I'm on my way to the post office the day after finals scores came in. We were returned the piece we had made for the final and the grade that was given to us for it.
I had gotten an A. I wasn't surprised, I had done this many times before. But I was going to send the coat in to Chastopher along with the grade so he knows he can wear it with pride.
It was a white doctors coat this time. Not the same one Night almost ruined. That was sent into him a long time ago.
This one was a bright pristine doctors jacket meant for Chastopher to wear in his career. I know its gonna be big on him for now, but once he gets to wear it, he'll be on field work and looking great too. I'm so proud of him.
About halfway to the post office, I begin to cross the street at the light when I hear sirens and screeching tires. I ignore it continuing to move across the walkway.
And it gets louder.
'Charlie, move faster.'
"Don't tell me what to do, asshole. I'm in no rush."
'You should be. Go.'
"Fuck off, Night!" I told him.
Arguing with this little shits got me distracted and the screeching comes around a corner.
Expecting him to stop, I continue to walk across the pathway.
He never stopped.
'CHARLIE MOVE!'
That's all I could hear. I attempted to move out of the way, but I was not fast enough.
The feeling of being hit by a car was beyond scary. You feel nothing. Just the hit, but other than that, nothing.
And then you realize that the reason you feel nothing is because you no longer have a body to feel things in.
Holy shit I'm dead.
I see the car speeding off, and the officers follow, a couple of them stopped at the broken mass that once was my body.
"Night?!" I yell, but there's no answer.
"NIGHTMARE!" I scream.
Nothing.
"Cooth?!" No response to even his real name.
I feel warm, light, a little bit floaty. The world around me starts to get brighter. I turn around to see a bright orb of light shifting around me.
And it's warm the closer it gets to me.
I reach out to touch it, but am suddenly almost violently pulled back into the real world.
Warmth was gone, but there was no pain. I sit up and breathe. "What-"
'You're lucky I like you.' Came the familiar voice of my nightmare.
"What?"
The officers around me are confused as they call for an ambulance.
I'm confused as to why I'm back in my body and n o t in pain.
'Rest. I'll explain later.'
I lay down and for once am happy to comply to the orders of this nightmare.
...
I wake up in a hospital, the heart monitor hooked up to me. I'm a little sore, but not in complete pain.
"Charlie?" I heard Night ask.
I look to we're I heard the voice come from.
"Did you... did you do this?"
"I tried to tell you to move, you're stubborn assholeness decided to tell me no and got hit by a red light runner. You died and made me use some of my power to revive your ass. You're lucky I like you and have gotten use to your shitty comments."
"You.... you resurrected me?" I asked. I thought his whole goal was for me to die so he could take over my life... what the hell did he... why didn't he just take over my life?! "But didn't you say you were looking for a new start?"
"Yeah, shut up and take it." He said, disappearing.
Holy shit. Cooth Evergreen just did the most selfless act I think I've ever seen. That nightmare, the thing that showed up in my life and begged me to commit suicide had it. He had the opportunity to take my life and make it his own and he used his own power to resurrect me instead.
He gave me my life back when he could've taken it.
What. The. Fuck.
...............
Charlie is completely incorrect about all of the assumptions he just made.
Am I going to correct him?
Hell no.
I may know that I can't take his life unless he commits suicide, but Charlie doesn't.
And for the first time in my puny insignificant existence, someone actually likes me.
That feels good. Normally you don't think that something as small as being liked would change your view on something, but it does. It changes a lot.
It kind of changes everything...
And yeah, it may have been a lie that I did something selfless, but I still chose to resurrect him instead of leave him for a new host. Probably because I really have started to like him. He's got charm and talent and I feel like when I watch him live, I learn. He has a family, a career, a passion.
I've learned that instead of trying to take that from him, I've started to learn it myself.
And it's nice...
....
After the nurse came in and relayed the information to me that I already knew 'it's a Miracle! you're completely fine, yada yada yada' all that stuff, I was let go to go home.
One of the nurses had told me on the site that an officer mailed in the coat for me when he saw I was on my way to mail it myself, so it should be to Chastopher within a week or so.
As for cooth I've realized I'm in his debt. And I'm kind of okay with that.
"Cooth?" I asked gently, wondering if he was listening.
'Don't call me that. I hate that.'
"It's your name, isn't it?"
'What do you want.'
"Do you want to walk with me?" I asked. I felt it would be easier to talk with him if I could see him.
I felt the cold harsh vapor phase out of me and I shivered, but the shiver was welcome along with everything else that came with this nightmare. I was in his debt.
"What." The other asked.
"Well I just... I thought it would be nice to walk with someone for a while while I walk home. You kind of know about the safety concerns of London. Having you out here I guess makes me feel a little safer."
The other chuckled then started laughing. I never heard him laugh before, at least not a true laugh. "You think I keep you safe?"
"You've been doing it since you attached yourself to me."
"That's not-" he stops. "Huh. I guess I have." He said, thinking.
I chuckle. "You've been keeping me safe even though your job is to get me killed."
"Yeah..."
"Which proves my theory."
"Huh?"
"My theory."
"What theory."
"That you don't want to do your job." I said. It was either that or he just sucked at it, but seeing as he's saved me and given me warning on many other possible dangers, i really think it's the former rather than the latter.
"Your theory is based on the thought that I'm stuck doing this and I don't want to do it?"
I nodded.
"Well, you would be right." He said. "I don't want to do it. I never did. If I had realized that I would be bullying someone into committing suicide, I never would've dont that stupid ritual." He sighed.
"What ritual?"
He looked at me and then sighed. "Alright. You win." He took out the little book he's always reading. He rips out two pages of it. "I took these out because they are personal to me. Don't worry about them. You can read this." He said, then handed it to me.
"Isn't This the little book you were reading before?"
"Yeah. If you read it it'll tell you about me and what I can do and what I'm here to accomplish. It's my little guide to being a nightmare." He said.
I flipped through it a little but didn't do all that much reading it. "I'm gonna read this when we get back."
"Fair." He said.
When we did get back, Cooth said he needed to rest and told me to go ahead and read it without him.
I laid down on my bed and opened it.
Cooth Evergreen
Guide to Nightmareship