The Nightmare Man Read Online Free Page A

replied.
    ‘Cool. And…’ Clyde paused. ‘You don’t want, like, a hug or anything?’
    Luke laughed and shook his head. ‘So, was all this your idea?’
    Clyde nodded. ‘With a bit of a nudge from you-know-who.’
    He nodded over to the dance floor where Rani was having the time of her life.
    ‘She’s pretty cool, isn’t she?’ said Luke.
    ‘Yeah,’ Clyde replied.
    ‘You should go and dance with her.’
    Clyde almost jumped out of his skin. ‘What? What’s that supposed to mean? Why would I want to dance with Rani? I don’t want to dance with…’
    ‘Rani!’ Luke interrupted him, calling out to their other friend. ‘Clyde wants to show you his moves!’
    Rani grinned at them both and waved Clyde over. Shooting evils at Luke, Clyde went over and started to dance with Rani. Luke grinned and watched his two best friends for a while. Then he collected his plate of food and sat down.
    As he started to eat, Luke found himself yawning. For a second, he remembered why he was so tired. He remembered the nightmares that had kept him awake. Then he stopped thinking about them and just enjoyed watching all his friends. And the lights. All the coloured lights. All the pretty lights. All the…
    Bang! He opened his eyes. He looked down at the plate of food, confused. Had he been asleep? He looked back up towards where everyone was dancing and frowned. Everything had changed. Everything was suddenly sinister. The music had changed. It had become dark, distorted, quiet and spooky. And his friends had changed. They were dancing, but so slowly. Their movements were all strange and jerky, as if they were puppets on strings rather than people. Luke pushed through them and approached Clyde and Rani. They had their backs to him.
    ‘Clyde?’ he said. ‘Rani?’
    They turned around and Luke jumped back. They had big, terrifying grins on their faces. Their eyes were dark, as if they were possessed. As he jumped back, he felt himself hitting something. He turned around.
    A tall, dark figure was standing there, looking down at the floor. Luke looked at him, confused. Then he saw the man’s hands. They were pale and white and one of them held a blood-red flower.
    Luke backed away as the man looked up. His face was painted white, like his hands. His hair was weird and spiky. His eyes were dark and black tears were flowing from them. He was a big man who towered over Luke. And he was smiling.
    ‘ Hello, Luke. ’
    Luke gagged. The man’s breath was horrible. It smelled of death and decay. The man looked over Luke’s shoulder at Clyde and Rani.
    ‘ They’ll all be my children soon. ’
    ‘Who are you?’ asked Luke, trying to hide his fear.
    ‘ I’m the Nightmare Man ,’ the man replied. ‘ And you belong to me. ’
    Luke shook his head. ‘But, but, what are you doing here? You’re in the real world!’
    The Nightmare Man turned and nodded towards the table of food. Luke looked over and saw himself, sitting there, fast asleep.
    ‘I’ve got to wake up!’ he whispered.
    ‘ I’ll let you. This time, ’ replied the Nightmare Man. ‘ Oh, but you won’t tell anyone about me, will you? ’
    ‘What?’
    ‘ I’m not asking you, I’m telling you, ’ he continued. ‘ Your dreams are giving me such power. Power over you, Luke. ’
    Suddenly, the Nightmare Man reached up and touched Luke’s face. The boy flinched as the cold, white hand brushed against his cheek. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. He stared up at the Nightmare Man with wide, terrified eyes.
    ‘ You can’t say my name. You can’t tell anyone about me. I’m in your head, Luke. You’re mine. And your dreams are going to get so much worse and give me so much power and… oh, your fear is delicious! ’
    And he grabbed Luke’s arm and suddenly Luke…
    Woke up. He looked around and everything had returned to normal. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. Clyde and Rani, noticing his look of confusion, came over.
    ‘Oi, oi, you been