The Nightmare Man Read Free Page A

exhausted, so he fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow…
    And he found himself standing in front of a pair of red doors. They were just like the ones at school and he could hear the sound of children laughing on the other side. He pushed through them and stepped into a corridor. It was like someone had taken one of the corridors from his school and twisted it all up. It was weird and wrong. The walls were grey and cold. There were a few blood-red doors but no windows. Luke knew wherever he was, it wasn’t a good place. But he was brave and he wanted to know more. So he started walking…
    ‘Lukey-boy! What are you doing here?’
    Luke turned around to see that Clyde was suddenly walking behind him. Behind them, one of the red doors was open. Luke wanted to stop and talk to Clyde but it was like someone had taken control of his legs. He kept walking, with Clyde following.
    ‘Thought you were the big man!’ continued Clyde. ‘Off to university!’
    Luke was about to answer when another of the red doors opened and Rani stepped into the corridor. She joined Luke and Clyde and they kept walking.
    ‘It’s not fair really, is it?’ she said.
    ‘What isn’t?’ asked Luke, confused.
    ‘You!’ Rani’s voice was suddenly full of hatred. ‘Your brain’s not normal.’
    ‘Aw,’ Clyde was laughing. It was a cruel sound. ‘Is Rani jealous?’
    ‘I’m working so hard to get out of here and he does it all a year early,’ she continued. ‘It’s just showing off.’
    By now, Luke had realised that this was another nightmare. Rani and Clyde were saying things that he was sure they didn’t mean. Just like his mum had done before. But he couldn’t stop himself arguing back.
    ‘That isn’t how it is!’ he said. He wanted to stop walking. He wanted to stop all of it. But Rani and Clyde carried on…
    ‘You act like, “oh, I’m so sweet and I’m so scared”, but you’re just a freak!’ Rani spat out the words.
    ‘Super geek!’ snarled Clyde.
    ‘Alien freak!’ Rani stared at Luke, full of hatred.
    Luke was desperate to stop this. He wanted to run away. He wanted to wake up. He wanted it to stop. But it only got worse as, suddenly, another door opened.
    ‘Ooh,’ said his mum, joining them. ‘Did someone say aliens?’
    ‘It’s okay, Sarah Jane,’ said Clyde. ‘We’ll still be here.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Rani. ‘We’ll help you to stop the aliens.’
    ‘I’ll be coming back!’ exclaimed Luke.
    ‘Who says we’ll want you back?’ Clyde said the words quietly, but it was like he’d screamed them into Luke’s face.
    Luke’s fears that they would forget about him, that they didn’t really like him, that they couldn’t wait for him to go, that they did think he was a freak…all his fears were happening. They were coming true. Devastated, he managed to stop walking and he turned to look at them. They just grinned back, enjoying his fear and upset.
    ‘ Luke… ’ whispered a voice. It was evil. The voice was actually evil. You could tell from just the one word that the voice belonged to something dark.
    Luke turned away from the others and their mocking smiles and he watched as another of the blood-red doors opened. On the other side was a black void. There was nothing there. No light. Just darkness.
    Luke tried to sound brave. ‘Who’s there?’
    ‘ I’m coming for you… ’ the voice whispered.
    ‘Who are you?’ shouted Luke. ‘Where am I?’
    Rani’s voice suddenly sounded in his ear. ‘It’s just a dream, you big kid.’
    Luke clenched his fists, desperately trying not to give in. ‘I know this isn’t real, but it isn’t just a dream. It can’t be!’
    ‘ Poor little Lukey… ’ the voice continued.
    It was mocking him. Using words that bullies had thrown at Luke over the years. Bullies he’d stood up to.
    ‘Who are you?’ he demanded.
    ‘ I live in your nightmares. I feed on them. Oh, and yours are just beautiful. ’
    Luke stared through the open