There is an ancient story which tells of how a spider creature named Iktomi created a web which filtered good dreams from the bad dreams. He shared the secrets of this web with a brave leader, who in turn told the world of the web to ensure his people were not haunted by nightmares. This lead to the creation of the special object known as a dream catcher; a circular wooden hoop containing a beautifully handcrafted web design with many different coloured feathers tied to thread, suspended from the hoop. The feathers would store the good dreams, whilst the web of thread would trap the bad dreams.
In the small city of Chester, located in England, this tale was being recounted one spring afternoon, inside one of the city's libraries. The audience it was addressed to though, a group of children aged between seven and ten, were a little preoccupied in order to be paying full attention. They were all sitting around a large table, scattered with scraps of wool, feathers, beads; some children were arguing over scissors and glue, with the library assistants having to remind them to share properly. They were all making their own dream catchers.
The storyteller reciting the story of Iktomi called himself Dr. Lucid. A hired entertainer, some parents concluded, as his appearance represented someone such as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. He wore a dark purple frock coat with lighter purple patterns of leaves and vines printed upon it. He had a matching waistcoat and pants to go with it, along with black shiny shoes and a black high collared shirt with a wine-red bowtie fastened around his neck. Upon his head he donned a large purple top hat with a single black ribbon tied around it. In his hand he held a red swirly walking stick, although it was clear that this man was not crippled in any way. He was not even of great age, he only looked to be in his mid-40's, with dirty blonde hair showing under his hat and a short stubbly beard on the lower half of his face. His manner of speaking was very formal, but he possessed a cheerful demeanour which kept the children in a happy and comfortable mood, even if they weren't paying attention to the actual story. Dr. Lucid was aware he didn't have full attention, but none-the-less, he continued to recite the tale whilst circling the table, observing the children and the many different results of their dream catchers. This initially made him unaware of the person sat in the corner of the room, who was staring intently at him. This person looked to be an average teenage girl, with long chocolate-brown hair scraped back in a ponytail and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and rosy cheeks. Her light blue eyes were looking towards the doctor and it was evident that she was taking in every word she said, as opposed to a few minutes ago where her ears were blocked up by earphones connected to her iPod.
This was Ruby Bentley-Smith; a 16 year old girl who had only turned up to this craft fair as her mother had insisted that Ruby should take Eddie, her 7 year old brother, up there, as both of their parents were working that day. She had reluctantly agreed, not wanting to cause a fuss with her mother. So here she was, sitting in the corner whilst Eddie was struggling to thread beads onto the wool. Initially uninterested by the children's activities, the words of Dr. Lucid had suddenly attracted her attention. As a psychology student, the subject of dreams was one that interested her. She'd grown past the age of making little trinkets like this, but the idea of dreams flying through the air and the possibility of a special web capturing these dreams; now that was interesting.
Dr. Lucid soon took notice of this girl when he eventually lifted his head and caught her gaze. Ruby was quick to look back down to her iPod, but the doctor wasn't stupid, far from it actually, he'd noticed her stare and knew that she'd been listening the whole time.
"You there!" he called to her in his posh London accent. Ruby looked up to find him pointing his walking stick straight at her.
"Yes you, child! Come here at once!" He beckoned her over. Ruby pocketed her iPod, stood up, and followed him to a table he was walking to.
"Now then," he said. "I notice you seemed to take interest in the tale of Iktomi and his web. Tell me, do dreams fascinate you?"
She wasn't sure how to reply. She eventually muttered, "I...umm...I suppose so."
The doctor's face took on a satisfied smile.
"Splendid...I think I have the perfect thing for you, child."
His hand reached under his coat. After a few seconds he pulled out something. A dream catcher, but a very unique one Ruby noticed.
"Now, this dream catcher," Dr. Lucid continued. "Is one that I crafted with my own hands. Its difference to the average dream catcher should be apparent to your eyes."
He was correct, for Ruby was quick to notice this difference. The dream catcher looked normal to begin with; the circle being made out of normal wood and the web being made out of purple thread. But there were no feathers. Hanging down from seven different threads were seven miniature dolls, each one smaller than the size of an average thumb. Ruby looked closely at them. They all differed to one another: three were boy dolls, four were girl dolls, several had different coloured hair and the small eyes stitched onto the dolls were of different colours as well, one of the girl dolls even had spectacles stitched onto her small face. They were all sewn into black and purple outfits.
"The children suspended from this dream catcher are not just your typical dolls you must understand. Nor do they capture the pure dreams of the night sky, like the typical feathers."
"Then what are they supposed to do?" asked Ruby.
"Ah," the doctor tapped the side of his nose with his finger. "All will become clear when you begin your slumber tonight."
"Oh, well you see," Ruby shook her head slightly. "It's awfully nice of you to offer it, but I don't have any money on me."
Dr. Lucid let out a hearty laugh.
"Who said anything about money? My dear, this is a gift!"
"A...a gift? Are you sure that's okay?"
"I am absolutely certain," the doctor responded, not letting his smile drop for a second. "As long as you promise to keep it safe. Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah, I have my brother here," she said, signalling to the little brown-haired boy sat at the edge of the table.
"I see," said the doctor. "Well please refrain from 'sharing' it with him. This is solely for you. Do you understand?"
Ruby looked at Dr. Lucid, then back to the dream catcher. After some thought, she lifted her hand to take the dream catcher, and he passed it to her.
"I understand. Thank you, sir," she said, smiling politely.
"Splendid!" he exclaimed. "Now, hang it on the wall beside your bed tonight. No doubt you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you experience."
Ruby was tempted to ask more, but Dr. Lucid was quick to turn back to the table to see how all the children were getting along. Shrugging her shoulders, she returned to her spot in the corner, handling the dream catcher with care.
When the two siblings got home, Ruby rushed up to her room, setting about to hanging the dream catcher up. After she attached it to her bedroom wall with Blu-Tack, the day continued as normal. Ruby did her homework, went on the Internet for a while, had dinner when her parents returned home, took some Metformin pills for her diabetes soon after, red Eddie a bedtime story, and soon went to bed herself. Lying down, she looked up to the dream catcher beside her on the wall. Hoping that it would give her a good dream, she fell fast asleep.
Morning, and Ruby found herself teetering on the rim of consciousness. She pushed herself up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When the sleep was clear, she opened them...and gasped. She was no longer in her room. She was still in her bed and still wearing her Sesame Street pyjamas, but her entire room was just...gone. What surrounded her in its place was a void of black and purple swirls of fog. The colours appeared to be moving, as if they were mixing together. It clearly wasn't morning now...but then Ruby realised she couldn't be sure, as there were no windows to show if it was dark or light outside, and there was no clock to tell the time.
