Stuck In Paradise

We need to find Basil!

Kel groaned to himself as he laid awake in bed. He groaned to himself, “Ugh, come on Kel, I thought we were done with these nightmares 3 years ago.”

What was worse was the fact he was enjoying it as well. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy a dream that looked like that! Stupid dream...

Kel shuffled around so he laid on the side that allowed him to look at Hero’s bed, “Bet you don’t dream any of this stupid stuff anymore.” he grumbled. He had a ton of questions like why did Omori look so familiar? He swears he knows that face from somewhere. His brain must be too tired to remember. What did that broken violin mean though?

Whatever, Kel can search it up in the morning. Probably some weird dream symbolism.

He tightly closed his eyes, hoping he could fall back to sleep. It worked. Kel fell right back to sleep as if nothing had happened, everything was pitch black.

That was until a few minutes later when he opened his eyes to see that he was in the pastel world yet again. Aubrey and Hero sat nearby like last time but they weren’t holding cards against each other.

Kel let out a sigh and quietly berated his brain for putting him in the same dream as last time.

“Here again?” Aubrey groaned to herself, “Didn’t I just have a dream here?”

“Wait, what do you mean dream?” Hero asked the girl.

“Oh right, you wouldn’t understand Dream Hero. In fact, why am I dreaming of you?” She pointed accusingly.

“Wait, I thought this was my dream?” Kel looked around confused. Gee, is his brain really projecting his thoughts onto everyone else?

“...You gotta be kidding.” Aubrey sighed.

“Are we all dreaming right now?” Hero asked.

“God I hope not, who would want to share a dream with Kel?” Aubrey groaned out.

"I don't know? Who would want to share a dream with you?" Kel snapped back.

"Alright, that's enough..." Hero sighed.

Just then the white door opened again revealing Omori. He somehow looks more tired and dead than last time.

“Hey Omori, where are we heading now?” Kel asked.

Omori gave no answers, only continued till he faced the snake on the stairs again.

“Sssss (Ḩ̴̭̝̲̿̅̾̾̓͑̚e̸̡̞̓͆̇̍ḁ̸̥̰̞͕͈̺̓͛̆̉͒͝d̵̡̟̘̋̑͒i̵͇̼̜̳͐̈́̏̕͘n̶͚͓̯̼͓̙̈́ḡ̶̛͈̏͒͛ ̴̨̢͚͕̟̙͋͌̿͊̕͝͝o̷̭̖̬̣̝̗͔̓u̵̢̮̗̟̫̹̔̽̃͛̓̀͒ͅt̸͍̾̒,̴̡̧̟̳̤͍̜͊̆͗̏̚ ̶̛͎̙̖̮̮̲̑̐̋̄͝O̸͙̤̯͗̇̔̆̕͠͝ͅm̵̬͌o̸̺̣͍͐͋͌̿͝ͅr̷̛̭̮͑͂͐̅͒i̷̛̛͚̞̺͈̅̈́̆͘?̶̡̛̛͓̮̖̣̞͐̆͂̑̚)” The snake spoke again.

Kel didn’t know where Omori put the clams but for some reason, he felt like he didn’t need to know. Dreams were wacky like that.

They managed to get out of the stump again, this time without anyone getting stuck. “Don’t need my help this time Aubrey?” Kel teased.

“You are this close to getting my fist in your head.” She threatened.

“Guys please calm down.” Hero tried to stop the fight.

Kel and Aubrey groaned and looked away from each other. The things he does for Hero.

Omori walked straight again, this time reaching to grab something no one else could see. He turned around to motion the group over.

He headed into the playground and Mari was at her picnic basket yet again. “Hello everyone! Have any of you seen Basil? I know you guys went to his house a few minutes ago…” Mari trailed off.

Wait, was this a continuation of the previous dream? That is the first time this ever happened to Kel though. Oh well, as long as that weird shit doesn't happen again this shouldn't be so bad.

“Maybe you guys can check out his house again? I am worried about him…” Mari asked politely. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and they were off, rushing back down to Basil’s house to see if he was okay.

On the way down however there were these little moles with sprouts on the top of their heads. Kel realized he was suddenly holding a colored ball like the one he held last time in the dream world. Aubrey had her doll at the ready and Hero was holding his spatula defensively.

None of the weapons they had was particularly useful Kel felt like these were barely going to work. Kel looked towards Omori and his eyes widened when he saw the boy was holding a kitchen knife that looked as sharp as Hero’s charm.

Omori ran forward and slashed at the enemy leaving a dent in them but surprisingly not killing them. Kel decided to follow Omori’s example and throw his ball at the being. It was knocked backward but with a grunt, it got back up.

Hero did the next attack, beating the enemy on the head a few times before the enemy jumped up and kicked him, sending Hero backward. It was kinda hilarious to watch such a small thing do so much damage to a big guy like Hero.

Aubrey was next as she slammed her doll into the creature causing it to disappear out of thin air, almost like it never existed.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad.” Hero spoke up, slightly rubbing his cheek.

“Pff, you got kicked.” Kel laughed at him.

"Eh, not the worse thing to happen to me." Hero rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, the worse thing would be you burning your bacon because you weren't paying attention!" Kel joked.

“Shush, that was one time.” Hero rolled his eyes. Kel in response stuck out his tongue.

“Wow, very mature of you.” Hero sighed as he followed Omori forward to the cave that leads to Basil’s house.

“You're just jealous ‘cause I am awesome.” Kel teased as he and Aubrey follow behind.

They made it to Basil’s house and knocked politely on the door this time. However, there was no response.

“Guess he ain’t home.” Aubrey shrugged, ready to walk away before Omori opened the door once again without permission.

In the middle of the room stood something pitch black with one eye. Everyone minus Omori felt a shiver go down their spine as it turned towards them. Realizing it could be seen the being disappeared without a trace.

Omori seemed to not care about the shadow being, only looking around and shrugged when he found nothing. Guess there was no trace of Basil for them to follow.

“Well, that was a bust. Let’s go somewhere else. Please.” Kel silently begged. He didn’t want the shadow being to show up again.

The rest of the group seemed to agree. On the way back they ran into Mari who was sitting in her normal spot with a picnic basket nearby. “I am guessing you didn’t find Basil…” She sighed.

Omori walked towards the basket and sat down next to it. The others surrounded Mari, “Yeah, he wasn’t in his house. Do you have any idea where else he could be?” Kel asked.

Mari hummed to herself before snapping her fingers, “Oh! Maybe you could travel to Otherworld! Omori should have a map, don’t ya?” Mari turned to Omori.

Omori conveniently pulled out a giant map of the land and gave it to Mari. Mari was able to map out the area where they needed to go and handed it to the others. “Oh, Otherworld is another world, that seems like a lot of climbing,” Kel muttered.

Omori seemed to stiffen at the mention of climbing, “Oh Omori! I forgot you are afraid of heights.” Mari sighed.

“He is? Huh, he looks like nothing fazes him.” Kel mumbled but he went unheard.

“Oh, don’t worry Omori! We’ll be there to help!” Hero tried to comfort the boy. Kel doesn’t know why but this situation felt...familiar...his brain couldn’t place it.

Oh well, it seemed like this group was off to another world.