Chapter 9

"Janet, you're going crazy." Jackie said. "He's gone."

    "I don't believe you. You didn't kill him. You didn't." Janet said, refusing to look at him.

   "Janet, that blood on my hands was real. That picture in my mind of me pulling the trigger was real. I did it, Janet. And he is dead." The phone rang.

Jackie glared at Janet and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

   "It's me, Macaulay. I got something to tell you. It's about Michael."

   "Spill it." Jackie said.

   "Michael is dead."

   "I know, I--"

   "No," Macaulay said. "He's still here in mind and body, but he's been dead for a long time now. For at least 5 months."

   "You have got to be kidding me..." Jackie said, not convinced.

   "When he died, he was cursed with a power. To feed off of human's souls by subduing them in dreams and killing them in reality. I'll tell you one thing, you can't kill him with a gun."

   "Why are you telling me this?" Jackie asked.

   "Because I've been dead for sometime too. And my time is almost up." Macaulay stated. "I have to go. I've got one more thing to say. If you do kill him, don't kill him because he's evil. He's not. Just kill him so he can rest in peace. He's hurting. Good bye Jackie."

Jackie slowly hung up the phone. Macaulay's words rang in his ear: He's still here in mind and body, but he's been dead for a long time now....

   "Why'd you invite me over?" Michael asked Jackie. "I mean, after you almost killed me. No hard feelings by the way." Michael took a swallow of the ice tea Jackie prepared for him.

Jackie shook his head and smiled. "I want to spend more time with you. I realized that we're not on this earth forever."

   "That is so true." Michael said with a smile.

   "Would you like anything else? Something to eat?" Jackie offered.

Michael shook his head. "No thanks."

Janet came down the stairs. "Hey, Jackie. Hey, Mike."

She rubbed her eyes. "I had this weird dream, guys. It was about Rene' Elizondo, and Michael. Rene' had food poisoned Michael...he did the same to me and just before I passed out, I woke up."

   "Oh my god, no..." Jackie whispered. He glared at Michael who was smiling.

   "Wow, that was a silly dream. But hey, dreams are dreams. You wanna watch 'Die Hard' with us?"

Suddenly, Janet froze. Jackie quickly got up and caught her when she collapsed. Jackie picked her up and laid her on the couch.

   "Come on, Janet, hang on..." Jackie whispered.

   "Oh no..." Michael whispered.

   "Michael!" Jackie screamed. "Don't pretend like you don't want her to die! I know your  game Michael!" Jackie looked up at Michael, who was crying. Before Jackie could say the words 'get out', Michael grabbed his jacket and ran out of the house in tears.

When Jackie looked down, he realized that Janet had already died. He also realized that those were real tears Michael was crying.