Chapter 49: S#8. Nightmare (6)
by fnovelpia
Suddenly, I found myself deep in the woods.
Urgent footsteps echoed around me.
A menacing brute was charging through the dense trees, desperate like a bear in need of a bathroom.
A closer look revealed it was me.
Nancy was nestled in my arms, held in a “princess carry.”
“That’s me.”
“You’re wrong. That’s just a residual image in your memory.”
This forest was where Nancy and I first met.
The damp water zombies chasing us were also visible.
This time, the target I needed to eliminate wasn’t the zombies, but myself.
I swung the axe with a feeling of unease.
The body that was carrying Nancy and running split cleanly in two. The halves turned into clay-like lumps and tumbled away.
CaptainBear gathered the pieces and stuffed them into a sack.
With each step and swing of the axe, the scenery changed.
I was in every scene:
The moment I ran to catch a homework sheet floating away in the rain.
The moment I gave an ugly doll as a gift at the flea market.
The moment I gave Ellen a massage and she was peeking.
All the moments where I had spectacularly saved us from danger.
Nancy remembered them all.
But I was destroying those memories like a terrorist.
In order to cut those shared moments from Nancy’s mind, I axed myself.
CaptainBear’s sack grew larger.
The writing ‘Tromaville Butchery’ on the sack was now indistinguishable.
The ship of memories I had set afloat in my dreams had reached my birthday.
The day I fought alien muscles in the hospital and saved Earth.
Under a night sky that seemed to pour down stars, Nancy hugged me, covered in blood.
Seeing that scene, like the last scene of a B-movie, I realized:
I had been too dense to understand until now.
“Nancy… she likes me.”
“You’re wrong. It’s not you she likes, but the real Summer. You’re just a duplicate in a dream.”
I meticulously altered memories featuring me.
Me having dinner with Nancy.
Me talking to Nancy about horror movies.
Me listening to Nancy’s worries.
Playing pranks, chatting, spending time together.
In daily life, Nancy’s emotions were more apparent.
Honey dripped from her eyes as she looked at me.
I was so oblivious.
It was so obvious; why hadn’t I realized?
Regretfully, I sliced up the memories of myself.
Nancy’s subconscious struggled silently; no longer making any sound.
The sack holding the memory fragments had grown to an unrealistic size.
It seemed like it could hold two elephants.
CaptainBear, merely a teddy bear, dragged the heavy sack along lightly.
It was a scene possible only in a dream.
“But CaptainBear. Something’s off.”
“What is it?”
“There isn’t a single painful memory.”
As optimistic as Nancy is, there should be at least one bad memory.
But no matter how the scenery changed, not a single bad memory appeared.
Captain Bear didn’t respond to my question.
I was struck by a sudden, lightning-like shock.
“These aren’t just simple memories of Nancy…”
They were Nancy’s cherished memories.
From valuable experiences to trivial daily matters.
All had remained as cherished memories.
But I had stolen those memories.
With axe strikes, I churned, dug out, and removed the past, taking what Nancy held dear.
I cut everything to pieces, making them fit inside CaptainBear’s sack.
My heart ached. It was unbearably painful.
“That’s correct, Summer. What’s stored here isn’t just simple memories. These are Nancy’s precious memories.”
“……”
“But nothing changes. In any case, you would have damaged Nancy’s memories. Because you want to live. You don’t want to disappear like a bubble the moment Nancy wakes up.”
“……”
“If you fear extinction, then quietly follow my orders.”
Yes, extinction was frightening.
The thought of completely vanishing as Nancy woke from her dream filled me with immense fear.
I was willing to do anything to remain, even if it meant erasing Nancy’s memories, even committing such hideous acts.
It was a strangely intense survival instinct.
Suddenly, a conversation with CaptainBear echoed in my mind:
“There’s no need to despise yourself. You’re the one who’s been betrayed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like I said, you are merely a ghost created in Nancy’s dream.”
“…”
“You were created based on Nancy’s thoughts. The personality you have now is exactly how Nancy has always seen and judged you.”
“That means…”
“In the end, you were just that to Nancy.”
A person who would butcher the memories of someone dear to survive.
Nancy thought of me that way?
Yes, she must have.
She wanted me to survive, even if it meant sacrificing her own memories.
That’s why she instilled these instincts in me.
My selfishness was an expression of Nancy’s affection.
But… what have I done exactly?
Thud—
I slammed the axe into the ground.
The powerful blade shattered the floor.
I reached out and wrested the sack from Captain Bear’s grasp.
“What are you doing…!!”
“If this were my dream… Nancy would have made this choice.”
Clutching the sack, I leaped into the abyss below.
Nancy’s subconscious awaited beneath.
The fall seemed endless.
I kept plummeting, from a height of at least 100 meters.
All around was impenetrable darkness, as if I had ejected into space.
After a long descent, I finally hit the surface.
Yet no splash sounded. Instead, soft teddy bears sprang up.
It was a sea composed not of water but teddy bears.
The horizon sliced through the immense darkness, densely packed with teddy bears.
Somewhere, a splashing sound was heard.
Little Nancy was struggling.
“What are you doing!! Come back!!!”
From above, CaptainBear’s voice boomed angrily.
Ignoring him, I swam forward and scooped up the floundering little Nancy.
“Sorry Nancy. You’ve waited a long time.”
“Summer…?”
Nancy blinked, her tiny face streaked with tears.
I spoke up:
“‘I kind of like the sea. But I’ve only been a few times in my life.'”
“Summer…”
“That casual comment, Nancy, you remembered it.”
In the midst of the teddy bear sea, I looked into Nancy’s eyes.
“That’s why you brought me to the beach in this dream.”
Nancy, now transformed into an adult, hugged me tightly.
The sack that fell with us onto the teddy bear sea now sprouted wings.
They were butterfly wings.
The sack fluttered its giant butterfly wings and soared into the air.
I placed Nancy on it. It was time to escape.
“Get on, Summer! We have to go together…!”
“You need to wake up. I will stay here.”
“No, I hate that!”
“Hurry and fly away.”
Nancy burst into tears.
I also don’t want to die.
I don’t want to disappear.
I don’t want to be forgotten.
Yet, I will stay here, as a ghost in a forgotten dream.
From above, CaptainBear leaped down, clutching a fiery red fireball in his clawed hand.
As Captain Bear plummeted like a meteor onto the teddy bear sea, flames erupted.
The surroundings were engulfed in red. In an instant, the heat devoured the horizon.
The teddy bears forming the sea screamed as they burned.
The sack holding the memories had transformed into a magnificent, giant butterfly monster.
The wings beat furiously, intensifying the storm of flames.
From above, Nancy looked down at me.
Engulfed in flames, CaptainBear gazed up at Nancy.
“Stopppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!”
He screamed, extending his elongated, clawed hand.
I threw my axe.
The spinning blade severed CaptainBear’s wrist.
Enraged, CaptainBear charged toward us.
We tumbled together across the sea of flames.
My skin burned, my muscles cooked, my bones melted.
The fire scorching my body was excruciatingly hot and painful, but I swallowed back my tears.
Nancy, having climbed onto the butterfly monster, began to drift away.
She climbed higher to escape the flames, preparing to awaken from the dream.
CaptainBear writhed in agony.
I held him down firmly, immobilizing him.
We were going to die here together.
The fragments of a dream that Nancy would forget, burned in the sea of plush bears, bidding farewell with the beautiful flutter of a butterfly’s wings.
Goodbye, Nancy.
Sunlight tapped on Nancy’s eyelids.
She woke from her dream, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She had been crying because of a dream—a strange, sad, and terribly beautiful nightmare.
Like smoke, the dream dissipated upon waking, yet the urge to see Summer’s face lingered.
She headed straight to the garage.
There, she saw Summer’s back as he stood at the workbench and ran up to give him a tight back hug.
“Why are you like this so early, Nancy?”
“I thought I had lost you.”
“Lost what?”
Without responding, Nancy tightened her arms around Summer’s sturdy waist, her unease not subsiding.
After releasing the hug, Nancy clenched her fists, her lips pressed tightly together in determination.
“…Today, I want to come with you.”
Nancy was acting strangely today.
Did she eat something wrong?
I left the garage and returned to the house.
The studio door was slightly ajar.
Inside, Ellen was choosing a bikini in front of a mirror.
On the desk lay a men’s swimsuit with a roaring lion emblazoned boldly in the middle—a very conspicuous design.
Surely they didn’t expect me to wear it to the beach at lunchtime, especially since Nancy was coming along…
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Who could it be, this early in the morning?
When I opened the front door, a small butterfly fluttered into the house.
Standing there was Reiko Ishikawa.
“Summer, could you fix our fence?”
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