18. Ready

"We're here," Nathaniel said triumphantly as the reached the summit of the hill.
"We are?" William wheezed through the pain, looking around. The hill that they we on descended before them down into a valley lined b high hills on either side. The valley itself was shrouded by thick grey fog that was so dark that it was nearly black to look at.
Groaning, he slid off of one side of the horse. His legs gave way and he ended up in a heap o the ground. And he really didn't want to move from there. Every movement was agony, even just raising his head. But as long as he sat still and didn't move, then the pain was at least manageable.
"Isn't this where you wanted to go?" Nathaniel asked, watching him huddle into a ball on the ground.
"Actually, no," He grunted, "It's where I thought that I should go, not where I wanted to go."
"Well what's the difference?"
"I thought that in order to play out this dream and wake up back home, maybe I needed to face my nightmares. But there are many other places that I'd rather be than in a place of nightmares."
"Well we're here now, so what are you going to do?"
"Well I guess I'm going to go face my nightmares," he sighed.
"That's the spirit," Nathaniel cheered him on, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging hi to his feet. "Face your nightmares and nothing will scare you ever again."
William nearly collapsed back to the ground. Between the pain in his legs and the idea of facing his nightmares, it was almost more then he was able to handle. But this was how he thought that he could get back home to his comfy sofa and popcorn, and that was the only thing that kept him upright.