The Next Morning...

"Terry?" Carter called as he raced up to her.

"What is it baby?" Terry asked as he finally caught up with her. In reply, Carter grabbed hold of her and gave her the most passionate kiss he could manage.

"What was that for?" Terry asked when he finally let her go, wondering what he was playing at.

"I just wanted to make sure I still loved you," Carter answered smarmily, realising that he did. That Cynthia Paster dream was just a one-off ridiculous piece of crap his brain had made up to taunt him with, it was obvious.

"You Love me?" Terry repeated.

"Yeah. You love me too, right?"

"Right."

"Say it," Carter asked, taking her hands.

"What's up with you today Carter?" Terry asked. "You're acting kinda strange."

"Just say it."

"Carter Horton, I love you," Terry told him, giggling uncertainly.

"Great. Let's get married," Carter answered quickly.

"Married? Carter we're 17 years old, we can't get married."

"Okay," Carter hesitated, trying to come up with something. "Let's have kids."

"Carter, this is getting too weird," Terry told him. "Something's worrying you. You can tell me."

"Can I?" Carter replied. "I'm not sure I can. I had this.....this dream, Terry."

"So what? We all have dreams."

"Yeah, but mine was about Cynthia Paster."

"Cynthia Paster? That geek?" Terry repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah. Except she wasn't a geek in my dream. She was gorgeous."

Terry started to look annoyed then. "Oh yeah? And what happened between you and this gorgeous geek?"

"Er......Let's not go into that," Carter replied.

"What happened?" Terry persisted, folding her arms.

"She kissed me."

"So?" Terry replied in a mocking tone of voice. "Cheap thrills Carter."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't make fun of me," Carter answered. "This was weird. She kissed me, and I liked it."

Terry began to look slightly hurt by that remark.

"Oh really?" she asked, feeling jealous. "Do you like the geeks Carter? Would you rather I was a geek? Would that turn you on?" Terry continued selfishly before Carter could answer. "Or maybe you should just dump me and ask out your precious Cynthia."

"Terry, would you let me finish?" Carter interrupted suddenly. "I woke up before anything else happened, but....It really freaked me out."

"So, you're saying, that if you hadn't woken up, you would have done it with her?"

"I'm not sure, but If I had to give you an anwer.......Maybe."

"You mean yes?" Terry repeated, filling in the answer Carter couldn't admit. Then she smiled. "Well it doesn't really matter does it?"

"It doesn't?" Carter replied, a glint of hope in his eye.

"No. Cos in real life, Cynthia's a geek, I'm your girlfriend, none of it really happened and...."

"And what?"

"And I forgot to tell you I managed to get two backstage passes to the next Nine Inch Nails Concert."

Carter snorted in a snobby kind of way. "Nine Inch Nails," He scoffed putting an entirely different spin on the name.

"What is it baby?" Terry asked, touching his arm. "Don't you want to go?"

"Well, there's a part of me that still wants to, you know," Carter explained. "But then there's this other part, which reminds me what selfish, caniving, slimy, lecherous, son-of-a-bitch, no good, god damn, heckling, spiteful, mean, unkind, horrible, people they were and that part of me tells me not to increase their wealth by going to their stupid concert."

"Right...." Terry answered slowly. "And which part of you wins?"

"Let's go."

"Now Alex," Dr. Schreck announced, crossing his legs, holding the notepad in his hands. "What seems to be the problem?"

Alex sat in a chair hunched up and rubbing his hands together nervously. "Monkeys," he whispered.

"Monkeys?" Dr. Schreck repeated. "You mean chimpanzees and gorillas? Like in a zoo or something?"

"No. Plastic monkeys," Alex continued. He looked up. "You think I'm crazy don't you?"

"Oh, no, no, course not," the psychiatrist replied, as he wrote 'insane' in his notebook. "What do these plastic monkeys do?"

"They come alive, at night. Only in the dark, not in the light. They can't get me in the light, only the dark, so....I leave my light on every night."

"What would they do to you?"

"They would kill me," Alex hissed in a sinister voice. "Once, my light exploded and they were crawling up my covers to get me. But my parents came in and they went away."

Dr. Schreck leaned forward in his chair. "Alex, they are made of plastic. I can assure you they don't come alive."

"What do you know? They do!"

"Your parents have told me you've been losing sleep over this problem," the doctor continued.

"Yeah. I sit up with a baseball bat."

"Have you ever thought about throwing them in the bin?"

"I have, but they always come back," Alex explained seriously. "They won't leave me be until I'm dead."

"Alex," Dr.Schreck began, ready to launch into his lecture. "Sometimes, people develop problems like this, after a traumatic event. I understand, you have been involved in one of these recently."

Alex nodded slowly. "Yeah. Flight 180 to Paris. I got off because I had this....Premonition. I saved six lives, and everybody in my entire school thinks I'm a freak."

"It must be really hard for you."

"It is. But I'll cope. You don't need to worry about me," Alex told him firmly. Dr. Schreck suddenly looked at his watch.

"Oh, would you look at the time?" he announced in mock amazement. "Our time's up for today. What do you say we meet up again, same time next week?"

"Sure," Alex replied.

"So, Alex," Ken Browning asked as they drove home. "Did the nice doctor help you?"

"Not really," Alex sighed ungratefully.

"Well he bloody well better start helping then! Cos I'm not paying $30 a session just so you can sit there on your lazy fat arse!"

"Dad!" Alex snapped. "Stop it!"

He stared out of the window absent mindedly. The car behind was proving to be increasingly annoying.

"If they beep their horn at me again!" Ken said in a warning tone. "I'm gonna fucking twat them!"

Alex glanced in the rear view mirror and realised it was Carter. His eyes opened wide in shock. The horn beeped again.

"Right!" Ken yelled slamming on the brakes as hard as he could. Alex was thrown violently forward in his seat as the car screeched to a halt. Then he got thrown forward again, his seatbelt almost choking him. Carter had smashed into the back of them. Before Alex could stop him, his Dad had got out of the car. Carter had also got out, looking meaner and angrier than Alex had ever seen him before.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Carter yelled. "Look at what you did to my car!"

"Look at what you did to my car!" Ken yelled back at the top of his voice. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

"Hey, old man, I'm just driving the speed limit okay?" Carter snapped back. "If you can't handle it you shouldn't be on the road."

The door slammed as Terry got out of the passenger seat.

"Carter," she warned. "Let's just go, plea-."

"Oh, so you're Carter?!" Ken Browning interrupted in a high and mighty voice. "You're the one who's been throwing bricks through our window and making our son's life a living hell!"

Inside the car, Alex had his face in hid hands, cringing.

"Yeah, I am!"

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Ken Browning yelled lunging for Carter. He held Carter down on the bonnet of his car by the neck of his shirt. "Don't you ever come near Alex again! You hear me? If I ever see you round my house again, I'm calling the police."

"Oooh, I'm so scared," Carter taunted back. Terry stood by, not sure what to do.

"You better be," Ken spat back viciously. "Look at you, you think you're so hard don't you?"

Carter nodded smarmily.

"Well," Ken continued, producing a hammer from behind his back. "Let's see if you're hard when I do this!" He charged at the windscreen of Carter's car and smashed it in.