Have you ever been alone? Scary? Well, nothing you feel can be
compared to

DEADLY SOLITUDE

             'And I don't wanna be alone'-The Bee Gees, Alone.

	Jake found himself in a deserted area. Strangely enough, he was
downtown at rush hour, yet not a single soul was in sight. He pulled
his jacket closer and closer towards him in an attempt to stay warm.
It was deathly cold, as if he was in a giant refrigerator. He felt
eyes watching him, his every move, his every thought was been traced.
A sudden noise caught his attention. Looking behind him, he did not
like what he saw. It was too quiet, too eerie. Suddenly a large form
pushed him down hard from behind. He turned to look at the shape. 
	It was huge, with six arms. It's face was shrouded by the shadows
that its large wings made. Jake could distinctly see it's razor sharp
claws, four of them, on each paw. It suddenly lunged towards Jake,
homing in for the kill. All Jake could do was scream.

	'Jake, wake up.', Sami tugged at his shirt.
	'Jake buddy, come on, snap out of it.', Chance was getting
worried. His partner had started screaming suddenly, and was now
moaning in his sleep. Chance went to get some ice water. Opening the
freezer, he took a couple of ice cubes, and mixed them with some
water from the sink in a glass. Walking back to Jake's room, he
poured it over him. It had always worked. Every time. Except this
time. Nothing happened. He just went on talking incoherently to
himself. Chance became worried. Jake was never like this, except
maybe if he had taken drugs. But then, Jake hadn't showed any
symptoms of using drugs. Thinking, Chance had an idea. Pulling Jake
up to face him, he snapped his fingers in front of his face. 
	'What?', Jake awoke with a jolt, pushing Chance away from him. He
took a while to gather his bearings. He took three deep breaths and
then asked.
	'What happened?'
	'You zoned out on us. I doused you with ice water and you STILL
didn't wake up. When I snapped my fingers, you came out of it
immediately.
	'So I was under hypnosis?'
	'Maybe.'
Jake shrugged and got out of bed. There was a long day ahead of him.


	Jake entered the garage to find it completely empty. No cars, no
TV, no dining table, no people either. He found this very strange.
Walking towards the access ladder, he climbed down. When he reached
the bottom, he flicked on the lights. He gasped at what he saw. One
word. Empty. The hangar was empty. The Turbokat was gone. His
missiles were gone. Everything had disappeared. I must be dreaming,
he thought and pinched himself. He felt it all right. 
There was a noise behind him. Forcing himself to turn around, he was
shoved to the floor by the monster again. It kneeled above him,
holding him with two paws while the other four made their way to his
head. It's three-inch claws lightly cut his skin, knowing that any
moment, it could kill him, so it took it's time. 
	It released one paw from his head to trace along Jake's jugular
vein. If it cut the vein, Jake would be dead within seconds. Applying
slightly more force, it cut the flesh just covering the vein. Jake
trembled with fear, anticipating a quick death. It slowly but surely,
ran it's claw over the vein again, this time drawing blood. Then it
ripped the vein open, leaving Jake screaming in agony.


Jake jumped out of bed, falling onto the floor. This series of
nightmares would have to stop. They were all about the same thing,
Jake being alone and it being so quiet, until that monster showed up.
Then... 
	Jake forced himself not to think about it. Getting up, he looked
at his watch. 6.51 a.m. Great He headed for the shower, thinking that
since he was up, he might as well start early. 
After his shower, he put on his coveralls and grabbed his baseball
cap from his dresser. Heading out into the garage, he turned on the
lights and grabbed his tools. As he headed for the first car, he felt
something, as if something was watching him. He brushed it aside,
thinking that his dreams, er, nightmares, were getting to him. It
came back almost immediately. A weird sensation. He heard a thump and
whirled around. He saw a large shape in the kitchen, poising, ready
to pounce upon him at any moment. It did. As Jake wrestled with the
shadow on the floor, he pushed it's head up into the light. 
	'CHANCE!'
	'You were expecting maybe The President?'
As Jake wriggled his way out from under Chance, he heard a button
being pressed somewhere in the garage. All the lights suddenly came
on.
	'Surprise!', yelled Sami, Felina, Kristina and Chance. Jake
turned to see the cake on the dining room table, and finally
understood.
	'You remembered!'
	'You actually thought I would forget my best friend's birthday?
As if!', Chance said, somewhat sarcastically. Sami came up to Jake,
holding a present in one paw. 
	'Happy birthday, Jake.'
	'Thanks, Sami.'
She kissed him lightly on the cheek, then picked up Ariel from the
floor. Jake suddenly had a jar of reality. His kitten looked
innocently at him. Taking her from Sami, Jake set Ariel lightly down
onto the table. Jake shut out all noise surrounding him, and
connected the link between him and Ariel.
	'OK Ariel. Talk to me. What have you been doing?'
	'Nothing, father.'
	'Don't lie to me Ariel. What have you been doing to me?'
	'I didn't do anything father. I swear.'
Deciding to let it go, he changed the topic.
        ' I believe you. So Ariel, your birthday is only three months
away. What would you like.?'
        'You know, father,' she mused. 'Actually, I miss my wings.' 


       The next day, Jake got up early, or late, depending on your
point of view. Quickly showering and dressing, he headed for the
garage. Grabbing some leftover cake and some coffee, he sat at the
table and ate. After he finished, he went to wake Chance. Entering
Chance's room, he took one look at Felina lying in the bed and
decided to leave his partner alone.
       Jake decided to start on the cars, since he knew Chance wasn't
going to be up until much later. As he worked, he felt that weird
sensation again. Straightening, he looked behind him. Nothing. He
shrugged and returned to his work. The feeling wouldn't stop. Jake
gave up and turned around again.
      'Whoever you are, go away!'
With finality, he turned his attention back to the Datsun. This time,
he knew that something was wrong. He decided to go back to his room,
hoping that it would go away. No such luck. Suddenly something
grabbed him from behind.


      Chance found his partner writhing on the floor of his bedroom.
Pulling him up, he snapped his fingers again. Jake was jarred back to
reality.
               'Jake, I am getting you to a doctor.'

               
      'Well, he 'seems' normal, no symptoms of drug or alcohol use.
Frankly, he's perfectly normal psychically.' The doctor announced his
findings. 
      'So you're telling me I should take him to see a psychiatrist?'
      'Yes.'
      'Great.'
Chance paid the consultation fee and then took Jake and left.
      'So, Jake, do you know a good shrink?'
      'No, but Sami told me about one. It might be worth a shot.'
      'Say no more.' Chance picked up the phone in the tow truck and
dialed the salvage yard.


      'So what did he say?' Chance asked as Jake left.
      'He said that these 'visions' I'm having are probably just
delusions, hallucinations. Anyhow, he told me to sleep it over and
it'll probably all go away.' Jake paused for breath. 	'Yeah right
like they will.'
        'Come on buddy. Give it a chance.'
        'All right.' Jake glanced at his watch. 'Crud, come on, we're
going to miss Litterbin!'


            Jake opened his eyes. Getting up, he washed his face and
showered. Afterwards, he went to wake Chance. Opening the door, he
found it empty. Funny. The bed was made, but Chance had disappeared.
Entering Sami's room, he found, guess what, nothing. Ariel was gone
too. Opening the closet, he found Sami's uniform, BPV, and gun, but
Sami wasn't there. He checked the guest room. Empty. Kristina didn't
get up this early.
            'Okay guys, if this is some sort of joke, it's not
funny.'
No response. 
            'Alright then, BE that way, I don't care.'
Jake started work on the cars. Two hours later, still no one showed
up. Jake admitted to himself. He was scared, no, terrified. Picking
up the phone, he found it dead. He checked the connection, but the
phone was still dead. He went outside. Burke and Murray were due in
five minutes and he had to  update the inventory in the east side of
the salvage yard. After working for half an hour, he hadn't heard or
seen any sign of the dump truck. Turning to face Megakat city, he
cried out,
            'Come on, tell me you're there!'
There is no reply. Kicking an I-beam in anger, he ran towards the tow
truck, Jake filled the tank and jumped into the drivers seat. Turning
the ignition, he raced out towards the city. 
            It was deserted. Empty. The streets were empty. All the
stores displayed 'Closed' signs in their windows. Jake continued to
drive until he reached Enforcer Headquarters. There were about two
dozen cruisers parked outside the building, including Commander
Feral's. The parking lot had a full sign in front of the entrance.
Jake parked the tow truck and got out. Usually, there were Enforcers
milling around the building, each with their own purpose. But there
was no one. In the computer control center, all the computers were
on, with the modems indicating that they were connected to the
Internet. But there was no one using them. Jake sat down at one of
them and tried E-mail. Immediately, the mail was returned with the
message, User not found. Jake disconnected the computer and picked up
the phone. Dead. Using the main network, Jake disconnected all the
computers and tried each phone. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead and
dead. None of the phones worked. He threw the phone he had used last
down onto the floor and stomped on it.
            Working his way to the roof, Jake found the landing pad
full of choppers, planes and gas tanks. But no people. Jake was
beginning to get that feeling again.  Jake turned and came face to
face with the creature again. Grabbing his knife, he flung it at the
'thing' It drove into it's shoulder but to no avail. It charged,
pushing Jake off the landing pad to the pavement eighty floors down.
Before Jake could hit the ground, it swooped down and caught Jake
with its talons, hanging him from its feet like an eagle holding a
fish. Jake didn't struggle, knowing that resistance would mean
risking a fall from this height. Jake wasn't surprised when it
dropped him. 


	Jake felt a hard object bump his head as he woke up. The floor.
He pushed himself up with his elbows while massaging the bump on his
head. This was serious. The dreams meant something, he knew it. Now
if only he knew what they were. Exiting his room, he saw the creature
standing in front of him. Jake gave up and tried the direct approach.
'What do you want?'
'All I want is your emotion.'
The creature lunged for him but Jake was prepared. Rolling to the
side, the creature fell onto the floor. Jake picked himself up and
ran for the cabinet in the hangar. Jumping down the access ladder,
Jake opened the cabinet. As he reached for his gun, he felt the
creature grab him by the neck. It then pinned him to the wall, slowly
cutting off all air to his lungs. Jake tried desperately to pull its
paws away from him but to no avail. He found no option but to scream.
          

             Chance woke up and instantly ran towards the source of
the noise. Jumping down to the hangar, he saw Jake pulling at his
neck, screaming. The odd thing was that Jake was also suspended four
feet in the air. Chance lunged for Jake's invisible attacker but
collided with the floor. Turning, he saw Jake turning blue. Quickly,
he snapped his fingers. Jake immediately crumpled to the floor,
gasping for breath.
            'Are you okay?'
Between gasps, Jake answered.
            'No I'm *gasp* not  *gasp* Chance.'
            'I'd better get you to that doctor again.'


            Lying in bed, Jake contemplated the facts. Every night he
had a dream. And the dream always went like this. First Jake would be
alone, feeling immensely frightened. Then he would feel strange,
sometimes frustrated and angry. Then the feeling of immense solitude.
And then to top it off, this creature came around trying to kill him.
Sometimes, it was rather successful. And then today, it had said all
it wanted were his emotions....
           Jake realized. The pieces fell into place. Of course, why
hadn't he thought of it before? All of the facts fit together, except
for three very important ones. Why? Who would want to do this, And
how did he/she do it? Before he could finish, Jake fell asleep.

EPILOGUE

           The small kat hurried into the lab, carrying a file in his
right paw. Upon arrival, he found the professor sitting in his chair,
typing some notes.
           'Here's the report on the experiment, Sir.'
The professor took the file and read through it.
            'Very interesting. The subject bought it hook, line and
sinker.'
            'I must congratulate you on the brainwave experiment's
success, sir.'
            'I agree. It uncovered more results than I could have
ever hoped.'
The professor typed a few more words and then stood up. 
            'Come. We must do some more analyzing of the results.'
The professor and the smaller kat left the lab, a feeling of
satisfaction with them.

Note: Excerpt from the professor's logbook, Brainwave experiment 12.

Entry J-34B, Professor J. Derrida's logbook. 

            The experiment proved to be a raving success. I must
admit, using mental telepathy to induce emotions while monitoring
brainwave patterns was an ingenious idea. The experiment proved
extremely painful for the test subject, but it had to be done. We
shall keep this experiment under wraps, using it only for my
research. Hopefully, we can use this test subject for later
experiments, but that remains to be seen. Until then, this file is
closed.

The end.

This is the most complex piece of fan-fiction I have ever done
before. If you need an explanation, or have comments and suggestions
for future stories, E-mail me at: globemanet@ppp.nasionet.net 

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