My Nightmare Just Became Real

Chapter 28 - Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Author’s Note: Quite a lot of speech in this one but I have a feeling you’ll disregard it and be interested in what everyone is saying instead – Hope you enjoy this :)

“I want my deal.” I said. It was my only hope. My last chance.

“Fine, have your deal.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Said the old man sighing. “Now hurry up and give it to me. I haven’t got long.”

“How long do you have?”

“That’s none of your business!” He snapped and Charlie flinched. I bit my lip. “I’ve been waiting a life time. All this time people hated me because my soul was dark...I had no friends.”

I’m sorry Lewis, I thought, you gave me clues, but they weren’t enough. I’m so stupid so, so stupid.

“Open your eyes...” I thought desperately, what did he mean?

“Remember your friends...remember Charlie.” Charlie...oh, Charlie. I never meant for this to happen.

“Things are not what they appear to be.” I’d got that the first time. The old man wasn’t what he appeared to be...I got that.

“There’s always a chance to change.” Change? Who should be changing?

“It’s been in front of you this whole time...”

Something clicked. Something, somehow, clicked. Out of all these vague clues, there was something solid. It’s like when you sew pieces of threadbare material together...to make one piece of strong fabric. All those vague things form to make a solid reason. The answer. Maybe it was the Lost who helped me, maybe it was the desperation. To this day, I have no idea how I figured it out.

I turned to Charlie and whispered “I know what to do.”

“I hope so.” He replied, his voice weak “I hope so.”

“You’ll always be my special friend.” I said, kissing his cold cheek. Cold. So cold...like death. I shivered. But his soul would always be special. To me, it would always be special. I’d never let it die...never. Charlie looked at me in confusion but I smiled back. That either reassured him or confirmed his fears that I had in fact, lost it. I turned to the old man and stepped towards him. “You aren’t going to get anything out of all these souls, you know.” I said, confident for once.

“What would you know, child?”

“Oh, just this and that. Do you know why souls are special?”

“Well,” the man seemed flustered. All his knowledge was guess work. I knew it. “It’s what sort of soul they give you. God, or whoever you believe in. They gave me a horrible one so I’d lead a horrible life...have no friends and be alone.”

“Wrong.” I said “did you know that everyone has a chance to change?”

“I can’t change!”

“You’re right there.” I stepped closer still “you missed your chance by a long shot.”

“What nonsense are you talking?” But there was fear in his eyes despite his cool demeanour.

“Souls aren’t made by the creator. They’re made by the soul.”

“There’s always a chance to change.”

“Everyone gets a soul. It just depends on how the soul chooses to be. All your life, you never had friends...why was that?”

“My soul-“ began the man.

“But you didn’t know that in life, did you? Why didn’t people like you?”

The man looked scared, he shuffled his feet and said “I...I wasn’t the nicest person. I...I didn’t really talk to people and...when I did, I was horrible. But-“

“No buts. There’s always a chance to change. You could have changed. You could have made people like you. And you know why a soul is special? Do you know? No. You obviously don’t.”

“Remember your friends...remember Charlie.”

“Your soul is special because of your friends. You didn’t notice, did you? All these souls...they had friends who told them they were special. Their soul didn’t look special to just anyone.” I smiled “beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is it not?”

“No.” The man shook his head “no. You lie!”

“Lie? Me?” I started to get angry “you had the chance to change! You had the chance to be the better person. Yet you never did. So what did you do? You hurt all of these people...hurt them so they lost their brightness. That’s right, they lost it because they’ve been here so long. You didn’t take their friends, did you? No. They haven’t been near the people who saw them that way for so long...they aren’t special anymore.”

“That’s not true! They lose their brightness because of the dark...”  

“No. You know I’m right.” I drew assurance from his words. His frightened words. “Looks like there are more people out there who can see ghosts and souls. Pity, really. If there weren’t, you would have never found the special souls. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so, before anyone else can see someone’s special soul, their friend has to realise it first. They have to realise they’re special to them. Once they do, anyone can see. Even you.”  

“It’s been in front of you this whole time...”

“It’s been in front of me this whole time. I just had to open my eyes.”

“Open your eyes.”

“I just had to see. I had to see people’s souls.”

“I don’t care about your stupid friendship!” A tear ran from the man’s eye “I...I don’t care.” He sniffed “I just want to be loved...be wanted.” He fell to his knees and I put a hand on his shoulder.

“You can...you can make things better. You can be a better person. You can always change, right? Let everyone go...let them be. Then, be the better person you want to be.” My heart thudded against my chest. I was counting on this. I was counting on him being sorry...

“No.” The old man looked up, his eyes red and his smile evil. I began to move away but his fingers curled around my wrist.

Author’s Note: And all has been revealed. Almost. The only thing left a mystery is how they’re going to get out of this. I think... xD I’ve probably forgotten something important. If I have, shout at me all you want and I’ll make sure it’s in the next chapter. :) I might not have forgotten it, I might have just not seen it as a mystery (to me) and would have included it anyway (next chapter) Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!