Sleep Runners

 

Derek Keeping

Copyright © 2011 D Keeping

 

Prologue

 

“Dean’s gift is speed. He’s fast at everything:  Swimming, running, riding bikes; all the sports you can think of. He’s taller than all of us but skinnier too. We have a joke that if he entered the Olympics he’d win every race but wouldn’t have the strength to carry all the medals home!

Then there’s Ian. He’s the kind of guy who makes things happen and I mean that literally. You lose your keys or a coin and spend ages trying to find it. You empty the cupboards and lift up your bed, you search through the bin and the drawers and check behind the curtains. Then, certain that it’s not in your room, you let him have a look and he’s found it in five seconds flat! 

On another occasion you might wait half an hour for a bus and the moment he turns up it comes along. You might not think that this is much of a skill; that it’s just a coincidence or even pure luck. Well trust me; if luck is a skill then Ian has it in abundance.

If Sara’s skill was luck then I could understand it but its way spookier than that. She calls it intuition, but I call it magic. You might have heard about this kind of thing. The phone rings and she’ll know who it is before she answers it. You flip a coin, heads or tails, she’s right every time. She knows when stuff is going to happen and how to avoid it if we have to; this makes Sara really useful to have around.

 

Finally there’s me, James; my skill is leadership; I’m full of ideas and always know what to do and how to do it.

 

We wake up in dreams and know we’re dreaming; then we meet each other and wander the streets at night, only we’re invisible to the human eye.

 

And now we know you have a gift too, we want to meet you in a dream tonight. Read the instructions on the paper and eventually you’ll find us.

 

Just keep moving and beware the Lanesmen.

 

Rachel sat on the steps and cried. As the snow lay all around her; deep and crisp and even, she felt more like she was in a horror movie than a Christmas carol.

Tomorrow she would be going to her new school, and fear was creeping into her. Fear of change. Of being somewhere else, with other children she had never known or even seen before.

Rachel, in truth, had little to worry about; she was confident and intuitive with a thoughtful mind. She adored science and found wonder in nature; in what makes things grow, why things develop. In the order of things, she herself; was a natural born leader. Full of ideas and optimism; but change, big change in particular, startled her. Change from being the leader to meeting older children, ones who would make her seem less clever and less special, one’s who would make her seem so young when Rachel always liked being the oldest. It’s what gave her that air of confidence. Without it, she wasn’t sure she would cope.

The street was awash with white; at another time; Rachel would have loved seeing the silver topped trees and star sprinkled sky but instead, now, she held her head in her hands to hide her tear stained face from passers by. Not that there were any passers by, it was nearly three ‘o’ clock in the morning. Not the kind of time when an eleven-year-old girl is normally outside on her own. But there she was, sat on the steps of her new house while her parents and sister slept soundly inside. She sat huddled in a ball; her thoughts fixed on tomorrow.

“Hello”

Rachel didn’t want to look up, she was sure it was one of the neighbours, who would knock on the door and tell her parents what she’d been up to.

“Hello”; came the voice again, “Aren’t you cold?”

She was about to say no, to tell him to go away, to mind his own business, but then she realised she wasn’t cold. She hadn’t noticed it before, but she was sitting on snow in her nightgown in the deep night and she wasn’t cold. Then suddenly she remembered it was September, surely it was too early for snow? Something wasn’t right, but she didn’t have long to concentrate on it before he spoke again.

“What’s your name?”

She stood up and looked at him. Then there came another surprise. It wasn’t an adult; it was a child half her age. He wore a long overcoat nearly twice the size of his body, which he dragged over the ground behind him; making lines in the untouched whiteness. He also had a big brown hat like something from one of the old cowboy films her granddad liked to watch with her when she was younger. If she was any where else,

during day time, she would have sworn he was playing dress up but somehow; absurdly, Rachel was sure that the clothes were his own.

“Rachel Mayson.” She said with a tone of astonishment “And Yours?”

“I don’t have a name anymore.”

“How come?”

“I’m…” He said sincerely, “too old for it.”

She was going to laugh at the little boy but she realised he was being serious.

“So why are you out on your own at this time of night?” Rachel asked, sure he was going to say something like you shouldn’t be out either; but instead he said something strange.

“I’m not lost but you are.”

“No I’m not…”

“Are you sure?”

These words made Rachel very annoyed. “This is where I live...” She pointed behind her; at the small detached house with a marble number 6 on the door; then turned her back on him.

“…I’m going inside now. Bye.”

The conversation had somehow dried her tears and she was no longer upset. She couldn’t believe how angry this kid had made her feel, she had to get away from him, and walked hurriedly up the steps to the door; then reached for the snow dusted handle to open it.

Hang on, she thought, I can’t touch it. And she couldn’t. Wherever she put her hand, the handle was just a centimetre away from it. It must have shifted each time she reached out, but she couldn’t see it move. She thought about the child again; maybe; somehow; he had caused it.

She turned around to look for him but he had gone. As she turned back to the house; something even spookier had happened, it had vanished, gone. All she saw was an incoming blizzard. Panicked; she gazed all around her; every house on the street had disappeared under the fall of white.

Now she really was lost. The kid was right, she thought sombrely. She was lost and alone in a field of snow.

She sat down on the ground and started to cry again, she cried and cried until finally, when all around her was nothing but crisp whiteness, she fell slowly into a deep sleep.

When she woke up, less than five hours later, she was lying on the floor in her bedroom, and she could hear her mother calling. It was time for school.

 

 

Rachel spent most of the morning thinking of the night before. The question that puzzled her was, was it all just a dream? The first thing she noticed was the door handle; she could hold and turn it without any problem. Then when she walked to school there wasn’t any snow anywhere. Not a trace, but there was far too much for it all to have melted. The child too, why would a child so young be out all on his own? It must have been a dream. It had to be. Her senses told her so and yet, it seemed so real.

 

Her tutor Miss Henley was a young woman in her mid twenties. The children warmed to her instantly, especially Rachel who always wanted to be a teacher herself. After a ten-minute tutorial, it was time for assembly. Rachel found it hard to mix in straight away and sat on her own through the whole thing. Then, back in the tutor room, it was time to make friends.

“Hi, I’m Sara.”

She was about 5cm taller than Rachel with short fair hair and brownish eyes, she held out her hand for Rachel to shake.

“Rachel.”

They shook hands.

“I like your hair.”

Rachel smiled a “thanks”. She was always uneasy at taking compliments, but she had taken great care over her long auburn hair and was glad somebody had noticed it.

“This is Laura and Charlotte and Lucy and Rebecca.”

All the girls shook hands with Rachel; the last one put Sara straight.

“Becky.”

“Sorry, Becky.” Sara corrected herself.
Rachel was pleased to discover that she was the oldest of them by nearly three whole weeks. Charlotte who was the next oldest was quite quiet, so Rachel didn’t have any trouble taking charge of the group, telling them stories about her old school and learning a lot about them as well.

At morning break, when Rachel asked what they wanted to do, Sara made her excuses and slipped off to meet her friends from another Tutor group.

“Do you know her friends? Why can’t we meet them?” Rachel asked Laura innocently.

“We do sometimes, though Charlotte is a bit shy of them.”

“Leave it, Laura” added Charlotte in protest.

“She is. They’re boys from year 8”

“Really, what are they like?”

“I’m not saying” answered Laura, and Rachel left it at that.

 

 

Rachel had spent the last five minutes looking over her shoulder at Sara and her friends when Becky shook her shoulder.

“What…oh yeah.” Rachel replied, realising she’d been asked a question.

“What’s up with you?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.” she lied.

“You haven’t said anything in five minutes! That’s not like you.”

Rachel would have said “how do you know that’s not like me, you don’t even know me.” but she didn’t say that because she was pleased to have made friends and for a first day things were going well, better than she expected the night before, in her apparent dream.

“Don’t worry about Sara...” said Lucy, trying to be helpful; “she’s always hanging out with James and his friends, used to at our old school…I think they all live on the same street.”

“Oh Right” was all Rachel could manage.

Then the bell rang and Sara hurried back to them.

“Sorry I took so long. Bless you, Rachel.”

“Bless you?”  Rachel thought.

She was going to say; “what do you mean, “bless you?””  but instead out came a loud noisy sneeze she wasn’t expecting; and all the girls laughed.

“How did you know I was going to sneeze?”

“Sara knows everything.” Lucy interrupted jokingly and the girls laughed again.

Then they walked back towards the classroom, with Rachel left wondering if it really was a joke…

 

That night, her head was so full of the day at school, she had almost forgotten about her strange experience the night before. So when she found herself outside on the steps again, surrounded by snow, with the child in the hat staring up at her, she was more surprised than she might have been.

“Hello Rachel.”

“Hi again; didn’t think I’d see you so soon.” She said, hiding her surprise.

“What’s up, you seem sad?”

“I seem sad? You didn’t ask me that yesterday when I was crying.”

“I knew that was just nerves.”

“Oh.” She said, astonished at the wisdom the little kid displayed.

“Well…” she carried on. “I’m feeling a bit left out at school.”

He stepped up towards her, his coat drooping over the steps and onto snow covered ground.

“You’ll be alright. Sara will show you things if you ask her.”

“You know Sara?” Said Rachel astounded; suddenly interested in the words he spoke.

“I know her three friends too.”

“What, Laura, Lucy and Charlotte?”

“No, Dean, Ian and James.”

“Oh, I don’t know them.” She said unenthused.

“Ask her about them, they come here all the time.”

“Where is here?” She asked. “Am I asleep?”

“Yes.”

“If I try to get back inside will my house disappear?”

“Try it.”

She thought about it for a second.

“No.”

She didn’t want this dream to end just yet.

“You’re a clever girl.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at him “And you’re probably the cleverest six year old…in the whole world.”

He smiled back and turned, beginning to wander off down the street.

Rachel stood up and waved her arms around.

“Wait! Don’t go, you haven’t finished telling me…” But it was too late; he was already out of sight. Well, thought Rachel, let’s have a look at this place.

She got to her feet and walked to the bottom of the steps.

 

The first thing she had to get the hang of was touching things…She couldn’t. Touching, she found out, was impossible. Whenever she held out her hand to touch railings, or a lamp post, or a phone box, she always found her hand would miss it. Not by much. By the tiniest of tiny margins. But she missed it all the same.

“I can’t touch things; Okay; I can live with that.” She whispered to herself. Outside in the middle of the night, blissfully aware that at the moment she fell asleep she would wake up back in her bedroom, refreshed and ready for the day ahead: even if she walked all night.

The moon was full, and it cast an eerie but warming shadow over her when she wondered out of the range of the street lights.

 

 

She thought she’d go down to the amusement arcade on the sea front and have a look around.

True it would be shut, and none of the machines would be turned on. But that didn’t bother her. She would be happy just to be there.

It was a ten minute walk through the dark, but she didn’t feel in the least bit scared, as she whispered to herself, “it’s all a dream; no one can hurt me”. Of course if it wasn’t a dream she wouldn’t have even ventured outside of her street, she’d heard of the things that happened to young girls who went off alone at night and had always obeyed her parent’s warnings about never going out without a friend. But it was a dream, she wasn’t really there: it was all her imagination and so she was safe. Safe as she could ever hope to be.

Soon she saw the beach in the distance, the moon light shimmering over the sand. Then, as she approached the arcade she noticed that the lights were on. She heard voices coming from inside. Children’s voices. She pressed her face to the glass and stared hard, looking to see where the voices were coming from. Then she saw her, Sara, waving at her to come in. Rachel was so excited she forgot she couldn’t turn the door handle and tried to. This was her mistake. The moment she looked away and back again the arcade had disappeared; and then all the buildings in the street.

Now she felt miserable again and huddled herself into a ball until she woke up.

 

All she could think of was seeing Sara. So much so her mum had to tell her to slow down as she rushed through her breakfast cereal; and ran hurriedly out of the door. Last night was amazing, she couldn’t believe what had happened, and now she had something to share with Sara and her friends; she was sure she could join their group and she wouldn’t feel so left out. How it happened, she didn’t know, she didn’t really care either, as long as it happened, and it had (seeing Sara was proof of that) that was all that mattered.

She arrived at the school at twenty five to nine, long before any of the other girls.

Charlotte was the first to arrive. They spoke briefly about last nights “EastEnders” and then Charlotte went off to put some things in her locker.

Rachel waved bye, and then sat on a fence by the school gate, waiting for Sara to arrive. Over a hundred kids must have walked by, and all five of the school buses had turned up. She counted them. Almost a thousand children were pouring into the main building. Rachel looked at her watch briefly, ten to nine and still no sign of Sara. All the other girls in her group had arrived; she’d had a quick chat with each of them about something or other and then they’d disappeared into the building saying they’d catch up with her later. At this rate, thought Rachel, that’ll be when they’re walking home.

The bell rang at nine and Rachel couldn’t wait any longer. She sprinted her way to the tutor room and was lucky not to be late for the Register. The disappointment came when she heard Sara was ill, that her mum had phoned in to say she was sick and she wouldn’t be at school for the next few days. “Great”, thought Rachel, the most exciting moment of my life ruined by some tiny microscopic bug. Still, she thought still optimistic, I’m sure Sara will be back soon and the wait might make it even more exciting.

In science they were melting ice with a Bunsen burner, Rachel was the only one of the five girls who actually understood what the experiment was, so they were happy to go silently along with her lead, as she showed them what to do.

“Shame about Sara.” Rachel finally broke the silence halfway through, when it was safe. The rest of the classroom was chattering too.

“Yeah.” Came Charlotte’s short reply; Laura’s was rather longer.

“I’m surprised she came in yesterday, I think she’s been sick most of the holidays, she spends so long in bed.”

“She didn’t look ill to me.” Rachel answered.

“Or me either.”

“She just needs a few days rest that’s all.” said Laura and they all nodded in agreement.

 

The rest of the school day was to turn out pretty dull. At lunch time Rachel had toyed with the idea of talking to James, Ian and Dean about Sara and about last night at the arcade, she was sure they were the ones Sara was with. But they were engaged in conversation every time she looked over at them, so she didn’t want to interrupt.

Geography and History in the afternoon, two subjects she didn’t much care for.

Then it happened. Walking home after school, one of the boys came racing up to her, at a blistering pace. He must have sprinted up the hill she had spent ages slowly climbing, and unlike her, he wasn’t even out of breath.

 

 

 

“You must be really fit!” Rachel swung her bag to the ground and stopped to talk to him.

“You’re joking aren’t you?” laughed Dean “I can’t stand exercise.”

“Not at all? How come you’re so good at running?”

“That’s a secret.”

She nodded but winked at him as if to say “and I know what it is.”

She didn’t really, of course. She knew it had something to do with the “Real Dreams” but she didn’t know what. He doesn’t know I don’t know though, she thought, so she felt it was only fair to have a little fun with him. And it was working, she was making Dean nervous and his spindly legs were wobbling. His face was red and puffy, he said what he had to say as quickly as he could.

“James told me to give this to you.”

“What is it? “ She took the envelope, “A love letter?”

“You’ll see.”

“Will I, err...thanks?” She was searching for a name.

“Dean.”

“Thanks Dean. See you around.”

 

Rachel paced around her living room crunching through a chocolate covered ice cream cone, holding the piece of paper loosely with her left hand.

“All four of us have Special Abilities.” The letter began. “Deans gift is speed…” ,

I know that already, she thought, then she had a quick chuckle about the Olympics joke, before studying intently the descriptions of the others. Luck, a skill! I’d like to think so...so that’s how Sara knew I was going to sneeze…Intuition. I go along with your idea James: It sounds more like magic to me.

“Finally there’s me, James; my skill is leadership.” Leadership! Doesn’t sound much like a special skill to me!, thought Rachel, then she remembered that it was one she had herself.

“And now we know you have a gift too, we want to meet you in a dream tonight.”

Wow!  She lay down on the sofa and finished off the ice cream. Then she turned over the page to see a well-labelled map, although it didn’t look like any place she knew.

“I wonder if I’ll be able to find them.” She whispered, unsure if her mum could hear, she was in the kitchen next door to the lounge where Rachel was.

“Well…I’m gonna have a good job trying.”

“What was that you said?” her mother called out.

“Nothing mum!” she shouted back and switched on the TV.

 

Rachel couldn’t get to sleep. The trouble with doing anything you want to; is that you just can’t do it at the right time. She glanced at the glowing neon numbers of her bedside clock. 03:15. Any later and it’ll be daylight. I’ve got to get to sleep soon, she thought, I’ve got to.

03:40 flashed up on the clock, what seemed like moments later. I don’t believe this, what is happening. She thought about going and sitting outside for real, then she remembered that they weren’t waiting for her there, and even if they were, they were “Invisible to the human eye” so she wouldn’t have seen them anyway.

Instead she felt around in the gloom for the letter James had wrote her and read it again by torch light under the covers. This time she came across something she hadn’t read before.

“Just keep moving and beware the Lanesmen” Lanesmen? What’s a Lanesmen? Even dreams have bodyguards do they? She didn’t like that idea, so she turned the page and studied the map again.

Then she saw a list of instructions, scribbled hastily in the margin.

 

DON’T GO TO SLEEP WITHOUT DOING THIS FIRST

That line in big important capital letters made Rachel feel a bit better, she hadn’t gone to sleep, so at least she had the chance of doing “this”, whatever “this” was.

 

1) “Sketch the map onto your ceiling, lightly with a pencil so you can rub it off in the morning.”

 

“Maps on my ceiling?” she whispered. “How is that going to help?”

Nether the less, she proceeded to do it, though in the dark it was difficult and her ceiling was covered in wall paper that was awkwardly bumpy to trace onto; bobbled like a field of white snow.  “Hang on” she exclaimed out loud.

 

 

 

Snow. The field of snow that she had slept on two nights in a row. The snow that was all around her in both her waking dreams. Was it all conjured up from this bumpy white ceiling? If it was, she was convinced, the map thing might just work.

 

2) “Imagine yourself travelling the journey from where you are to the big circle on the map,”

 

I can do that, Rachel thought. She shone the torch to light up the ceiling. It’s quite a long way, she began to think, after looking at it for a few minutes…right, I’m ready for number 3.

 

3) “Imagine the journey going faster and faster, taking less and less time. Don’t imagine your legs moving, or yourself running, just imagine the journey taking less than an instant.”

 

That’s a bit harder, she thought, it is a long way and if my legs aren’t moving and I’m not running, how does it work? She shut her eyes tightly and began to believe. She didn’t need to have them open anymore because that was the last of the instructions, and soon she was asleep.

 

When Rachel opened her eyes she was running over snow, or more accurately, floating over it.  Her feet didn’t actually touch the ground; they were easing her forward, without any sensation of movement at all. And at speed. Rachel didn’t know how fast it was. But it was fast. One, two, three hundred miles an hour. At the speed things were whizzing by she would have said it was closer to a couple of thousand but surely that wasn’t true, the spot on the map was only twenty miles away and she’d been moving for, at least thirty seconds, so it couldn’t be that fast. It just couldn’t be, but then, at that very moment she came to a halt in the middle of a field. Maybe, she thought, maybe it was that fast.

“Rachel, You made it!”

The others were already there. Dean, Ian, James and Sara.

“Sara, you’re okay!”

“I’m okay in here, I’m still a bit off colour in the real world though.”

“At least you have somewhere to go, this is fantastic”

She looked all around the field. There was no snow at all. It was full of fun fair rides. Every one imaginable; Roller coasters, carousels, ghost trains; and a really tall one with a sudden drop down. Rachel recognised the fair as one she had been to the summer before. But it was jam-packed with amusements, far more than she remembered in the real life one. She thought going to the arcade at night was good but on a scale with this, well it was minus a million.

“You like it?” James said; trying not to overstate how impressive it was in the tone of his voice. “How was your trip?”

“Unbelievable. How fast can you go, using the map?”

“As fast as you can go.” Added Dean, cockily.

“Think of all the places you can visit: Africa, America, Australia, Asia and that’s just the A’s!” She paused for a second, thinking this might all be old news to them; “Which countries have you been too?”

Dean looked at Sara, Sara looked at Ian, Ian looked at James and James looked at Rachel.

“We haven’t been to any other countries.”

“Why not?” Rachel smiled a glorious smile realising something she thought couldn’t be true. “Don’t tell me I’m the first to think of it?” She laughed; “I am aren’t I?” She always prided herself on being the first with ideas but she never imagined something so obvious would escape them.

“Well you are the first to think of it...” Ian confirmed her suspicions.

“but it’s a pretty useless Idea.” Dean finished the sentence to deflate her ambitions.

“Oh, why’s that?”

James was the one who always explained things, and he cleared his throat to explain this one.

“The maps need to be accurate or you don’t follow them. It took us almost a month to work out that one to get us here, there’s no way we could draw one to cross countries: your ceiling would need to be a mile wide!” As James stretched his arms apart to enthuse his point, Ian and Dean let out a large roar of laughter and rolled about on the ground.

All right, she thought. There’s no need to rub it in.

 

 

 

 

The rides were as special as Rachel had anticipated. Sara had shown her that you don’t have to touch things to operate them. You just put out your hand and make the thing touch you. And that’s how, with practice, they had got the rides and the safety bars going. Not that they needed the safety bars, but everyone agreed it was good to have extra assurance.

As the night went she must have been on every ride ten times or more, no matter how many times she went on, she never got bored. None of them did. It was the novelty factor that wasn’t fading, and Rachel hoped that it never would.

As the big wheel tilted up to the top of the sky for the hundredth time that night, they all shared the same carriage. It was a bit of a squeeze, but it was more fun that way, and fun was what it was all about. Rachel thought it was time to ask some questions and get some much needed answers.

“How long have you guys been doing this?”

“Since before the holidays.” Ian answered.

“Who was the first?”

Ian was going to put up his hand, but thought better about taking the credit.

“I was.” James said, quite casually.

“Then me.” Ian added.

“So, James, how did it happen?”

“There’s not much to tell really. It was early morning; my parents had said I could stay up to watch the comet.”

“I remember that night, I stayed up too.” Rachel recalled it quite vividly; it was the first time she ever spent a good deal of time, staring up at the night sky.

“Well I didn’t. It was one a.m. and there was no sign of the comet. I pleaded with them to let me stay up just a little bit longer, but they wouldn’t have any of it.”

“Figures.” added Ian unnecessarily.

“My parents are like that too. Control freaks.” Dean had his say; Sara thought it was worth adding her comments too

“They always say they want what’s best for us, but when it doesn’t suit them, that logic goes straight out the window.”

“True.” James stopped there briefly to look out of the window at the fairground down below. A thriving mass of flashing lights that pulsated in and out like it was a living, breathing thing.

“Anyway, up in my bedroom I lay on my bed, trying to stare up, through my ceiling, as if it was invisible, like I could see the stars shining through, and the comet gliding by. I wished so hard the next thing I knew I was outside watching it. My parents were indoors asleep. I didn’t know how I got outside, I didn’t even think about it. And the next thing I know there’s this kid who looks like he just stepped out of a western staring me in the eye, telling me I’m lost.”

Now Rachel was really interested.

“I saw that kid too. He doesn’t have a name.”

“Yes he does” Ian corrected her.

“Oh, what is it?”

“He’s the Lanesmen.”

“Lanesmen?! The one you warned me about! He’s harmless.”

“Maybe…“; said Ian, leaning forward to share his conspiracy. “Maybe, but have you noticed that whatever he tells you to do has a bad outcome.”

 

 

 

Rachel was concerned, maybe this was true.

“He told me to touch the door handle of my house, and If I had done it I would have disappeared…and” she spoke breathlessly, suddenly accepting Ian’s theory; “He told me to talk to Sara, and when I wanted too the next day she was ill.”

“There you go then” Ian folded his arms triumphantly.

“But me being ill…that was a long time coming, Rachel...” said Sara, dismissing Ian’s ideas. “And the thing about turning the door handle? I always thought that was a test.”

“Well, he did say I was clever when I said no to it.” She said begrudgingly, seeing Sara’s side of things.

 

“Whatever. Whether he’s dangerous or not, we’re better off avoiding him; and using the maps. As long as we use them we’ll be okay.”

“Whys that?” Rachel asked intrigued.

“You only see him when you haven’t planned your route out in advance.”

“Only when you’re lost?”

“Exactly.”

 

A minute’s pause and the wheel began its final spin. The carriage started its last climb to the top.

“I wish we could go to other countries.” Ian was willing to fantasize about the idea he had earlier dismissed as impossible.

“Yeah. me too.” Sara laid her head on Dean’s shoulder.

“Ditto.”; Came from James.

Rachel was so busy leaning out of the window, staring up at the heavens; that she had missed the conversation. James’ story about the comet had made her take one deep long look at the myriad of worlds sitting in their picture perfect constellations. Then it came to her. A brilliant idea…and this one might just work. She put her head back in the carriage.

“Rachel,” Ian offered the question to her “It would be brilliant to go to other countries wouldn’t it?”

“Well other countries, that’s probably impossible…”

They all nodded in agreement

“But planets? Now there’s an idea.”

Laughter was instantaneous, they were sure she was pulling their legs.

“Planets? We don’t have ceiling space to take us over to France?”

“No. Not if we’re indoors…but what if… “; She smiled, sure she was right this time. “Our ceiling was a sea of stars.

 

 

James carried his suitcase out to the car, and looked up, longingly into the early evening sky. His parents were inside, still packing, but he had got himself ready hours before. Several weeks had past since Rachel’s suggestion, now at last it looked like they were in a position to try it out. The camping trip was his idea, but he didn’t expect the others, and especially his parents, to go along with it so eagerly. The plan was simple; Sleep in the open air and see what happens. It had never been done before, and so it was at least worth trying out, he thought. After all, since she first came up with the idea, Rachel had come up with a lot of stuff that made sense, and she was beginning to fit in well with the others.

Dean and Ian came up the drive to James, both carrying luggage of their own. Their parents had agreed with them going with James and his family, but wouldn’t be going themselves.

“Where’s Sara and Rachel?” Dean asked.

“They’re coming together; they’ll meet us at the camp site.”

“Nervous?”

“Are You?” James answered Ian with a question.

“I just hope we don’t end up disappointed.”

James sneered at his lack of optimism.

“You’ll see. If not, at least we’ve got the trip itself to look forward to.”

Seconds later, James’ parents emerged from the house, carrying more than enough luggage for a week, and they were only going for a weekend.

“Okay, time to go!” said James’ dad in mock excitement, and soon they were gone.

 

They arrived at the campsite at half past six, and the boys were no where to be seen. Sara’s mum got out of the car and did a quick search around for them; but came up with nothing.

“Look’s like we’re early.” She said.

Rachel nodded, and Sara wasn’t surprised. They had left about an hour before they said they would, which was in turn an hour before the others said they would leave. Two hours early. Still, it gave them time to unpack and put up the tents before James’ and family arrived.

Rachel and Sara began to talk about going to other planets; Rachel was obviously more into the idea than Sara; but Sara still had some interesting ideas of her own.

“You know, we might find something or someone up there.”

“Like Space-Ships or aliens?” Rachel asked, enthused.

“Perhaps, or maybe something else; Something more…something more real than that.”

Rachel wasn’t sure what Sara meant, and so offered her own idea.

“God?” she enquired; and a pause followed.

Sara nodded solemnly adding “You never know.”

It was true, though Rachel had her own mixed ideas about god. At some level she wanted to dismiss the idea of God, like she had unicorns and fairies and Father Christmas, but that left her with puzzling questions, such as, if there is no god, who created everything? Where did it all come from? Someone has to make something for it to exist. And Rachel existed, so who made her? She posed the question to Sara who shrugged it off.

 

 

“I just don’t know, Rachel, I don’t think anyone does. I’d like to think there is a god, but maybe....maybe things just are. Maybe there is no reason behind it.”

Rachel accepted the answer, although it was the one she was expecting, with a mixture of confusion. She hoped along with Sara, that there was a god, and he would hear her, calling out to him for an answer.

“Rachel, Sara” came a shout from behind, it was Dean who was running head long into them. They braced themselves for impact, and were lucky not to be knocked over.

“Watch it” Sara said unimpressed.

“Is everyone here?” asked Rachel.

“Yeah. You two want something to eat? They’re getting ready back at the tents.”

The girls tried to race Dean back but arrived back to the others, a good few minutes after him. After eating, they played football for a while; as the adults talked amongst themselves. Night time was slowly creeping in, they got ready for bed. Soon their plan would come to life, when the adults were asleep; they would come out of their tents and sleep on the ground, underneath the stars.

 

It was after midnight, when the girls joined the others, staring up into the blackness of space. Many stars were out, several constellations, although Rachel onlyrecognised the big dipper, which reminded her of that night at the fun fair. They were almost silent as they took their place next to James, Dean and Ian. They were excited, anxious and too afraid to talk. They all lay down, facing skyward, and waited, thinking about running, flying, out into the overwhelming vastness of space, they waited for sleep, and one by one they met it, drifting off to somewhere unknown.

 

Rachel awoke, or rather she dreamt she awoke, in a room as black as space, with no walls or corners or ceiling; it was just blackness, as far as her eyes could see. She walked, on what could have been a black floor, or air, across to where she heard raised voices. The others were also here, they had arrived before her, and they were crowded in a circle around something or someone. As she approached she saw who it was, and she had half expected him, it was the child with no name, or the “Lanesmen” as the others called him, in his now familiar long overcoat and hat.

“You are lost” he was telling the others; Dean and Ian especially, were arguing with him.

“No, we’re not; we were going to the planets.” Ian was saying.

“Which one?” added the Lanesmen “You can’t go to all of them at once.”

Sara realised the fact that had eluded them up to this point.

She told the others “We had no particular destination, no star was circled.”

“Arrgh!” exclaimed Ian “I knew this wouldn’t work.”

“Hello again Rachel” said the Lanesmen, the first to notice her, and apparently the one most pleased to see her.

“I see you’re lost again.”

“It seems so” she answered, begrudgingly.

“Right, let’s get out of here.” Said Ian; anxious to escape so they could rethink and try again tomorrow. Then he reached out to touch something, before realising there was nothing there. There was nothing anywhere; it was just them, the Lanesmen and endless blackness.

“If we can’t touch anything, how do we get out?”

The others looked at each other worried; then they all turned to the Lanesmen.

“How do we end the dream?” they all asked.

A grin appeared on the child’s lips.

“You don’t” he said cheerfully, adding “You are going to stay with me now.”

A panic was spreading among them, especially Rachel, after all, it was her idea, and now they were all stuck there. She realised she had to apologise.

“I’m sorry everyone. If it wasn’t for me, you would never have thought of sleeping outside and we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

The others, Ian in particular, felt that the apology was unnecessary.

“Don’t worry Rachel” Ian said, confidently “It’s not your fault it’s his.” Pointing at the Lanesmen who was the only of them who was happy

James had remained the quietest throughout this time, and this was not because he had nothing to say, but rather, that he had a lot to think about. Apart from Rachel, he was the most logically minded of the group, and he was also one of the best with ideas.

“I’ve got it” he said, the others stopping their panic for a second to look at him.

 

 

 

He walked forward, closer to the Lanesmen who still grinned at them. He reached out his hand.

“Apart from us, the only thing here is him, so…”

As James’ hand touched the child’s shoulder something happened to him. He looked dizzy, out of breath, then he fell to the ground and into sleep. He was gone. Vanished, like Rachel’s house or the arcade; taken back to reality.

“That’s it, we touch him” Ian said excitedly, and placed both his hands on the Lanesmens overcoat. Almost instantly, the same thing happened to him as James’, and he was gone too. Dean followed, leaving only Sara and Rachel.

“Come on Rachel.” said Sara, stepping forward, Rachel was Reluctant. She had a lot of questions for the Lanesmen. Sara waited as Rachel talked to him.

“Why did you want us to stay with you?”

“Everyone alone wants company.”

“But why are you here? Who are you really? Why do they call you the Lanesmen?”

“Some questions will be answered in time, though there isn’t enough time for everything to be answered.”

His reply made her think, but as he said, there wasn’t enough time. She had to join the others. Sara reached out her hand, Rachel too.

“Ready”

They touched him together, and he didn’t stop them. Dizziness came over them, they fell on the floor and slept and vanished.

Back at the campsite it was morning, the others had awoke, and were standing over Rachel and Sara, who were slowly becoming conscious.

“You two okay? we better get inside” The voice came from James.

“What? Oh yeah…” said Rachel, getting to her feet as she woke up. Everyone went back to their tents, and waited for the adults to wake up. Rachel was still wondering about the Lanesmen’s words. About the lack of time; “Well”; she thought; “There’s still tomorrow night.”

 

 

That day, they talked a lot amongst themselves about the “Lanesmen” and if trying again was a good idea. The problem they all agreed on, was that there was no way of labelling a certain star as a destination, and so, they would always be lost and would always meet the “Lanesmen”; All of them, however, despite the problems of the previous night, were eager to try again, but none of them were sure how they were going to pull it off.

“He knows more than he let’s on.” Rachel said finally, as they sat eating by a slow flowing stream.

“The Lanesmen?” said James.

“Yeah…I wonder where the name comes from; after all, he’s not even a man.”

“He told me that name” Ian began “when I kept saying he must have a name.”

Strange thought Rachel he told me he was too old for a name.

“Maybe we shouldn’t try again. I think he’s dangerous.”

“You’re right” Ian said, finishing off the last bag of salt and vinegar crisps.

“Well…what are we going to do?” Sara looked to James for ideas, he thought silently for a few seconds, before coming out with, “Rachel’s right, he is dangerous, but we can’t stop now, we’ve come too far.”

“Maybe we should stop before we go too far.” said Rachel.

“Well, I’m going to try again, this time thinking about a particular destination, the moon maybe, that’s easy enough.” He paused, looking around at them, at the mixture of emotions on their faces. “Who’s with me?”

Dean was first “Okay.”

Then Ian “He is dangerous, I admit that, but if we know where we’re going there’s no problem. I’m in.”

Sara said simply; “Yeah. All right.”

“Rachel” said James obviously. “That leaves you.”

She wasn’t sure what to say, but she had to say what felt right.

“No. I’m not going.” She shook her head.

“Come on… this is your last chance to say yes”

“No.”

“If Rachel’s not going I’m not going” Sara said, sticking up for her.

“You can’t back out now, you said yes.” said Dean.

“Okay.” She thought about it and realized she couldn’t change her mind and upset the friends she had known the longest. “I’m in. Sorry Rachel”

“That’s fine. I hope it works out.” Rachel stopped talking and walked away from the group back to the parents. The rest sat in silence. They had started the “sleep running” without her, most of them thought, so they could do this without her too, but at the same time they all felt sad they were doing what was her idea and possibly the biggest journey they had ever done, without her there by their side.

When night came, as Sara sneaked out of the tent, Rachel was already asleep, dreaming a real dream. Not a real dream as the others were about to, but a real; real dream like every one else has.

 

 

In the dream, Rachel was standing in the middle of a playing field in the middle of sunny summer’s day. In the distance she could see children playing happily in a small play park, on swings and slides. As she looked over at them, She saw she was much older than even the next oldest child.

She started to walk across the grass and her feet began to sink into the mud, she hurried as fast as she could, and slipped and slided a few times.

When she made it to the gate there was a big sign on it, saying “No Teenagers Allowed”

Being only eleven she didn’t think much of this and so started to push it open, but as she did, the younger children stopped swinging and sliding and shouted “You’re too old – You’re too old.”

Rachel at once closed the gate and the kids began playing again. Her shoes were now caked in mud. She edged away and looked all around the green park. At the very edge of the other side there was a bench, so she decided to go there. She reached it and sat down.

Suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder. She felt herself horrified and happy at once, she turned around and standing there was a boy her own age, wearing a white t-shirt and white shorts and white socks and white trainers. There was not a single mark of mud on him.

“Do I know you?” asked Rachel.

“Yes. We used to play together when you were younger.”

“Did we?” She really didn’t recognise him.

“Here, I kept this for you.” He uncoiled his hand and in it was a butterfly, it was alive, but very still. It had emerald green wings with specks of gold on them.

“How could you have kept it for me?” Rachel asked “It’s moving.”

The Butterfly began to buzz in a fury of wing flaps and flew out of the boys hand and

Up into a bright blue sky.

“Don’t worry” He said, “We haven’t lost it.”

“But surely it’s gone now? It will fly miles away – it’s too high to catch it?”

The boy in white clothes smiled “I’ll just turn the lights off and lower the ceiling.” And he disappeared behind a white tree. Moments later there was a loud click and suddenly it was night time, the perfect sky had faded to reds and mauves and then to dark. Then there was a whirring sound. Rachel felt wind rushing around her, lashing at the wet mud on her shoes.

“It is done”, came a voice and just as suddenly had the sky gone dark, was it blue and beautiful once more and as Rachel looked back at the empty space on the bench, beside her, she saw the butterfly.

“Where are you? Where have you gone?” Rachel called, but the boy in white clothes did not return.

“I am still here.” said the Butterfly. “Oh, Rachel, you are as I remember.”

Rachel gently picked up the winged creature in her hand and stretched her palm out flat so it could walk on it.

“How come you can talk?”

“I spend quite a lot of time here in the park. Remember Rachel, you spent quite a lot of time here when you were a child too.”

“I still am a child.”

“Yes. In many ways.” The butterfly opened its wings. “But you are grown up in others. Remember Rachel, your friends and your new school.”

“I guess.” Rachel wasn’t convinced.

“Your friends are in trouble. The Lanesmen is an enemy of all beings. He is old, very old, and ancient. Remember, for as I can fly high so can he.”

“Why do you speak in riddles?”

“Remember what you thought you might find out there, up above in space?”

Rachel knew instantly and brought the butterfly closer in her hand. “You mean, God?”

“Do not be so hasty to call one thing God and another thing The Devil, for what you see one doing the other can also do.”

Rachel did not know what the butterfly meant. “Are you the boy in the white clothes that I met?”

“Do I look like him?” Said the butterfly as Rachel shook her head “How can I be then?”

“I don’t know, I’m very confused.”

“Exactly. Things that are hard to understand will drag you down and make you feel like a child. Things that are simple will lift you up and make you feel grown up.”

“So, how are my friends it trouble?”

“When you wake, you must go into the other dream world. For this dream world and

that dream world are two different worlds. There the Lanesmen lives and here, I live.”

Rachel suddenly had an idea. “So you are God and the Lanesmen is The Devil?”

“Oh Rachel, we are us, I am me and he is him. God and The Devil are other beings entirely.”

“So.” She said, understanding, “What is your name?” she asked the butterfly.

 “You already know it.”

The boy in white clothes emerged from behind the white tree. “You did know me when we were children Rachel? Don’t you remember?”

Rachel thought hard then, the name and its shape came back to her. He told her what she had to do, and she eased into consciousness, with his words still in her ear. Though the dream was less like reality than the trip to the arcade and the fun fair, and outside her house in the snow; she felt that somehow she could trust it more than those dreams. That it was more than real life itself.

She stepped outside the tent to join the others. In was still dark, she had slept for barely two hours Sara, Ian, Dean and James were all still asleep, apparently peacefully, and soundly; but remembering the words of the message Rachel knew they were in danger; and that she had to risk danger once more, in order to save her friends.

 

 

They had not reached the moon, or any planet and they were once again in the room of darkness. The Lanesmen was there, only this time he was high above them, floating in the air, out of reach, where they couldn’t touch him. James, Dean, Ian and Sara paced up and down wondering how they would get out. They shouted at theLanesmen, asking him to come down, to help them; he answered “I will let the rest of you go, if one of you agrees to stay with me.”

“Stays with you?” Sara asked “Here, forever?”

The Lanesmen nodded, grinning.

“That would mean going into a coma outside…in the real world.”

“Or even worse” said James; “Death”

They all felt like crying, though none of them did. Panic wasn’t enough in this situation…they couldn’t do anything. They felt helpless.

“One stays, or you all will perish.”

“We can’t choose something like that” shouted Ian in frustration.

“Give us time to think about this.” James said to the Lanesmen, buying some time. There wasn’t enough time, they could surely never come up with a good solution as to who lives and dies. These questions were too big for them, they were only young, and they thought they were only having fun. This was too much, too big a situation, James, though he was the most mature in many ways, felt like he was a smaller child than the Lanesmen appeared. Finally James said.

“I’ll stay.”

“James, you can’t. Rethink this.” whispered Sara, the rest were too stunned to talk.

“I have to do this. It’s my fault.”

On hearing this, the Lanesmen slowly descended towards the ground, everyone watched aghast, in disbelief that James was to give up his life. James too couldn’t believe it, he was shivering at the tension, he felt terror grip him; Afraid.

“No. I’m sorry, I can’t do it.” He screamed, and the Lanesmen rose back up in to the black sky in frustration.

No one knew what was to happen next, but the instant Rachel appeared some hope remerged in them. She walked forward confidently and spoke calm and firmly, with strength and belief.

“I’ll stay.”

“Rachel? You want to stay?” Unlike with James, this time the Lanesmen was unsure, disbelieving, it seemed like he didn’t want Rachel to stay, like she was somehow different to the others, like she didn’t fit in with his plans anymore. Like something had happened to her. James, Dean, Ian and Sara all saw the look in the Lanesmenseyes, he was in disbelief. He said angrily “But surely you are afraid! Afraid of leaving your friends; their lives in the real world will carry on, but yours will cease!” TheLanesmens voice was so full of venom that they found it hard to believe it could come from someone who looked so young.

“Rachel” he said again “You are terrified of change.”

At one time, this would have made her doubt herself, but this time she knew exactly what to say. The words were her own, but they came with passion and knowledge way above her years, from a promise by the only person who knew what was really happening, and the only person with the power to stop it.

 

“I was afraid. Once; But once I met my new friends” She looked at them “I saw that I was moving on, growing, I am different now to when I first met you. You tried to trick me into thinking I was lost, but I was searching to be found; and…” she paused

to clear her throat; “in my own dreams I found the answer. I was told a message and this is something I think you should hear…” As she recited it, she saw theLanesmens confidence begin to fade.

 

“Do not be afraid of change. For as the flower does not know it will bloom until it opens and as the caterpillar is unaware that it will become a butterfly until it takes to the skies, so you do not know what is in store for you when the time comes. Do not fear death; for death is change.”

 

The words affected everyone. They felt a surge of confidence. Like a rush of hope building up in them. They, like Rachel were no longer afraid.

“I’m staying too.” said James, this time believing.

“and me.”; said Ian and Dean together.

Sara didn’t speak, she nodded, and all five of them were ready to face an eternity in the darkness.

They all looked to the Lanesmen; instead of being happy that they were staying, they could see the pain building inside of him. His face full of fear; they had seen through his deception and his magic no longer had power over them. He could do no harm to them anymore. He cried out “What has The Writer said to you!” and his features began to fade to black and vanish. With him gone, the cause of the dreams, they would no longer have them, or their gifts. But this, no longer bothered them, for they were free of their fear.

Then the room, which was as black as deepest night began to fill with pure white light and finally, when all darkness was gone, the five children were back at the campsite; and it was morning.

“What are you lot doing outside!” came a shout as they woke.

“Sorry Dad” said James, “We just wondered what it would be like to sleep out here”

“Freezing I should imagine” he said, and went back in his tent to tell James’ mum.

It was a new day and a new start without the dreams; just a normal life. The children looked at each other knowingly, now they knew the dreams came from the Demon who called himself the “Lanesmen”; they were all happy to live without them.

“Well done Rachel.” said James smiling. She smiled back. It was over; and it had only just begun. And something however lightly, was spreading among the group. Maybe it was confidence, maybe it was belief, or just perhaps it was faith; faith in things beyond what they could see or touch; and they were all of them changed forever.

 

THE END