Dream World
Shaun was sitting on the couch watching TV. He checked his watch. 3:00 in the afternoon. Ashley will be here any minute now. He had prepared snacks and such. Hopefully this will impress her. Shaun took a sip of tea from the cup on the table. The vents of the house started rattling. Shaun assumed it was just the air running through. Out of the vents came dust purple in color. It surrounded Shaun. He sneezed as he slowly fell to sleep. The doorbell rang. Ashley wondered what it would be like with Shaun. She thought about the invasion of the killer robots. It was nice to do something normal for a change. She rang the bell again. "Maybe he's not home?" She thought. Ashley twisted the knob and it opened. She went inside to find Shaun knocked out cold on the couch. "Shaun! Shaun!" She tried shaking him. Nothing. "What have you been doing?" She looked around the house and saw a number on the counter labeled "Doctor".
The Doctor enjoyed many beautiful events in history but nothing could be better than the universe being born. He was sitting at the edge of the TARDIS with a bucket of popcorn when the phone rang. He stared at the phone for a second before picking it up. "Hello?" "Hello." It was a girl. "Who is this? How did you get my number?" Ashley was holding the paper in her hand. "My friend passed out and there was a number on the counter that read Doctor. Are you his Doctor?" The Doctor scratched his head. "Wait is this Ashley? Ashley Cooper?" "Uh… yeah. How did you know?" Ashley heard a loud blast from the phone. The Doctor looked at the explosion. It was beautiful. Then he realized the cosmic energy was heading towards him. "You know what I'll be there in a sec." He dashed inside, closing the door. The cosmic storm hit and the Doctor pulled a lever. Ashley put the phone down and heard a loud noise outside. She went out to find an old man brushing a blue box. "That was fast. Are you Shaun's Doctor?" The Doctor turned around. "Yes but it's just the Doctor" "OK does he have a condition or something?" They stepped inside. The Doctor observed Shaun. He was fast asleep but didn't make a sound when breathing. "He seems to be in a state of deep sleep. Hmm what's this?" The Doctor found something sparkling beside Shaun. It was dust. "Psychic pollen, huge dose could knock you fast asleep." "So how do we wake him up? He has to help me with the summer assignment." Ashley started to shake Shaun. "No! No! Don't do that!" The Doctor pushed Ashley away. "Sudden movements stretch the brain. If you try to shake him in this state, his mind falls apart." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned Shaun's brain. "So when is he going to wake up?" Ashley asked. The Doctor checked his sonic. "I'm glad you called me." The Doctor looked sad. "…Because he's never waking up."
Shaun awoke to a pleasant breeze he felt on his skin. "Shaun! Breakfast time!" Shaun got up. He recognized that voice. "Shaun you're going to be late for school." "I'll be right there mom." Shaun walked down the kitchen stairs and looked through the window. A nice scenery of the lake amazed Shaun. He always wanted to live in a house like this. He finished breakfast and walked through the door. Before Shaun got on the bus, he hugged his mother goodbye. "Be a good boy Shaun." "I will mom." Perfect morning. Perfect house. How can this day get any better? He got on the bus and was greeted with a kiss from Ashley. "Good morning Shaun! I wanted to talk about our date tomorrow!" Shaun was surprised. It was like a dream. "So how did you know my name?" The Doctor retrieved some equipment from the TARDIS and was setting it up. "Oh Shaun mentioned you." "What did he say?" The Doctor thought to himself "Should I tell her or keep Shaun's reputation intact?" The Doctor smiled. "He said you were a nice person." Ashley blushed. "There done!" "What's that?" The Doctor had prepared a sleek looking box with wires attached to two helmets. "Neural transporter. This can send us to Shaun's thoughts, his dreams." The Doctor put his helmet on. "But Doctor, why is there two?" Ashley pointed to the second helmet. "Well I'm not going alone am I?" Ashley smiled and put the helmet on. "OK your head might feel like pudding but that's normal. I think." The Doctor pressed a button and slowly closed his eyes. The Doctor and Ashley found themselves in a dark room. The Doctor felt his pocket. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Ah transporter works with anything you have in your pockets. Brilliant." Ashley looked around. The room was dimly lit by moonlight through the window showing a tiled floor and a bed with dirty drapes. "Doctor where are we? This doesn't look like a dream." The Doctor scanned the area. "That's because I may have miscalculated a bit. We're not in the dream section. We're in Shaun's nightmares." He turned to the window to find a clown's face staring back at him.
The clown broke inside and chased Ashley through the corridor with a knife. Ashley stopped. "If this is a dream then he can't hurt us!" "Are you insane?! Of course they can kill us! Now run!" The clown was getting closer. The Doctor managed to lead themselves through a door only to find that it led to a dead end. "Doctor! What do we do?" The Doctor locked the door with his sonic and started pushing a cabinet towards it. "Well for starters, help me barricade the door!" Ashley helped the Doctor move the cabinet. "That should hold them, not for long though." The Doctor started scanning the room. "What are those? Killer clowns?" "Well Shaun did mention hating clowns." The Doctor's sonic screwdriver blinked. "Ah I found a mental lobe. Should be able to…." A bright portal opened before them. "There's his dreams." Ashley and the Doctor jumped in. Shaun was having the time of his life. Not only is he the most popular kid in school, but he also has a great girl. "I'll meet you after English." Ashley kissed Shaun in the cheek. "Sure sweetheart." Shaun made his way to the classroom. "The Signal leads here!" Shaun found the Doctor running through the hall with his screwdriver in his hand waving everywhere. "Shaun! We found you!" Shaun saw Ashley behind him. "Ashley?" "Hey there. So this is what you dream about? School. Really?" Shaun scratched his head. "Doctor. Dream?" The Doctor was scanning the surroundings. "Oh yes yes yes. This is a dream. Shaun you got hit with psychic pollen. Bad stuff. You're in an eternal sleep." "Wait did you go in my mind?" "Yes. Is that a problem?" Shaun looked at Ashley. If she saw the other Ashley, his life would be over. "Why'd you bring her here?" "Well... I thought it would be fun." "Yeah, you owe me homework help." Ashley said. The ground began to rumble. "Doctor what's happening?" The Doctor ran to the window. A dark cloud formed in the sky. "The nightmares! They're invading." Shaun looked outside. "Nightmares like my worst fears?" "Yes." The sky got dark. "We need to reach the central cortex of your brain. If we can get you to jump through, I may be able to set a psychic impulse allowing you to wake up." "Uh English Doctor?" Ashley said. "I am talking in English." "She means simplified." "Fine. We need to get to the glowy thing somewhere in this dream and push Shaun into it so we can wake up." "Which is where?" The Doctor pointed out of the window. "In the middle of that big black swirly thing in the center." "We're going in there?" They heard someone from behind them. "Shaun are you ok?" They turned around to see dream Ashley standing in confusion. "Is that me?" Said the real Ashley. "Who are you? Shaun who are these people?" Shaun stood there. That's it. It's over. The Doctor rushed over to dream Ashley. "Uh young lady, I know this is weird but just keep moving." Dream Ashley was whisked away by the Doctor, still staring at her identical counterpart. "Do you dream about me?" Shaun didn't know how to answer that question. The Doctor came back "It's just residual memories. Shaun's mind took everything it knows and recreated this school and this city almost identically." The Doctor winked at Shaun. That was close. "OK, we're off then." Ashley started walking. "You're going to have to tell her someday you know." Shaun just put his face in his hands and followed Ashley. The streets were empty. Nothing but garbage, newspapers and cars. The Doctor went up to a car. His hand passed through it. "The dream is getting weaker." He looked up at the sky. Still a little bit of light shined through. The streets were gray and damp like a forest during sunset. Ashley spoke up "Doctor, how can nightmares kill us?" The Doctor stopped. "Ashley, dreaming is already dangerous. When the mind is at rest, it recreates a scenario. Of course it differs but dreams are just images. Psychic pollen enhances your mind. It gives off energy to it locking you in a mental state that makes the dream solid. Right now it's feeding the nightmares." "So what happens when we die?" Shaun asked. "You go in a state of limbo. Complicated mental stuff." They heard footsteps behind them. "Shaun what are your fears?" "What?" "Shaun! Fears now!" Shaun began thinking. "Uh… clowns, asylums…" he looked terrified. "Zombies." A rotten creature was standing in front of the Doctor and the others. "Run now!" They ran across a street while the zombie followed.
"Shaun this is your mind! You can control it!" The Doctor said while running. Shaun was running non-stop. "I can't!" "Shaun just concentrate!" Shaun closed his eyes and tried to picture the zombie disappearing. Nothing. A burst of energy suddenly hit them knocking them and the zombie over. "No. That's not possible." The Doctor said in a worried tone. "Your mind has reached a state rendering you powerless. Now…" the Doctor looked at the vortex. "Your nightmares are in control." They scurried off to a building. The Doctor opened the lock with his sonic screwdriver. "What do you mean 'In control'?" Shaun asked. The Doctor looked out the glass. "The psychic pollen you inhaled, it somehow was focused to the nightmare part of your brain." "There's a part for that?" Ashley smirked. "Yes Ashley, there's a part for that… and it takes an awful lot of precision to focus the psychic pollen to that particular area." "What are you saying?" Shaun said. "I'm saying… after we restore your mind, we find out who's responsible for this." The lightning became stronger. A giant flash lit the streets for a split-second. The Doctor kicked the backdoor of the building open. "Let's go." They were heading towards a forest just near the vortex in the middle. "The natural fear of human beings. The forest. You don't know what you'll find. Creatures, wild animals, cold blooded killers…" "Doctor please stop." Shaun said. Ashley giggled. The forest was dark with a dry ground topped by leaves and grass that cracked under their footsteps. Shaun couldn't see far. The vortex had disappeared in the tree line." Doctor are you sure we're heading the right way?" He asked. The Doctor was holding his sonic screwdriver in his hand. It buzzed like a sonar. "I'm sure trust me." Ashley turned her head. "Did you guys hear that?" She turned back the Doctor and Shaun were gone. They were separated.
The Doctor had walked for two minutes straight before realizing why Shaun and Ashley were so quiet. They were not there. "Shaun! Ashley!" He kept shouting until he realized he was being watched. He heard children giggling and singing. "You think this is funny eh? All a big set up for your big scare." He was frantically looking around trying to find the source of the laughter. "These are Shaun's nightmares I'm afraid. Not mine." He turned around. "So show yourself. I'm sure I won't find you remotely scary." He noticed one of the trees. Weirdly shaped. It began moving. The thin tree had formed into a man about seven feet tall with arms so long, it drooped down to his ankles. The Doctor watched in horror as tentacles formed on his back. The man with no face. The slender man. Shaun was terrified. Living his worst nightmares alone. No sign of the Doctor nor Ashley. What was he going to do. The noises around him only made things worse. A hand grabbed him from behind. Shaun screamed. "It's OK Shaun. It's just me." He saw Ashley standing behind him. "Have you seen the Doctor?" Shaun nodded his head to say no. The Doctor was pinned to the tree by the creature. "You're not attacking me, just holding me down!" The tentacles had grabbed the Doctor by the hands and feet. "Which means…" he stared at its blank face. "You attack mentally!" The Doctor felt it try to enter his mind. "I'm sorry. But you're not entering there!" The creature threw the Doctor across the patch of grass. "Doctor!" Ashley screamed. The creature turned to Ashley. "Both of you stay back!" The Doctor shouted. The creature was heading to Ashley and Shaun now. Before it could get its tentacles on them, it shook violently and put its arms on its head. The Doctor was holding his sonic high. The creature disappeared in a burst of mist. "What was that thing?" Ashley said. "I don't know. But it looked awfully like the silence." "The what?" "Never mind." They started walking but then noticed Shaun quivering beside a tree. "Shaun are you alright?" The Doctor said. Ashley crouched down to help him up. "Yeah just… I really shouldn't go on the internet late at night." They reached the end of the forest and arrived at a cemetery. It looked like a normal cemetery but something seemed off about it. "We're close. Just across this cemetery." The Doctor said. "Shaun. We are getting close to the core of the nightmares. So whatever's here, is your worst fear. I need you to be strong Shaun." "I'll try Doctor." He replied. They walked for a bit then Shaun stopped in his tracks. He was shaking. Frozen by fear. "Shaun?" Ashley ran to him. "Shaun what's the matter?!" The Doctor looked around and noticed they were surrounded. "Doctor what's with him?" The Doctor was standing in shock as well. Shaun pointed at something. "Shaun. It's only a statue." The Doctor backed up still staring at the statues. "Whatever you do… don't blink!"
Weeping angels. What were weeping angels doing in Shaun's brain? The Doctor didn't have time to think. He grabbed Ashley and Shaun's hands. "Run but keep looking at them!" They ran across the cemetery but the sky was getting darker. Shaun was shaking. "Shaun are you OK?" Said Ashley. The Doctor looked at the surroundings. Their vision started to decrease as it became darker and darker. The angels were out of sight. That's a bad thing. The Doctor fiddled with his sonic screwdriver and it lit up the area. "I've switched the sonic to torch mode. It should illuminate things but the battery's drains faster this way." He went over to Shaun, who was quivering on the ground, and sat with him. "Shaun those statues. How do you know them?" Shaun didn't reply. "Is it really important?" Ashley said. "He's traumatized and you care about finding out what those things are?" "I know what they are. I just want to know the connection." The area beyond the Sonic's light became pitch black. "The light source is gone. We need to move." Ashley picked up Shaun by the arm and helped him move. The Doctor led the way with his sonic, scouring the area for angels. Mrs. Gilligan was surprised to see Shaun and two other strangers sleeping on her couch with unknown machines hooked up to them. Today was the day she returned from her business trip. She wanted her house in safe hands so she hired local Coal Hill student Shaun Malga. Now he's slacking off with his two other friends wearing some sort of modern gaming gadget. She went over to the Doctor who was fast asleep and started shaking him. "Sir I demand to know who you are!" The trio were lost in the darkness. The Doctor suddenly collapsed on the ground screaming. "Doctor!" Ashley shouted. "Doctor what's wrong?!" The Doctor was trying to talk through all the throbbing pain in his head. "G-g-get to the center. Sh-shaun needs to m-make contact with it." The Doctor suddenly disappeared. "Doctor?! Doctor?!" Shaun saw what had happened. He became even more terrified.
The Doctor awoke to an old woman holding him by the shoulders. He held his head. It hurts real bad. "What do you think you're doing?!" He stood up angrily. "Oh I'll just go in here and shake this man up! Never mind the mental pain he'll feel when his mind gets stretched!" He said in a sarcastic manner. He paused then remembered Ashley and Shaun were still stuck in Shaun's mind. "Sir who are you?!" Mrs. Gilligan said. The Doctor reached in his pocket and grabbed his sonic. He scanned Ashley and Shaun. "I am the Doctor and you…" "Jane. Jane Gilligan." "Whatever! You're in my way! Don't touch them!" He put both of his hands on the sides of Shaun's face. Shaun and Ashley heard a loud voice from the sky. "Ashley? Shaun? Are you there?" "Doctor?" Ashley said. "Ashley if you're talking, I can't hear you. This is Shaun's mind and I can only hear him. Shaun!" Shaun looked up. Nothing but black. "Shaun you need to make your way to the center can you do that?" Shaun got up. "H-how am I supposed to know which direction?" "Shaun I'm going to mark it but this'll hurt a little." A lightning bolt lit the area for a split-second lighting the area and showing the location of the vortex but also all the angels around them. They were getting near. Shaun and Ashley ran for their lives in the darkness. The Doctor only provided momentary flashes of light. "Shaun!" Ashley screamed. An angel had grabbed her wrist. "Hold on!" Shaun tried to pull her hand out. "Shaun you must keep moving!" The Doctor said. "I'm not leaving her!" "Shaun if you get to the vortex, everything will stop." Ashley looked at Shaun. "Go." The lights were fading. "Doctor can you keep the light on?" Said Shaun. "Yes but it sends neural impulses to your mind. It's going to really hurt." "Just do it." Shaun started running again. The Doctor kept lighting the area, inflicting pain to Shaun. Shaun grunted in agony. A faint glow caught Shaun's attention. Ashley managed to keep her eyes on the angel but the light was fading slowly. "Please hurry up Shaun." Shaun stood in front of the vortex. The only think that blocked his way was a single weeping angel. This one however, was cracked and looked ancient. "Don't blink." Shaun muttered to himself. The angel started to move. "No! That's impossible!" Shaun screamed as the angel slowly made its way to Shaun.
Shaun didn't know what to do. The Doctor said that they won't move as long as you maintain eye contact but here is one particular statue moving while being observed. Ashley screamed for one last time. Shaun heard her and gathered all his strength to run forward knocking the angel into his central cortex and creating a humongous blast that made him jerk up. The Doctor was staring at him with Mrs. Gilligan behind him. "Shaun are you alright?" The Doctor asked. "Yeah I… Ashley!" Shaun jolted to her. She was still sleeping. "Ashley! Wake up!" The Doctor scanned her with his sonic. "Please. No. Ashley wake up!" Shaun shouted. "3…2…1…" the Doctor said as Ashley sat up. "Uhh… my head hurts." Shaun let go of her shoulders. "Oh. Thank god you're alive." "Well of course I am. Nobody can kill me." Ashley laughed. Mrs. Gilligan went over to Shaun. "Well thank you young man for watching over my house. Here's your pay." The old woman gave Shaun some pounds then proceeded to her room. "I might call you again someday." The trio went outside with the Doctor holding his gear. "Running into the angel. That was remarkably brave of you Shaun." "You saw that?" "Of course I did. We were mentally linked." The Doctor reached for the keys as they approached the TARDIS. "What is this? Some kind of tool shed?" Ashley asked. "Well a bit better." The Doctor replied." The TARDIS doors swung open making Ashley's jaw drop. "Bigger… on the inside…" "Oh and dozens of rooms including a library and a swimming pool." Shaun added. The doors shut as the Doctor pulled a lever. "Well where to?" "Huh?" Ashley looked confused. "Well Ashley this is a spaceship. My spaceship. It can also travel through time." Ashley pondered this question for a minute. "Welcome to the team." Shaun said.
Next time: Flower of The Cretaceous