Chapter 1
Nighttime seems like such a harmless time. The vast majority of the world heads to sleep, their brain painting a mental image of the happiest and brightest things in the world. They wake up just fine on the other side of their dream. No harm. Just a recharged body.
I wish that were true for all of us.
The wind howled outside my window as I hustled out of my bedroom and into the kitchen. Dimly lit lights shimmered down, reflecting down on the vase placed on the kitchen table. The roses stood happily, so full of life. So opposite of me that morning. It was October 30th, which I’ve been dreading since the moment we introduced a brand new year.
October 30th doesn’t seem so special, but for my family, it’s the most terrifying day of the year. On October 30th when we are drifting asleep, we slip away into a nightmare. Whatever happens, comes alive for us the following day, and if you refuse to sleep much more sinister things occur. It’s a curse that has been laid upon my family since my grandma was born and it has never left.
I quickly shook the remainder of the day out of my head as I approached the fridge. I grabbed the milk from the fridge and quickly made myself a bowl of cereal. I took a blue post-it note off the milk carton.
I’ll be home at four tonight with some supplies for tomorrow. Don’t miss the bus again! Love you, Landon!
I sighed and continued eating my food. Today’s going to be fine. It has to be fine. I quickly finished the bowl and threw it into the sink. I quickly got ready for school then ran out the door.
School was absolute torture for me. Sure every kid hates school. Walking into school is like walking into an instant zone of judgment. Stress and jerks everywhere. You can’t escape it. You just pray it will end. For my family, it’s worse. Not only am I taking on all of the misery that everyone else goes through, but I also have to go through everyone thinking my family is nuts. It’s amazing. Most kids hate me. All but one.
“What up, Landy!” My friend Gabe shouted as I approached the bus stop. His golden blonde hair was messy, covering half his forehead. He wore a faded pair of blue jeans and a big baggy red sweater. His backpack hung over his shoulder, his science textbook sliding halfway out. “Oh, wait…Sorry bro.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not like I’m not going to get reminded of it today anyway,” I muffled, fixing my bag. I would tell Gabe his book was about to fall out but he wouldn’t be using it even if it did stay.
“It’s not going to be that bad…” Gabe replied, looking off into the distance.
“Dude, I don’t need you to lie to me. I already know what’s coming for me, it’s fine. I can’t change it,” I muffled.
Gabe sighed but gave in, “So what are you doing after school?”
“Probably just having dinner with my mom and sleeping…” I replied. Homework was useless to do. Why should I spend my time on something that causes suffering if I’m going to have to go through 24 more hours of it?
Gabe sighed, “I’m sorry bro…”
I nodded and stood there with him in the cold. The bus pulled in front of us, breaking the wind. I boarded the bus, Gabe behind me. Gabe wasn’t exactly the tough type of guy. He didn’t know any self-defense and was easily torn down by people. One of his worst traits. I do my best to get him out of trouble and get people to leave him alone, but they can’t even take me seriously. I’m the kid everyone’s parents told them to stay away from. I’m the kid they target after. They prey on me because no one will stand up for me. At least Gabe is normal. He could always ditch me and head for the normal people. I will never be able to leave my body.
“Ooh! Look it’s the psychopath and his little buddy! You gonna show up to school tomorrow or are you too busy fighting the ghosts?” Logan shouted. He was your average high school jerk. Football kid who has no personality traits but being attractive and a bully.
“Are you gonna join him, mini ghost killer?” Emily asked, smirking. Emily was Logan’s girlfriend. A cheerleader with the world’s most obnoxious voice. She was plastered in makeup and was constantly clinging onto Logan’s side. Without him, she’d be nothing. He was the only thing keeping her popularity.
“Hey, Mr. Nightmare! My grandma said her house is haunted, think you can exterminate the ghosts for me?” Mathew shouted, smiling. He high fived two kids in the seats over as they erupted with laughter. ’
I rolled my eyes and quickly took a seat in the front of the bus. Gabe shoved himself into the seat and frowned.
“I’m sorry…” His face was pale and his eyes were glossy.
“It’s whatever, Gabe,” I looked out the window. Normal. Why can’t I be normal? Why does every day just remind me of how cursed I was to be born into my family?! I didn’t ask for it! I didn’t ask to be an Anderson.
I watched as the trees faded off into the distance and cars rode beside the bus. I tried to block everything out. I let myself slide into thoughts. For just one second, I let myself believe I was in someone else’s shoes. I could go to school and only worry about what the cafeteria was going to serve for the day and what homework I was going to have.
“Um, Landon? We’re at school…” Gabe said, gently tapping my shoulder. I sighed and got off the bus after him. Kids flooded into the school, with their friends. The nerd groups. The jock groups. The popular group. The theatre group. The athlete’s group. And of course...
“The ghost group!” Emma shouted, laughing with her friends Amy and Madelyn.
Emma was the girl every girl wanted to be and the girl every guy wanted to be with. She had bleach blonde curls and the fakest tan possible. Gabe and I had always made a joke that she was a living orange back in middle school and it’s stuck for the past four years.
Madelyn was a naturally beautiful girl. She had straight brown hair and a perfect reputation with everyone. She was everyone’s friend. I guess Emma wanted in on that.
Lastly, there was Amy. Amy was the girl who somehow made it into their little clique. She was the dumbest kid in our grade. The only reason she’s gotten as far as she has is because her dad is loaded.
“What are you boys gonna do today? Save the world for us?” Emma asked, holding an ugly baby pink bag. For some reason, those things were really popular among the girls at our school.
“You saved us last year,” Amy added, sarcastically.
“My hero!” Emma smirked. Amy laughed with her as Madelyn uncomfortably smiled. “Come on girls. Let’s go.”
Gabe watched as the girls walked away, grinning.
“Dude, knock it off!” I punched him in the arm.
“Ouch!” He narrowed his eyebrows.
“Well get your eyes off of them! They’re jerks. You shouldn’t want to date them anyway,” I replied, walking towards our lockers.
“But Amy is so cute! Look at her!”
“No, she’s not. She’s a complete and total jerk who’s just following in Emma’s path,” I muffled out. One more day of peace. One more day of dealing with Gabe and his dumb fantasies.
“Fine…”
He leaned against the locker next to mine and waited for me.
I put as many books as possible into my backpack and sighed. A small bang was heard in my locker. I quickly bent down to see what had fallen and realized it was a framed picture of my dad. I wish I had him still. 4 years ago on this very day, My dad had wanted to see if there was a way around the curse. He thought that since the bad things happen after we sleep, maybe if he avoided it, things would be fine. He was wrong. We woke up the next day and found him dead on the bed. My eyes began to puddle with tears but I quickly blinked them away.
I put the picture in my bag as well before shutting the door and headed off to class. I was rather lucky that Gabe and I had most of the same classes. It made life so much easier. I had someone to talk to and someone that I knew could do projects with me.
“Dude, did you see that new video game coming out next week?” Gabe asked, trying to brighten the mood.
“ZombieCopz?”
“Yeah! Doesn’t it look so cool!”
“Yeah. It looks epic,” I replied. We walked into our English class and took our seats, continuing to chat about the game. Eventually, the bell rang, and the next, and the next. I bit my lip and realized the school day was already over. I quickly shoved my stuff in my locker, keeping only my picture. I got back on the bus with Gabe and ignored everyone as much as possible.
“You doing okay, Landon?” Gabe asked.
“I-I don’t know yet. I should be fine,” I sighed, “Right?”
“Of course you will be. Your Landon Anderson! You’ve made it through 16 years of this. It will be okay.”
“I hope you’re right,” I replied as the bus neared our stop. We quickly got off and stood on the side of the road. The wind blew just as heavy as earlier but the sun shined darker.
“I am,” Gabe said.
I nodded, “I’ll see you later.”
“Later bud,” He gave me a quick hug and ran off toward his house. I took a minute to let myself soak in the world around me. Everything was so calm right now. The only thing shouting was the wind. One more second of peace. One more moment of calm till reality hits.
I walked up to my house. It was an old house with beige siding. It wasn’t the best kept house. Our siding was dirty and our grass hadn’t been cut for the past few weeks but we just haven’t gotten to it. I walked inside and sat down at the table, waiting for my mom to arrive. I stared at the clock. I just wanted some comfort. Someone who truly knew what I was going through.
