Bad Dreams (12 page)

“Huh?”

“The ghost! The girl in the dream—she was here! Quick—look!”

She grabbed her mother and pulled her to the window. “Look, Mom! The girl—”

Mrs. Travers leaned out the open window. The wind ruffled her nightgown. A few seconds later, she pulled back into the room.

“There's no one out there, Maggie.” Her expression was grim.

“Mom—she was here in my room! She floated out the window. She—she had a knife and—”

Mrs. Travers uttered a low cry, moved forward quickly, and wrapped Maggie in her arms. “Oh, Maggie,” she cried in a trembling voice. “Don't worry. I'll get you help. I'll get you help right away, dear. We'll find a good doctor. You'll be okay. I know you will.”

“Now, in your projects next week, you're going to be growing your very own versions of stalactites and stalagmites,” Mrs. Harrison told them. She shone her flashlight up at the roof of the cave, where the pointy formations hung straight down like daggers.

“They look like icicles,” said Carly Pedersen, her voice echoing in the cavern.

“Exactly right,” Mrs. Harrison agreed. “And they're formed the same way, but much more slowly. In fact, the word
stalactite
comes from the Greek word for dripping.”

Wednesday afternoon. Outside, it was cold and dark and cloudy—more like a winter day than a spring one. And that was
outside.
In the cave the temperature was at least ten degrees colder.

Maggie wrapped her arms around herself. Why hadn't she brought a jacket as the rest of the kids had? Probably because she couldn't think sensibly. All she could think about was that she had seen a dead girl, a ghost. And that the ghost had tried to stab her.

Maggie searched for Dawn in the crowd of students clustered around Mrs. Harrison. She found Dawn staring at her and glowering.

Now
what have I done? Maggie asked herself. What is Dawn's problem?

“All right,” Mrs. Harrison said. “As you can see, there are three different tunnels leading back from the mouth of the cave. Don't worry, they all connect up eventually. But it's a real maze back there, so stick together. Okay, let's split up into our groups of four, find your way through, and then we'll meet outside in half an hour.”

Groups of four? Maggie glanced around in a sudden panic.

When were the groups assigned? Must have been Friday.

“You're with us,” Deena Martinson told her.

“Oh, thanks,” Maggie said, relieved.

“This way,” Deena called, leading her into the blackness that was the back of the huge cavern. Maggie followed obediently.

Up ahead, another member of their group, Deena's friend Jade Smith was exclaiming, “Wow! The walls are so slimy!”

Maggie had to stoop to keep her head from brushing the rough, wet ceiling of the tunnel.

The parks department had put in some lights to help guide the way. And the rest of her group had flashlights. Another thing Maggie had forgotten.

But even with flashlights, it was still gloomy. And getting colder and colder the farther back they went.

“Remind me never to become a geologist,” Maggie murmured.

“I hope there are no bats,” Deena said.

Finally the tunnel opened into a wider space. Maggie held back. What was that fluttering sound?

“Bats are supposed to be good,” Jade whispered.

“Has anyone told the bats?” Deena replied.

“Look!” Deena pointed. “A whole mess of tunnels leading off this one.”

Maggie slipped and almost fell. She suddenly felt dizzy. She leaned against the wall for a moment, holding her head down until the feeling passed.

When she raised her eyes, she saw that the cavern was empty. Her group had taken off without her.

Hearing them up ahead, she plunged into the mouth of the nearest tunnel.

She moved as fast as she could, crouching low and picking her way over the loose rocks. The tunnel kept branching off, and she tried to follow the voices of her group.

But soon Maggie realized that she was no longer hearing any voices up ahead. And she couldn't hear any voices behind her either.

She stared into the darkness of the narrow tunnel.

Okay, Maggie, she told herself, stay calm.

Just follow the tunnel. You'll come out somewhere and—

“Oh!” She gasped as she thought she saw the tunnel walls begin to close in.

“No!”

Just like in the dream.

Miranda in the dark tunnel. Running. Running.

No. No. This isn't the dream.

The dream isn't coming true, she assured herself.

Take a deep breath. Then simply head back the way you came.

But which way was that?

She'd lost her sense of direction.

Which way? Which way? Which way?

She couldn't see a thing, surrounded by heavy darkness.

Then she heard footsteps. Behind her.

Maggie took a few steps toward them. Then she stopped.

The footsteps kept coming.

This isn't the dream, she told herself.

This isn't the dream.

The footsteps moved closer. Closer.

“Who—who is it?” Maggie called in a trembling voice.

N
o answer.

Maggie could hear shallow breathing, the sound echoing off the narrow tunnel walls.

Closer.

“Who
is
it?” she repeated, her fear making her voice high and shrill.

Still no answer.

The breathing grew louder. The footsteps crunched over the rock floor. Closer. Closer.

Choked with terror, Maggie spun away from the sounds and forced herself to start jogging.

Over the pounding of her sneakers, she could hear her pursuer begin to run too.

She couldn't deny it anymore.

She was being chased!

Just like Miranda. Just like in the dream.

“Ow!” Maggie scraped her knee against something
sticking out of the tunnel wall. The pain raced through her body, but she kept running.

Then before she even realized it, she was screaming for help. The sound just ripped out of her.

She ran through the darkness. The dream had become real. Her life had become the dream.

She didn't get far. She tripped over a rock and went down hard.

She could hear the footsteps padding closer.

As she scrambled back to her feet, her knees throbbed with pain.

She turned a corner and slammed into a wall. Her hand touched something wet and slimy.

And then she heard dry fluttering overhead, like hundreds of tiny umbrellas opening all at once.

Something brushed her face. Something furry. She screamed!

“Help me! Somebody—help me! Get me out! Out of here!”

The tunnel vibrated with the sound of a thousand flapping wings.

The footsteps crunched closer.

Screaming for help, Maggie ran into another cold, wet wall.

A dead end.

I'm trapped, she realized.

M
aggie pressed her back up against the wall as if she could push her way through the rock.

The footsteps pounded closer.

Overcome with terror, she collapsed to her knees.

She listened hard, too frightened to move. Any second, she knew, her attacker would appear and the knife would come down out of the darkness.

Now!

Or—

Now!

But nothing happened.

Breathing hard, her side aching, she climbed back to her feet.

The dream is real, she thought again. And my life is the dream.

Then she heard the footsteps again, very close. She pressed back helplessly against the rock.

The footsteps stopped. A flash of light.

The knife?

No. A flashlight played over her face.

“Mags?” A boy's voice, unsteady, muffled in the heavy wet air.

The flashlight burned into her eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She felt a strong hand grab her arm, pull her to her feet.

“Justin?”

“Maggie—why did you run?” he asked breathlessly, still holding her arm. “I came searching for you. I called your name.”

“I didn't hear. I only heard your footsteps,” Maggie said, still trembling.

“Everyone is outside, waiting at the bus,” he told her. “You were missing, so…”

“I got lost,” she told him, leaning against him.

“Yeah, well, everyone's real worried about you,” Justin said. “Let's get out of here.”

She held on to him as he led the way out of the tunnel. Maggie heard the flap of bats' wings. She held her breath and kept walking.

“I—I thought you were the killer,” she blurted out.

“What killer?”

“From my dream.”

She instantly regretted telling him. She could feel his muscles tighten.

His expression hardened. “Maggie, I hope you're not starting up with that dream stuff again,” he murmured.

Maggie stopped near one of the lights mounted in
the slimy cavern wall. The eerie glow of the naked bulb made Justin's normally handsome face look like a skull. “Sorry,” Maggie whispered.

They walked the rest of the way out of the cave in silence.

Maggie strode quickly down the sidewalk. She didn't really know why she was in such a hurry. There was no reason to rush home.

One day had passed. She hadn't seen the ghost again, hadn't dreamed the dream. But the fear was always with her, there in the creepy old house, there at night in the canopy bed. She didn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone.

“Maggie!” someone called behind her.

She picked up her pace, pretending she hadn't heard.

“Hey, Mags! Slow down!” Justin appeared at her side, jogging to keep up. “Slow down! What's up?”

Why was he pretending everything was okay between them? He hadn't said a word to her since the day before in the cave.

“Nothing's up,” she muttered, walking fast.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“You mean, am I crazy?” she asked sharply.

He reacted as if he were stung. He grabbed her shoulder and made her stop. “I saw you weren't in school this morning. So I was worried.”

“I had a doctor's appointment,” Maggie said.

“A doctor's appointment? You sick?”

“Sick in the head,” she muttered bitterly.

“You saw a shrink?”

She nodded.

Dr. Brenda Marsh was a soft-spoken, fortyish psychiatrist whom Mrs. Travers had seen a couple of times after her husband died. Mrs. Travers reported that she had been very helpful. But as far as Maggie and Andrea could tell, all she had done was tell their mother it was natural to feel depressed, and given her a mild sedative to help her sleep.

Maggie was surprised at how good it felt to talk to her. Brenda had an easy smile and kind eyes. She didn't seem shocked by anything Maggie said. Even when Maggie said she thought the dead girl, Miranda was after her for revenge.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Maggie had blurted out near the end of the session, “but I think it's because Miranda died. Now she wants me to die too.”

“Dreams can be very upsetting,” Dr. Marsh said softly. “They're also important clues to what's really bothering us. I want you to come in again and talk to me next week, all right?”

Maggie had nodded. “Sure, I'll come back.”

“Did this shrink figure out what's going on with you?” Justin asked as they passed The Corner, a school hangout already filled with Shadyside kids.

Maggie shook her head. “She thinks the dreams are about something else, something that's bothering me.”

“Oh,” Justin said.

Maggie could tell the subject made Justin very uncomfortable. She knew it was coming between
them. “Am I ever going to see you again?” she demanded.

He didn't hesitate. “How about tomorrow night?” He grinned at her, moving close. “First you win the two-hundred. Then you and I celebrate.”