Tess covered her ears and focused on her desk. The babbling in the room wouldn't stop. The voices followed her everywhere, invading her mind, invading in her sense of self till she felt she was loosing her own thoughts in the jumble. She couldn't make them stop.

It all started that morning. She hadn't slept well. Horrible nightmares of bizarre creatures drawn from beyond the cosmos plagued her sleep. There were leathery wings, tentacled faces, and formless apparitions chasing her. When she woke, there was a mass of black fog sitting on her chest, squeezing her. She couldn’t breath.

She managed to scream, seemingly startling the cloud, which vanished instantly.

Her mother rushed in to check on her, but how could she explain what was wrong? Had a cloud really been trying to press...

Please subscribe to keep reading.