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Chapter 3- The Last January

       Tina ate her apple pie, still warm and crispy, in silence as she stared across the Plymouth in amazement at TJ as he was finishing off his Big Breakfast, having already put down the Egg McMuffins, with hash-brown added of course.

       “So we going to talk bout this shit or what?”  Nancy cut to the chase and asked the question they were treating like the pink elephant. “We all three apparently had dreams..nightmares…” the words probing for a response, which the unspoken acknowledgement  on their faces gave her the confidence to continue. “…now it has to be more than a fucking coincidence that all three of us had nightmares about being betrayed by one of the others isn’t it?  And why would all three of us dream about it mythology?  I mean Tina is a nerd so I get her dreaming about  the Mr. Roboto River, but why did I dream about Olympus and you said Thor’s hammer right?  I mean this can’t be just a fucking random occurrence.”

       “First I’m not a nerd, I just think my head can be used as more than a dick warmer…”

       “…Hey what’s wrong with being a dick warmer?”

       “…For you TJ, nothing, you are doing the best you can with what you got…but my second thing I was going to ask was, what else happened in your dreams?  In mine I had some real nightmare imagery, go figure right?  A gathering of our friends, but we all were walking away upset…”

       “Our friends?  Who else?”  TJ asked through OJ gulps.

       “I don’t know.  I couldn’t make everyone out, I think Kincade was one of them but other than us and him I couldn’t make out the other two or three people.”

       “Maybe we should stop by and see the big guy and see if he had any visits from the nightmare guy.”  TJ did not even need to turn his head to feel the reaction of his companions to the mentioning of the nightmare guy. “So, there was a guy then?’  TJ was demanding an answer in the kindest most TJ kind of way he could at the moment.

       “I..I couldn’t make anything out about him.  He was just a shadow…a…”

       “…Dark Shadow.” Nancy finished Tina’s thought without hesitation.

       “You know, this is some Nightmare on Elm Street shit right?”  TJ every the fountain of knowledge stated maybe the most obvious reference possible, the kind only a lazy writer trying to hang the lampshade in as obvious a way as possible would make.

       “I do not think that is what we are dealing with TJ.”  Nancy dismissed TJ’s thought quickly

       “Why do you say that?”

       “Because that is a god damn movie and this is our real life you dumb ass mother fucker.  Damn how did I ever agree to risk getting pregnant with your chromosome impaired offspring?”

       “My wit.”

       “I saw Walpole High destroyed.”  Tina interjected into the squabble between the two.  “In my dream, the Dark Shadow, he overlooked the destroyed school.”

       “It exploded from within.  I saw it in my dream.” TJ revealed.  “No idea what caused it, but it exploded.”

       “Fuck”

       “Did you see anything about the school Nancy?  I saw it destroyed, TJ saw it explode…” Tina asked her sister

       “No.  I don’t remember anything about Walpole High in my dream.”

       “We need to talk to Kincade.” TJ added “He might have some insight we don’t”

       “Insight you don’t have?  So he’s aware of how to please a woman and basic hygiene?”

       “Not now Nancy, some strange shit going on and Im actually scared.”

       “Tina, my loving dear sister, please do not take this the wrong way, but have you smoked yourself stupid?  I mean TJ I can’t blame on the smoke, but you should know better than to buy into this silly shit.”

       “Nancy I get you being freaked out, fuck I am too, but how would you explain the strange ass dreams we all had? And it wasn’t the first time I had it.”

       “….”

       “Well now that we clarified that I’m not the only one who has had it multiple times as of late.”

       “Well we pulling into Kincade’s house now, let’s see what the big man has to add so we dont not need to repeat this again.” TJ proposed

       “TJ, with your memory issues I don’t know how you are not on a constant loop already”

       The trio began to empty out of the old Plymouth, Plate number SEK 670, and began to make their way up to the nice double wide mobile home that was the Darabont residence.  They continued to bicker like siblings on entire walk up the path to the door, but nothing of any significance was said, as often was the case.  As they approached the door the could hear “In the Air Tonight” blasting out the open windows.

       “Well if that isn’t creepy as fuck I do not know what is.”

       “Tina, you think everything is creepy right now.”

       “Nancy, that song is about him watching somebody kill someone.”

       “Gee I saw a murder and instead of you know helping or telling the cops, I wrote a pop hit about it.  I am a good person.”

       “Shut up TJ.” the sisters echoed each others frustration.

       “Least I can get you two to agree on something”  TJ laughed off the hostility as he knocked on the door “Besides, it must be Kincade’s brother or mother listening to that, you know Big Man only listens to Final Fantasy OSTs.”

       “Kincade always had more taste than you”

       “True, he would never of dated you.”

       “Harsh”  Tina tepidly defended her sister.

       “True though, but I always marked it down to intelligence not to taste”  Nancy stated matter-of-factly, unfazed by the comment or the defense.

       “You know, it doesn’t always need to be an either or thing right?”

       “I’m bi TJ, I am well aware of that.”

       “Lingual or Lateral?” TJ continued to joke.

       “…In the air tonight…”

       “Is anyone home?” Tina asked no one in particular.

       “Both cars are here, so unless they strapped on their Hikes I’m thinking they are here.” TJ knocked again before stepping back off the porch to where the girls were standing.  “Give him a minute to get his pants on hes probably playing…”

       As TJ was about to finish his crude joke his eyes met the terror in Tina and Nancy’s.  At first he thought they were looking at him, giving him very uncomfortable memories to his recent dreams, but he quickly saw they were looking past him, they were looking at the door to Kincade’s house, a point punctuated by Tina’s pointing past him.  TJ closed his eyes.

       “What is it?”  TJ whispered as if whatever it was would miss his voice filling the silence.

       The answer slammed down in front of TJ, a decapitated head of a pit-bull bounced at his feet, causing the trio to all jump back, Tina onto the grass, Nancy into a bush and out of reflex TJ jumped backwards landing on the steps of the porch. 

       “Kincade can’t come out and play.”

       TJ looked up and unsure if he was upside down or if he had lost his mind but there he saw Kincade’s mom covered in blood standing in the doorway holding a machete.