The John Hughes Club

Chapter Sixty Two

The beautiful light is there, like it always has been time and time before. Again, I am drawn to its glowing beauty, moving towards it like I am floating. My unseen feet, they always take me towards the bright wonder of that light. As I'm being drawn towards it, closer and closer towards it, my sister comes into familiar view...there she is, my sweet Anais. The light that I know so well is no longer pulling me, it's only her who now has the power to do that. Her three year old self, with dark curls and long lashes framing her almond-shaped brown eyes, are adorably the same. And just like all the other times, she's still wearing no clothes. Her tiny frame is still naked. Naked, with the light shining so very brightly behind her. In moments that I know so well, I am soon within touching distance of my little sister, who keeps on smiling that sweet smile of hers. Then from behind her, another familiar figure approaches, approaching with a golden aura surrounding them. That figure is Chas. It's him, serenely naked. However, in his arms, he holds a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket more golden than his mesmerising aura. Saying nothing, Chas just smiles. His smile and his stare, are full of the same warmth that the golden aura and blanket surround me in. "You have to keep them," Anais calmly tells me, turning her head to look up at Chas and the content baby still being cradled in his arms.

When she turns to face me, her encouraging smile begins to fade. The golden warmth, that's fading too. The serenity of the light soon feels like cold panic. The calmness of seeing my sister, Chas, and the swaddled baby, starts being ripped away by the darkest wave of shadows now engulfing them. That darkness, terrifyingly wrenches them from their nearness to where I am, Tormented by their loss, I start crying. Them being so cruelly snatched from out of my reach, causes those cries to turn into harrowing shrieks of loss, "Come back! Please bring them back! I need my baby! Bring back my baby! Pleeeeeeeeeease!" my pitiful pleas echo into the void of obsidian shadows, knowing that the darkness doesn't care.

As my knees give way, the disembodied voice of Chas can be heard from somewhere within the brutal blackness, "You have to keep us! You have to, Mindy! You must keep us!"

In a despairing heap, tears of devastation tumble down my cheeks. Desperately, I reach out to the distance of his voice, my fingertips shakily stretching to the unseen him and into the billowing shadows. Crying more and more, I frantically try to reach Chas, Anais, and the baby, but the darkness has devoured them and is now devouring the whole of my despair.

"Don't take them! Please don't take them!" my sobs become piercing screams, piercing screams that are being devoured by the growing greed of the darkness. "Anaaaaaaaaaais! Chaaaaaaaaaas! Babyyyyyyyyyy!" my unhinged scream becomes the loudest and most devastating of screams. The heartbreak of it, echoes all around me and my chilling loss. As the echo fades, so too does the billowing shadows. As they recede from view, I am hit with a grief that starts to suffocate me. My little sister has gone, my wonderful Chas too, along with our precious baby. All of them, now gone. Feeling that so chillingly deep, one last whimper of utter desolation leaves my trembling lips, "please don't take them! Bring them back to me! Please bring them back!"

Waking up afraid to the same kind of darkness that's just haunted my bad dream, my breathing and pulse are erratic. Trembling on my bed, I stare up at the ceiling of my bedroom, feeling increasingly afraid of the shadows that seem to be gloomily staring back at me. Rapidly blinking up at them, I hug the duvet closer, needing its warmth and its comfort. Shivering, I wonder whether I am still dreaming. I wonder whether my bad dream hasn't yet ended. Concentrating on my thumping heart rate and my anxious breaths, I start convincing myself that I can't be asleep. Growing more aware of those thumping beats and those anxious breaths, I know for sure that I am awake. And yet, those shadows still scare me. How they were in my dream, still haunt my fully awake self. Clinging to more of my duvet, I huddle beneath its downy armour, wanting it to keep me safe from the darkness and the last traces of my bad dream. Needing to calm myself down, I inhale carefully taken breaths, exhaling just as carefully.
Inhale, slooooooow.
Exhale, slooooooow.
Inhale, slooooooow.
Exhale, slooooooow.
Inhale, slooooooow.
Exhale, slooooooow.
Repeating the process until my heart has quietened within my rib cage and I can no longer hear my own breathing, I feel just a little bit calmer. Only the truest of calm, doesn't want to come and lie down with me on my bed. No, it doesn't want to at all. Alone with the aftermath of my nightmare, and alone with how unsettled it has made me feel, unsettles me even more...and I don't know why.