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A story of a boy destined to save the Dream World from the Nightmares. |
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Chapter One: The Cry Baby It just couldn’t be helped. The bitter cold of the night always made him feel uneasy. The smell of dust in the air, the cold thin sheet that barely covered his small frame, the lonely sound of a cricket playing its violin: nothing about the night made him feel comfortable. If there was one thing worse than the cold night, it was the dreamless sleep that he’d eventually fall in, which at the end of the sleep, he’d wake still tired. Christopher never seemed to have dreams anymore. All there was to his sleep was nothingness. It was always the same. He’d lie awake on his small twin size bed clinging to the sheets and listening to the silent music of the night. Eventually he’d fall asleep and wake the next day without really knowing if he had slept at all. His guardians always just told him that it was a phase. He’d eventually grow out of them. It was only a short while ago that he lost both of his parents in a tragic car accident. He still remembers all the faces that showed the tragic nature of his situation. All those blank faces, lost for words they all said the same thing. 'I'm sorry for your loss.' His father was no one. Just another face in a crowd. He worked as a construction worker and was gone most of Christopher short years with his parents. It was easy to see that Christopher's father had a hard time keeping a job. He made Christopher and his family move often, looking for work from one place to another, finally finding a small steadiness in their constant change and settling down for about a year before the accident. Christopher remember having some tough times. Both of his mother and father worked constantly trying to provide enough for the family. There were many hungry nights, many moments at the dinner table wishing there were more, days spent killing the hunger with large amounts of water. Christopher's mother often gave her portions to him. 'You're a growing boy, you'll need a lot more than I do. Besides I've had a cheese cake earlier at work.' saying something of the sorts. Even if Christopher tried to protest she refuse to take another bite of her food and just hands it over to him. Christopher adored his mother. She was his life. They talked for hours and she always satisfied his curiosity with her vast knowledge of life and everything in it. She wasn’t considered to be tall. Beautiful and always cute. The wind always seems to follow her to make sure that her beautiful long brown hair was always dancing in them. She was always warm. No matter how cold the weather might be as long as she was holding him he never felt cold. At nights Christopher missed his mother the most. She used to read to him every night before bed and always making sure that the little night-light was on. One thing that Christopher missed about his mother more than anything else was the old hymn that she used to always hum. The sound of that song always calmed Christopher’s little heart. It wasn't always bad. There were good times mixed in with the tough. Christopher specially enjoyed the hours he spent with his parents playing cards. "The joker," his father often said, "is the best card of all. It can be whatever you want it to be." "Why the joker?" Christopher asked confused. "shouldn't the King be whatever he wishes." "Well let me explain. Joker puts laughter into a court. Whenever someone is sad Joker is the one that always bring the smile back to them. He is the bringer of joy. For that sole reason Joker can be whatever he wishes." "So Joker would be like mom! She always makes us smile." Christopher replied looking at his mother endearingly. "I don't want to be a clown." Christopher's mother protested. "It's not a clown mom. It's a Joker... or a Jester. You make us smile so you are our Jester." "Oh you think so?" asked Christopher father. "then, who is the King?" "Well of course the King would be you dad." "If I'm the King than wouldn't that make your mother the Queen?" "I guess that would..." said Christopher confused. "The truth is that you are our Jester," his father said smiling, "you're the reason we smile." "I completely agree with your dad," said Christopher's mother running her hands through Christopher's hair than kissing his forehead. "You're the reason we smile. Anyway, it's getting late, you should head up to your room and get ready for bed Mr. Jester." she said with her brilliant smile. He used to be so happy. He had no worries, had everything he ever wanted, his parents were always by his side, and his nights were always full of dreams. Now he was all alone. With no living relatives Christopher was placed in St. Nicholas’ Orphanage where he has resided unwillingly for last year and half. It wasn’t a bad place. St. Nicholas’s Orphanage had its own charm. Built in 1923 by Winston Smith, it was donated to Mother Natalie Commings soon after completion. Rumor has it Winston was inspired to built the orphanage after having a dream where a young boy ask him for a place to stay until all the nightmares were gone. The boy looked so tired and worn, Winston woke from his dream crying. He decided then and there that he’ll build a place where any lost young child would have a place to stay while the nightmares stayed away. Mother Natalie Commings named the orphanage after St. Nicholas after hearing the tale of Winston’s dream. She thought it was appropriate since St. Nicholas is the Saint of Children. St. Nicholas’ Orphanage was grand project for its time. Built on a 147 acre lot, its 583,000 square feet interior space has enough room to board 25 kids at the same time. Though it was never filled to it’s full capacity, at the time of it’s opening it was the most luxurious orphanage in the states. Every child was placed in their own room and was allowed to change the room to their liking as long as it was appropriate. 12 nuns, 6 cleaners, 8 cafeteria workers, and 4 security guards were always employed to keep a close eye on the children and make sure they were happy and satisfied. While it was a place for homeless children to stay, it was also a place where those children could also get a good education. It was mandatory for all the children to attend all classes offered by the nuns. Also depend on the child’s age group, the children were taught at different time of the day to make sure they were getting the right level of education. The level of luxury has gotten down since it’s time but it was still considered one of the best orphanages in the states. Since the opening of its doors, St. Nicholas’ Orphanage have had 186 kids and 132 adoptions. So it really wasn’t the orphanage. Christopher just wasn’t able to fit in. His grades in his classes weren’t high. Actually it was one of the lowest in his class. He wasn’t the most athletic kid in the orphanage and none of the kids ever played with him either. He spent most of his days wondering the acres or reading by his favorite tree. The tree was a sort of a comfort home for Christopher. During his first few days at the orphanage Christopher spend many days and night crying over the loss of his parents. The other kids eventually called him a cry baby and started to bully him. One day, no longer able to take the bullying, Christopher ran from the orphanage till he couldn’t run anymore. He still remembered the dusty tears that grazed his already red chicks, the hurting of his lung from lack of air, and the pain in his legs from his endless running. When Christopher finally came to a stop he was standing before the tree. He was in awe of it’s size. He has never seen a tree of such a magnitude. Something about the tree just reached out to him. He wasn’t sure what kind it was, oak… maybe pine, it didn't matter though. It was so big that within its enormous trunk someone could build a small home. The tree was growing at the very corner of the lot where no one seem to tread. All the grasses in the area were so high that if someone was to look for Christopher while he was on his way to the tree they couldn’t see the top of his head. The tree, without any reason, never grew leaves. The branches were bare as a naked mole. Christopher even cut one of its small branches to see if the tree was still alive. He knew that the green center and the slow drain of its sap meant that the tree was still alive. Yet still on his year and half stay at the orphanage not a single leaf grew on it. Despite the lack of leaves, Christopher knew that the tree was special. It called to him. It waved to him. It was like an unseen force was drawing him to the tree. “Where do you always go?” Nelly, the only friend Christopher had at the orphanage. She was an orphan by birth. Everyone called her the original orphan. She was the only one that was born an orphan at the orphanage. No one knew who her mother was. Nelly's mother showed up at the hospital one day 8cm dilated and died soon after giving birth to Nelly. Because she didn’t have any identification on her or told anyone of her name, the baby was given a random name by one of the nurses. Natalie, named after sister Natalie Commings. Nelly for short. It was just her name and that’s all everyone knew about her. She was a cheerful little girl: 12 years old, long brown hair like Christopher’s mother, deep brown eyes, and very kind. Christopher didn’t think she had a mean bone in her body. No matter what other kids said or do she always just smiled and shook it off of her like it didn’t phase her one bit. Christopher used to admire this quality of her till one day he saw her crying. “Go away!” She screamed. “Why are you just staring!?!” “I, I don’t know. I’m sorry…” “Well, don’t just stand there! If you’re going to stay at least hand me some tissues.” she said while stretching out her tiny little hand. “Oh, umm…” Christopher slowly stepped into the room from the doorway. Looking around the room Christopher couldn’t see a tissue anywhere. He scowled the recently dirtied room. There were little hand me down dolls, cloths, and papers scattered all over the place. He could gather from the room that her favorite color was green like him and she possessed nothing that was originally hers. Unlike the other kids, Nelly didn’t own a thing when she entered the orphanage. “Just hand me something to blow my nose!” she said with her back turned to him. Not seeing a tissue or a hankie and not wanting her to yell at him anymore he took off his shirt. “Here…” “Thanks.” She blew hard into the bottom of his shirt. “Which one of my shirts did you grab?” she said as she finally turned around to see a shirt-less boy. “What did you do!?!” She looked down at her hand, finally realizing she was holding his shirt. “Are you an idiot? Why did you give me your shirt? I have plenty of my own shirts.” “I just didn’t want you to dirty up your clothes. I thought girls cared about there clothes? Don’t you? It's one of my old ones anyway. I can wash them later.” “None of these are mine. They’re someone else's. I just got them for now. Yeah, just go wash it later. Here take it back.” She threw Christopher’s shirt back to him. “Thanks anyway…” She said quietly with her head hung low. “Why were you crying? Was it cause what the other kids said to you? You shouldn’t cry cause of such a thing.” “Big words coming from someone who's constantly running off crying!” she shouted angrily. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” She apologized immediately. “It’s just that you cry a lot… and I think it’s ok to cry every once in awhile.” Christopher face blushed. “I don’t cry as much anymore!” “Yeah I know. I noticed," she said nonchalantly. "How long have you been here now? 3 months?” “Yeah a little over 3 months.” “Where do you run off to all the time? You go missing soon after getting made fun of.” “I found a spot that calms me. There this big tree that makes me feel better.” “A tree? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard… Let's see it.” "What? No, I don't want to take you there." "Whatever. Just hurry up and go find a shirt. You're taking me there either you like it or not." Christopher hurried to his room. Though he was forced to, there something exciting about sharing the spot with Nelly. His shirt was barely over his head before the was out the door. "So, where is this place?" He never really realize how far the tree was from the orphanage or why he was even taking Nelly. When he was all alone it seemed as he was there in a flash but when Nelly's constant nagging was with him it seemed like the tree was forever away. “How much further? We’ve been walking for a while now!” “I never said you HAD to come. You asked me to show you so I’m showing it to you. If you’re tired just go back. “Ok, ok, you don’t have to so mean about it…” The tall grass made it impossible for Nelly to know where she was going. To her, it seemed as Christopher was just walking blindly but there was a purpose in his steps. He knew every little turn among the tall grass and every path that could lead to the tree. He had the path memorized so well that he could’ve reached the tree blind folded. “It’s just a little further ahead…” he said in a hurry. “A LITTLE FURTHER!!! Oh, Come on. You keep saying that but I feel like we’ve been walking for hours. If I realized that it was going to be this far I wouldn’t have came…” "Can you see it? It's that tree over there." It was enormous. It was simply the biggest thing she had ever seen. The colossal tree was so big that she couldn’t believe that she had never seen it. She’s been at the orphanage for years now but never seen this tree. Why? It was amazing. The branches just stretched out forever, reaching everywhere. It looked as though it could reach the sky if it wanted to, grab a piece of a cloud like a cotton candy and give it her to eat. Why was Christopher the only one to find this tree in all the years? Why has no one mentioned this tree before? It was just too large to miss and too magnificent not to mention. “You should tell everyone about this tree! They all will be amazed by it. I bet they’ll come here with you all the time. Maybe they’ll be your friends afterwards!” she said as she turned to face him. What she saw was not something she expected. Instead of a smiling boy awaiting his long overdue acceptance by his peers, there stood a boy with a very stern and worried face. “Don’t tell anyone of this tree,” he said with such a seriousness that could not be ignored. “This is my place and I don’t want to ruin that with some unknown response from everyone. I want this place to be forever mine and mine alone. There’s a reason why I found this tree. It's comforting. It’s the only comforting place in this orphanage for me. So please, don’t tell anyone. If you do I’ll never forgive you.” “Ok, I won’t… but from now on whenever you want to come here I want you to take me with you! It can be OUR secret place.” “Yeah, that’s fine. I think I'll be ok with that too.” Christopher said smiling. He was glad to finally made a genuine friend. From that day one Nelly and Christopher were inseparable. They went to the tree often, hanging out, talking, and sometimes climbing. Nelly managed to get some wooden planks and nails to make the climbing easier for the 2 of them. Christopher almost never cried those days. He was smiling and happy. It was a long overdue happiness. It wasn’t like he no longer thought or missed his parents. That was something he could never let go. It was just that he had something else to look forward to. Someone new to talk to. Someone to make new memories with. It was nice. The other kids picked on them both now. They often sung songs and threw small objects or food at them. Calling them lovers. Loser loving another loser. They pointed and laughed at them often but it no longer bother Christopher. He welcomed them. They stopped hurting the day Christopher became friends with Nelly. She was his strength now. Of course, Nelly didn’t take the insults kindly like Christopher did. She threw things back at them, fought them, and called them names, all for Christopher sakes. She never seemed to fight to protect herself. It was always for Christopher. “Stop calling him names and picking on him!” she yelled as she chased the boys around the orphanage. Christopher never really understood why she didn’t defend herself. She was always defending Christopher. “Why don’t you ever yell at them for calling you names or picking on you?” “Because, it more admirable to protect someone else. You’re suppose to protect your friends that you love anyways…” But that seemed like such a long time ago. He was all alone now in his dark and cold room. It just never was the same. About a week ago Nelly fell ill and went into a deep sleep. Nobody suspected that such a thing would happen. It was just a normal day. “Nelly! Do you plan to sleep all day? It’s 11 o’clock already! Wake up!” He opened the door with a eagerness that has built up in him after waiting Nelly to wake up for last couple of hours. It was same everyday. She always over slept. The nuns always scolded her for sleeping too much, saying she’ll turn out to be a horrible lady if she sleep in all the time. Even a bucket of water wouldn’t wake her up. But this day wasn’t like any other day. It actually hasn’t been the same for the past couple of days. Christopher often found Nelly tired and seemed to have gotten barely any sleep at all. She told Christopher of horrible nightmares that she’s been having. How frightening they were and how she couldn’t sleep anymore due to fear of nightmare finally getting to her. She talked often of snakes in her nightmares. “You know Sister will scold you again if you keep sleeping… Jessie?” She didn’t move. She just kept sleeping. “Jessie, you ok? Wake up. It’s late already.” Christopher shook her. “Wake up. You can’t sleep forever… can you?” He couldn’t wake her no matter what he did. He even slapped her on her face but couldn’t get any sort of reaction out of her. “You’re scaring me… I’m going to get the sisters.” He hurried out the door and told the sisters that Nelly isn’t waking up from her sleep. He told her all the things that he had tried and how he still had no reaction from her. “She’s just playing a trick on you.” They said. Along with 2 other sisters, Christopher went back to Nelly’s room expecting her to be up and laughing at Christopher for being a baby. Actually that was what he was hoping for. That it was all just a big joke. When the sisters went into the room they immediately started to scold her. “It’s not good for little girls to be playing pranks on their friends. Time for you to wake up Nelly.” But no matter what they said and did to her, it had no affect. She just laid there motionless. Not even a little motion in her fingers to let everyone know that she was alive. “Get the doctor. There could be something actually wrong with her.” said one sister to the other. The examination seemed to last forever to Christopher but in reality it didn't take the doctor very long to come up with an explanation. After the examination the doctor said that physically there was nothing wrong with her. She seemed to have fallen asleep and can’t wake up. He called it a coma, just didn’t know why. “The best thing we could do right now is to take her to a hospital. Maybe some of tests could find something.” But they didn’t. After many countless hours at the hospital Nelly came back to the orphanage where she continued to sleep in her room. They couldn’t find a reason why but said that she’ll eventually wake on her own. That was 8 days ago. Last few days at the orphanage has been dark and lonely place for Christopher. It lost the brightness that it held just not too long ago. Every night was cold and every day was lonely. He couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. He cried often. Almost every day since Nelly fell into her sleep. He visited her room often but there were no change in her appearance. She was still asleep. “She doesn’t look peaceful does she? I think she’s having a nightmare.” said Sister Jeani. Sister Jeani was a new addition to the orphanage. She looked young. In her early 20’s maybe in her late 10’s. Despite being a new addition to the orphanage she was well accepted by the kids. Maybe because of her friendly nature or the younger appearance but all the kids at the orphanage wanted to be with her including Christopher. She was very pretty woman. Her long blonde hair seem to make all the girls in the orphanage envious. It was like the color of the sunlight that almost blind you when you look into the sun. Brightest and vibrant of all yellows. She was lean, like the models on TV, but wasn’t as tall. Her long and slider fingers were gentle beyond comparison and were always warm to the touch. She smiled all the time and never scolded the kids. She spent most of her days playing with kids, getting to know each and every one of them. “I agree. I think she’s having a nightmare. I wish there was something I could do…” Christopher said with tear filled eyes and shaking voice. “There is. You can always pray for her. God watches over everyone. He’ll hear your prayer and answer it if you really mean it,” she said with gentleness that only Sister Jeani has. “Would like for me to pray with you?” “Yeah… 2 people praying is better than one right?” “Of course it is. Let us pray together then.” Sister Jeani and Christopher knelt down by Nelly's bed and prayed. It wasn't the longest prayer but it was the most meaningful prayer that Christopher had ever prayed though he asked only that Nelly be better. “You should go to bed now. It’s getting late,” sister Jeani said. So that was it. That’s how Christopher ended up late at night, cold and alone, in his bedroom not being able to sleep and feeling uneasy. He wanted to sleep so then the morning would be arriving in no time. Maybe Nelly will be awake in the morning. Greeting him as he stops by her bedroom then running to the giant tree with him. “I can’t stand this anymore…” As he looked out the window he noticed a faint green light in the distance. It was in the direction of the giant tree. The light was radiating. It was almost like it was calling to him. Sending him a signal. He had to hurry to it. Christopher got out of his bed and slowly opened his bedroom door. There was no one there. Just empty and dark hallway. He creped out of his bedroom and slowly shut the door behind him. He carried his shoes in his hand because he knew that he could walk quieter if he was walking in his socks. He quietly made his way to the end of the hall, down the stairs, and out the main entrance door. As soon as he was outside he quickly put on his shoes and ran as fast as he could to the giant tree. He made his way as he did countless time. He didn’t need any light, just his feet and his memory. He could get there from anywhere. Especially this night. That green light from the tree was undeniable. It draw Christopher to the giant tree. It called to him. He was there in record time. “Why are you glowing? What is this light? Are you sick too? Yeah, you probably are too. You haven’t had a leaf on you for over year and half. You must be sick. I’m sorry I can’t do anything for you. It’s always the same though. I can’t ever help anyone out. Everyone always leave me one way or another because I‘m helpless…” All of sudden the green light got brighter and began to purse. It got brighter and brighter with each purse. Soon it surround the whole area and engulfed everything within it’s reach. Christopher could feel himself getting tired. It was like all of his energy was draining out of him. With each purse he was more tired. “…I‘m so tired. I think I‘ll lay down right here. Maybe I can finally sleep.” Christopher sat against the tree while holding himself tightly. It seemed as everything was becoming blurry. He couldn’t even feel the grass beneath him no more. All he could think about was sleep and the pursing green light. As he slowly closed his eyes, the only thing he could remember seeing was the giant tree and the pursing green light that seem to be emanating from the heart of the tree… |
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