Tap Tap Tap
Tap Tap
Tap
It took a second for Hannah to realize that her father had once again ceased doing anything, but just as she wondered if she should tap the Dream Gem once, her father’s recorded visage moved. Specifically, his hands grabbed onto the sidearm of his simple desk chair to reposition his body as if he had been sitting in one pose for too long and his body needed the flexing to feel better.
“Before we continue, I have to explain something to you, my dear daughter.” Hannah’s ears heard. “It relates to your future life as a Dreamer. Particularly about your interaction with Dreams and Nightmares.
First of all, anything and everything is ruled by one simple Profound Law, Balance.
Balance between Chaos and Order.
Balance between Good and Evil, etc etc.
What I want to point your attention to is the dynamic between Dreams and Nightmares as they represent both, with Dreams being of Good and Law, while Nightmares being of Evil and Chaos.
Still… While those Profound forces are at the core of Dreams and Nightmares, it's not that obvious since shades of gray exist between them. Some Dreams are less Good and more Law and some are more Good than Law. The same applies to Nightmares, as some are more Evil than Chaotic, while some are more Chaotic than Evil.
The point is this.
The Nightmare that has infested your Dream Instance, is far closer to a simple animal because you would not be here if it had truly been a truly Evil one. As such, your Nightmare is probably more Chaos-based, thus much more instinctive with its behavior than a villainous mastermind that had plotted your downfall.
Think about everything you have gone through.
Examine everything you can and tell me of your perceived Truth.
Is my assessment correct or not? Tap once for yes and twice for no.”
Done speaking, Hannah watched her father freeze in place again.
Not hurrying towards the Dream Gem, Hannah wondered where her father was going with his explanations, and did it even matter?
Did he not say that she could overcome it and be rid of it for eternity?
So why was he now asking her to think and reason about its existence?
To justify its existence?
Why?
Then it came to her.
Hannah’s brown eyes settled on the paper on the desk, on the words Pocket Monster.
Oh, how it clicked in her mind.
Oh, how she wanted to deny the reasoning.
But, just like a hook that had bit deep into its prey while refusing to release its prey, Hannah could not shake away the aggrieved emotions rising from her depths at the thought that her father could imagine, much less consider, her to take the monster as a pet of all things.
The same monster that had flayed her skin, muscles, organs, and bones alike, countless times.
The same monster that had tormented her for the last seven years so much that she had grown up to resemble more a robot in human skin than a human being just to escape the torment.
Gritting her teeth real hard, Hannah refused to entertain the thought, yet just as she might, she could not bring herself to walk to the Dream Gem and simply smush it apart to deny the possibility even further.
At the same time, she refused to interact with the Dream Gem, to hear what her father had to say next. Instead, Hannah’s eyes simply rolled around the office without any tether on which to lay their sight. When that was not enough, her mind desperately cried out for her need to get out of the office. When the denial, the untethered awareness, and the desperate need to leave grew strong enough, Hannah felt a sudden door within her awareness. Without even slowing down, her awareness rushed for the said door, and in an instant, the office was no more.
Hannah was back in her, and her mothers, bedroom, laying on a laid-out but somewhat thick blanket, while another covered her body.
With every second that passed, her mind’s clarity increased until all the sleepiness vanished from her thoughts.
Instead, her mind went into an overdrive of this and that.
Sadly that was no true release that she craved instinctually.
Moments passed, and quite fast at that, as Hannah’s mind busied itself.
Soon enough, light breached the only window in the room.
Thankfully, having already brooded half the night, seeing it helped Hannah settle her thoughts on anything but her father's words and actions. That being the case, she stood up, prepped the blankets, and rolled and folded them into one bundle before placing them within the larger cabinet meant to hold them, alongside her and her mother's clothes.
Picking anything soft, not that she had that many options to begin with, Hannah made her way to the living room/kitchen. There, she picked up a kettle, filled it with water, and turned on the gas flame to heat the water. Picking up a small jug, a small spoon, a teabag of simple menthol tea, and a bit of sugar, Hannah waited for the water to boil.
The actions helped her take her mind off of things.
Unfortunately, it was not for long since it took very few minutes for her tea to be ready.
Taking the handle of her small jug, Hannah walked to the sofa and small table before it. Placing her jug of tea on the table, she picked up the TV remote and turned on the TV.
Seeing the black and white dots before the pictures sharpened made Hannah remember the crystal clear clarity of her D-Card back inside her…
Ceasing her thoughts, Hannah desperately began switching channels, not that there were that many to begin with as every single one of them was on analog instead of the new digital that was the trend these days. Either way, barely ever watching TV, and not quite seeing anything interesting to take her mind away, Hannah switched back to the only interesting channel, Cartoon Network.
With it in place, she watched the silly animated stories one after the other, only none seemed to entertain her that much while the sips of the menthol tea helped soothe her nerves.
Yet, it was as if it was not meant to be when suddenly a new show came up, of a boy and his companion running on a grassy field toward a horizon.
I want to be the very best. Like no one ever was!
To catch them is my real Test. To train them is my Cause!
I will travel across the Land. Searching far and wide!
Each Pokemon to understand, the power that's inside!
Pokemon!
Gotta catch 'em all!
It's you and me!
I know it's my destiny!
Pokemon!
Hearing it.
Seeing it.
As if it was meant to be.
Hannah’s eyes teared up but refused to flow out.
Instead, she simply used the TV remote to shut down the abomination causing her to feel so.
----------------------------------------
Coming back home, tired and filthy, in more ways than simple dust and grime, Hailey arrived at the front door of her apartment.
Unlocking the door, she entered inside, only the very moment she crossed the small hallway she unexpectedly found her daughter sitting on the small sofa with her legs on the sofa and her arms around the knees.
The very first thought was of her imagining her daughter having another nightmare, but that should not be the case. The pills should have made it so. Reminded of the pills, again, Hailey quickly put her hand in her handbag and took out the plastic container containing this month's batch.
Despite being tired, Hailey put a smile on her face and approached her daughter.
“Honey… Look what I got you.” The instant Hailey spoke up, Hannah’s somewhat absent brown eyes stared at her mother and the things that she held in her left hand. At the same time, the final straw broke the camel and Hannah began bowling her heart out as if there was no tomorrow.
Stunned briefly by the sudden outburst, Hailey just stood there perplexed because her daughter had not been able to express herself for years.
At the same moment, a sudden flash made her remember her daughter’s somewhat strange behavior last week. That was when things clicked in her mind. Dropping the plastic container, and her handbag, Hailey simply rushed toward Hannah.
Once by her side, she simply hugged her daughter as tight as she could. There was no asking what had happened or why it had occurred in the first place. There was only consolation of a simple hug to her daughter before rocking her back and forth to chant her thoughts on instinct.
“It's ok… It's over… I am here for you. It can't hurt you now… It's ok…”
Unfortunately, unlike those early days, her words did not produce comfort. Instead, they somehow only made her daughter cry even harder.
Still, Hailey did not stop because it was the only thing she could do, and that fact haunted her for a long time.
To be so helpless when your child hurts was one of the things all parents feared and dreaded the most, after all, they should be the pillars upon which the child grew into a healthy and smiling adult.
In this case, however, it was as if it was not meant to be.
No doctor could help her.
No matter where she had taken her daughter, they could not stop the nightmares from recurring every night. Even the priests had been useless, making Hailey despise them for even existing.
No, if she had not come across that dubious wondering quack of a doctor.
It was a wild card, but when everything had failed, Hailey had grasped at the straws before her.
Only, contrary to what she had expected, the pills had worked.
Obviously, Hailey never told her daughter the whole truth, of where the pills came from. As a consequence, her daughter became more and more withdrawn as time passed until she simply closed her heart to almost everything.
Naturally, seeing it, Hailey stopped her daughter from taking them any further, but when the nightmares returned, she was faced with no choice at all. Not really. It was either watching her daughter wreath in pain every night or watching her turn emotionless.
Worse of all, the quack doctor knew that undoubtedly, since over the years he had kept extorting higher and higher prices for the pills. That combined with the sudden debt of her late husband, Hailey had been forced to leave her husband's house and downsize to a one-bedroom apartment just to afford living. Even then, it would not have worked had she not threatened the quack with a knife.
After that, while the price had been high, it at least remained stable.
Chanting her chant, and rubbing her daughter’s back, Hailey refused to allow any tears to manifest from her helplessness.
Maybe it was because it had been a long time, or maybe it was because just that much had been stockpiled inside her despite her release within her nightmare, or maybe now it was her body that needed the release, but Hannah’s tears just would not stop because the very second they did, her father’s image flashed through her mind, making her just cry even more.
Soon enough, it was not enough to just cry it out.
“I HATE HIM…” Hannah cried out loudly. “I HATE HIM, MUM. I hate him so much. Why?... Why would he think that I would be fine with it? Why could he not just make it go away? Why… Why? Mum. I don't understand. Why would Father do that?”
“Ehh?” Stupefied by the sudden turn of events, Hailey’s previous groggy thoughts of the past took a 180-degree turn, causing her mind to lag just enough for her daughter to continue her rambling. Even without her answer.
“I hate him…” Hannah cried out, yet it was clear that her hate had diminished somewhat if her tone was any indicator. “I don't want it as a pet!... I don't care what he thinks… It's ugly… It's stupid… And it's evil for what it had done to me all these years… No… I don't want it!”
Stupefied even further, Hailey was entirely out of words on what to say to her daughter. Luckily, her mind finally began working again.
Grabbing her daughter's chin, Hailey forced Hannah’s tear-stricken and snot-smeared face to turn her way before speaking up.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Honey… I am somewhat confused here. I thought you had another nightmare. Was I wrong? Also, how did your father come into the equation?”
----------------------------------------
Just like that, Hailey watched as her daughter’s eyelids opened wide in recognition of having done something that she had not been ready to face, yet at the same time, there was a clear lack of desire to care about it.
Luckily, the shift allowed Hailey to return to her senses as an adult, and a mother, to steer her daughter’s actions into something beneficial. However, before she did, Hailey released her daughter to stand up and retrieve her bag before taking out a pack of tissues so she could wipe her daughter's face from all those tears and all that snot running down her nose.
“Stay still, while I clean you.” Hailey commanded before extending her opinion. “Now since I am confused about what is going on, start from the beginning.”
“Sniff… Ok… Sniff.” Hannah answered immediately before wanting to say something, only the very moment she wanted to say something, she had no idea what to say or where to start. In the end, it began with her school bullies.
What followed was a randomly thrown-together tale, of this and that, that seemed to jump from one event to the other with no actual correlation on the first, or the second, hearing. Truly, it was confusing and it took a while for Hailey to get the right picture.
Yet, as much as that sounded cumbersome, it was the natural flow and style of conversation with her female friends and coworkers.
As such, it did not bother Hailey at all.
No… Truthfully, it was quite the opposite because Hailey could barely remember when her daughter had opened up like this. That being the case, she enjoyed every second of it, as she slowly cleaned up her daughter's face.
On the other hand, a different part of her just itched to rush to said school to inform them of the bullying going on, however, when it was mentioned just who stood behind her bully, Hailey knew there was little that could be done.
It was from there that her daughter's tale switched gears, causing her to realize that her daughter had lied to her, and for a long time at that, about the nightmares in question, and that her nightmares had not, in fact, stopped at all from the pills. No, they continued every night despite their usage. All they had done was numb her to the horror she was experiencing inside them.
However, the part where her daughter mentioned the monster from her nightmare reaching out and yoinking something from her bullies in pure daylight, was a much harder pill to swallow for Hailey since it clearly veered off of the recurring nightly problem.
Either way, once again, Hailey was reminded of that fateful day when she made the choice of allowing the lesser evil to flourish by allowing her daughter to take the pills.
Just as Hailey wanted more information about what Hannah had endured all these years, she noticed her daughter's thoughts and actions derailing from a shy and terrified little girl into a girl budding with a desire to not disappoint her mother.
Thus, while she was glad Hannah had begun changing her mindset, that Hannah had done it for her mother and not for herself, hurt Hailey more than she allowed to show before her already disturbed child. As such, she kept quiet on that front and listened to the tale of her daughter finally taking the first steps of resistance against the monster haunting her dreams.
Nonetheless, Hailey was having a rather tough time imagining the action in her mind, because her daughter's descriptions remained somewhat lackluster.
That was when Hailey understood that everything so far had been but the intro to the story.
Therefore, she listened to the first true chapters starting with Heinrich’s office, the locked door, Heinrich’s key, the subterfuge against the monster, the search, Heinrich’s jacket, the key, the locked door again, when the actual meat of the story arrived with the reveal of Heinrich’s life-like recording manifesting to guide his daughter into something that simply flew right over Hailey’s head.
Truly, to Hiley, it was as if her daughter had been retelling a storybook she once read because the concepts her daughter uttered made no sense, and yet that only made the notion of everything originating from a book more appealing.
Had Hailey not first hand been a witness to her daughter's writhing body every night from the nightmares, alongside the uselessness of the doctors and priests, she would have just dismissed her daughter's allegations of it being real.
It was moments later that Hailey truly understood the crux of her daughter's problem.
“So… Let me get this straight as it is a lot to take in.” Hailey said and spoke up after seeing Hannah nod. “Your father appeared in your nightmares and told you that you no longer have to fear the machinations of the monster? Correct?”
“Yes.” Hannah eagerly answered. “Sniff… Last night, I appeared directly in that office instead of on the old bed as it had always been before. I… Sniff… Am not fully certain if the monster can not enter in the future, but after I used the key to lock the office from the inside… Sniff… a feeling of safety rushed through me as if nothing could come inside without me allowing it. Sniff…”
“Alright…” Hailey commented before moving on with her thoughts. “I know you probably did not want to bring up my hopes only to destroy them when it did not work, but I still wish you'd have told me about it before I bought your pills.” Seeing the understanding don on Hailey's puffed-up face, Hailey shook her head in denial instantly. “Then again, what is a little money in case it did fail and you needed the pills again.”
“Anyway. Back to the real topic.” Hailey announced quickly to shift away from the topic of pills, money, and blame. “Soo… Your father called himself a Dreamer? A Dreamwalker? Then he offered you a choice to be one as well, and you took it?” One sniff and nod later, Hailey continued. “Then in the middle of explaining to you what it took to be one, he went silent and began working on something before eventually nudging you in the direction of… adopting the monster as your pet… monster? Am I correct?”
“Yes… Sniff… No.” Hannah answered before correcting herself. “No exactly… He did not say it yet… Sniff… I was able to read a few words on his papers that…Sniff… hinted at it… Sniff…”
“But you are not absolutely certain?”
Ceasing both her sniffing and moving altogether, Hannah shook her head in denial. “No… I… somehow managed to leave and wake up on my own.”
“I see… Listen, Honey.” Hailey firmly said. “Your father may have hidden this Dreamwalking stuff from me, but I know him as a person, and he would not have mentioned it if he did not think it was for your own good.” Almost instantly, Hailey noticed her daughter’s eyelids narrowing as if she could not believe that even her mother would opt for her to take the monster as a pet. “However, just because he did, it does not mean you have to follow his advice.”
Instantly, Hannah’s face relaxed a tiny bit, and Hailey noted it as well. “Nonetheless, promise me this. If you find yourself back inside that office tonight, let his ghost talk without throwing a tantrum. Then when you have heard enough, don't do anything till you wake up and inform me of everything your father’s ghost said. Ok?”
“Sniff… Ok.” Hannah replied. “I will do that.”
“Alright… Let me freshen up somewhat and make us more tea. Then we can go over the details you might have missed during your sniveling. Hehe…” After saying that, Hailey laughed somewhat before standing up and doing exactly as she told her daughter she would.
It was, however, right in the middle of undressing that her mind caught onto the term Dreamwalker.
Wait… If anything, of what Hannah said was the truth, then did Heinrich enter my dreams as well?
Wait… Could it be that all those embarrassing dreams were his doing?
In the same instant that she thought of it, Hailey turned tomato red on her face.
Truly, if not for her having seen and buried her husband’s body, she would have already beaten the hell out of him for making her do all those embarrassing things.
----------------------------------------
“Remember.” Hannah listened to her mother utter. “Listen and remember what your father’s ghost says. Then, when you arrive at what you assume to be a very important moment that needs a lengthy period of deliberation, cease everything and we will speak about it tomorrow after I return from work.”
“I will, Mom.” Hannah replied before bidding her mother goodbye for the night.
“Good.” With a nod of approval, Hailey left, and Hannah stared at her mother's vanishing visage as she turned the corner before taking the stairs down since the apartment complex had no elevator.
Luckily, their apartment was on the second floor, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, like with the floor above them.
Back inside, naturally after locking the front door, Hannah tried to take her mind off of what was incoming, but it was hard, and even doing some studying and light homework from the previous school day, as her mother had called her in as sick after her sudden downpour of tears and snot, had done little to sway her away from mindless pondering.
In the end, when Hannah became aware of once again being present in her father’s office, she took her mother's advice by taking a deep breath and making her way toward the Dream Gem, when a small conundrum reached her.
She had forgotten what exactly the last words of her father were, thus making her doubt what she needed to reply with.
Thankfully, it was as if a solution was just there, in the back of her mind. All Hannah had to do was reach for it and it came to her, word by word.
As such, Hannah pondered upon the inquiry and chose her answer.
Tap Tap
“Wrong you say?” Hanna heard her father ask, with a slight tilt of his head as if he was wondering about something. “Let's confirm, just to be sure. I inquired from you if your experience under the Nightmare felt closer to an animal lashing out with its instincts than out of pure malice, right? Your answer said that it is more Evil. Right?”
Tap
“Hmm… From my experience, that should not be the case with a Spawn.” Hannah heard, only her attention shifted to the name her father used to describe the monster. “Either your perception of its actions is clouded by your negative experience under it or there is indeed something to it, at least, there should be after taking into account the fact that you did indeed generate a Supreme Dream Gem.
No… This one-sided guess from me won't work. Let us try it differently by identifying the Nightmare within your Dream Instance. At the same time, I can tell you a bit about them.
Tap once if you're ready to hear and twice if you want to take a break.”
Blinking at the thought of a break, Hannah simply dismissed it and taped the Dream Gem once.
“Alright…
The first thing you should know is that, compared to Dreams, there are an infinite amount of Nightmares in existence.
Slay one and another shall manifest somewhere out there in existence to take its place. The reason for that is that Nightmares embody the Principle of Quantity while Dreams embody the Principle of Quality.
That aside, while there are an infinite amount of Nightmares, they can still be grouped into three rough groups; The Hazards, The Horrors, and The Terrors. Naturally, there are overlaps here and there, especially at the highest Evolutionary Class, but there is a reason those three groupings have stuck so far.
The Hazards, I am immediately disqualifying from your equation as they are more instinctive in their nature. Additionally, they are too strong to be considered here, so much so that even comparing a mosquito to an elephant would be an understatement, with you being the mosquito and the Nightmare the elephant.
Hmm… Simply said, The Hazards are natural walking disasters that cover huge zones with their influence, hence they often take root in one place and simply stay there to wait for their prey to come to them, which happens more times than you think since those very same zones became a treasure trove of goodies after a Hazard stays for any prolonged amount of time.
Oh… by the amount of time, I don't mean months or years, but centuries and millennia.
Hence, a Hazard is not your problem.
Onto the next.”
“The Horrors are quite similar to The Hazards in that they are walking disasters, but they are more… unnatural in their case, since all of the Horror Nightmares like to indulge during the process of executing their purpose upon the innocent.
Similar to Hazards, they also like to take root in places, but unlike Hazards it's never permanent, or for very long periods of time. The longest I have seen one is a few decades, but even that was stretching it.
Instead, they hop around every few years once there is no more prey upon which to feast.
However, what makes the Horrors unique is the fact that their manner of preying upon the innocent deals with large amounts of terrifying scenarios, laid out with careful thought and planning, for the most part, in order to shepherd larger amounts of innocent individuals into that terrifying scenario before squeezing them of the greatest amount of Fear they could generate.
As such, they produce the greatest number of casualties out of all the Nightmares, on an individual basis that is.
Therefore, when one thinks of Evil, they are usually the ones that come to one’s mind.
The Terrors, on the other hand, behave similar to Horrors in that they take root from time to time before eventually moving on to greener pastures, but unlike the Horrors, they personify not the hidden and the unknown danger slowly sapping you of everything, but the actual Monsters you hear in fairy tales, where the Hero sets out to vanquish the Monsters plaguing the land.
Unlike Hazards and Horrors, Terror Nightmares have the highest amount of variety in their shapes and forms, as well as tricks with which to utilize said shapes and forms.
Hmm… quite a few have actual civilizations to back them up. Naturally nothing quite that advanced. More like very large tribes that barely function coherently as a whole, with very few exceptions. Either way, those types of Nightmares usually belonged to the lower ranks.
At the highest ranks, though? Well, it can vary, but it's much more probable than not that a Dragon takes the first place, and if not, it's very close to it.
All that said, the very last thing I want to mention is that, usually speaking, of course, for every place that holds at least a thousand Terror Nightmares, there are at least ten Horror Nightmares, and for every ten Horror Nightmares, there is at least one Hazard Nightmare present.
Now take your time and consider what I have told you and tell me your answer by tapping the Dream Gem once for Horror and twice for Terror. However, if that is still not enough, tap three times and we will try a different method of identification.”
Much was told to Hannah, and much had to be considered if she wanted to identify her Nightmare.
In the end, to her at least, it was clear that her Nightmare had traits of both Horrors and Terrors. So, as indicated, Hannah tapped the Dream Gem thrice.
Tap Tap Tap
“Still not sure? Alright.” Hannah heard. “Hmm… Considering Hazards are out immediately, we can leave out the abstract shapes and forms. Therefore, answer me this. Does your Nightmare resemble anything close to a human? Tap once for yes, twice for no.”
This one, Hannah did not even have to think about it.
Tap Tap
“Good, just that very fact tosses out a very large chunk of possibilities. That being the case. Does your Nightmare resemble some kind of animal? Tap once for yes, and twice for no.”
Blinking a few times, Hannah answered.
Tap
“Animal shape or form it is. Does your Nightmare resemble a land animal?”
Tap Tap
“Does your Nightmare resemble any kind of air animal, like a bird of prey or something?”
Tap Tap
“Hmm… Interesting… Sea animal?”
Tap
“Mmm… Fish?”
Tap Tap
“Umm… If it's not fish-like, then that probably counts out the sea mammal variants like dolphins and whales as well. Alright. Crustaceans? You know those many limbed sea-bed crawling creatures with pincers as hands?”
Tap Tap
“Sigh… Not them either?” In the same instance, Hannah saw her father shake his head as if he did not like where this was going. “Cephalopod? If you don't know that term, then squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, or nautiluses, you know those seashell creatures.”
Tap
“Sigh… I am not sure if you know their differences, but we can work with that.”
“Does it have any shells on its body?”
Tap Tap
“Ugh… Tentacles?”
One shiver later.
Tap
“Eight or more? Tap thrice if you are unsure.”
Tap Tap Tap
“I don't like where this is going. Eyes?”
Tap
“Many eyes?”
Tap Tap
“One pair of eyes?”
Tap Tap
“Huh… One eye?”
Though it was brief, Hannah could have sworn she saw a slight sign of relief on her father's face.
Tap
With the last tap, Hannah observed a flicker in her father’s recorded visage.
Then when it refocused, she saw him place multiple drawings on the desk before him. Drawings that resembled, remarkably at that, her monster, only every single one of them had its own uniqueness.
“Take a look at these. Identify the closest possibility. Note the number on its page and tap the Dream Gem that many times. Be sure of how many times you tap, since you don't want to mess up now.”
Some of them were more nebulous.
Some of them were more singular while some simply made no sense to her eyes.
Still, there was one drawing that instantly clicked with her.
It had a main bulbous body, one large actual eye, and the tentacles rising from said bulbous body. However, unlike her monster, the drawn monster had teeth below its large eye and additional eyes on each end of its tentacles. Moreover, there were some variations on the drawings that displayed similar shapes, but clearly originated from the same source.
Whatever the drawn monster was, and whatever the differences might be between her actual monster and those on her father’s drawing, something deep inside Hannah was telling her that her choice was the right one.
Taking note of the number on the page, Hannah quickly but carefully taped the Dream Gem thirteen times.
“Phu… Thank goodness it's just a Beholder.” Hannah heard her father declare in relief. “For a few damn moments, I had imagined a Kraken, well… a Baby Kraken.”