verything was black. The noise of muffled, friendly chatter echoed. The air felt familiar and comfortable. Andrew opened his eyes. It was still dark. Then he noticed he was staring at
something really close. He lifted his head and light flooded into his pupils, allowing him to see everything around.Andrew was in the front row of his history class. His fellow classmates were bunched together in groups, sitting on desks and chatting amongst themselves. Since his desk was right by the window, he turned his head left to look outside. The sunlight was quite bright. He checked his watch. It was 2:35. In a few minutes school would be over. Andrew rubbed his eyes and stared blankly at his desk. There were a few drops of water where his face had been. Drool, he thought. Embarrassed, Andrew snuck a few stealthy glances left and right before quickly drying the desk with his shirt.
“Hey Dorky!” A few boys walked up to his desk. “Dorky the pig! How’s it shaking?” It was Freddie, the local bully, and his gang of miscreants.
Andrew frowned. “I don’t snort anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Freddie sneered. “Once a Dorky pig, always a Dorky pig. And it’s not just about snorting. It’s about gunk. Like that gunk I saw you wiping off your desk. You had one great big loogie. It was all green and sliiiiimy.”
“It wasn’t phlegm,” Andrew replied. “Are you really in middle school? Who talks about such things?”
“People like me. Normal people,” Freddie said snidely. He ran his fingers violently across Andrew’s hair. “But apparently, not weirdos like you with your nasty, greasy hair and your ugly glasses.”
“Don’t touch me.” Andrew pushed his hand away.
“Or you’ll what? Loogie all over me?”
“I’ll tell the teacher on you,” Andrew started to get up from his seat, but Freddie pushed him back down.
“The teacher?” Freddie laughed. “He can’t and won’t do anything!” He spun around and asked his friends, “Did anyone even see me touch this creep?”
All of Freddie’s friends shook their heads in reply, snickering.
“See?” Freddie turned back to Andrew and smiled deviously. “No one saw anything. And who would believe you, huh? Why would I,” Freddie flicked Andrew’s hair back with his fingers, “want to touch you, anyway? I wouldn’t.” Freddie snatched up the backpack on the floor. “Now your book bag, on the other hand, might be worth touching.” He opened up the bag and searched inside.
“Stop that,” said Andrew slowly. “Give it back.”
“Give it back,” Freddie mimicked Andrew’s voice in a squeaky tone. Then he spat in his normal voice, “Are you sure you’re in middle school? Because you sound like a little baby.” Freddie felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He glanced back and saw Kevin glaring at him. “Hmm? What’s your problem?”
“You’re my problem.” Kevin tightened his grip on his shoulder.
Freddie shrieked at the sudden sharp pain and pulled away. “Wha-what? You want to mess with me?”
“No,” said Kevin, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder, “but my friend Brad wants to…if you’re up to it.”
Freddie looked past Kevin to see Brad leaning by the doorframe, waving playfully back at him with a bright smile. Standing at six feet, Brad was the giant of the class. Freddie swallowed loudly.
Freddie shrugged. “Whatever. I have more important things to do. Maybe some other time.” Acting rather cheeky, he coolly dropped the backpack and followed his friends over to the other side of the classroom.
“Thanks Kevin,” said Andrew, beaming.
“No problem,” said Kevin. “Guys like him will never grow up.” Kevin paused. “So are you coming with me or not? Did you call up your mom and ask if it was okay?”
Andrew blinked several times. “Where? For what?”
“Katie invited us over to her house, remember?”
“Katie did what?”
Kevin chuckled at Andrew’s odd response. “Why are you acting all surprised?”
“I…can’t really remember…anything from this morning.”
“Anyway, she’s just throwing a small, little celebration party for us. You know…for saving the world and everything. Just the three of us, since Tom can’t make it.”
“Okay,” said Andrew, nodding slowly. “I’ll come. I don’t need to tell my mom. She works late. I should be home before she gets back.”
“Cool,” said Kevin. “This should be fun.”
As they walked out the front door of their school, Andrew was deep in thought. He started to slowly remember the battle that transpired a mere few days ago. It was almost like a dream. During the battle, his life was always on the line. But now that everything was back to normal, it felt surreal. As they walked onto the road, Andrew looked up at Kevin. With a slight grin on his face, Kevin appeared content. Andrew wondered how Kevin felt about the whole thing. It was really weird, thought Andrew. When they were thrust into the battle for mankind, Andrew had a difficult time accepting the insane situation. But now that there was suddenly peace and normalcy, Andrew had a difficult time accepting the serenity. But he was glad. He was glad that it was finally over.
Katie’s house was surprisingly far. Seeing that she walked to school everyday, Andrew had expected a much shorter distance. It took them nearly an hour before they reached her neighborhood. During that time, Andrew studied the streets and houses as they passed them by. There was no one around. It was extremely quiet.
Andrew tapped Kevin on the arm. “Do you feel like something weird is going on?”
Kevin cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
Andrew hesitated and shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s something that’s bugging me. Like…I don’t know how to explain it. Is everything really back to normal? There’s no one in the street. No…wait…” Andrew closed his eyes for a second. “Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen a single car on the road!”
“Is it really that strange?”
“Yeah,” Andrew replied. “I didn’t even see a school bus leave.”
“We did leave a later than normal,” said Kevin.
Still worried, Andrew repeated, “We did…?”
When they arrived at the place, Andrew and Kevin stood by the sidewalk and gawked at the front. Katie’s home was ancient and it showed. The roof was falling apart, a few of the windows were broken, and the bottom of the doors had cracks so large that mice would have no trouble making an entrance. On top of that, the rest of the property didn’t seem to be properly tidied. Though it was nearing the end of winter, there were leaves all over the driveway. The grass had grown tall enough to encompass large dogs. The rest of the neighborhood looked nothing like it. The moment they stepped onto the front lawn, it was like they had entered another dimension.
“Is this the right place?” asked Andrew.
“Pretty sure it is.”
The front door swung open…and then fell out unexpectedly, landing loudly upon the wooden porch. Waving, Katie ran outside to greet them.
“You guys made it!” she said cheerfully. “So? How do you like my place?”
“It’s…” Andrew tried desperately to think of nice words. He had great difficulty with it. “It’s…lovely and…nice. I like it. It’s a really good place. A really, really solid building.”
“Cut the lies,” snapped Katie, glaring at him. “Just say it’s terrible.”
“Oh…” Andrew chuckled and broke into a smile. “It’s terrible—really, really terrible. It’s so ugly, moldy and broken down and nast—”
Katie slapped Andrew on the cheek, causing him to stagger backwards. “That’s my house you’re talking about!” Then she walked back inside her home and gestured for them to come in.
Kevin looked at Andrew, examined the new bruise on his face and whistled. “Ouch. I guess she’s back to normal.”
“I wouldn’t consider her normal to begin with,” Andrew replied.
After they entered the house, Kevin helped Andrew put the front door back on. It was missing hinges, so they simply stuck it in place and tried to wedge paper in the gaps to keep it tightly closed. Then Andrew turned around to see what the inside of the house looked like. The whole house was simply one big empty room. There was no hall or kitchen or anything other than four gray walls and a few windows. The structure and layout was simple. There was not much in the way of furnishings either.
“Now let me introduce you to my family,” said Katie. When she said that, two people suddenly appeared in the center of the room. Andrew had never even noticed there were other people in the room with them.
Katie gestured to them. “Here’s my mom and dad. Aren’t they wonderful?”
The father was tall and handsome. His hair and eyes were dark brown. His skin was very tan. The mother was beautiful but was much shorter. Her complexion was very pale in comparison. Both parents had bright smiles, as if they were extremely happy.
“Pleased to meet you, Sir,” said Andrew, approaching the father to shake his hand. Smiling warmly, the father shook his hand but said nothing.
Andrew yanked his hand away hastily from the father’s grip. “Cold!” Andrew stared at his trembling palm. There were cracks in his skin. “Frostbite?” Perplexed, Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Kevin.” Andrew turned back to search for his friend. Kevin was no longer around. Then he slowly came to a realization. “This is not real.” He looked at Katie. “This is not real.”
Katie giggled. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s real!”
“Your father is cold—freezing even. Kevin just disappeared. This house,” Andrew caught a fleeting glimpse of the walls changing color, “is doing things it shouldn’t be able to do. And most importantly…my memory…my memory…” Andrew shut his eyes tightly as though in pain. “I can’t remember what I did today.”
“What are you saying, Andrew?” Katie smiled. “It’s real. Everything here is real.”
Katie moved toward the middle of the room and a round table appeared beside her. Her parents sat around the table, giggling gleefully.
“Come,” she said to him. “Come join us for dinner.” With a sweep of her hand, the table was soon filled with plenty of food: a large cooked turkey, mashed potatoes, and salad, among other things. “Don’t be shy. Come here and eat.”
“Katie, are these your real parents?”
“You’re talking funny again,” said Katie. “These are my real parents. That’s why they love me so much. That’s why they’re here in my home.”
“But Katie,” Andrew said gravely, “you told me before that you were in a foster home.”
Her eyes widening, Katie snapped, “Who told you that?”
“You did.”
“No, I didn’t. I don’t remember that.”
“You did,” Andrew said again, this time more firmly. “You told me that.”
“That was a lie,” she said softly. Facing downward, she fell quiet and there was a long period of silence. Andrew drew near to her, curious to see the expression on her face. Then Katie pushed him back with all her might and screamed, “THAT WAS A LIE!”
Andrew regained his balance and said, “Look at this place. It’s rotting away. Look at your parents. They don’t even look alive. This isn’t where you want to be.”
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” she shrilled. “Why are you doing this to me? Please stop this. Please…stop this.” Katie began to cry. Her tears flowed like rain and was unending. “Stop.”
“Katie. You need to stop.” Andrew observed the changing wallpaper and saw images of her memories. “You once told me that your foster parents hate you. Now that I see inside your mind…it doesn’t look like that to me. You’re the one who doesn’t realize it. They love you, Katie. But they can’t give you their love if you keep pushing them away…if you keep rejecting it. You’re hurting everyone…even yourself.”
“NO!” Katie screamed. “If I trust them, they’ll hurt me! They’ll love me and then abandon me! I hate them! They hate me! That’s the way it should be!” Then Katie digested her own words and fell to the ground, sobbing. “I’ll never get hurt. Again. That’s the way…it should be…”
Andrew said, “How do you know if you’ll get hurt again? They are not the same as your parents. They are different people. You have to give them a chance. Katie, how long have you been with this last foster family?”
Still on her knees, Katie looked up at him, brushing away her tears. “I-I’ve been with them for…six months now.”
Andrew said, “In those six months, I bet you’ve tried to make their lives miserable. But regardless of what you’ve done to them, they’re willing to make an effort. So please…give them that chance.”
Katie sniffed. The tears stopped flowing. She knelt there for a while, trying to regain her composure.
Then she stood up, ran to Andrew and embraced him.
“Maybe…I should. Thank you.”
Andrew beamed. “Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything. But I’m glad you’re feeling better because we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
“They’re breaking through!” a dog barked.
Raising his clenched fist high, Tom yelled, “Push them back!” Musing, Helios sat on Tom’s shoulder. “We can’t hold them
Tom nodded. “But what kind of backup plan can we have? We don’t have options.”
“Fighting on two fronts was a bad idea. Even if the areas are narrow, we don’t have enough soldiers to handle both sides. We should pull back and hole up inside a department.”
Tom frowned. “You saw how those bears tore through the first barricade! It won’t—”
“It’s just a matter of stalling time,” said Helios. “We have to pull back.”
“If we pull back now, we’ll be trapped.”
Helios made direct eye contact with Tom. “If we don’t pull back now, we’ll lose too many soldiers. We won’t last much longer like this.”
Tom bit his lip. “But…I don’t know…I don’t want to pull back.”
Helios snapped, “What you want doesn’t matter! We have to hold them off for as long as we can!”
“Tom! Tom!” the computer shouted. “More creatures are approaching! It’s a new wave and much larger! They’ll reach our position in approximately ten minutes!”
“Again?” Tom’s jaw slackened. “But they’re already crushing us! Why would they need more reinforcements? Oh gosh…this is getting worse and worse.” Tom considered passing out at a time like this, but Helios gave him quite a reproachful and intimidating stare.
“If you don’t want to run, we can always fight,” said Helios.
Tom raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”
“They don’t know what’s going on here. They have no idea what Kevin is doing. We could hide Kevin’s body somewhere inside. Then, with our full force, we could make a final push to the surface through one of the exits. We could pretend like we have the solution and lead the animals away. If we do that—”
Tom finished, “Then they won’t even bother with this place and Kevin will have as much time as he needs.” He added quickly, “Let’s go with that.”
Helios said, “You won’t even think it over? I know I suggested it, but I’m asking you to put your life on the line. I won’t make you—”
Tom said reluctantly, “Let’s do it. If I think it over, I’ll change my mind.”
Helios grinned wryly. “You’re braver than I thought.”
Tom shouted to the end of the hall, “Fall back! Everyone, fall back!”
Almost immediately, a small group of dogs and cats rushed to Tom’s side. Tom gestured for them to follow him. With his trashcan lid in hand, Tom plowed through the smaller forest creatures that blocked the door to the exit. As the enemy tried to pounce him, he deflected them with his makeshift shield. The larger dogs went ahead to make open a path for their group. It took them a bit of time and effort, but they managed to reach the short ladder that led to the outside. Tom quickly closed the door behind them and helped the pets up the ladder. Then he followed them out.
Their small group was surrounded on all sides. The Forest Army had mustered all their remaining forces and gathered them to this one spot for their last stand. Compared to all that surrounded them, the small force of the HPC was like a tiny dot in the landscape.
For a moment everyone hesitated. The Forest Army simply stared at the small force of the HPC. It was amazingly quiet.
Tom gulped, afraid to give any commands that would disturb the eerie, yet calm, pause. Then he decided to take a slight step forward, hoping to inch his way to a running start. Tom accidentally stepped on a branch. Crack. Once the noise echoed through the park, the bears began growling and the wolves started howling. The silence was broken. The Forest Army rushed in for the kill. Vibrations of their frenzied charge shook the blades of grass tremendously. Tom screamed as he tried to shield himself from the attack.
But the wild animals didn’t attack them. Instead, they parted and scattered, yelping as they fled. The ground turned into a moving sea of brown, black and white. Astonished at the sight, Tom looked at the strange ground. It was then that he discovered the small furry creatures scurrying about. Rats. Swarms of rats were all over the place. They were climbing up benches, telephone poles and streetlamps. They were clinging off the backs of bears, gnawing at their skin. They were covering up entire wolves and deer with a blanket of their bodies.
A rat met up with Helios and bowed down before him. “My liege! You’re safe! The Queen was so worried when she discovered that you were still alive!”
Helios exclaimed, “I don’t believe it! Did my mother tell you guys to come?”
“That’s right,” said the rat. “We are the Korgen Vermin Militia, at your service. What is your command?”
Helios smiled. “Let’s mop up this mess and get this Forest Army out of our city!”
The rat nodded. “As you wish.”
K
evin walked along a road of candy-coated bricks. It was kind of sticky and hard to walk across. Even so, it was easier to walk through that since the rest of the landscape was
covered in giant scoops of melting ice cream.
“Somebody sure loves their sugar,” he said.
Who dares interfere?
He stopped as soon as he noticed a black dot off in the distance. “What is that?” he wondered.
As it drew near, he got a better look at it. It was a mass of black
Kevin jumped out of the way and rolled along the surface of hard candy. Another pile of black sludge, resembling a giant hand, popped out of a scoop of ice cream. It caught Kevin by surprise and snatched him off the ground. Then the giant hand dragged him down beneath the ground, deep into a dark tunnel.
Hundreds of images flashed before his eyes. He was being pulled through dream after dream.
Then, when the giant hand finally released him, Kevin fell facedown on the floor. He picked himself up and looked around. He was in another dream world. This one was in outer space. But before he could gaze at strange planets and stars in the distance, he noticed that a group of giant dark creatures had surrounded him. Coveits.
Kevin grunted, “I don’t like the look of this.”
A man was standing by the side of the Coveits.
“The guy from the boat ride,” said Kevin, recognizing him.
“Yes,” said the man. “And you’re the kid stirring up trouble.”
Kevin felt frightened at this man’s presence. “Who are you?”
“I go by many names,” said the man. “If you like, you can call me the boogeyman.”
“Ah, Mr. Boogeyman,” said Kevin. “So I take it you’re the one who made the Dream Wave?”
The man laughed. “No, the humans have done this to themselves. I just…make the experience smoother for them. I am the oil in this engine. Humans sometimes just want to get away from it all…and I steer them in the right direction.”
“I can’t let you do that,” said Kevin. “I’ll put a stop to you!”
“You’re welcome to try,” said the boogeyman.
The Coveits lumped themselves together like clay, molding and bending into a huge massive body. The boogeyman jumped high into the mouth of the creature as it continued its weird transformation. Then, when the transformation was complete, a new monster was formed.
The hulking beast stooped down and roared. Its skin was a sickly red, almost the color of rotting raw meat. In addition to its two legs, it also had six arms and crawled down on the floor like a spider. On its back were ten horns, which protruded from its spinal cord. It had an eye on its forehead and an eye on its chin, and right in between, where people would normally have a nose, it had a giant mouth. Its head would twist and twist around like an owl’s.
“Okay…” said Kevin. “I still don’t like the look of this.”
Andrew and Katie exchanged wide-eyed glances. Her house was experiencing powerful tremors. The floor sheared apart, creating a huge gap between them. Andrew pulled her over to his side and they ran for the door. When they reached the street, Andrew pointed to the sky. The clear blue sky was long gone, now hidden by overlapping gray clouds. Aside from the bolts of lightning that flashed far and near, the land was covered in sheer darkness.
“We have to leave this dream,” shouted Andrew. “It’s getting dangerous!”
“But how?” asked Katie.
Andrew said, “There must be a way out—like a door or something. Since it’s your dream, you should know where it is. Think. If you think about it, maybe you’ll find it!”
Her arms crossed, Katie stared at the ground thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it, I think I may have seen something like that before.” She looked at him briefly before turning to the opposite direction. “That way. There should be something—”
Before she finished her sentence, the blood drained from her face. Katie looked down. To her horror, the ground was becoming alive. Lumps in the road formed into human hands and they reached out for her legs. Andrew took her by the hand and they fled the scene.
“It’s getting worse and worse,” said Andrew breathlessly. “This way, you said?”
“Yeah,” said Katie, nodding “the exit should be at the dead end of this road.”
As they sprinted across the neighborhood, everything around them became blurry and distorted. Houses were bending and twisting around, almost as if they were being reflected off funhouse mirrors. Fire hydrants changed colors rapidly from red to black or blue. Cars came to life on their own, revving their engines as they went up and down the sidewalks.
Stay…
“Did you say something?” Katie asked.
Andrew shook his head. “I thought you said something.” Andrew then noticed something falling from above. He held Katie back. “Watch out!”
A large oak tree landed upright in front of them. They fell back as they eyed the great plant. The segments of bark on the tree moved in such a way that it gave the tree facial features of a human. The eyes of the tree looked straight at the kids and the lips mouthed words.
Stay here…don’t leave…
Andrew turned to Katie. “Is this your doing?”
Katie shook her head. “I don’t think so…”
“But this is your dream,” said Andrew. “I never had this problem in mine!”
“I’m just as clueless as you are!”
“Whatever it is, we should be able to fight back. I’m not letting some talking tree stop me from leaving!”
Andrew charged at the oddity. The branches came alive and swept across, attempting to brush Andrew away. Andrew blocked the movement of the branches and forcefully shoved the tree back. The tree toppled over on its side and couldn’t get up. The two teens ran past the fallen tree. Then they encountered a blue swirling circle of light.
“That must be it!” said Andrew. “That must be the exit!”
They wanted to walk into the blue circle but they couldn’t. The trees all around them suddenly became animated. The trees, big and small, twisted and waved their branches. The branches acted more like vines with their incredible flexibility. The limbs of the trees reached out and grabbed the kids by the legs.
Taking rapid breaths, Andrew exclaimed, “They’ve got us!”
Katie squirmed. “Get off! Get away from me!”
Katie swung her hand down with the full rotation of her upper body. The branches were cut cleanly and fell to the ground, shriveled and gnarled. Katie looked at her hand. She was holding onto a large sword and never realized it. With her blade she chopped off any branches that were grasping for them.
“We can’t let the dream get the best of us,” said Katie, gripping the hilt tightly. “We’ll fight fire with fire.” Yelling out her battle cries, she swung the sword around, hacking away at the moving forest.
At first the trees retreated frightfully at the sight of the sharp blade and its restless owner. Then, as if they suddenly realized they weren’t truly alive to begin with, the trees attacked again, boldly approaching the force of the blade without hesitation.
Katie was greatly outnumbered. For every tree she sliced apart, two more would rise from the broken wood. There was no end to it.
Andrew took off his shirt to reveal his superhero garments underneath. He looked at himself in dismay. He probably still had some of his powers, but without the muscular body, he just didn’t feel as dashing.
Katie was unable to contain her laughter at how ridiculous he looked in tights. Even the trees howled in laughter. In fact, the trees couldn’t stop laughing, and they all fell down and rolled around in hysteria. Andrew grimaced. He had planned to show off his superpowers in the dream world, but apparently there was no longer any need for it.
“Now’s our chance,” said Katie quickly, restraining her laughter.
She walked up to the portal. Andrew was right behind her. Together, they watched the gateway uneasily.
“Are you sure this is it?” asked Katie.
“I don’t know…it looks different.”
“That’s not very assuring…”
“We cross over together,” said Andrew with a smile. “No…” a voice said darkly. “No one is going anywhere.” Another voice screamed, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The loud scream echoed through the portal. The light of the portal intensified. Katie retreated slightly. Andrew simply stared blankly and swallowed. Kevin flew through the portal and tumbled to the ground.
“Kevin!” Andrew said. “What are you doing here?”
“Andrew! Kat—What the heck are you wearing?” Kevin’s jaw dropped at the sight of her dress. Katie gave him a menacing glare. Then Kevin quickly said, “Oh, I mean, Andrew! Katie! We’ve got trouble!”
The monster’s head poked out of the portal, its freakish bloodshot eyes staring at the teens.
“But I guess you didn’t need me to tell you that,” Kevin added.
“WHAT IS THAT THING?” Andrew shrieked.
“He calls himself the boogeyman,” Kevin explained. “And he’s pretty ticked off that we’re trying to set people free from their dreams.”
The monster couldn’t quite squeeze through the small portal, so it pulled it apart.
As she watched the monster tear a gaping hole through the dream world, Katie asked, “What should we do?”
“I was thinking we should beat it up,” said Kevin.
“Are you kidding?” Andrew said. “How are we supposed to beat that thing?”
“Well,” said Kevin, “whose dream do you think is this?”
“Katie’s?” Andrew said.
“Well, it was Katie’s…but now it’s our dream,” said Kevin. “Our dream, our rules. This isn’t a battle against flesh and blood. This is a battle against our mind! If you think you’re weak, you’re weak. If you think you’re strong, you’re strong. Got it?”
Andrew nodded.
Kevin continued, “But whatever we do, we have to do it now, while we’re s