The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 25 🔻 The Long-lost Lucid Dreamers

At the last second, Webb dove out of the way. Crow squealed when he found himself doused instead of Webb.

"Oh, shit," Vale clapped a hand over her mouth, aghast at what she'd done. "Sorry, mate!"

Crow just growled and skulked further away from the pool. He perched on a stone, joined by his drenched, poofy birds.

"There. Avenged," I said, ringing water from my scarf.

Then I gasped as Webb suddenly barrelled into Vale and me, sending all three of us tumbling into the water with a yell. A slippery little frog hopped out of our way, much to my delight and to Webb's utter terror. We collapsed together in a laughing, tangled heap on the islet at the roots of the tree.

We laid there together, while our gasping laughter ceased. Above us, the wind chimes continued their slow, sad tune, and the fireflies continued to spiral like stars in a galaxy.

I breathed in, excited to tell Dominic about all the battles and crazy stuff I'd discovered in the afterlife.

We all snickered together, laughing at stupid jokes and teasing each other like we weren't all dead and trapped in some lightless realm...like we were just a group of friends hanging out on a Friday night, with tomorrow to look forward to.

"Um." Webb was the first to break the peaceful silence that followed. "Do you guys think that..." He had to swallow before continuing. "If we had all met in life, would we still be friends?"

I laughed a little through my nose. "I'd probably be too shy to even talk to you guys."

"And I would be old as hell," the hollow on my other side said.

We stared up at the sky through the tree branches. I pretended the fireflies really were stars. A lulling voice joined the wind chimes as Crow sang to his birds:

"Little one, who dwelt in the house of darkness,
Now you are outside, and you have seen the light of the sun.
So why do you weep? What makes you so heartsick?
Why didn't you cry in the dark, my little one?"

Vale sighed. "Do you think this place—this entire realm—is supposed to be Heaven?" she asked us.

"Maybe we missed the boat for Heaven," I mused. "Maybe we really are all sinners. All I know is that..." I cast a meaningful look at the two ghosts lying beside me. "I'm glad you guys found me."

My friends laughed as we nestled close to each other, linking our hands together.

"Yeah, I'm glad I ended up here," Vale whispered. "I'm happy to spend eternity in this miserable place with you two dreamers."

Neither Webb nor Vale saw my grin fade at that. I clutched my bracelet.

"Little one, your tears have woken the kusarikku.
'Who has roused me? Who has startled me?'
The little one has roused you, the little one has startled you.
So may sleep fall on him, and may he return to his dream."

Crow's song ended just as the breeze died. Slowly, the wind chimes calmed and everything became deathly silent once more.

Webb lifted his head. "Hey, Crow? The hell's a kusarikku?"

Crow rose from the stone. "It has no English translation, but a kusarikku is a god who would protect your household from evil." He held up his index fingers atop his head, like horns. "He looked like a bull, and had a rage like one, too."

"Fantastic," Vale said as she sat up. "Well, let's try not to piss off a god."

Three of us waded through the pool and stepped back onto sand to retrieve our shoes. Just as we were about to head back to the bike, Vale perked up. "Oh! Wait a second, you two."