The Nightmarys by Dan Poblocki Page A

visitors. He’d love to
    see you.”
    “I’l try,” said Timothy, even though he was

    “I’l try,” said Timothy, even though he was
    frightened by what Stuart might have to say.
    As Mrs. Chen pul ed away from the curb,
    Timothy heard the phone ringing inside his
    house. Maybe it was his mom, cal ing from the
    airport? Since his dad had already gone to
    work, Timothy pul ed out his keys, opened the
    door, and lifted the receiver.
    “Hel o?” he said.
    The connection was bad. Static hissed as he
    waited for a response.
    “Timothy?” The familiar voice on the other
    end was soft, ragged, as if it hadn’t been used in
    a very long time. The room spun. Timothy
    reached out for the wal . He wondered if this
    wasn’t some terrible trick. It had to be. There
    was no way he could possibly be on the phone
    with his brother.
    “Yeah?”
    “Oh my God, dude,” said the voice. “Don’t
    sound so excited to hear me.”
    “B-Ben?” Timothy stammered. “Is that you?”

    “B-Ben?” Timothy stammered. “Is that you?”
    “Sure, it’s me.” Ben laughed. But then the
    laugh turned into a cough, which went on for a
    long time. “Hold on … Water.” A few seconds
    later, he added, “Sorry about that. Not been
    feeling too good lately.”
    Despite feeling ba ed, Timothy smiled, but
    soon he felt tears coming. He didn’t even
    bother ghting them. “Ben, are you okay?
    Where are you?”
    “Some hospital. They tel me I’ve been asleep
    for a while?”
    “You could say that,” said Timothy. “How
    long have you been awake?”
    “In and out for the past twelve hours, I think.
    Everything’s a blur.”
    “Mom’s ying down. She should be there
    soon.”
    “That’s what my doctors told me. But I real y
    wanted to talk with someone I know … and
    love. My family. Dad must be on his way to
    work, but I thought I’d catch you before school.
    God, it’s so good to hear your voice.”

    God, it’s so good to hear your voice.”
    Questions ooded Timothy’s brain. Not only
    about the at ack. He wanted to ask his big
    brother’s advice about nding order in chaos.
    The light in the darkness. Even though it sort of
    felt sel sh, now might be his only chance for a
    while. If you were in my situation … “Are you
    in pain?” Timothy said instead.
    Ben groaned. “They got me doped up pret y
    good. At ached to al sorts of tubes.”
    “What do you remember?”
    “Not much since before deployment. Weird.
    Most everything else is a big blank page. They
    say it’s going to take a long time to recover.
    Obviously an understatement. It’s like there’s a
    huge chunk of my life missing.”
    Missing. The word made Timothy cringe. “I
    miss you,” he said.
    “I was dreaming about you, lit le brother.”
    “You were?”
    Ben chuckled again. Or coughed. Timothy
    couldn’t tel which. “It was a nightmare. Real y

    couldn’t tel which. “It was a nightmare. Real y
    scary.”
    “What was it about?”
    “I was walking down a desert road,” said
    Ben, struggling. “Sand everywhere. You were
    there. Strange thing was, you were holding a
    grenade and smiling in a real y weird way.
    Your smile just kept growing and growing until
    your mouth was bigger than your face.”
    A horrible image. Timothy blinked it away.
    “That is weird,” he said.
    Ben went on. “Then you held the grenade out
    to me. You wanted me to take it. And right
    before I did, I realized that you’d already
    pul ed the pin.” Timothy felt his face ush. He
    felt dizzy now. Then, with his voice crackling,
    Ben added, “It’s your fault this happened to me.
    It’s your fault I’m dead.”
    Timothy tried to speak but couldn’t.
    Silence hissed from the other end of the line;
    then Ben began to laugh. The laughter turned
    harsh, sinking into a deep pitch as it grew
    louder and louder. It was no longer Ben’s voice.

    louder and louder. It was no longer Ben’s voice.
    And it was no longer only in the phone. The
    laughter surrounded him,