Chapters (105)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Epigraph
- Before it All Started
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Four Weeks Ago
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Now
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Four Weeks Ago
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Now
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Three Days Ago
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- Chapter 41
- Chapter 42
- Chapter 43
- Chapter 44
- Chapter 45
- Chapter 46
- Chapter 47
- Chapter 48
- Chapter 49
- Chapter 50
- Chapter 51
- Chapter 52
- Chapter 53
- Now
- Chapter 54
- Chapter 55
- Chapter 56
- Chapter 57
- Chapter 58
- Chapter 59
- Chapter 60
- Chapter 61
- Chapter 62
- Chapter 63
- Chapter 64
- Chapter 65
- Chapter 66
- Chapter 67
- Chapter 68
- Chapter 69
- Two Hours Later
- Chapter 70
- Chapter 71
- Chapter 72
- Chapter 73
- Chapter 74
- Chapter 75
- Chapter 76
- Chapter 77
- Chapter 78
- Chapter 79
- Chapter 80
- Chapter 81
- Chapter 82
- Chapter 83
- Chapter 84
- Chapter 85
- Chapter 86
- Chapter 87
- One Week Later
- Chapter 88
- Chapter 89
- Acknowledgements
- Keep Reading …
- Books by Ross Welford
- About the Publisher
‘Are you all right, pet?’ says Mam. ‘You’ve been very quiet. You never told me about your school visit thingy.’
‘I’m okay. I’ll tell you tomorrow.’
Billy gets up and sits on the sofa close to Mam, because you get a better view of the screen. ‘He’s just tired, aren’t you, pal? Go on, off you go!’ Well, that’s strange – Billy sending me off to bed, but I’m halfway out of the door, anyway.
As soon as we’re upstairs, Seb says we should dream about killing Adolf Hitler.
‘It’ll be awethome!’ he said. ‘We’ll be the boys who assassinate a mass murderer!’ (Try saying that with no front teeth, I dare you.)
We’re at the top of the stairs. I can hear the film has finished, and the pop of a wine cork, and now Mam and Fit Billy are talking about painting the fence between our backyards and they’re laughing. (I can’t imagine what’s so funny about painting a fence.)
‘No,’ I say, firmly. ‘We’re not killing anyone, Seb. Not even in a dream. You know that.’
His face falls.
‘Think about it. Our dreams are so real, there’s hardly any difference between them and real life, yeah?’ He nods. ‘So, do you really want to know what it’s like to kill someone? Even someone like Hitler? When you’re seven? It’s horrible. It could really mess with your head.’
I’ve just used the same phrase that Susan used with me, but it’s different this time because Seb’s my little brother.
He agrees, reluctantly. Then he comes up with the idea of attacking Adolf Hitler with our Nerf guns. It’s still more ambitious than anything else we have tried. Perhaps I am getting cocky.
But it does sound fun.
Seb and I were supposed to see Dad this afternoon, but he texted earlier to say he couldn’t make it. Mam tutted and said, ‘You’d think he lived in Mexico, not Middlesbrough.’
So, when we get to our room, I FaceTime Dad on my cracked phone instead. As soon as he answers, he says, ‘Are those the dream things behind you? I’ve heard a lot about them.’
I’ve listened to Mam and Dad talking on the phone and I know that Dad thinks it’s all a bit strange. Seb, though, comes over to my bed and grabs the phone, excitedly. ‘Yes!’ he says. ‘Do you want to see them?’
‘Sure,’ says Dad.
‘Okay.’ Seb gets up, switches them on, gets even more excited and before I can stop him he says, ‘And, best of all, me and Malky can share each other’s dreams! Can’t we, Malky?’