In dreams and insanity

Chapter three - Circus

Colin sat by his usual bench in the classroom, staring at the clock as the minutes felt like hours. Of course, Laura had tried her best to convince him to stay home, but he didn't want to fall behind in his studies. Although, the school day went slowly, and he couldn't pay attention to anything as all he could see was flashbacks from yesterday's incident. He couldn't get that disfigured face out of his head, but what stuck with him the most was those pitch black eyes.

"Hey weirdo," a voice spoke behind him.

Colin rolled his eyes as he turned around, looking his classmate right in the eyes. "What do you want, Mason?"

"Oh, so rude!" Mason laughed as his buddies cheered him on. "Can I copy your homework for the test next week?"

"Definitely not," Colin replied and faced the teacher again.

Mason leaned over his bench until he was almost by Colin's ear. "You're going to regret that," he whispered and chuckled with a snarky attitude.

"Whatever," Colin mumbled, not really threatened by those words. He knew Mason was all talk, little action. And his buddies didn't have personalities of their own. They were like robots programmed to follow Mason's every move and do everything he told them to, no questions asked.

He just kept staring at the clock, waiting to get out of that prison.

"So, how was school today?" Laura asked with enthusiasm with her mouth full.

"The usual, nothing special," Colin replied, poking in his food.

"Hey, is everything okay? You usually love bolognese," she asked and reached over the table to squeeze his arm. She had that look on her face that moms always have while worrying about their children.

"I'm alright mom, just tired."

"Okay. Maybe we should skip the circus then," she said, looking defeated.

Right, the circus. He had forgotten about it in the midst of everything else.

"No, mom. I want to go. I just..." He looked down at the table, mustering up the courage to finally tell her the truth.

"You just... What?" She tried to gain eye contact with her son.

Eventually he lifted his gaze from the table and took a deep breath. "You know the nightmares I've had since I was a boy?"

"Of course," she nodded.

"Well... I've started having these... These visions, even when I'm awake."

Laura's eyes widened, as if she knew immediately what was wrong, but her facial expression changed to a more relaxed state just as quickly.

"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, love. It's probably just—"

"Stress..." Colin finished her sentence, tired of hearing the same theory once again, as if that was the only logical answer to all this.

"It's not just visions, mom."

He went on to tell her about yesterday, about the voice and the hooded figure. He even told her about the colors of the cloak and how the figure vanished right before his eyes. For the first time in his life he also told her about his experience as a kid, when he met the old lady and was given his necklace.

She just looked at him in disbelief, seemingly speechless, as he told his story. Eventually she opened her mouth and stuttered out some words.

"I... Honey. I had no idea."

Colin tried to reassure her, saying he was fine, but she didn't buy it.

"We have to do something about this, get you help somehow," she said in a frantic tone.