Gaz had no idea how she'd let Dib talk her into coming along with him on this pointless trip, but she was seriously regretting it. After all, she definitely had better things to do with her weekends than attend the estate yard sale of an eccentric old man who was alledgedly a collector of paranormal memorabilia. Yet here she was, watching as her idiot brother argued with one of the people overseeing the sale regarding the price of a photo album of fuzzy UFO and Bigfoot photos.
"Ugh, this is so stupid," she muttered. Deciding not to waste any more time on this, she turned to walk away, figuring that Dib could figure out she'd gone home on her own without her having to actually tell him. However, as she turned she paused as something caught her eye on a nearby table. Walking over to take a closer look, she saw that it was a small statuette of dark grey stone, carved to look like a stern face staring intently ahead, with red gems of some kind for eyes.
"Hey, what is this?" she asked the bored-looking young woman sitting at the table.
"I dunno, my crazy uncle called it Morty or something," the woman replied, "Said it was some kinda charm to ensure good dreams, I think."
Gaz hummed slightly as she mused that. She never had problems with dreams, so that sounded pretty pointless. But, something about it really appealed to her Gothic nature.
"How much for it?" she asked.
"20 bucks," the woman said. Grunting a little, Gaz nonetheless handed over the money and then walked off with her new prize in hand, never noticing how its eyes started slightly glowing as she did so...
***
Hours later, Gaz was preparing for bed. Having changed into her pajamas, she was now trying to position the statuette on her desk so that it looked just right. As she was doing this, Dib happened to walk by in the hallway and glance through her open doorway; seeing the statuette, he paused and turned to stare at it.
"Where'd you get an idol of Morpheus?" he asked.
"Morph who?" Gaz asked in return, glancing back at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Morpheus, god of dreams," Dib explained, giving the little idol an appraising look.
"Huh. Well, whatever, I got it from that yard sale."
"Really?" Dib asked, suddenly nervous, "In that case, you should be really careful. If that's a legitimate Morpheus idol, you need to properly respect it and present it with offerings, or else."
"Or else what?" Gaz snorted, "It's basically a glorified dreamcatcher."
"Yeah, if it's satiated," Dib said, "But if not, it does the opposite of what it's supposed to do, and plagues its owner with nightmares."
"Yeah right. Now get out of my room," Gaz said, giving Dib a mild glare, "Speaking of nightmares, it may have been a while since I threatened you with this, but I'm still willing to plunge you into a nightmare world. So shut it."
"But-" Dib started to say, only for Gaz to give a low growl. Flinching, Dib obeyed her demand and walked towards his own room. Gaz watched him go, then walked over to slam her door shut, before getting into bed.
Soon, the purple-haired girl was fast asleep, at which point the eyes on the Morpheus idol started glowing brightly.
"So, you like to send people into nightmare worlds, little girl?" a voice whispered out of the idol, "No, that is my domain only. Perhaps I should give you a little lesson about interfering in other people's things? Yes, I think it's time for you to be plunged into a nightmare world."
The idol's eyes glowed even brighter, and a shimmering mist emerged from the idol, sweeping over to settle over Gaz's sleeping form. Whereas moments before she had been sleeping peacefully, she was now starting to squirm, as her pleasant dreams were twisted into nightmares.
But what kind of nightmare was she having?
Option 1: She's on stage in a girly tutu, being made to dance in front of a jeering audience.
Option 2: She's at a video game competition, but she's suddenly lost all her skills.
Option 3: She's reliving the "Pig Girl" experience, being locked up in her father's lab and made a laughingstock.
Option 4: A classic - she's at school, taking a test she's not prepared for. And things get worse from there.
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