The fingers are about worn to the bone from all the tapping at the keys and my hands may be permanently cramped but I can finally almost, just about, kinda, sorta see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. I have about 8,000 more words to go before I'm done with my 50,000 words for the month but I don't think the story will be finished yet. Who knows, though, everyone may just die off, end of story, happy ending. Well, perhaps not for the 8-10 year olds the story is intended for. Darn it all. I've been trying to decide what to put here as the next excerpt of my story and I'm having a hard time with it. Do I put in the catching of the Dreamstealer or the death of the Dreamweaver? Yes, I kill Gary. Sorry to the Gary fans out there. Perhaps the death scene would be best that way you're at least prepared. Here it is:
“Did you catch him,” a weak voice asked from behind Herbert. Sammy stepped to the side and saw Gary leaning against the trap. His face was white and his legs didn’t seem to want to hold him up any longer because he slowly sank to the floor. Sammy rushed over to his side and for the first time saw the blood that soaked the front of his shirt.
“Gary,” he said. “You should have let me look at you earlier. Do you think I can imagine you better?”
Gary smiled sadly. “I don’t think that works on real injuries to real people. This is different than a normal dream. We aren’t players and our wounds won’t heal.”
“No,” Sammy said fiercely. “You have to let me try. You can't just sit there and bleed to death. You have to let me try.”
Herbert had followed Sammy to Gary’s side and it was his hand that pulled Sammy away from Gary and his arms that held Sammy until his anger drained away. Sammy tried to push and shove Herbert but he just could not move him until he stopped fighting. Herbert held him for another moment until Sammy took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Slowly and carefully he stepped around Herbert and calmly walked back to Gary’s side. “How do we get out of here,” he asked.
Gary’s eyes were shut and at first Sammy thought he was dead but his eyelids fluttered then opened. “Can you talk with Horace and Hannah,” he asked in a rough whisper. Sammy nodded. “Tell them to hit the exit button on the screen. It will open a door and you’ll be able to go home.”
“You have to come too,” Sammy said. Gary gave a weak shake of his head. “Yes, you have to. I can’t leave you here with that.” He pointed over his shoulder to the cage where the Dreamstealer was still screaming in rage. “You can’t stay here.”
Gary reached out and grabbed Sammy’s arm for a brief moment before it lost strength and fell limply to the floor. “Sammy,” he said. “You must leave me. The door only opens for a short time and you must get through it. You have to take the leaf blower and get rid of the fog. You have to clean up the dream world and restore the balance. Horace and Hannah will have to get the new Dreamweaver. You have to go back and you have to leave me. This is where I belong.”
Sammy frowned. He didn't like what Gary was saying and he didn't agree but he realized he couldn't fight with him. He sighed. “What about Herbert,” Sammy asked.
“Herbert can decide for himself what he wants to do,” Gary said. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m tired, Sammy. I want to sleep.”
Sammy looked around and saw the mattress Gary had landed on when he’d come out of the worm. The worm was gone even though Sammy hadn’t heard it leave. Sammy looked at Gary and pictured in his mind a big soft bed where Gary could sleep. He pictured it with nice fluffy pillows and warm blankets. Gary’s lips curved up in a small smile when he felt the comfort of the bed.
“Thank you,” he whispered. He folded his hands together over his chest and his face became peaceful.
It wasn't that bad, was it? Herbert goes a little crazy after that but I'll let you find out about that later. Right now, I have to get back to the story to figure out how to end it. Believe it or not, I still really like this story. Maybe I can get this one edited before I start to hate it. Here's hoping.
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