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She woke up fifteen minutes before midnight, on a bus to Kingswood street. Audrey rubbed the sleep out of her eyes then stifled a yawn, midterms were officially over, and she had been out celebrating with some friends. The party had been a thrill, but now she felt exhausted and wanted nothing more than a warm bath and a soft bed to sleep in. The bus came to halt and Audrey shuffled out of her seat, walking past an old man with a newspaper pressed to his face, and a young boy who tugged childishly on his mom's sleeve as he tried to look out the window.

She dropped her change into the box by the door and made her way towards one of the streetlamps, it flickered, casting a warm glow that made the shadows by the sidewalk appear as if they were alive. The girl whipped out her phone and noticed a couple of text messages from her roommate. However, before she could open any of the messages, she was startled by a black cat.

"Hey, there..." the girl narrowed her eyes, watching as the cat licked at its paws. Its red eyes darted around shiftily. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something odd about the cat, something that felt almost eerie. 

It gave her a long look before it started padding away towards an Alley. Audrey didn't understand why, but she felt compelled to follow the strange cat. Common sense told her not to, but she went against her better judgement and walked after it and into the alley. It was a dead end, but the cat was nowhere in sight. Preparing to leave, she pulled out her phone to text her roommate—something warm brushed up against her leg and the phone fell to the ground with a clatter. It was the cat. Strange, she could have sworn it had disappeared.

It sauntered towards the dead end only to vanish and Audrey felt sick to her stomach. She had only had one glass, but she decided to blame it on the alcohol. Approaching the wall, she pressed her hands against solid brick then turned around and walked back to the street. 

A man with a lollipop head tipped his hat at her and Audrey fell back onto the sidewalk, eyes wide and lip quivering.

She wasn't in Kingswood street anymore.

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"See ya tomorrow, man." His co-worker flashed him a grin. "Oh, dude, catch!" 

Nikolai saw his jacket in his friend's hands. "I almost forgot, thanks, Ray." He caught it then pulled it over his head. The sky was filled with dark clouds and it looked like it was going to rain. "Well, I'm heading off. Thanks for filling in for me, I'm really worried about my Geom test tomorrow."

"The late-night shift is always the most relaxing one." Ray gave his pal two thumbs up, "beat the crap out of math for the two of us."

Niko laughed, "no promises, but I'll try." the young man raised a fist into the air, grinned then exited the coffee shop. As soon as he stepped out, a cold breeze made him shiver. It was always nice and toasty inside. He stretched his hands forward and began walking towards the parking area. The young man lived off campus, but it was in biking distance, and he could travel to or from the campus in fifteen minutes tops. 

There was a man standing beside his bike, he had his back to Nikolai, and seemed to be staring up at the clouds.

He paused and considered returning to the coffee shop. [i]It's nothing...he could just be admiring the view, the sky looks real pretty.[/i] His positive side thought, and besides, he couldn't waste any more time. He had one last test early in the morning and after that, well, midterms would be over and he'd be a free man. Yeah, the guy was probably just counting stars, right? Because who'd want to rob a guy with a creaky bike. Last he checked, it was the students with cars and motorbikes that had to be extra careful.

"The weather is really nice tonight, isn't it?" Niko approached his bike with a smile and a friendly tone. 

The man spun around and Niko found himself frozen in place—the man had a clock for a head.

"Tick tock," he whispered, "tick tock." He reached out a gloved hand and Niko, on jelly legs, stared at it as if it were a gun. "H...H-E-L-P. Unstable. The world is unstable. Error in the code. Error. Error. H-E-L-P." His voice sounded more like static than anything else.

Nikolai forgot about his bike and the quadratic formula. "I-I have to do laundry," he lied. The strange man took a step towards him and he began running like a professional athlete, well until he reached the end of the parking lot and tripped. He coughed until his sides hurt and until the air had left his lungs. Niko leaped to his feet and looked right and left. The strange man was gone, but so were a lot of other things. 

A wolf in a trench coat lumbered towards a place called the coffee shack. Its Neon sign looked about ready to come crashing down. 

"Oi, are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to come in for a drink?"

Niko slumped forward, dragged himself inside the shack and sat himself down. The waiter that approached him was a spoon in an apron. He was shaking all over and didn't know what the hell to do. "I...I'll have a smoothie, yes...a smoothie, strawberry."

"Sure thing, honey, just sit tight."

Nikolai wrapped his arms around himself and did as he was told.