My Nightmare Just Became Real

Chapter 20 - Please Wake Up

Author’s Note: For redemerald. Thank you for supporting me with comments that have always made me feel better about my work. Thank you for staying with me through all these chapters. Thank you for enjoying my work and I hope you will continue to do so.

There, in front of me was Charlie’s family, all three of them lying on the bed. Their eyes were closed and they were sound asleep. This wasn’t as terrible as it could have been but still...a little odd. I went over to them cautiously and tapped his mum on the shoulder. She didn’t even stir. I shook her, harder this time, and still she made no move. Her breathing was soft and steady, never faltering. I tried his sister, and then his dad. No luck. It was as if they were under a spell. My blood ran cold then and I turned and went back to Charlie’s room. “Please be awake...” I muttered to myself. I took his shoulders and shook him. I didn’t care if he shouted at me for jerking him awake, I just wanted to know that he would.  “Charlie,” I said, tears pickling my eyes. “Wake up,” I shook him again. Just like his parents, he didn’t stir. Tears ran down my face, “please Charlie, just wake up...”

Charlie was my best friend. My absolute best friend who meant everything to me. Who did everything with me. Who I talked to about everything.  When he wouldn’t wake up, I just sort of fell to pieces. I wasn’t aware of anything. Just this dark empty space and the fact that Charlie wouldn’t wake up. I didn’t know what to do then, I didn’t know what had happened. If it was just Charlie, I’d have presumed astral projection but...it wasn’t. It was his family too. So I just lay there next to him and pressed my cheek against his burning one and cried. I seemed to be doing a lot of crying lately, it made me feel rather weak. It made me feel as if I couldn’t stand up and do something about it. But, the truth was...I couldn’t. Well, I didn’t know how.

I heard the front door slam downstairs and then footsteps. I slid off the bed and stood on shaky legs in the room. Lewis came into the room. Surprise, surprise. “What did you do to them?” I said, trying not to let my voice shake.

“Listen, Lily-“

“Don’t try and fob me off with some excuse! I want them back. Bring them back...” I said, a fresh flood of tears pouring down my face.

“His soul is lost...for now.” Lewis grinned and I looked at his eyes. Red. They were red.

“Well, bring it back!” I so wished I had that knife now. I so wished I could kill him for what he’d done.

"Or what?”

“Or I’ll-“

“If you kill me, you’ll never get him back.”

“What is it? What do I have to do?”

Lewis smiled at me and walked closer. I didn’t like that look in his eye. “Come with me.”

“Like I’m going to-“

“You have no choice...unless you don’t care about Charlie.”

I clenched my fist “fine. I’ll...I’ll come with you. But, you’ll release Charlie and his family...won’t you?”

“Oh, his family should wake up soon enough. Their souls aren’t lost. Just Charlie...he’ll be in a coma forever.”

“But, you promise that if I come with you you’ll let him go?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Lewis shrugged “That may be the case but what choice do you have?”

What choice did I have? Not many, that was for sure.  Right then I didn’t really care that Lewis had someone good inside of him, in fact, I found it hard to believe that he did. So I slapped him. Hard on the cheek. My hand left a red mark there but it felt so good. So very good to have done that. “We can go now.” I said, rubbing my sleeve roughly across my eyes.

“What makes you think I’m still going to take you?” Lewis glared at me.

“I don’t think you have a choice. Why go to all this trouble if you didn’t need me for something? For some reason, I don’t think you have a choice but to take me. So take me before I change my mind.”

“I don’t think you will.” Said Lewis but grabbed my arm anyway. Then his eyes flickered turning amber and he let go of me abruptly. “I’m sorry. So sorry. But I can’t help it...listen. Some things...” He gasped as if someone was hurting him “...some things...they aren’t what they seem. They...you might think you understand...but you don’t. Your soul-“ His eyes flashed back to red. “Come on, girl. Let’s go before we have any more interruptions.”

After that, I wasn’t really aware of anything. There was darkness and a rushing feeling. I couldn’t see or hear. You know when something happens so fast, that it almost felt like a dream? Well, that’s what it was like. It was as if I was rushing, rushing along through something. Going where, I have no idea but I was going and that was the end of it. When we stopped I had so much momentum that I went crashing into the ground, smacking my head on something hard. Then everything went black again. This time, I wasn’t rushing anywhere...I was out of it completely.

Author’s Note: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I’ll try and upload as soon as I can. Sorry there was no upload yesterday – I’ve been rather busy. Maybe it’ll be every two days from now on. Definitely no update on Friday though, sorry about that :)I know, it isn’t exactly an ideal place to leave it :) Thanks for reading.