Dullahan

5 - Bedtime Story - 2

He was being chased again. Huge dogs snapped and snarled at his heels, lunging toward him in great bounds as he struggled to run. His limbs felt heavy and slow, his legs not listening as his mind screamed at them to go faster. Ahead he could see his house, sitting on the edge of a huge forest, the lights on in the kitchen, and he tried to run toward it, to escape these creatures, to return to safety. They were gaining on him, and he was helpless to stop them, panic making his heart thunder in his chest. His breath came in great gasps, unable to take in enough air to satisfy his starving lungs.

The dogs caught up to him, and then ran past him, snarls turned to yelps and whimpers, and he stared after them in confusion. Then he looked back, and saw the headless figure walking toward him, the old King holding his head high as he laughed at him, and Eldred knew terror anew.

He shut his eyes for a moment, and then he was in his living room, and there was no headless man approaching. The room was dark, the only light the fire's dancing glow from the adjoining kitchen. Nobody was here, the room as empty as it always was, furniture sitting unused. Where was his mother? He turned to the kitchen, stepping inside. She wasn't here, either, although signs of her passage were all about. Her apron hung limp on the back of a chair, and a pot bubbled merrily from the hook above the fire. A knife lay abandoned on a chopping board covered in half-chopped vegetables. Where was she?

His eyes opened again, and he was in darkness. His dream clung to him like cobwebs on clothes, disintegrating more with every attempt he made to catch it. He felt too warm, sweat clinging to his limbs, sticking his shirt to his chest. The small patient room of Leola's house was only just discernible in the half-light of a covered moon, the window a lighter square of grey against the black wall.

He needed to pee, he realised with uncomfortable urgency. He was warm and cosy, but he knew he couldn't fall asleep again yet. Reluctantly, he slipped from the covers, bare feet touching down onto the cold wooden floor with soft taps. He blinked a few times, yawning as he rubbed at his eyes, trying to see more of the room around him. The way to the outhouse downstairs seemed awfully far away.

He stood for a short while, gathering the will to go further, and eventually he started to make his way across the room. He managed to navigate to the door without making too much nose, fingers resting on the chill door handle. He turned it, the door creaking open at a volume Eldred thought far exceeded its earlier level. He winced at the groaning hinges, stepping through as soon as the gap was wide enough for him.

The hallway was darker still, without a window through which the moon could illuminate it. He stood for a moment, trying to find the sitting shape of Ness, wondering if he'd woken her up with the door. It took him a minute of staring into the darkness to realise that she wasn't there. He tried to shrug off the unease at this discovery, instead pressing forward.

He tiptoed across the landing, avoiding the creaky floorboards he remembered and freezing when he stepped upon one that he forgot. The stairs passed in similar fashion, and Eldred was very surprised when he reached the bottom without one of the adults coming to investigate all of the noise he had been making. He stood at the foot of the stairs, peering up for a few moments, waiting for Leola to come shuffling out. The hallway before him was dark, the many pictures that lined its walls little more than blank boxes of shadow. He took a breath, and continued forward, eyes fixed on the kitchen door ahead, his goal seeming that much closer.

The kitchen floor was ice on his already cold feet, the stones frigid now that the fire had extinguished. He shivered at the touch, only glancing at his surroundings before he pressed on to the back door of the house. It was only a short walk down the garden, and luckily the way was paved. The grass was dew-dropped and damp, the night cold and windy, clouds drifting across a dark sky. Eldred was just glad it wasn't raining.