's technically never even seen him before . He shrugged . " I don 't know . Maybe he has that one kind of cancer . . . . " She looked at him with her eyebrows up , and nodded mockingly as she saaid , " that 's called breast cancer . " " Oh . . . right . . . " She blinked hard , and suddenly felt very tired . The stress of her job must be weighing on her . That must be it ! She isn 't thinking straight . " I 'm rather tired , I think I 'm going to take a nap . " His eyes bore into hers . " Really ? " She doesn 't often take naps . " Yeah . . . could you make dinner tonight ? Thanks . " He nodded . " I 'll make Thursday 's dinner tonight , then . Is that cool with you ? It 's ham and potatoes . " They switch off making dinner every night . " Sure , that 's fine . " Slowly , she sauntered to her room in the back of the condo . She grabbed the polka dot fleece blanket she had on the chair in her room , and threw it on her bed . She lied on her bed , put the blanket over her , and wriggled around until she was comfortable . After getting up from reading the morning paper , she looked out her window . She laughed . It was still dark outside , so why was she even reading the morning 's newspaper ? She looked at the cover of the paper , and realized that she was reading the one from earlier today . The same creepy man was on its cover . This ' hooded man ' was looking at her . Or , more like was looking in her general direction , because his face wasn 't showing . His head was covered by the hood . . . none of his skin was showing anywhere . She apparently backed up too much , because when she put her right foot behind her , she no longer felt solid ground . She was about to fall out of the window ! She panicked and brought her foot back in . She laughed nervously since she was so relieved ! But her laugh was such a pounding laugh that it caused her to lose balance , and she fell out of the window head first . She started to scream with horror . Before she plummeted to her demise , she saw the hooded man . He simply shrugged at her before she slammed on the pavement . When she woke up , she found herself with her head on her desk at work . She lifted her head up , and looked around , half expecting for The Hooded Man to show up . But of course , there was no sign of him . No sign of anyone , actually . She looked at the clock , and it said that it was six o ' clock . Generally , some people did stay in the office after six , though obviously no one did today . Slowly , she got up , and started to walk , and she passed a mirror . She frowned at her reflection and fixed her hair . She continued to walk , and decided that she would go home now . She wasn 't sure how she had gotten here . Maybe she never did go home . Perhaps she got so bored that she had fallen asleep in the middle of it , and imagined the rest of her day up until her ' nap ' . Yeah , that had to be the answer . When she was in the parking garage , she went to the spot where she always parked , and got confused . Her car wasn 't there . She was sure that she had parked there . For a long time , she looked through the whole parking lot , and she refused to panic . She felt around in her back pocket for her cell phone , and her breath caught in her throat . It wasn 't there . That 's when she realized she forgot her purse on her desk too . She went back to her desk and didn 't see it there . She sighed , and decided that she could just call on her husband with the phone on her desk . She picked up the phone , and dialed her home number . " Hey , could you please pick me up ? " " Libby , why did you leave ? Dinner is ready , and it 's getting cold . You could have just told me if you wanted to go somewhere . " Her heart dropped . So , she did go home ? . . . . And yet , she showed up at work ? But . . . how ? Wasn 't it possible that she sleep walked ? She was only a ten minute drive away . . . couldn 't that have been enough time for her to sleep walk to work ? She 's never sleep walked before , but obviously she did , and her subconscious thought that her work was a good place to go . After all , she hadn 't finished the ad she had planned on completing today . She hung up the phone and looked at a far away wall , zoning out . Even though she took a nap , she still felt exhausted . It must be because she walked ten miles in two hours . She put her head on her desk and breathed deeply . That 's when the needle pain came . Oh , yay . . . For the next thirty minutes while she waited for her husband , she tried her best to ' rest her eyes ' , but sleep didn 't come . The scratching didn 't cease . It was going on for so long that she was getting used to it . Once it was 6 : 45 , she was still in her seat and was still waiting for her husband . It wasn 't like him to be late , especially if she needed him . She decided to call him again , but this time on his cell phone . Maybe he was in bad traffic . " Alright , I 'm going to hang up now . " She put the phone back on its base and stared at it . That was strange . . . . it 's not like his phone is even that old . . . She walked on the sidewalk home slowly . The confusion was wearing away at her . Why was all of this happening to her ? She wish she knew the answer , but none came . Before everything that 's happened to her in the last few weeks , her life was relatively normal . She was never terribly confused over something before . She 's gone through so much . After the scratching started and her purse was stolen , many other strange things have happened to her . One day , she felt a massaging sensation like in her dreams , when no one was even touching her . That was one thing she could accept happily . But , most of the times , the things that happened to her weren 't that great . When she was home alone one day , the doors kept opening and closing . There 's no way the wind had so much as budged them , even though she liked to think that 's what happened . The windows weren 't even open and no fans were on . It wasn 't like the doors creaked , either . The doors were slammed and opened wide . On another day , she was writing down food items on her grocery list , and her pen kept disappearing when she 'd go to check one food item or another . She did look all around on her counters at first , but she ended up going back to the drawer to get another pen when she couldn 't find it . When she went back by her list , there was her pen . She had looked at it for a long minute , zoning out . She really had set it down . Not one of her days had been normal since . She was starting to wonder if her brain was damaged in some way . Since , how could she explain the impossible to anyone ? Even her husband wouldn 't believe her . For a while , she was in denial of what was happening , making up excuses for these occurrences , even if it was a stretch . She was done denying what appeared to be the truth The only explanation was that her brain had gotten damaged somehow . . . She wasn 't about to pounce on the chance to get it checked , though . Of course , she would be asked why she insisted that something was wrong with her . How could she explain to them that strange , impossible things were happening to her ? If she did , wouldn 't they send her to an insane asylum ? Do those even exist anymore ? But what scared her most was , maybe she really was going insane . She wasn 't about to , essentially , have a professional tell her what she was beginning to believe - that she is losing her mind . What 's the harm in waiting it out ? Since she never did see her husband 's car , she had to walk all the way home . She finally got home at about eight o ' clock , and she was absolutely exhausted . That nap definitely meant nothing by now . " Why didn 't you pick me up like you said you would ? " There was no answer , and she started to think that maybe he was worried about her being gone for so long that he went to the police or something . If that were so , then why didn 't he just pick her up in the first place ? I feel this short story is long enough to put into parts . Just like with a regular story , I want you to first suck in the mystery before it is revealed . Enjoy this story ! It is creepy , but only so creepy . I mean that it 's not disgusting or anything . I usually don 't even like horror , but that 's what this story is ! she touched it back . She didn 't feel like talking , or anything else for that matter . It had been a long day at work since everything that could go wrong did . She just wanted the day to be over , and emotion . One of the thoughts that passed through her mind was the time she fell off her bike from going down the ' scary hill ' when she was seven . Her older brother dared her to go down the hill with her because she 'd always been such a scaredy cat before . Of course , she followed through with the dare because older brothers are able to convince little sisters to do things they usually wouldn 't want to . She fell rather hard , though she didn 't go far . Pressing firmly on her brakes were to blame . She sprained her ankle and skinned her knee pretty badly , and she was scarred for life . But whenever she 'd think of that memory or and she read the title of the headline . It read : Another Life Ended By ' The Hooded Killer . ' She looked at the picture , which was of this at all , but was covered entirely with a hood . He was wearing a hooded robe of some sort . None of his body was shown at all . There she noticed a black figure by the window . And then it did the unthinkable : it waved to her . She couldn 't tell if it was a ' hey ' wave or a felt like a needle was slowly going up and down her head . She held her head in agony . It hurt so much that she didn 't even consider off , scared of how the dark came about and also so that she could fix her makeup in the restroom . She didn 't want anyone to see her horrible eyes ! It wasn 't often that she continued without letting herself freak . In an everyday situation , this wouldn 't be anything to freak over . But after that episode , it wouldn 't take much when it started to appreciate in intensity , she started to speed walk . It felt even better than it did before . The faster she walked , the better her head like she had no control over her vocal cords . She just wanted to lie there , but when it lessoned up a bit , she got up . It hurt again , so she tested her pain . She kept walking straight and it hurt more , and she finally noticed the restroom . She sighed with relief , and went inside . Finally , the pain was gone again , subsequently she decided to laugh joyously . Thankfully , no one was in the lady 's room , or computer , with no sign of her pink leather purse . At least she would be able to find it easily . Pink stands out more than brown or black . So , she quickly went over to the next room . This room was an empty conference room , so she something about the security cameras ? " The receptionist did just as she asked without question . Maybe she should be forceful more often ! She called in someone named ' Ponzy ' . Interesting Finally , an authoritative large man came walking in . He said , " Someone wanted to see me ? " She stood up and walked up to him , " Yes , that was me . " He raised an eyebrow , " So , you lost your purse , ma ' am ? " One of those ' permanent frowns ' formed on her face , " Yeah , I did … " He started walking , urging her to follow him , " Well , come with me and camera malfunction before . " But she didn 't even hear him , because the pain was back in her head . It scratched her head randomly . Scratch … . scratch …… . . scratch … . . scratch , project in a group with Robert and George . They were making a poster about the book The Lorax by Dr . Suess . " I 'll get the orange marker and draw the Lorax ! " She said helpfully . The boys didn 't even look at her since they it to her desk , she scanned it frantically for the ivy . It wasn 't there . The teacher looked at her with concern . " Sweetie , is there something wrong ? " She didn 't show any sign that she heard at " Excuse me Sabrina , I just asked you a question . " Her voice was more sincere than unpleasant . " Um … I can 't tell you . " It wasn 't until just now that she looked back please speak with you in the hall ? " Before she could answer , she saw what George and Robert were doing . " Boys , stop playing with the glue that supposed to see Mrs . Polvasky , and she 'll see you right away . She 's very nice , don 't worry . " Her teacher opened the door , and looked back because she couldn 't take it anymore ! Who cares what her teacher and the counselor thought ! She saw what she saw ! The counselor would have to understand . Because she 'd be telling the truth ! Yeah - of course she would . She stopped suddenly when she turned a corner . There was a teacher looming about , and may her warmly . " Ah , Sabrina . Come in . Have a seat . " Quite willingly , she took her seat . She didn 't like the feeling of an adult she didn 't know towering over disappeared by the window … but it did happen , it did ! It did I tell you ! I shouldn 't even be here . Where did it go ? " The counselor didn 't say anything for a long something involves candy , she can only be dead serious ! " I 'm not lying ! There was a plant … boom ! And then … boom again , and it was gone ! " The counselor sucked it in , and took out a I am going to be writing an anthology collaboratively called Life As We Don 't Know It , for my first set of stories here . Basically , something surreal and impossible will happen to each main character for these stories . If something is not answered , then you 'll find out what happened for my last short story , which will wrap it up . I don 't know how many I 'll do for this series , but we 'll find out ! Unlike I 've done before , I 'm going to keep this one blog for the rest of my stories . I can 't just keep making new blogs each time ! I will just have to make a nice table of contents like I have in the past .