Date: 31 Jan 2001 15:48:36 MST From: Inverse Clown <servo_blue@usa.net> Subject: The Out-Crowd (Part 5) Author: Servo Blue AUTHOR'S NOTE: ============= DISCLAIMER: ========== This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental, even if it IS based on real stuff. The author asserts all legal and moral rights (copyright (c) 2000 - servo_blue@usa.com) to this work and you may not copy it or transmit it in any way except in its entirety and with this disclaimer, you silly plagerists. The Out-Crowd =========== Part 5: Sweet Dreams "Don't worry about it," said Wally, sitting on the foot of Jeremy's bed. Jeremy was sitting, leaning agaisnt his headboard, with his arms wrapped around his knees, holding them to his chest. He was a nervous wreck, or as close to one as a 16 year old kid can be. He hadn't gone to school that day, just stayed home. He'd not slept that night. "You're sure?" he asked, his voice shaking. "Absolutely," said Wally, in a comforting tone. "I slipped-up and said 'double-time', and I told him about Kate, but he had no clue at all about who the other person is. He kept beggin' me, but he gave up when the bell rang." Wally and Jeremy have been friends since fifth grade. Jeremy knew that he could trust him with anything. Anything at all. Kate was the same way. I guess Wally's just one of those people who can be everybody's friend, whenever they need him. Then again, maybe he needs to be. There I go, getting all "deep" again. Sorry. "Did he ask why I wasn't there?" asked Jeremy. "Yup," said Wally. "What'd you tell him?" "The only thing I could tell him--I didn't know!" Jeremy moaned in an agonized tone, and ducked his head behind his knees. "Look," said Wally, "from what I understand, you acted like you were about to throw up, or something. Just tell him you got sick, and he'll buy it." "I don't want to lie to him!" "Well then, why didn't you just tell him right then?" asked Wally in a tone that basically said 'don't be stupid'. "I couldn't--I...it wasn't right yet." "Exactly." Jeremy looked up and raised his eyebrows. "...What?" "Jer, you're not ready yet. Tell him you got sick; if it all works out, I really doubt he'll care about it. If he cares at all, he'll understand." Jeremy raised his head completely. He knew he was right, but he was still nervous as hell. "Well, I gotta get to work," said Wally, standing up. "The warden at the theater waits for no man. I'll see you around nine, O.K.?" "Yeah," said Jeremy, waving weakly as Wally headed for the door. Then, just as Wally was leaving, he added, "Hey--Wally..." "Yeah?" "Thanks," he said. Wally smiled. "No problem." Personally, I had plenty problems that night. I went to bed at 10:00, but I don't think I got to sleep until around midnight. "HEY THERE, BOYS AND GIRLS!!!" cried the giant clown. It was enough to scare me into a panic. There was absolutely nothing else. Just darkness, the 30-foot clown, and me. Not even a floor was visible. "STEP RIGHT UP AND MEET YOUR DOOM!!!" The clown's entire head was white, and I couldn't see any hair. He wore a pointed black hat,which had three small white pom-poms on it, going up the center, and a bright red one at the top. His suit was a black, full body outfit. Three red pom-pom buttons were in the center, and white gloves and boots were graced by white ruffled cuffs, as was the collar of his suit. His face was exceptionally creepy. He had two curvy lines painted on to appear as angry eyebrows, a downward pointed triangle on the tip of his nose, and a sinister paintjob of a smile which came to several jagged but symmetrical razor-like points on his cheeks, all done in red with a black outline. "HUR-RY, HUR-RY, HUR-RY!" he bellowed. His movements were like liquid. He took a slow, wobbly swat at me, but then a thunderous tromping was heard. I looked to my left, and a knight in silver armor, held to him by chains that seemed too big, even for him, came walking over, moving as slowly and oddly as the Clown. "Unhand the King," ordered the Knight. His voice was loud, but didn't echo like the Clown. The Clown turned to the Knight and roared like none other than the Devil himself. He suddenly held a Jack of Spades card, and hurled it at the Knight. It hit his armor, and it all shatterd, flying into submolecular pieces, and disappearing. The Knight was still a knight, but was now wooden, and had strings like a merrianette. The strings were up, but vanished into the darkness. He drew a sword--a wooden sword, with a black grip and a white handle, black and white stripes up the blade. "Insolent nave," said the Knight, raising his sword with both arms,"I strike at thee!" The Knight brought the sword down at full throttle, the fastest thing to happen so far, but a split second before impact, there was a glimmer, and then an all-consuming flash of white light. There was a thunderbang like the detonation of a supernova, and when I opened my eyes, there were golden two-dimensional star shapes, falling from the darkness above, with trails of shining dust. I looked all around, the stars beginning to be less and less. a new panic arose; the idea of being totally alone. It filled my body with a painful tingle of fear. I feverishly examined the empty darkness, seeing nothing. I spun a full 180, and hit a tall, but human, undertaker. "The stars..." he said, in an entirely eerie tone. "They're from the crash, you know." He started to walk past me, to go through the emptiness, but the fear of being alone hit me again, and, taking what appeared to be the pro of two cons, I ran to him. "What do you mean, the crash?" I asked. "To seek my help would be a blunder, lest thou seek to venture under." "What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" But the Undertaker simply kept his pace, never once looking at me. I did my best to keep up, but, being so tall, one of his steps took three of mine. "What crash?!" I nagged. "What do you mean?!" The Undertaker stopped and spun down at me, his face turning red, his eyes glowing the same. He snarled as he screamed: "TO SEEK MY HELP WOULD BE A BLUNDER, LEST THOU SEEK TO VENTURE UNDER!!! Now, GO!!!!!" And with those final words, he reared back, and swatted me backwards through the air; maybe to where I started...maybe not. I sat there for a moment. I probably heard the cries right away, but I was stunned by being smacked throught the air like that. But then I realized I was hearing them. The muffled, almost inaudible cries of "Let me out, I can't breathe, it's so dark--please! Let me out...no room!" I surveyed the area. A small yellow Jack-in-the-Box wiggled slightly. I leaned in closely, and determined that the voice was in it. I slowly, tenderly, just barely touched the crank, and it started spinning wildly, faster than I could see. The top blew off entirely, and a robotic head on a spring popped out. "The strongest pedistal can break; How much talk can one boy take?" it said, in a lively, but droned voice. I was getting pissed. "Why does everything have to rhyme?!" I screamed. "Why--is that some sort of crime?!" it asked, then burst into maniacal laughter. All of a sudden it snapped into seriousness. "I'm sorry, Casey," it said, in a morose, pleading tone, as if it had killed someone it dearly loved. "I'm sorry--I never saw it coming! If I knew, I could've DONE something--I'm--" In an instant, the Bot-in-the-Box was smashed and destroyed by a black and silver train, composed of an evil engine and thirteen deadly hollow black passenger cars. The puffs of smoke were in form of Jolly Rogers. The Train sped straight across its kill, then turned to the left in a giant curve, and circled back towards me, with the intent to massacre me, just as the Bot-in-the-Box. However, just as it was about to crush me, I noticed two things: 1) The sound emitting from the Train's wheels was kinda like "hatehatehate, hatehatehate...", and 2) A black monster, about the size of Jupiter, was raising it's head behind the Train. His mouth was open, and the sound of the Train was replaced by the sound of a hurricane. The Train quickly slowed and stopped, and was picked up and pulled into the Monster's mouth. Then, the Bot-in-the-Box, now fully repaired, was sucked in, screaming not to be locked in the closet. I, myself, now felt the winds of the Monster's suction, but seemed to be planted firmly. Next, the Undertaker came flying past. "I warned you not to follow me, Now CURSED ARE YOU AND DEAD ARE WE!!!" He was pulled into the Monster's mouth, and his last words were almost too silent against the strong winds for me to hear. The Knight appeared behind me. "Your Highness, I shall defend you," he stated. "No--" I yelled, over the roaring winds, "He's too fast for you! You'll never beat him!" The vacuum had lifted him into the air and he was falling toward the gaping mouth of the demonous creature. "I have failed you, my King!" he yelled. "No you haven't!!" I screamed back, but I doubt he heard me. He was gone, consumed by the raging Monster. The Clown jumped up out of nowhere, a distance ahead of me. He began spinning counter-clockwise, and laughing. "WELCOME TO THE VORTEX OF YOUR FUTURE!!!" he screamed, and laughed again. He was pulled into the Monster's maw, and then he, too, was gone. The head of the Monster now enlarged, and leaned closer, creating a vacuum that I, too, was meant to be sucked into. My feet lifted. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!" My Dad knocked the door open ran to my bed, grasping my shoulders. My Mom followed him and turned on the light. "What?" he asked, almost panicked. "What's wrong?!" "Dad?" I asked, like an idiot. "It's me," he said. "What's the matter, Casey?" I took a second to examine my surroundings. My room. My bed. My parents. Myself. I was in bed, of course, in my usual sleeping attire of my boxers, but I was nearly soaked with sweat. "Oh, my god," I said, taking hold of myself and my situation. "I'm sorry. That was the single most terrifying dream I've ever had. I'm really sorry." Dad hugged me really tight, then leaned back, laying his hands on my bed. "Don't worry about it. You feelin' O.K.?" he said. "Uh...yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Dad." I stammered. "O.K.," he said, not really believing me. "Try to go back to sleep, alright?" "Alright," I said. He got up and went to the doorway. "Goodnight, Casey." he said. "Sweet dreams from now on, O.K., kid?" asked my mother. "Yeah," I said, smiling. "Sweet dreams." My parents shut out my light and went back to bed. I checked my clock. 3:08. At 3:28, I decided it had been too long and there was no way I was going to get back to sleep. And, even if there was, there was too much of a risk of dreaming like that again, which was a rerun I did NOT consider a 'must-see'. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to clean myself off. I got back to my room, and put on a pair of jeans, socks, and my tennis shoes, which weren't really for tennis at all, but that's another story. It was about 68 degrees out, which is fairly warm, in my opinion, so I didn't bother with a shirt.I crept downstairs and out the door. My innitial plan was simply to walk around until I felt tired and go back home to bed. But as I passed Jeremy's house, I thought I'd take a look and see how he was. He'd had that weird reaction to whatever set him off last night, and I wanted to make sure he was O.K. I walked up the asphalt driveway, and walked around the house. I came to the backyard, and, lo and behold, I found a window that shown into his room. I looked in and saw him lying in his bed, the sheets pulled up, up the blanket tossed off over the foot of the bed. I turned and took a few steps away, figuring that he was fine, when I heard a sliding noise followed by a voice. "Hey," he said. I turned and looked at him. He was wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of red and blue pajama pants, and leaning out the window. His hair was all messed up, which from what I could tell of him was a rarity, and his eyes were a bit droopy. "You're up?" I asked, over my shoulder. Stupid, yes, but I was surprised. "Looks that way. What are you doin'? It's a quarter to four." I turned and faced him, waving my hnads around a little. "I had the weirdest fuckin' dream, and...I'm sorry, I feel like an idiot. I'll just tell you tomorrow." I shoved my hands in my pockets and started to walk away. "No, wait. Come on in." He backed away from the open window. I walked over to it. "You sure?" "I've been up for a long time, Casey," he said, and ran both of his hands through his hair, in a sleepy sort of way, then let his arms drop heavily to his sides. "A little while more won't make a damn bit of difference." He walked over and sat on his bed, in front of his pillow. I crawled in through the window and made my way over to his bed to sit down. "So, tell me about this dream," he said. "You're never gonna believe this," I told him. =========================================================================== ....To Be Continued.... Weird, huh? :) Don't worry--or maybe you should--Casey's dream is completely relevent to the whole sha-bang. I think you'll see soon enough. CHANGE OF ADDRESS!!! Any Comments or Criticism go to me at servo_blue@usa.com