Come Down From Your Fences

Chapter 9

He could see the flicker of flames through the thick black smoke. Cinders were raining down upon him, stinging his arms and face. Waves of suffocating heat slammed into him, threatening to bring him to his knees. He was stumbling ... searching.

Johnny's screams pierced through the red haze. Guilt and despair washed over him - he was too late. Johnny was suffering and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. Anyone but Johnny ...

A loud, ominous cracking sound echoed above the roar of the fire. Panicked - eyes watering, chest tight, he continued his frantic search. Finally, he saw a shape in the flames. It was Johnny - lying on the floor, not moving. Broken and burned, he looked like an abandoned rag doll.

Finally, an end in sight, he surged forward to rescue his friend. The creaking grew louder and large pieces of timber began to fall. The roof was caving in, threatening to trap them. Reaching out, fingers almost touching Johnny's jean jacket - a wall of flames suddenly engulfed them and --

Dallas woke with a jolt. His heart was pounding so hard he was sure it would burst through his chest. Disoriented, it took him a few seconds to realize where he was.

Gray walls, gray floors, gray clothes. Jail. Nothing new for Dallas Winston, but this time seemed different somehow. Everything felt closer, smaller. The underside of the bunk above him seemed to be bearing down upon him. Collapsing on him like the roof of the church did.

Bracing both hands on the mattress, he sat on the edge of the bed - trying to steady his breathing and regain his composure. It was the dream again - the fucking dream he'd been having ever since Johnny's first letter had arrived a week ago.

He'd read the letter - at first he didn't want to. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care, but that was a lie. Johnny's handwriting was familiar; he'd always written carefully, slowly as though each word was important.

As he read the letter, Dally felt like a weight was being lifted from his chest. Johnny was getting better. Maybe everything really was going to be okay. That night, however, was when he had the first nightmare. Seven days later, he still couldn't shake it.

Hands shaking, he grabbed a cigarette and lit a match. Raising the match to the end of the cancer stick, he stopped midway, mesmerized by the flame. Eerie screams started to echo down the hallway - Johnny's screams. Dally closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It's not real, he told himself as he released the air from his lungs. The flame continued down the match, burning Dally's fingers, breaking him out of his trance.

"Fuck," he hissed, tearing the cigarette from his lips and crushing it in his fist.

"Winston?" a gruff voice sounded above him and Dallas groaned. His cellmate, Tony, was awake. Great, Dallas thought, just fucking great.

"Nightmare again?" Tony asked.

Ain't you a fuckin' genius, Dallas wanted to say, but didn't. "Go back to sleep. It's still early," Dally said as he stretched out on the hard mattress.

"Ya know - you could talk to the prison shrink about it. He helped me out." Dally rolled his eyes, this guy was too much. Just my luck to end up in a cell with a loser who got caught stealin' hubcaps. Amateur, he thought. Hell, even Two-Bit's kid sister could lift a hubcap without gettin' caught. Now he'll want to have a heart-to-heart about how his momma never loved him. Pathetic.

"I ain't talking to no shrink. Shut your mouth and go back to sleep," he growled.

Tony seemed to have a death wish and wouldn't let the subject drop. "Just so you know," he said, "I'm getting tired of waking up in the middle of the night to your screams."