Dead Dreams ((Young Adult Paranormal Romance) ( Dead Dreams Trilogy)) (3 page)

“
Do it yourself!
”

The thumping
footsteps
coming up
the stairs had no affect as Adam
engrossed
himself
in thinking how much dope
he could score with a few bucks. S
uddenly the door flew
open to reveal a red-faced
Roy
standing menacingly at the doorway,

“
Get your ass downstairs
right
now or else!
”

“
Yeh…or else what
Roy
…
what’ya gonna do to me huh…what?
”

Before
he had a chance to
react
Roy
lunged towards him
and
grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt
pulling him violently
towards
the door. Adam screamed and yelled
but the heavy built
Roy
was
no match as he was
unceremoniously
dragged
downstairs by force. T
he loud
cussing
alerted
his Mother.

“
What the hell
’s going on
?
”
She said in surprise.

Roy
was
in a thunderous rage,
“
I warned him Julie
,
if he dares to think I’m a pushover he’s got another
thing
coming!
”

Adam was
taken
to the dishwasher with
Roy
’s hand pushing down on his neck.

“
Fill it up boy without argument!
”
He demanded.

Reluctantly he
filled
the dishwasher while
Roy
stood over him, like a taskmaster
making sure he didn’t
slack.

“
I wish I was fuck
ing dead!
”
Adam screamed loudly.

“
For goodness sake
will you
stop
tal
king this way and don’t cuss.
”
Julie
replied anxiously.

“
I
want…to…be…
dead.
”
He repeated
slowly and deliberately.

For
Roy
it
was a turning point. E
xasperated he stormed
out heading
to the living room
where he delivered
his protest
by pouring a glass of scotch and turning the TV up
way too loud.

“
Turn it down.
”
Julie asked.

“
Fuck you Roy!
”
Adam
hoped that he’d pissed him off enough to ruin his day.

“
How dare you swear at
Roy
like that
?
Adam Michael,
I’m ashamed of you!
”
His m
other
said
with tears in her eyes.

Absolutely
sure that
he
didn’t
plan to stay too long in the
world he
figured to himself that he
might as well go out with a bang instead of a whimper.
Soon
it’ll
all be over
and
I’ll be out of this stinking
shit
for goo
d.’

Roy
returned
to th
e kitchen with lightening speed determined not to let a spoilt little upstart take control. This time Adam wasn’t
ge
tting off lightly.

“
What did you say boy?
”
He asked
menacingly
.

“
I said fuck you Roy!
”

With his right hand clenched in a tight fist he
punched
Adam
cl
ean in the mouth. Blood trickled instantly from a busted lip which he slowly wiped
away
with his hand
.
All
he
dared to do
in the past
was
to
throw
hatefu
l glances at
Roy
. He knew that to retaliate against such a psychically strong man would result in him being far worse off
,
but he was steaming
with
anger and
upset
that as usual
his
mother
just
stood by and watched.
Something inside him clicked- and he snapped.

To
Roy
’s surprise Adam lunged forward putting his hands around his neck, but
he
was a beef-cake of a man and threw
Adam
down onto the ground in a second. They scuffled, with
Roy
on top, filled with rage, his hands around Adam’s neck, squeezing the life out of him. Julie was hysterical and tried to pull
Roy
off, but it was fruitless. The chaos continued until
Roy
decided to release his grip
.
Adam
stayed where he was
coughing and slightly disappointed that he hadn’t been strangled.

“
Get to you room
asshole,
right now this minute!
”
Roy
demanded with argument.

Compliant
and out of his depth Adam went
upstairs
leaving an icy atmosphere belo
w. For years he’d
been trying to drive
Roy
insane so he’d pack up and leave but it
never worked as
Julie
always took
his
side. The only thing
he’d
accomplished was
to drive a wedge between his m
other and himself that didn’t look like it was
due for repair
any time soon.

‘Dear
est Mother
,

If the rot doesn’t get you first then look out,

the gravy train’s
never coming so live with your guilt
.

Because
I’m on the road
to suicide and it feels so good.

C
lick ‘like’ if you’ll miss me. F
riends I don’t have,

Goodbye all,
don’t care to be in the world no more, don’t care to try.’

Adam sat
by the window trying to finis
h his twenty
-
fifth suicide note.
He’d never quite
reached the point of when or where
he’d
end his life. Each note was
discarded
as he
fought the urge to carry it through. Now it felt different, more serious and more desperate.
He carefully folded the small note into four and
put it in
his jean pocket
-
grateful that he’d been left
alone
so he could plan what to do next.

‘Will I go to hell for taking my own life
, damned and doomed forever
, who cares? The whole world’s going to hell anyway.

Adam was
eight years old when
his father died
.
Before that e
ver
y day was a good day
. He was a
daddy’s boy from as far back as he could recall and
didn’t like it when they were apart
. He looked
forward to week-ends when they would spend inor
dinate amounts of time together,
play
ing
games
, going for burgers and family road trips in the summer.
He’d
built
Adam
a tree h
ouse in the garden where the two
of them would sit for hours
talking about school, baseball and comics. At eight he couldn’t imagine a world without his father and his mother would laugh and joke about how they were joined at the hip. ‘Two peas in a pod.’ She would frequently comment.

It was
just another
ordinary
day
in Adam’
s life. Week
days were always rushed. His father would grab a piece of toast, drink a fast cup of coffee and fly out of the door hugging Adam on the way out.
But he
could ne
ver forget
that
Tuesday morning, burned in his memory forever.
His father was
running late
but
he was
happy and joked with Adam
before giving him a goodbye hug.
Less than
an hour
after arriving at work
he was rushed to hospital
with a
suspected
heart attack
just as horror was raging
across the country
in
New York
.
By the time
both
towers fe
ll the devoted
thirty-eight
year old
family man who had everything to live for
was gone.