Lucas C

The memory of his latest visualisation was coming back to Brandon as he awoke from a horrific nightmare; like one in a movie but real. The boy always had nightmares, ever since he was six years old. Due to their realistic severity, he was not let to go outside by his psychiatrist. His safety was everyone’s top priority. Dr Ark was a very protective person, especially of Brandon. He had been advised to write in a journal, describing his nightmares. The doctor had to see Brandon and his parents every month. Ark inspected the journal and found that each nightmare was scarier than the last. The doctor had given him a book on his last visit about controlling his nightmares, hoping to reduce the scariness of them but it had not progressed very well.

One night, Brandon was dreaming, as usual, but this night would be one he would not forget. This dream was different; he visualised the future, which was rare. The next morning, he wrote down the threatening words of the nightmare. His whole body froze after he wrote the words. His parents came into the room. They stood blankly and shocked. After ten minutes, Brandon became conscious, his parents read the words he had written. Truth. Dr Ark had made a call. Not an urgent but just a monthly call to see them. The doctor had heard Brandon’s parents screams and had asked what had happened. Immediately, the doctor had asked to see them.

When the doctor peered over the journal, he was amazed at the word. He had never dealt with this type of stuff.

“This is the work of someone controlling someone’s nightmare,” Dr Ark thought to himself. After a while, Brandon spoke for the first time that day.

“There was a riddle in the nightmare that went like this:

Beware! Beware, the world of nightmares.

Many explore but none come out

Truths and obstacles will stand in your wills

You will definitely be in doubt.”

“I am afraid this will happen very soon,” Dr Ark sighed. “You must be prepared to enter this world, Brandon.”

Brandon’s nerves and bones shook after the conversation. He did not want to go to the world he feared, he had only visualised him going in. Now, Brandon was even more afraid but he had a little thought. Maybe something great would happen after he went in and got back out. Still, no one had come out of the world, the poem had said.

Two days later, Brandon decided it was the right time to face the fate he was not looking forward to. The doctor’s words had made him nervous. His palms were sweaty. The doctor had instructed Brandon reflect on what he had visualised and follow that. Brandon knew nothing about the world but he could hear the calm words in his head “Trust your own instincts,” the psychiatrist had said. As he reached closer to the window feverishly, a swirl of pale greens and orangish air awaited him. The air was very foul and if you were not careful, you would faint. He glanced back at his nightmare recalling the poem till he reached the word doubt. As he ascended even closer to the clouds of orangish and pale green air, a half green and half blue jacket, and a trident appeared on him. He counted to six and exhaled for two seconds. He took one last look at the earth and jumped in.

The chill winds flew quickly like he was a close friend that has not met for a long time. To the right of him, fallen trees and swords hinted many people had gone in and had never gone out. Above his head, scary whispers spoke and then suddenly moved to the other side of the world. As he headed further into the world, it grew cooler and darker. The darkness reminded him of a time when he was playing at night with a friend named Ferry. They played until midnight, when no one was still awake. Blump! Brandon stepped in a large puddle of mud. He jumped with fright, trying to help himself to stand straight. Cold mud was one of Brandon’s worst fears and this world was full of it.

Suddenly a voice spoke. It consisted of a high-pitched voice. Brandon could now hear two voices. One high pitched and one raspy. It took Brandon several hushed minutes to work out where the voices came from. He glanced around. Now in front of him stood two ghosts. One shaped like a sword; the other shaped like a walking stick. The sword spoke: “I am Gust and my friend is Fluster, you do look like an insider, you are a foreigner, right?”

“I am a foreigner, bu…

“We hate your type of people, they are just so different. We will bring you to Lord Ghost. I need to see what you are like before I can release you,” Fluster informed with a rage look on his face. Brandon knew that ghosts did not have strength so he ran away, through the forest without knowing where he was going. Soon, he fell onto the floor, fainted on a pile of dead leaves. His face went pale.

“Aargh!” Brandon cried. Something was stopping him from moving. When he opened his eyes, he saw what was not something that he had come across before. It was a troop of what he now knew as zhinys. He saw the name was on their head. They were dark grey in colour. These creatures somehow did not develop eyes but they could see. They had elf-like ears, snapping dangerous jaws, frog-like feet, three fingers and ripped pants. To Brandon’s relief this troop was only small. Troops could vary from seven to two hundred zhinys, the number you never what to see in front of you. It just so happened that the animals were fetching water and they saw Brandon along the way and waited for him to wake up. Now, he had to get through the troop. Fortunately, they did have any weapons but their hands were deadlier. “Ouch!” Brandon had been smacked in the face by the leader of the troop. Continuous hits left Brandon lying there, near dead but not exactly. It took him ten minutes to arise from the ground.

Ahead of him, lay a cluster of rocks. These were not the small and round ones. These were about the size of ten big rocks put together. The huge rock was ten times sharper than a normal rock. There lay ten humongous rocks. Suddenly, a growl awakened the rocks and all of them came tumbling down. Behind the rocks, there was a hound. The hound had crocodile-like teeth, beady eyes, a lightning tail and a spiky collar. The creature broke out in a chase and ran after Brandon. He now thought why everything was against him. The paws of the hound interrupted his thought. He could feel the hound’s breath, so he ran even faster. Moments later, the hound had called and other hounds joined the chase. They were all there for one reason, to target Brandon. He had no gap to slip through, he was trapped.

Brandon stood there, waiting for a movement of the hounds, as the hounds reached even closer to him. Behind Brandon, there lay darkness. The further the hounds got to him, the closer he was to the immortal darkness. A sound broke the silence. “My precious dogs, come towards him and bring him to me,” the voice spoke. Somehow, the dogs could understand and they edged Brandon to move into the dark. He had no choice, so he moved with the hound pack behind him. Eventually, the howls of the dogs forced him to the ground.

In the next second, he found himself in a room. He was staring at a ceiling. The place he was at right now was warmer than the last spot he had been. He could still hear the low grumbling of the hounds behind him. He arose from the ground like he was coming back from the dead. He looked around, this had never been a place that existed in this world Brandon thought. This made Brandon even more scared as he did not know where to escape. As he gazed back to his initial position, he found that a person was staring at him. He looked like a friend of his but he had forgotten the name. Brandon suddenly remembered. It was Ferry, but he was totally different. He had four hands, two with circle weapons and one with a pentadent (a trident but with two more spikes and deadlier). “Why are you here, Ferry?” asked Brandon.

“I am not Ferry anymore, I am Lord Cunning,” replied Ferry with an evil smile.

Brandon’s bones shivered. “Come and work with me to control how people visualise things in their nightmares, there are so many advantages of that than to listen to your stupid psychiatrist telling you what to do. It is time for you to be yourself and do it yourself,” Ferry persuaded him with all his might.

“You made me visualise all this so I could work with you?” Brandon questioned, not really believing it.

“Yes, that is the uttermost true and correct,” Ferry whispered silently. “If you do not work with me, I will kill you till your body turns to dust. I am coming for you,” Ferry continued. Brandon ran as fast as his stubby legs would let him go but Ferry’s speed always beat him, at every Athletics’ Carnival they had together. Brandon fell to the ground trying to go the other way, only to be harmed by Ferry’s circle weapons which were hypnotization. He fell immediately to the floor.

Moments later, Brandon woke up slowly. It took him ten minutes to arise from the ground. The villain fell asleep while Brandon was hypnotized. Brandon used this chance to stab Ferry (Lord Cunning) with his trident. Suddenly, a bright light glowed in place of Ferry but in the air. It was a red diamond which now shone the world with light, not like before where it was all dark and miserable. Brandon reached out for it, he just managed to grasp hold of the diamond. He ran back to the entrance as quickly as he reached for the diamond. Soon, he travelled back to Earth. He arrives with a thud. His window returns to normal and all his clothes are gone. He now remembered he had the diamond tucked carefully in his hand. He held it to the sky and it exploded into a million pieces or more. Then a voice spoke “The diamond restores everyone’s nightmares to good use and it will help you control your own nightmares so it's natural not artificial. Brandon learns that miserable events can turn into amazing things.