A huge metal door opens in the subconscious. The two guards push Tim inside.
"Wasn't that door made of wood?" Darkton asks.
"Until the giant clown escaped . . . Since then, security has been reinforced. Nobody comes out now."
"How encouraging!" Darkton says sarcastically.
"We're going to take you to your new workplace."
"Am I going to work in here?"
"We are just following orders," the guards say, making their way through broccoli forests, vacuum cleaners and giant clowns, escorting Tim Darkton to a small door at the bottom of the subconscious.
Finally, they arrive at a black fence with two torches on the sides and a bronze sign with the letters 'Nightmare Studios'.
"We're sorry," one of the guards says, "this will be your new residence."
Tim's smile is huge and the torches reflect on his stunned eyes.
"Ehhh. Yes, yes, of course . . ." Tim tries to hide his happiness. "This is a terrible punishment. Just go. And watch out for the broccoli forest, it smells awful," he says, as he rushes through the fence.
On the rush, Tim bumps into three little skinny beings.
"Hey! Watch out, buddy," the fragile-looking girl utters from the floor.
"Sorry," Tim says, "I didn't know there were other people around here."
"You don't want other people here?" she asks. "Do you want to kick us out?"
Tim hesitates and one of the others who had fallen tells him:
"Don't listen to her, bro. She is Phoebe, I mean Phobia," says the little guy pointing at her.
"And he is Lapsus," Phobia adds, looking at his friend. "He always has the right word . . . In the wrong place," Phobia joked.
"And who is this guy?" the third one asks, quite disoriented.
"Hi, I'm Tim Darkton. I was assigned to work at this Studio."
"What Studio?"
"Nightmare Studios, that's what the sign on the door reads."
"Oh . . ."
"He is Oblivion. Basically, he forgets about everything. Ironically, he is the tour guide of this maze," Phobia explains.
"Yes," Oblivion admits, "but there's not much tourism here . . . I don't remember the last time someone crossed that door."
"Me. Just now," Tim says.
"What was your name?"
"He's Thin," Lapsus says.
"I'm Tim," Tim corrects, shaking hands with Oblivion.
"But you are also thin," Lapsus observes.
"And I'm Tim too."
"What did I just say, bro?" Lapsus complains. "You are a thin, grim, raggedy kid who came on a whim and wants to make films," Lapsus starts rapping. "I love changing words, I love making sounds. I hack and I rack, I'm the best and the beast, and my work is a blast . . ."
"Ok . . . Please, let's not get musical, guys," Tim says, a little overwhelmed. "Tell me what is your line of work here?"
"I am an Executive Producer and a hacker in my fart time, I mean my free time."
"It's okay. Three people are not that much, but at least we have a production team," Tim assesses.
"I don't think so," Phobia stops him. "You don't want to have me on your team. Why would you want to have me on your team?"
"Because you're Phobia," Tim says delightedly. "Who would make a better assistant than you to help me through this madness? If you are afraid of everything, nothing can take us by surprise."
"Are you serious? Don't you realize that I am claustrophobic [shrinking] agoraphobic [extending the arms], hydrophobic [putting away an imaginary glass of water], genuphobic [taking the knee and pushing it away]. I could sing and dance to you, but I am also tunephobic and chorusphobic. So I am essentially panphobic: I fear everything, Tim."
"You are just perfect."
"And you are just crazy, Darkton."
"Well and what's the flan, I mean the plan?" Lapsus asks curiously.
"Riley is in trouble," Tim says.
"Something that has to do with blood, fire, pointy things, noisy places, or dark areas?" asks Phobia with a very sincere desire to quit the mission.
"Nope. Nothing like that," Tim says. "But I think something is wrong with Mom. She doesn't feel well. And Riley does not want to see it, or cannot see it. Joy is lovely and everything, but she's hiding information from Riley. She can be such a denier sometimes. So I tried to send her that information hidden in a dream. And well, I ended up locked up here in the subconscious, with you guys."
"It is not easy to get out of here," Phobia says.
"But some got out," Oblivion says firmly, "I've seen people reaching the surface."
"And how did they get through that massive gate?" Tim asks.
"That I don't remember," Oblivion admits.
"I thought so," Tim sights.
"But I wrote it down!" Oblivion says, while showing a folded paper. "On this paper you can see numerous arrows, boxes and circuits with phrases that connect them. THE IMPORTANT (arrow), DO NOT FORGET (box), the solution to all problems (underlined four times) is . . . And everything converges into this circle," Oblivion announces, triumphant.
". . . it's a blank circle," interrupts Tim.
"Yes," Oblivion admits. "Because every time I remember it, I put another arrow to make sure I won't forget and when I have to write it down, it's already gone. But I know that one day I will remember. Our captors think I am the guarantee that nobody will escape, they gave me all the maps, the traps, everything. But they didn't take something into account . . ."
"What?" Tim asks.
"That one day, sooner or later, I will remember."
"That's the spaghetti, I mean, that's the spirit," Lapsus says.
"Well,folks," Tim encourages, "let's make some nightmares!"
YOU ARE READING
Deeper Inside out
FanfictionA year after moving to San Francisco, Riley is better than ever. Her hockey team (The Foghorns) is in the finals, everything is going well with her boyfriend Jordan and with mom and dad too. But when everything seems perfect, something happens to mo...
