Author's note: Yes, yes, I know. It was AnyaTheRhymer's. Well guess what honeys, that was me. *heart*

..And The Nightmare Comes Crawling Back.

Sometimes it's better not to be curious. People are right when they say curiosity killed the cat!

If you're wondering why I say so, let me tell you: I've had a lot of experience. Bad experiences, and all of them made of that blasted temptation, curiosity.

I was twelve years old and playing soccer with my friends in a large, green-grassed field. Our team's captain, Bobby, passed the ball to me with a hard kick. It missed my feet completely and flew over my head, burying itself in the bushes.

My friends and I stared. It had hit the forbidden spot - the old, abandoned theatre. None of us dared to go there. 'You go get it, Ben,' Bobby said. 'You were dumb enough to miss the ball, and it's like, the size of your head. Go get it.' No one protested on my behalf - Bobby was big and strong, and had a short temper. I didn't have the nerve to fight him, either, so I obeyed him and went to the get the damned ball.

It was time for dinner, judging by how low the sun was. Sunset. The sky had turned orange, like watercolour on a piece of paper that had run into the white blobs that were supposed to be clouds, giving them bright orange undersides.

Strangely, no matter where in the bushes I looked, the ball wasn't there. 'I can't find it,' I yelled back at the guys. Bobby looked impatient. 'Then look further! It might've gotten in through an open window.'

Now, that was just plain unfair.

After receiving a painful thump on my now throbbing head – courtesy of Robert LaSalle aka Bobby – I agreed to go in and have a look around for the ball.

Slowly pushing the door open - it creaked like oil had never existed - I took a quick look around. No ball in sight. There was no way it could've gotten upstairs - there were no doors leading anywhere else in this room, but there was a staircase - and besides, I didn't dare venture further into the building. So, slamming the door behind me quickly, I made for the field.

It shocked me to see that the sky, which had been orange before I entered the building, had now turned as black as ink and was decorated by small white stars. And where had all the others gone? They had disappeared, all of them, from the field. Now there was just one small, robed figure standing with his or her back to me, in the middle of all the grass - and right by his or her feet, the missing football.

Curious to know who this little person was and what he or she was doing with my ball, I stuck around to find out.

Ah. Curious. I did say that was what started all this, didn't I?

I summon what little energy I have left and raise a hand. I can see through the grey flesh now, through the muscles and bones, to the twinkle of the stars beyond. I smile and the corners of my lips continue stretching, off my face, becoming a limitless, endless smile.

My robes sag as the body beneath loses the ability to support them. Atoms rise from me like steam, thin tendrils at first, then a steady stream of shafts which are all the colours of the rainbow, my soul departing from every area of my body at once. The tendrils wrap around one another and shoot upwards, bound for the stars and realms beyond.

There's almost nothing left of me now. The robes collapse in on themselves completely. The last traces of my spirit hover above the robes and roof. I think of my family, Debbie, Mr. Crepsley, Steve, Mr. Tiny, all those I've known, loved, feared and hated. My last thought, oddly, is of Madam Octa - I wonder if they have spiders in Paradise?

And now it's over. I'm finished with this world. My final few atoms rise at a speed faster than light, leaving the roof, the theatre, the town, the world, far, far behind. I'm heading for a new universe, new adventures, a new way of being. Farewell world! Goodbye Darren Shan! So long old friends and allies! This is it! The stars draw me towards them. Explosions of space and time. Breaking through the barriers of the old reality. Coming apart, coming together, moving on. A breath on the lips of the universe. All things, all worlds, all lives. Everything at once and never. Mr. Crepsley waiting. Laughter in the great beyond. I'm going ... I'm ... going ... I'm ... gone.

I'm frozen to the spot, my bones not working due to the fact that what I had just seen had left me with a humongous brain fart. That tiny person just disappeared into the sky! I mean, he or she started shaking, then mist started rising from the hood, the sleeves, everywhere. Then the robe just fell on the floor ... no body. No body in there.

So yeah, I'm frozen to the spot.

Tossing and turning at night. Unable to forget the amazing thing I saw. Is that how people die? I wondered. Can I see people's spirits leaving when people die?

Does the notion seem ridiculous to you? Too bad, ridiculous doesn't exist anymore. Neither does normal. Especially at that moment, as I lay restless in bed. Nothing was ridiculous, nothing was normal, nothing was ... the same. A tear ran down my face. I was terrified.

The term 'scared silly', as well as 'curiosity killed the cat', also proved to be true for me. I was scared silly. And in all my scared-silly-ness, I didn't feel myself drifting off into the peaceful realm of sleep.

'Ben! Hey, Ben!'

Will Baxter rushed towards me, waving a piece of paper around. 'You've gotta see this!'

'What is it?' I frowned, squinting down at the paper. It appeared to be some sort of flyer. 'You're becoming a salesman, or something?'

'Of course not,' Will chuckled - then glanced around to check that no one else was there. 'It's the flyer of a freak show playing in town.'

'A freak show?' I asked uncertainly - I'd been told about those. 'Yeah, it sounds amazing,' Will sighed. 'There's a Wolf Man, and a snakeboy, and all sorts. Wanna come check it out?'

I took the flyer in my hands and inspected it. There were three large, bold words that caught my attention immediately. Three words that changed my life. Not 'I love you'. Not 'save our souls', although it may as well have been that. But no. Not that.

'Cirque Du Freak.'