by Gareth Otton
When he looked back up, Tony was grinning at him knowingly and Tad felt himself blush.
“I think I’m going for a walk,” Tony said.
“Tony wait. You’re not going to do anything stupid like move on are you?” Tad asked in sudden panic.
“What? Are you kidding me? Things are just getting interesting. See you soon.”
He turned and walked off leaving Tad and Stella alone in the corridor. Neither spoke for a few seconds, just standing in silence, holding each other’s hand.
“She'll be fine,” Stella whispered to break that silence.
“I know. I just wish… never mind. There’s no use in wishing for things that can’t happen.”
Stella laughed. “Who knows around you? You seem to have a way of making the impossible happen. Like saving me last night. I can’t believe you did that.”
Tad felt himself blushing again and hated himself for it.
“Yeah, well… It was nothing really, it was—”
He was interrupted as she gripped his chin and turned his face towards her. Then those fingers were around the back of his head pulling him down as Stella rose onto her toes so she could kiss him.
For a few seconds Tad was stuck in a state of shock. His mind that had already had to deal with so much that night had finally taken all it could and overloaded. It meant he had to react instinctively.
His hand tightened around hers, his other arm finding its way around her waist and pulling her tight against him. Stella’s lips curled into a smile as he returned her kiss and that smile remained as she came up for air.
It took another few seconds for Tad to catch his breath and his train of thought before he asked, “Was that a thank you kiss or…?”
Stella laughed. “Yes, it was a thank you kiss,” she said. “There might be a few more coming your way soon if you play your cards right.”
Tad couldn’t help but grin. “Really? So you’ve finally admitted it to yourself then. I told you women get this way around me—”
“Shut up you idiot,” Stella laughed as she spoke and there was no heat to her words.
“Okay. Shutting up. Seriously though, what gives? I thought—”
"When King took me, I thought for sure I was dead. Then you all came for me and… well, that meant a lot. The truth is though, it was Kate and Miriam who clinched it for me. If they died last night they would have lost each other, but at least they would have had something to lose. I realised that by never taking a chance I was still a loser in all this."
"You know, they say you shouldn't make decisions immediately after life or death situations," Tad said.
“Will you shut up, Tad? I’m trying to tell you something.” He grinned again and nodded. “What I was trying to say is that I realised that if I died last night, I would have regretted never giving this a chance.”
“So that means plenty of thank you kisses?” Tad asked.
She laughed. “My God, you’re like a child.”
“It’s all the time I’ve spent with Tony in my head. Keeps me young.”
She laughed again. “And you’re weird. Maybe I should go find another guy instead.”
“Hey. How many guys do you know who can literally take you to another world?”
“I suppose there is that.”
“Exactly. Just remember that in the future. That and the price of admission to that other world.”
Stella raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what might that price be?”
“I’m sure we can work out something,” he said, then leaned down for another kiss. This time his whole mind was engaged, and it went much more smoothly than the last.
A suggestive cough interrupted them and Tad turned guiltily to find Miriam and Kate standing in the doorway with big grins on their faces.
Stella and Tad parted, both of them blushing.
“Oh, don’t stop on our account. We just thought we’d stop by and say goodbye is all,” Miriam said. Tad chuckled and was still blushing when he stepped away from Stella and opened his arms for a hug. Miriam was quick to step into his embrace and hugged him hard enough to make him grunt.
“Are you sure I can’t get you guys to change your mind?” Tad asked as they parted again. There were tears in Miriam’s eyes as she shook her head.
“No. We’re decided. Listen. I wanted to say thank you, Tad, for everything. The last three years have been some of the best of my life, in spite of everything. You made me part of your family, shared your life with me… I can’t thank you enough.”
He grinned at her and wiped away the tears in his own eyes. “Please. It was my pleasure.” He turned to Kate and added, “Thanks for loaning her to me for the last few years.”
Kate was grinning and crying as well as she too stepped in for a hug, one just as hard if not harder than Miriam’s had been.
“I’ll miss you, Tad,” she said, “Look after the munchkin and keep Tony away from her until she’s old enough to knock some sense into him.”
“I heard that,” Tony said, drawing attention to himself. He was trying to look angry but his own tears made the lie obvious. “Besides, Jen has always been old enough to knock sense into me. You made sure of that ages ago.”
Kate grinned and poked Tony in the chest. “And don’t you forget it.”
Tony was about to say something in reply but Kate silenced him with a surprise hug. It was every bit as hard as the one she gave Tad and knocked the imaginary breath from him.
When they parted Miriam stepped in to do the same, but this time Tony was ready. He hugged her with one arm while his free hand reached around to grab a handful and a squeeze. Miriam yelped, released Tony from his hug and smacked him around the head.
She was grinning though and Tony was smiling right back at her. “Worth it,” he said triumphantly.
“I should think so,” Miriam said, and they both laughed together.
Finally Kate stepped up and took Miriam’s hand.
Slowly the smiles faded. Miriam and Kate waved to them one final time, their eyes meeting Tad’s last before they turned to each other and, looking into each other’s eyes, they faded.
The process from there was familiar, followed by the welcoming warmth of the next world.
The three of them that remained stood in silence. Tony kept his eyes downcast and Stella took Tad’s hand again, leaning her head against his arm.
Once again Tad’s mind seemed to shut down as it dealt with yet another shock to the system. When it finally rebooted he had only one thought; Jen. She’d be every bit as devastated as he was by the departure of their friends.
Squeezing Stella’s hand a little harder, he led her and Tony back into Jen’s room so he and his daughter could grieve together.
Epilogue- Part 1
Thursday, 24th December 2015
15:50
Mark couldn’t believe it.
It had been nearly a month and still it was the number one story they played around the clock. The fucking Merging. That’s all anyone talked about. The day before Christmas and even then they couldn’t take a break from it.
BBC 1 was showing the latest explorers who entered the Dreamworld at the Cardiff King Gate. They’d named it after the tower that had fallen. It was the only place where anyone could cross into Dream, but it wasn’t the only place affected by the Merging.
ITV was showing footage from Swansea. It was over forty miles from the King gate, but well within the Borderlands. Anything within a hundred miles of Cardiff had been classified as the Borderlands. These were the lands where the Merging had taken hold the strongest. This was where all the weird shit was happening. Mark got out as quick as he could. He wanted nothing to do with that place and the nightmares there.
Channel Four, Sky and bloody MTV news were all covering stories from within the Borderlands. Every day there was some new wonder to report. Miraculous healing, sightings of dragons, people flying. Anything you could imagine was happening in those lands and the world was lapping it up.
Not Mark. He wanted nothing to do with it. That was why he came this far north. He’d holed up in Edinburgh until one of his contacts came through with that fake passport. Once he had that, he was getting as far away from King Gate and the madness that poured from it as he could.
He turned off the TV in disgust and walked to the window. He was stashed away at an old friend’s place. It wasn't a five-star establishment. The wallpaper was peeling in the corners, the floor was heavily stained, and there was only one spot on the sofa he was prepared to sit. The one thing going for it was the view over Edinburgh.
The flat was situated right at the heart of the city, and from where he stood he could enjoy the sun setting over the horizon behind the ancient buildings of the oldest part of the city.
It was beautiful, and helped take his mind off the madness in the world.
The sunset only lasted so long, and soon it was over and evening set in. It would be bloody cold again. It was always cold this far north. Cardiff had it’s chilly months, but not like Scotland. He couldn’t wait to be rid of this place either.
He walked to the kitchen to grab a beer. Now the sun was down he didn’t mind getting started on his nightly ritual of getting blind drunk. He’d go sit in that same spot on the sofa, and try to find anything on the TV that had nothing to do with Cardiff. It was Christmas, surely there’d be a movie on.
He was taking his first sip from the can as he walked back into the living room, so he missed her at first. When he finally saw her, he spat the precious mouthful of beer over the carpet, adding to the myriad of stains.
The girl sat on that one clean spot, legs together, hands on knees, and calm as you could be. She was familiar, and he knew he should recognise her. His mind refused to let him remember as though trying to protect him from something.
She was dressed for the cold. Jeans, boots and heavy black coat done right up to the chin. She would be a damn sight warmer than he was, he suspected.
The girl brushed back an errant curl of copper hair that had fallen over her eye and tucked it behind her ear, smiling kindly at him as she did so.
“Hello Mark,” she said. “We’ve never actually been introduced, but I figure you know me well enough. I would get up to shake your hand but that’s a bit of a problem these days. I have you to thank for that.”
As stubborn as his mind could be, even he was not drunk enough to ignore all those clues. Even though she was just a little girl, his legs shook. The worst weeks of his life surrounded events involving this little girl. He had lost all his friends the night he was sent to take her.
“What do you want? How did you find me?”
If she heard his questions she showed no sign. She kept talking as though she hadn’t stopped.
“Don’t worry about me, Mark. I’d rather be able to use my legs, but it turns out it’s not as bad for me as it is for other people. You see, I have a very talented dad and he has shown me a few tricks.
“He can take me to Dream, and it turns out that because of what I am, when I'm there I can walk. I can also walk in the Borderlands with a bit of effort. So like I said, things aren’t that bad. It’s only when I come out of the Borderlands when I have a problem.”
She waved a hand dismissively at him, then smiled. “Speaking of my dad, he said he wanted to give you a message. That’s why we’re here. Sorry it’s taken so long to track you down.”
Mark had the sudden terrifying feeling that someone was behind him. He slowly turned and sure enough, there was a man standing on the other side of the room. He had not been there when Mark had walked into the room, he was sure of that. He had somehow come in as the girl had been talking.
Mark jumped back almost all the way to the kitchen, not even trying to hide his fear.
He knew exactly who this man was. Had known him back when he first met Maggie and the man had just been some skinny geek that his wife had taken pity on when they were children. After all the events leading up to the Merging and all the time he spent on TV, it was hard to see him as just that anymore.
Those idiots on TV were calling him The Dream Walker.
It was a bloody stupid name, but it stuck. Now it was hard to think of him as anything else. It was hard to remember the wimpy guy called Tad he had once known.
“Hello Mark,” the Dream Walker said. “It’s been a while. I mean, I know you came to see me a few times last month, but we never really talked.”
“What do you want?” Mark asked, almost tripping over the words in his effort to get them out.
“Oh, nothing much. I have a message I said I would deliver.”
“A m…message. What Message?”
“It’s one from Maggie. I’m paraphrasing, but I know she'd approve. I’m just sorry it's taken this long to deliver.”
He took a step forward and Mark took a step back, slamming himself against the wall.
“Stay away from me you freak.”
Tad sighed. “Come now. What’s the old saying, don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Just get the fuck away from me and take your freak of a daughter with you.”
Tad sighed again and shook his head. “I wish you hadn’t said that. It wasn’t very nice. But it doesn’t matter. Like I said, we’re just here to deliver a message.”
He took another step closer and Mark had nowhere left to go. Tad, the Dream Walker, raised his hand in a wave. The moment he did Mark’s whole body went slack, and he slipped down the wall.
By the time he landed, his body was limp, and he crumpled face first on the dirty carpet. He didn’t care about that, didn’t care about anything in the living world. He cared only about what he saw in front of him.
Mark took a deep breath, and the screaming began.
Epilogue - Part 2
Thursday, 24th December 2015
16:00
“What did you do?” Jen asked her dad, having to raise her voice above Mark's terrified screams. They creeped her out.
Tad turned his back on the screaming man and walked across the room to stand in front of Jen.
“I found a nightmare and locked him in it. His body will remain in this world but his mind will be stuck in that nightmare from here on out. He’ll be a madman for the rest of his life.”
Jen’s jaw dropped. “We can do that?”
“Yes, but I’m not going to show you how. Not yet anyway. Maybe when you’re older.”
A month ago that would have made her want to strangle him. Now she just shrugged and accepted it. With all the cool things Tad had shown her recently, including their countless trips into Dream, she didn’t care that he held a few things back. There was so much more for her to learn in the meantime and so much that Tad didn’t mind showing her.
“I’m glad we got him back for what he did to Maggie. I felt bad for her in the end.”
Tad nodded to her legs. “Even after all that’s happened?”
His nod reminded her that there was actually something wrong with her. With all the time they spent in Dream and the Borderlands, she sometimes forgot.
The few times she was back in the mundane world and couldn’t use her legs, was always a shock. It didn’t hurt anymore, it was just a numbness and a surprise that they didn’t respond when she wanted them to.
“Even after all this," she agreed. "The thing is, the same night they broke my back you were responsible for the Merging. I went straight from being able to walk to being able to do so much more.” She grinned. “In a way it feels less like someone crippled me and more like someone set me free.”
Her words made him smile. “I’m glad.” He looked out the window, over that impressive view of Edinburgh. “I hope you don’t mind not having your legs a little longer. While we’re here, I figured I’d get your help choosing a gift for Stella. You know how bad I am at picking gifts for girls.”
“I’ve always liked my birthday and Christmas gifts,” Jen protested.
“I always had Miriam to help me then.”
As always Jen felt a lit
tle sad when he mentioned his old ghost, but even that loss was getting easier to deal with. It helped that Jen knew that it was what Miriam wanted. She and Kate had been together as they had moved onto the next life. It was Charles that worried her. He was always so afraid of moving on.
“Please Jen, I really need your help on this one. It’s our first Christmas together and I need it to be special.”
Jen grinned. She was happy he finally had someone. He had been alone the entire time she had known him and even though he still mourned the loss of his ghosts, she knew Stella made him happy. And she liked Stella. She’d spent a lot of time with her over the last month and saw her as a friend.
“Alright. Let’s go shopping. I hope you brought your credit card.”
Tad winced. “Nothing too expensive.”
"I thought you said it had to be nice."
Tad winced again and Jen giggled. He walked a little closer and with practiced ease slipped one hand under her legs and his other around her back. Jen wrapped her arms around his neck and when he stood, he lifted her from the sofa.
"Alright," he said. "You've got a bit of a budget. But remember, anything extra you spend on Stella, comes out of the money I was going to use for your Christmas presents."
Jen frowned and stared hard at her father. "You haven't got my Christmas presents yet?" she asked in a dangerous tone.
He grinned in that evil way he sometimes did, and then with just a thought, he did what he liked to call changing the channel.
They both vanished.
THE END
Afterword
I’d like to thank you for taking a chance on this book which is my debut novel… or at least the first novel that I have felt is worthy of publishing. I hope you liked it.
If you did, it would really help me out if you could leave a positive review on sites like goodreads.com and Amazon. Also, please be sure to recommend this book to anyone you think might be interested in reading it.
As a first time author with a limited budget, I committed the cardinal sin of publishing this novel without getting it professionally edited first. With that in mind, I would welcome any feedback you might have after reading this book. Both good and bad comments are welcome so long as the criticism is constructive.
