All Night Long (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Time: 23:10

Bailey

I'm in pain everywhere so I know that it's a dream. Everything is hazy and not quite how it happened. But I'm there anyway.

"What ever are you doing still up?" my mother coming into room. It's late; she's in her nightgown.

"I was reading Gideon a story. He likes Charlotte's Web," I mumble, holding up the book for evidence.

"Well it's late, I'm sure---I'm sure he's asleep," she says, tears misty in her eyes.

"No, he has nightmares, about the hospital. Can't I read to him some more?" I ask.

"Yes, just finish that—chapter," she doesn't know what to say.

"What's she on about?" my father, not a sympathetic person.

"She's reading, to her friend Gideon," she dabs her eyes, stepping out of my room.

"Who?"

"The Wilson boy, you know, he passed last fall, leukemia," she shut the door but I still heard.

"The doctors said if she was still going on about that that the social services has a special program. Maybe it's time."

"She's just little—"

"But she's still bringing him up?"

"She misses him."

"They said they had people that help children get over deaths. She shouldn't be talking to him; she's too big for an imaginary friend."

"She's not even six!" they take their argument elsewhere.

"I'm glad you're not in the hospital anymore," I say, to Gideon, snuggling back down in bed.

"I wish other people knew I was here," he says, quietly.

"I do, it's because we're best friends."

"It's because you're special Ez, but I'm glad I'm your best friend," he says, a little sadly.

"Me too. I'm going to be your friend, forever."

"Promise you won't forget about me like they say?"

"I promise."

The pain grows more intense. I feel like my chest is split open. And I can taste blood in my mouth.

"Gideon," I whisper, blood bubbling past my lips. Of course I can't see him. I can't see him. He's not here because it's the solstice I knew that.

I try to sit up, painfully. There are a few other survivors. Only a few though. The alarms are still going off.

"What the hell was he?" I whisper. That person wasn't in our books. What sort of monster was he? He just didn't stop. Nothing---our bullets didn't pierce his skin.

I stand up. What if he wasn't alone? What the hell is going on the other side?

"Please be here," I whisper.

Wilson

"I'm right here," I have my arms around her, my face in her hair. Sirens are wailing all around us. The other spirits like me have found their agents. Many are dead. Their spirits will be collected, or flown to their loved ones. A rare few might get stuck. At the moment I can't tell who is what.

"We need to get out of here."

"ALL SURVIVORS REPORT TO REHABLITATION ROOMS." Comes over the giant voice.

"Okay, let's go," Bailey whispers, trying to brush her bloody hair from her face.

"Yeah, I'm right here," I say, even though she can't hear me.