The Sleep Taker

by Darren O'Sullivan

  Title Page

  THE SLEEP TAKER

  The Adventures of Horse Shoe Close

  by

  Darren O’Sullivan

  Publisher Information

  Published in 2013 by

  Andrews UK Limited

  www.andrewsuk.com

  The right of Darren O’Sullivan to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998

  Copyright © 2013 Darren O’Sullivan

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  Acknowledgements

  I wish to personally thank the following people for their contributions of time, energy and patience in helping me create this book for you. I would firstly like to thank Tracy for her fantastic illustrations in this book. I am grateful for your time and talent in helping bring a face to the characters of ‘The Sleep Taker’. Thank you to Mr B for your financial support. Without your generosity I would have struggled to finalise this book. John, for your pep talks and ability to make me laugh, even as problems arose. Thank you for making me see ‘it’s possible’. Thank you Geri and Hannah, for reading early drafts of the book and for helping me adapt moments for a younger audience. Thank you to my family, especially my Mum and dad for allowing me to dare to dream, and being in my corner through the hard times. Finally I wish to thank Hayley for having the difficult task of being the first person to read ‘The Sleep Taker’ in its first draft. Your support in helping with edits and belief in me I shall be eternally grateful for.

  Make A Wish

  I am an active supporter of Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK and will be personally donating profits from book sales of ‘The Sleep Taker’.

  Make-A-Wish has a very simple objective – to grant magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions. The charity was founded in the UK in 1986 and since then has granted more than 8,500 wishes.

  There are more than 20,000 children in the UK living with life-threatening conditions. Make-A-Wish believes that every one of them deserves to experience the magic of a Make-A-Wish wish – and they are truly magical.

  A small and dedicated team of professional wishgranters works alongside hundreds of volunteers to turn children’s wishes into reality. Whether a wish is to be a princess or a train driver for the day, own the latest TV or computer equipment, meet a favourite celebrity or just enjoy some special time away from home with their family, a wish come true brings so much to a child’s life and provides memories that last a lifetime for the whole family.

  This year they are hoping to grant over 1,100 wishes and they will need to raise £7 million.

  Make-A-Wish works incredibly hard to help children have fantastic memories through difficult times; if you can please have a look at the amazing work they do on www.make-a-wish.org.uk. They receive no government funding or lottery grants, relying on the generous donations of the public, and that’s why, for the charity, every donation really counts. By purchasing ‘The Sleep Taker’ you are helping make a difference to a child’s life, and so I am incredibly grateful.

  Thank you so much

  Darren

  Day One

  Chapter 1

  The school holidays had just begun and Jack could not be happier. The summer was here and Jack lay awake thinking of all the adventures he and his friends would go on during the summer before he would go back to school and into year 6. Manhunt, bulldog, tig, tag, hide and seek, building dens were just a few things Jack had planned with his friends. However, what he didn’t know is that before he could play all of his great games he would have to go on the biggest adventure of his life! Before he could play manhunt and bulldog, before he could play tig and tag and hide and seek. Even before he could begin to think about building any dens, Jack would have to save the world from an evil force so strong that it would take all the sleep from him and his friends to help with its evil plan to control the planet!

  When I say ‘the planet’ I really mean Horse Shoe Close.

  Horse Shoe Close is where Jack lives with all of his best friends.

  This is Horse Shoe Close from a bird’s eye view (but do not ask me which bird for I do not know).

  Normally Horse Shoe Close is so quiet at night you can hear a mouse sneeze, which of course is perfect for Jack because he loved to sleep soundly and deeply dreaming of sweets, funfairs, and birthday presents. But all things normal were about to change.

  Little did he know on the very day when Jack was at school for the last time before the summer holidays, an old man moved into Horse Shoe Close with an evil plan.

  Jack was just beginning to fall asleep thinking of his great games when he heard an unfamiliar noise, one that he had never heard before and it startled him. It was a strange, slow dragging noise

  “Scrape, scrape” and this noise made Jack feel wide awake again.

  Slowly he slipped out of bed and tiptoed to his window to find out what it was. Taking a deep breath he carefully pulled back the curtain to see outside.

  On the footpath, directly outside Jack’s house was an old man, staring back at him. This old man was wearing a flat cap and he had a walking stick, which he dragged as he moved. He was short and wearing a long coat, even in the dark Jack could see the white hair sprouting from his ears and nose. To start with Jack just stood there, frozen in complete shock, wondering how the old man knew he was there. Jack was so shocked he almost didn’t see the old dog with the old man, who was also staring at him. After shock is panic and panic he did. Jack ran from his window and dived into his bed so fast that if he was to compete in the Olympics running that quick he would surely be the youngest gold medal winner ever. Pulling the covers over his head to protect himself (for we all know that underneath the bed cover is the safest place to hide from ghosts and monsters and grandmas) he laid there hoping the strange old man was gone.

  10 minutes passed and Jack slowly, looking around first to make sure the old man hadn’t somehow got into his bedroom, removed the protective shield that was his blanket. Again, he tiptoed to his window and slowly pulled the curtain back. His heart was beating so hard he could hear it and his palms were clammy through sweat, his nerves were on edge, and when he finally pulled the curtain far enough back to see onto the street the old man had vanished. He had gone, almost as if he had completely disappeared into the night.

  Jack climbed back into his bed, his heart was returning to its normal, steady beat. The thoughts of the fun games he was going to play with his friends were completely gone. All he could think of was the old man. Jack had so many questions.

  All of his thoughts and questions were jumbled up, so I have written them down for your benefit.

  The questions look something like this:

  Question 1) Who is he?

  Question 2) Why is he here?

  Question 3) How did he know I was at my window?

  Question 4) Why is he out walking his dog in the middle of the night, when the whole world is asleep?

  Question 5) What is he up to?

  Question 6) Where did he come from?

  Question 7) WHY CAN’T I SLEEP??

  The last question would be the one that would keep poor Jack awake all night.


  Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours until finally Jack could hear the morning song of the birds. Throughout the whole night the same question was playing heavily on his mind.

  “Why can’t I sleep?”

  Finally, Jack figured it out and then he was too terrified to do anything but wait for mid morning and help to arrive.

  Chapter 2

  “Jack”

  “Jack”

  “JACK!”

  Jack was startled to the sound of his name almost being screamed from outside his window. At first, he thought it was the old man, but he soon dismissed that because it was now daylight. It was a little after 11 in the morning in the morning and he had not slept all night.

  “Jack, wake up you lazy head, get your bum out of your bed!”

  That, thought Jack can only be one person. His best friend in the entire universe N.J.

  N.J, short for Nicola-Jane (but if you ever called her that she would give you the biggest wedgey in the world!) was 9 years old, the same age as Jack and had shocking bright red hair, so shocking that if she did not always wear her hat on her head you would need sunglasses! Jack knew it was N.J outside his window without even seeing her because although she was small for her age she had the loudest voice Jack had ever heard. Loud enough to wake a bear from its winter hibernation in Canada and Canada is thousands of miles away!

  This is a scale of loudness just for you and as you can clearly see N.J is at the top.

  Not only did she have the loudest voice in the whole of Horse Shoe Close she was also brilliant at impersonating people’s voices. Once she pretended to be her mum shouting at her dad to give N.J more pocket money, Dad really thought N.J was mum and handed over Five Pounds! N.J was the best at mimicking others voices in the whole of Horse Shoe Close. There was no-one who she couldn’t copy.

  Jack got to his front door and as he opened it he was pounced upon by Mars. Mars was N.J’s dog who had dark brown and caramel coloured coat. He was called Mars because when he was a tiny puppy he looked just like a Mars Bar. N.J never went anywhere without Mars by her side. They were inseparable. Jack wished he had a dog like Mars.

  “Are you alright Jack?” asked N.J noticing that Jack looked really tired and a little scared, which was not like him. Jack didn’t reply he just looked left down the street and then right making sure he wasn’t being watched before dragging N.J and Mars into his house locking the door behind them.

  “What’s wrong Jack, I’m worried,” said N.J, now a little frightened, as it had to be something big for Jack to behave this way.

  “Listen,” said Jack “something really bad is going on”

  “What’s happened?” Pleaded N.J; even Mars cocked his head to one side in wonder of what was wrong.

  “The world is in danger”.

  “What?”

  “Listen, last night I heard a noise outside, on the street, and I got up to find out what it was and...” Jack paused to make sure he wasn’t being watched. “And, there was a man, a really old man standing in the street staring at me, how did he even know I was there? When I went back to bed I couldn’t sleep. Not a wink, all night”.

  “Not even a minute?” asked N.J.

  “Not even a second” replied Jack.

  “So?” said N.J.

  “So, I always sleep really well but last night I didn’t because I saw the old man, and I know why”

  “Why?” asked N.J who was now hanging on Jack’s every word.

  “Because he took it from me” Jack paused to let the gravity of his words sink in before continuing, “He wants to use my sleep to take over Horse Shoe Close!”

  “What happens if he does?” asked N.J who was now confused.

  “I don’t know for sure. I asked myself the same question and I could only come up with one reason why he would.”

  “Why?”

  “I think he will take over Horse Shoe Close and then, then he will stop the summer holidays!”

  “He can’t” said N.J who was sure no such thing was possible.

  “He could. If he controlled everybody’s sleep then he would control Horse Shoe Close including the school, which means...”

  “Which means he would make us go to school in the summer holidays?”

  “Exactly” replied Jack quietly.

  N.J, Jack and even Mars stood there in silence

  thinking about how bad the world would be without summer holidays. N.J still did not understand how it all worked.

  “How do you know that you not sleeping means that we all won’t have a summer holiday?”

  “Not just summer holidays, all holidays” Jack said at barely a whisper, “First it would be summer, then all the half terms and then finally he would take Christmas too”.

  “How?”

  “Don’t you see N.J, he will take all our sleep and we will all be so tired we will do anything he says to get it back”.

  “So he’ll give us our sleep back when we do exactly as he says. No way Jack I would never go to school during the summer, no one could make me!”

  “N.J, it’s only been one night and I would already do most things for a good night’s sleep, we have to stop him”.

  “Jack, if this is all true then how come I slept well last night?”

  “He hasn’t seen you yet like he has me, but when he does, he’ll take it from you too and then you will be as tired as me”.

  “What do we do?”

  “We stop him” said Jack.

  “How?”

  “We will make a plan”.

  Chapter 3

  After Jack and N.J had finished the plan for Operation Sleep Taker it was nearly lunchtime, so before they could begin with Step 1 they had to eat. This was good timing because Jack was struggling to keep his eyes open. A sandwich would surely wake him up. So, sandwiches it was, well, you can’t save the world on an empty stomach!

  This made them think; the plan didn’t leave them any time to eat or rest! So they had to re-write their plan with that observation in mind.

  So Jack, N.J and Mars began with their plan. Step 1 was now complete and they were happy for the break their cheese and marmite sandwiches gave them. However, now it was time to begin with Step 2. They had to get together a team to beat him. A team made up of different kids who would all bring something to help with the huge task, which was now laid out before them. A team who would save the world and bring back sleep. Jack knew exactly who the first person would be on his team. Jorge. Jorge (pronounced Hor Hey) was Spanish, he moved with his family to Horse Shoe Close when he was just a baby. Jorge was older than Jack and N.J and he does not have many friends. You see Jorge was very, VERY smart; in fact, he was so smart most people find it hard to talk to him because they don’t understand what he talks about most of the time. Even though Jorge was only 10 he can do just about anything! He could build a plane and fly it if he wanted too, although even that would be easy for him to do. He reads big adult books in his spare time and can do algebra! (You know the funny maths where numbers are letters) Like I said Jorge does not have many friends, but Jack was one of the few. You see most people are scared of what they don’t understand but Jack was not like most people, he did not fear anything, well almost anything. Of course, he now feared The Sleep Taker.

  The only problem facing the pair was convincing Jorge that The Sleep Taker was real and that he should stop whatever project he is working on, whether that was building a space shuttle or inventing a machine that could make you walk upside down, to help defeat the evil man in Horse Shoe Close.

  So off they set, down the road to go to knock on Jorge’s door. The mid-day sun was hot on Jack and N.Js back, Mars was beginning to pant as it was a brilliant summer’s day. Normally on a day like today Jack, N.J and Mars would be playing games like tig and tag or having a
water fight but today was anything other than normal!

  Horse Shoe Close was abnormally quite for a day like today, especially as it was the first day of the holidays. Normally Horse Shoe Close was buzzing with the activity of car washes and games of football, and yet the streets were deserted. Jack noticed this and thought it was very strange indeed. It was almost as if everyone had left. Maybe they had? Maybe they knew The Sleep Taker was coming and left before he got here? Maybe Horse Shoe Close was not the first place The Sleep Taker had been? And if that was true then it would not be the last place he would go. Jack convinced himself this was the case and he with his friends was the only ones who could save everyone from The Sleep Taker controlling the whole wide world!

  When they finally reached Jorge’s house N.J started walking towards his front door.

  “N.J, come this way. Jorge will never answer the front door, we’ll go to his door” said Jack.

  You see, Jorge had his own front door. His parents extended the garage to make a downstairs bedroom for him. He slept in this room, he had his own bathroom, and he could conduct all of his experiments and gadget building all in one space! Nobody knew Jorge had his own front door for nobody had ever been round to find out. It’s like I said, people fear what they don’t understand.

  Jack knew Jorge has his own door because Jorge was one of Jacks friends and although he is hard to understand and very quiet, when you get to know him he was loads of fun.

  “Knock Knock”.

  There was no answer.

  “KNOCK KNOCK”.

  Eventually, Jorge came to his door a little surprised that someone would be knocking on it. His surprise turned into a smile when he saw Jack on the other side. Jorge was taller than Jack and really, really thin. He always wore his white lab coat and a pair of glasses on the end of his nose. Attached to the right side of his glasses was a magnifier, which when he looked at you at a certain angle it made his right eye five times bigger than his left! N.J found this a funny sight. Jack loved what Jorge did with his spare time, even if he didn’t understand it.