The Stuff of Nightmares (7 page)

‘Dear, oh dear,’ laughed the Devil. ‘This is going to be even easier than I thought.’

Rosa snapped back to the present with a vengeance. Lost in her own world, she’d almost forgotten about him.

The Devil looked directly into Rosa’s eyes.
‘You know there’s no way out of this contract now?’

‘I don’t want a way out. I love Tod. I want to be with him always.’

The Devil laughed. ‘Corrupting your sort always gives me the most satisfaction. When the sweet, the innocent fall, they’re the most fun to torture.’

‘You won’t get me. I’m not going to commit suicide,’ Rosa said confidently.

‘We’ll see,’ the Devil said thoughtfully. ‘You know, there’s a moment between life and the afterlife when there is nothing. A kind of limbo state where Death lives. Those who believe in something more then Death pass through that state and into something else. Those who believe in nothing after life move into an eternity of nothingness. When it’s your turn to die, the door to that state of nothing will not be open to you. You do realize that, don’t you?’

‘I believe in life after death. I always have,’ said Rosa slowly. ‘So why would I want to exist in nothingness?’

‘I’m just making sure you know that you no longer have the choice of believing in anything else,’ said the Devil, his red eyes flashing like celebratory fireworks.

‘What does that mean?’

‘Nothing,’ the Devil dismissed with a smirk. ‘Just covering myself, that’s all. Why are you in such a hurry to get married anyway? Most of the souls I have in Hell belong to those who committed their crimes as a direct result of being married.’

‘You wouldn’t understand. It has to do with love
and
commitment – words that mean nothing to you.’

The Devil blew his nose into his hand and flicked it off onto Rosa’s wall. The paint sizzled and blistered.

‘Then why make a deal with me?’ the Devil asked with a malicious smile. ‘You know, I’ve done a lot of things during the millennia but I’ve never got married. I’ve been thinking for a few centuries now that maybe I need a companion. Someone I can personally torment, instead of the usual souls that I leave to the pleasure of my demon minions. And I need a son, or maybe a daughter would be better … If’ – here the Devil pointed at the ceiling – ‘can do it, then so can I. Maybe a boy
and
a girl would be best. Then, between the three of us, there would be three times the wars, three times the horrors, three times the disease …’

Rosa’s blood turned to Antarctic whispers in her veins. ‘I have Tod,’ she whispered. ‘You promised me.’

The Devil smiled as he stood up. ‘I know … but can you trust me?’

And so saying –
peouff!
– he vanished. Rosa crept under her duvet and pulled it up over her head, shivering until she fell asleep, exhausted.

The next day Rosa woke up with a splitting headache and a memory of the most vivid dream she’d ever had. Imagine dreaming about signing a contract with the Devil! But then she saw her wall and her carpet and her heart missed a beat.

‘I must have done that – somehow – and then dreamed about the Devil doing it,’ Rosa whispered to herself. She could think of no other explanation.
It
was the only explanation that fitted the facts.

But when Rosa next got to college, Tod had eyes for no one but her. He was even oblivious to Jeanette’s more obvious charms. Almost six months of dinner dates and hand-in-hand walks in the park and deep, meaningful kisses followed. There was only one small fly in Rosa’s anti-wrinkle face cream. Why had Tod never, ever tried to make love to her? One late afternoon in St James’s Park, while embarrassed almost to the point of self-combustion, Rosa had stuttered her way through the question. Tod turned to her and smiled, saying, ‘I can wait.’ But Rosa didn’t want to wait any longer. She’d never had sex before but she loved Tod so much and knew she always would, so for the first time she wanted to share her body. In fact, she longed to. Rosa decided that on their very next date, she would tell him so. She smiled at how surprised and thrilled Tod would be. But Tod’s surprise came first.

That night, in Rosa’s local Italian restaurant, Tod said, ‘Rosa, will you marry me?’

When Rosa’s jaw fell inelegantly open, Tod rushed on, ‘Just hear me out. I know we’ve only been going out for less than a year, but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. We were meant to be together. I can’t imagine my life without you. I don’t want to imagine my life without you. So please, please say yes.’

Rosa could hardly speak – but somehow she managed. ‘Yes, yes, a million, trillion times yes.’

Their kiss after that lasted at least a minute. Tod’s lips on hers were so soft and his tongue against hers
felt
so hot. It was magical. Lost in that kiss, Rosa only slowly became aware of the applause echoing all around her from the other diners. She pulled away, her face hot enough for the chef in the kitchen to cook upon. Tod grinned at her, not the slightest bit bothered by their audience.

‘Tod, d’you … would you like to spend the night at my flat?’ Rosa whispered.

Tod shook his head. ‘I want our wedding night to be … unforgettable. I can wait.’

‘Then I wish we could get married right now,’ Rosa admitted.

Tod smiled and took one of Rosa’s hands in both of his. Raising it to his lips, he kissed it, never taking his eyes off her. ‘I can wait,’ he repeated. ‘And believe me, it’ll be worth it.’

It was only when Rosa got home that night and lay in bed, hugging her arms around her, that she realized that not once, not one single time had Tod told her he loved her.

Men find it hard to say these things
, she told herself.
Besides, he must love me, otherwise why would he want to marry me?

The strange dream about the Devil and his contract was forgotten.

Three months later Tod and Rosa were married. Tod simply didn’t want to wait any longer. Tod’s parents were both dead and had left him a not inconsiderable amount of money, plus a house which he decided to sell. Not that Rosa cared about that. Tod
was
enough for her. But the rest was a wonderful bonus. Rosa couldn’t imagine how she could possibly be happier.

The wedding was a small affair. Close family and a few friends from school and the MBA course only. There was to be no honeymoon.

‘Neither of us can afford the time away from work,’ Tod pointed out. ‘But soon, I promise.’

Tod had just started a new job, plus he was just beginning to be active in local politics, so he was very busy, and Rosa couldn’t go away in the middle of a school term. Besides, Tod was ambitious. He told anyone who cared to listen that he’d be Prime Minister one day. So no honeymoon – but Rosa didn’t mind. Tod was hers now. What else did she need? After the wedding Tod took Rosa back to their new home, a large, detached house in suburbia.

‘What d’you think?’ asked Tod as they got out of his car and stood in front of it.

Rosa didn’t know what to say, or think. The house was amazing – incredibly spacious and double-fronted with a separate double garage. It was perfect, as if Tod had reached into her head and plucked out her dream house. A perfect house for the start of her perfect life.

‘I know you wanted to see it before I bought it but I wanted it to be a wedding present.’ Tod smiled. ‘D’you like it?’

‘Tod, I … I love it.’ Rosa sprang at Tod and hugged him, tears in her eyes.

‘You’re halfway there, but hop into my arms and I’ll carry you over the threshold,’ he teased.

Rosa happily did as directed, gazing into Tod’s eyes, her arm around his shoulders. No one in the world could be happier, or luckier. The front door had barely shut behind them when the smell hit Rosa like a body blow. It made her gag and put her hand to her mouth. She recognized the smell at once.

It was the smell of the Devil.

‘Tod … Tod, what …?’ Rosa looked up at her husband.

His face was the same, in that the features hadn’t changed, but his eyes – his pupils and irises – were deep blood red.

‘Is something wrong?’ Tod asked, still carrying his wife.

‘You …’

Tod laughed, his face changing with each passing second to reflect the image in Rosa’s worst nightmare.

‘Welcome to Hell, my darling,’ he said. ‘Welcome to Hell.’

6

ROSA SCREAMED AS
Tod roared with laughter, but I could hardly hear them. The volume was being turned down on Miss Wells’s life. The film of my teacher’s fate burned a furious white in my head, starting with her eyes and eating its way outwards until there was nothing left but an eerie silence. A silence of nothing and nowhere and no one.

‘Oh my God!’ The words slipped from me in a rush as I stared at her. Even now I could see the skin-crawling, blood-freezing, total terror that had been not just on her face but inhabiting every cell of her body.

‘Kyle, what’s wrong?’ Miss Wells’s hand moved forward to take hold of mine.

‘For God’s sake, don’t.’ Horrified, I leaped back, away from her.

Miss Wells looked up at me, her eyes glazing over.

‘I’m sorry, Miss Wells. It’s not you. I’m just a bit … a bit edgy.’ It was meant to be a real apology but the words came out sharp and jagged as broken glass.

I was still trying to figure out what I’d just seen.
What
made it worse was that I knew Miss Wells had just started an MBA course. Was I just hallucinating? Making up bits of my teacher’s life from the few fragments I already knew?

‘Miss Wells, is there someone on your MBA course called Tod?’

‘How on earth did you know that?’ Miss Wells’s cheeks flamed cherry-red. Her gaze briefly fell away from mine for just long enough to reinforce the truth.

But so what? OK, so there was someone called Tod on Miss Wells’s course. That didn’t mean anything. I must’ve heard her talking about this Tod guy and just added him to the hallucination I’d had about my teacher. OK, as a theory, maybe it was just a bit anorexic but it was all I had. And with a giant shove it might’ve explained about Miss Wells, but certainly not my dream about Steve. No way would Steve join the army. And even if he did, that didn’t mean he was going to end up the way I saw him. Where was all this coming from?

Maybe I was letting my thoughts flit like hummingbirds so that I wouldn’t have to focus on the things that were really upsetting me, like the crash and my friends and the others in this carriage strewn around me like so much litter. But these images, these nightmares couldn’t be real. Especially the one about Miss Wells married to … to … I didn’t even want to think the word. I wasn’t superstitious, or particularly religious, and yet what I’d seen had scared the bloody hell out of me.

‘Miss Wells, I’ll go and see if there are any paramedics further down the train,’ I said.

I had to get away, escape the images of my friends and my teacher wrecked and racked with pain. Maybe the emergency services were further down the train and working their way towards us.

The rainwater was beginning to pool beneath my feet. The helicopter above sounded slightly louder. I looked up as the chopper started to descend. A man wearing a black helmet and orange overalls was positioned at the side of the air ambulance, ready to be winched down. Frantically I waved my hands above my head. Even through the driving rain, I saw him give me a thumbs-up. It was one of the best sights I’d ever seen in my entire life. In a few minutes we’d all be out of here. We’d all be
saved
.

Grinning like an idiot, I wiped the rain from my eyes and watched euphorically as the paramedic started to descend. The wind was howling outside but it didn’t matter. I knew that we were going to make it. We were going to be rescued. He was now dangling slightly below the body of the chopper. But before he could be winched lower, the helicopter became a kite, blown sideways by the gale-force winds. It dipped left, then tipped to the right. The cable holding the paramedic began to twist in the wind. He kicked out desperately, trying to stop himself from becoming tangled in the cable lowering him to the train. Suddenly the helicopter dropped at least a metre, maybe two. The thing was, it fell faster than the man
below
it. His head slammed into the underside of the chopper.

And he stopped kicking. His head was bent forward like he’d nodded off. Was that a trickle of red I saw run down from one nostril? The rain snatched it away before I could be absolutely sure. I glimpsed another face inside the helicopter before the dangling paramedic was haltingly winched back up. The chopper was still rocking dangerously. Arms shot out from inside to pull the paramedic in and out of sight. Was he badly hurt? He’d certainly been knocked unconscious. What would happen now? They’d have to send someone else down. But as I watched, the chopper began to rise slowly, fighting against the wind all the time. Then it veered to the left before flying away from the train.

‘
No!
’ I shouted after them. ‘
Don’t leave us
.’

But I was shouting into the wind and the rain. I doubt if my voice even left the carriage.

‘No …’ I whispered. I watched the chopper until it was no more than a dot in the sky. The stinging rain ran into my eyes, but I didn’t close them until it was completely out of sight. I was still on the train and there was no rescue in sight. Was this it then?

No!
I couldn’t think like that. I was still alive. There was still hope. If the paramedics couldn’t use an air ambulance to get to us, then maybe they’d work their way through the train from the back like I’d originally thought. Stepping over some debris, I glanced down to find Joe conscious and looking straight at me.

‘
Kyle …
’ The mysterious voice rang in my head like some form of mental torture.

Leave me alone. Please, just leave me alone!
The words were now a shout inside my mind.

‘
Kyle …
’

‘Joe, did you …?’ No. It wasn’t Joe who’d just spoken. The timbre of his voice was higher, lighter. I was sure of it. ‘Joe, are you OK? Let’s try and get you free.’

‘It hurts.’

‘I know.’ I nodded. ‘Can you lever yourself upwards while I try and work your leg loose?’