The Identical Boy Read Online Free

the Awake.'
    Awake, Asleep and someplace else.
    Familiar unfamiliar.
    A football screamed past his nose and crashed into the wall, but Sam barely noticed.
    No, not Asleep. At least, not dreaming. Something else. What was it? What was it?
    'What's wrong with you now?' his Mum had asked, exasperated, that morning at the breakfast table as Sam had sat, blank-eyed, slowly stirring his cereal to brown mush, never once lifting the spoon to his mouth.
    'Oi, your mother is asking you a question, dummy, answer the woman!' His Dad had thrown aside his newspaper and bellowed a few things or more, before stalking out. His Mum snatched Sam’s uneaten breakfast and emptied it into the bin.
    ‘You know there are children starving in Africa!’ said his Dad, leaning back into the room for a moment.
    ‘Sam! Sam will you pay attention!’ said Mum, waving a hand in front of his wide eyes. ‘He's losing his ruddy marbles. Perfect. Why couldn't I have had a son like Todd? Now there's a son to be proud of.'
    Not a dream. Sam knew that. He knew that now for sure. Usually all he remembered was that there had been a voice. Not what it had said or who had said it, just that there had been a voice and that it was important. But now he had a little more.
    'You need to remember. Really remember.'
    The words were like hooks in his brain, sunk deep and fast into the grey matter, unable to be ripped away and forgotten. But what did they mean? Who had said them? He could feel the sharp sting of those hooks as he pulled at them; they made him want to cry out.
    'Oi, watch where you're going, you div.'
    Sam walked on, pushed slightly off-balance by whatever obstruction he'd just attempted to walk through.
    'Oi, I'm talking to you.'
    'He's mental. Look at him.'
    'Didn't you used to be friends with him, Finney?'
    'Yeah, but that was ages ago.'
    Sam left them behind.
    Not dreaming. He didn't dream at all these days. Not for the longest time, he was suddenly sure of that. How long? How long since he'd actually had a dream rather than the other thing?
    What other thing?
    It was months. Could it be? It felt right. Months and months. Slowly, he'd become aware of the voice. And the other place.
    Now the hooks were in properly, the voice didn't want to be forgotten. It had to be remembered. Needed to be remembered.
    'Don't you want us to be real life friends? Awake friends?'
    Sam almost fell to his knees. More words! He reached out a hand to steady himself against the wall.
    'Don't you want us to be real life friends? Awake friends?'
    An extra piece remembered. The dam was cracking, unable to hold; more would flood through soon. Enough to drown him?
    'Don't you want us to be real life friends? Awake friends?'
    'Yes,' said Sam. 'That's what I want. That’s all I want.'
    Whom was he talking to? If only he could—
    Between!
    What did that mean? Not Asleep, not Awake, but Between. Between Awake and Asleep is Between. His bedroom that wasn't his bedroom. The not-his house. The forest that mocked and joked with words he didn’t understand. The hooks pulled down a further chunk of the dam. The water was starting to gush through fiercely now; there was no going back.
    That was where he'd been going all these months. He'd been going Between! Whilst others dreamt, he went Between and…
    …and what?
    That wasn't all of it, there was more. The most important thing. The thing that wanted to be remembered.
    A face!
    A voice doesn't exist in isolation, how stupid he hadn't considered that earlier.
    'Sam? Are you okay, Sam? Are you feeling sick?' An adult. A teacher? 'Sam, hey, shall we go to the Nurse’s office?'
    The boy.
    'Remember me!'
    The dam finally crumbled under the onslaught and Sam remembered all of it whilst awake, at last.
    The boy! The Between! The boy!
    Sam blinked and saw the teacher for the first time, looking down at him with concern.
    'My friend!' said Sam, delighted. 'My friend is coming to stay!' He turned and ran out of the building, across the