THE NIGHTMARE WITHIN: Chapter 1

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kevin removed the crumpled packaging material from his new backpack.  The blue bag had red straps and pockets all over the place.  His mom had left it on his bed as some kind of present, but all it did was remind him that school was approaching much too quickly for his liking.  After playing ball with the kids from the neighborhood, going to a new school wouldn't be all that bad, but still, he wondered why everything had to change all at once.  Why couldn't he wake up every morning, grab his baseball glove and disappear until the sun dipped below the trees?

He had made it through dinner, but barely.  He didn't want to let on that he had gorged himself on ice cream so close to dinnertime, even if his mom had given him the money.  He ate as much roast beef and mashed potatoes as he could manage.  He told his mom and grandma about how his team had won, and about Lucy's inability to catch a ball or swing a bat and his God-like pitching arm.  He left out mentioning Screamer's swear-laced tantrum or how Reid had assumed Kevin's parents were divorced.  It was like the kids from down the block and his family came from different worlds and he didn't want them to mix.

But now his heart raced as night overwhelmed everything it touched.  The day started slowly, with an enjoyable breakfast with his family.  Then the hours at the ball field slipped away as leisurely as maple syrup dripping from a bottle.  The sun had set, having taken shelter from the coming night, leaving him alone in his room.  It felt like time was accelerating, shoving him down a road to the inevitable and painful crash of sleep and the ever-present Mr. Freakshow.  He didn't want to think about falling asleep.  Maybe he was just being a chicken.  Maybe he should just grow up.

I bet Reid isn't afraid to fall asleep. 

Kevin thought of his new friend, and wondered if he could call him a friend at this point.  Probably not.  Reid probably hadn't given Kevin a second thought after the game split up earlier tonight.  Kevin would probably have to reintroduce himself when he went back tomorrow.  Reid seemed so confident and grown up that he didn't need to know anyone.  He didn't need to go out of his way to know anybody when everybody already knew who he was.

Kevin tugged the zipper all the way open on the biggest pocket of his backpack and held it open like a lion tamer ready to stuff his head into a lion's mouth.  The bag had enough space to carry just about anything.  He glanced from the bag to his dresser (or rather his Uncle David's old dresser), and knew he wasn't nearly as confident as Reid.  He couldn't face another night of nightmares, couldn't face the pain straining every chest muscle as his heart throttled against his sternum.  Even if it meant he was a chicken, he didn't want to ever sleep again.

He opened a dresser drawer and took out a clean t-shirt, and then grabbed his windbreaker off the back of his desk chair.  His mom had also bought him a new dictionary and thesaurus, placing them on his desk.  He couldn't imagine a future where he would soon spend hours on end sitting at the desk, looking up vocabulary words or reading a history textbook.  He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of tomorrow. 

His old Boy Scout flashlight was in the bottom of the closet.  He glanced at the band stickers his Uncle David had left on the closet's back wall: Kiss, Yes, Boston, and absently wondered why people named their bands such stupid names.  He filled his backpack with gear he might need.  Clothes, check.  Flashlight, check.  The pocketknife his mom didn't know about stashed in his sock drawer, check.  The blade was dull, but the point might do some damage if he needed it to.  He looked around the room and couldn't think of anything else he should bring.  That only left going to the kitchen before he would leave.

Running away like a chicken.

He pressed his ear to the door, but didn't hear anything.  It was fully dark out and his grandma was almost certainly asleep.  She was a light sleeper, but would usually turn in early and listen to the day's soaps on the soap opera channel, falling asleep in the process.  His mom was another story.  She was unpredictable and could be just about anywhere in the house at this time of night.  She could be in taking a bath, or washing the last of the dinner dishes, or possibly in the living room doing a crossword.  It was much to his relief when he noticed her bedroom door closed and the light of her T.V. flickering under the door.  Kevin hefted his backpack to one shoulder and closed his bedroom door as quietly as possible.