Inside the Fire by Heather Glidewell
“Dawn?” he called out for me.
“I’m right here.” I said wrapping my arms around him.
“Good.” He breathed.
“You remember any of the nightmare?” I asked him planting a kiss on his forehead.
“Nope as usual.” He sighed.
He could never remember what he saw in his dreams, no matter how many times I asked him. Mine, on the other hand, had taken a turn for the worst. At one time he was the antagonist in my nightmares now he would cower behind me while I was forced to protect him. All the strength had been drained out of him. That once strong figure was now the shell of a creature he once was.
The red head made an appearance in quite a few of these dreams. She would scream at him in German and all he would do is put his hands over his ears and rock back and forth forcing me to intervene. I always came with flames at the ready. These dreams though were plaguing me at the same time. I was happy that I was the only one having them. What were the chances that we were in the same dream right?
When he was awake, though, you wouldn’t have guessed that anything was haunting him at all. He was tired yes, noticeably weakened. It seemed the only time he was a scared boy was when sleep was involved.
My mother had accepted the fact that we were a single unit now, and she insisted that we spend most nights at the house. After a short debate with Mr. Jensen my mother got her way. I kept having this odd feeling that he knew what she was. He would never fight against her for long. He was always giving up telling her that she would know best.
On one of the bad nights she came running into the room and put her hand on his head searching for any indication of what was hurting him.
“Do you remember anything?” She asked him.
“No.” He looked sad. “I am trying Ms. Weathers but I cannot remember anything.”
“It’s ok Wesley. I just wish that whatever it was would leave a trace of something.” She patted his shoulder gave me a stern look and nodded towards the kitchen.
I took her cue and slid out of bed kissing him on the forehead first before leaving the room to join my mother.
“What is it?” I asked quietly.
“Whatever is messing with him is strong magic.” She sat down at the table and put her head in her hands.
“Why do you say that?” I asked. I had yet to see anything stump my mother.
“It’s like he instantly forgets. There is a split second of recognition and then all of it is wiped out.” She glanced at me. “I have never experienced anything like it. I mean I know nightmare demons, but I don’t think they are even capable of this.”
“So you don’t think it’s demon?” I asked not sure what she was saying.
“No, I didn’t say that I just don’t think it’s a nightmare demon.” She corrected me.
“What do you think it is then?” I was really getting tired of the not knowing what was going on with Wesley.
“I think it’s a strong being. Tell me Dawn when you and him are on the plain what is after you?” she asked me.
“Usually it’s just the red head, the girl we saw in the woods.” I stated rubbing my eyes.
“Interesting, I wonder if I was right about her.” My mother was speaking to herself.
“Right about who?” I had a distinct feeling we were going in circles.
“Nothing honey, go back to bed. I need to call on an old friend.” She pulled out her cell phone and motioned for me to leave the room.
I wandered back into my bedroom and crawled in next to Wesley snuggling up close.
“She figure anything out?” He asked me pulling me closer.
“No. She will though, she always figures things out.” I touched his face and kissed him softly.
“My dad trusts her, says she’s the best in the business.” He ran his fingers through my hair.
“Go back to sleep Wesley. I will be right here if you need me.” I said delicately.
“That’s the thing I’m not really tired anymore.” He grabbed my neck and pulled my face closer to him and hungrily smashed his lips to mine.
****
The next morning my mother startled me awake.
“Dawn! Get up!” She demanded.
I opened my eyes to see her standing there with a frown on her face.
“What?” I yawned.
“Get dressed and meet me in the front yard.” She demanded.
I looked at Wesley and frowned. We had been up most of the night and the last thing I wanted was to get up out of my super warm bed. I got up and got dressed quickly throwing on a jacket as I jogged out the front door.
“What’s up mom?” I asked as soon as I hit the grass. She turned and looked at me her eyes were questionable.
“I want to try something tonight when you get home.” She turned and faced the road looking for something.
“What’s that?” I asked. It was bit chilly this morning. I rubbed my arms to try to get warm. My thin jacket wasn’t helping in the least.
“You can remember what happens in your dreams. It isn’t possibly per say that the red head is attacking both of you at the same time. I wonder if she is able to split her image where you see one thing and he sees another.” She explained. “I want to try to see what he sees but I need both of you sleeping to be able to do this. I need you to convince him to let me try to get in his head.”
“Yeah, sure, anything that will help mom.” I said.
The idea sounded like it might work. Right now I would try anything to find out what was haunting him.
“I’m meeting up with a friend this afternoon to discuss some possibilities. I don’t know when I will be home.” She gave me a hug and walked to her car. “I love you Dawn.”
“Love you too mom.” I said slowly wondering why she sounded like she wasn’t going to be home any time soon.
“Everything ok?” Wesley asked me stepping outside in to the light. He instantly shielded his eyes to the sun. I was starting to feel its effects too and walked inside.
“Yeah, mom wants to try something different tonight.” I said touching his face.
“What’s that?” he asked me wrapping his arms around my waist.
“She will be observing us while we sleep tonight.” I said not knowing how, ‘My mom wants to probe our brains to see if our dreams are connected,’ would really work in this situation.
“Dawn, you don’t have to be coy about your mom’s gift.” He looked at me seriously.
“What do you mean?” I asked curiously. Could he really know?
“I know when she touches me she can see what is in my head.” He said kissing my forehead.
“How did you know that?” I asked confused.
“This morning when I woke up screaming for you she was there in an instant with her hand on my head. I know she was looking for the attacker.” He didn’t seem in shock but I searched his face for the smallest hint of amusement.
“Oh.” Was all I could say my mind still racing.
“So yeah, she can try whatever she needs to.” He said simply and that was that.
“Good.” I smiled at him sweetly.
“So does this mean you have some super awesome hidden power I need to know about?” He teased me.
Yeah I can shoot fire from my hands and erupt into red flames.
“Nope I’m just normal me.” I said sadly wishing that I could just tell him.
****
“Alright you two, I’m going to be right here if you need me for anything.” My mom threw a sleeping bag on the floor and plopped down on it stretching.
“Alright.” I said quietly praying that this would work.
“How is this going to work Ms. Weathers?” Wesley asked cautiously.
Had he just been in my head?
I had told my mother how he had figured out what she can do by touch and he had no worries that had potential of not working. She hadn’t seemed shocked. There had to be far more to the story
“Well,” she started, “I’m going to sit here and watch you fall asleep once I see you are REM sleep I am going to place one hand on Dawn’s head and the other on yours. That way I can see what is going on in both dream plains.” She gave him a smile.
“Hope it works.” He smiled back at her and laid down.
I admit it was weird at first but when I fell asleep it seemed there was no time at all left between my eyes closing and then opening again in the astral world.
I wasn’t in the bar as I had been the few times before instead I was standing in an old house. The lights were off giving it an eerie glow. I turned around and took at the room as a whole. Wesley was sitting on the bed cross legged with an odd look on his face.
“Where are we?” I asked him.
“This was my room.” He answered me.
“When?” I asked quietly wondering if we were alone.
“When I was sixteen.” He got off the bed and went to the door opening it to see what was on the other side. The whole house seemed to be dark.
“Why do you think we are here?” I followed him closely.
He exited the room grabbing my hand to make sure that I was behind him. We made it to the bottom of the stairs when things went to Hell. She came at me quickly shouting and he dropped to the ground holding his head and screaming.
“See what you do to him!” I screamed at her the fire percolating in my wrists.
“What I do to him?” she asked me her broken English becoming harder and harder to decipher.
“Yes you!” I felt the fire let go and suddenly the world went up in flames.
“If you would have left things well enough alone it wouldn’t be like this.” The red head screeched.
“Leave what well enough alone?” I demanded as the fire burned.
“Him. He was mine, and you stole him.” She spit at me her mouth was twisted into a sneer.
“Miranda?” I asked my eyes burning.
“Who else would I be?” She smiled this devious smile and the world turned to black.
My mother pulled me from the dream as fast as she could. I could smell the fabric at my sides burning. She was afraid that I would erupt into flames if she let me stay there any longer. Wesley was crying out for me and I was on him in a second running my fingers through his hair and whispering in his ear my mother’s hand still planted firmly on his head her eyes white as milk.
“All I see is darkness.” She said monotone. “There is a voice but I do not know what it says, it’s speaking another language.” She let go of his head as he shot awake mid scream. By the time he was able to see her she had managed to get her eyes back to normal.
“What was it?” He asked his heart racing as he twined his fingers with mine.
“Darkness.” She said slowly looking at me. There was more to it than just darkness I could tell.
“What does this mean?” I asked.
“I have no idea, I’m going to have to make a few calls and look up a few more things and I will maybe have an answer.” She got up and left the room quickly leaving us alone.
“Something’s up.” He said touching my face.
“I know, but she will fill in the holes and tell us what she thinks.” I said kissing him on the cheek and lying back down. We slept our hands locked together.
****
The next morning he was still sleeping when my eyes opened. His face was pale and dark black circles were under his eyes. He looked like he had when we first met. All that work to bring him back from the Hell he lived in was only there for a short period. I sat up and scooted to the end of the bed hoping that every squeak of the mattress would not wake him.
I got up and wondered into the kitchen where my mother was sitting at the table. She had her signature coffee mug in front of her a sad look on her face. I wondered if she had been up all night. By the look on her face it looked like she hadn’t slept a wink.
“He’s still sleeping.” I said pointing back towards my bedroom. She nodded at me in understanding and motioned for me to sit down.
“I have been up all night going over protections spells. Sadly I have the wrong powers to cast them.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I wish I knew what was attacking him honey.”
“I know mom.” I said frowning. I had been hoping that whole thing would have worked out.
“It takes immense power to hide something like that. To have an open line on one end and a closed one on the other. This girl is something else.” She took a sip of her tea and made a sour face. “I let it sit too long.”
I sighed and put my hands to my face. This whole thing was turning out to be far more complicated than what it was supposed to be. My mother should have been able to see what was going on in his head. Instead she was able to see mine but not his.
“So we are no further than we were yesterday?” I groaned.
“No I would say we are much farther than yesterday.” She sighed. “We didn’t know anything. Now we know who it is just not why she’s doing it.”
“She said I stole him from her.” I put my head on the table.
“Oh, well that’s not good.” She said softly.
“What does that mean?” I asked an edge to my voice.
“You pissed off the wrong girl it looks like.” She replied frowning.
“Of course I did.” I smacked my forehead on the table.
“Just means we have a bit of a bumpy ride ahead of us.” She put her hand on my head. “We will get through it.”
“I’m glad you are optimistic in all of this.” I moaned.
“I’m just a bystander I just have faith that you will make the right choices in the months to come.” She said as I glanced at her from the table top.
“Great. This all falls on me.” I smacked my head on the table one more time.
“I cannot fight your battles for you. You love the boy you will find a way to make her disappear.” She said sweetly.
“What if I can’t?” My head was starting to hurt.
“I have faith that you will one way or another.” I had a feeling she was smiling.
Chapter Eighteen
Innocence Lost
My mother spent a lot of time at the church trying to figure out what was going on in our heads. She even tried a few more times to pull images. All she got was more darkness.
Time seemed to fly by rather quickly it seemed. Before I knew it we were in December and the holidays were right around the corner. We were on Christmas break when Wesley came up with the idea that we should go to a concert in town. A local band that he had recently discovered was playing a gig at one of the clubs four days before Christmas. I had never seen the boy so excited. So I agreed, thinking that he deserved it after all the Hell he was going through.
Adam and his girlfriend Nadine were going to go with us on a double date. Adam and I came up with the idea just in case anything happened with Wesley I would have someone there that would be able to help me get him home.
I admit Adam and I had become closer as well. He would try to keep Wesley entertained in the afternoons while I slept. I had told him about Wesley’s nightmares one day when I couldn't keep my eyes open in class, and how they were keeping me awake at night.
So, thankfully, the two of them started playing video games after school to “release tension.” I would fall asleep to the two of them yelling at the TV and accusing the other of cheating.
****
So now it is the day of the concert and here I was standing in my room with a towel wrapped around me trying to figure out what I would wear. Wesley had said they were a hard rock band. I'm sure that I had heard them but honestly he listens to so much I couldn't tell you what was mainstream and what was local. However, I could get away with my normal attire if I wanted to and not look like a total outcast.
After a moment of reflection and a cold draft thr
I let my hair fall free fluffing it with my fingers to make the waves stand out. I leaned towards the mirror and drew on my black eye liner with some black eye shadow and smiled at myself. I have to admit I didn’t look to bad all things considered.
They were supposed to pick me up at six so that we could get to the show by seven. I was still standing in my room when I heard the familiar steps of my boyfriend.
“Hey babe.” His arms wrapped around me and his face appeared in the mirror over my left shoulder.
I smiled and turned around to look at him. He looked rested, like he had actually had a chance to get some sleep. The boy couldn’t even take an afternoon nap without screaming.
How could he possibly be rested?
My mom was working nonstop to find out what was after him. Maybe she had made a breakthrough. Maybe last night’s events had actually assisted him in being able to get enough shut eye so that he could be ready and rested.
“You ready to go?” He kissed the tip of my nose. I nodded at him just as Adam rounded the corner Nadine at his heals.
“Can she use your bathroom? Apparently she didn’t think she needed to go before we left the house.” Adam was making fun of her I knew it, but at the same time there was a hint of annoyance behind his voice.
Nadine and Adam had hit it off on their first date. Both of them had matching personalities. Both of them were also mortified that they were going to botch the date. After a very awkward dinner they had spent the rest of the night sitting at the lake just talking. They were both smitten with each other almost instantly
She was taller than me, standing at about five eight weighed around 120, blonde hair, green eyes. I admit I’m short, standing an astounding five four. However, with heals on I can extend my height to five eight or five nine (on a good day).
She was the sweetest thing I had ever met and Adam meant the world to her. The problem according to her is that though she was head over heels for him he had yet to be the same for her. She had told me the other day that he treated their relationship more like a friendship with the benefit of holding hands.