Deeper Inside out

Chapter 7: Dream Detectives

"Awww!" Riley wakes up startled.

"Are you all right, honey?" Her father turns on the light.

"I had a nightmare. I dreamed that you were fighting with Mom, but it wasn't you, it was something like a wolf and then I fell into the water and couldn't get out, and the trophies sank me. And the Cold War broke out . . ."

"You don't have a History test tomorrow, right?"

"No, Dad," Riley says impatiently.

"Ok, just checking. Look, honey," the father says, sitting at the side of the bed, "when I was your age, I hated having nightmares. Well, I guess that nobody loves nightmares, but I was having a really bad time back then, until one night my dad came and taught me something very important: He told me that I shouldn't be afraid of bad dreams, but rather pay attention to them. Because they are like coded messages, riddles, and we are somehow dream detectives. Our task is to decode their meaning. Sometimes nightmares give us a clue, or even the answer to something we couldn't solve during the day. You see, there is much to learn from nightmares if you figure out how to read them."

Riley smiles and hugs her dad.

"Come on," Joy says to Fear, "I'll take it from here. You can go to sleep."

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine," says Riley's Dad on the screen. "Mom is just going through a special moment and we have to be there for her, ok?"

"Ok," Riley says quietly.

"Very well," Dad strokes her hair, "close your eyes and I'll make sure that all your dreams are beautiful."

"Good night, Joy," says Fear, giving Joy a good night hug.

They both look into each other's eyes and Joy comforts him.

"Riley will be fine, don't worry. You can go to sleep. I'll stay with her."

Joy sits in front of the screen and considers her options:

"Let's see what dreams we have to choose from... 'Hockey Dreams'? I've seen it. 'Adventures in Lake Minnetonka'? hmmm, a classic. 'Laughing at school', a comedy, not bad . . . oh, there is a new one! 'What's the band's name?' I like that one."

Joy presses a button and then a dream appears where Jordan plays the guitar like a rock star; the musical notes are transformed into stairs through which Riley climbs. The public is all around and dances happily. The drummer plays heartedly, Riley looks out to see the name of the band, but there is always someone covering it.

Suddenly, the leader of the band raises his fist and says: "You are the best audience! And we are the . . .

Beep, beep, beep, beep, the alarm interrupts.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, is also heard at Nightmare Studios.

"What is that noise?" Tim asks.

"The end of the working day, bro. Riley woke up," Lapsus tells him.

"How did it go? What did she think of the nightmare? Did we generate any impact on her?"

"Wow, hold your houses, bro. I mean hold your horses. You can't get any feedback from the surface."

"Do you mean we work blindly? Don't we even know if she liked it or if she got the message at least?"

"We're in the dark," Phobia says, "and I really hate darkness."

Darkton grabs his head and walks around impatiently.

"We don't have a script, every word turns into unintelligible growls, our main actor turns into a wolf, the stage transforms into ice, and we don't even know how our audience receives it?"

"By audience you mean Riley, right?" Oblivion asks, genuinely intrigued.

"This is a nightmare," Darkton sighs in despair.

"Well. That's kind of the idea," Lapsus comforts him, "but if you want to have more information, I can do something about it."

"What do you have in mind?" Darkton asks apprehensively.

"I can plant a blog, I mean a bug, into one of the feelings and it will be like having a camera in their eyes. We could also control some basic functions such as walking or moving hands remotely with this little joystick. What do you say?"

Darkton doubts for a second:

"No, I'm not sure. It doesn't seem right. It would be like cheating."

"It's for Riley's skate, I mean sake," Lapsus tries to convince him. "We could definitely use a little more information to help her."

"Ok," Darkton accepts, "but just to have a look. We will not interfere with Riley's life, do you understand?"

"Whatever you say, gross, I mean, boss," Lapsus exaggerates.

"And what feeling can we choose?"

"We cannot choose," Lapsus excuses himself. "Fear is the only one with whom we can establish the correction, connection."

"Cool. That's my favorite," Darkton confesses. "The Eyes in the Sky plan is on the go!"

Lapsus makes a solemn bow and opens a small metal box from which a tiny spider emerges and quickly climbs up a neural network, disappearing into a series of caves, with intermittent electrical sparks, until it finally reaches Fear's room. It is full of pillows on the walls and on the edges of all pieces of furniture. Portraits are framed in rubber. The bed and all the books are at floor level. The spider reaches Fear's neck and bites him.

"We have visual," Lapsus confirms proudly.

"Ok, but we won't interfere," Darkton warns. "We do this for Riley's sake".