The
moment his mind was allowed to wander, he found himself in an unusual world. The
ground felt like sand under his feet as he walked through what seemed to be a
desert under a dark sky. Then he looked up, and the sky was an endless swirl of
dark blues and light purples. It was as marvelous as you could picture it,
spotted with the brightest stars, piercing through the dancing colors and
shining down on his world. As he took this all in, one star got his attention.
It wasn't the brightest one, but it was in the perfect place. Something felt
right about where it was in the sky.
Then
the ground grabbed his attention. He tried to move but his legs were stuck. He
couldn't understand what was happening, but as soon as he tried to move away, a
platform formed under him, in a way that he was on the edge. Then it began to
rise. Then the other parts rose with it, the shifting sands hardening up to
stone, glass and even wood. Before he could even think, he noticed that the
setting was becoming a skyline. His platform continued to grow as others slowed
down. As he recognized where he was, he became scared. As soon as he could
blink five times, he was on the clock tower he had seen in pictures, but never
in person. It stood over what he thought looked like London, and he realized
that he had a fear of heights
But
he was always curious. So he looked down. The ground was so far below him, he
clenched the wall, which felt like brick. Then he looked over the edge another
time for the thrill of it. But this time he leaned too far-and his grip
slipped.
Those
seconds when you know you're about to fall make your heart leap, your stomach
clench itself, and your body scream "panic”. He screamed as he fell to his
supposed death, the ground seeming to accept him in closer embrace. But he
awoke before he reached the ground.
His
heart was leaping out of his chest, his pajama gown wet with sweat, and
wide-eyed from the ordeal. His body trembled from the realness of the danger. Then
he saw someone tiptoeing close to his bed.
Oh no.
"David,
was that you?"
The
only person with that voice was-
“Sorry
George. It was just- just… oh, it was all so strange.”
“What
happened? You almost woke up everybody else on my row.” He sounded either
concerned or scolding. Either way David felt terrible.
“I
had a nightmare. A really frightening one.”
“Oh,
I see. What did your Mum look like?” As George sat on the edge of the bed, David
could tell he calmed down. He knew that David was always strange in some way,
even if he was there for only a few months.
“I
didn’t have that nightmare. I dreamt…”
David
was hesitant because he could barely remember it.
“This
is going to sound crazy.”
“Dreams
are meant to be crazy, David.”
“Okay so…I was high up on a tower.”
“Huh?
What kind of tower?” He knew how unusual David’s mind worked. He didn’t know
that he woke up someone else a row down from the bed.
“Well,
it was a clock tower, and I think it was in… London?”
“You
mean here? Like a few minutes away, this London, with the clock tower?
You’ve never seen it.”
“Yes
I have.”
“When?”
“Well-
um, I remember it somehow. I think Sister Deborah told me at some point. But otherwise,
why wouldn’t I know it?”
“Maybe
you can make up London just as much you can a mountain.”
They
both turned to see Nathan walk towards them in a slow, yawning walk.
“Sorry.
What did I miss?” David made him a place to sit on the bed. There was enough
room anyway. But something was up.
“David
had some sort of nightmare. Did I wake you?”
“No,”
He shrugged it off, “I was just nodding off here and there. When I heard you
guys talking, I thought- might as well get in on the conversation. Did you
dream about the story you were supposed to tell tonight?”
“No, but… wait, can you tell me more about how
you stole that whole carriage once, with your friends?”
“Yeah, something
to hear from ol’ Georgy here. That should help, somehow.”
“Maybe
some other time. I want to know more about this nightmare. What about this
clock tower- you were standing on it?”
He
hesitated to answer more. He recalled more and more of the images, to the point
that it scared him to talk about it. Now he had two friends to talk to.
“Well,
I… I was on the edge of it and… I became afraid of heights...”
George
was unfazed. “Okaay. That makes sense…I think. But how did you end up there?”
“Well,
um, the whole place was originally made of sand-”
“Wait-
sand? Now this is definitely a dream. You never said anything about sand-”
“How
do you know there’s no sand in London?”
“I
just know these things, Nathan. Well, David?”
“You
have to hear the rest. Oh, you must… Then I looked down and… fell…all… the… way…
to the ground.”
“Well…Did
you hit it?”
“No.
I… I think I woke up in time. And that’s all I remember.”
The two
boys just stared at him; one curious, the other fascinated.
“…That
was it, David?”
“Just
‘it’? George, I don’t know what to think. I fell a long way down”
“David,
it’s just a nightmare. And I can’t interpret that. I don’t have any more of an
idea of it than you.”
“Honest?”
“Honest.
And I’ll make sure to keep this quiet.”
“You
won’t tell anybody?”
“Of
course. Just like before. Speaking of which, why were you taken out of line today-
I mean yesterday?”
David
hesitated to answer- The other two simultaneously understood. Something
happened.
“You
don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” They knew how sensitive he was at
times like these. Sadness makes everything hurt worse. It took a while for him
to speak clear enough to hear him.
“I…was
chosen by Father Priest to replace him. I’m going to be the next priest. So I’m…
to stay here…forever…to train...”
The
words sank in at the pause. Nathan dropped his jaw, exposing his buck teeth.
George took aback.
“So
that means… You can’t leave?”
David
nodded. He let hopelessness pull out the tears.
“Oh, no.”
“They’ll
never let me leave now!” Some sobs escaped.
“David,
please. Be quiet.”
“They
never even asked me beforehand. They must think that I want to grow up to be a…
a priest?! I don’t! I won’t!”
“David,
quiet! You want to wake everyone up?”
“There,
there, Dave. Don’t get so…well, sad about this.” Some tears escaped
“What
on Earth are you talking about, Nathan? How could I not be upset? I’m doomed!”
He
ran his thin fingers through his short black hair. “Um, well, there must be some
way to avoid this disaster.”
“How?
What are we going to do? Run away?”
“Maybe…
There’s always a way. I just can’t think of one.”
“Well,
if it’s any consolation, thank you for telling us David. We won’t tell a soul.
I promise.”
“Me
too.”
“T-thank
you... George?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
He sat
up while he wiped the tears off of his face. “Why do people only notice that
I’m different? Why can’t they just like me?"
Silence.
A deep one that made the other two think a little harder.
“Well,
I always thought it was because of the way you look. I know I’ve never seen it
before...”
“People
only seem to see what’s in front of them, David. It’ not your fault.”
It
didn’t help. David stared downward in defeat, tears still blurring his vision.
“I
don’t know. But I’ll tell you this-” George grew a smirk- “I stole the carriage at midnight.”
David
looked up with sparkling interest, even when he still had bits of tears on his
eyes. David was very quick to switch emotions.
“How?”
“You
won’t believe me.”
“Really,
George?”
“Yeah,
like we wouldn’t. I’ve said weirder things before.”
“Okay,
guys. I’ll tell you first who owned it. It was the judge’s”
“Wait-
the judge that had tried locking you away before?”
“Yep.”
George beamed with pride.
“It
happened when I must’ve been you’re age, or close to it, a few years ago,
something like four years. Yeah that makes sense. Anyway, we had it all
planned. Me, Johnny, and Willy, - you remember them, right? I told you about
them before-we made a bet with the mates at a theatre that if we stole the
carriage and horse of the judge’s, they would give each of us 10 pounds. So we
started with getting any carrots we could find, since Johnny said he saw someone give a carrot to a horse. Then that nigh’, we
followed the judge back to his flat, to the place where he kept his carriage.
It also happened to be where he kept his horse, so it became easier to bribe
the horse with the carrots as we strapped the carriage to it and gave it a good
slap to move. The horse gave such a neigh and loud gallops that it woke up
everyone on the block, but we were long gone by the time the judge realized.
“Then
the bobbers got on our tail. We were able to keep moving because Oliver thought
of the idea to attach a carrot to a stick with a string and the horse kept
trying to get it. So we were in a chase that lasted for a long time. We needed
to lose them fast. So we all jumped onto the horse and cut the carriage lose so
that when we turned onto the street parallel to the Thames River, it broke off
and flew into the drink, while we escaped with the horse.”
“That’s
amazing, George! That’s actually as crazy as some of David’s stories.”
“Well,
it is. You really had to be there.” George, and eventually Nathan, left a
bright-faced, wide eyed boy on the bed as he got up to his own.
“Try
to get some sleep, David. It’s still dark outside.”
But, for some reason, he couldn’t.
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