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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1247851-The-Unforgetable-Dream
by Bash
Rated: 13+ · Short Story · Fantasy · #1247851
The Only thing Bad about Bruce's Nightmare is that it is for Real.
Bruce Tyler is waliking down a deserted street at half past 2 in the night when he suddenly hears a women call his name from the back.
he turns to see a child bearing a Doll in her hand and is advancing towards him.
the guy kinds of freaks and starts to run.
when he next turns back to see the girl he sees about a hundred girls with a doll all looking similar still walking behind him.
he panics and fells onto the floor unconcious.
next when he opens his eyes he is in a cage locked up and there is no one around him, the place is like some sort of Castle.

He searches frantically around the cage and discovers a crack in the wall which he can crawl through. He ends up in a room full of barrels. Looking around he sees a conveniantly located shotgun by the wall, and heads over to pick it. But before he can reach it he is knocked to the floor by an unknown force. Scrambling up, he sees across the room a that the unknown force was nothing but a large hunchback pulling his shirt, preventing him from getting to the gun. He hears a voice from across the room saying: Who are you? What are you doing here?

I'm Bruce, and the second question I hope you can answer. Who put me in that cramped cage? And how dare you keeping me here?

"There's must be some misunderstanding." The voice answers.

"I'm sure there is."

" I shall tell you where you are." " You're inside your own dream; or to be more precise: you're own creation."
"Did you meet the girl with the doll?"

"There where hundreds of them, they scared me to death."

" That was you're first creation." "You're fear created it."

"Great. I'm afraid of little girls" "Now, can you tell me how to ge out of here?"

"That's going to be difficult." "I mean I'm not the one who can tell you that."

"Just tell me the rules, or whatever." " There must be a way out of here"

"Well, you've created a gun, there by the wall, so you probably thought that would be your ticket out of here."

"And this hunchback?"

"Oh he's just making sure you're not making a mess of your own creation." " I'm here to give you some advice on you're way out of here." " Use it wisely, don't start shooting girls with little dolls for instance."

"Can I not just wake myself up?"

The voice doesn't answer. The hunchback let's him go and walks away. On the door he sees a sign that says. "Quest one."


He enters the Door.
The is a circular room which is dimly lit by a lamp hanging near one corner.
Walking in the darkness ,Bruce trips and falls.
He sees there is a dead body of himself.
Then there is a voice which says.
"That body is yours, but its not you."
Bruce says " Then why do i see myself dead"?
" It means" the voice says " that if u do not complete the first quest your dream of death would come true".
"Then what is my quest" Bruce says.

"Take the lamp in u r hand and youll find a clue" the voice says.

Bruce moves towards the lamp and picks it up.
The room lights up and Bruce is standing on a chessboard


Bruce looks at the pieces on the chessboard and notices that all pieces look similar. When he comes close to each individual piece they all appear to have the same features. They all look the same, and smile at him with the same smile. The same smile he saw when he first looked into the face of that young girl with a doll in her hands.
Only now the doll's the pieces on the chessboard hold in their hands don't look the same at all. They look like monsters; and he kind of recognizes them.

"And so now what?" Bruce mumbles.

The voices answers: "They look familiar don't they?"

"Yes, i think i saw them before."

"They are all monsters from games you've sold."

"Ah, yes i know most of them." "Sometimes i play the games I sell, but i never really end them."

"So there you have your quest." "Play the game of chess." "And trust me that's not the hard part." " You opponent will not try to win the chess game." "There is an additional rule." "Every time you steal one of your opponent's pieces you will have to fight the monster it's carrying in it's hands." "And that's you first quest: fight the monsters of the games you have been selling to children for so long, beat them, and win the chessgame." "Make no mistake."

Bruce felt a sudden spurge of terror building up in his chest.
'So this is whats its all about' He thought. 'I sell games to kids without knowing its adverse effects'
Now i m in a situation where i have to fight these wierd Monsters,I hope i win'

Slowly Bruce started the game of chess.
"Pawn" Said Bruce "Move Forward"

and so the game went on till 15 Minutes Until Bruce met his worst fears.
"Now you have No choice" The voice said.
"You r surrounded and one of u r piece is bound to be attacked"

There was a sound so horrifying which almost tore Bruce's ears.
The Monster in Bishops Hand marching with an axe towards Bruce.
"I have No weapon" screamed Bruce.
"Think of any" said the voice.

Bruce hardly had any time to react when the monster suddenly......stops running. Because  Bruce disappeared into thin air. Only for a while that is, he re-appears in a different corner of the room.

"Aha, so this works." Bruce utters. "Being my own creation I should be able to have some effect on reality here."
But not long after that, the monster starts running at him again.
Bruce repeating the scenario, disappearing and re-appearing leaving the monster chasing him, starts thinking there must be a more permanent way to handle the situation.

The obvious way would be to make the biggest gun you can imagine and blast the creature away. But for some reason the only guns that appear are small guns with little impact, that don't kill the monster at all. only making it more aggressive and angry.

"Guns don't work here" the clever conclusion is. While a thought rises in his brain.

Inventiveness and creativity must have something to do with fighting this monster.

He remembers being bored by games for a long time, and this must have been his ultimate fear. Being forced to fight the same monsters for ever. Like he's been doing to the kids he has been selling his games to.

"This monsters sucks" He starts speaking to himself.
"It can't do any damage to me"

Suddenly he starts laughing, louder and louder. His body becoming taller, while the earth starts to shake. The walls tremble and some grit starts falling from between the bricks. The monster in the mean while has shrunken a little and doesn't run that fast anymore. Until the sound of Bruce laughter becomes so loud, the monster drops to the floor, shaking with fear.

"Your pathetic" he shouts, landing his foot, which is now as large as the monster itself, on the shrunken body of the beast. Leaving only a pool of slimy substance.

You've done well. The voice says.

Bruce felt so proud of himself Now.
"These Kids" he thought " They dont know how to fight monsters"
"i m the best " He shouted.

"Not yet" said the voice " This was just u r first quest"

The chessboard is broken now and Bruce begins to scream as he begins to fall into what seems like and endless pit.

as bruce stumbles to the ground he mets his worst fears when he stands up.

There r Hundreds of Dolls which he is scared of.
The voice says " Only one Doll has the Key to the next quest "
" Find Her , You have been allowed only 2 Retry's"

"Start NOW"

" What should i use here" he asks the voice.
" See how you can tackle your worst fears" says the voice." No weapon would be of use"
" Use u r Mind" thinks bruce.

"What should i do in only 3 chances..."???

Hectically Bruce starts thinking what could be the strategy for this quest. What could be the reason for his fear for dolls. A Flashback comes to his mind:

His younger sister sits next to him in a room. She is paying with dolls... he notices one of them is staring at him. That's just the way the eye sit in their sockets he thinks, it just a coincidence. But then he starts walking away and a shiver goes over his entire body, when he sees the eyes of the doll keep staring at him and following him while he moves.

The flashback fades out.

"I should look for the one that stares at me." he thinks.

So he starts looking for the doll that looks him in the face. Looking at hunderds of them he finally notices one looking at him.

The doll speaks to him when he approaches "I'm not the one you need." "I don't have the key"

"So which one has the key?" He answers in fear.

"None of us have."

"Lier, one of you has the key, the voice said so." bruce answers

"Lier, one of you has the key, the voice said so." the doll repeats his sentence with a childish tone.

"I'll ripp you apart if you don't answer me which of you has the key!" Bruce reacts, starting to get angry.

"Ill ripp you apart if you don't answer me which of you has the key!" The doll repeats his line like an echo again.

When he looks up he suddenly notices every one of the dolls is looking at him now. Staring at him, with a smile on their faces.

"I've got the key." he hears one of the dolls say with a teasing voice. But he can't locate the direction, from where it came from.

"No, I've got it" Another doll from way back says, with a laugh.

"The voice is just messing with ya." Another doll says to him.

"What did it mean with "the key" anyway?" another doll says.

"Shut up!" bruce shouts.

The dolls look dead again.

"Fear can only be overcome when you confront it directly." " Let's start my therapy, right now."
Bruce starts picking up the dolls one by one and throws them into a corner. When the pile of dolls grows his believe in finding the key shrinks with every doll he picks up.

"I must find out why this doll was staring at me." "And what it means when a doll stares at me, and why that made me scared so much."

Then he sees a sign on a pillar. He reads: "Remember when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you"

He notices the pile of dolls is gone, and all the other dolls as well. In his hand he notices he is carrying a key. He screams when he sees the clothes he is wearing: dolls clothes.

"You're afraid of them because you think your one of them." "But at least I've found the key" he says followed by a sigh.

When he sticks the key into the keyhole in the door that says: Quest 3, he notices it doesn't fit.

The voice speaks: "That's not the right key." You failed your first attempt. 2 left to go.

The dolls are back, but now they don't look so childish anymore. They are all covered with slime and have faces like skulls.

"This quest is going to get messy."

" SO what hold the KEY to my quest 3 " Thinks Bruce.
" And why have they all changed into something like a sort of monster"

" Dont u understand ,Bruce" The voice says " They'll get more and more horrifying if you fail to find the Key"
" And at last will attempt to kill u , if u dont succeed"

All dolls staring at Bruce made him feel sick.
He falls down on his knees and begs to the Dolls " Help Me please"

" Why should we" say all the dolls in a chorus.
" You cannot cheat ,Bruce" Shouts the Voice " It will only make matters worse"
" The answer lies in U R Quest Itself"

Bruce got up.
He saw that there were a total of 101 dolls.

" The answer lies in U R quest " he thought " What does the Voice mean by this"

Finally he got the answer
" There is a pair for each" he thought " except for one"
"This is QUEST 2 , and so 2 dolls are similar ,That leaves 1 doll remaining at last"

Bruce begins to sort out the similar dolls until he is left with just 1 remaining.
" There you are" Said Bruce
When Bruce caught hold of the Doll.It began to shake and the eye popped out into Bruce's hand.
It was the Key

Written on it was " Congrats "

Bruce threw the doll and advanced towards the Dor with Quest 3 and opened it.

Oke, I got rid of my fear of monsters and my fear of puppets. I would say I got lost of the fear of bad game characters. Let's see what this quest brings."

When he opens the door, there is the sound of birds singing and a water stream flowing. He sees butterflies flying around and the sun shining through a tree. Up a head there is a field with high grass bordered by the edge of a forest.

"So, that's a change of scenery"

"You got out of the dark gloomy castle" the voice says. "I'm glad."

"Me too." "Finally some fresh air." "I like this quest already"
"So, where do I go?"

"Relax, enjoy the view." "The voice answers.

"Tell me about this place."

"It's meant to be the scenery for the introduction of a story."

"Aha, a good story I hope. about nice people for a change."

"Nah, I'm not so sure." "It's your creation" the voice says. " ..but there is about to happen some things your afraid of...." "So enjoy your moment, while it lasts."

"Great, I can't wait." "Nice place this is." "Did I make it myself?"

"Probably not." "You've stole it from some television show or scene out of a game I guess." "It got stuck in you memory."

"Enough of this chitchat; I want to get out of this place, so bring on the quest, you have for me."

"Just wait."

Bruce thought that this was gonna be a walk in the park.
" The atmosphere is too calm to be called a quest" he thought. " i m sure its gonna be easy"

" Why do u think this ?" says the butterfly.

Bruce felt a sudden spurge of shock.
" You can Talk" he asked the butterly.
" Yes i can " says the butterfly.
" So what should i do to complete this quest " asks Bruce.

" U see those 3 birds chirping " says the butterfly. " Those are sparrows"
" They r gonna be attacked by an eagle in the next 3 minutes " says the butterfly "you have to save them"

" Oh.. Thats simple" thinks Bruce.
" Its Not Simple as u think , Bruce." says the Butterfly.

" Your Time Begins NOW"
" Wait....What happens if i fail"....
But the butterfly was gone.

Bruce thought he 'll go and sit beside the birds so that no eagle can attack.
as he reached near the sparrows flew away and sat on a tree

" Come down u idiots" he shouts " I m here to save you'll"
As Bruce watched towards the Sky He saw about 4-5 eagles as big as himself soaring downwards in the direction of the sparrows.

" Use U R environment" answered the Voice.

Bruce saw a small stone on the ground.
He picked it up.
threw in the direction of one of the eagles.
It missed.
One eagle took away one sparrow.

" what r u doing ,Bruce" says the Voice " U have to save them"
" 2 are left and 2 Minutes to Go"

How m i supposed to save them..
He turns around and sees something on the floor...

" I guess thats my Only Hope" he says.." I must Hurry"

signs lays in front of him on the grass. It says:

"And thus he has encountered his second enemy: Clarity!"

"What the hell is that suppose to mean." not having the patients to think it over, trying to save the sparrows.

Next to the sign he sees a flute. When he picks it up, he looks at it and starts blowing on it. A horrible sound fills the air. The eagles and the sparrows start making a smarted sound, like they are hurt by something. Then all of them fall from the sky, and lay there motionless on the ground.

"What horrible sound was that?"

"You should not blow every wistle you come across!" the voice says.

"Why didn't you tell me, I wasn't suppose to blow the wistle?"

"Give me a break here." "If I've done that, I could as well solve your quest on my own." And...by the way...this doesn't look very good." "You killed them all."

"With this stupid flute?"

"Yep, the wistle did it."

"How the *&$# could I have known, that that's what the wistle was going to do?"

"Again, it's your quest, try to figure it out, I'm not going to give you all the answers." "Taken, that I have the answers to begin with."

"You're not very helpfull."

"Try to read the other side of the sign, it says something on the other side as well."

Bruce reads: "That clarity of mind, which is so hard to obtain, dispels fear, but also blinds."

"Great, this sign-writer is quite a poet isn't he?" "It's also a bit vague and unclear what it means."

"Maybe I should tell you a bit further what these quests you undertake, mean in the end." "The are meant to make you overcome your 4 natural or primal enemies."

"Which are?"

"You will see, while you fight them." "The first you've already concered." "Fear." "And the second.."

"It says here, at this sign..Clarity?"

"That's it." "The word goes: It forces you never to doubt yourself. It gives you the assurance you can do anything you please, for you see clearly into everything."

"Well I wasn't so clear back there, I didn't find a way to fight off the eagles."

"That's right." "Do you know," the voice says "The eagle is one of the few animals that don't have a natural enemy."

"I didn't know that." "But surely there must be an easy way to kill them or fight them off?"

"I'll tell you what I know about the eagles, but first you have to learn something about your second enemy." The word goes that the second enemy will stop you cold from trying to become a man of knowledge. Instead you will turn into a warrior, or a clown. Yet the clarity for which you paid so dearly will never change to darkness and fear again. You will be clear as long as you live, but you will no longer learn, or yearn for, anything.

"I don't understand what this whole clarity thing has to do with me not being able to save the sparrows."

"I'll come to that." "You must do what you did with fear: you must defy your clarity and use it only to see, and wait patiently and measure carefully before taking new steps; you must think, above all, that your clarity is almost a mistake. And a moment will come when you will understand that your clarity was only a point before your eyes. And thus you will have overcome your second enemy, and will arrive at a position where nothing can harm you anymore."

"Nice; Don't make this like I'm at school again." "In simple words, what do you mean, and what do you want me to do?"

"That's all I have to say."

"Wait you were going to tell me about the eagles."

"Ah yes" "You couldn't fight off the eagles because you rushed into things when you should have been patient." "You thought too easy of your quest." The eagles would have come and the sparrows would have known where to hide, because eagles are their natural enemies." Instead, you rushed in, and scared the sparrows away. Right into the claws of the eagles."

Letting his head down, hearing his mistake, Bruce now walks to a big rocks and sits on it.

"What happens now I failed this quest?"

"You get another chance." "But not with eagles ofcourse."

No Way " Shouts Bruce as he looks up.

Three massive Creatures soaring downwards.They all looked like overgrown Bats.
" God help Me" cries Bruce " I dont like them at all"

Bruce thinks hard.What can save me.

" Oh yeah " says Bruce " this is a dream , right , i can definately someone to help me out "

He tries to think whom should he call

" Serious Sam " Shouts Bruce .
There was a whirl of wind nearby as Serious Sam came out holding a blaster rifle

" Whats Up Dude " says Sam.

" Up, Look Up " says Bruce.
" Rock and Load , Baby " shouts Sam " You'll be gone in a shot"

So Sam shot 3 times on those creatures and all were down.

" Thank u " says Bruce " Without U , i never could have cleared this quest "

" Oh thats Ok" says Sam " I'll be gone now "
And so he was gone.

"So i have cleared this quest " syas Bruce.

All of a sudden the Scene changes and Bruce is Now standing in the middle of a street.It looks dark.
Bruce looks at his watch ." Its half past 2 in the Night ".
Bruce walks forward
He hears a woman call his name from the back.
He turns back and sees around Hundred of girls carrying a doll walking towards him .

"This is the start of my dream " thinks Bruce " what the hell is happening , i m back here"

Game over" he hears the woman's voice saying.

apparently the other voice has left. Because he doesn't feel it's presence anymore.

At first he starts feeling fear but that fades away quickly, then he realizes he shouldn't make hasty decisions. He decides to watch what the little girls want from him.

Then the woman voice starts talking to him again: "You can do what ever you want."

At this point he would like to go to his hotel room and rest this night over. Than he realizes that is probably what he is doing right now, and this is the dream he is in. He never felt so much power in a dream before. If it is really everything he can do, he thinks, then it is that he wants to find out what these girls are doing in his dream.
Is it just a fear for having kids himself that made him start running the other time, and the womans voice, who is she?

To Be Continued....

© Copyright 2007 Bash (themubashir at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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