"Night-night!" Olivia's mom said to Olivia as she tucked her in.
"Goodnight!" her dad said from where he was standing beside her bed.
"Nighty-night!" Olivia giggled as her parents both kissed her on the forehead.
They left the room and turned off the light. The room was still slightly illuminated because of a nightlight. Olivia sighed and snuggled herself into the blankets drifting to sleep. She always fell asleep pretty quickly after getting into bed after exciting days spent playing outside on the swings and slide or inside with her dollhouse.
"I must say, once again tonight how grateful I am for that nightlight. It truly has saved us from the darkness monster many times." Fear said as she stood up from the control panel to go back to her bed for the night.
"I like it too," Disgust announced. "It is very pretty."
"I like the rainbow on it," Joy stated. "I also like how it brightens up the room and helps Fear take away her fear."
"I like being able to know that Olivia will be safe from the darkness monster. I could never let her sleep knowing that she would be sharing a room with that wretched creature," the wiry emotion declared.
"Well, goodnight everyone," Sadness said to the other emotions as they left the room. She was on dream duty which meant that she had to stay up all night monitoring Olivia's dreams.
"Goodnight Sadness!" Joy said.
"Goodnight," Sadness repeated with a sigh. She settled into her spot and waited for the Dreams Production team to get started for the night.
The first dream to play was a repeat of Mermaid Princess in the Clouds 3 from a few weeks previously. That dream was too playful for Sadness. She grabbed a magazine to read during all the boring la-di-dah moments. She was quite enjoying reading an article about all the ways you could be traumatised for life when she looked up at the scream and realized that the dream was finishing.
The next dream was a pretty good dream. In All Alone 44, everyone had forgotten her so Olivia was all alone. It made Sadness bawl her eyes out which was always a sign of a good dream for her. Sadness had seen 32 or the 44 All Alone dreams and this one was the third best after the 19th one and the 36th one.
The third dream was a nightmare. The Dreams Production team had brought back Big Bad Mr. T-Rex for Dinosaur at the Door. It started off with the tragic murder of Olivia's parents when the dinosaur knocked on the door and they let him in. Mr. T had started to chase Olivia around but everything was in slow motion. It wasn't the best quality of dream, Sadness remarked but it did have potential for a good plot. Sadness went back to her magazine, Fear and Joy were the only two who enjoyed nightmares, even for them it was their least favourite genre.
Olivia started to stir from her sleep. "No, don't eat me Big Bad Mr. T-Rex," she mumbled in her sleep.
Sadness noticed the deep sleep bar on the side moving. Olivia was 25% percent of the way to waking up. Sadness sighed and set her magazine down. She would have to be ready if Olivia did wake up. In the dream, Olivia suddenly stopped and turned around to face the dinosaur. As it came closer, the deep sleep bar rose even higher.
Olivia started shifting around, back and forth, shaking with fear.
The dinosaur got right to her and leaned in to snap at her.
Olivia woke up with a scream.
The deep sleep bar rose to awake as Olivia woke up. Sadness started to fiddle with her area on the control panel.
Olivia started to cry loudly. Her mom rushed into the room.
"What's wrong?" she asked in concern.
"I had a bad dream," Olivia said between tears. Her mom picked her up and sat down on the bed with Olivia in her lap.
"It's okay now." Her mom said, hugging her. "Just try to sleep now." Her mom lay Olivia down on the bed. "I'll stay here with you." Olivia nodded and closed her eyes. Her mom sat on the edge of the bed softly singing lullabies until Olivia fell asleep.
Sadness let out a sigh of relief when Olivia fell back asleep. Soon, the dreams returned and Sadness went back to her magazine.
In the morning, Joy was the first one to enter the centre as she always was. Anger took time because she was always annoyed with having to get up to early, Disgust spent time trying to look her best and Fear had to repeat everything at least once to prevent her missing a step in the early morning routine. All Joy felt the need to do was choose a dress which didn't take much thought or effort and brush her teeth and hair.
"How was last night?" she asked as she did every morning.
"There was actually some drama. Olivia woke up after a dream starring Big Bad Mr. T-Rex."
"Of course," Joy said. "He's such a great actor. Definitely one of the best within Dream Productions."
"That's saying a lot considering how much you like some of them like Princess Fairy and Mousie McMouse." Disgust said, walking into the room alongside Anger and Fear.
"Probably not," Joy giggled. "I just like so many of them." Disgust laughed with Joy.
Olivia woke up and sat up in her bed. She looked around her room which was not flooded with light shining over the bright, rainbow coloured room. She remembered the dream last night and how terrifying but in the light she no longer felt quite so scared.
Joy hit a button.
Olivia bounced out of bed and raced downstairs to where her parents were sitting on the couch.
"How are you this morning?" her dad asked.
"I am great!" Olivia said as she hopped onto her dad. She lay down her head, no longer scared of the t-rex from last night. At least she wasn't scared at that moment.