Deep within the Dreamscape Woods…
“Come on, we have to go!” a boy wearing blue yelled. “I know John, but…” the boy wearing yellow was interrupted by the silence of his friend. “John?!?”
“John, where are you?!?” the boy wearing yellow shouted. “Over here…” a voice whispered to him. The boy in yellow started to slowly creep through the pitch black woods. “Please John, I’m sorry if I was the one who got us into this…” the boy in yellow yelled as he crept through the woods.
“Follow my voice…” the whispers said. “Wait… Turn around…”
The little boy turned around and saw something that made his skin run pale. “Please no…” he started to say. The boy got up and started to run. “Get away from me!” he shouted as he ran.
Something suddenly wrapped around his leg as he got to the edge of the forest. “No… Please… I’m so close…” the boy said, holding onto a tree. “Let go!”
As he tried to break free from what was pulling him, his hands slipped. “Ahh!” he screamed as he was dragged into the pitch black abyss of the Dreamscape Woods. His screams slowly went silent as he was dragged deeper in the woods.
Since then, the two boys were never seen again…
Anyone who enters these woods at night…
Never see the light of day again…
1
On a nice summer day in Sapphire Square…
“So what’s the plan for your next short film?” a boy wearing a blue shirt and black shorts asked. “I’m planning on making a short film about the rumors on the disappearance of John and Matthew at the Dreamscape Woods,”a boy wearing tan colored clothes. “Need any help?” the boy with a blue shirt said. “Sure, you can help me dig up some info on the rumors,” the boy in tan said.
“Okay, I can dothat, but Devyn…” the boy wearing a blue shirt said. “Let’s meet up here in about an hour or so…”
“I might already have some info that you can use,” the boy with a blue shirt said. “Okay, back here in one hour…” Devyn said.
Moments later…
“I’m back!” the boy wearing blue said. “Welcome back Andre,” a lady said. “How was your day?”
“It was great, I learned a lot in Forensic Science today,” Andre said. “That’s good…” the lady said. “Oh, I have to go find something… me and Devyn are meeting up here in a bit to go over info for his film,” Andre said. “Okay, just be careful,” the lady responded. “I will mom,” Andre said, walking off towards his room.
“Where is it…” Andre asked himself, digging through boxes of papers. “Looking for something?” a girl said, barging into Andre’s room. “I’m just looking for some papers…” Andre said. “Now please, Adrian, can I just get some privacy so I can find them…”
“Don’t go looking into this case… it’s been years since Matthew vanished…” Adrian said. “I know, but…” Andre said, but was interrupted. “But, don’t look into it… Bad things might happen…” Adrian said sternly. “Okay… Oh there they are…” Andre, grabbed a stack of papers and dashed off.
“I’m just going to follow him, just in case…” Adrian said to herself.
Moments later in the middle of Sapphire Square…
“Andre, over here!” Devyn shouted from the Sapphire cafe. “I’m having Jordan, Connor, Jayce, and Bennett meet us at the woods,” Devyn said. “I also told them to get a hold of the rest of the group.”
“Okay good… I brought the info on the disappearances,” Andre said. “I’ve done a lot of side research about it…”
“All I know is that Matthew and John were meeting up at a campsite to camp, butsomething went wrong…” Andre explained. “Rumor has it that they were kidnapped in the forest… others say that they went to the forest to run away from this place…”
“Okay… so Matthew either got kidnapped or he ran away…” Devyn said. “Exactly…” Andre said. “Now let's get to the woods to meet up with the group.”
At the Dreamscape Woods at night…
“Okay… Are we all here?” Devyn asked. “Jordan?”
“Here,” Jordan said. “Connor? Devyn asked. “Jayce and I are both here,” Connor said. “Bennett?” Devyn asked. “I’m here,” Bennett said. “Andre and I drove here, so that leaves… Jessie and Laney…” Devyn said. “We are here,” Jessie said.
“Now let's get started on filming, turn on night vision on the camera,” Devyn said. The group started to walk through the dark forest, holding flashlights.
“Anything?” Andre asked. “Not yet…” Devyn said. “The campsite should be here somewhere…” Andre said. “Guys, over here!” Bennett called. Everyone met up at a dark campsite that had two tents already set up. “Strange… it appears this place has been left untouched…” Connor said.
The sound of a large twig snapping came from behind. Everyone turned around startled. “Oops… Sorry…” Jayce apologized. “It’s okay, just be more quiet…” Devyn said.
A louder sound rang out from behind them. “Shh…” Devyn hissed. “That’s not me…” Andre said with a worried look on his face. Suddenly the floor opened up and they fell into a dark pit.
2
In the pit…
“Ugh… Where are we…” Andre said, getting up. “I’m not sure, but that fall kinda hurt…” Devyn said, standing up. “Is everyone else okay?” Andre asked. Silence filled that air. “Guys?” Devyn said, pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight. “They're gone…”
Andre said.
“Well, we need to find them…” Devyn said, shining his light all over the room. “It looks like we are in somesort of fun house…” Andre said. “Let’s go look for the others…” Andre said, turning on his flashlight.
“Let’s start off going this way…” Devyn said, pointing towards a hallway. As they walked through the halls, something touched Andre’s shoulder. “Devyn, how did you get behind me…” Andre asked. “I’m not…” Devyn said, shining his flashlight on Andre. “There’s something on your shoulder…” Devyn said, shining his light onto a giant spider looking creature with a Jack O’lantern for a head.
Devyn froze in his place. “What is it?” Andre asked. Devyn, too scared to say a word, pointed at the creature. Andre turned around and the creature’s face lit up with fire. “Run…” Andre said, grabbing Devyn’s hand and dragging him along. Eventually Andre let go as Devyn picked up the pace.
“What should we do?!?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure!” Andre yelled. “Down here!” a familiar voice screamed out, shining a light onto Andre.
Andre grabbed Devyn’s hand and followed the light into a separate room. “Phew… We lost it…” Andre said. “We need to find the others…” The familiar voice said. Andre shined the light onto the voice and saw that it was Matthew.
“Matthew!’ Andre ran and gave Matthew a hug. “I thought we would never find you…” Andre said in relief. ”Well you found me, but the group you brought in is still out there…” Matthew said. “Where is John?” Devyn asked. “John didn’t make it…” Matthew said, looking down. “That creature took his life…”
“Oh… Well… We’ll get you out of here alive, right after we find our group…” Andre said. “The cameras…” Devyn said. “We can connect to the cameras from here and see where Jordan is…”
“Good idea…” Andre said, pulling out his phone. “I’ll connect real quick and see if I can locate them…” Andre pulls up thevideo feed to a picture of a circus.
“Where is that place…” Andre said, showing Devyn and Matthew. “That’s deep in this place… It’s also a new place that I haven’t been to…” Matthew said. “This place must manipulate the nightmares of those who fall into this trap…”
“You and Devyn are highly afraid of spiders… and this room must have been new when I fell in because my fear is…” Andre was interrupted by a sudden honking noise.
On the feed, a giant demonic clown appeared. Jordan gave out a scream before the feed cut out. “We need to go find this room…” Devyn said. “I can’t…” Andre said, holding his own arm. “I hate clowns…”
“It’s okay… We can get through this together, and right now we need to go save Jordan…” Devyn said. “Yeah, it’s okay to be afraid…” Matthew said. “But, it's important that we find everyone…”
“Okay… I’ll do it…” Andre said. “We have to get past this Lantern Spider first…”
Moments later…
“Ready?” Andre asked. “Ready…” Devyn and Matthew said. Andre opened the door quietly and started to slowly walk out. “This rope idea is working well Andre…” Devyn said quietly from the back. “Good…” Andre responded silently.
A slight creak sounded from ahead. “Shh…” Andre said, gesturing for them to stop moving. The spider-like creature walks past them as if it didn’t see them. “I don’t think it can see…”
The three slowly continued as the creature faded from sight. “Where do you think everyone else is?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure…” Andre said. “The years I have been in here… I have only seen four rooms in these hallways…” Matthew said. “One made for each person’s safety and one made for each person’s fears… now that you two and a few others are here, there are a ton more rooms toexplore…”
“Let’s try that one…” Andre said, creeping towards an old dusty door. “Be prepared because this might be a dangerous room or a safe room…”
3
Andre, Devyn, and Matthew slowly crept towards the dusty door and opened it. Inside appears to be a room full of books and old dusty laptops. “Seems safe enough…” Andre said, walking inside the room.
“Psst…” someone called out next to the entrance. Andre looked over and saw Jessie sitting next to the entrance holding a book on marvel. “It’s good you guys found me…” Jessie said. “I have been hiding in this room for who knows how long…”
“We don’t know either…” Devyn said as he slowly made his way into the room and closed the door behind him. “Shh… not too loud…” Jessie said. “Why?” Andre asked. “We are in a library…” Jessie said.
“So?” Devyn said, out loud. “Be quiet…” a voice said from across the room. “Is someone else here?” Andre asked. “Not that I know of, but I think it wants us to be quiet…” Jessie said.
A book suddenly fell where Matthew had been studying the dusty shelves. “Oops…” MAtthew said. “I said… BE QUIET!” the voice said, getting louder. “We have to go…” Andre said. “Why?” Jessie asked. “Now!” Andre shouted.
A demonic librarian came around the shelves and went straight for Matthew. “BE QUIET!” the librarian yelled as her eyes went pitch black and her teeth became razor sharp. Her hair grew as long as repunzel’s and her nails were as sharp as knives.
Andre quickly grabbed Matthew and the four left the room running. “Hurry!” Andre yelled as the librarian exited the room. “BE QUIET!” she screamed, heading towards them.
As the three ran down the hall they started to hear the sounds of music fill the air. “What’s that?” Devyn asked. “It soundsfamiliar…” Andre said, as they ran. “Do you think it’s…”
“The song Strange Humors…” Devyn said. “Maybe someone is where the music is…” Matthew said. “Let’s go…” Andre said, running and following the music.
Moments later…
“I think we lost it…” Andre said. “That’s good…” Jessie said. Sounds of music filled the air. “The music is close…” Matthew said. “In there maybe…” He pointed to a door embroidered with music notes.
They carefully entered a room to find a familiar face holding his ears. “Make it stop…” Connor begged. “We don’t know how…”
The music slowly started to fade away and a much more familiar song filled the air. “The music is changing…” Jessie said. “It sounds like…” Andre was suddenly interrupted. “Circus music…” Devyn said.
A wall slowly faded to reveal a familiar area. “The circus room…” Andre said in disbelief. “But where’s Jordan?” Devyn asked.
They looked up and saw something demonic staring down at them. The clown had teeth and nails similar to the librarian. Its eyes were lit up with flames and its smile was as big as the sun.
“Oh my….” Andre suddenly fell down in fear. “I can’t… I can’t do it…” Andre got up and ran towards the door they had entered which was suddenly locked.
“Oh shoot…” Andre said, trying to open the doors. “Help me!” a familiar voice yelled from above. The group looked up and saw that the demonic clown was holding Jordan.
“Hold on!” Andre called out. “We’re coming!” The clown looked down and gave a sinister smile.
Andre started digging into his bag. “Grab this!” Andre pulls out a blanket and hands it to Devyn. “You, Jessie, Connor, and MAtthew will use the blanket… I’ll find something to make it drop Jordan…”
“Good idea…” Devyn said as Andre walked off to look for something. “Hmmm…” Andre turns around at thesound of a scream. A circle of fire surrounded Connor, Devyn, Jessie, and Matthew. Andre gulps down the fear he was feeling.
“Andre! Don’t worry about the clown…” Devyn called out. “It’s not as scary as it seems…”
Andre looked back at the clown then back at his friends who were in danger. Andre then proceeds to pull out something from his bag. “I’m no longer afraid of you!” he called, throwing the extendable skewer at the clown.
It hit the clown’s hand and it let go of Jordan, causing her to land safely in the blanket the trapped group was holding. “I will get you for that!” the clown said in a shrill voice.
Just then, the room started to slowly collapse, and the room door opened. “Everyone run!” Andre said, putting out the fire with his remaining water.
Everyone scrambled to the door as quickly as they could. “Get back here!” the clown said. As the clown reached for them, his arm fell off as the room got smaller. “No! This can’t be!” he called out as the group left the room. “Noooo!” The clown’s screams faded as the room door slowly vanished.
“That was close…” Andre said, as the group looked at him in disbelief. “What?” Andre asked. “You got over your fear and saved us…” Devyn said. “You were so afraid, but once you saw us in danger, you got back up and saved us…” Matthew said.
“It’s just something that had to be done…” Andre said. A sudden screech rang out from down the hall. “Be Quiet!” a familiar voice called out. The sounds of flames also filled the air.
“We have to go now… The spider and the librarian are coming…” Andre said, painting towards the dark end of the hall. “Let’s go…”
4
Moments later…
The group silently made their way through the hallslooking for their group members. “So are we just going to ignore the fact that that room crumbled as soon as Andre got over his fear?” Matthew said.
“I mean we are not ignoring it, but it's just not the right time to talk about it…” Andre said. “So please be quiet…”
“Okay…” Matthew said. Moments later, they reached a room that had a bright red door. “I think this might be a safe room…” Andre said, as he slowly opened the door. Familiar smells fill the air as Andre opens the door. “Cookies…” Andre said as they entered the room one-by-one.
“This room is an entire kitchen…” Jessie said. “This must be a safe room right?” Jordan asked.
“Should be… I mean, I feel safe here…” Andre said. “This must be Andre’s safe room…” Matthew said. “Aha!” someone said from behind. The group turned around to find Adrian standing behind them. “I knew you were going to do this eventually…” Adrian said. “Adrian… I…” Andre said. “No! You got us trapped in here and for what, finding someone who has been missing for years!” Adrian shouted. “My fault?” Andre scoffs. “I don’t remember telling you to follow me… You're welcome for finding him because me and my friends are the only ones to continue searching…” Andre shouted. “You gave up after a day… mom gave up after a year… Matt left and I couldn’t get over this disappearance…”
“You're welcome to find a way out, but… I’m not leaving here without Matthew or any of my friends…” Andre shouted. “Fine, but…” Adrian was suddenly stabbed by a leg from behind. “I…. “I…” the leg removed itself as Adrian fell to the floor. “Adrian!” Andre shouted.
Andre went and slammed the door shut, locking it.
“Adrian… please… stay with me…” Andre said, picking Adrian up. “Please… Staywith me…”
“I’m sorry… for everything…” Adrian said. “I never gave up on finding matthew… I just… gave up hope that he was alive…”
“I never wanted this…” Andre said. “I just wanted to find Matthew and bring him home…”
“I know…. And… I’m sorry…” Adrian said, before her breathing stopped entirely. Andre sat and sobbed for a bit before standing up. “We need to get everyone out…” he said, with tears still in his eyes.
“But, where do we find Jayce?” Connor asked. “And Laney?” Jessie added. “Bennet as well…” Devyn said. “We need to hurry up and find them… there might be more creatures in this place…” Andre said. “Devyn… You, me, and Jordan will go out and look for the others… Jessie, Connor… protect Matthew…”
“Okay…” Jessie said. “We will…” Connor said. Andre, Devyn, and Jordan all left the roof quickly and quietly. They quickly noticed something odd about the air. “Something feels off…” Andre said. “I don’t think you're wrong Andre…” Jordan said, pointing at Devyn’s arm. A tiny version of the giant demonic spider sat on his arm. “Ah!” Devyn said, tossing the spider off his arm. The sound of flames filling the air rang out from down the hall.
“We have to run… now!” Andre said, grabbing Devyn and Jordan and dashing off away from the flames that lit the air. “Where is the next door…” Andre asked himself as he ran down the hallway. The giant demonic spider came into view along with the librarian. “BE QUIET!” the librarian screamed.
The spiders near Devyn as the three ran from them. “Stay away!” Devyn yelled, trying to keep up with Andre and Jordan. Andre suddenly grabbed Jordan and Devyn and jumped into a dark room.
5
In the dark room…
“Guys…” Andre said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” Jordan said, getting up. “I’m good, too…”Devyn said, standing up and turning on his flashlight. “Where are we?”
Devyn shined his flashlight around the room. A fire suddenly lit in a nearby fireplace, causing everyone to turn around. “Guys?” a familiar voice asked from behind. “Laney!” Andre called out, running to give Laney a hug. “We were so worried about you…”
“I was so worried about you and the rest of the group, too,” Laney said. “Where’s the rest of the group?”
“We don’t know about Bennett and Jayce, but Connor and Jessie are in a safe room,” Andre explained. “We found Matthew, and learned that John was dead…”
“Oh my…” Laney said. “At least one of them is alive…”
“Yeah, but now… We have to find Bennett and Jayce…” Devyn said. “Have you tried calling them?” Laney asked. “No signal…” Jordan said. “Let’s get a move on before…” Andre was suddenly interrupted by the sound of their surroundings shaking.
“What’s happening?!?” Andre asked. “I’m not sure!” Laney responded. A wall fell off and the house started to hang off of the edge of a mountain. “Everyone hang on!” Andre called out.
The whole room didn’t move except for the people in it.
Andre grabbed onto the leg of a table, meanwhile Laney and Jordan were hanging onto the leg of a chair. Devyn was hanging off of Andre’s leg. “Hang on!” Andre called to Devyn. “I’m trying!” Devyn yelled, slowly slipping.
Little did they know the worst was yet to come because a small fire like noise filled the atmosphere. “What’s that?” Jordan asked. “Oh no…” Andre said. “It’s them!”
“Who’s them?!?” Laney asked. A spider slowly came down to Devyn’s side. “Devyn… Stay silent and don’t move…” Andre said. “They detect sound and movement, plus you can fall…”
“I’m trying…” Devyn said as the spider got closer. “I can’t!” Devyn shouted as it touched him.Just then, Devyn let go and Andre used one hand to catch Devyn as he tried to swat the spider away.
“I can’t hold you much longer!” Andre called. “Then let go!” Devyn said. “You won’t be able to hold on for long if you're holding onto me…”
“I can’t… I won’t…” Andre said, as his hand slowly slipped from the leg of the table. “Then I will…” Devyn said, letting go of Andre’s hand. “Devyn, please!” Andre called out, begging for Devyn to continue hanging on. “I’m sorry…” Devyn said before Andre finally let go to regain his grip on the table’s leg. “Devyn!” Andre said as he watched Devyn fall.
The house slowly returned to normal after Andre watched Devyn hit the ground in a big red blur. “Devyn…” Andre said, tears filling his eyes as he kneed the ground in sorrow.
6
In the cabin room…
“I can’t believe he’s gone…” Andre said, trying to hold back tears. “I never got to tell him how I felt…”
“I’m so sorry…” Laney said. “If only I had been strong enough to hold him…” Andre said in tears. “There was nothing you could do…” Jordan said. “Now… Let’s go before the room tilts again…”
Jordan and Laney helped Andre up, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Why did he let go…” Andre asked. “I’m not sure, but.. We have to go…” Laney responded. The three carefully exited the room. “There’s no need to be slow anymore… With Devyn dead, the spider is too… It was his biggest fear…” Andre said in a depressed tone.
A screech came from their side. “BE QUIET!” the librarian called, coming towards them. Andre quickly grabbed a pole from inside the cabin room and hit the librarian with it to temporarily knock her out. “Run…” Andre said, grabbing the two anddashing off towards the safe room.
“What about Bennett and Jayce?” Jordan asked. “We need to check on the others first…” Andre responded. As they went down the hall to the bakery room, they passed a pile of ash with a smashed pumpkin.
“Did the spider die once and for all?” Jordan asked. “Yeah.. Without Devyn there is not anything to keep the spider alive…” Andre explained. “His fear is what was keeping it alive…”
“Was there anyone else who was afraid of it?” Laney asked. “I thought Matthew was, but by the looks of it… he wasn’t…” Andre responded.
As they walked past the pile of dust, they noticed something. “It looks like there is something in the dust…” Jordan pointed out. “Should we check it out?” Laney asked. “Sure…” Andre said.
“Sigh… Look Andre… You can’t keep your attitude… Devyn did it to keep you alive…” Jordan said. “Stop feeling sorry for what happened to him… It’s not going to help us find Bennett and Jayce…”
“Okay…” Andre responded. “Let’s go check out the door…”
As they carefully inched towards the door, strange sounds came from behind. “That noise…” Andre said. “It sounds like..”
“BE QUIET!” a voice yelled from behind. “Okay, everyone!” Andre said, pushing Laney and Jordan through the door. As the group quickly entered the room, the sound got louder and the air got chiller.
“Does anyone else feel that?” Laney asked. The group turned around to see a bloody body hanging from the ceiling. “Who is that?” Andre asked. “I’m not sure, but… I think we’re next…” Jordan said as a noise came from the other end of the room.
“Sorry to scare you guys…” Jayce said, coming out from the shadows. “I was just looking around the room…”
“Phew… I thought there was another demonic creature in here…” Andre said.
7
“So how did you getin here?” Andre asked. “I was trying to find you guys when I saw a spider turn into dust… it left behind this door, so I walked in…” Jayce said.
“Well luckily you are safe… unlike Devyn…” Andre said. “What about Devyn?” Jayce asked. “Sigh… he fell to his death in another room…” Laney explained. “He is no longer with us…”
“Oh…” Jayce said. “I’m so sorry…”
“It’s ok… it's not your fault… I should have held onto him longer…” Andre said. “There was nothing you could have...” Laney was suddenly interrupted by a whisper. “You failed at saving him… You are a total failure…” a whisper said.
“Is anyone else here?” Jordan asked Jayce. “I’m afraid not…” Jayce responded. “You’re worthless…” the whisper said. “I’m totally worthless…” Andre said.
“This room… it was born after the spider turned to dust… It was built from Andre’s guilt…” Laney said. “You are worthless… You failed at saving your sister… you failed at saving your best friend…” the room whispered.
“We should leave…” Jordan said, heading to the door. “No one leaves!” the room yelled before the doors vanished. Another door appeared in its place. “I think the room wants us to go into that door…” Jayce said.
“Andre let’s go…” Laney said to Andre before realizing he was missing. “Andre?”
“Guys… Andre is gone…” Laney said. “Where could he have gone?” Jordan asked. Suddenly the door creaked as it opened on its own. “Leave!” the room yelled.
The three entered the new door and found themselves separated again. “Guys?” Jayce called out. “Where did you go?”
“Over here!” Laney called out. “I’m over here!” Jordan yelled. “Guys?” a familiar voice called from above. “Guys, I’m so sorry!”
Everyone looked up to a glass ceiling. “Get them through or suffer the consequences…” the room said. “What! I can’t do that!” Andre called out.
“Weknow you can!” Jayce said. “Have more faith in yourself!” Laney called. “We believe in you!” Jordan called out.
“Okay… I’ll do my best…” Andre said. “Laney, take the lane to your right and keep going until you hit two paths…” Andre yelled. “Got it!” Laney responded. “Jayce, go to your right until you hit a three way split…” Andre said. “Will do!” Jayce said. “Jordan, stay put, Laney and Jayce’s paths meet up with yours and from there I’ll get you guys to the end…” Andre shouted. “Okay!” Jordan responded.
“Andre, I made it to the two paths!” Laney shouted. “Go left and be careful because the paths get narrow and will require you to navigate yourself around holes,” Andre called out. “Okay!” Laney responded, heading left. “Jayce, stay put because Laney is heading your way and the right path will require both of you…” Andre said. “Jordan, how are things down there?”
“Fine so far… just losing patience…” Jordan said. “Well keep up the patience… it might take a few before Laney and Jayce get there…” Andre responded. “Okay, I’ll try…” Jordan said.
“Andre, I made it to Jayce!” Laney called out. “Okay… You and Jayce go through the middle path until you hit the pond with the four-spilit path… from there, take the right middle path and you’ll find yourself where Jordan is…” Andre said. “Okay!” Laney and Jayce called out.
A few moments pass by as Jayce and Laney make it to Jordan’s location. “Okay… All three of you need to split into each path…” Andre yelled. “Jordan, you go left and complete a puzzle to get to the button… Laney, you go through the middle and solve the riddle to get to the button in the middle… Jayce, go through the left path and play the right tune to getto the button in your path… once you get to the button stop until I give the cue to press it…”
“Okay!” the three said as they split into their designated paths. Jordan approached a giant jigsaw puzzle that she needed to complete to unlock a door to the button; Laney approached a list of riddles; and Jayce approached a french horn with music in front of it. Each one of them completed their tasks. First Jayce, by playing the first ten measures to “Strange Humors”; then Jordan by completing the jigsaw puzzle of the giant spider, then finally Laney after solving the riddles that lead her to the right door.
“Press the button!” Andre shouted, and all at once they pushed the buttons that were at the end of their paths. A door opened up for Andre and the walls came down revealing a door for all three of them to enter.
As they enter, they return to the room they were once in.
Once the door vanished the original door to the main hallway returned. “Is everyone okay?” Andre asked. “We’re fine thanks to you…” Laney said. “If it wasn’t for you, we would have been lost for eternity…” Jayce said. “Agreed…” Jordan added.
“Let’s get going… We still need to find Bennett and get out of this strange place…” Andre said, with a new boost of confidence.
8
“Where are we going?” Jayce asked. “Back to the others?” Andre responded. “We found everyone, but Bennett.”
“Yeah, we could use the help from them to find Bennett… We just have to avoid…” Jordan was suddenly interrupted by a familiar screech. “BE QUIET!” the librarian screeched from behind. “Oh shoot!” Andre said. “Run!”
The four start to run in the direction they think is the safe room, but little did they know that they were heading away fromthe safe room and towards the last room at the end of the Dream Realm they were in.
“Everyone into that door!” Andre shouted. Everyone ran into the room that looked like an abandoned parts and services room. “Guys?” Bennett said, standing up from a chair. “Thank goodness you guys are here…”
“Thank god we found you!” Jayce exclaimed. Andre opens the door to check if the Librarian is still around. “Guys… We are stuck in here for a bit…” Andre said. “The Librarian is still wandering outside…”
“Well that’s wonderful news!” a robotic voice said from the darkest edge of the room. “We have time to get to know each other!” A gray robotic fox walked out from the shadows. “I’m Axel the astronaut fox!”
“Woah… It’s like an animatronic from Five Nights at Freddy’s!” Andre said. “It looks so cool!”
“Why thank you!” Axe said. “Oh Lady Lion!” Axe called out. “We have guests!”
An animatronic lioness walked out of the shadows. “Why hello there,” the lioness said with a smile. “We are so glad to meet you guys!”
“We are going to have so much fun!” Axe said. “I agree… Axe… Go grab the final members of our crew…” Lady Lion said. “Yes Mrs.Lion,” Axe said, walking off into the darkness of the other end of the room.
“Are there more of you?” Andre asked. “Yes, there are also more rooms…” Lady Lion said. “Either way… You are in Lady Lion’s Diner…”
“We will see you safely to your friends when Axe returns with Olympia the olympic Ocelot and Apollo, Axe’s right hand wolf,” Lady Lion explained.
“Thank you… we have been trapped down here for who knows how long…” Andre said. “You are very welcome… The only other child that we have seen down here is Matthew… he is a good kid… unfortunately we failed tosave John from that spider creature… we also got separated from Matthew during his escape…” Lady Lion explained. “Told by the fact that you guys are down here, he didn’t make it out…”
“Yeah… we found Matthew alive, but we already learned about John’s death…” Andre said. “As we entered this place to find him, our group got scattered…”
“We found everyone, but in return we lost one to a big fall…” Andre explained. “I’m sorry to hear…” Lady Lion said. “It’s ok… I’m just glad a good remainder of us still stand…” Andre said.
“We’re back!” Axe said. “You called?” Olympia asked. “You need us for something?” Apollo asked. Lady Lion explained everything to the rest of her crew and the group set out to collect the rest of the surviving group members.
9
Outside in the hallway…
“How close are we from the room?” Lady Lion asked. “We are almost there… Just need to get over to that pink room over there…” Andre pointed out.
“Okay… Good… Then we can collect your friends and get out of here…” Olympia said. “Guys…” Axe said. “I… I don’t feel too good…”
“Is everything alright Axe?” Apollo asked. “J… Just… S… Some Glitches…” Axe said before his eyes turned black as if they had vanished entirely. “Oh no…” Lady Lion said. “Quick you guys run to the room with Apollo and Olympia…”
“Why?” Jordan asked. “Olympia and Apollo will explain it, just run!” Lady Lion said as Axe’s eyes went black. “Where are they…” Axe said in a deeper voice. “Where are my eyes!” he screamed, jumping onto Lady Lion. “Everyone quick before he finishes up with Lady Lion!” Olympia said, pushing the group into the bakery room.
“Did you find them?” Connor asked as they entered the room. “We found more than just them…” Andre replied. “Who did you…” Jessiewas interrupted by the sight of Olympia and Apollo. “Who are these two?” Jessie asked.
“Apollo? Olympia?” Matthew said from behind Jessie and Connor. “Matthew!” Apollo said as Matthew flew into his arms. “We’re so glad you're okay…” Olympia said. “Where is Axe and Lady Lion?” Matthew asked. “I’m afraid we owe you guys an explanation…” Olympia said.
“When Axe was built he had a twin named Cadet…” Apollo explained. “However, when we had to do some budget cuts…. He was fused with Axe…”
“When he was fused with Axe… his eyes went missing in the process and he refuses to use Axe’s eyes because his eyes were specially built…” Olympia explained. “He was able to see through walls… I have good speed… Lady Lion had an amazing voice… Apollo has night vision… and Axe didn’t really get much… Just claws…”
“However, without Cadet’s eyes… he has to rely on noise and the feel of movement…” Apollo said.
“So… Axe has a different mode due to budget cuts… his name is Cadet and he is upset that he has no eyes… so he is out to find them and will tear anyone apart to get them back…” Jayce summarized. “Exactly…” Olympia responded.
“When we try to make an escape… we have to be as quiet as possible even if it takes forever…” Apollo said. “So he’s like the Ballora of this strange place…” Connor said. “Who’s… Ballora?” Olympia asked. “She’s a character from a game called sister location…” Jayce explained.
“We can talk about that later… right now… Lady Lion has been torn apart by Cadet and we have to escape…” Andre said. “Apollo… do you think you can take Matthew, Jordan, Bennett, and Jessie; and quietly meet us at the first safe room of this place?” Andre asked. “Yes…” Apollo said. “You four come with meand be very quiet… it might take us a while…”
“Be careful because the librarian is also on the loose…” Connor said. “Okay… Good to know…” Apollo said before quietly moving out of the room with the four..
“Here in a bit we will try to get to that room, quietly…” Andre said. “But first… stay in here… I’m going out alone to grab something…”
“Olympia… you keep them safe, in a moment… I’ll give you a cue to head out…” Andre said. “Okay.. be safe…” Olympia said.
Andre quietly steps out of the room and heads towards Lady Lion’s disfigured animatronic body. “Here we go…” Andre said, grabbing her programming chip and her memory bank. “Where are they…” Cadet asked from behind. Andre stood up. “Come with me and I’ll help you find them…” Andre said. “If you want… come with us and we could even make new ones for you.. Maybe even separate you from Axe…”
“That sounds like a good deal, but… I want my eyes… the ones that were stolen from me when I was forced into the same body as Axe…” Cadet said. “We’ll get them for you… just calm down and help me first…” Andre said, walking over to the door and giving a signal by knocking.
“Why are you knocking?” Cadet asked. “It’s a habit…” Andre said, watching as his friend snuck out of the room quietly. “Come with me and I’ll help you search for your eyes…”
“Then we can escape this place and make you your own animatronic again…” Andre said. “Okay… But first…” Cadet said, getting closer. “I’m going to need to know that I can trust you…” Cadet picks Andre up. “I need to keep a good eye on you…” Cadet said, then walked off towards the parts and services room at the far end ofthe hall.
10
Moments later…
“They're not here…” Andre said. “Keep checking…” Cadet snarled. “Maybe we can make you new eyes… is there a blueprint for them?” Andre asked. “Yes, but… it’s in a room with a terrible evil that we locked away…” Cadet said.
“What evil creature?” Andre asked. “It’s actually a demon that holds this place together…” Cadet explained. “His name is Arrinor and he is the demon of dreams… years ago he created a dream trap in the dreamscape woods that tosses victims into a dream dimension…”
“So we’re in a different realm?” Andre asked. “Unfortunately yes…” Cadet responded. “The only way out is back where two people spawn… if a group of three spawn… the others get scattered and the main two end up together…”
“So when me and my deceased friend Devyn first spawned in… that room would be the exit as well?” Andre asked. “Yes.. but the key is to conquer all your fears… every person has two rooms… as you can tell everyone has a room full of nightmares that can wander the halls and demon proof safe rooms…” Cadet said. “This room was supposed to be a safe room, but because of me… it's not exactly the safest…”
“Then why are you treating me kindly now?” Andre asked. “Because… you offered to help… you gave me hope that I never had… If I can leave… I want to… I’m sorry about Lady Lion, but she was one of the people who stole my eyes… in fact… she was the one who smashed them…” Cadet said angrily before calming down once more. “Olympia and Apollo are good animatronic, but Lady Lion was a threat… She was the one who got rid of my eyes… she was teaming with Arrinor…”
“Arrinor is still trapped, but… Lady Lion made a deal with himfor her freedom… he also promised the freedom of others… as long as we get five different souls…” Cadet explained. “Once we do collect five different souls… his door will unlock and he will be able to merge the realms…”
“Why are you helping me then? Don’t you want freedom?” Andre asked. “Yes, but… I also don’t want to be the one who kills a child for their soul…” Cadet said. “Your friend Devyn… died because the building you were in was rigged by Lady Lion… John was tripped by Lady Lion and torn by the spider… Me, Olympia, and Apollo tried to save him while Lady Lion was trying to find Matthew who had vanished from our sight without noticing Lady Lion’s real intention…”
“The real demon here was Lady Lion… now that she is gone… we can help you past the librarian and get you guys to the exit in one piece…” Cadet said. “So your telling me… my brother was almost murdered by someone who I tried to trust a first… and my friend and my brother’s friend were purposely sent to their death in secret by Lady Lion… You know how?” Andre asked.
“I was in control when it happened… no one knew I was in control because I chose to put a fake face on for a bit…” Cadet explained. “Axe’s eyes were not built for me yet, so when I used them, I still couldn’t see…”
“However, I did feel their movements… I could tell that Olympia and Apollo were there with me, but… Lady Lion was missing and I heard her muttering something about Matthew being gone and that he should be dead as well…” Cadet explained. “Soon she realized that I was not Axe when I switched modes back and he had no clue about Matthew’sdisappearance…”
“From there, she added something to him to hold me back, she even started to reprogram the others with false memories…” Cadet explained. “She basically tried to erase me, but the anger Axe had felt went to me instead… That’s how I broke free from the prison she put me in… That’s why I came off as angry… I guess I only took you because you gave me hope that all this can be fixed…”
“It’s ok, but now… we have to get back to the others and find a plan to get the blueprints without any deaths…” Andre said.
11
Moments later…
“We made it!” Andre called out as he entered the room. “Andre?” Matthew said from behind a chair. “What happened?!” Cadet asked. “The spider came back to life… it's as if… something brought him back to life…” Laney said from behind a chair. “Is everyone alright?” Andre asked.
“No… The spider got to Jessie… and Olympia used her speed to distract it…” Laney explained.
“I think I know what’s going on…” Cadet said. “What’s he doing here anyways?” Connor asked. “Wasn’t he trying to kill us moments ago?”
“He was just aiming for Lady Lion… She is the reason Devyn died… She is also the reason John died…” Andre explained. “She rigged the house to tip over on us and make one of us fall… she tripped John, so he would get caught by the spider…”
“She was the reason that we lost people… She is even the reason you guys had to reprogram… she redid your memories against him because he figured the secret…” Andre said. “So… Lady Lion was a fraud?” Apollo asked. “Unfortunately… yes… but thanks to me she is gone now…” Cadet asked. “What about Axe?” Connor asked. “Once we escape, we can rebuild them as two different people… right Laney?”Andre asked. “Yeah, we can do that… I mean it would help me learn more about engineering…” Laney responded. “However, the blueprints for his eyes are trapped in a room with a deep evil Lady Lion was teaming with…” Andre said. “Yeah, his name is Arrinor… He is the dream demon who created this realm and plans to merge it with reality…”
“There are blueprints for Cadet’s eyes in the room Arrinor is trapped in… we need them for Cadet…” Andre said. “But isn’t that room full of everyone’s deepest nightmares?” Apollo asked. “Unfortunately yes…” Cadet asked. “Which means only the fearless can enter…”
“I vote that Andre should go in…” Jordan said. “He did save me from the demonic clown…”
“he also saved us during a maze…” Jayce added. “He even sacrificed himself when we all thought we were going to be ripped apart by Cadet…” Connor added. “I don’t know guys… I’m not that fearless…” Andre said.
“Are you kidding me? You gain courage when everything’s at stake… You put everyone else first, even at the cost of your life…” Bennett said. “You put together a group to find me and I feel safer knowing that I have my big brother to protect me…” Matthew said.
“You guys are lucky that I don’t want to risk any of you… I’ll do it…” Andre said. “But… I need someone to come with me…”
“I’ll do it…” Someone said from behind. Everyone turned around to see Devyn alive and in-person at the doors. “Devyn!” Andre said, running to hug him. “I thought you were dead!”
“Well lucky for you… I landed in a pile of snow that cushioned the fall…” Devyn said.
“Where’s the room?” Andre asked Cadet. “It’s in the deepest part of this place next to the room you met us in…” Cadet said. “I’ll escortyou there, but from there… you and Devyn are on your own…”
“Yeah, we have to keep everyone else safe from the librarian and the spider…” Apollo said. “We don’t even know if Olympia is still alive… she probably got trapped in a room…”
“Okay… Ready Devyn?” Andre asked. “Ready…” Devyn responded.
Moments later, in front of a door that was half rainbow and half black…
“This is it…” Cadet said. “Be careful…”
“We will…” Andre said, opening the door. “And Andre… remember… you have nothing to fear…” Cadet added as Andre turned to look at him. “I know…” Andre said before he and Devyn went down the stairs to a giant daycare looking basement.
12
Down in the basement…
“Where are we…” Devyn asked. “Room one… This room is an easy nightmare… and as we go on to each room… the nightmares get worse… There are five rooms according to Cadet and Apollo…” Andre explained. “Then what nightmare is in this room?” Devyn asked, as the lights suddenly turned on.
Entry of the Gladiators starts playing. “Oh no…” Andre said. “What?” Devyn asked. “Clowns…” Andre responded as clowns came out of strange places in the daycare.
“Grab something…” Andre said, grabbing a nearby chair and snapping the legs off.
Devyn follows his lead and pulls off a metal pole from a play pen. One-by-one the clowns try to attack Andre and Devyn until the clowns are down. “Take that, clowns!” Andre shouted as he hit clowns down.
A door opened at the other side of the daycare. “Come on Devyn… time to take care of the next level…” Andre said.
Moments later in the second to last room…
“So we've dealt with clowns in room one… spiders in room two… and a long maze of puzzles in room three… what’s next?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure but…” Andre was interrupted by the soundsof whispers.
“It’s your fault… he fell because of you… the spider killed her because of you… you could have kept them from leaving and ending up here, but you didn’t… you can’t even admit to your true feelings…” the whisper said. “Who’s it talking to?” Devyn asked Andre. Andre froze before he spoke. “He’s talking to me… He’s repeating some of my deepest thoughts…” Andre responded.
“You are a failure… you failed at being fearless… you failed at saving everyone… you made a promise you couldn't keep…” the whispers said. Andre stood still as the whispers continued to speak. “Andre?” Devyn asked. “Andre, can you hear me?”
“I… I’m sorry Devyn… I truly have failed…” Andre said as he listened to the whispers. “I failed to get everyone out in one piece… I failed at keeping a grip on you… I keep making promises that I can’t keep because I fear that I will let people down…”
“Don’t listen to the whispers… I’m alive so falling means nothing…” Devyn said. “You saved us back at the clowns… you apparently saved them from a maze… you even put everyone before you…” Devyn said. “You didn’t fail… you passed at being someone that humanity can look upon as a good example…”
“You have been fearless when no one else could…” Devyn said. “You're right… I don’t know what I was thinking… I can do this!” Andre said.
“Don’t you have something else to say?” the whisper said before a Devyn like clone came out from the shadows. “You know you want to say it…” the clone said. “Andre... What’s going on…” Devyn asked. “Nothing…” Andre said. “You know you want to say it, but you're too afraid of rejection… plus… you are afraid you might ruin his dreams…” the clone said. “Go on… say it!”
“Fine!” Andre shoutedbefore turning to Devyn. “I have been lying to you about my feelings…” Andre said with a sigh. “Over the years since second grade… you have been there for me… you have kept me from feeling totally alone… you have made me laugh and there has never been a time that you had totally ignored me… yeah, you might be sarcastic a lot… and yeah you do not respond to some of my texts, but still… you read them and it lets me know that you're still there…” Andre said. “I was too afraid to say anything because you have been my best friend for years and I don’t want to ruin it… I was also afraid that you would reject me…”
“I’m just glad you told me…” Devyn said. “We’ll talk more about it later…”
“Congrats...” The clone said before turning to dust. The lighting in the room went from a dark red to a black color, revealing a door. “There is the final door…” Andre said. “Are you ready?”
“I am if you are…” Devyn said as they both neared the door. “Then let’s go…” Andre said, as he entered the room. Devyn carefully followed Andre into the pitch black of the final room.
13
In the final room…
“Be extra careful down here…” Andre said. “I know…” Devyn responded. “Devyn Martinez!” someone shouted from behind. “Where are you going?”
Devyn turned around surprised to see his band director. “Oh no…” Devyn said. “What is it?” Andre said, turning around. “Oh boy… We’ve been spotted…” Andre grabbed Devyn by the hand and rushed down the stairs as the band director started chasing them with a high pitched scream.
“You two get back here!” the director screamed as their eyes rolled back and blood slowly dripped from every hole on their face. “GET BACK HERE!” the directorscreamed. “Don’t go!”
“Devyn, over here!” Andre said, pulling Devyn into a small hole that was able to fit them both.
The director ran past screaming. “Phew…” Andre said. “Glad we escaped, but now to find the blueprints…”
Andre pulls out two flashlights after coming out of the hole.
“Here…” Andre said, handing one over to Devyn. The two slowly navigated the dark room of floor five. “This place is big…” Devyn said. “It’s too big…” Andre muttered. “Why hello there…” a deep voice said from behind. “Welcome to the room of worst nightmares…”
“You must be Andre… and you must be Devyn… I’ve been watching you from this room…” the man said.
“You must be Arrinor then…” Andre said. “Oh, so you do know me…” Arrinor said with a grin. “You’re the demon of dreams… you made this realm to capture people in hopes to get yourself free…” Devyn said. “Oh, so he told you…” Arrinor said with a smile. “That’s not the whole story…”
“Cadet is a fine fellow… he is protective.. He knows how to act… and he is keen to stir up trouble when needed…” Arrinor said. “He knew my plan before anyone else…”
“I mean.. That’s why his eyes were destroyed…” Arrinor said. “Hope you find the blueprint boys…” Arrinor said with a sinister smile before fading away.
“We need to hurry and escape…” Andre said. Just then, the walls started to violently shake and the floor started to crack up. “Devyn! We have to go now!” Andre shouted. The floor between the two broke up and split them.
“Devyn!” Andre shouted. “I’ll be okay!” Devyn shouted back. “You keep going… I’ll find a way to meet up with you!”
“Be careful!” Andre shouted back. “I will!” Devyn shouted before walking off to look for an escape.
Andre looked down into the bottomless pit that stood betweenthem. “Sigh..Maybe this is the way to the blueprint…” Andre said to himself as he walked away.
14
In the hallway…
“Sigh… separated from everyone once again…” Andre said to himself. “What’s the matter?” Arrinor said, appearing out of nowhere. “You know what’s the matter!” Andre yelled at him. “Oh… I’m sorry, did something happen between you and Devyn?” He asked with a sinister laugh.
Andre scoffs and continues down the hall. “Oh, what’s the matter… Are you angry…” Arrinor said, tauntingly. “Just leave me alone…” Andre said, trying to get away from Arrinor. “Oh… Hmm… how about I help you?” Arrinor said. “I know you're looking for the blueprints…”
“I’m not going to make a deal with you…” Andre said. “I know you and Lady Lion were working together…”
“Shame she was torn apart by Cadet, but… I just want you to find a way to repay me in return…” Arrinor said with a smile. “What do you want?” Andre asked with a sigh. “I want for you to bring a part of me back out of the dream realm…” Arrinor said. “I want you… to bring out one dream in return for the blueprints…”
“This has to do with your merging world scheme doesn’t it?” Andre asked. “Oh… you caught me red handed…” Arrinor said with a sinister smile. “Sigh… Deal, but I get to pick the dream…” Andre said. “It’s only fair… So which one?” Arrinor asked. “Let me find Devyn first and then we’ll talk…” Andre said, walking off.
“Oh… you don’t want to do that…” Arrinor said.. “Why not?” Andre asked. “He’ll see you teaming with the villain…” Arrinor said. “We were going to bring the animatronics out of this realm with us…” Andre said. “Oh, but that was before the deal… now… you get to bring out an additional dream…” Arrinor said.
“Sigh…Great…” Andre said sarcastically. “Now, let’s go find your friend shall we?” Arrinor asked. “I guess…” Andre responded.
Moments later…
“Devyn… Where are you?” Andre called out. “Where could he be…”
“Andre?” Someone called out from up ahead. “Devyn!” Andre ran towards the sound of his name and found Devyn hidden in a crack in the wall. “Is he gone?” Devyn asked.
“Is who gone?” Andre asked. “The director…” Devyn responded. Andre looked around looking for a sign of the director. “It’s clear, but I need to talk to you about something…” Andre said.
“What is it?” Devyn asked. “Arrinor found me and said he would give me the blueprints in return for taking out an extra dream from this place…” Andre said.
“What?!” Devyn yelled. “You can’t be serious… he has the blueprints?”
Andre nods his head. “We have no other choice…” Andre said. “I think we should bring out a mini demonic spider…”
“I say we say no deal and leave now…” Devyn said. “But we need to get these blueprints…” Andre argued. “Guys?” a familiar voice sounded out from Andre’s bag. “Guys?”
“Oh… my walkie-talkie… I still have it,” Andre said. “Guys?” the voice said. “We’re here Cadet…” Andre responded.
“Good… have you found the blueprints?” Cadet asked. “Unfortunately… yes… Arrinor has them…” Devyn said. “Shoot… Then I guess it’s time to back down…” Cadet said. “He said if we bring an additional dream out of here, he would give us the blueprints…” Andre said. “Well say no deal…” Cadet said. “We can just try to remake them from memory…”
“We’ll find a way… I promise…” Andre said. “I know we will, but for now… fall back…” Cadet said. “Talk to you later… the spider demon is returning…” The walkie-talkie went silent.
“Now what…” Devyn asked. “Now we go deeper and find the blueprints…” Andre responded.
15
“Deeper? Are you crazy?!”Devyn asked. “He will have our heads if we refuse…”
“You head back to the door… stay hidden…” Andre said. “I’ll search for a little while longer…”
“Are you sure?” Devyn asked. “I’m sure… now go… hurry…” Andre said, pushing Devyn in the direction he came from.
“Now to continue going deeper into the dark…” Andre said, heading deeper into the fifth floor. “Where could they be…”
“Where would what be?” Arrinor asked as he appeared. “These?” The blueprints suddenly appear in his hand. “I know you're falling back on the deal…” Arrinor said in anger. “You can have these… but… you’ll have to go through your deepest fear…”
“And what is that?” Andre asked. “This…” Arrinor said before leading Andre into a dimly lit room with his mother tied to a table. “Andre?!” Andre’s mother cried out. “Andre, is that you?”
“Mom!” Andre ran down to his mother’s side. “How did you get down here?!”
“I got a text from Adrian and came to see everything for myself…” Andre’s mom explained. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have followed, but I did because I was worried and now…”
“Mom… you were worried… you had a right to follow…” Andre said. “This is all my fault… Now you're here… and Adrian’s dead…”
“Andre… you kept looking for your younger brother and there is no fault in that… there are consequences, but it’s okay…” Andre’s mom said. “You just wanted to have closure on Matthew’s disappearance…”
“I found him in the end, but now I’m about to lose the rest of my family in return...” Andre said with tears. “It’s okay… just escape from here and keep him safe…” Andre’s mom said. A knife suddenly impaled Andre’s mom through the heart. “Mom!” Andre called out in tears.
“Take these and continue to suffer…” Arrinor said, handing Andre the blueprints. “This is why you're trappeddown here… you belong in hell…” Andre said, grabbing the knife.
“Oh… So he says…” Arrinor said, teasingly. Andre raised the knife. “Sweet Dreams…”
Moments later…
“Devyn, we have to go now!” Andre said, running with the blueprints in hand. “Why?!” Devyn asked. “The place is coming down!” Andre yelled as the room behind him fell apart.
“Run!” Andre called out. Devyn opened the door and started to run up, Andre followed while jumping over big holes in the floor.
Moments later they made it to the entrance to the basement and ran out. “Phew… What happened down there?” Devyn asked. “I did it…” Andre muttered. “You did what?” Devyn asked. “I snapped after he killed my mom…” Andre said. “I killed him and now this place is coming apart…”
“We have to go now…” Devyn said, as the darkest end of the hall started to crumble. Devyn grabbed Andre’s hand and started to run.
Towards the entrance, stood the rest of the group. “There you guys are!” Apollo called out. “We have to go now!” Andre yelled. “This place is coming apart!”
“How?!?” Cadet asked. “I took the life of the dream demon…” Andre responded. “You killed Arrinor?!?” Olympia asked. “Oh geez… Let’s hurry…”
The entrance to the realm suddenly opened. “We have to go through!” Apollo asked. “Everyone quick!” One-by-one the group jumped through the exit, leaving Andre, Devyn, and Cadet in the realm.
“We are almost there!” Devyn called out. “OOmph!” Andre said, tripping. Devyn reached the exit, not realizing Andre was not right behind him. “Andre?” Devyn called out.
Devyn suddenly looked over and saw Andre on the floor. “Andre!” Devyn yelled, before looking up. “Watch out! Spider behind you!” Devyn shouted. Andre got up and turned around. “Oh shoot!” Andre shouted before running. “Both of you, get out!” Andre shouted. “Now!”
“I can’t leave you!” Devyn yelledback. “Cadet, get him out!” Andre commanded as he ran. “I’ll be fine!”
Cadet nodded and pushed Devyn through the exit before exiting himself. “Now to deal with you…” Andre said, turning around. Andre looked in the remains of his bag and pulled out the spear he used to free Jordan from the demonic clown. “Eat spear, you freak!” Andre shouted, tossing the spear at the spider before continuing to run.
The spear hit the spider and slowed it down enough to be swallowed by the crumbling realm. “Andre hurry!” Jordan called out from the other side of the exit. As Andre finally reached the exit, something grabbed his leg and pulled him down. “Ack!” Andre exclaimed before realizing the librarian. “BE QUIET!” it shouted. Andre looked at the portal. “So close…” Andre said to himself. “BE QUIET!” the librarian creeched once more.
It suddenly hit Andre that things might not turn out okay for him. “Sigh… Guys, take the blueprints!” Andre shouted before tossing the blueprints through the exit. “And… take care of Matthew…”
The librarian suddenly started to pull Andre farther from the exit. “Andre!” Devyn shouted. Suddenly Devyn jumped back through the exit and ran towards the librarian with a shovel he had found near the campsite. “Eat this!” Devyn said, hitting the librarian.
Devyn then helped Andre up and through the exit before the remains of the realm finished collapsing. “It’s over…” Andre said. “The realm is gone and with it… four others…”
“We were one death away before Arrinor could have been released…” Cadet said. “Let’s get out of this forest before anything else happens…” Jordan said. “Agreed… I just want the comfort of my own bed…” Connor said.
“Time for us to go home as well…” Matthew said to Andre. “What about you guys?” Andre asked Apollo, Olympia, and Cadet. “Weare going to stay with Laney until we are done being repaired…” Olympia said. “Well they are…” Cadet said. “Where are you going?” Jayce asked Cadet. “I’m going with Andre and Matthew because they’re still going to need to be watched over… Well Matthew at least…” Cadet said. “You both still have school and we can’t have you sacrificing your education to take care of Matthew…”
“I promise.. We’ll also get you and Axe separated…” Andre said. “Laney will use the blueprints to recreate me for Axe..” Cadet said. “For now… let’s just get home and I’ll release him for a bit…”
“Not before we pick up our little brothers from their babysitter…” Andre said. “Wait… Is Ricky and Austin okay?” Matthew asked. “They're fine… They started school and Jaycen and Kayden are still babysat…” Andre informed Matthew as the survivors walked out of the Dreamscape woods. “Let’s never come back here again…” Andre said. “Agreed…” Devyn said.
The End!
But wait…
Back in the dreamscape woods where the group had escaped from the dream realm…
A spark flashed from the ground and a door opened up. A man wearing a detective uniform came out from the door. “Finally here…” the man said. “I shall find you again…” the man said, pulling out a photo of Andre. “And I’ll make you pay for what you did to father…”
“Come on, we have to go!” a boy wearing blue yelled. “I know John, but…” the boy wearing yellow was interrupted by the silence of his friend. “John?!?”
“John, where are you?!?” the boy wearing yellow shouted. “Over here…” a voice whispered to him. The boy in yellow started to slowly creep through the pitch black woods. “Please John, I’m sorry if I was the one who got us into this…” the boy in yellow yelled as he crept through the woods.
“Follow my voice…” the whispers said. “Wait… Turn around…”
The little boy turned around and saw something that made his skin run pale. “Please no…” he started to say. The boy got up and started to run. “Get away from me!” he shouted as he ran.
Something suddenly wrapped around his leg as he got to the edge of the forest. “No… Please… I’m so close…” the boy said, holding onto a tree. “Let go!”
As he tried to break free from what was pulling him, his hands slipped. “Ahh!” he screamed as he was dragged into the pitch black abyss of the Dreamscape Woods. His screams slowly went silent as he was dragged deeper in the woods.
Since then, the two boys were never seen again…
Anyone who enters these woods at night…
Never see the light of day again…
1
On a nice summer day in Sapphire Square…
“So what’s the plan for your next short film?” a boy wearing a blue shirt and black shorts asked. “I’m planning on making a short film about the rumors on the disappearance of John and Matthew at the Dreamscape Woods,”a boy wearing tan colored clothes. “Need any help?” the boy with a blue shirt said. “Sure, you can help me dig up some info on the rumors,” the boy in tan said.
“Okay, I can dothat, but Devyn…” the boy wearing a blue shirt said. “Let’s meet up here in about an hour or so…”
“I might already have some info that you can use,” the boy with a blue shirt said. “Okay, back here in one hour…” Devyn said.
Moments later…
“I’m back!” the boy wearing blue said. “Welcome back Andre,” a lady said. “How was your day?”
“It was great, I learned a lot in Forensic Science today,” Andre said. “That’s good…” the lady said. “Oh, I have to go find something… me and Devyn are meeting up here in a bit to go over info for his film,” Andre said. “Okay, just be careful,” the lady responded. “I will mom,” Andre said, walking off towards his room.
“Where is it…” Andre asked himself, digging through boxes of papers. “Looking for something?” a girl said, barging into Andre’s room. “I’m just looking for some papers…” Andre said. “Now please, Adrian, can I just get some privacy so I can find them…”
“Don’t go looking into this case… it’s been years since Matthew vanished…” Adrian said. “I know, but…” Andre said, but was interrupted. “But, don’t look into it… Bad things might happen…” Adrian said sternly. “Okay… Oh there they are…” Andre, grabbed a stack of papers and dashed off.
“I’m just going to follow him, just in case…” Adrian said to herself.
Moments later in the middle of Sapphire Square…
“Andre, over here!” Devyn shouted from the Sapphire cafe. “I’m having Jordan, Connor, Jayce, and Bennett meet us at the woods,” Devyn said. “I also told them to get a hold of the rest of the group.”
“Okay good… I brought the info on the disappearances,” Andre said. “I’ve done a lot of side research about it…”
“All I know is that Matthew and John were meeting up at a campsite to camp, butsomething went wrong…” Andre explained. “Rumor has it that they were kidnapped in the forest… others say that they went to the forest to run away from this place…”
“Okay… so Matthew either got kidnapped or he ran away…” Devyn said. “Exactly…” Andre said. “Now let's get to the woods to meet up with the group.”
At the Dreamscape Woods at night…
“Okay… Are we all here?” Devyn asked. “Jordan?”
“Here,” Jordan said. “Connor? Devyn asked. “Jayce and I are both here,” Connor said. “Bennett?” Devyn asked. “I’m here,” Bennett said. “Andre and I drove here, so that leaves… Jessie and Laney…” Devyn said. “We are here,” Jessie said.
“Now let's get started on filming, turn on night vision on the camera,” Devyn said. The group started to walk through the dark forest, holding flashlights.
“Anything?” Andre asked. “Not yet…” Devyn said. “The campsite should be here somewhere…” Andre said. “Guys, over here!” Bennett called. Everyone met up at a dark campsite that had two tents already set up. “Strange… it appears this place has been left untouched…” Connor said.
The sound of a large twig snapping came from behind. Everyone turned around startled. “Oops… Sorry…” Jayce apologized. “It’s okay, just be more quiet…” Devyn said.
A louder sound rang out from behind them. “Shh…” Devyn hissed. “That’s not me…” Andre said with a worried look on his face. Suddenly the floor opened up and they fell into a dark pit.
2
In the pit…
“Ugh… Where are we…” Andre said, getting up. “I’m not sure, but that fall kinda hurt…” Devyn said, standing up. “Is everyone else okay?” Andre asked. Silence filled that air. “Guys?” Devyn said, pulling out his phone and turning on the flashlight. “They're gone…”
Andre said.
“Well, we need to find them…” Devyn said, shining his light all over the room. “It looks like we are in somesort of fun house…” Andre said. “Let’s go look for the others…” Andre said, turning on his flashlight.
“Let’s start off going this way…” Devyn said, pointing towards a hallway. As they walked through the halls, something touched Andre’s shoulder. “Devyn, how did you get behind me…” Andre asked. “I’m not…” Devyn said, shining his flashlight on Andre. “There’s something on your shoulder…” Devyn said, shining his light onto a giant spider looking creature with a Jack O’lantern for a head.
Devyn froze in his place. “What is it?” Andre asked. Devyn, too scared to say a word, pointed at the creature. Andre turned around and the creature’s face lit up with fire. “Run…” Andre said, grabbing Devyn’s hand and dragging him along. Eventually Andre let go as Devyn picked up the pace.
“What should we do?!?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure!” Andre yelled. “Down here!” a familiar voice screamed out, shining a light onto Andre.
Andre grabbed Devyn’s hand and followed the light into a separate room. “Phew… We lost it…” Andre said. “We need to find the others…” The familiar voice said. Andre shined the light onto the voice and saw that it was Matthew.
“Matthew!’ Andre ran and gave Matthew a hug. “I thought we would never find you…” Andre said in relief. ”Well you found me, but the group you brought in is still out there…” Matthew said. “Where is John?” Devyn asked. “John didn’t make it…” Matthew said, looking down. “That creature took his life…”
“Oh… Well… We’ll get you out of here alive, right after we find our group…” Andre said. “The cameras…” Devyn said. “We can connect to the cameras from here and see where Jordan is…”
“Good idea…” Andre said, pulling out his phone. “I’ll connect real quick and see if I can locate them…” Andre pulls up thevideo feed to a picture of a circus.
“Where is that place…” Andre said, showing Devyn and Matthew. “That’s deep in this place… It’s also a new place that I haven’t been to…” Matthew said. “This place must manipulate the nightmares of those who fall into this trap…”
“You and Devyn are highly afraid of spiders… and this room must have been new when I fell in because my fear is…” Andre was interrupted by a sudden honking noise.
On the feed, a giant demonic clown appeared. Jordan gave out a scream before the feed cut out. “We need to go find this room…” Devyn said. “I can’t…” Andre said, holding his own arm. “I hate clowns…”
“It’s okay… We can get through this together, and right now we need to go save Jordan…” Devyn said. “Yeah, it’s okay to be afraid…” Matthew said. “But, it's important that we find everyone…”
“Okay… I’ll do it…” Andre said. “We have to get past this Lantern Spider first…”
Moments later…
“Ready?” Andre asked. “Ready…” Devyn and Matthew said. Andre opened the door quietly and started to slowly walk out. “This rope idea is working well Andre…” Devyn said quietly from the back. “Good…” Andre responded silently.
A slight creak sounded from ahead. “Shh…” Andre said, gesturing for them to stop moving. The spider-like creature walks past them as if it didn’t see them. “I don’t think it can see…”
The three slowly continued as the creature faded from sight. “Where do you think everyone else is?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure…” Andre said. “The years I have been in here… I have only seen four rooms in these hallways…” Matthew said. “One made for each person’s safety and one made for each person’s fears… now that you two and a few others are here, there are a ton more rooms toexplore…”
“Let’s try that one…” Andre said, creeping towards an old dusty door. “Be prepared because this might be a dangerous room or a safe room…”
3
Andre, Devyn, and Matthew slowly crept towards the dusty door and opened it. Inside appears to be a room full of books and old dusty laptops. “Seems safe enough…” Andre said, walking inside the room.
“Psst…” someone called out next to the entrance. Andre looked over and saw Jessie sitting next to the entrance holding a book on marvel. “It’s good you guys found me…” Jessie said. “I have been hiding in this room for who knows how long…”
“We don’t know either…” Devyn said as he slowly made his way into the room and closed the door behind him. “Shh… not too loud…” Jessie said. “Why?” Andre asked. “We are in a library…” Jessie said.
“So?” Devyn said, out loud. “Be quiet…” a voice said from across the room. “Is someone else here?” Andre asked. “Not that I know of, but I think it wants us to be quiet…” Jessie said.
A book suddenly fell where Matthew had been studying the dusty shelves. “Oops…” MAtthew said. “I said… BE QUIET!” the voice said, getting louder. “We have to go…” Andre said. “Why?” Jessie asked. “Now!” Andre shouted.
A demonic librarian came around the shelves and went straight for Matthew. “BE QUIET!” the librarian yelled as her eyes went pitch black and her teeth became razor sharp. Her hair grew as long as repunzel’s and her nails were as sharp as knives.
Andre quickly grabbed Matthew and the four left the room running. “Hurry!” Andre yelled as the librarian exited the room. “BE QUIET!” she screamed, heading towards them.
As the three ran down the hall they started to hear the sounds of music fill the air. “What’s that?” Devyn asked. “It soundsfamiliar…” Andre said, as they ran. “Do you think it’s…”
“The song Strange Humors…” Devyn said. “Maybe someone is where the music is…” Matthew said. “Let’s go…” Andre said, running and following the music.
Moments later…
“I think we lost it…” Andre said. “That’s good…” Jessie said. Sounds of music filled the air. “The music is close…” Matthew said. “In there maybe…” He pointed to a door embroidered with music notes.
They carefully entered a room to find a familiar face holding his ears. “Make it stop…” Connor begged. “We don’t know how…”
The music slowly started to fade away and a much more familiar song filled the air. “The music is changing…” Jessie said. “It sounds like…” Andre was suddenly interrupted. “Circus music…” Devyn said.
A wall slowly faded to reveal a familiar area. “The circus room…” Andre said in disbelief. “But where’s Jordan?” Devyn asked.
They looked up and saw something demonic staring down at them. The clown had teeth and nails similar to the librarian. Its eyes were lit up with flames and its smile was as big as the sun.
“Oh my….” Andre suddenly fell down in fear. “I can’t… I can’t do it…” Andre got up and ran towards the door they had entered which was suddenly locked.
“Oh shoot…” Andre said, trying to open the doors. “Help me!” a familiar voice yelled from above. The group looked up and saw that the demonic clown was holding Jordan.
“Hold on!” Andre called out. “We’re coming!” The clown looked down and gave a sinister smile.
Andre started digging into his bag. “Grab this!” Andre pulls out a blanket and hands it to Devyn. “You, Jessie, Connor, and MAtthew will use the blanket… I’ll find something to make it drop Jordan…”
“Good idea…” Devyn said as Andre walked off to look for something. “Hmmm…” Andre turns around at thesound of a scream. A circle of fire surrounded Connor, Devyn, Jessie, and Matthew. Andre gulps down the fear he was feeling.
“Andre! Don’t worry about the clown…” Devyn called out. “It’s not as scary as it seems…”
Andre looked back at the clown then back at his friends who were in danger. Andre then proceeds to pull out something from his bag. “I’m no longer afraid of you!” he called, throwing the extendable skewer at the clown.
It hit the clown’s hand and it let go of Jordan, causing her to land safely in the blanket the trapped group was holding. “I will get you for that!” the clown said in a shrill voice.
Just then, the room started to slowly collapse, and the room door opened. “Everyone run!” Andre said, putting out the fire with his remaining water.
Everyone scrambled to the door as quickly as they could. “Get back here!” the clown said. As the clown reached for them, his arm fell off as the room got smaller. “No! This can’t be!” he called out as the group left the room. “Noooo!” The clown’s screams faded as the room door slowly vanished.
“That was close…” Andre said, as the group looked at him in disbelief. “What?” Andre asked. “You got over your fear and saved us…” Devyn said. “You were so afraid, but once you saw us in danger, you got back up and saved us…” Matthew said.
“It’s just something that had to be done…” Andre said. A sudden screech rang out from down the hall. “Be Quiet!” a familiar voice called out. The sounds of flames also filled the air.
“We have to go now… The spider and the librarian are coming…” Andre said, painting towards the dark end of the hall. “Let’s go…”
4
Moments later…
The group silently made their way through the hallslooking for their group members. “So are we just going to ignore the fact that that room crumbled as soon as Andre got over his fear?” Matthew said.
“I mean we are not ignoring it, but it's just not the right time to talk about it…” Andre said. “So please be quiet…”
“Okay…” Matthew said. Moments later, they reached a room that had a bright red door. “I think this might be a safe room…” Andre said, as he slowly opened the door. Familiar smells fill the air as Andre opens the door. “Cookies…” Andre said as they entered the room one-by-one.
“This room is an entire kitchen…” Jessie said. “This must be a safe room right?” Jordan asked.
“Should be… I mean, I feel safe here…” Andre said. “This must be Andre’s safe room…” Matthew said. “Aha!” someone said from behind. The group turned around to find Adrian standing behind them. “I knew you were going to do this eventually…” Adrian said. “Adrian… I…” Andre said. “No! You got us trapped in here and for what, finding someone who has been missing for years!” Adrian shouted. “My fault?” Andre scoffs. “I don’t remember telling you to follow me… You're welcome for finding him because me and my friends are the only ones to continue searching…” Andre shouted. “You gave up after a day… mom gave up after a year… Matt left and I couldn’t get over this disappearance…”
“You're welcome to find a way out, but… I’m not leaving here without Matthew or any of my friends…” Andre shouted. “Fine, but…” Adrian was suddenly stabbed by a leg from behind. “I…. “I…” the leg removed itself as Adrian fell to the floor. “Adrian!” Andre shouted.
Andre went and slammed the door shut, locking it.
“Adrian… please… stay with me…” Andre said, picking Adrian up. “Please… Staywith me…”
“I’m sorry… for everything…” Adrian said. “I never gave up on finding matthew… I just… gave up hope that he was alive…”
“I never wanted this…” Andre said. “I just wanted to find Matthew and bring him home…”
“I know…. And… I’m sorry…” Adrian said, before her breathing stopped entirely. Andre sat and sobbed for a bit before standing up. “We need to get everyone out…” he said, with tears still in his eyes.
“But, where do we find Jayce?” Connor asked. “And Laney?” Jessie added. “Bennet as well…” Devyn said. “We need to hurry up and find them… there might be more creatures in this place…” Andre said. “Devyn… You, me, and Jordan will go out and look for the others… Jessie, Connor… protect Matthew…”
“Okay…” Jessie said. “We will…” Connor said. Andre, Devyn, and Jordan all left the roof quickly and quietly. They quickly noticed something odd about the air. “Something feels off…” Andre said. “I don’t think you're wrong Andre…” Jordan said, pointing at Devyn’s arm. A tiny version of the giant demonic spider sat on his arm. “Ah!” Devyn said, tossing the spider off his arm. The sound of flames filling the air rang out from down the hall.
“We have to run… now!” Andre said, grabbing Devyn and Jordan and dashing off away from the flames that lit the air. “Where is the next door…” Andre asked himself as he ran down the hallway. The giant demonic spider came into view along with the librarian. “BE QUIET!” the librarian screamed.
The spiders near Devyn as the three ran from them. “Stay away!” Devyn yelled, trying to keep up with Andre and Jordan. Andre suddenly grabbed Jordan and Devyn and jumped into a dark room.
5
In the dark room…
“Guys…” Andre said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” Jordan said, getting up. “I’m good, too…”Devyn said, standing up and turning on his flashlight. “Where are we?”
Devyn shined his flashlight around the room. A fire suddenly lit in a nearby fireplace, causing everyone to turn around. “Guys?” a familiar voice asked from behind. “Laney!” Andre called out, running to give Laney a hug. “We were so worried about you…”
“I was so worried about you and the rest of the group, too,” Laney said. “Where’s the rest of the group?”
“We don’t know about Bennett and Jayce, but Connor and Jessie are in a safe room,” Andre explained. “We found Matthew, and learned that John was dead…”
“Oh my…” Laney said. “At least one of them is alive…”
“Yeah, but now… We have to find Bennett and Jayce…” Devyn said. “Have you tried calling them?” Laney asked. “No signal…” Jordan said. “Let’s get a move on before…” Andre was suddenly interrupted by the sound of their surroundings shaking.
“What’s happening?!?” Andre asked. “I’m not sure!” Laney responded. A wall fell off and the house started to hang off of the edge of a mountain. “Everyone hang on!” Andre called out.
The whole room didn’t move except for the people in it.
Andre grabbed onto the leg of a table, meanwhile Laney and Jordan were hanging onto the leg of a chair. Devyn was hanging off of Andre’s leg. “Hang on!” Andre called to Devyn. “I’m trying!” Devyn yelled, slowly slipping.
Little did they know the worst was yet to come because a small fire like noise filled the atmosphere. “What’s that?” Jordan asked. “Oh no…” Andre said. “It’s them!”
“Who’s them?!?” Laney asked. A spider slowly came down to Devyn’s side. “Devyn… Stay silent and don’t move…” Andre said. “They detect sound and movement, plus you can fall…”
“I’m trying…” Devyn said as the spider got closer. “I can’t!” Devyn shouted as it touched him.Just then, Devyn let go and Andre used one hand to catch Devyn as he tried to swat the spider away.
“I can’t hold you much longer!” Andre called. “Then let go!” Devyn said. “You won’t be able to hold on for long if you're holding onto me…”
“I can’t… I won’t…” Andre said, as his hand slowly slipped from the leg of the table. “Then I will…” Devyn said, letting go of Andre’s hand. “Devyn, please!” Andre called out, begging for Devyn to continue hanging on. “I’m sorry…” Devyn said before Andre finally let go to regain his grip on the table’s leg. “Devyn!” Andre said as he watched Devyn fall.
The house slowly returned to normal after Andre watched Devyn hit the ground in a big red blur. “Devyn…” Andre said, tears filling his eyes as he kneed the ground in sorrow.
6
In the cabin room…
“I can’t believe he’s gone…” Andre said, trying to hold back tears. “I never got to tell him how I felt…”
“I’m so sorry…” Laney said. “If only I had been strong enough to hold him…” Andre said in tears. “There was nothing you could do…” Jordan said. “Now… Let’s go before the room tilts again…”
Jordan and Laney helped Andre up, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “Why did he let go…” Andre asked. “I’m not sure, but.. We have to go…” Laney responded. The three carefully exited the room. “There’s no need to be slow anymore… With Devyn dead, the spider is too… It was his biggest fear…” Andre said in a depressed tone.
A screech came from their side. “BE QUIET!” the librarian called, coming towards them. Andre quickly grabbed a pole from inside the cabin room and hit the librarian with it to temporarily knock her out. “Run…” Andre said, grabbing the two anddashing off towards the safe room.
“What about Bennett and Jayce?” Jordan asked. “We need to check on the others first…” Andre responded. As they went down the hall to the bakery room, they passed a pile of ash with a smashed pumpkin.
“Did the spider die once and for all?” Jordan asked. “Yeah.. Without Devyn there is not anything to keep the spider alive…” Andre explained. “His fear is what was keeping it alive…”
“Was there anyone else who was afraid of it?” Laney asked. “I thought Matthew was, but by the looks of it… he wasn’t…” Andre responded.
As they walked past the pile of dust, they noticed something. “It looks like there is something in the dust…” Jordan pointed out. “Should we check it out?” Laney asked. “Sure…” Andre said.
“Sigh… Look Andre… You can’t keep your attitude… Devyn did it to keep you alive…” Jordan said. “Stop feeling sorry for what happened to him… It’s not going to help us find Bennett and Jayce…”
“Okay…” Andre responded. “Let’s go check out the door…”
As they carefully inched towards the door, strange sounds came from behind. “That noise…” Andre said. “It sounds like..”
“BE QUIET!” a voice yelled from behind. “Okay, everyone!” Andre said, pushing Laney and Jordan through the door. As the group quickly entered the room, the sound got louder and the air got chiller.
“Does anyone else feel that?” Laney asked. The group turned around to see a bloody body hanging from the ceiling. “Who is that?” Andre asked. “I’m not sure, but… I think we’re next…” Jordan said as a noise came from the other end of the room.
“Sorry to scare you guys…” Jayce said, coming out from the shadows. “I was just looking around the room…”
“Phew… I thought there was another demonic creature in here…” Andre said.
7
“So how did you getin here?” Andre asked. “I was trying to find you guys when I saw a spider turn into dust… it left behind this door, so I walked in…” Jayce said.
“Well luckily you are safe… unlike Devyn…” Andre said. “What about Devyn?” Jayce asked. “Sigh… he fell to his death in another room…” Laney explained. “He is no longer with us…”
“Oh…” Jayce said. “I’m so sorry…”
“It’s ok… it's not your fault… I should have held onto him longer…” Andre said. “There was nothing you could have...” Laney was suddenly interrupted by a whisper. “You failed at saving him… You are a total failure…” a whisper said.
“Is anyone else here?” Jordan asked Jayce. “I’m afraid not…” Jayce responded. “You’re worthless…” the whisper said. “I’m totally worthless…” Andre said.
“This room… it was born after the spider turned to dust… It was built from Andre’s guilt…” Laney said. “You are worthless… You failed at saving your sister… you failed at saving your best friend…” the room whispered.
“We should leave…” Jordan said, heading to the door. “No one leaves!” the room yelled before the doors vanished. Another door appeared in its place. “I think the room wants us to go into that door…” Jayce said.
“Andre let’s go…” Laney said to Andre before realizing he was missing. “Andre?”
“Guys… Andre is gone…” Laney said. “Where could he have gone?” Jordan asked. Suddenly the door creaked as it opened on its own. “Leave!” the room yelled.
The three entered the new door and found themselves separated again. “Guys?” Jayce called out. “Where did you go?”
“Over here!” Laney called out. “I’m over here!” Jordan yelled. “Guys?” a familiar voice called from above. “Guys, I’m so sorry!”
Everyone looked up to a glass ceiling. “Get them through or suffer the consequences…” the room said. “What! I can’t do that!” Andre called out.
“Weknow you can!” Jayce said. “Have more faith in yourself!” Laney called. “We believe in you!” Jordan called out.
“Okay… I’ll do my best…” Andre said. “Laney, take the lane to your right and keep going until you hit two paths…” Andre yelled. “Got it!” Laney responded. “Jayce, go to your right until you hit a three way split…” Andre said. “Will do!” Jayce said. “Jordan, stay put, Laney and Jayce’s paths meet up with yours and from there I’ll get you guys to the end…” Andre shouted. “Okay!” Jordan responded.
“Andre, I made it to the two paths!” Laney shouted. “Go left and be careful because the paths get narrow and will require you to navigate yourself around holes,” Andre called out. “Okay!” Laney responded, heading left. “Jayce, stay put because Laney is heading your way and the right path will require both of you…” Andre said. “Jordan, how are things down there?”
“Fine so far… just losing patience…” Jordan said. “Well keep up the patience… it might take a few before Laney and Jayce get there…” Andre responded. “Okay, I’ll try…” Jordan said.
“Andre, I made it to Jayce!” Laney called out. “Okay… You and Jayce go through the middle path until you hit the pond with the four-spilit path… from there, take the right middle path and you’ll find yourself where Jordan is…” Andre said. “Okay!” Laney and Jayce called out.
A few moments pass by as Jayce and Laney make it to Jordan’s location. “Okay… All three of you need to split into each path…” Andre yelled. “Jordan, you go left and complete a puzzle to get to the button… Laney, you go through the middle and solve the riddle to get to the button in the middle… Jayce, go through the left path and play the right tune to getto the button in your path… once you get to the button stop until I give the cue to press it…”
“Okay!” the three said as they split into their designated paths. Jordan approached a giant jigsaw puzzle that she needed to complete to unlock a door to the button; Laney approached a list of riddles; and Jayce approached a french horn with music in front of it. Each one of them completed their tasks. First Jayce, by playing the first ten measures to “Strange Humors”; then Jordan by completing the jigsaw puzzle of the giant spider, then finally Laney after solving the riddles that lead her to the right door.
“Press the button!” Andre shouted, and all at once they pushed the buttons that were at the end of their paths. A door opened up for Andre and the walls came down revealing a door for all three of them to enter.
As they enter, they return to the room they were once in.
Once the door vanished the original door to the main hallway returned. “Is everyone okay?” Andre asked. “We’re fine thanks to you…” Laney said. “If it wasn’t for you, we would have been lost for eternity…” Jayce said. “Agreed…” Jordan added.
“Let’s get going… We still need to find Bennett and get out of this strange place…” Andre said, with a new boost of confidence.
8
“Where are we going?” Jayce asked. “Back to the others?” Andre responded. “We found everyone, but Bennett.”
“Yeah, we could use the help from them to find Bennett… We just have to avoid…” Jordan was suddenly interrupted by a familiar screech. “BE QUIET!” the librarian screeched from behind. “Oh shoot!” Andre said. “Run!”
The four start to run in the direction they think is the safe room, but little did they know that they were heading away fromthe safe room and towards the last room at the end of the Dream Realm they were in.
“Everyone into that door!” Andre shouted. Everyone ran into the room that looked like an abandoned parts and services room. “Guys?” Bennett said, standing up from a chair. “Thank goodness you guys are here…”
“Thank god we found you!” Jayce exclaimed. Andre opens the door to check if the Librarian is still around. “Guys… We are stuck in here for a bit…” Andre said. “The Librarian is still wandering outside…”
“Well that’s wonderful news!” a robotic voice said from the darkest edge of the room. “We have time to get to know each other!” A gray robotic fox walked out from the shadows. “I’m Axel the astronaut fox!”
“Woah… It’s like an animatronic from Five Nights at Freddy’s!” Andre said. “It looks so cool!”
“Why thank you!” Axe said. “Oh Lady Lion!” Axe called out. “We have guests!”
An animatronic lioness walked out of the shadows. “Why hello there,” the lioness said with a smile. “We are so glad to meet you guys!”
“We are going to have so much fun!” Axe said. “I agree… Axe… Go grab the final members of our crew…” Lady Lion said. “Yes Mrs.Lion,” Axe said, walking off into the darkness of the other end of the room.
“Are there more of you?” Andre asked. “Yes, there are also more rooms…” Lady Lion said. “Either way… You are in Lady Lion’s Diner…”
“We will see you safely to your friends when Axe returns with Olympia the olympic Ocelot and Apollo, Axe’s right hand wolf,” Lady Lion explained.
“Thank you… we have been trapped down here for who knows how long…” Andre said. “You are very welcome… The only other child that we have seen down here is Matthew… he is a good kid… unfortunately we failed tosave John from that spider creature… we also got separated from Matthew during his escape…” Lady Lion explained. “Told by the fact that you guys are down here, he didn’t make it out…”
“Yeah… we found Matthew alive, but we already learned about John’s death…” Andre said. “As we entered this place to find him, our group got scattered…”
“We found everyone, but in return we lost one to a big fall…” Andre explained. “I’m sorry to hear…” Lady Lion said. “It’s ok… I’m just glad a good remainder of us still stand…” Andre said.
“We’re back!” Axe said. “You called?” Olympia asked. “You need us for something?” Apollo asked. Lady Lion explained everything to the rest of her crew and the group set out to collect the rest of the surviving group members.
9
Outside in the hallway…
“How close are we from the room?” Lady Lion asked. “We are almost there… Just need to get over to that pink room over there…” Andre pointed out.
“Okay… Good… Then we can collect your friends and get out of here…” Olympia said. “Guys…” Axe said. “I… I don’t feel too good…”
“Is everything alright Axe?” Apollo asked. “J… Just… S… Some Glitches…” Axe said before his eyes turned black as if they had vanished entirely. “Oh no…” Lady Lion said. “Quick you guys run to the room with Apollo and Olympia…”
“Why?” Jordan asked. “Olympia and Apollo will explain it, just run!” Lady Lion said as Axe’s eyes went black. “Where are they…” Axe said in a deeper voice. “Where are my eyes!” he screamed, jumping onto Lady Lion. “Everyone quick before he finishes up with Lady Lion!” Olympia said, pushing the group into the bakery room.
“Did you find them?” Connor asked as they entered the room. “We found more than just them…” Andre replied. “Who did you…” Jessiewas interrupted by the sight of Olympia and Apollo. “Who are these two?” Jessie asked.
“Apollo? Olympia?” Matthew said from behind Jessie and Connor. “Matthew!” Apollo said as Matthew flew into his arms. “We’re so glad you're okay…” Olympia said. “Where is Axe and Lady Lion?” Matthew asked. “I’m afraid we owe you guys an explanation…” Olympia said.
“When Axe was built he had a twin named Cadet…” Apollo explained. “However, when we had to do some budget cuts…. He was fused with Axe…”
“When he was fused with Axe… his eyes went missing in the process and he refuses to use Axe’s eyes because his eyes were specially built…” Olympia explained. “He was able to see through walls… I have good speed… Lady Lion had an amazing voice… Apollo has night vision… and Axe didn’t really get much… Just claws…”
“However, without Cadet’s eyes… he has to rely on noise and the feel of movement…” Apollo said.
“So… Axe has a different mode due to budget cuts… his name is Cadet and he is upset that he has no eyes… so he is out to find them and will tear anyone apart to get them back…” Jayce summarized. “Exactly…” Olympia responded.
“When we try to make an escape… we have to be as quiet as possible even if it takes forever…” Apollo said. “So he’s like the Ballora of this strange place…” Connor said. “Who’s… Ballora?” Olympia asked. “She’s a character from a game called sister location…” Jayce explained.
“We can talk about that later… right now… Lady Lion has been torn apart by Cadet and we have to escape…” Andre said. “Apollo… do you think you can take Matthew, Jordan, Bennett, and Jessie; and quietly meet us at the first safe room of this place?” Andre asked. “Yes…” Apollo said. “You four come with meand be very quiet… it might take us a while…”
“Be careful because the librarian is also on the loose…” Connor said. “Okay… Good to know…” Apollo said before quietly moving out of the room with the four..
“Here in a bit we will try to get to that room, quietly…” Andre said. “But first… stay in here… I’m going out alone to grab something…”
“Olympia… you keep them safe, in a moment… I’ll give you a cue to head out…” Andre said. “Okay.. be safe…” Olympia said.
Andre quietly steps out of the room and heads towards Lady Lion’s disfigured animatronic body. “Here we go…” Andre said, grabbing her programming chip and her memory bank. “Where are they…” Cadet asked from behind. Andre stood up. “Come with me and I’ll help you find them…” Andre said. “If you want… come with us and we could even make new ones for you.. Maybe even separate you from Axe…”
“That sounds like a good deal, but… I want my eyes… the ones that were stolen from me when I was forced into the same body as Axe…” Cadet said. “We’ll get them for you… just calm down and help me first…” Andre said, walking over to the door and giving a signal by knocking.
“Why are you knocking?” Cadet asked. “It’s a habit…” Andre said, watching as his friend snuck out of the room quietly. “Come with me and I’ll help you search for your eyes…”
“Then we can escape this place and make you your own animatronic again…” Andre said. “Okay… But first…” Cadet said, getting closer. “I’m going to need to know that I can trust you…” Cadet picks Andre up. “I need to keep a good eye on you…” Cadet said, then walked off towards the parts and services room at the far end ofthe hall.
10
Moments later…
“They're not here…” Andre said. “Keep checking…” Cadet snarled. “Maybe we can make you new eyes… is there a blueprint for them?” Andre asked. “Yes, but… it’s in a room with a terrible evil that we locked away…” Cadet said.
“What evil creature?” Andre asked. “It’s actually a demon that holds this place together…” Cadet explained. “His name is Arrinor and he is the demon of dreams… years ago he created a dream trap in the dreamscape woods that tosses victims into a dream dimension…”
“So we’re in a different realm?” Andre asked. “Unfortunately yes…” Cadet responded. “The only way out is back where two people spawn… if a group of three spawn… the others get scattered and the main two end up together…”
“So when me and my deceased friend Devyn first spawned in… that room would be the exit as well?” Andre asked. “Yes.. but the key is to conquer all your fears… every person has two rooms… as you can tell everyone has a room full of nightmares that can wander the halls and demon proof safe rooms…” Cadet said. “This room was supposed to be a safe room, but because of me… it's not exactly the safest…”
“Then why are you treating me kindly now?” Andre asked. “Because… you offered to help… you gave me hope that I never had… If I can leave… I want to… I’m sorry about Lady Lion, but she was one of the people who stole my eyes… in fact… she was the one who smashed them…” Cadet said angrily before calming down once more. “Olympia and Apollo are good animatronic, but Lady Lion was a threat… She was the one who got rid of my eyes… she was teaming with Arrinor…”
“Arrinor is still trapped, but… Lady Lion made a deal with himfor her freedom… he also promised the freedom of others… as long as we get five different souls…” Cadet explained. “Once we do collect five different souls… his door will unlock and he will be able to merge the realms…”
“Why are you helping me then? Don’t you want freedom?” Andre asked. “Yes, but… I also don’t want to be the one who kills a child for their soul…” Cadet said. “Your friend Devyn… died because the building you were in was rigged by Lady Lion… John was tripped by Lady Lion and torn by the spider… Me, Olympia, and Apollo tried to save him while Lady Lion was trying to find Matthew who had vanished from our sight without noticing Lady Lion’s real intention…”
“The real demon here was Lady Lion… now that she is gone… we can help you past the librarian and get you guys to the exit in one piece…” Cadet said. “So your telling me… my brother was almost murdered by someone who I tried to trust a first… and my friend and my brother’s friend were purposely sent to their death in secret by Lady Lion… You know how?” Andre asked.
“I was in control when it happened… no one knew I was in control because I chose to put a fake face on for a bit…” Cadet explained. “Axe’s eyes were not built for me yet, so when I used them, I still couldn’t see…”
“However, I did feel their movements… I could tell that Olympia and Apollo were there with me, but… Lady Lion was missing and I heard her muttering something about Matthew being gone and that he should be dead as well…” Cadet explained. “Soon she realized that I was not Axe when I switched modes back and he had no clue about Matthew’sdisappearance…”
“From there, she added something to him to hold me back, she even started to reprogram the others with false memories…” Cadet explained. “She basically tried to erase me, but the anger Axe had felt went to me instead… That’s how I broke free from the prison she put me in… That’s why I came off as angry… I guess I only took you because you gave me hope that all this can be fixed…”
“It’s ok, but now… we have to get back to the others and find a plan to get the blueprints without any deaths…” Andre said.
11
Moments later…
“We made it!” Andre called out as he entered the room. “Andre?” Matthew said from behind a chair. “What happened?!” Cadet asked. “The spider came back to life… it's as if… something brought him back to life…” Laney said from behind a chair. “Is everyone alright?” Andre asked.
“No… The spider got to Jessie… and Olympia used her speed to distract it…” Laney explained.
“I think I know what’s going on…” Cadet said. “What’s he doing here anyways?” Connor asked. “Wasn’t he trying to kill us moments ago?”
“He was just aiming for Lady Lion… She is the reason Devyn died… She is also the reason John died…” Andre explained. “She rigged the house to tip over on us and make one of us fall… she tripped John, so he would get caught by the spider…”
“She was the reason that we lost people… She is even the reason you guys had to reprogram… she redid your memories against him because he figured the secret…” Andre said. “So… Lady Lion was a fraud?” Apollo asked. “Unfortunately… yes… but thanks to me she is gone now…” Cadet asked. “What about Axe?” Connor asked. “Once we escape, we can rebuild them as two different people… right Laney?”Andre asked. “Yeah, we can do that… I mean it would help me learn more about engineering…” Laney responded. “However, the blueprints for his eyes are trapped in a room with a deep evil Lady Lion was teaming with…” Andre said. “Yeah, his name is Arrinor… He is the dream demon who created this realm and plans to merge it with reality…”
“There are blueprints for Cadet’s eyes in the room Arrinor is trapped in… we need them for Cadet…” Andre said. “But isn’t that room full of everyone’s deepest nightmares?” Apollo asked. “Unfortunately yes…” Cadet asked. “Which means only the fearless can enter…”
“I vote that Andre should go in…” Jordan said. “He did save me from the demonic clown…”
“he also saved us during a maze…” Jayce added. “He even sacrificed himself when we all thought we were going to be ripped apart by Cadet…” Connor added. “I don’t know guys… I’m not that fearless…” Andre said.
“Are you kidding me? You gain courage when everything’s at stake… You put everyone else first, even at the cost of your life…” Bennett said. “You put together a group to find me and I feel safer knowing that I have my big brother to protect me…” Matthew said.
“You guys are lucky that I don’t want to risk any of you… I’ll do it…” Andre said. “But… I need someone to come with me…”
“I’ll do it…” Someone said from behind. Everyone turned around to see Devyn alive and in-person at the doors. “Devyn!” Andre said, running to hug him. “I thought you were dead!”
“Well lucky for you… I landed in a pile of snow that cushioned the fall…” Devyn said.
“Where’s the room?” Andre asked Cadet. “It’s in the deepest part of this place next to the room you met us in…” Cadet said. “I’ll escortyou there, but from there… you and Devyn are on your own…”
“Yeah, we have to keep everyone else safe from the librarian and the spider…” Apollo said. “We don’t even know if Olympia is still alive… she probably got trapped in a room…”
“Okay… Ready Devyn?” Andre asked. “Ready…” Devyn responded.
Moments later, in front of a door that was half rainbow and half black…
“This is it…” Cadet said. “Be careful…”
“We will…” Andre said, opening the door. “And Andre… remember… you have nothing to fear…” Cadet added as Andre turned to look at him. “I know…” Andre said before he and Devyn went down the stairs to a giant daycare looking basement.
12
Down in the basement…
“Where are we…” Devyn asked. “Room one… This room is an easy nightmare… and as we go on to each room… the nightmares get worse… There are five rooms according to Cadet and Apollo…” Andre explained. “Then what nightmare is in this room?” Devyn asked, as the lights suddenly turned on.
Entry of the Gladiators starts playing. “Oh no…” Andre said. “What?” Devyn asked. “Clowns…” Andre responded as clowns came out of strange places in the daycare.
“Grab something…” Andre said, grabbing a nearby chair and snapping the legs off.
Devyn follows his lead and pulls off a metal pole from a play pen. One-by-one the clowns try to attack Andre and Devyn until the clowns are down. “Take that, clowns!” Andre shouted as he hit clowns down.
A door opened at the other side of the daycare. “Come on Devyn… time to take care of the next level…” Andre said.
Moments later in the second to last room…
“So we've dealt with clowns in room one… spiders in room two… and a long maze of puzzles in room three… what’s next?” Devyn asked. “I’m not sure but…” Andre was interrupted by the soundsof whispers.
“It’s your fault… he fell because of you… the spider killed her because of you… you could have kept them from leaving and ending up here, but you didn’t… you can’t even admit to your true feelings…” the whisper said. “Who’s it talking to?” Devyn asked Andre. Andre froze before he spoke. “He’s talking to me… He’s repeating some of my deepest thoughts…” Andre responded.
“You are a failure… you failed at being fearless… you failed at saving everyone… you made a promise you couldn't keep…” the whispers said. Andre stood still as the whispers continued to speak. “Andre?” Devyn asked. “Andre, can you hear me?”
“I… I’m sorry Devyn… I truly have failed…” Andre said as he listened to the whispers. “I failed to get everyone out in one piece… I failed at keeping a grip on you… I keep making promises that I can’t keep because I fear that I will let people down…”
“Don’t listen to the whispers… I’m alive so falling means nothing…” Devyn said. “You saved us back at the clowns… you apparently saved them from a maze… you even put everyone before you…” Devyn said. “You didn’t fail… you passed at being someone that humanity can look upon as a good example…”
“You have been fearless when no one else could…” Devyn said. “You're right… I don’t know what I was thinking… I can do this!” Andre said.
“Don’t you have something else to say?” the whisper said before a Devyn like clone came out from the shadows. “You know you want to say it…” the clone said. “Andre... What’s going on…” Devyn asked. “Nothing…” Andre said. “You know you want to say it, but you're too afraid of rejection… plus… you are afraid you might ruin his dreams…” the clone said. “Go on… say it!”
“Fine!” Andre shoutedbefore turning to Devyn. “I have been lying to you about my feelings…” Andre said with a sigh. “Over the years since second grade… you have been there for me… you have kept me from feeling totally alone… you have made me laugh and there has never been a time that you had totally ignored me… yeah, you might be sarcastic a lot… and yeah you do not respond to some of my texts, but still… you read them and it lets me know that you're still there…” Andre said. “I was too afraid to say anything because you have been my best friend for years and I don’t want to ruin it… I was also afraid that you would reject me…”
“I’m just glad you told me…” Devyn said. “We’ll talk more about it later…”
“Congrats...” The clone said before turning to dust. The lighting in the room went from a dark red to a black color, revealing a door. “There is the final door…” Andre said. “Are you ready?”
“I am if you are…” Devyn said as they both neared the door. “Then let’s go…” Andre said, as he entered the room. Devyn carefully followed Andre into the pitch black of the final room.
13
In the final room…
“Be extra careful down here…” Andre said. “I know…” Devyn responded. “Devyn Martinez!” someone shouted from behind. “Where are you going?”
Devyn turned around surprised to see his band director. “Oh no…” Devyn said. “What is it?” Andre said, turning around. “Oh boy… We’ve been spotted…” Andre grabbed Devyn by the hand and rushed down the stairs as the band director started chasing them with a high pitched scream.
“You two get back here!” the director screamed as their eyes rolled back and blood slowly dripped from every hole on their face. “GET BACK HERE!” the directorscreamed. “Don’t go!”
“Devyn, over here!” Andre said, pulling Devyn into a small hole that was able to fit them both.
The director ran past screaming. “Phew…” Andre said. “Glad we escaped, but now to find the blueprints…”
Andre pulls out two flashlights after coming out of the hole.
“Here…” Andre said, handing one over to Devyn. The two slowly navigated the dark room of floor five. “This place is big…” Devyn said. “It’s too big…” Andre muttered. “Why hello there…” a deep voice said from behind. “Welcome to the room of worst nightmares…”
“You must be Andre… and you must be Devyn… I’ve been watching you from this room…” the man said.
“You must be Arrinor then…” Andre said. “Oh, so you do know me…” Arrinor said with a grin. “You’re the demon of dreams… you made this realm to capture people in hopes to get yourself free…” Devyn said. “Oh, so he told you…” Arrinor said with a smile. “That’s not the whole story…”
“Cadet is a fine fellow… he is protective.. He knows how to act… and he is keen to stir up trouble when needed…” Arrinor said. “He knew my plan before anyone else…”
“I mean.. That’s why his eyes were destroyed…” Arrinor said. “Hope you find the blueprint boys…” Arrinor said with a sinister smile before fading away.
“We need to hurry and escape…” Andre said. Just then, the walls started to violently shake and the floor started to crack up. “Devyn! We have to go now!” Andre shouted. The floor between the two broke up and split them.
“Devyn!” Andre shouted. “I’ll be okay!” Devyn shouted back. “You keep going… I’ll find a way to meet up with you!”
“Be careful!” Andre shouted back. “I will!” Devyn shouted before walking off to look for an escape.
Andre looked down into the bottomless pit that stood betweenthem. “Sigh..Maybe this is the way to the blueprint…” Andre said to himself as he walked away.
14
In the hallway…
“Sigh… separated from everyone once again…” Andre said to himself. “What’s the matter?” Arrinor said, appearing out of nowhere. “You know what’s the matter!” Andre yelled at him. “Oh… I’m sorry, did something happen between you and Devyn?” He asked with a sinister laugh.
Andre scoffs and continues down the hall. “Oh, what’s the matter… Are you angry…” Arrinor said, tauntingly. “Just leave me alone…” Andre said, trying to get away from Arrinor. “Oh… Hmm… how about I help you?” Arrinor said. “I know you're looking for the blueprints…”
“I’m not going to make a deal with you…” Andre said. “I know you and Lady Lion were working together…”
“Shame she was torn apart by Cadet, but… I just want you to find a way to repay me in return…” Arrinor said with a smile. “What do you want?” Andre asked with a sigh. “I want for you to bring a part of me back out of the dream realm…” Arrinor said. “I want you… to bring out one dream in return for the blueprints…”
“This has to do with your merging world scheme doesn’t it?” Andre asked. “Oh… you caught me red handed…” Arrinor said with a sinister smile. “Sigh… Deal, but I get to pick the dream…” Andre said. “It’s only fair… So which one?” Arrinor asked. “Let me find Devyn first and then we’ll talk…” Andre said, walking off.
“Oh… you don’t want to do that…” Arrinor said.. “Why not?” Andre asked. “He’ll see you teaming with the villain…” Arrinor said. “We were going to bring the animatronics out of this realm with us…” Andre said. “Oh, but that was before the deal… now… you get to bring out an additional dream…” Arrinor said.
“Sigh…Great…” Andre said sarcastically. “Now, let’s go find your friend shall we?” Arrinor asked. “I guess…” Andre responded.
Moments later…
“Devyn… Where are you?” Andre called out. “Where could he be…”
“Andre?” Someone called out from up ahead. “Devyn!” Andre ran towards the sound of his name and found Devyn hidden in a crack in the wall. “Is he gone?” Devyn asked.
“Is who gone?” Andre asked. “The director…” Devyn responded. Andre looked around looking for a sign of the director. “It’s clear, but I need to talk to you about something…” Andre said.
“What is it?” Devyn asked. “Arrinor found me and said he would give me the blueprints in return for taking out an extra dream from this place…” Andre said.
“What?!” Devyn yelled. “You can’t be serious… he has the blueprints?”
Andre nods his head. “We have no other choice…” Andre said. “I think we should bring out a mini demonic spider…”
“I say we say no deal and leave now…” Devyn said. “But we need to get these blueprints…” Andre argued. “Guys?” a familiar voice sounded out from Andre’s bag. “Guys?”
“Oh… my walkie-talkie… I still have it,” Andre said. “Guys?” the voice said. “We’re here Cadet…” Andre responded.
“Good… have you found the blueprints?” Cadet asked. “Unfortunately… yes… Arrinor has them…” Devyn said. “Shoot… Then I guess it’s time to back down…” Cadet said. “He said if we bring an additional dream out of here, he would give us the blueprints…” Andre said. “Well say no deal…” Cadet said. “We can just try to remake them from memory…”
“We’ll find a way… I promise…” Andre said. “I know we will, but for now… fall back…” Cadet said. “Talk to you later… the spider demon is returning…” The walkie-talkie went silent.
“Now what…” Devyn asked. “Now we go deeper and find the blueprints…” Andre responded.
15
“Deeper? Are you crazy?!”Devyn asked. “He will have our heads if we refuse…”
“You head back to the door… stay hidden…” Andre said. “I’ll search for a little while longer…”
“Are you sure?” Devyn asked. “I’m sure… now go… hurry…” Andre said, pushing Devyn in the direction he came from.
“Now to continue going deeper into the dark…” Andre said, heading deeper into the fifth floor. “Where could they be…”
“Where would what be?” Arrinor asked as he appeared. “These?” The blueprints suddenly appear in his hand. “I know you're falling back on the deal…” Arrinor said in anger. “You can have these… but… you’ll have to go through your deepest fear…”
“And what is that?” Andre asked. “This…” Arrinor said before leading Andre into a dimly lit room with his mother tied to a table. “Andre?!” Andre’s mother cried out. “Andre, is that you?”
“Mom!” Andre ran down to his mother’s side. “How did you get down here?!”
“I got a text from Adrian and came to see everything for myself…” Andre’s mom explained. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have followed, but I did because I was worried and now…”
“Mom… you were worried… you had a right to follow…” Andre said. “This is all my fault… Now you're here… and Adrian’s dead…”
“Andre… you kept looking for your younger brother and there is no fault in that… there are consequences, but it’s okay…” Andre’s mom said. “You just wanted to have closure on Matthew’s disappearance…”
“I found him in the end, but now I’m about to lose the rest of my family in return...” Andre said with tears. “It’s okay… just escape from here and keep him safe…” Andre’s mom said. A knife suddenly impaled Andre’s mom through the heart. “Mom!” Andre called out in tears.
“Take these and continue to suffer…” Arrinor said, handing Andre the blueprints. “This is why you're trappeddown here… you belong in hell…” Andre said, grabbing the knife.
“Oh… So he says…” Arrinor said, teasingly. Andre raised the knife. “Sweet Dreams…”
Moments later…
“Devyn, we have to go now!” Andre said, running with the blueprints in hand. “Why?!” Devyn asked. “The place is coming down!” Andre yelled as the room behind him fell apart.
“Run!” Andre called out. Devyn opened the door and started to run up, Andre followed while jumping over big holes in the floor.
Moments later they made it to the entrance to the basement and ran out. “Phew… What happened down there?” Devyn asked. “I did it…” Andre muttered. “You did what?” Devyn asked. “I snapped after he killed my mom…” Andre said. “I killed him and now this place is coming apart…”
“We have to go now…” Devyn said, as the darkest end of the hall started to crumble. Devyn grabbed Andre’s hand and started to run.
Towards the entrance, stood the rest of the group. “There you guys are!” Apollo called out. “We have to go now!” Andre yelled. “This place is coming apart!”
“How?!?” Cadet asked. “I took the life of the dream demon…” Andre responded. “You killed Arrinor?!?” Olympia asked. “Oh geez… Let’s hurry…”
The entrance to the realm suddenly opened. “We have to go through!” Apollo asked. “Everyone quick!” One-by-one the group jumped through the exit, leaving Andre, Devyn, and Cadet in the realm.
“We are almost there!” Devyn called out. “OOmph!” Andre said, tripping. Devyn reached the exit, not realizing Andre was not right behind him. “Andre?” Devyn called out.
Devyn suddenly looked over and saw Andre on the floor. “Andre!” Devyn yelled, before looking up. “Watch out! Spider behind you!” Devyn shouted. Andre got up and turned around. “Oh shoot!” Andre shouted before running. “Both of you, get out!” Andre shouted. “Now!”
“I can’t leave you!” Devyn yelledback. “Cadet, get him out!” Andre commanded as he ran. “I’ll be fine!”
Cadet nodded and pushed Devyn through the exit before exiting himself. “Now to deal with you…” Andre said, turning around. Andre looked in the remains of his bag and pulled out the spear he used to free Jordan from the demonic clown. “Eat spear, you freak!” Andre shouted, tossing the spear at the spider before continuing to run.
The spear hit the spider and slowed it down enough to be swallowed by the crumbling realm. “Andre hurry!” Jordan called out from the other side of the exit. As Andre finally reached the exit, something grabbed his leg and pulled him down. “Ack!” Andre exclaimed before realizing the librarian. “BE QUIET!” it shouted. Andre looked at the portal. “So close…” Andre said to himself. “BE QUIET!” the librarian creeched once more.
It suddenly hit Andre that things might not turn out okay for him. “Sigh… Guys, take the blueprints!” Andre shouted before tossing the blueprints through the exit. “And… take care of Matthew…”
The librarian suddenly started to pull Andre farther from the exit. “Andre!” Devyn shouted. Suddenly Devyn jumped back through the exit and ran towards the librarian with a shovel he had found near the campsite. “Eat this!” Devyn said, hitting the librarian.
Devyn then helped Andre up and through the exit before the remains of the realm finished collapsing. “It’s over…” Andre said. “The realm is gone and with it… four others…”
“We were one death away before Arrinor could have been released…” Cadet said. “Let’s get out of this forest before anything else happens…” Jordan said. “Agreed… I just want the comfort of my own bed…” Connor said.
“Time for us to go home as well…” Matthew said to Andre. “What about you guys?” Andre asked Apollo, Olympia, and Cadet. “Weare going to stay with Laney until we are done being repaired…” Olympia said. “Well they are…” Cadet said. “Where are you going?” Jayce asked Cadet. “I’m going with Andre and Matthew because they’re still going to need to be watched over… Well Matthew at least…” Cadet said. “You both still have school and we can’t have you sacrificing your education to take care of Matthew…”
“I promise.. We’ll also get you and Axe separated…” Andre said. “Laney will use the blueprints to recreate me for Axe..” Cadet said. “For now… let’s just get home and I’ll release him for a bit…”
“Not before we pick up our little brothers from their babysitter…” Andre said. “Wait… Is Ricky and Austin okay?” Matthew asked. “They're fine… They started school and Jaycen and Kayden are still babysat…” Andre informed Matthew as the survivors walked out of the Dreamscape woods. “Let’s never come back here again…” Andre said. “Agreed…” Devyn said.
The End!
But wait…
Back in the dreamscape woods where the group had escaped from the dream realm…
A spark flashed from the ground and a door opened up. A man wearing a detective uniform came out from the door. “Finally here…” the man said. “I shall find you again…” the man said, pulling out a photo of Andre. “And I’ll make you pay for what you did to father…”
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