What would you choose?

Chapter Seventeen

"I knew you knew something," I said.

"How?" Luka asked.

"I know when he's lying."

"You do? That's not important right now." Jay continued, "I know how Autumn has these powers and abilities and how all of this started."

"Care to explain," Raven said.

"Who's this?" Jay asked.

"I'm Raven, you?"

"I'm Jay Autumn's boyfriend."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"And you."

"Stop with the introductions and start explaining." Aiden shouted.

"Right sorry. All of this is because of Autumn."

"What did I do? I didn't do anything." I said, confused. How's this my fault? How would I cause the end of the world?

"Not intentionally or knowingly. I had to make sure it was actually what I thought but after a lot of investigation I found I'm right. It's why I kept disappearing. It took many trips to the dream world and damn teleporting between realms drains me."

"Wait. You have the ability to teleport and you didn't help to find supplies? I walked miles when you could've teleported us," Aiden interrupted. I completely forgot Jay could teleport, I guess I was too focused on the fact he's real.

"Aiden you're focused on the wrong bit. So, you can travel between the real world and the dream world and as you said this is because of Autumn I'm guessing it's Autumn's dreams, right? How come you can travel between the realms?"

"Correct. Autumn wished for her dream world to became real so her family, her abilities, her powers, her hair and me, which is why I can travel between realms, all became real." Because I'm a gymnast and do karate in the dream world I can do it here?

"So, you're like her dream boyfriend?" Luka asked.

"Yes, in a way," Jay laughed.

"Great," Luka whispered to himself thinking no one could hear.

"I knew she didn't really have a boyfriend," Aiden laughed.

"Really Aiden?" Luka stated.

"Sorry," Aiden replied.

"So, when her dreams became real so did her nightmares? The hardlings. Which is why she how she knew what they were," Raven stated.

"Not just the hardlings but the devil to, you know him as the Gowie and he's far worse than you can ever imagine. I don't get how I was able to do all of this though, I don't have any power in the real world." I said.

"You wanted your dream world to be real so bad that it became a reality. You desperately needed it as life was getting worse by the minute. However, you didn't do it on your own. The devil has the ability to infect dreams and when he heard you wishing for your dream world to become real, he took the opportunity to help himself. His goal in life is to kill you and your family whilst also gaining power. He transferred his power to you to amplify your wish. So, his power plus your desperation brought your dream world to life. He was severely weakened. It's why he's been in hiding. He gained he's power back and went after your family. The dream world only became real in small bits like the plants and food going mouldy, Autumn's hair and the storm." Jay explained.

"So, the real world and the dream world can't exist within the same realm, which is what caused all the destruction, yeah?" Luka asked.

"Wrong. The storms were because of the worlds colliding. The destruction was because of Autumn," Jay replied.

"Of course," Aiden shouted.

"Some stuff happened in the dream world and Autumn couldn't find her family, as they're here, but obviously she didn't know that, and at the fear of losing them she exploded."

"Like we just saw?" Raven interrupted.

"Yes, but at a much larger scale. There was so much fire and chaos. It blasted the barrier between worlds wide open and blasted into this world and destroyed most of it. It's also how Autumn slept through the end of the world. It completely wiped out the dream world which is why when I go there it's nothing but white, probably the same for Autumn when she goes. The explosion also speed up the process and blasted the hardlings and the devil here." It's a lot to take in and I don't understand half of it. However, I understand one thing and that it's all my fault. I caused all this. The world ended because of me. People died because of me. I created the hardlings. I created the devil. This is all my fault.

"I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." I said as I started to cry.

"None of this your fault. You were depressed and in pain. You never thought this would happen. We're not blaming you." Raven said as she gave me a hug and wiped my tears.

"Are you kidding me?" Aiden shouted. "This is all her fault. She caused this. The world ended because of her. People are dead because of her. My dad is dead because of her. Our parents are dead because of her."

"She didn't mean to. The hardlings killed our families not her," Luka argued.

"And who created the hardlings?" Aiden replied.

"The only reason she wished for her dream world to become real was because of how crap her real life was. Her family are dead, her uncle's a douche-bag and Aiden you made everything worse for by being a bully." Raven screamed as she got into Aiden's face.

"None of this is Autumn's fault," Luka added. Aiden's right this is my fault and I'll never be able to forgive myself. I collapsed to the floor and cried in anger. I've messed everything up. I should've died in that car crash. Everything would've been fine. The world wouldn't have ended. Everyone would be safe and their families would be alive.

"Who's to blame doesn't matter right now as Autumn's right her family are alive and we need to help them." Jay said as he picked me up.

"Why have they kept them alive?" Luka asked.

"To trap Autumn," Jay answered. I grabbed my bag and started to head out the door.

"Uhh... Where you going?" Luka asked, confused.

"To save my family."

"No, you're not. Didn't you hear Jay, it's a trap." Luka stated.

"Yes, and I don't care. They're my family. They may not be real by your standards but they're real to me and I'll protect them no matter what," I argued.

"Fine. Then we'll come to," Raven said.

"What? No." Me and Aiden both said but clearly for different reasons.

"You're not coming it's not safe," I said.

"We're not going because why should we? Her family isn't real. Why should we risk our lives?" Aiden screamed.

"Because she's our friend and friends look after each other," Luka shouted.

"She's not my friend."

"Aiden!" Luka and Raven shouted.

"Fine but if we die it's on her." Aiden's right. If they die it's on me and I'll never be able to forgive myself.

"I can look after myself you lot stay here," I ordered.

"No Autumn. We're your friends and like Luka said friends look after each other so we're coming and you can't stop us." Raven said as she walked out the door, Luka and Jay followed by Aiden doodling behind them in a huffed. Are they kidding me? My family are being held hostage but god knows how many hardlings and they want to come with me. Do they not realise this is a suicide mission? We have no way to kill a hardling. Raven may have guns but bullets run out. Why can't they listen to me? I gave up and set off after the others.