How To Love A Dead Boy

Chapter 37 | The Nightmare

THE NIGHTMARE

I open my eyes to a very familiar place. In some little dark corner of my consciousness I'm aware that I'm dreaming. I recognise the caryard from Main Street. How could I not? With 'Hue's New and Used' printed above a tin fence, it's hard to miss.

The colourful flags flap and shimmer around in the wind and the cars all have a thin layer of snow resting on them. I can hear the hum of cars along the wet highway somewhere in the distance, but except for that, everything is silent.

I'm alone on Main Street, dressed in the same clothes I remember wearing on my day out with Ryden. 

I start walking down Main Street, down towards the sound of the cars and where the clouds seem to breaking, but then the Keeper is there, tugging on my arm, pulling me back towards the dark clouds and the caryard. 

"What are you doing? Get off of me!" I yell at him. His face is completely shrouded in darkness by the hood of his jacket. 

"You have to buy the car, Lucy, you have to buy it," he whispers, sounding terrified, a sense of urgency in his tone. 

"Over here Lucy!" I hear Noah calling from within the cars of the yard, but I can't find him. 

"But I don't want to buy it!" I tell the Keeper, still struggling against his pull on me. I have to get out of here.

"We don't have a choice! He has to move on! We have to buy him the car!" the Keeper yells at me. But his voice has changed; it's not as low and spine tingling anymore.

Without warning, he collapses onto the ground, blood seeping from underneath him. I look up and see Christopher coming out from behind the tin fence of Hue's. He's holding a bow and arrow, who knows where he got it from, but he smiles at me. 

"It's okay Lucy, he's dead now," he says, his voice innocent and childlike. 

Kneeling beside the Keeper, I remove his hood and find Cameron's face in place of the darkness. He looks up at me, pain in his eyes. The pool of blood below him is getting larger and larger, and I feel the blood seeping into my jeans as I kneel beside him. 

"Lucy! You need to come over here!" 

"Lucy! You don't need to cry! He's dead now! He's not a problem anymore!"

"Lucy, you need to buy the car," Cameron whispers. 

I look up at Christopher, turn to Noah in the car park, and then look back down to Cameron who slowly dies before me, wearing the clothes of the Keeper. They're all telling me things, but I can't take any more in.

Suddenly Ryden appears next to me, crouching and his arms resting on his knees. I look to him, panting slightly as panic begins to set in.

"What are you going to do Lucy?" he asks. 

"I don't know."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he says. He places a hand on my jawbone, and carefully guides me towards him. He leans forward and he kisses me. And I'm quick to kiss him back.

But it doesn't last long, because when I open my eyes, Ryden is gone. I quickly stand up and see that Christopher, Noah, Cameron and the caryard are all gone as well. In fact, there's nothing. I'm not even sure if I'm standing, lying down or floating.

There's just nothing.

Then I realised what's happened.

I've died. 

"No!" I scream. The desk chair underneath me gives way and my sudden jerk of movement sends me tumbling onto the ground. 

I get myself together, standing up and walking to my bed. I sit down on the end of it in the dark bedroom and put my head in my hands. With my fingers, I rub my temples, trying to make sense of what I've just dreamt about.