In the dreamscape of one’s sleep-filled mind there are many lands, ranging from the warm sunny beaches of the endless tropical islands where many find luxury and relaxation to the dark and decrepit ruins of mystery and adventure. These lands are filled with the once original figments of singular creators that now lay in wait for new visitors every nightfall. The dreamscape may seem new and individual, but it is a shared land amongst many consciousnesses where each adventure is already laid out, though any one mind may be the first to discover it.
Far over the endless oceans from the luxurious islands, through the wavering city sky lines, and clean past the childish meadows full of bright colors and warm animal and plant life, there lies the deepest darkest corner of the dreamscape. The place where nightmares are held. It is not an outright evil place, but certainly one where few visitors wish to find themselves. The towns are often abandoned and the woods thick and dark. Fog is perpetually on the forecast and the sun never rises where the nightmares go. The land is filled with grief and stress, never a calm soul found wandering about. The visitors who find themselves in the land of nightmares have varying reactions; many choose to run though their speed is hindered and for many hours, sometimes even days, it may seem that they never stop and neither does the nightmare that follows them. Others choose to cower and lie in wait hoping that whatever beast, spirit, or man is their hunter may not find them. That is never the case.
When reality calls however, each visitor is saved from their own personal torment for the time. Whether they shall return again that night or in several nights, it is never known. Once the visitors are gone though, the dreamscape is free to run and roam without any intrusions from consciousness. Each land in the dreamscape may take to their freedoms differently but the place of nightmares is a place of hard work too. Without the presence of visitors, the nightmares assemble and discuss what must be done to keep their unwelcome intruders in everlasting fear during their time there. The world outside is an ever evolving one and a nightmare must never be complacent or it will be forgotten.
There in the center of an old abandoned town surrounded by a lifeless forest, a mass of hideous and horrendous things gather to meet one morning as the visitors have just awoken.
“Ah,” a low and deep sigh of relief is heard to break the silence. There sitting upon a dried up well is a man-like being of tall and broad proportions. His limbs are long and covered in rotten flesh. His fingers and toes house blade-like claws. His face distorted and armed with sharp and thick teeth, though his voice is clean and unaffected. “Another good scare, am I right?” he asks casually, already knowing the answer.
“No new conceptions tonight,” another monster standing on all fours and covered in raging matted fur says. “the outside has not yet replaced those of us that remain. I always despise the day that an intruder brings about their own nightmare.” The statement is followed by nods and grunts of agreement from the crowd.
“Oh?” a voice rings out from the farther reaches of the gathering. “Is that so?” the grunting and small talk amongst the nightmares ceases as they look around and some move to make way for the owner of the voice. A small gap opens through the crowd of nightmares and monsters, and from its mouth approaches a man who appears much less fearsome than the others. He walks and looks like any normal man like the visitors. He even wears a well-tailored suit and sports a clean haircut. Though not particularly monstrous, the man does stand at nearly ten feet tall with skin of a dark pale blueish tint and most notable of all; his red beaming eyes that look like pits to hell itself.
“Is it that we, the nightmares, are the ones living in fear then?” the man asks with a sinister tone. “The conception of new nightmares from the visitors is how we grow. All of us where at one time new conceptions ourselves. We came from the visitors! More nightmares produce more fear and soon more visitors for our lands. We should not fear conceptions. We always need more.” The man turned, now at the center of the gathering, to look at as many nightmares personally as he could. “the other lands of the dreamscape need not worry about survival. Visitors will always seek to find them, but there are none who willingly come here. We must force them and thus we must evolve with the appearance of new conceptions, and…” he paused looking far more intense than even the most hideous nightmares, “even with the death of forgotten nightmares. It is simple evolution. New fearsome things are brought by the visitors while the old are forgotten and soon gone.”
The furred beast and the lengthy man whom had spoken earlier shrunk ever so slightly in their spots, mildly ashamed of what they had agreed upon.
“Now then,” the suited nightmare said more casually, “does anyone have anything bad to report?”
There was a long moment of silence.
“Keeping the sour information to yourself will benefit no one,” the suited nightmare said.
Again, a long pause.
“Uh, well you see…” there was a quiet voice from deep within the crowd.
“Yes? What is it? Speak up!”
A short and wide little nightmare came forward slowly pushing his way through the crowd. He looked to be made of something stuffed almost. His body was rounded and his limbs were short and came to a soft point. Only his head gave the slightest impression of horror with a wide gaping mouth and empty hollow eyes. Clearly this nightmare was not meant for the older more mature visitors.
“You see,” the small nightmare began. “There is this little girl.”
“Hmm?” the suited nightmare listened.
“She comes here almost every night. I’ve seen her for the past several years, I almost want to say. Normally I don’t deal with her but so far all of the younger nightmares have tried their shot at scaring her. She is unfazed. I mean normally that would be concerning, but she still keeps coming back night after night even though she doesn’t seem to fear any of us, so I wasn’t even sure it was a bad thing. We’ve had some of the more grotesque and even gore-ish nightmares take a shot at scaring her, but I’m telling you, nothing seems to get to her.”
The suited nightmare leaned back in thought.
“It’s true,” the furred beast chimed in. “I remember, I tried taking her on one night even got some others to help me. She just didn’t budge, not a thing we did seem to have any effect on her.”
“I mean, we all know you have that special technique,” the long-limbed nightmare said. “Maybe as the king of the nightmare’s you could try scaring her?”
“Well,” the suited nightmare responded hesitantly. “I haven’t done that technique in many years. I even swore it off generations ago before any of these visitors were ever born.” Again, the suited nightmare thought to himself. “I will take care of her tonight. I make no promises that I’ll do my special technique but we will certainly see what happens.”
After the meeting the nightmares went about preparing for the nighttime visitors and the suited king of the nightmares himself did the same. None of the others saw him for the rest of the day until the time came. There are always a few who come early, before the nightmare’s side of the dreamscape is crowded. Before long though, there are screams and snarls, hauntings and hunting all around the land of nightmares and still the king waits.
He stood atop the only open hill in their land silent and deep in thought. Before long there approached from the dead forest a visitor who walked as calm as any nightmare did through their own land. She was young only about nine or ten and she wore a faded and slightly torn gown that had more than one stain on it. She met the king of nightmares’ eyes and he made no motions or any attempt to scare her. He merely stood, and so she approached.
“You must be the girl I have heard so much about.” The suited nightmare said.
The girl only stared in silence.
“You do not fear my nightmares?”
“They aren’t scary.” The girl’s face was straight and without emotion.
“How do you mean?” the suited nightmare stepped closer and leaned his enormously tall body over to get his face closer to the girl’s. “What is it that scares you, my girl? You need only tell me and I can see to it that you never end up in these parts of your dreams ever again.”
The girl did not answer for a time. She only swallowed a large gulp. There was fear in her eyes, but it was not from anything in the dreamscape. The suited nightmare ran his cold and long fingers along her gown as he closely examined it. The clothing was not well kept and the tears… the were not accidents.
“I fear ….” The girl began, “something else.” Her head titled down to meet the ground.
The king of nightmares knelt down even farther to be able to meet her eyes. There he saw a familiar look; one he had only seen a handful of times. “I know what it is you fear, dear child.” He then stood again to his full height. “I will tell you a secret, my little girl. I can do something these other nightmares cannot for I am the oldest and most powerful of them. A girl of your age should only have mild fears when she is asleep and nowhere else. However, your true nightmare lies elsewhere and it does not belong there. I will see to its … fixing.”
The little girl only looked up at the monstrously tall nightmare of a man. “He’s coming.” She said and soon her body began to fade from the dreamscape. The king of nightmares’ brow lowered with anger and his lips pursed into a smile. It was time.
* * *
He sat behind the shades of a child’s closet door. From there he could vaguely see the room in its poorly lit fashion. Directly to one side of his door was a bed and in it lay the little girl from the dreamscape. Her body was curled as if well snuggled to sleep, but her eyes were wide and filled with an unholy fear. To the other side of the room was the bedroom door and from it the king of all nightmares could here shouting and crashing. There was a woman and man’s voice. The woman was crying.
Without a warning the bedroom door slammed open and from it the flowing light showed the silhouette of a man. The nightmare could pick up a strong scent of alcohol and heard the man’s heavy breathing.
“Charlotte!” the man shouted as he stood with his fists clenched and his knees readily bent. “Wake up! Charlotte!” The man leapt to the side of the bed and grabbed the corner of the sheet with all his angered strength in search of the little girl’s leg. Instead he found a nightmare.
Immediately the light from the next room went out and a terrible darkness swarmed Charlotte’s room. Tendrils of shadow and blackened mass leaked from the closet door and found themselves to the man’s legs. From the darkest corner of the room, two gleaming red eyes appeared followed by the sharp almost glowing teeth of a monstrous smile. The face made its way to meet the man as his shadow like tendrils grasped the foul drunkard’s legs and held him in place. A dark hand with spiked fingers gently rubbed against the man’s cheeks and then firmly grasped his shoulder.
Fear was a familiar sight to the most dangerous nightmare. He had seen the look that now found itself on the drunken father’s face many times before. The blood left the man’s plump cheeks and he was immediately sober.
“Monsters don’t belong in the house,” The nightmare spoke. “They belong only in dreams.” His teeth clanked and moved closer to the man’s face with every word. “I command the fears of people’s hearts, and you have gone outside my authority. This I cannot allow.” With that the nightmare’s grip on the man tighten exponentially, and the now sober drunkard reeled back in fear. “I am the monster under your daughter’s bed and now also the one who will haunt your every thought. You will not sleep, day dream, or so much as close your eyes without seeing my face and knowing true fear. Sleep and rest will forever escape you. I will follow you everywhere and keep your mind within my grip at all times. This little girl has experienced a fear no one should know,” The nightmare began to lift the old drunkard off his feet as his tendrils of darkness gripped the man’s arms and legs. “but I will see to it that you suffer ten-fold for everything you have put her through.” The nightmare’s face was now so close to the man that his teeth were practically cutting the man’s face with every word. His eyes glistened a hellish red with the pleasure of the abusive father’s fear. “Don’t worry, her dreams will be filled with nothing but delight from now on. You will never know such joy.”
The man’s breathing heightened and his face grew pale. Turning back, the nightmare could see that the little girl was lying in her bed with her eyes gently closed and her body relaxed. She had fallen asleep blissfully unaware of what was taking place. The nightmare turned back to the father.
“I am king of the dark and master of fear. I plague the minds of the wicked and keep the vile up at night. I choose who should lie in bed swallowed by their own demons at night, and nightmares like you belong to me, for I am the boogey man.”