12 Years Later

Alice lay asleep in bed coated in a cold sweat, she was tossing in bed restlessly lost in a dream, she was back in the cave trapped…..

She was alone in the cave and the walls were slowly receding. Peter was lain under the rubble and mud and he was screaming her name.

"Peter….Peter." she murmured his name continuously her head moving from left the right on the bed. "I can help you…."

"I can't die Alice, don't let me die!" Peter pleaded.

"I won't let you die!" she whispered. I know I can save you."

Water was rising rapidly, swirling blue and clear, things were different this time though she had dug as hard and fast as she could and Peter was free! He was fine. He stood up and smiled at her, they embraced tightly. Water surged suddenly and he was yanked away from her by the waves. She was unable to move, about to scream for him when Danny appeared from no where, he was glowing in a bright white light. He lifted her to safety then disappeared under the water for Peter.

'No Danny….." she moaned. 'Not you….." tears fell down her cheeks.

She was screaming for Danny to come back, in an instant she had no idea how it happened but she was on the beach and people were carrying bodies out of the water, she couldn't help them…..just like last time. She looked at them as they were carried past…..so still. Everyone turned and pointed to her. "You killed them!"

"NO!" she shouted and sat up. In seconds she realised it was a dream and exhaled, the fear at being trapped in the cave beginning to ebb as she panted to catch her breath. She felt she had ran a marathon, not lain in bed asleep. She pulled her hand from her tangled covers and covered her eyes, her fingers grazed her head, it was soaked. The dampness causing loose tendrils of hair to stick to her forehead. She pushed the covers down to the bottom of her bed to allow the cool air to chill her hot sticky body. Her pink vest top and shirts were damp. She lain back down and let her arms flop back onto the bed.

"Twelve years later and I'm still having nightmares!" she muttered. She hadn't had a decent night sleep in as long back as she could remember, it had to be at least 10 years since she last slept through the night. After it had first happened the nightmares had plagued her, when she and Danny talked they had disappeared…..they returned with a vengence after yet more loss. She checked the clock and saw it was four am, slightly later than her usual time of waking up. Well the early bird caught the worm, she rose from bed and headed for her shower,

As she walked into her bathroom she pondered her dream, it was practically the same every night. She moved the dial on her shower. A few details changed here and there. Like how Danny died or sometimes he wasn't there. Peter always died, the theme was always the same. He was pulled away by the water and carried out. Then everyone pointed at her and named her as his killer. Danny being an angel was a recent development. She hated the dream, in it she always lived and a lot of the time she wished she didn't. Her mum had took her to see countless therapists. Apparently she suffered from survivors guilt, an irrational guilt that she survived and others had died. The therapist got paid that much money to tell her that I mean c'mon! No shit Sherlock! She knew that and she didn't spend a stupid amount of time at University to learn it. The one thing that annoyed her was why did she live? Why did Peter die? Did she feel guilty that she had lived? It didn't take a genius to know that she did, how could she not? If she had tried harder to get him to leave that cave or even not go in he'd still be here and she wouldn't be this emotionally stunted individual who wouldn't have a cat! Why? Coz everything left, being alone was safe.

After her shower she walked downstairs into her kitchen, as she passed the living room the door was open and her gaze was drawn to the same place it was every morning. It was a picture of her and Peter on his eleventh birthday wearing paper hats and smiling happily neither had a care in the world, neither knew the tragedy that would come less than 4 weeks later. Death wasn't on either of their minds on this picture, if she remembered right they were planning some sort of trick on Danny…Danny, she had came to rely on him so much in the weeks following Peters death. He just seemed to be there whenever she needed him, like on her own eleventh birthday two months later.

(X)

Danny walked around his house absorbing the quiet hush that surrounded them, it was almost a physical entity, gone was the laughter, gone was the joking. Danny and his parents seemed to whisper now rather than talk at a normal level. Nothing was the same since the day Peter had gone. His mum and dad barely spoke, his mum taking tablet after tablet just to get through the day. His dad immersed in work taking all the hours he could and Danny, well he had no escape, he didn't have the choice of a job or medicine he was just here a helpless observer watching his family implode.

Alice's mum had called earlier, she had called often at first, not so much now. He usually picked up the phone, his mum got this funny look on her face whenever Alice was mentioned. Just this morning was her mums last phone call. She couldn't find Alice and instinctively she had called his house. She had apologised when she realised, habit. He'd told her it was ok. He was finding it out not to look for Peter to play on the computer or shout for him if his favourite program came on the TV.

He walked into the kitchen and saw the sun shining in the back yard, a flawless day perfect for best friends running around, finding mischief, water bombs and climbing tress….he felt grief fill him and raised his eyes heavenward to stem the emotion. When that didn't work and he felt his eyes fill he bit his lip to stop the flood of tears. He had to be strong, his mum couldn't se him in pieces it would only upset her and his dad said that shows of extreme emotion weren't acceptable. He became a man that day in the cave and men didn't cry! When he lowered his head, for a fraction of a second he saw Peter running with Alice, happy and carefree. The image fell to pieces and all that was left was the empty garden and memories of what had been and what would never be repeated. He opened the door and walked outside slowly hands in his pockets thinking of the way life was and wishing so badly that things were different. As his eyes scanned the tree he saw a flash of colour, as he walked closer he knew who was in there. He walked under an looked up. "Hi."

Alice looked down at him, arms crossed, dark shadows in her eyes. "Hi." her voice didn't sound the same, it was dull all the sparkle and magic extinguished. He knew the reason for the change and he knew the reason she was sat up there without having to ask, he settled on a more appropriate question. "You been ok?"

Her face darkened further and her voice finally sparked with life. "Don't ask me that, everyone asks me that, like I'm gonna crack up at any second coz my best friend is…..is…." she looked away.

He sighed. "You want some company?"

Not really but seeing as he lived here….."It's your tree."

With that he deftly climbed the tree and sat beside her. "Happy birthday." he murmured. "I saw it on mums calendar."

"I don't have birthdays anymore." she replied lowly. She didn't have much to be happy about either.

Danny looked at her and noticed her face was sunken, she looked far older than eleven and his heart ached for all the pain she was going through. "Peter would have wanted…."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Don't tell me what Peter would have wanted, mum does that all the time, Peter wouldn't want you to feel guilty. Peter would want you to go out and play with your friends. Peter would tell you to eat something incase you get ill. He'd want me to be happy but how can I? My best friend is dead and people are acting like he didn't exist, like he wasn't real but he was real Danny! He was!"

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"I need to see him Danny, so badly. I want to talk to him and play stupid tricks on you and just be normal! I want him back!"

Danny closed his eyes and pressed his face down n her shoulder. "I know Alice, I do too."

They sat in the tree holding each other for the longest time, knowing instinctively that the other knew and understood exactly what the other was going through. The confusion, the loss, the trying to find some semblance of order when your whole world has been forever altered and you know that it will never be the same again. Every so often he felt an almost imperceptible shudder from Alice and he new she was weeping softly. When he was sure her tears had subsided her pulled away slowly, handed her a clean handkerchief.

"Thanks." she murmured. Eyes red rimmed voices scratchy from tears.

He sensed she needed a change in surroundings. "I got my pocket money today, how about we go to town or something?"

She shook her head. "I ran off, mum will be worried."

"I'll call her and tell her you're with me."

She shook her head again. "It's best I go home."

"I'll walk you, the he slid down the tree Alice seconds later. She dusted herself off as they walked through the side gate and towards her house. She stopped suddenly. "Here I am."

He frowned. "I didn't know you lived so close."

Alice nodded.

"You have my house number right?"

She nodded.

"If you need someone I'm here for you." he assured. "Just call me yeah?"

She nodded and walked towards her house.

Danny watched her retreat knowing that hell would freeze over before she rang him.

A/N Awwww bless. poor older alice, what has happened to her to cause her to become so cynical. little danice were cute... this story will be full of flash backs (just a warning)

ANYWAY 2 updates for you tonight, one of opp att (Hopefully!)

After tonight I will update as soon as I can bt I cnt promise anything coz I have loads of uni work to do which I haven't started and my bf has threatened to take my dre beats headphones hostage until its done, usually I wood tell him to do it bt he actually wood and I cnt live without my dre beats :/