The One You Shouldn't Let In [4/9]
Horror strikes close to home for Jay, a teenage boy who finds he can dream walk
When Jay’s alarm began beeping the next morning, it was accompanied by smells of bacon and toast wafting upstairs. He felt light with relief that— for once— he hadn’t dreamed about anyone new being traumatised by the ‘mystery man’. Yet the fact everyone in his dreams had referred to the entity as ‘him’ ruined his theory of the new Librarian as chief suspect, because she was female. Was it possible she wore a disguise when she took control of the minds of the children?
J suspected that if he could define a ‘pattern’ to the chosen victims, maybe he could get a better handle on solving the mystery. He tucked the hypnotism printouts into his rucksack and headed out to meet Alex.
Lulu waved goodbye from the back-seat of Mum’s car, beaming from ear to ear with excitement. She clutched party invitations in her hand, they twinkled with the holographic stickers she’d added. Sometimes, when J looked at his sister, he yearned for the simplicity of his years at primary school. But most of the time he was glad to have moved on from the claustrophobia of that tiny school and its spinster teachers.
There was a steady stream of red blazers and black suits heading from Cranberry Gardens towards St Ethelred’s. For once Alex was already waiting for him, and they fell into step. Alex was keen for an up-date.
“Did you have another dream last night?”
“No, thank goodness! Maybe no new zombies today. I did learn a lot about hypnotism though.”
Now he passed Alex the pages he’d downloaded from the internet. Although he was impatient to discuss it, J let his friend absorb the raft of information. He stayed quiet: Alex read as he walked.
Finally he was done and put forward his theory that it was the Librarian, but immediately punched a hole in it, saying she’d have to wear a disguise, becayse the kids hypnotised so far referred to letting ‘him’ in.
“A vampire!” Alex interjected excitedly. “A vampire can’t come into your home unless invited!”
An undisputed piece of vampire folklore, mentioned in every vampire film the boys had ever watched. They tried this idea for size as they neared the school gate, somehow the idea of a blood sucker existing in their home town seemed too far fetched, surely they weren’t real?
“Talk at lunch,” Alex called over his shoulder, then he headed off to history class.
Still puzzling, J made his way to the language block for a double lesson of German.
Lunchtime rolled around, and they resumed their conversation where they’d left off. The vampire theory seemed less viable. J wanted to pursue the Librarian instead, for more clues.
“Hey! What if she’s a dude disguised as a woman? Y’know, like Mrs Doubtfire!” Alex was warming to his theme. “She is pretty old and caked in powdery make-up. Her hair could easily be a wig!” He shrugged.
J laughed at the idea, he couldn’t help it. However, the laughter died in his throat when Laurie passed their table, looking pale and haggard. There were dark shadows under his eyes and his movements were robotic. On his tray was a carton of milk and a shrink wrapped pork pie. He chose to sit alone, at a remote, empty table.
The two friends watched Laurie in silence. He was staring into space, making no move to eat the food he had purchased.
“That’s seriously weird,” remarked Alex, who was always hungry due to the amount of sports he played.
“Yeah,” J was feeling guilty that he couldn’t think of a way to help. “We need to get to the bottom of this. D’you still want to investigate the Coach?”
He and Alex dumped their trays, then spent the rest of lunch break hanging around the pavilion. They tried looking through the windows for clues amongst the stored sports equipment, without much success.
Alex had Rugby practice after school. That’s when he intended to get into the building on a pretext, offering to untangle the bibs or some such helpful tactic.
J headed across the quad, ready for his next lesson, and he spied Laurie again. The boy stood by the heavy double doors into the main school building which housed Reception, the assembly hall and was the venue for Drama, because they utilised the stage. Also accessible from here was the Music block, with individual practice rooms and a couple of classrooms.
J was curious why Laurie was loitering, because he knew Laurie studied neither music nor drama. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to investigate, so his mind turned over theories all afternoon hoping for a pattern. The one thing he dreaded to acknowledge was that the common factor— that which was linked the trance-like children — could be him.
Later that afternoon J opened the front door and his ears were assaulted by squeals and screams, generated by hyper little girls attending his sister’s party. Everywhere he looked he saw princesses in pastel coloured dresses. His Dad had provided cakes and crisps, biscuits and sweet treats. The party-goers had already swarmed and there was little food remaining on the plates, a little was crushed on the laminated floor.
Excitable girls were dancing around the living room, taking noisy turns to use the karaoke machine. J couldn’t handle the voices and frantic activity. His Dad had thoughtfully set aside some sandwiches, crisps and a couple of fairy cakes, which J took and escaped gratefully to his room. The harassed dog skulked close on his heels.
Jay fired up his laptop and spent an hour or so on his homework. He had a few YouTube tabs open in the background. While he researched the topic of hypnotism, he was at a loss to comprehend who could benefit from controlling the willpower of children.
Eventually the noise level downstairs reduced to the enduring birthday song, followed by a few cheers then the whoops of excitement ceased. Evidently the clown Dad had hired was keeping the girls spellbound.
J continued to rack his brains; where was the link between arty, drama loving Katie and brainy, top-set ‘nerd’ Laurie? The two were chalk and cheese, J was pretty certain their schedules didn’t overlap for any classes, and he knew they hadn’t attended the same primary school. Eventually, he decided to let his subconscious work on the possibilities while he got on with his maths homework.
That night J was jolted awake, his digital clock said 2.58 am and, like the previous occasions, he sensed something menacing nearby. He moved from his bedroom onto the landing, where silvery light streamed through the hall window, making it easy to find his way silently downstairs. He scanned the kitchen, but detected nothing amiss. The dog was breathing heavily and twitching his paws on his sleep, but J’s skin was crawling with a creepy vibe.
He moved along the hall, and began to hear sniffing and whimpering. It was coming from the family room. J peered around the door and saw a hunched shape amongst the floor cushions. He crept further in the room and was extremely distressed to realise it was his little sister Lulu currently sobbing into the fabric.
He crouched close by, careful not to startle her. She might be sleepwalking too.
“Lulu …” he spoke softly. “What’s the matter Lulu?”
She continued crying and sniffing. When she raised her head to look at him, her eyes were as big as saucers.
“He scared me,” she said with a whimper. “He wasn’t nice.”
“Who Lulu? Who was here?”
“They shouldn’t have let him in.”
Lulu sobbed, her small body so wracked with distress it was hearbreaking. J sat and rubbed her back, unable to console her. His brain tried to be logical. It was a puzzle that anybody could have come into the house without disturbing their dog.
“Did someone hurt you sweetheart?”
J was relieved when she mutely shook her head, he was very protective of his little sister. He reached for her and enveloped her small body in a hug.
Suddenly he was startled awake, his alarm clock was blurting, which dragged J from his dream with a shock.
This was bad, really bad!
J leaped out of bed and hurtled down the stairs. The only person there was his Dad, making breakfast in the kitchen.
“Where’s Lulu?” He asked in a panic.
“Not up yet.”
Dad threw this reply over his shoulder, concentrating on the eggs he was frying. Grabbing toast, he laid one on each plate and then used a spatula to place an egg on top. He put down one plate in front of J, then went upstairs to call Lulu.
J stared at his breakfast without much enthusiasm. Before long his Dad was downstairs again.
“I don’t think she’s very well,” he said, his brow wrinkled with concern. “I’ll ring the school, then the doctor. She’s cold and clammy, I couldn’t even wake her properly.”
Dad stared at the counter distractedly while a skin formed on the egg he’d just plated up for Lulu. J’s appetite had evaporated.
The dream had been real, and the worst had happened; his little sister had joined the ranks of the zombies. And he had not been able to stop it!
J was deep in thought as he prepared for school, hurrying to get Alex’s take on this development. He could not ignore that the children who appeared in his dreams were part of a pattern, he just couldn’t see what it was.
Excellent job Posy. Well done. - Jim