As Jorge was congratulating N.J on her stunning performance, Jack watched Old Lady Maud blush, he looked and saw N.J blushing too as both Jorge and The Sleep Taker held their hand’s (Jorge holding N.J’s of course not Old Lady Maud’s; that would be weird!) and he knew that one more thing had to be done.
Using all of his remaining courage he stepped from the safety of his hiding place and placed both of his hands on his hips. Both The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud looked up at him. Then Jack blew the biggest raspberry he had ever blown, it was so loud and so long birds flew from the trees, the grass bent under the wind and both of the old couple’s hair danced as if in a storm.
“I beg your pardon?” asked Old Lady Maud, clearly upset by how rude Jack was being.
Jack didn’t like being rude, even to those 2 but times were desperate and so he blew a raspberry again.
“Young man where are your manners?” asked The Sleep Taker. “I’ve seen you before and I will have to talk with your parents!”
Jack hadn’t expected him to mention his parents, (who of course were working for The Sleep Taker), but Jack had to see this through to the end, no matter what. Operation Sleep Taker had to succeed right now or they would all lose summer holidays forever. Fighting off the fear he spoke.
“You don’t scare me” he said, this of course was a lie, he was very scared of them both “I bet you cannot catch me you...You fuddy duddys!”
“Did he just call us fuddy duddys?” asked The Sleep Taker to Old Lady Maud
“Did he just call them fuddy duddys?” Jorge asked N.J.
“Yes” continued Jack “you’re both fuddy duddys and I bet you cannot catch me!”
“Young man” said The Sleep Taker stepping towards him hand in hand with Old Lady Maud “you, I and Maud here need to have a conversation with your parents.”
“You’ll have to catch me first” said Jack blowing yet another raspberry before disappearing into the forest of Horse Shoe Close, followed by a very angry Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud.
“That’s it Jorge” whispered N.J, “I guess we now wait!”
Chapter 30
‘It’s been too long’ Spike was thinking. According to the original plan laid out that morning Jack should have had The Sleep Taker here by now, the panic of Spike and Maria being late seemed silly. Spike began to think that Maria was right; it seemed that The Sleep Taker had won, he turned to Maria.
“Maria, I think it’s over.”
“What do you mean Spike?”
“I think Jack has been captured, I think our summer is over.”
They both sat, tired and sad. Sad until Mars did what Mars did best.
“Woof woof!”
“What is it Mars?” asked Maria getting up, wiping fresh tears from her cheeks
“Woof!”
“Is it Jack?” she asked.
“Woof woof!”
“It must be” replied Spike, smiling again “maybe he has done it!”
That’s when they heard it.
“I’m over here you fuddy duddys!”
It was quiet at first but definitely getting louder.
“I’m over here you fuddy duddys!”
It was coming from the direction of The Sleep Taker’s house, through the woods. Spike and Maria held their breath, waiting to hear it again.
“I’m over here you fuddy duddys!”
“Jack!” said Maria and Spike in unison.
“Quick Maria, we have to hide!”
Spike and Maria began to run and hide, as instructed to do so and just as they were safe, Spike looked back to see the blanket wasn’t laying on the floor properly. In the moment when they thought it was over, Spike had begun to fold it and put it away but he hadn’t laid it back out. He didn’t know why, but Jack had been clear that the blanket needed to be laid out. He had to go back.
“Spike, where are you going? We have to hide!”
“You hide Maria, I have to go back!”
“Be quick! They’re coming!”
Spike began running back towards the blanket.
Meanwhile Jack was panting as he ran harder than ever before into the forest.
“I’m over here you fuddy duddys!” was all he kept saying, to make sure that The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud were still on his tail. Glancing back he could see that they were and they were closing in fast. The lack of sleep had really taken a toll on his speed and he tripped several times because his eyes couldn’t focus very well anymore. Looking ahead he could see the clearing, and he could see Spike was running towards him from the other direction
“What is he doing?” thought Jack. “Why isn’t he hiding?”
Spike skidded right next to the blanket and began to unfold it again, putting the food and drink back in its rightful place. It only took him a few seconds to do and he was back on his feet. Looking up he could see Jack running towards him, his knees were grazed from where he had fallen and his face was covered in mud. Spike could see his was going to fall over at any moment and not get back up. He could not let that happen so he ran towards him. Next to the entrance of the clearing Spike climbed a tree.
Jack looked back to see the angry faces of The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud catching up with him, he looked forward to the clearing and Spike was gone. Spike had hidden as he was told but right now Jack needed him, it felt like he couldn’t go on. Jack had to run into the clearing and through to the other side so that The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud would find the surprise waiting for them but Jack was scared he wouldn’t even make it to the entrance. They were going to catch him before he could clear the blanket area, he had no energy left, and he just wanted sleep.
Jack slowed and turned around, he was tired, he had no more strength in his legs to run, he was so tired he felt like he was floating, then he realised he was!
The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud had lost sight of Jack but continued to run forward anyway, he was sure to be close. They approached the clearing where they were certain they would catch up with him, but as they approached, he was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished and all they could see was a picnic laid out right in the middle. All of a sudden, it became very peaceful, their anger started to fade and they noticed it was a very lovely forest.
10 feet above their heads Jack was suspended in mid air, his arm outreached and on the end of them was Spike, who had climbed the tree not to escape but to grab Jack and lift him out of danger. Both boys were very quiet as The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud calmly began to walk towards the picnic blanket. When they had cleared the entrance, both Spike and Jack silently climbed out of the tree and disappeared, Jack turned to see The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud hand in hand once again. They seemed to have forgotten about trying to find him as they sat down and began to eat.
Chapter 31
The sun was setting on the third day without any sleep. Jack, Spike, N.J, Maria and Jorge were all exhausted. They were looking out of Jack’s bedroom window, waiting to find out if their plan had worked. It had been hours since the chase in the woods and no one had seen The Sleep Taker but they were all still awake. That’s when Jorge noticed something, he whispered to everyone.
“Guys, look!”
Everyone looked down to see what was going on, curled up with Mars was Maria sucking her thumb, sound asleep.
“The Sleep Taker’s power is fading” he continued “Jack, you did it!”
“If it has worked, we all did” replied Jack too scared to look away from the window.
“Jorge what happens if he is just resting and is coming back for us tomorrow?” he asked, still unsure his plan had worked. There was no response.
“Jorge?”
Jack looked down to find Jorge sound asleep next to his sister, N.J was laying down too, her eyes barely open but with a smile she said.
&nbs
p; “Jack, it’s over! Sleep well.”
“Sleep well N.J” replied Jack.
“Jack then turned the other way to see if Spike was awake still, he too was asleep.
‘Is it really over?’ thought Jack looking away from Spike and back to the window. Then he saw them, standing directly outside his house was The Sleep Taker with Old Lady Maud. They were both smiling up at him and they both looked happy. Hand in hand, they then turned and began to walk away. Jack watched until both The Sleep Taker and Old Lady Maud were out of sight.
“It is really over” said Jack quietly as he sat down looking at his strange yet wonderful group of sleeping friends, some of them old, some of them new. He smiled as his mind began to drift back to the games he could now play with them all, then he closed his eyes drifting into a deep, peaceful, dream filled sleep.
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