Chapter Text
Being told that you shouldn’t do something always made it more alluring, especially if you were eleven years old.
Of course The Them did lots of things they were told not to; trespassing on Mr Tyler’s property, getting their clothes muddy, fighting with Greasy Johnson’s gang, not tucking their shirts in at school...But it wasn’t their fault that the “wrong” thing was always the most fun. Especially now, at nine in the evening at Adam’s house, when they just told Mr Young they were going to watch disney movies.
“I don’t know about this,” Said Wensleydale, nervously eyeing a dvd case. “It says it’s rated fifteen.”
“We’re only three away from that.” Pepper said, snatching the case out of his hands. “The cover doesn’t even look that bad.”
Brian, who was lounged comfortably on the couch, craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the dvd, his hands already in the popcorn bowl. “We don’t have to watch if you don’t wanna, Wens.”
Wensleydale shook his head, tilting his chin upwards slightly as if to appear braver. “No, I’ll watch it. It’s probably poorly made anyway.”
“Then at least it’ll be funny.” Adam chimined from behind the television, finally figuring out how to hook the dvd player up to the tv. “Right, hand it over ‘ere..”
The dvd player started up with a whir as The Them took their respective seats on the couch, a large blanket covering their legs.
There were shushed giggles as the movie started, the large title font flashing across the screen as the popcorn bowl was passed around. There were a group of kids just like them though maybe a bit older, and a pact with a creature beyond their comprehension. There were jumpscares and jarring music, blood, guts and murder and plot twists and screams; Their eyes were perpetually fixed the screen, wide and frightened.
During it all they had unknowingly huddled tightly together; Brian had spilt nearly all the popcorn from his jumpiness, and Wensleydale squeaked and clasped Pepper’s hand (or maybe she had grabbed his), and Adam had clutched a cushion so hard to his chest some of the beads popped off and joined the forgotten puffs popcorn on the floor.
Finally it was over, and they all discreetly let go of the breaths they’d been holding in.
Adam solomny turned the tv off before facing the rest of them, completely deadpan. “That was pretty stupid.”
There was immediately a chorus of agreement as they shuffled away from each other, criticising the effects, the acting, whatever they could focus their attention on.
It wasn’t long before Mr Young came in to tell them they’d been up for long enough and should really get to bed now, ushering the reluctant children upstairs to freshen up. They all spent a little longer than necessary brushing their teeth before climbing into their respective beds. Well, their respective mattresses on the floor of Adam’s room.(Adam also had his mattress on the floor for the night, as it wouldn’t be fair in his opinion, to literally put himself above his friends)
Mr Young bid them all good night before switching the light off, leaving them with only darkness and their very active imaginations.
“Er, not that I’m scared or anything.” Brian whispered to vague silhouettes of his friends. “But demons and monsters and stuff don’t actually exist, right?”
There was a pause. The preteen ages of ten and eleven had their downfalls; whilst certain creatures like fairies and unicorns had long been dismissed as silly by The Them, the jury was still out in regards to supernatural monsters, especially as they made regular appearances in their games. However such monsters were much easier to handle in daylight where you could easily slay them with a sword, not so much in the dark where they could be lurking in every shadow.
Wensleydale finally broke the silence. “‘Course not. At least, not in Tadfield. I’ve never seen one.”
“Just cos you can’t see something doesn’t mean it ain’t there.” Pepper hissed back, her eyes darting around the dark room. “There could be demons in here right now.”
Brian gulped, shuffling closer towards Pepper whilst trying to act like he wasn’t. “But why would they be here?”
“Because they’re evil. You saw the movie.” Pepper whispered with a certain confidence, as if she was well-versed in the topic. “They probably want to eat us, or torture us and then eat us.”
“Oh, can you shut up about it!” Adam snapped, a little too loud for comfort. Pepper, Brian and Wensleydale felt vaguely aware of a strange feeling, as if words were getting stuck in their throats. It wasn’t a strong feeling, akin to a tickle in the throat that wouldn;t go away no matter how much water you drank. They couldn’t have kept the topic going, even if they wanted to; however, none of The Them were aware of this fact.
Adam meanwhile, was nervous that he’d spoken too loudly and awoken his parents. When no-one came, Adam let out the breath he’d been holding, aware of the three pairs of eyes still watching him.
“It’s just- well, if you don’t want to be tortured and stuff, you shouldn’t be talking about them. If they know you’re scared of them, they’re bound to pop up then.”
There were a few mumbles and shrugging of shoulders as the other agreed.
“Makes sense.” Brian whispered, nestling down into his mattress. “Let’s talk about somethin’ else then.”
Wensleydale perked up, seizing the opportunity to talk about his new interest. “Oh, I finished a new book series last week!”
“‘zat the one with the magical tree?”
Pepper quirked a brow. “A magical tree?”
“Actually, the tree is more like a portal. You see, in the first book..”
Adam smiled to himself as Wensley started to rant about the series, stifling laughs when Pepper or Brian would interject to make a wry comment about a character or the plot. He wasn’t sure why he’d begun to feel so uncomfortable before, as if his friends were talking about him behind his back, unaware that he could hear them.
But that doesn’t make sense, Adam thought, they were just talking about the movie, make believe stuff. He shook his head slightly, deciding to focus on his friend’s voices, finding comfort in how they spoke softly into the dark, their words lingering around him like a warm blanket.
Then the warmth started to become stifling, wrapping around him too tightly for comfort. Adam coughed and sputtered, blinking his eyes open only to be met with hollowing darkness engulfing him. He desperately reached out blindly with his arms, letting out a small cry when he seemed to turn in the air, as if floating in water. Adam had dreamt of floating before, of soaring through the air with the wings of an eagle, or swimming through the galaxies so he could touch the stars; but he couldn’t seem to do that now. Even when he moved it didn’t feel like he was going anywhere, and when he cried out for help nobody answered and the warmth get growing and growing and-
“You could do it too, if you wanted to.”
A boy who looked a lot like him sat on a patch of grass which seemed untethered to any sort of ground. The stifling heat had suddenly subsided and The Boy smiled at him kindly. Had he always been there?
Adam blinked at him. “Do what?”
“Control things, make them how you want them to be. Like in your movie.”
At this he put his hand to the grass, pressing into it for a second before lifting it to reveal a tiny humanoid figure made of dirt. “Come, sit with me.”
Adam sat on the end of the grass patch furthest away from The Boy, watching him curiously. “What do you mean? I can’t do magic like that
"It's not magic." The Boy smiled patiently, akin to a teacher to a young pupil. "It comes naturally to me. And to you as well."
The humanoid creature circled Adam curiously, clambering onto his legs, causing him to laugh.
"I dunno what you're going on about." He said, putting his hand down for the creature to climb on. "I can make stuff up, like games and stuff for my friends to play, but I can't do what you did."
The Boy watched him, making more of the creatureS pop out of the grass; Adam set the one in his hand down and it ran to join the others, hugging and dancing with them.
"You like them?" The Boy asked, regarding him with cool green eyes.
Adam nodded, watching the creatures play; there was a little ball being kicked around by them in a minature game of football, and they even had their own teams.
"They are like people, in a way." Said The Boy. "Made from the earth."
Adam wrinkled his nose. "I ain't made of dirt!"
The boy laughed a peculiar laugh; it was robotic in a sense, as if he was mimicking a sound he'd heard, but hadn't made of his own accord before.
A squabble had broken out between the little creatures in front of them; three of the creatures were squealing and pushing at each other, getting increasingly more aggressive as the others watched on, worried. Adam frowned, wondering if he should push them away from each other with his finger.
"No, you're not. You're much more mighty than a mere human."
With no warning the Boy reached out and crushed the squabbling creatures under his hand, causing Adam to cry out in shock.
"Wh- You killed them!"
The Boy blinked at him. "They were being disruptive."
"You didn't have to do that!" Adam yelled, feeling that warmth creep up his neck again. "You coulda stopped 'em without hurting 'em!"
He reached out towards the remaining creatures, who now shook with tears, and tried to pull them away from the Boy, only to lose his footing and stumble, his hand smearing them onto the grass.
"Why are you crying?" The Boy asked. "We can make more, if you want."
"It won't be the same!" Adam's voice trembled as he scrambled away from the boy, staring at his stained hand. "It won't be the same people! You killed them!"
"They were given life, and they made a mockery of it. Don't cry, Adam, you shouldn't get too attached. Think of all the things you could make, much better than beings made of dirt."
Adam covered his ears, the Boy's voice seemed to multiply, as if he was in a stadium full of people. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He screwed his eyes shut, tears seeping hot down his face as he once again felt stifled, choked. "Leave me alone! I don't wanna play with you anymore!"
The Boy was saying something, he could hear the hum of those overlapping voices but wouldn't listen to what they were saying, willing himself to be anywhere but here-!
"Adam!"
With a gasp he awoke, staring at the concerned faces of his friends, illuminated by a small lamp.
"You okay?" Brian had his hands on his shoulders; he'd been trying to shake him awake.
Adam blinked at him, opening his mouth but not saying anything.
"You were having a nightmare," Said Wensleydale, squinting in the dim light.
"And you were crying." Pepper added, touching his cheek lightly, her fingers coming back slightly damp. "What happened?"
"I..Don't remember. Just that it was bad." And it was true; Adam vaguely remembered a strong unpleasant feeling, but not what, or who, caused it.
"Oh well, it's done now." Brian declared, pulling Adam in for a hug which was happily returned.
"I once dreamt I was a jellyfish," Said Wensley, deciding to worm under Brian's arm to join the hug. "And that I collected water pears in a box."
Pepper shot him a quizzical look, wrapping an arm around Brian and Adam. "Water pears?"
"Pears that grow in water."
Adam snickered, his chest feeling warm; the pleasant sort of warmth that only came from having good friends. Even after they broke the hug they stayed close together, whispering to each other about weird dreams and anything else that came to mind until they started to feel tired again, settling back on their mattresses.
"You good now, mate?" Brian whispered, reaching to bump Adam's hand with his own.
"Yeah," Adam mumbled, his eyes already starting to close. "Bloody tired, though."
The others giggled, shushing each other until they started to drift off back to sleep.
Adam slept soundly, wrapped up in his blanket, his dreams pleasant and undisturbed.