Dead Dreams ((Young Adult Paranormal Romance) ( Dead Dreams Trilogy))

by Michelle Wright

Reggie told them to watch out and not to wander too far away in case they couldn’t find their way back. Remembering how easy it was to loose their bearings they took his advice seriously, losing what they perceived as home comforts would be catastrophic for both of them. It was time to be responsible.

  “I had a weird dream last night.” Adam remarked as they walked in the morning sunshine.

  “What was in it, tell me?”

  “It was all mixed up and my dad was there too, I’ve never had such a vivid dream before, not like this I remember all of it.”

  “Me too, I’ve been having dreams for a while that seem real and I’ve got recall.”

  “Weird huh?”

  “Uber weird.”

  The morning sun was welcoming now they had a place to stay, feeling more secure than before the pressure to search for food or a place to sleep was gone. If they were back in time there will be lunch then dinner and a bed, Adam realized that he could no longer take anything for granted, having been denied basic comforts and needs even for the shortest time had brought home just how important they were when you didn’t have them. For the first time in a long time he felt lighter-happier.

  “Adam watch out!”

  Summer screamed. Without looking Adam had crossed the street and hit the side of an oncoming car; knocked back he fell to the ground as the driver sped on making his escape.

  “Adam oh my god…Adam!”

  He pulled himself up immediately wondering what the hell had just happened.

  “Are you okay? I thought you’d…that was a hell of a bang.” Summer was in a blind panic.

  “I’m okay seriously, look there’s not a mark on me, must be my lucky day.”

  “Angel on your shoulder I guess.”

  “Or the devil keeping me safe.” He replied jokingly.

  It was no big surprise that nobody stopped to help and check that that he was okay. No-one wanted to get involved with accidents or cops in this neighbourhood.

  “Let’s go back so you can rest, you’ve had a shock.” Summer said.

  Counting himself lucky that he didn’t even have a scratch or bruise, he found it amusing that Summer was coming on like a mother hen, fussing and worrying. No-one had done that in a long time and it felt so good he didn’t want it to stop. She took hold of his hand as they walked and he didn’t brush her away. Instead he held on tight like a lost soul who had found someone to cling to in a sea of chaos and helplessness. As they walked Summer opened up.

  “All my life I’ve been scared, scared of everything and that’s why I eat and throw up because I hate myself. It’s a relief to be sick. I’m such a fucked up mess.”

  “I don’t think you hate yourself as much as I hate me.”

  “Maybe you’re right…I mean I’m not the one who tried to kill themselves.”

  “You think? My way was quicker, you’re doing it slower each and every time you stick your fingers down your dumb throat.”

  “God damn it Adam every time we talk you start a fight!”

  “Other way round girl, you’re always fired up with bullets!” He replied letting go of her hand brimming with anger.

  “Where are you going now?” She called as he headed off.

  “Back to Reggie’s to get some fucking peace so stay out of my face!”

  Raging inside he tried to figure out why she was sweet and caring one minute and toxic the next. He’d never felt so attached and so repulsed toward any girl like this before and wanted to find the courage to walk away and forget she’d ever existed. By the time he’d arrived back at the house, she was already there. She’d beaten him to it by taking a short-cut and running like crazy; praying the whole while that he’d come back. She was curled up on the couch and red eyed from crying, avoiding Adam’s icy stare as Reggie took on the role of mediator.

  “What is the problem with the two of you, sniping at each other all the time?”

  “She’s screwed up man... blowing hot and cold, I don’t need the bullshit” Adam was determined to defend himself and sway Reggie into his corner.

  ‘Best you don’t argue that’ll get you nowhere.” He replied tactfully.

  “Yeh well, tell her that then!”

  “Why don’t you just try to talk to her yourself?”

  “No I’ve nothing to say to the dumb stupid bitch, I’m done with her!”

  Summer was crying uncontrollably while Reggie did his best to consol her. Adam reverted back to familiar behaviour by storming upstairs and throwing himself down on the mattress. Angrily he grabbed the pillow and put it over his face to shut the world out.

  Why’s she the one acting like the victim? Manipulating little bitch, now I’m the bad one, they’re all gonna hate me now.

  He concluded that the moment he headed back down everyone would attack him on sight, blank him out or worse- order him to leave. He tried to ignore the footsteps coming up the stairs, footsteps that were too heavy to be Summer’s.

  “I think you really need to work out what’s going on, both of you are so unhappy, and as I said before it’s time you moved on.” It was Reggie standing tentatively by the door.

  “Then kick me out, do it now, I’ll fuck off for sure!”

  “No, you have to make that decision yourself, I never put someone out on the street, ever.”

  “Leave me the hell alone.” Adam replied burying his head once more in the pillow as angry thoughts swirled around in his troubled mind,

  Why is everything so strange and screwed up? Since I’ve been here in this stinking hole of a city everything has felt bad, gone wrong and not made any sense. If it wasn’t for Roy I’d suck eggs and head on home right now.

  Having calmed down a little and feeling alone he made his way down hoping to avoid Summer at all costs, she was trouble and the idea of even seeing her face caused his blood to boil.

  She was sitting alone at the kitchen table with a glass of water looking like she was full of self-pity and remorse. Ignoring her he searched for a quick snack doing his best to avoid eye contact.

  “I guess this is it, we go our separate ways now.” She remarked softly.

  “Sounds good to me, I’ll do better without you around that’s for sure.”

  “I always push people away. I know I do it but I can’t stop.”

  “Like I care.”

  “How did you get to be so hard Adam?”

  “It’s the only way to be, stay soft and people walk all over you. I let my guard down for one damn moment and look what you did.”

  “I guess sorry doesn’t cut it then?”

  “No it doesn’t.”

  “So…what now?”

  “I don’t give a shit what you do I’m outta here.” He replied flatly hoping she’d got the message.

  To make his point fully understood he took off the loaned sweater and threw it roughly toward an empty chair-vowing never to return again.

  No-one stopped him as he proceeded to walk out, not even Reggie who was talking with someone in the hallway. Adam wanted him to beg him to stay but his pride got in the way as he spilled out onto the sidewalk, alone and adrift.

  The afternoon sun was shining down onto the dirty packed sidewalks. People were busy getting on with their hurried lives coming and going without a care in the world except for their own problems. Others hung aimlessly in the streets. They were the jobless and bored looking to take on any opportunity that came their way. Then there were the lost who; like Adam and Summer were homeless and drifting, waking everyday wondering where they would sleep later that night. He wasn’t that far from the house and without a clue where he was he turned into a narrow alley its high walls creating a claustrophobic and threatening feeling. Adam only had one urge, to bang his head repeatedly against the rough concrete and remove the demons.

  “Hey buddy what are you doing?”

  An old man slightly hunched over had stopped and was watching the spectacle in horror.

  “Look what you’ve done to your head young man, why do such a thing
?”

  “What’s it to you?” He replied, as the blood started to trickle down his face.

  “Now now don’t be so mean, I’m only trying to help.”

  “I don’t need your help, if I wanna bash my brains out I’ll do it!”

  “Such an angry young man, what ever it is it can’t be that bad, surely?”

  “Wanna bet?”

  No matter what, Adam was determined to do what he wanted to do. No-one was ever going to get the chance to order him around again; even a kindly old man had become a threat.

  “What do you want?” His suspicions heightened.

  “To help you, that’s all.”

  “Why is it that every where I go some dickhead is wanting to help. If I wanna kill myself or crush my brain to pieces then it’s my business.”

  “That’s the problem, it’s not just your business.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That there are people out there who care and want to help, why don’t you come with me, I can give you something to eat maybe?”

  Was this yet another Reggie or Rone? What kind of a strange twisted game was being played out and who was behind it? There were far too many co-incidences and encounters with strangers on the sidewalk that was creating deeper paranoia in Adam with each passing hour. His immediate impulse was to go back for Summer and run even though the old man seemed harmless, there was something about him that Adam didn’t like and it was making him uneasy.

  “What’s wrong with your eyes,” Adam remarked. “They’re vacant like you’re spaced out on something?”

  “That’s the way I look, my mother always told me I had the strangest eyes and she never could figure out which side of the family I inherited them from.”

  “I have to agree with her.”

  “Have you seen this?” He said pointing to some wilted flowers propped up against the opposite wall.

  “What are they for?”

  “Someone was killed there a few weeks back, robbed for a few dollars. This isn’t the place for a young man to be, this area has seen its fair share of trouble.”

  “Then it’s time I left, nice knowing you.” He replied nervously regretting that he’d taken a wrong turn.

  Turning fast on his heels he returned to the house, grateful for the sanctuary. The story of a recent murder a stones throw from where he had been staying sent shivers through Adam who was outwardly cocky and self-assured. Street-life, drive by’s and muggings were alien, something he’d only ever seen on Cops and America’s most wanted. In his neighbourhood murders and serious crimes were unheard of, the worse being an occasional break-in or auto theft. The only way to find out what crimes were committed in other places was found in the newspaper that was unceremoniously dumped onto the drive from the adolescent delivery boy on his bike. Wilted flowers against a cracked and dirty wall would have been unthinkable.

  Reluctantly returning he found Summer exactly where he’d left her; sitting alone with her head tilted back staring at the ceiling, the chair slightly rocking.

  “Yeh?” She remarked sensing his presence.

  “I’m back.”

  “And then?”

  “And then…we go someplace.”

  “Where’s that then…the someplace.”

  “Who knows, we’ve managed up to now haven’t we?”

  “Too right we have!” She replied sitting upright and looking straight into his eyes.

  All is forgiven as they sit together at the table. Adam explained in detail about the old man and the wall of flowers and how weird it all was, the endless meetings with strangers. She didn’t comment about the bruises on his head knowing it was self-inflicted she was afraid to stir up trouble again but, she did have a theory about the strangers.

  “In the city you have too types…the charity workers like Reggie and people who care, and then you have the likes of Rone who are on the lookout for homeless teens it’s normal.”

  “I might be a teen but you’re not.”

  “What are talking about?” Summer asked.

  “That you’re older than me even though you’re only sixteen.”

  The fact that she looked older than her years meant problems for Adam. He realised that her immaturity accounted for her behaviour and because he kept forgetting just how young she was; he expected her to be more mature, perhaps even knowing more than he did,

  “It’s what you call hard living Adam, unlike you I never had roses round the door and grocery shopping on Saturdays.”

  “I figured that out early on.”

  “Yeh…my mom…oh boy where do I start, alcoholic loser who liked to beat the crap out of me while telling me that she wished I’d never been born.”

  “Where was your dad?”

  “What dad, I don’t know he split when I was 3 years old I don’t remember him and she never spoke about him.”

  “So where’s your mom now?”

  “Dead, the booze killed her a year ago; I’d already left home by then. I was living with a cousin then he got thrown out of his apartment and I’ve been hustling around ever since. Sometimes I had to do it for money, you know sex. I was fourteen when I started to throw up my food, it takes the pain away.”

  Adam eyes filled with tears, since the loss of his father his tears had dried up as he hid behind a hard protective shell, but her heartbreaking story had touched him somewhere deep inside and broke his heart.

  “Maybe we should stay here with Reggie,” Adam suggested. “I mean it’s safe and we’re off the streets.”

  “If you want to Adam that’s fine by me it’s nice here and, the two of us we’re like family.”

  Chapter 6

  Their friendship had taken a different turn since Summer’s confession. It was no longer an attachment born out of dependence on each other as they faced the streets and a world that was threatening. It now had a deeper meaning and even though nothing was said both knew that they are connected; each in their own way bound together through loneliness and the pain of loss.

  It was the first time in years that Adam felt anything remotely light or good, Summer had a heart, it may have been bruised and broken but it still wanted to take a risk on love. Pleased to be back he knew that if he hadn’t then he would never have known how he felt about the girl who had inexplicably wound herself around his own bruised and broken heart.

  Reggie appeared with a young girl who had obviously been living rough for quite a while judging by the way she looked. Starved she sat anxiously waiting for a bowl of soup the only proper food she would have eaten in days or weeks. Adam and Summer smiled but she didn’t acknowledge them, she was fixed on watching Reggie, counting the seconds until she could eat something.

  This was their experience when they first arrived and both felt sympathy toward the young girl at the same time counting their blessings as to how lucky they were to both be under Reggie’s wing.

  Adam took her hand under the table and she didn’t pull away, like two awkward teenagers too shy to say or do anything they stayed like that. It was a marked contrast to what they’d been through and their previous experiences with the opposite sex. Adam didn’t care that it was cheesy- for one moment he was happy.

  He’d become blinded by what he thought was as love as past girlfriends became irrelevant compared to what he’d found in Summer. His last conquest, Katie, in his view a stupid easy to fleece girl with no brain and a lot of fluff was fixated with calling him twenty times a day. Then there was Nadine, needy and clingy, crying all the time especially after sex which she didn’t really enjoy. Then…along came Summer, feisty living life on the edge and taking him from the depths of despair to the height of passion in one fail swoop. Tomorrow maybe she’d push his buttons to the limit again; but for now being with her was all Adam needed. Their differences all forgotten.

  “I’m happy you came back.” She said sweetly.

  “Me too.”

  The young girl had finished her soup and seemed to be more relaxed. Adam attempted to m
ake conversation.

  “Good soup huh? Rosie makes it, I think you’ll like her.”

  Her eyes were darting around as if she was searching for something or someone,

  “Where the hell am I?”

  “You’re at Reggie’s house don’t you remember…”

  “No I don’t and who are you guys?” She asked in a bewildered voice.

  Summer whispered to Adam that maybe he should leave her alone but he can’t he’s fascinated at the fact she can’t remember anything,

  “Is it drugs,” He asked. “Are you high?

  “What, no way I aint no junkie!”

  “What’s your name?”

  “I don’t know…”

  Her long dark hair fell over her face as she sobbed quietly, Reggie came back in and did his best to comfort her, putting a hand on her shoulder he whispered quietly in her ear. Adam vied to hear what was being said but it was barely audible. He moved closer, hoping to catch something but was stopped in his tracks by Reggie.

  “This is not for you guys, move back or leave the room please.”

  Surprised at the unfriendly reaction from a man who was always warm and welcoming Summer took Adam by the hand and led them into the hall, neither understanding what was happening. Adam was angry at having been spoken to like that.

  “Something very very strange is going on, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

  “I don’t get it either what do we do?” Summer replied.

  “We’re going outside the answer is there.”

  “In the streets?”

  “Yeh…out there in the streets.”

  Standing outside neither were sure which direction to take or what they were supposed to find out. Summer’s bit her nails while Adam shuffled his feet. Whenever he was stressed or unable to comprehend something he couldn’t keep still. Meanwhile Summer saw something that got her thinking.

  “See that guy over there washing his car, go and talk to him and see if he answers you.”

  “What? Of course he’ll answer me. You do it, he’s gonna think I’m crazy.”

  “Why me? He won’t answer either of us so it don’t matter who goes.”

  Confused beyond reasoning he didn’t understand why Summer insisted that a man washing his car wouldn’t speak to them. It wasn’t something he was prepared to accept- to prove her wrong. Leaving any awkwardness behind he walked toward the man thinking about what to say.