Dreamcatcher

Welcome to Ray and Carol's dream-shop, where they guarantee you a pleasant night of sleep. However, when a stranger comes up to them to sell them a nightmare, what chaos will ensue?

Ray sighed and scratched his red hair. Outside, hailstones were piercing through the overcast sky, descending in rain-like torrents and crashing to the ground. This meant that the shop would have to be closed for the day. Ray had been looking forward to curling up in his new leather armchair by the fireplace, reading his new copy of Very Complicated, Ancient, Boring Poetry that You Can Quote to be Pretentious with Your Friends, 1223-1250 A.D.

Instead, he had to deal with… this.

The bell tinkled as a tall, dark, but not so handsome stranger pranced into the store. He brandished a green bottle with smoke inside, and held it in front of Ray's eyes.

“This is what I call a nightmare.” The cloaked stranger tipped his black fedora over his piercing grey eyes.  

Ray nudged his assistant, Carolyn in the ribs and mouthed the words Don’t buy a thing he says. She nodded. She probably knew that it was her big chance to impress him, so he would teach her how to operate a dreamcatcher, so that she could learn how good dreams were caught and distilled into serum so they could be sold. No wonder she was so attentive, Ray mused as he saw her sit up just a little bit straighter, her teeth gritted determinedly.

“And what is this nightmare?” Ray asked in a monotone. The man’s mouth curled into an O of feigned surprise.

“What? You mean that neither of you good people have heard of a nightmare? But you seem so educated, so smart! And you happen to own the only dream-shop in town-” he gushed, gesturing towards the empty stall outside the circular window. Its wooden table and chairs lay on the barren ground, as if they were cursing their owner for leaving them alone to brave the blustering wind.

“A nightmare is exactly the opposite of what you sell. It is merely a bad dream.  Because, let’s face it. Are deluded fantasies and sweet nothings really the best way to tap into a person’s heart? No! You need sadness, my friends, to know what it is to be happy. Just like how you need darkness to bring out your inner light. Let’s say this business deal works out, we do team up, and I sell someone a nightmare. He becomes afraid. He starts to shake and shiver in a stupor of fear. He collapses to the ground. That, my precious, is when you sell him a real good dream,” he said, sashaying over to Carolyn, bending down and looking into her eyes with an intense gaze. She leaned back in the leather armchair, her face contorting into an expression of sheer disgust.

“Eww,” she spat. “Get off me! You’re gross, and your nightmare thing is sick!”

Ray gave her a small smile as the visitor took a startled step back, scowling. His assistant’s insults were rather over-the-top, but they did give him a good excuse to throw the salesperson out of the house.

“You’re bothering my assistant, so I’d make a quick exit if I were you,” Ray said, stepping out of his chair, striding onto the red willow carpet and putting a firm hand on the merchant’s back.

“Now.”

The hawker’s face immediately became pale, and he looked down at his feet.

“Y-y-yes, sir. Sorry for bothering you,” he stuttered, shuffling towards the door. The salesperson grabbed his umbrella and gave the two of them a brief nod before he said rather nervously, “But the two of you might j-just-just want-”

Carol had evidently reached the end of her tether. Her eyebrows twitched. Her fists clenched. Without a word, she stomped over to the door and pushed it open with all her force. A loud bang resonated as birch wood met brick wall, and with it, the sound of the crashing of glass. Wind had blown through the open entryway, causing several vials of potion to fall to the ground and murky green liquid to ooze across the room. But Carolyn, in her trance of rage, hadn’t noticed the mess that she had made.

“Get out before I call the police!”

Ray winced. Knowing Carol, she was probably going to stab the salesman's eyes out, castrate him, then shred whatever was left of his manliness into a million pieces before spilling his guts out onto the floor. Figuratively speaking, of course, but Ray knew that the vendor was going to get himself into pretty deep trouble from Carol if he didn’t leave within the minute. The shop owner, too, marched towards the door.

“I agree,” Ray said menacingly.

“Leave. Now.”

His victim gulped.

“Okay, I’m leaving. I’m leaving!” The cloaked salesperson took one last shuffle towards the exit, casting Carolyn one last look of fear mixed with loathing. She didn’t wait to see him off safely before she slammed the door shut, and gave Ray a pointed look. He immediately changed his expression to one of kindness. Patting her on the head, he said,

“You okay, girl? Now do what I employed you for. I’ll clean your mess up, and you can make me breakfast.” She nodded, then skipped into the kitchen, humming a tune.
Ray smiled. Since his assistant had come to live with him, the shop-house had certainly become a lot noisier. No matter how many times Carol reiterated that she was already eighteen, that there were only four years of age difference between the two of them and that she no longer needed to be babied, he couldn’t help but feel that he had to treat her like she was no more than a child of five.

But then again, he had hired her for her innocence, her naïveté.

It was worth a lot more than the attraction of many pedophilic customers.

A lot more.

--------------------------

Drink it.

Drink it.

Just drink it! Ray thought, scrutinizing the glass in front of him, eyeing it as an artist would eye a cantankerous stain on his white canvas that refused to come off. Grabbing the glass with his muscular right arm, he lifted it to his lips, letting the smell of rat guts waft into his nose. With a quick opening of his mouth and a quick maneuver of his hand, he tipped the brown liquid into his throat, gulping it down at the speed of light. The aftertaste of newt dung spread across his tongue, and he pulled a face. He had to drink the concoction every time he wanted to pull an all-nighter of work, and it tasted worse every time.

As he set his empty glass down on his timber bedside table, Ray heard the quick rapping of knuckles on his bedroom door. He groaned out loud.

“What is it? If it’s not urgent, don’t come in. It’s getting late. I’m not exactly in a good mood!”

The door creaked open, and his assistant trudged into the room- or was it really her? In body, for sure, but not in spirit. Carol’s brown hair was matted with sweat and her normally lively green eyes, the colour of emeralds when they sparkled in the sunlight, were solemn, almost dull.

“Yes, Carol?" Ray asked, raising an eyebrow.

The only response he got was a soft moan.

Carolyn trudged towards Ray’s bed and collapsed on the side away from him, sinking into its snow-white sheets. There was an awkward silence as she lay there for a few seconds, motionless. Finally, she started to speak, but it wasn’t in her usual happy, chirpy voice. It was almost as if she had been possessed by someone, or something, else.

“Ray, I don’t want to go to sleep," she croaked in a whisper, burying her head in her hands, curling into a fetal position. “It’s too difficult. I don’t want to have to face- oh!” she cried, breaking down into hysterics. The storeowner let her cry for a while; let her vent out her anger and pain. Finally, he spoke.

“You can tell me. It’s okay,” he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder as she wailed. “Talking about things will make them better.”

Carol gazed up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. It was quite evident that she was not exactly in the mood for speaking. However, Ray decided to ebb her on. It was now or never.

“Carolyn, speak to me!” he demanded, grabbing her forcefully on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

That was when she truly broke down. Grabbing her boss with more strength than he had ever thought she possessed, Carol clutched his arm in a desperate grasp. She sunk her head into his chest, inadvertently tickling his face with her chestnut-colored hair. Trembling, she mumbled,

“I saw… That man in my sleep last night. The salesman from two days ago.”

“You… What!” Ray pulled away from her embrace, widening his eyes.

Carol nodded in response, looking at him forlornly.

“He came to me in the middle of the night, Ray! He climbed in through the window, with that horrible cloak of his and those weird eyes! But they were glowing red. I got out of bed to tell him to leave, and I tried to talk but I couldn’t. Then he pounced on me. He had these big grey fangs dripping with blood, and he tried to sink them into my neck! So I picked up a pillow to defend myself, but I missed, then-”

Ray removed the pillow next to him.

“Come closer,” he beckoned, patting the spot he had cleared out for her. Carol did as she was told, edging nearer and nearer to him bit by bit, as if she was afraid that he, too, was going to bite her.

Finally, she was there, her limp figure almost touching his.

“Then… I opened my eyes.” Carolyn said, smoothing out her nightgown. She clenched her teeth. “It was all a dream, just not a very nice one. And I don’t want to go back to it. I really, really don’t! It was a nightmare, just like the salesperson said. He’s cursed me or something, because I think I made him angry that day. Please, Ray,” she whispered, grabbing on to his arm again, “Do something!” The tears were gone now, replaced by a yearning look of desperation. Ray turned his head so his eyes could meet hers, and gave her a small smile as he pulled her into a tight hug.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry, it’s all going to be okay. Yes,” he said, pausing, “I think you’ve just encountered a nightmare. You’re correct.” He paused again.

“Tell me, Carol, would you like to see how I use a dreamcatcher? You’ve only worked for me for a few days, but tomorrow would be good. Not tonight, but I can assure you that after what’s going to happen later on, your dreams will be peaceful.”

Now it was the girl’s turn to pull away in astonishment. She gasped and turned her head away, possibly to hide a blush. Was it?

Then, a small smile crept upon her face, which then became a grin. She stared him in the eye, and clasped Ray’s scarred hands in hers.

“Yes,” she replied. “If you can catch my nightmare for me, I would be very grateful.”

--------------------

Carol was surrounded by faces; a room of faces, and faces alone. Faces of the people she knew in the past, the people she knew, and possibly one or two of people she had never met. The face of her mother before she passed away. The face of her father before he left the family. The face of her sister when her brother died.

She screamed. Turned her head away from the wall, not wanting to look her family in the eye.

A second wall filled with the features of friends. Acquaintances. Random people she had seen passing by on the street, that she knew by their appearances but had never spoken to. She offered this group of people a weak smile, hoping that they would give her a kind word, some reassurance. After all, they looked happy. They were beaming at her, laughing genuine, almost delirious, laughter. She gathered all her courage, enough to give them a small wave.

Their faces contorted into malevolent sneers, and they glared at her, baring their teeth in anger. Their stares penetrated through her body, pierced into her heart, engulfed her soul. It was too much for her to take, she thought. Please, people, stop!

She started to run, tried to find the exit to the room, tried to escape, to no avail; the door to the room had long since disappeared, though she really couldn’t remember it ever being there. She didn’t know how she had even arrived in the place, come to think of it-

Carolyn woke up from her nightmare with a shrill scream that filled the house and stabbed through the midnight air. Sitting straight up in her bed, her eyes darted around the room. Circular window, green curtains, potions cupboard in the corner, Ray sitting on a stool, gazing at her- wait, Ray! He had promised to catch the nightmare for her, hadn’t he?

“Ray, what happened?” she asked. “I thought that you were going to use the dreamcatcher on me so that I wouldn’t have bad dreams any more! What happened!”

He didn’t answer, though his eyes never left her. His mouth curled up into a smirk.

Carol furrowed her brow in confusion. “Ray, what’s wrong? Don’t smile at me that way, please. It’s scary!”

Ray still didn’t say anything. He stood up, and put a hand in the pocket of his jacket. Cautiously, he strode towards her, still staring intensely. Is he going to show me what went wrong with the dreamcatcher? Or is there something else? No, there can’t be! Thoughts raced through Carolyn’s mind, as she remained glued to her bed, watching him approach her one step at a time.

Finally, Ray spoke, though not in the caring voice that she was used to hearing. He sounded twisted, almost crazy.

“Carolyn, I said that I would show you how to use a dreamcatcher. Well, let me tell you a trade secret, something that nobody has ever known.”

“I am the dreamcatcher. Ever wondered how I went about collecting dreams to sell? Dreams are obtained silvers of young children’s souls, a part of them that manifests itself between imagination and reality. Some nights, when you have gone to sleep, I go out into town. Like an owl, I climb into rooms of the innocent and naïve, then suck the happiness out of their dreams, taking the pleasant part away, leaving them with nothing but a nightmare.”

“That, my sweet Carol, is what I did to you two nights ago, and what I have just done.”
She gasped. Pulled the sheets over her mouth in shock. It can’t be, it can’t be!

Ray snickered.

“I knew that you would react like that. But it was a good way of teaching you, wasn’t it? You’ve experienced being a victim of it first-hand, so when you do it to others you may know how to react.”

That did it for Carol. She bit her lip, glaring at her boss with all the fury she could muster.
Gone was her conviction that Ray cared for her. How was she to know that he had merely seen her as someone he could manipulate for his own use? She jumped out of the bed in anger, nearly frothing at the mouth. Pointing an accusatory finger at Ray, she yelled,

“You were using me all this while! And I trusted you! You’re just as bad as the salesman. Or if anything, worse!”

Ray laughed bitterly, taking a clenched fist out of his pocket. He clutched her slim figure with his free hand, ready to pull her body towards him in a bitter mockery of an embrace…

She slapped it away angrily, and in a quick motion, kneed him in the balls. He howled.

“You b***h! Can’t you see that nightmares are the best way to make money off people? We can feed off their sadness. It’s easy. This is your last chance. You now know my trade secret, so I can’t fire you. You either work for me,” he opened his hand,

“Or, Carol, you die.”

His palm contained the shards of glass that the gust had blown to the ground the day everything had started, when the salesman had come to his home.

“You broke a bottle of poison, and I saved the glass. It’s harmless when you touch it, but if I press one piece into your chest, or your wrist, you die an instant, painless, death. You know you aren’t strong enough to resist me."

She looked away, a small frown on her childlike face.

He was right.

She knew he was.

But... could she live, knowing that she was doing something so wrong?

Glancing at him one last time, she shook her head.

She saw his hand descending upon her. Heard the grotesque sound of glass breaking through the surface of her skin.

Felt crimson blood spill across her chest.

And then everything faded away... Like life had all been just a dream.

Author's Note

Tell me exactly what you think- even if it's "THIS SUCKS YARR".

Reviews

[A LaDy NaMeD D]

I acutally like it. It was kind of twisted, which is what held the appeal. You think that the broken bottle that she made the salesman drop is the root of her nightmares. And in the end you find out its the one person she trusted. She made the right choice, but you can tell it was difficult. It makes the reader in any situation think, what would you do if you found out someone you loved, trusted, and looked up to were doing something so evil so cruel. Would you go along with it, or choose something painful, and be happy in the end knowing that you did the right thing? It may seem like a difficult decision but faced with it, i think it'd actually be tough. I loved the way you portrayed it. Good write it was a great read.

Danni J

[Lilia]

Wow. The storyline was interesting, the idea of selling dreams was completely original and unique. I would even be interested in this being longer, I want to learn more about the town or the business, it's intriguing to me. Thank you for this I will definitely be checking more or your writings.