by D. H. Quinn
“Kamari,” Aleksander says in shock. I can’t believe I just summoned him. I had felt it though since he found me by the lake. He is tied to me and I am tied to him.
“Stupid girl! He likes you, he’s after you,” she cackles.
Aleksander and I are on one side and Jack is on the other side by herself. The Mare stands between us, standing ridiculously tall. He bends his neck down, leering at Aleksander and I. I grab Aleksander’s hand, staring at the Mare and then at Jack. Jack’s face changes as she looks at our joined hands. The Mare shifts its head towards her and my plan is working.
My heart leaps a bit and then the Mare turns back to us. “Kamari,” Aleksander says doubtfully.
I turn my focus to him and kiss him. I feel slimy about this kiss so I don’t allow my true emotion to show in it. Besides, that may attract the Mare even more. I hear Jack scream and I look up, “Kill her! Kill her!” She yells furiously at the Mare but the Mare intently focuses on her, clearly realizing what she is. I release Aleksander, feeling sick from my actions.
The Mare reaches out at her and swipes her down. She screams as she is pinned down from the Mare who puts pressure on her chest and I remember the feeling distinctly. I have to remind myself why I am doing this. For all the dream walkers in the city, for everyone she destroyed. Aleksander grips my hand tightly and tilts his head to the ground.
The Mare continues to smile down at her, pushing her against the ground and she releases a terrifying scream. Jada comes in the tent and looks fearfully over at Jack. I can tell she wants to go over to help her friend but she holds herself back, a horrified gaze grows on her face as she watches her old friend get crushed by the Mare. The process is slow and clearly painful and I tear my eyes away from the scene. I am ready to act once its finished though because humans don’t stay dead long in the dreamworld.
I create and then hold up a shot gun and blow the Mares head off before he can turn on us. His mask slowly dissolves and then he crumples to the floor. “How long do we have?” I ask Jada. She had the most experience with this as she had just recently came back after an attack from a Mare that had completely obliterated her. She died in the dream sense.
“5 minutes, maybe less.” I close my eyes and quickly get to work. I remove the tent that surrounds us, imagining that it dissolves into nothingness. Then I quickly create a jail around Jack’s body which consists of a decently sized cage and an indestructible force field impenetrable to all types of beings and things that exist in the dreamworld. It also nullifies her powers and abilities that have caused so many so much harm.
I think of everything with Jack’s jail, giving her replenishing necessities, entertainment, and all types of protection for and against her. I give rights to Jada to visit her and pass on the ability for her to control the cage. I had seen how much she cared for Jack and now truly believed she would do what is best for her friend as well. Who knows, maybe Jack could somehow get better? I look around the carnival that is now a horror show and close my eyes in disgust.
Aleksander and Jada are pointing at Jack’s cage and talking when I sneak off. I head back to the carnival games where the body I most needed to see was. He is still heartbreakingly pinned to the wall. I jump over the carnival counter and walk over to him, touching his burnt face.
I close my eyes and try to add life back to him and heal him but nothing happens. I cut his body free from the wall and sob over him, his head resting on my lap. I wish I could bring him back, create him just as he was but then I remember what he said not that long ago, about not wanting to be brought back because he would no longer truly be himself. I decide to accept his wishes even though the selfish part of me wants to create a new him but what stops me is that his body would still be here.
I hear a shuffling behind me and Jada appears looking forlorn at Kade. “He survived so much,” she says to me and I recognize the mourning of a friend that she experiences. She touches his face and he disappears before my eyes. “Release him,” she says, a small tear forming in her eye. I look up at her, feeling confused. “It gives him a chance to live on in some way or another.”
“Like Garrett, where is he by the way?” I ask not really caring but wanting to buy time before I had to officially say goodbye to Arden.
“Jack finally killed him. She sent the message to our red building, wanting everyone to know a rise up from the previous council would never happen, no matter how powerful he was, humans are always more, I suppose we should be aware of that.” She kneels gently next to me. “Would you like me to?” she asks, placing her hand by Arden’s face.
I shake my head, “I will do it, just give me a minute.” She gets up and gives me space.
“I am sorry, I didn’t listen to you all the time,” I say with a sob in my throat, “and I am sorry it came to this, I never wanted this,” I tell his unresponsive body. “But thank you, for everything. Even though you were riddled with anxiety you were my rock and my friend. You made me believe in myself again. You were right about Jack. I’m sorry that us humans were the nightmares in your life. You deserved better.” I gain control of my crying. I place my hand on his head and let him go, the weight of his body disappears off mine and I cry again.
At some point Aleksander finds me and pulls me close to him, rubbing my back until my sobs subside. By the time I pull myself together, Jada has cleaned up the carnival’s multitude of victims and Jack is awake, angrily screaming hateful words at the top of her lungs. We decidedly leave her be.
We return to the destroyed amphitheater and climb our way back up. We find a minimally injured Ed crouching over John. I see Gavin as well, both arms still intact. I let him know about Arden. We are happy to be able to heal them and keep them alive, along with some of my warriors. The streets are mainly clear of dream walkers and Mares alike. Jada says the Mares must have been pushed out by the wall as they are supposed to be since Jack was the one allowing them in.
The remaining few of us head back to the newly created warehouse. It takes quite a while but I am mostly relieved to see the boys’ house still intact. I rush in to check on them and their attitudes seem normal and more importantly they are completely safe. I start to awaken and I run to Jada and give her a final request for the night before I slip into the morning.
I call out sick from work. I text my brother who tells me he is fine and I ask about his dreams and he says everything last night was normal. We will see how he recovers in time. I call Sierrah and tell her how Aleksander is out of Jack’s clutches. She is ecstatic. I spend the rest of the day waiting to go to sleep.
When it is finally time, I take a sleeping pill, flush the rest of the pills down the toilet, and pass out around 8pm. I awake at the warehouse. Ed finds me first and pulls me into an extensive amount of jobs that I happily complete to help repair the city. I am happy to see many more dream walkers out and about.
I find myself at the front gate where this all began. I look to the alleyway where the snake woman once was and see a nice street lamp near her place. The nightmares have been rapidly fading out of the city, Ed has informed me, clearly due to a lack of Jack’s influence. I am surprised to find the group of boys standing nearly in the exact space I first saw them.
“What are you boys doing?” I ask sternly.
They turn towards me, mischievous grins on their faces, “just helping out, we found us a new member,” they step aside to reveal a smaller boy around age 6. He looks up at me and I cannot help but gasp. His red hair peeks from under an ill fitted hat, his familiar eyes gaze up at me with a sense of fear.
“Arty,” the boys introduce me, knowing smiles cross their faces. I kneel down and hug him, feeling tremendous happiness.
“This is strange,” he says monotonously. “I don’t know you, could you please let me go.” I release him, still feeling a giant grin on my face.
“Sorry, I was just excited you all got a new member,” I stand up, shaking off my over-excitement at the prospect of a piece of Arden living on. “Take care of
each other,” I tell them as I begin to walk away.
“Wait,” Arty’s little voice calls out to me, “will we see you again?” he asks and I hear a hint of sadness in his tone, maybe he has some type of memory of his old life after all, a small hint of our friendship.
“Maybe, maybe not, the dream world is unpredictable in that way,” I tell him with a small smile and he smiles back as I turn to Ed.
Ed has become the official architect of the city, excitedly creating plans. He informs me of a few more ideas but I give him a look and he knows what it means. It’s time to find Jada. We meet Jada in the clearing in the forest thru the bar. She smiles at me. “I did it.”
“Thank you, so much,” I say genuinely. “You all take care of this city.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to,” Ed begins to ask eagerly.
“No and you have Jada for everything that you need,” I say and he nods. Jada asks if I am ready and I agree and then she extends her hands to my temples. I jolt awake in the real world. I call into work once again. One more sick day couldn’t hurt much. I get dressed rather quickly and call Sierrah. She doesn’t answer.
I head over to the hospital and rush in the same way she led me through as best as I can remember. I stop in front of the door, my heart hammering, my hand rests against the door handle. I open the door and find the room empty. What does this mean, is he? My mind whirls.
“Kamari,” a raspy voice calls from behind me. I see skinny Aleksander standing in the doorway to the bathroom.
“It worked,” I nearly squeak and rush over to him. We hug each other and laugh and then kiss and hug each other again, not wanting to let go.
The End
