Part 6

Your dream ends - you sway a little on unsteady, aching legs, blinking in the dark. You shake your head to clear it, to remember who you are and what you're doing. A puzzled smile comes to your mouth as you realise, and wonder how long you've been standing there, dreaming about Laura. You make a mental note to ask your mother next time she phones about Laura, what she's up to, how she is. It's been years, and now you're so far away from your past, it really does seem like a waking dream.

You leave the light-switch untouched, yawning, deciding it's late enough to go to bed, and stumble through in the dark to the little bedroom. Standing by the side of the bed, ready to pick up the clock and set tomorrow's alarm, once again your consciousness slides sideways, takes you somewhere else without your realising. This time, it is somewhere you have never been before.

You're in a car, in the back seat, travelling somewhere. There are other people in the car. A little dazed, you take it all in, and as the minutes pass, things begin to become clearer.

You are in Laura's car, grown up Laura. She has the same long golden hair, is not so skinny and bird-like but has a fuller face and a broader forehead. You can move around in the car, but are not aware of having a body, or any form at all - it is as if you were just a pair of eyes, floating around on the air.

Laura is not driving: her boyfriend is. You have never seen him before, but he seems warm and full of charm, has deep brown hair and smiles often. She rests his hand on his thigh as he drives. You feel glad that grown-up Laura has found a nice boyfriend and a happy relationship.

Your attention is directed ahead, through the windscreen, although at what you cannot tell. There is nothing there, the back end of a car way ahead, nothing odd or extraordinary.

The other car hits with speed and great force the front of the car, on Laura's side. There is an almighty sound, an epic and biblical sound, but no screams at all, and you are spinning and turning about, with time gone and reality altered drastically. The car eventually drags to a halt, the metal sliding with a skree against the tarmac. The boyfriend is the first to find his voice, begins to cry, touches Laura, tries to unfasten his warped seatbelt buckle.

Blood inside her has found new holes, is seeping into the places it doesn't belong, spreading through cavities, drowning her bruised precious organs. New swellings start to rise all over, inside and out, in her head and her lungs and her liver. Parts of her are crushed. Blood runs from her mouth and nose. Her skin has turned new colours. She is going, and you with her.

Dreaming, you stand in the dark.