In Your Dreams

It’s autumn now. All the leaves on the trees have changed color and it’s beautiful. It’s the start of senior year and I am looking forward to graduating. All this hard work in school will finally pay off. I already got accepted to the medical school of my dreams. I’ve hit my fair share of rough patches but I have no doubt only good things are coming my way.

Wyatt is walking beside me on our way home as usual. We’re both seventeen now but we met in Kindergarten. We’ve been friends ever since. He’s still got the same mop of messy brown hair and chocolate colored eyes. He only lives two blocks away. “How was poetry club?” I ask him, kicking a pile of leaves on the sidewalk.

Wyatt can be a bit of a nerd. He dresses in dark colors. A lot of people think he’s weird but really he’s just different in this sea of students who are always fighting to blend in. “Willow Nelson was absent again,” he informs me.

“I hope she’s okay,” I say. Willow is a small shy girl with freckles. She’s been practically invisible until now. Everyone whispers about her. She looks like she never sleeps. One time she took a nap in class only to wake up screaming. The rumor is she’s suffering from nightmares, going crazy.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he tells me, giving me a hug as we arrive at my house. I hurry inside to get a start on my stack of homework.

When I get to school there’s news about Willow. She was stabbed in her sleep. I wasn’t close to her but it still sounds horrible. It sounds like a nightmare come true.

It’s only a few days later that everyone is whispering about someone else. This time it’s our star football player. His name is Jon Reynolds. They say his performance on the field is dropping because he’s not sleeping. It’s not long after that when he is found dead in his bed with his popular girlfriend Janie Leon.

I go to sleep only to wake up from a nightmare. I call Wyatt even though it’s late. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know who else to talk to.”

“I’m glad you called,” he responds.

“Did I wake you?”

“I was having a nightmare.”

“Me too,” I confess. “In my dream there was this man. He had a knife.”

“What did he look like?” Wyatt questions.

“He was all burned…like from a fire,” I answer.

“I had the same dream.”

“What?” I gasp.

“It was the same guy.”

“Oh my God…do you think the others were having the same dreams? It can’t be a coincidence. We have to warn people.”

Warning people isn’t a good plan. Wyatt has the idea that we are linked by our kindergarten. The only other student in this school that attended our kindergarten was Oliver Sanders. He tells us we’re crazy. He won’t listen. He’s always joking around. He probably thinks we’re playing a prank on him.

Two days later he’s found dead in his bed. The cops say it’s a killer on the loose. I think it’s something else. I had another nightmare and this time I learned the man’s name. I turn on the internet and type in Ed Cooper. It says he worked as a librarian at a kindergarten. It’s the same school we all attended. Wyatt’s right.

I ask my mom “Do you know an Ed Cooper?”

She frowns. “He was an evil man. He used to take pictures of you kids. He was sick in the head. We got rid of him.”

I vaguely remember a man telling me that he would put my pictures in a special book. He said I couldn’t tell anyone because it was going to be a surprise. “What did you do to him?” I demand.

“We went after him one night. One father brought a hunting gun. He shot Ed and we set his body on fire so no one would find it.”

I run out of the house. I cannot believe this. I get to Wyatt’s and he lets me in. He’s alone. I tell him everything. He hugs me tightly. “This is the worst Halloween of my life,” he says as we lie side by side in his bed.

“I totally forgot what night it was. I’m so tired,” I yawn.

“We’ve got to stay awake,” he tells me. We watch trick-or-treaters out the window and talk. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tonight but there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’m in love with you Callyn.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been in love with you for years. I didn’t tell you because I thought it would ruin our friendship.”

I stare at him. Wyatt has been by my side since Kindergarten. He’s an incredible person. He’s smart, kind, caring, and a talented writer. He’s been there all these years and I haven’t even given a thought to dating him. When I think about it I do love him. Why wouldn’t I love him? We’ve been through so much together. “I love you too,” I reply and I kiss him.

He kisses me back and when I part my lips his tongue slides into my mouth. Hands are sliding everywhere, groping and grabbing. I am suddenly more awake. My heart is racing. He rolls on top of me and I can feel how turned on he is. “I’ve waited to do this for so long,” he pants.

“Make love to me Wyatt.”

“What?”

“Please,” I beg. “I don’t know how much time we have left together. There’s a ghost trying to kill us. I want this. I want you. Besides, it’ll keep us awake.”

“Okay,” he nods.

It does keep us awake but not long after we both fall asleep. We are both in the same dream. Ed laughs at us, knife in hand. We run but he chases us. We’re in a library, the one from kindergarten. “You shouldn’t have told on me,” Ed is saying. We are behind a tall shelf of books but he’s getting closer. “It was supposed to be our secret. It’s your fault I died. Now it’s your turn.”

We run and end up in a dark supply closet. Wyatt and I search blindly for weapons. My heart is pounding. My breathing is ragged. This is it. I find a bunch of books and some matches. We step out and face Ed. “No, it’s your turn you evil bastard!” Wyatt shouts. He lights a book on fire and throws it at Ed. It burns him and he yells. He falls to the floor dead.

Wyatt and I are awake now. We hug and kiss. “It’s over,” I announce. The nightmare has finally come to an end.