The taverna was busy with people, their faces glowing after a day absorbing the ultra violet and infra red rays of the sun. The tables were piled with half eaten food as they discussed their exploits with semi strangers. There was always one voice that boomed out above the rest, this time bragging to his compatriots about sailing in the strong Meltemi wind. Beyond the terrace, there was nothing to be seen. No moon, no street lights, nothing. It was jet black. The voices buzzed in the background as I contemplated this oddity. When I had arrived just over an hour ago, the moon had lit the way and the red planet, Mars, had accompanied it. The street lights had glowed, illuminating the nearby palm trees and helping me to navigate my way. Warm as it was at this time of night, the waves had been crashing’ loudly to my left.

And now, beyond the terrace was a void. No sound, no light. I turned to the table nearest to me to comment on this phenomena but to my surprise, at some point durning my reverie they had left and been replaced by an elderly couple who were speaking furtively in a language that I didn’t recognise. In fact, when I looked around, I didn’t recognise anyone who had been there when I arrived. I was well known amongst my circle of writer friends for ‘zoning out’ whilst my mind wrestled with a particular intricacy of my latest plot but this was accepted as one of the idiosyncrasies of being a writer. The plot led me and I followed.

How long had I been lost in thought, I wondered.

I summoned the waiter and paid my bill. Cash only. No card payment here I’m afraid. I fumbled around and managed to conjure up the required amount. The blackness outside looked menacing but it was time to go. Walking down the steps, I expected to feel tarmac but there was sand under my feet. I could have sworn that the beach was 20 yards away on the other side of the road but the road seemed to have disappeared. I took my mobile phone out of my pocket and switched on the torch. It penetrated just a few feet into the blackness but I could make out giant palm trees that I was certain hadn’t been there before, standing in rows with massive fronds that were whispering and touching.

I tried to navigate between them moving in the general direction of the beach-side villa that I had rented but every dozen steps or so I was having to change direction as yet another tree loomed up in front of me blocking the path. I stopped to think for a moment and the whispering of the fronds grew significantly louder. I had a compass app on my phone so I fired that up only to see the needle spinning uselessly. I felt in no danger but the weird situation was playing with my mind and was creating an anxiety that I had rarely felt before.

It was just a few seconds later that I thought of the obvious solution. My accommodation was on the edge of the beach to the west. The beach sloped down towards the sea so if I found the sea edge and turned left, I was home and dry. Once back, I could figure out what was happening here. I considered ringing someone but decided against it. I would solve this puzzle by myself. I knew that it wasn’t rational thinking but for some reason, it made sense. I just didn’t want to involve anybody else just yet.

I wasn’t exactly panicking but I really did feel that I needed to get back as soon as possible. Once inside with the doors locked and the shutters pulled close, I would begin to relax. I wasn’t aware that hallucinations were a symptom of jet lag but it was the only explanation that I could come up with at the moment. I had to get back and sleep it off.

I started to work myself down the slope and soon heard the sound of the waves. The palm trees were more thinly spaced out in this direction and is was only a matter of a few minutes before I could see the water reflecting in the torch light.But then, what the hell, I felt a sting. A mosquito buzzed past my ear then another sting and another high pitched whine. The sting hurt like the devil – much more than any other mosquito bite that I had ever experienced. I lifted the phone light upwards and could see a swarm of them. Time to move back up towards the road. Again I pressed on into the palms but again, I found myself being directed away from the direction in which I wanted to go. Then it hit me. The trees were forming a maze and there was a simple way of beating any maze. To get to the centre or in my case, hopefully the other side you only had to trace and follow the left hand wall. It was a long and tedious solution but it always worked.

So this is what I did and although it took me the best part of an hour, I finally emerged with the villa directly in front of me.

I woke up with the sun streaming through the windows and I could hear voices outside my room. I threw on a bathrobe and looked outside. “Have I qualified?”, I asked.

And that is how I became the first contestant on the new Hyper Reality TV show ‘Face Your Fears’. Electrical implants in my cortex fed a live feed into my brain giving me an alternative reality whilst temporarily removing short term memories. Because it was a two way feed, viewers at home had the actual live experience of my fears and any pain that I felt. The rigorous testing procedure when I first applied had identified my subconscious phobias of strangers, darkness and of being lost and had placed me in a scenario where I had to face all three. Unlike many other applicants, I hadn’t panicked excessively and had worked my way out through a series of logical processes.

I was through to the next round but I was dreading what they would come up with next.