Dizzy

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! I've had it! I'm Done for!"

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! No, I'm not one of them!"

"The Horror!"

Scottie woke up and hurridly looked around him. In his half-sleepy state he looked to see if she was there. He felt a wave of panic run over him. There she was! The Lady in Grey. She was coming nearer...

He should run, but he was paralysed with fear...

"You were having another nightmare, Mr Fergusson", said the nurse, taking a thermometer from the pocket of her grey uniform. "It's okay now."

Later that day he was taken to his weekly meeting with the Institute's physciatrist.

"The dream started the same as always, but this time it ended. I managed to get away, though I couldn't believe it."

"Suppose you tell me about it."

I was in the city art gallery. I love it there. Well, I did, until... Anyway, that's when I saw her. Dressed in grey sitting in front of an old portrait. She was staring at it. Her hands were frantically busy - I saw she was making something out of bits of office stationary that she must have had in her handbag.

I thought she was just a bit dotty, but then I realised the startling resemblence.

The wierd figure that she was crafting looked just like me!

But she had her back to me! How could she know? I tried to get her attention, but she kept staring ahead and crafting. Then I realised the other startling resemblence.

The woman in the old portrait looked just like the woman in grey!

I left the gallery - I no longer felt like looking, and went walking. I didn't know where, just around the city. Eventually I came to the graveyard. This seemed to suit my mood, and I walked around. Then I saw her. Her!

She was staring again. This time at an old gravestone. I walked up to her. She didn't seem to notice me. The inscription on the grave said "Carlotta Knee", and there were some dates. Some time in the 19th century. Suddenly, she turned round.

She looked straight through me and walked away. I stood there wondering, and then I noticed that she'd dropped something. It was the wierd figure that looked like me. And she'd crushed it beneath her feet...

After that, things are a bit of a blur. Days passed. Everywhere I went, there She was. In that same grey suit (or maybe she had a whole wardrobe full of them). I went for a meal at my favourite restaurant. She walked past, and I almost died. "John Ferguson, died suddenly at Park N Pizza choking on an olive." That would have been embarrassing (I don't even like olives particularly), but fortunately the waiter was an expert at that Heimlich thing.

Anyway, I decided that next time I'd confront her. But Fate had other plans. I was walking by the river when I saw someone in trouble. I jumped in and pulled out the drowning person. It was the Lady in Grey. I took her back, practically unconscious, to my apartment.

She slept for hours. When she woke up she started to thank me for saving her life. Then she stopped.

"Dang, It's you! The horror! You should have left me to drown, not bring me back so you could torture me more!"

"But..."

"You keep following me. Everywhere I go. I know what you are. I know that I've only got a 33% chance of surviving an attack from zombies like you."

"But..."

"AND BAD LUCK, YOU'RE THE 33%!", She shouted lunging towards me.

She had reckoned without my arachnophobia, which has meant that I have excellent reflexes when it comes to running away screaming. But she kept following me.

I ran. And ran. But I couldn't get any distance between us. Maybe she's got a phobia too. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and ended up at the old Mission. It's practically deserted, just the odd nun around from time to time to tend to the grounds. I headed for the imposing bell tower.

I don't know why. It was probably the old survival instinct of getting to higher ground, but I found myself pelting up the stairs.

Then I realised she was no longer there. From the top of the tower, I saw her running away.

Which was crazy, because she could have got me, especially as I've no head for heights."

"Hmmmm", murmered the shrink, "This is a good sign. The dream is finished, and maybe you can get back to reality. Then eventually we can let you out of here."

"No!", said Scottie,"If it's all the same to you, I'll stay here. This is the one place I feel safe."

"Well, I didn't say we'd let you go straight away. Now that's it for today. I have to see the new patient now - the vertigo sufferer. We'll talk next week."

Scottie left the office feeling a lot better. So it was all in his mind after all! He nodded aknowlegment to the patient sitting in the waiting room, then suddenly froze. It was Her...