Page 24 of The Nightmare King

Mare fiddled with a plastic toy that lit up and made spaceship noises. “It’s not a problem at all, sir. In fact, you should just come party with us, I’ve got plenty of costumes.”

My dad laughed his deep belly laugh that made me realize I hadn’t stopped smiling. I liked having both my dad and boyfriend together. We’d had horror movie marathons and campouts in woods. Every holiday for years now, it had been us three. Though Mare would never call him Steve, always sir, always so proper.

“You kids have fun; this old man needs to rest.”

I winded down a steep mountain pass, the moon peeking out from over the black outline of trees. “These stupid platform boots,” I cursed as my feet felt hot and wobbly in my leather shoes. These roads made me nervous. “I don’t know how the cool goth kids do it.”

My dad chuckled at my outfit and asked, “What are you supposed to be?”

The turn came out of nowhere, and so did the deer. Its eyes reflected as it stood eerily still. Screaming, I turned too sharp, in the wrong direction. Mare noticed and lunged forward to grab the steering wheel to correct my mistake, but it was too late.

My rickety, back-heavy station wagon slid sideways over the mountain. The tragedy came in flashes of panic. My dad’s head hit the dash, blood rushed from his nose, and he went limp, arms flailing as the car rotated again, and again.

Mare grabbed my seatbelt from behind and pulled it tight as if he could protect me with his strength. “It’s going to be okay, Lucy. Just breathe,” he called out from behind me. How he could remain so calm as my mistake plummeted us to our death, I’d never reconcile.

The car slammed into something and finally came to an angled stop. Shaking, I cried hysterically, looking around at the shattered windows, the deflated airbags, and tree branches protruding into my battered car like skeleton arms in the night.

Mare was behind me, in my ear, his voice low and steady as I sobbed. “Lucy, you need to crawl through your window right now.”

I looked over at my dad, his head resting on the airbag like a pillow as red trickled down. “No,” I shook, crying uncontrollably. “My dad, you have to get my dad out first.”

Mare sucked in a breath, I couldn’t turn to look at him, my neck hurt too bad to move. “If I do that, I need you to close your eyes. Can you do that? Can you keep your eyes closed tight for me, baby?”

I nodded, my hands slick with sweat or blood as I obeyed. There was something he didn’t want me to see, and I was a coward who didn’t want to see it either. Maybe if I had, maybe if I’d have been brave like Mare, I would have chosen something different. If I had, maybe everything would have been different.

But I was a coward who shut her eyes.

I felt my boyfriend’s shoulder and body brush mine as he leaned over the center console, clicked open my dad’s door, and somehow got him out of the car without getting himself out first. Why would he do that? Why wouldn’t he just get out first and help us out? It didn’t make sense, and my head was pounding so badly that I was seeing a flurry of different colors behind my eyelids.

“Don’t leave me alone in here,” I begged, finding Mare’s arm when he slowly stationed his upper half next to me.

His voice was a soft purr. “I’ll never leave you, ever. Open your eyes, Lilac.”

I did, and I gazed into those stupid purple contacts. Almost forgetting where we were until I noticed the slash across his forehead. “Why aren’t you getting out?” I asked.

“Listen to me.” He pulled a knife from his pocket and began sawing at my seatbelt. “You need to do exactly as I say.”

“Why?” I argued, panic seeping into my bones.

Mare removed my seatbelt and my body slumped forward— the car tilted back slightly and groaned in a way a car shouldn’t groan.

“The car is balancing in a very precarious position right now. We have to play its game right. Now, I’m going to hold your hand and you’re going to crawl out your window. We can’t open your door, there’s a tree right next to you.”

“We’re on a cliff, aren’t we?” I asked in terror. “We’re dangling off a cliff?”

Mare took my hand. “You’re going to be okay, Lilac.” The car groaned and tilted back. “Come on, now,” he urged.

“My feet are stuck. It’s these stupid boots.” I cried as Mare took his knife and quickly ran it over the laces, allowing me to wiggle my bare feet free.

He shoved his hands under my arms and guided me toward the window. My neck ached, my head was dizzy, blood and sweat dripped from my back and temple. With a rough final push from my boyfriend, I landed chest-first onto gravelly dirt. I turned in panic, to see him in the back seat, leaning over the center console to make sure I was safe… as the back of my car dangled over a sharp, miles-high cliff. I lunged forward, but Mare shook his head.

“No, Lilac, don’t you dare. Only two bodies were making it out of the car tonight, and I’m glad the right ones did.” He gave a half smile like this was some stupid performance, or some soccer game, not like it was the end of his life.

“Mare.” I dropped to my knees and reached for him. “I—I can’t?—“

“I’ll find you,” he said, pulling out the flask from his jeans and taking a final sip. “Fall asleep and wait for me, Lilac.”

With a final groan and snap, the car fell backward, and I screamed. My palms brushed a hot tire as the vehicle plummeted off the cliff, violently crashing into rocks in the worst sound I’d ever heard. A sound that would forever haunt me. A night I would be so devastated over that I’d block it from my mind entirely. Choosing instead to sleep, to die little deaths every night… and Mare kept his promise. Of course he did… he found me somehow. Only in my sorrow, I forgot. I tuned him out, blocked out the accident, and wished it all away like a movie I clicked away with the press of a remote controller. Music drowned out the thoughts, audiobooks played new stories in my mind instead of the ones my therapist fought for me to revisit, and sleep… sleep was everything.

---