Nightmares of Death and Dreams of Life - James Gerard (free novel 24 txt) 📗

“Good morning.”

 

Jimmy looked up and smiled. “Good morning John. Is this deep enough?”

 

“You have to dig deeper Jimmy. I need this cistern to last a few years or so, so you need to dig deeper.”

 

“But I’m really thirsty and hungry,” said Jimmy as he began to climb out to the hole, “and my mom and dad and brother might be looking for me.”

 

“No, stay where you are,” John shouted. Trust me Jimmy, they are not looking for you.”

 

“But—”

 

“Look,” screamed John, “I am your brother. Yeah Jimmy…and I love you like a brother. So everything will be okay.”

 

“But I want to—”

 

“I said ‘everything will be okay,’” shouted John. “Just trust me. Now keep on digging and I will get you some food and water.”

 

“Well…okay. But I want to go home after I finish.”

 

After awhile John returned and handed down to Jimmy a bowl of some strange looking food.   It had streaks of yellow goo and was speckled with brown and black and gray gobs of something. “Phew,” he uttered after taking a quick whiff and then immediately held the bowl out at arms length. “Um John, I don’t think this food is any good. It smells really bad.”  

 

“Bad?” laughed John. “What an odd young boy you are Jimmy. Bad? Are you thinking I took this from the cistern at your house? Who would ever take rotten food from a cistern and feed it to someone they love Jimmy? I told you, I love you as my own brother.”

 

Jimmy took another sniff at the bowl of food. “But it does smell like a—”

 

“It’s a stew my mom cooked,” shouted John. “It’s just different from the food your mom cooks. Trust me Jimmy, it is good food. Now eat it.”

 

Jimmy took a hold of the spoon in the bowl, scooped out a bit of the yellow goo, and brought the spoon to the mouth. “Yuck,” he grimaced at the rotten and bitter taste of the gooey stew. And while the food was horribly different he figured John would not hurt him because he loved him like a brother so he ate up all the stew.

 

“John,” Jimmy moaned, “my stomach doesn’t feel good.”

 

“Well that’s expected. You have to get used to eating the strange food is all. Trust me. You will learn to like it. After all I’m your brother and I love you like a brother. Now, you have to continue digging the hole.”

 

The Nightmare’s Deadly Strike

 

“Good morning,” shouted John.

 

Jimmy woke up and quickly jumped to his feet. “Oh good,” he said and started to climb out of the hole, “it’s time to go home.”

 

“No,” shouted John, “you have to stay here. You see it’s time to build the stone wall.”

 

“But I want to go home John.”

 

Jimmy looked up and watched John pace back and forth. An angry expression on his face scared him. Then as if responding to a call, John suddenly turned and waved and shouted “yes he’s hard at work.”

 

“Who are you talking to?”

 

“Your mom and dad. You see Jimmy. You’re mom and dad and brother know that you are here helping me so don’t worry.”

 

“But if I’m in the hole then my mom and dad and brother can’t see me. They’ll think I ran away from home.”

 

“Look Jimmy, building a stone wall that goes all around the hole is tricky. I need you to hold the stones in place on that side so they don’t slip out of place and the whole wall tumbles down. And besides, when you were sleeping I went over and told them exactly what you are doing and where you would be. They said they were okay with that.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Would I lie to you Jimmy? I love you like a brother.”

 

“Well…okay then.”

 

The whole day Jimmy did as John commanded and stayed on the inside. As the wall grew higher and higher, he had trouble holding onto the freshly placed stones, but didn’t complain because John loved him and would never hurt him in any way. But soon the wall was too high for his short arms and little hands to reach. He called to John but got no answer then shouted even louder.

 

“What is it Jimmy?”

 

“I can’t reach the stones John.”

 

All of a sudden a stone was removed from the middle of the wall. “What did you say?”

 

“I said ‘I can’t reach the stones.’”

 

“Oh don’t worry about that. The wall is strong enough where I don’t need your help. But Jimmy, what I now need you to do is go all the way to the bottom of the hole. You see the dirt is very, very loose and if you stand too long on the part where the bottom stones are the wall will fall down.”

 

“Can’t I just come out now?”                                                               

 

“No,” shouted John, “I still need your help from the inside. Just stay down there and when I’m ready for your help I will let you know.”

 

“John, it’s getting dark in here!” shouted Jimmy as the sunlight slowly faded away with each board that was laid atop the circular wall.

 

“Don’t worry,” John answered, “I’ll leave the hole in the wall open.”

The Nightmare of Death

Jimmy awoke to scraping sounds. He looked up but had no idea as to whether it was day or night. All he could see was the big hole on top of the cistern had been covered. He looked up to the hole in the wall left by John, but could not be sure if it were day or night.

 

“What?” whispered Jimmy as dirt started to rain on his head. He looked up but could not see a thing. Standing up and stretching his arms up as high as he could something felt cold and hard and round. “Oh, a pipe.”

 

Soon gobs of stinky solid stuff and foul smelling liquids came pouring out of the pipe and ran over his head and face. Now, he thought, this really does smell like the cistern at my house.

 

All of sudden sawing sounds were heard from above and in a matter of seconds rays of sunlight poured in.

 

“John, I want to go home. Can I please come out now?”

 

“You can’t come out Jimmy. You see, the Men of Wisdom have decided to give you your job before the Coming of Age. They gave you to me as my helper. Isn’t that wonderful Jimmy?”

 

“But… John,” Jimmy uttered in between coughs, “it stinks down here and I’m really hungry and thirsty and cold. Can I please come out now?”

 

“Oh don’t worry about the cold and the smell because I’m just about to fix that.”

 

Jimmy looked up and could see John suspend something under the hole. Suddenly a match was struck and John lit whatever it was suspended just below the opening.

 

“That should keep you warm,” shouted John as the sunlight was cutoff with what looked to be a fat pipe.

 

“John!” Jimmy shouted. “What about my mom and dad and my brother?”

 

“What about them?” answered John from the hole in the wall.

 

“They will be looking for me.”

 

“Jimmy, I love you like a brother. Trust me, everything is fine. Besides, think about it, if they missed you they would have come over here to get you by now.”

 

“They…you mean they haven’t?”

 

“Of course not Jimmy. You will feel better once you eat.”

 

“But I want to go home!”

 

“Just eat some of the food that has been coming out of the pipe Jimmy.”

 

“I’m supposed to eat that?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“John, I don’t like your mom’s cooking very much.”

 

“Look Jimmy, I told you it is just different but it is good food. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do, everyday I’ll throw you something special through the hole. Okay?” 

A Voice from within the Nightmare

 As the days, the weeks, the months, maybe even the years passed, Jimmy more and more became angry having to feed on the crud coming out of the pipe and the morsels of putrid scraps forced upon him by John. More and more anger began to seethe at the thought of his mom and dad and brother having never bothered to come and look for him and take him home. More and more just the voice of John saying he loved him like a brother hurt his very soul. More and more anger mounted as John refused to let him go. More and more anger limited the responses to John’s words of love. But there was no escape.

 

Jimmy came to accept the fact than not only his family cared not to see him anymore, but others as well. He could not understand why his friends, teachers, priests, even the Men of Wisdom or any of their enforcement agents had never come to visit him and find out how he was doing. It was only understood they did not.

 

Every day he cried and wondered how he could have ever left the security of the dark corner of the house. Every day the thought of just one thunderous tidal wave making its way to the cistern and drowning him to death threw him into a sea of fear in between waves of anger.

 

But one day Jimmy stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs. With feet buried in the filth of the bottom of the cistern he reached up to the hole and to his surprise had grown tall enough to reach the small opening. With a low pitched growl Jimmy took hold of the bottom edge of the hole and with a mighty tug collapsed the bottom of the wall. Light poured in. Crawling through the hole he emerged back into the world around him. Jimmy scanned the area all around and saw nothing but cisterns. And while he could see many adults around, no children could be spotted.

 

He looked to John’s house and was struck with rage. He then looked at his house and wondered why it looked so broken down. Jimmy wondered if his family had moved and began to investigate, but then the thunder was heard. Looking at the massive wall of water churning and breaking towards the ground paralyzed him with fear. Thoughts said run but the body would not react.

 

“Someone help me!” screamed Jimmy as the swell rumbled over the barren landscape far west of the great number of cisterns dotting the village. He stood frozen with fear and heard a voice that shouted “run.” Adrenalin instantaneously kicked in and Jimmy raced to the only high ground around. He focused on the cliffs well in front of the advancing swell and sprinted toward them in a desperate