THE HAUNTING OF DENNIS RICKMAN (Part 4 of 4)
“And the pain?” I asked in my small childlike voice. “Will I forget that also?” I indicated my chest.
“Yes that also,” Rosa assured me. “Now you should be sleeping, young man.”
Somehow I know already that if I sleep, memories of Sharon will fade, all my memories of Walford will fade with her. I’m too young to retain those memories I realise and I’m too tired to stay awake, but I fight it hard and clumsily wipe tears away.
“Would you like a glass of warm milk?” Paula asked. “It will help you sleep.”
I don’t really wish to sleep but it will be forced upon me anyway. Rosa tells me as Paula prepares the milk, that I need to sleep in order to heal.
“You need to adjust,” Rosa said. “In order to be happy here. There is no going back now, Dennis. Nobody ever returns.”
“Mummy did….” I reminded her. How old was I again?
“Your mother, sweetheart,” Rosa said gently. “Was slipping into the dark side so she had to return or for her there could be no salvation.”
So there was a hell then….
“Hell is what she made it,” Rosa said reading my thoughts.
“Here you are,” Paula said approaching us. “I’ve put lots of honey in it, the way you like it, Dennis.”
When I was this age I always went to bed with a warm glass of milk. It was sweeter than I remembered it and I drank it, enjoyed it.
“Now you best go and have a wee before we settle you back into bed,” Paula said.
I was surprised that such bodily functions still continued here. Once again Paula tucked me up in bed and once again she kissed me lightly upon the forehead and left the door ajar. But this time there was no talking beyond the bedroom. They knew I needed quiet in order to drift asleep.
I snuggled down in the warm bed and forced myself to think of Sharon and Vicki and everyone back in Walford. I sank into a deep sleep and dreamt of my beloved weeping at my graveside. She looked so beautiful and so sorrowful that I wished I could return and offer her some comfort, but I was only a small boy now and she would never recognise me.
I woke up to the sound of mummy drawing the curtains, the bright sunshine flooded into the bedroom and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“Good morning,” Paula said brightly. “How about going to the seaside today? It’s a lovely day outside.”
The seaside! I fancied the seaside! I could go on the rides, watch Punch and Judy, build sandcastles and have ice-cream. I wanted ice-cream! I was wide awake now and hurriedly helping mummy to dress me and then she noticed that I paused and looked serious for a moment.
“What’s wrong Dennis?” she asked.
“Mummy,” I said. “Who is Sharon?”
THE END
(TBC - Paula’s, Rosa’s and Little Dennis’ new world collides with that of the Winchester Brothers whose battle against evil continues….)