Defying Equilibrium: Book III

Epilogue

He woke up in a boat, the slow rhythmic rocking of the water beneath him serene and calming. He looked around in confusion, but there were no other boats that he could see. The edges of the lake were miles away, barely visible through the blanket of mist that had settled on the water.

He reached down the side of boat and let his fingertips touch the water, and it was ice cold. With a start, he saw his own hands in front of him and noticed the absence of the bruises colouring his wrists.

That was how Jackson Dare knew he was dreaming.

He heard movement behind him, and looked around frantically. He had been alone on the boat when he woke up. Hadn't he?

"I didn't think I could talk to ghosts."

It was the small, quiet voice of a child. Jackson whipped around again, but this time there was a young boy sitting were the boat had been empty before. He had light brown hair and bright green eyes, a smattering of freckles on his small face, and his eyes spoke of a sadness that was older than he was.

Jackson had never seen this kid before in his life.

"The dreams have changed since the last time I saw you," the little kid went on, oblivious to Jackson's confusion as he gazed across the water. "It always used to be a sunny day, before. It's never sunny at home, it snows a lot, so I think you really liked warm weather. Now..." the little kid was rambling the way that little kids do, "Now, do you just miss the cold weather back home?"

"Who are you?"

The child's face fell. "Jackson, it's me..." He began to sniffle, looking like he was going to cry. "I'm your brother. Jackson, it's me." He began to cry in earnest. "Do you not remember me now that you're dead?"

He must be related to the other one, Jackson realised. The other kid called me his brother too.

"Where are we?" he asked, in a desperate attempt to shut the kid up.

The young boy sniffled. "Well, this is your dream, so I don't know. I think there's a lake like this one near our house, one that Pa took you and Sidney out on when you were younger. He never took me, I was too little."

"Right..." Jackson looked around, but none of it was familiar.

"You know, Sidney's dreams are almost the same, except the lake is frozen over when he dreams. He always liked the dead of winter the best, I think."

"Ahuh."

"I miss you, Jackson." The little kid began to cry again. "I miss you a lot. You said you'd come back. Why didn't you come back?" he spoke through gasping sobs.

Jackson didn't know what to do. Part of him was tempted to pick the kid up and chuck him overboard, but listening to that side of his brain hadn't gotten him very far in past experience. Hell, if his current situation was any indication, he was out of his depth.

He patted the kid awkwardly on the head. "There there...no need to cry..." Which only served to make him cry more.

The kid wiped his nose and his eyes. "Mama and Pa miss you too, and so do Sol and Xander. They all cried a lot when you died. I wish you were still alive, cause then they'd be happy again. Are you a ghost now?" The abrupt change of subject made Jackson laugh, which the kid took as a yes. "That's good, that means that you can watch over Siddy, right? You can use your ghosty powers to keep him safe!" The boy grinned, proud of himself for coming up with this solution.

"Umm, sure."

"I bet you're already doing that though," said the boy, nodding to himself. "Because you're a good person, so I know you'd be taking care of him. Are you watching over him?"

Jackson didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded. Technically, it wasn't a lie.

"Something weird happened today, Jackson," the kid went on, oblivious to Jackson's obvious desire to get out of there. "A weird man came asking at our door, looking for me. I answered the door, cause Ma and Pa were out, and this man tried to talk to me. Tried to tell me I was the son of a fortune teller, or something like that."

Something about that sounded familiar. Where had he heard people talking about the child of a fortune teller before?

"But then Xander came," the boy kept rambling, "And he made the man go away. Xander's changed a lot since Siddy ran away and you died, Jackson, he's so angry now. But I know why he's angry, although he's kinda a bit scary sometimes when he starts shouting about how much he hates the militia, and–"

"He shouldn't say things like that," Jackson interjected. He couldn't help it, and as soon as he said it he regretted it, fearing the kid would start crying again. But the boy just looked up at him with curious eyes, and the crawled over to sit beside him and leant against his arm.

"You will watch over Siddy, won't you?"

"Sure."

"Promise me, Jackson." After he spoke, he cocked his head as if listening to something that Jackson couldn't hear. "I think someone's trying to wake me up, probably Sol, he's so annoying in the morning. But I should go." The boy stood up to leave. "Promise me, Jackson."

The dream began to fade around him, and Jackson could feel himself waking up too. "I promise, Nico," was all he said in farewell.

Nico's face lit up as the dream faded to black. The last thing that Jackson Dare heard was his younger brother's voice.

"You remembered my name."

~End of Book III~

>fk@n