Jimmy got out of bed yawning and looked out the window, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky.
He got dressed, went downstairs and grabbed something to eat.
"Have a nice day honey." His mom said as he walked out the door.
"Will do mom." He said.
He walked across the street to Cindy's and knocked on the door.
Cindy opened the door, still in her pajamas.
"What do you want Jimmy?" She asked.
"I wanted to know if you wanted to go to the Candy Bar with me."
"I'd love to," She said. "Just let me get changed."
"Okay."
5 minutes later Cindy came outside.
"Let's get going." Jimmy said.
The two walked into town in conversation.
"So how have you been Jimmy?"
"I'm okay," He said. "I've been better."
"Why?"
"I had another dream last night."
"Another Sterch dream?"
"Right."
"But why do you think these dreams are happening?"
"I don't know but they always play out the same way, first Sterch appears and blames me for his death, I try to tell him it's an accident, he says I'm lying, then tries to kill me the same way he did, then I wake up."
"That's weird."
"It gets weirder," He said. "After I wake up I always feel like I went through what happens in the dream, except that I never truly die, I either wake up or Sterch says he's extending my suffering."
"That's scary."
The two arrive at the Candy Bar and take a seat.
"I still wonder what could be causing these dreams."
"Sora said it was guilt but I'm not sure."
"The mind works in strange ways."
"Well if my mind is trying to tell me I still feel guilty after what I did to Sterch then it should try being a little less straightforward."
"Well you're the genius, why don't you try playing psychoanalyst."
"Maybe I will."
Suddenly a voice filled his thoughts. "I will get you, and there isn't anything you can do to stop it."
"Shut up" He thought trying to silence the voice in his head.
"Why don't you just surrender to the darkness, your death will then be quick and painless."
"Get out of my head." He thought even louder trying to drown out the voice.
"Then you resign yourself to a slow and painful death, fighting right down to the end; well then your choice is made."
And the voice disappeared.
Jimmy shook his head clearing his mind and then he heard Cindy talking to him.
"Have you talked to Kelly or Nigel about these dreams?"
"No, I haven't talked to either of them in a while."
"Maybe you should, they were with you throughout the whole Silver Lake ordeal. If anyone would have any idea they would, maybe even David he's smart."
"I think I'll take you're advice."
The two stood up and left.
They talked very little on the way home leaving Jimmy to think the whole time.
When he really got in depth into the dreams he could see the reoccurring events, Sterch always seemed real, the whole dreams seemed real for that matter, and Sterch always said he would wait to make Jimmy pay. But Sterch couldn't do that; that he was sure of.
Once he got home he decided to take Cindy's advice and called up Kelly.
"Hello?"
"Hi Kelly, it's Jimmy."
"Jimmy. What is it?"
"Can you call Nigel and we can all talk."
"Sure," She said. "One minute while I triple line."
Kelly's voice disappeared for a second and then came back.
"Okay Nigel is on the line."
"What is it Jimmy?"
"I wanted to talk to you two about Sterch."
"What do you want to tell us about Jimmy?" Kelly asked.
"Since Sterch died I've been having nightmares about Sterch, he always seems real and always says he's going to make me pay."
"It could be guilt." Kelly suggested.
"Everyone's suggested that and I don't think that one's reasonable anymore, the first few times I believed it but now the dreams are getting more and more frequent, and each time Sterch gets even more insane, he always seems to talk about saving me, almost like there was some plot."
"It could still be guilt," Nigel said. "Sometimes people are haunted for the rest of their lives by traumatic events."
"And how could Sterch have a plot, he's dead." Kelly added.
"I don't know but hasn't weirder stuff happened," Jimmy said. " I mean nothing ever seems to be normal in the life of Jimmy Neutron."
"Especially when you start talking in the third person." Nigel said.
"Back on topic," Kelly said. "I think we shouldn't call anything on this just yet. If another dream happens tonight call us up right away, or at least call me, and tell us exactly what happens, if we know every detail we can better figure out what it means."
"Well someone has been listening in psychology." Jimmy said. "Goodbye for now."
"Bye." Kelly said.
"Same with me." Nigel said.
The three hung up.
Jimmy sat down on the bed and decided to talk to David too, but not right now, David had a knack of delivering bad news even if it was unintentional. He needed a moment to just lie down and think by himself without anyone else, no voices, no chatter from friends.
He lied down thinking , but not about Sterch, he had talked about that enough to last a lifetime, instead he thought about school, it would be starting again soon, he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing; on the bright side at least this year that had nothing to hate him for, he practically had his own fan-club; on the dark side of things was that there would be many rumors circulating again and he might not have any time to himself.
There were many other things to think about but then the voices started again.
"It's getting dark Jimmy, you can't escape me for long"
"I won't let you keep controlling me."
"You don't have a choice. Your fate was decided he minute you killed me."
"You can't do anything to me if I don't go to sleep."
"Dear boy, you have no idea what I am capable of."
Jimmy blocked out the voice. Enough was enough he decided to go to the lab and figure out what was going on.
He used the express route and went up to his computer.
"Vox, activate brain scanner program 8.A"
"Activating program 8.A," The voice of Vox said.
A table emerged and a cable attached to a helmet like device lowered.
He quickly got on the table and put the helmet on.
The program started scanning. Once this was all sorted out he would know what the dreams meant and why they were happening and could stop this.
The program was running as usual when suddenly the room around him dissolved into nothingness. Then the wires around the room wrapped around his arms and legs like snakes, he couldn't move, he knew what was coming next.
Sterch appeared and walked up to him.
"Look at you here helpless, just waiting for me."
Jimmy struggled trying to wake up, to stop this but it was no use.
"Well then if you're so eager to talk then let's get down to business."
Jimmy struggled and struggled praying that he would wake up and end this horrible nightmare before something happened.
"You know after you killed me I couldn't believe it. Just think of it me Jonathan Sterch killed by a mere child."
"I didn't mean to kill you." Jimmy said struggling. "It was all an accident."
"You don't understand," Sterch said. "Now as I look back I'm glad you killed me, it's opened up wonderful, endless possibilities. These are nothing more than dominoes in a line being pushed over. By killing me you pushed the first domino that cause a chain reaction leading to your ultimate demise. You've already started the chain and now you can't stop it. I will tell you though that the Book of Shadows is the key."
Sterch disappeared into the darkness and the next thing Jimmy knew he was awake in his room. He looked at the clock, it was 10 p.m. Kelly was probably still up. He needed to tell her about his dream.
He quickly dialed her number.
"Hello?" Kelly asked sleepily.
"Kelly, it's Jimmy, we need to talk."
"What is it?" She asked suddenly sounding more awake.
"I had another dream."
"Already?"
"Yeah."
"What happened?"
"I dreamt I was in my lab doing a brain scan when the lab disappeared and suddenly wires wrapped around my limbs, then Sterch appeared and said he was glad I killed him because it gave him endless possibilities, then he said I had already started a chain reaction to my demise. He mentioned one last thing before I woke up… it was something about the Book of Shadows."
Spooky. I'll try and have the next chapter up soon. While you wait why don't you write a review.