The Nightmare Man (2 page)

Chapter Four

Secrets and lies

That night, Luke was lying in bed. He felt a bit better after his conversation with his mum, but he was still scared. He stared up at the ceiling, imagining patterns in the paint. For the briefest second, he imagined he saw a face. But then he felt his eyes close and…

Suddenly there was the sound of laughter! It was his mum! Luke climbed out of bed and left his bedroom.

Moonlight shone through the hallway windows, making the house seem cold and dark. At the bottom of the stairs, Luke could see light shining out from the living room. And he could hear his mum laughing. He started to creep down the stairs, wondering who she was talking to.

‘Oh, I shouldn’t laugh,’ Sarah Jane’s voice echoed up the stairs. ‘And the thing is, I’ll miss him. A bit. But he’s not really my son.’

Luke stopped, completely stunned. He’d never heard his mum say anything like that before. She’d always insisted that he
was
her son! As he listened, a tinny, robotic voice sounded. It was K-9, their robot dog.

‘Master Luke was created by the Bane.’

Luke started to creep down the stairs again. One step. Then another. He knew he must have misheard what his mum said. She was his mum and she loved him. She’d told him in the car how much she was going to miss him.

‘And yeah, he’s good for doing the crossword and emptying the bins.’ Sarah Jane’s voice continued echoing up the stairs. ‘But he was going on earlier, K-9. “Will you miss me?” And I was thinking, for goodness’ sake, grow up. You know what? Actually, I’m not going to miss you – I don’t really like you. But once you started living here, I was stuck with you.’

Luke felt his heart beating faster and faster. He wanted to scream out, or cry, or do something. Anything. But all he could do was listen. How could his mum be saying this? Why would she say it?

‘He will be gone soon,’ said K-9.

‘Oh, K-9, I can’t wait,’ replied Sarah Jane. ‘Luke was the biggest mistake of my life!’

Luke stared though the open door at his mum. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing! He loved her and he thought she loved him. He was about to step into the living room when suddenly he felt something moving up his back! He spun around and caught a glimpse of a white hand, gleaming in the moonlight. He screamed and…

He woke up.

He was in bed. His breathing slowed down as he recovered. It had just been a dream. A nightmare. But this scared Luke even more, because he didn’t have nightmares. He’d never been able to dream. But now, even that was changing. He lay in bed and stared up the ceiling. He didn’t go back to sleep.

Chapter Five

Tuesday

The next morning, Luke left his bedroom and went into the hallway. The house felt so different in the daylight. Everything was brighter and, although he was tired, Luke felt fine. Everything was going to be okay.

‘Oh, he’s still in bed. You know what he’s like!’

It was Sarah Jane and she was talking to someone. Luke’s heart started beating faster again. Who was she talking to? What did she really think about him? Then he forced himself to calm down. It had just been a nightmare. It was nothing to be scared about.

As he walked down the stairs, he saw that his mum was talking to Rani. They both grinned at him as he joined them.

‘Rani’s given me some tips on what clothes we should get you,’ said Sarah Jane. ‘Oh, I’ve forgotten my handbag!’

As Sarah Jane rushed off, Luke yawned. Rani smiled at him.

‘You’ll catch flies if you keep yawning like that.’

He smiled back, but Rani could see that something was bothering him. ‘Are you all right?’ she asked.

‘I had a nightmare last night,’ Luke replied.

‘What?’ said Rani. ‘I thought you couldn’t dream.’

‘So did I. The Bane didn’t include that in my genetic make-up.’

Rani asked him if he’d told Sarah Jane but Luke shook his head. He didn’t want to worry his mum about something so silly.

‘It’s just a dream,’ he said. ‘Everyone has them, don’t they?’

‘I suppose it must be because you’re leaving home,’ said Rani, nodding. ‘You know, everything’s a bit intense and that’s just...activated the dream switch. You’re growing up, getting old.’ She grinned and Luke smiled back, raising an eyebrow.

‘I’m growing up so I start having nightmares? Great.’

‘And the rest of us get spots,’ said Rani, rolling her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it. Oh, you’ve not told Clyde, have you? He’ll only take the mick.’

Luke shook his head. ‘I haven’t seen him. He’s been busy.’

Rani nodded and smiled but she knew the real reason Clyde hadn’t seen Luke. Rani also knew that she’d have to do something about it.

‘Clyde! Hold up!’

Clyde turned to Rani at the other end of the school corridor. She pushed through a group of giggling schoolgirls and joined him outside a classroom.

‘I saw Luke this morning,’ she said.

Clyde shrugged.

‘He said he hasn’t see you in a few days,’ she continued. ‘You fancy going round later?’

Clyde shook his head. ‘I’ve got football.’

‘Oh, don’t be like this.’

Clyde shrugged again. ‘Like what?’

‘Your best mate’s leaving on Friday. Don’t pretend you’re not bothered.’

Suddenly, Clyde looked angry. ‘What am I meant to do? Start crying? Beg him to stay?’

Rani could see just how upset he was about Luke leaving but she knew he’d hate himself if he didn’t say goodbye properly.

‘We should be happy for him!’ she said.

‘I am!’ he replied.

‘Well, tell him that!’

‘Well, maybe I will!’

‘Good!’

There was a pause. They looked at each other. They weren’t used to arguing, so they weren’t quite sure what to do next. After what felt like hours, Clyde nodded towards the classroom door.

‘I kind of need to be in there,’ he said.

‘Oh, right, yeah,’ she replied.

And they went their separate ways.

Later that afternoon, Clyde sat alone on the school wall. He was looking at his phone. He wanted to call Luke, he really did. He knew he was being stupid. Luke going to university was a brilliant thing, but Clyde was just so scared of being left behind. What if Luke forgot about him? What if he decided that Clyde wasn’t clever enough to stay friends with?

When he’d been younger, Clyde had had these “Cool Rules” which he’d taught Luke. One of them had been how you shouldn’t show people when you’re really happy or really upset. If people saw those things, then you wouldn’t be cool. Now he was older, Clyde knew those rules were a bit silly. He wanted to show Luke that he was happy for him, but also that he’d miss him. But he didn’t want to have some big heart-to-heart chat. That wasn’t Clyde. That wasn’t what he did.

Then he realised! He realised what it was he did do. How he could show Luke how he felt. Clyde jumped off the wall and started to run home. He had things to organise!

Chapter Six

The Nightmare Man is waiting…

That evening, Luke said goodnight to Sarah Jane and went to bed early. He was still tired from not sleeping well the night before and he’d had a busy day of packing and clothes shopping. In fact, he was exhausted, so he fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow…

And he found himself standing in front of a pair of red doors. They were just like the ones at school and he could hear the sound of children laughing on the other side. He pushed through them and stepped into a corridor. It was like someone had taken one of the corridors from his school and twisted it all up. It was weird and wrong. The walls were grey and cold. There were a few blood-red doors but no windows. Luke knew wherever he was, it wasn’t a good place. But he was brave and he wanted to know more. So he started walking…

‘Lukey-boy! What are you doing here?’

Luke turned around to see that Clyde was suddenly walking behind him. Behind them, one of the red doors was open. Luke wanted to stop and talk to Clyde but it was like someone had taken control of his legs. He kept walking, with Clyde following.

‘Thought you were the big man!’ continued Clyde. ‘Off to university!’

Luke was about to answer when another of the red doors opened and Rani stepped into the corridor. She joined Luke and Clyde and they kept walking.

‘It’s not fair really, is it?’ she said.

‘What isn’t?’ asked Luke, confused.

‘You!’ Rani’s voice was suddenly full of hatred. ‘Your brain’s not normal.’

‘Aw,’ Clyde was laughing. It was a cruel sound. ‘Is Rani jealous?’

‘I’m working so hard to get out of here and he does it all a year early,’ she continued. ‘It’s just showing off.’

By now, Luke had realised that this was another nightmare. Rani and Clyde were saying things that he was sure they didn’t mean. Just like his mum had done before. But he couldn’t stop himself arguing back.

‘That isn’t how it is!’ he said. He wanted to stop walking. He wanted to stop all of it. But Rani and Clyde carried on…

‘You act like, “oh, I’m so sweet and I’m so scared”, but you’re just a freak!’ Rani spat out the words.

‘Super geek!’ snarled Clyde.

‘Alien freak!’ Rani stared at Luke, full of hatred.

Luke was desperate to stop this. He wanted to run away. He wanted to wake up. He wanted it to stop. But it only got worse as, suddenly, another door opened.

‘Ooh,’ said his mum, joining them. ‘Did someone say aliens?’

‘It’s okay, Sarah Jane,’ said Clyde. ‘We’ll still be here.’

‘Yeah,’ said Rani. ‘We’ll help you to stop the aliens.’

‘I’ll be coming back!’ exclaimed Luke.

‘Who says we’ll want you back?’ Clyde said the words quietly, but it was like he’d screamed them into Luke’s face.

Luke’s fears that they would forget about him, that they didn’t really like him, that they couldn’t wait for him to go, that they did think he was a freak…all his fears were happening. They were coming true. Devastated, he managed to stop walking and he turned to look at them. They just grinned back, enjoying his fear and upset.

‘
Luke…
’ whispered a voice. It was evil. The voice was actually evil. You could tell from just the one word that the voice belonged to something dark.

Luke turned away from the others and their mocking smiles and he watched as another of the blood-red doors opened. On the other side was a black void. There was nothing there. No light. Just darkness.

Luke tried to sound brave. ‘Who’s there?’

‘
I’m coming for you…
’ the voice whispered.

‘Who are you?’ shouted Luke. ‘Where am I?’

Rani’s voice suddenly sounded in his ear. ‘It’s just a dream, you big kid.’

Luke clenched his fists, desperately trying not to give in. ‘I know this isn’t real, but it isn’t just a dream. It can’t be!’

‘
Poor little Lukey…
’ the voice continued.

It was mocking him. Using words that bullies had thrown at Luke over the years. Bullies he’d stood up to.

‘Who are you?’ he demanded.

‘
I live in your nightmares. I feed on them. Oh, and yours are just beautiful.
’

Luke stared through the open doorway as a hand slowly reached through. It was pale and white and, like the corridor, it looked wrong. It felt wrong. A shiver ran down Luke’s spine and, as he watched, the hand moved back into the void before reappearing – this time holding a blood-red flower.

Luke started to really panic and he turned back to beg the others for help, but they’d gone. As he started to call out for them, the three doors they’d come through slammed shut.

Luke turned back to the open door. The hand pulled back into the darkness and disappeared. Suddenly, with a loud bang, that door slammed shut as well. Then, slowly, a white, demonic face began to appear in the door’s red paintwork and Luke screamed and…

He woke up.

He quickly reached over and switched on his bedside lamp. And, staring up at the ceiling, Luke waited for the morning.

Chapter Seven

Wednesday

Sarah Jane was sitting in the attic, reading a copy of the local paper. And, sitting next to her, so was K-9.

‘Can I turn the page?’ she asked her robot dog.

‘Affirmative,’ he replied. So she turned the page.

As they continued to read, Sarah Jane noticed Luke standing in the doorway.

‘Morning,’ she said. ‘How long have you been standing there?’

He smiled weakly at her and she suddenly noticed how pale and tired he looked. He looked sick, but Luke didn’t get sick. She jumped up and put her hands on his arms.

‘What is it, Luke?’

‘I didn’t get much sleep,’ he said quietly. ‘I had a nightmare.’

Panic immediately flashed across Sarah Jane’s face.

‘I had one on Monday night as well,’ Luke continued.

Sarah Jane sprung into life, striding back into the room and standing in front of one of the walls.

‘Mr Smith, I need you!’

A fanfare sounded and smoke filled the room, as the wall opened and Mr Smith appeared. While this was happening, Luke moved into the room, joining his mum.

‘Mum,’ he said. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m just a bit scared about Friday.’

‘How can I help you, Sarah Jane?’ asked Mr Smith.

‘Scan Luke,’ she replied. ‘He’s been having dreams.’

Mr Smith knew how serious that was. ‘I thought Luke didn’t dream!’

‘That’s why I’m asking you to scan him,’ replied Sarah Jane with a sigh.

‘Do you require everything to be pointed out to you, Mr Smith?’ asked K-9 with a superior tone.

The two alien computers didn’t get on, but now really wasn’t the time for their silliness. Sarah Jane glared down at K-9 and he lowered his head.

A beam of light shot out of Mr Smith and started to scan Luke. A computer image of the boy appeared on Mr Smith’s screen.

‘Luke’s anxiety levels are increased, which is to be expected, but I can’t detect any abnormalities.’

‘So, I’m fine?’ asked Luke.

‘Perhaps I should get someone else to look you over?’ said Sarah Jane, taking his hand.

She wasn’t sure who she would ask. They’d always kept Luke away from doctors in case they worked out that he’d been made by aliens. She had a friend who called himself the Doctor, but he could be on the other side of the galaxy for all she knew. She wasn’t even sure if he was alive. The last time she’d seen him, there’d been something wrong. It had been as if he knew something bad was going to happen.

She had another friend who was a doctor. Martha Smith-Jones had also travelled with the Doctor at one point and she and Sarah Jane occasionally met up for coffee. Martha knew all about Luke and all about aliens. Sarah Jane pulled out her mobile, ready to call her, when Luke reached out and stopped her.

‘Mum, I’m fine. Mr Smith says I’m fine.’ He grinned. ‘I’m a big boy now.’

Sarah Jane looked at him. Was she over-reacting? Mr Smith had said that Luke was fine. And Luke was saying that he was fine. And if she trusted him to leave home and go off to university, then perhaps she should trust him with this.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said before grinning. ‘Oh, how am I going to cope when you’re gone? I’m going to be calling you...’ She trailed off as Luke’s phone beeped and he checked his messages. ‘I’ll just talk to myself,’ she muttered.

Luke’s face broke into a big grin. ‘It’s from Clyde. He wants us to meet up!’

‘What, now?’ asked Sarah Jane.

Luke started walking to the door. ‘This afternoon, at school.’

Sarah Jane called over to him. ‘Make sure you do some packing before...’

But before she could finish, Luke had left the attic. Sarah Jane smiled and relaxed. Luke had forgotten about his nightmares and things seemed to be returning to normal.

That afternoon, Luke walked into his old school playground. He looked up at Park Vale School and smiled. He’d enjoyed his time there so much.

He pushed open the doors and walked down a number of corridors. He could hear the sounds of lessons taking place behind closed doors. He pushed through another door that led through to the Sixth Form building. Walking down a final corridor, he suddenly had a strange sense of déjà vu. A corridor with grey walls and red doors. He remembered his nightmare and shuddered.

Then he forced himself to stop being silly. That had just been a nightmare. This was the real world and, in the real world, Clyde wanted to see him.

He walked to the end of the corridor where there were two big red doors. Above them, a sign read, “Sixth Form Common Room”. Luke pushed the doors open and was surprised to find the room in darkness. Again, he remembered the nightmare. The black void. The man with the white hand and red flower.

‘Hello?’ he asked, trying not to sound nervous.

‘Surprise!’ screamed a load of voices as, suddenly, all the lights in the room were switched on!

Luke struggled to take it all in. There were multi-coloured flashing disco lights. There was a huge banner with the words “Goodbye Luke!” painted on it. There was a table, covered in cake and fizzy drinks and chocolate and all his favourite food. And there, underneath the banner, were all of Luke’s schoolfriends. Jacob, Lance, Dave, Tony, Julie, Jade, Meena…and, of course, at the front, his two best friends – Clyde and Rani. They all popped party poppers in his direction! He stared, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t believe that they’d thrown a surprise party for him! Clyde came over to join him.

‘Did you do this?’ Luke asked.

‘You’re my best mate,’ replied Clyde. ‘As if I’d let you go without a party!’ Then he turned to face the others. ‘You hear me? It’s time to party!’

They all cheered! And Luke smiled. This was quite simply the best thing that had ever happened to him.