by Gareth Otton
It was just another injustice for all the ghosts in the world and with every one, the fire of Tony’s rage grew a little larger, a little brighter, and a little hotter. What started out as a candle flame was now a bonfire that was close to becoming an inferno.
He was lost in thoughts of that rage until he remembered where he was and knew he needed to be present. He tuned back into the conversation as Vincent was speaking. He too was crying now, and Tony could see that Amber’s strength was starting to break. She was still smiling at the children, but the smile looked brittle, like it would shatter at any moment.
Tony glanced at Jen and saw that she was no longer on the chair but on the floor, her arms wrapped around her dog, who endured her clinging to him like he was her last lifeline. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and Tony knew there was nothing she could say or do to help this right now.
That leaves just you, he thought to himself, and though that thought terrified him, he forced himself to step forward.
“I don’t want to go,” Vincent sobbed.
“Come on guys, it’s not that bad,” Tony said, trying for a light-hearted but fearing that he was failing. All eyes in the room turned to him, and it was all he could do to keep from running. “I don’t know what all the tears are for, hasn’t anyone ever told you what’s waiting when you move on?”
Wide watery eyes blinked a few times before the children shook their heads, and Tony forced himself to grin like he couldn’t believe it.
“That explains it then,” he said as he knelt on the floor next to Amber. “The place you’re going to is wonderful. There’s no reason to be scared about this, you should be excited. You remember what I told you Tad’s job was before he became a dreamwalker, right?”
“He was a teacher,” Vincent said.
“Yes, but not that job. His other one.”
“Proxy,” Millie answered.
“That’s right. And do you remember what I said he did.”
“He helped ghosts like us,” Vincent answered again, a little more sure of himself now that Tony was asking simple questions that were easy to answer.
“That’s right. We used to find ghosts who were so scared to go to this next place that they had gone crazy and were hurting people. They didn’t mean to hurt people, they just couldn’t help it. The thing is, they didn’t know how good this place was. Tad helped these people see just how silly they were to ever be scared about going to that next place, about how it’s always warm and nice... and...” He struggled to think of a way to sell this to the kids. “It’s a place where you can do anything you want. You can eat ice cream all day, or always be playing with your toys, or going to the park... There aren’t even any bed times. You can stay up as long as you want. And you know what?”
“What?” Vincent asked, sniffing and wiping his nose on the back of his hand as he stared at Tony with enormous eyes.
Tony leaned in close like he was sharing a big secret and he whispered, “It’s so nice there, that no matter how many ghosts we sent, no one ever wanted to come back.”
“Really?” Millie asked. “Not even to see their family?”
“Not even then,” Tony said. “Because they all know that when you’re there, it won’t be long before they see their family again. You know how fast time goes when you’re enjoying yourself? Well, you’re always enjoying yourself in this other place so it doesn’t feel like long before you see all your family and friends again. You know what, I’m a bit jealous that you guys get to go without me.”
“Then you come too,” Millie said, brightening up and making Tony regret his words. The childish hope in her voice was almost enough that for the first time in his life he considered doing what she asked. Part of him knew it was just because he didn’t want to disappoint her, but he was a little surprised to find that the idea didn’t horrify him as it once had.
“I can’t. Remember, I have to help Tad so that other people who don’t know how good this place is get to find it too.”
“And you have to keep people safe from nightmares,” Vincent pointed out, his face serious.
Tony grinned. “Yeah, that too.”
“Then Amber comes too,” Millie persisted.
“Then who will help all the other boys and girls who are lost, like you guys were?” Tony asked.
“Oh,” Millie said, her face falling.
“Hey, don’t be like that, it’s okay. You won’t be alone. I’ve got lots of friends waiting to take care of you until we get there. Andrew’s already waiting to see you both, and I’ve told you about Charles and Miriam, right?” The twins both nodded. “Well, remember Charles is like Jen’s grandfather, and Miriam like her auntie. They’re the nicest people in the world, and they went to this place so they can look after all the people we send there. They’ll look after you until we can see you again. That wouldn’t be so bad, right?”
It took a long few seconds as the twins absorbed their words, but finally they shook their heads.
“We get to eat ice cream again?” Vincent asked hesitantly, almost as though he couldn’t believe such a thing was true. Getting the kids over eating sugary sweets had been one of Amber’s biggest challenges when they first became ghosts.
“As much as you want… and you’ll never get sick of it.”
“What about chocolate?” Millie asked.
“You can eat an entire mountain of chocolate,” Tony agreed, grinning at the child and finally getting a smile back from her as well.
The little girl turned to her brother as though to make sure he was feeling the same way, and she said, “Alright. We go.”
Amber hiccuped beside him like she wanted to make a different sound but held it in, and instead she said. “I’m so jealous guys. Here, come give me one last hug until I can see you again.”
One by one the twins hugged Amber and though she tried to be strong, Amber couldn’t keep the tears from falling as she said goodbye to them both.
“Love you, Amber,” Millie said, and Vincent repeated her words.
“I love you both. You look after each other, and I’ll see you soon, alright?”
“We will,” Millie promised, and then she grabbed her brother’s hand. “What do we do?”
“Just relax,” Tony said. “You know that pulling feeling? Stop fighting it. Just relax and let it take you.”
The twins nodded once and for a second nothing happened, but then Vincent blurred around the edges like a camera going out of focus. A second later the same thing happened to Millie. They collapsed into little balls of light that zipped away along an invisible path until they vanished completely.
Warmth washed over the room in a flood, warmth and so much more. It was welcome, it was rest, it was peaceful, it was everything about a life well lived and a promise of more to come rolled into a single moment that swallowed up everyone in the room.
For that moment Tony yearned for that warmth and was half tempted to follow it. As tired as he was, it felt like such a good idea to just let go. But then Amber was there, sobbing into his chest and clinging to him as she let out all the emotion she had been bottling up for the twins. He needed to be here for her… And for Jen in the corner who wasn’t doing much better. He needed to keep an eye on her because she was at the start of an amazing journey that would lead to her changing the world one day, and he couldn’t leave before making sure she got there okay. And of course there was Tad. Who knew what kind of trouble he’d find if Tony wasn’t around to keep him safe.
There would be time a to move on, but it wasn’t now. Though he could barely believe it after the life he had lived, there were people out there who depended on him, and he needed to be here for them. And not just them, for all the ghosts out there like the twins who were going through who knew what because they were hated by a world that didn’t understand them. Tony couldn’t bear for Amber to ever be this upset again, to see Jen sobbing into her dog like that, nor to feel such pain himself.
He made a promise that before he even thought
about joining the twins, Charles, Miriam, and everyone else who moved on without him, he would make things right for the people in his life and for ghosts the world over. Only when he didn’t have to worry about any of them any longer would he even consider moving on.
Right now he had a job to do, and that was to stay strong for the people in the room who were relying on him. Gritting his teeth in determination and fighting down his own pain, Tony tightened his arms around a sobbing Amber, and held her until the tears stopped.
10
Saturday, 24th December 2016
18:15
Kuruk stepped out of Dream onto the main street of Todmoryn, a small Welsh village thirty miles outside of Cardiff. He closed his eyes, breathing in the crisp night air and relishing the stinging cold on his skin. For the twentieth time since failing to kill Tad Holcroft, he forcibly calmed himself.
Just the thought of the hated dreamwalker made the skin on his chest, shoulders and stomach tingle; skin that was little more than scar tissue thanks to that man. He still remembered the unbearable agony of burning and countless nights in recovery. Those memories created an anger that felt like pressure in a volcano on the verge of eruption. Who knew what it would have done to him had the President not given him an outlet for his rage.
But the wait was torturous.
Even when they inked new dreamcatchers into his skin, brought him back to full strength and beyond, and even after he spent months building an army of dreamcatchers, he felt time was moving too slowly.
But the moment had arrived for Kuruk to give his message to the world.
The familiar popping sound of men stepping out of Dream made him open his eyes in time to see his closest allies appear. Like him, they were dressed in combat trousers and t-shirts, the heat of their glowing dreamcatchers enough to keep them warm and protected. Some wore bulletproof vests, but most preferred open air for their tattoos to cool, allowing for longer use. Ten men arrived, one after the other, more than enough for what Kuruk had planned.
Together they stood in the centre of the road that was the heart of Todmoryn. The village was little more than a collection of small buildings built up around this road, starting with a modest church and closing at the other end with a primary school. In between was a hodgepodge of homes, shops, and pubs. More houses could be found down side streets, but Kuruk wasn’t here for them as tonight the villagers weren’t home.
“Spider, Knives, and Demon, get to work,” he ordered, receiving head nods and smiles from the three men before they rushed off into the night, each carrying canvas bags filled with surprises for this village. “Knox, Smith and Brawler, you’re up that way.” He nodded in the opposite direction, and with matching smiles, those three men ran off carrying their own bags. “The rest of you, with me,” Kuruk ordered the final group before walking towards his own destination, the glowing windows of the Church.
There were no cars on the road and only a few people out to witness Kuruk’s actions, but they could look all they wanted. They wouldn’t change the outcome of tonight. In fact, they had a vital role to play. They needed to call for help. Even now they were eyeing him and his men distrustfully.
Kuruk smiled to himself as he thought of how their mild distrust would change all too soon.
He and the four men with him approached the church and moved to surround it, working with practiced ease. Their orders tonight had been to attack another strategic location that military intelligence had highlighted, but Kuruk had other plans and always had. He and his men had trained for more than what the army wanted, and tonight he’d show them why.
The President planned for Kuruk and his men to keep the UK military off guard, and spread fear through the hearts of Britain by showing how ineffectual their government was to stop these attacks. Therefore, when the offer for American aid came along, it would be impossible for the government to refuse.
The trouble was that the President’s plan didn’t go far enough, and worse, they were making it look like the Children of ADaM were responsible. The President didn’t want this to be seen as a war yet, but instead terrorist attacks that the UK could not prevent.
Kuruk thought this only muddied the message they were trying to send. The world needed to know that anything Dream related was abhorrent, and the UK needed to rethink teaming up with Dreamwalkers and taking advantage of the unholy hellhole known as the Borderlands. This wasn’t terrorism, this was a fight for the survival of mankind, and making it look like terrorism only drew attention away from the message people needed to hear.
It didn’t help that the military leaders didn’t expect their own plans to succeed. These attacks were just a distraction while Kuruk’s army dreamwalked American soldiers into the UK, thousands at a time, so that when the time came, they would be attacking from within.
Kuruk didn’t like being nothing more than a glorified diversion. This was supposed to be a war to wipe Dream from the face of this world and make people safe again. That message needed to be front and centre, showing the world that the combined might of the United States was lined up against the evil of dreamwalkers and everything that came from the Merging.
Therefore, tonight he was heading off script. He would still cause some mayhem, and he would even chalk it up to the children of ADaM, but it was time to send the right kind of message.
Upon reaching the church, his men hurried to the corners of the building while he went to the closed double doors. Inside he could hear organ music and singing, a sign that the Christingle service was well under way. Amongst the voices he heard the singing of women and children, and a flicker of uncertainty made him hesitate in opening his bag. A part of his mind he hadn’t used in a long time was begging him to reconsider, but as always it was shouted down. It wasn’t an accident that he had chosen this village tonight, and he needed to remember why he was here.
Ruthlessly crushing his hesitation, he opened his bag and pulled out the contents.
Folded up, it didn’t look like anything more than four pieces of black acrylic that had been cut into complicated, but messy shapes. However, as he removed them from their coverings and started placing them together, using the clips cut into their forms to fasten them in place, they soon formed a much more familiar design.
Assembled, the acrylic pieces created a six foot wide circular design filled with intricate lines that twisted and turned to form a specific pattern. This pattern wasn’t pleasant to look at, and again Kuruk hesitated for a moment, fearing he was going too far. But then he remembered the horrors committed by the dreamwalkers he’d hunted and the face that he knew would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. It was no easier to think of Lucy now than it was right after she killed herself, and his doubts were cast aside. This was distasteful work, but it was necessary.
“Everyone in place?” he asked into the sensitive microphone at his throat.
“Spider in place, sir.”
“Demon in place, sir.”
“Knox in place and ready, sir.”
One by one, all of his men signalled that they had placed their own Dreamcatchers and were ready.
“Okay. Good luck everyone. Activate them now.”
Kuruk brushed his fingers over the cool plastic of the dreamcatcher and thought of the Dream caught within. Or, more accurately, a nightmare.
Light flared to life, shockingly bright and white in the blackness of the winter evening.
Kuruk turned and ran, unwilling to be in range of that nightmare when it formed. He rushed back towards the road and ducked around the front of the nearby post office. Once safe, he risked poking his head around the corner to watch his handiwork play out.
The light continued to build as the dreamcatcher pulled in the power to bring over the nightmare. But it wasn’t long before something large and black blotted out the light of the dreamcatcher as it pulled itself into this reality.
It was a living shadow, eight-foot tall and half as wide. It was so black it looked two dimensional, as Kuruk couldn’t pi
ck out any of the details other than its silhouette. Like a man, it had two arms, two legs and a head, but that was where any resemblance to humanity ended. This creature was all sharp lines and spiky angles, and every one of its edges was sharp enough to cut. Its long arms hung to the floor, ending in elongated fingers that tapered into vicious points.
The creature dropped to all fours as it landed, its head turning as it sniffed the air. Kuruk held his breath as he watched, hoping the nightmare would take the bait. The creature turned toward the door behind it, head cocked like a dog trying to understand what it just heard. Then it rushed at the door, its movements jerky like a poorly animated cartoon. As it turned, Kuruk saw the two dimensional effect wasn’t just because of the blackness, but because the nightmare only had two dimensions. This allowed it to slip through the gap between the double doors and vanish inside.
Kuruk sighed in relief as he looked at the ruin of the dreamcatcher that had melted into that door. It was only ever meant to be a one shot, hence being made from something that would melt after it had been used. Therefore, the design couldn’t be left for their enemy.
Long moments slipped by before the organ music and singing ended, and a new sound filled the night.
Screams.
There was just the one at first, then more and more, until everyone in that church must have been screaming. And they weren’t alone. More screams cut through the stillness of the night from across the small village as similar shadow nightmares came to life elsewhere.
It serves them right, Kuruk thought to himself, choking down his doubts before they could form. These people didn’t deserve sympathy.