Phantasmal Truths
By: Mark J. Hadley
CHAPTER 3
The girls flew across the sky on their way back from school. Blossom was between the other two, holding each of their hands tightly, and reminded them, “Ok…if anything happens, don’t let go until we’re sure it’s not just an illusion…and as long as we’re like this, we know we aren’t dreaming, either…”
“Right,” Buttercup said. “Let’s just get home…I don’t want to be out here anymore…”
Bubbles nodded, but a moment later, she spotted something below. “That’s strange…”
“What?” Blossom asked.
Bubbles pointed it out. At the edge of the city, there was a long trail of slime leading into it. Alongside of the trail, buildings had taken damage, like something big had passed by that way. They descended to take a better look. Blossom still wouldn’t let go of their hands, so Buttercup reached down and scooped her hand through some of the slime, holding it up. “Eech…It’s real, all right.”
“Are you sure?” Blossom demanded, and Buttercup answered by flicking a little bit of the slime at her face. Blossom shook it off, “Glaah…all right, all right! So let’s follow the trail, before whatever it is does any more damage!”
Bubbles looked worried, “Do we have to?”
“Yes, Bubbles,” Blossom answered. “We can’t just give up our lives as superheroes because of this! Think of what would happen to Townsville!”
“Well…all right…” Bubbles said, reluctantly.
All three of them flew back into the air and began to follow the trail. It lead deeper into the city, and they finally came upon the creature. It was a giant, greenish slug-like thing. People backed away from it as it slid rather quickly down the side of the road. With shock, Blossom realized that it was heading right for a group of people on the sidewalk, who looked very much afraid.
“Eyebeams, quick!” Blossom ordered. The girls attacked with their eyebeams, striking the slug from behind. It growled, and half-swiveled around to look at them, coming to a stop. As the girls approached, it started spitting globs of slime towards them, but they easily avoided it. Blossom added, “Beta-Gamma-3, now!”
Buttercup and Bubbles broke off and dove low to the street, flying underneath the slug and lifting it up. They both tossed it up into the air to where Blossom was waiting, and she punched it strongly on the side. The impact sent it flying down the street, where it slid across the pavement and finally came to rest against the side of a building.
Blossom halfway towards it, and saw that it wasn’t moving anymore. She turned back to the other girls and said, “Great job! I think it’s…”
“Bloss, look out!” Buttercup shouted. Blossom looked back over her shoulder and saw that the slug’s eyes were open, and it was spitting globs of slime at them again. She couldn’t dodge it in time, and cringed, waiting for the impact from it. However, nothing came. She opened her eyes in confusion, and saw that the glob that was spit at her missed her entirely.
Bubbles smiled, “He’s a bad shot, isn’t he?”
Blossom was thinking, though. “Wait a second…” She flew a few feet closer to the slug and stood perfectly still. It continued to spit slime at her, but even at this close range, it was missing horribly. On the next spit, she flew directly into the path of the oncoming glob, and it strangely changed directions to miss her.
When she saw what was happening, Buttercup said, “What the…” Her eyes drifted back towards the slug, and her hands flew to her mouth in alarm, “Bloss!!”
“What?” Blossom said, looking back at the slug…and her mouth dropped open. Bubbles flew up from the street, and she looked equally shocked at what they saw.
The slug was no longer there. Instead, they saw a bus…it was smashed up against the side of the building, with a huge dent in the side where Blossom had punched it, and the back end of it was blasted open. It had caught on fire, and there was broken glass everywhere. Several people looked like they had managed to crawl from the wreckage, but more people were trapped inside, waving their arms frantically to get free.
“Oh…m-my…” Bubbles said, her voice barely a whisper.
“But…” Buttercup said, “…but…we all saw it!”
Blossom couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and said, “What have we done…?”
The people on the sidewalks were looking up at the Powerpuff Girls, completely speechless. Blossom suddenly realized that they had to do something to help the people in the bus…she flew over and tore the side of the bus open to free them. Bubbles and Buttercup joined her in the effort. Several people inside started to crawl out, but they had to help out a few that were injured.
As they were setting them down on the streets, a bystander said, “Powerpuff Girls? How could you do that?”
Bubbles tried to explain, “We didn’t…we didn’t mean to…”
They heard the sound of ambulances and fire trucks coming down the street. Blossom was suddenly afraid of facing them…she told the man, “We have to go…please, please tell them it was just an accident! I promise we’ll explain everything later!” The man looked unsure, but he had always trusted the Powerpuff Girls in the past, so he nodded anyway.
The girls flew up together from the street, heading back in the direction of home. All three of them were badly shaken up. “Blossom, wh-what was that?” Buttercup shouted. “I just…I can’t believe…”
“We all saw the same thing…” Blossom said, trying to hold tears back. “Like at the bank, before…”
“How the heck are we going to fight crime and stuff anymore,” Buttercup demanded, “if we’re not even sure that it’s real?!”
“I’m scared…” Bubbles whined softly, “…I’m s-so scared…wh-what are we gonna do?”
“We’re going to get to the bottom
of this!” Blossom insisted. “I swear
we will! Right now, l-let’s just get
home…I’m sure the professor c-can do something to help us…” As they flew along, Blossom thought, I
hope he can…
* * *
The door to the Utonium household opened, and the Powerpuff Girls poked their heads through the doorway. They peered around cautiously, and edged their way into the room. “Professor?” Bubbles called out.
Professor Utonium peeked out from the kitchen, “Oh, hello, girls…how was school today?”
All three of them flew over to him, hugging him. “Oh, Professor…” Blossom cried. “I-it’s getting worse…”
“Oh dear,” he said. “You’re still having hallucinations?”
Bubbles looked up at him, tears rolling down her face and said, “Yes! Please, c-can’t you do something to make it g-go away?”
“I don’t know…” the professor said. “I have no idea what’s causing it. I’m at a complete loss to explain it…”
Blossom closed her eyes, and said, “I’m…Professor, I’m going upstairs, to lie down and try to sort this all out…Bubbles, Buttercup, one of you please come up in a few minutes to check on me? Wake me up if I accidentally fall asleep…I don’t want to have another nightmare…”
“Sure, Blossom, I promise,” Buttercup told her. Blossom nodded and let go of the professor, flying upstairs. As she left, Buttercup turned back to the professor and said, “We’ve been having nightmares still, too…”
“Just remind yourself that they’re not real,” the professor said. “They’re just dreams; they can’t hurt you.”
Buttercup nodded…as she did, Bubbles said, “Professor…I have a question…”
The professor looked at her, “What is it, sweetie?”
“Um, well…” Her gaze drifted down to the floor, “When you made us…you were really trying to make three of us, right?”
“Bubbles!” Buttercup said. “I don’t think this is the time to ask him that…”
“But I wanna know…you were, right?” Bubbles asked.
The professor hesitated. He said, “Uh…well…originally, no…but…”
“What?” Buttercup said, shocked to hear this as much as Bubbles was. A cold feeling begin to swell in the pit of her stomach as she asked, “You mean…you really were just trying to make one ‘perfect girl’?”
The professor told them, “That’s…true, yes…the original formula was only supposed to make one…why are you ask—…” He broke off, as he saw the expression on Buttercup’s face. She hovered back a few feet, and glanced over at Bubbles, who was looking at her with the same expression. My god, it’s true, she thought…Our dream was true…
“No…” Bubbles whispered. “You didn’t…mean to make…us?”
The professor’s eyes widened and he said, “No, I-I didn’t mean it like th—…”
Bubbles broke down…she started crying, and flew out of the room, right out of the front door. Buttercup still hovered there, staring at the professor like he was a completely different person. “Why didn’t you tell us…” she managed to say.
“Pumpkin, I…” the professor started.
“WHY?! Why did you just wait for us to dream about it? Why couldn’t you just tell us?!” she demanded, but didn’t wait for an answer…instead, she angrily turned and flew out from the house the same way that Bubbles had left.
The professor was alarmed. Oh no…what did I say? he thought. Did they have a dream about it? I’d better try to find them and explain the situation…it’s not as bad as it sounds, girls, there’s a good reason for what I said… He scooped his car keys up off a table near the door and rushed out of the house to go search for them…
* * *
Blossom was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She had been trying to piece this all together, but nothing was coming. Maybe we’re just losing our minds, she thought. But all three of us? Or maybe it’s something in our powers…I just don’t know…
The sound of the hotline buzzing snapped her out of her thoughts. She flew over and answered it, “Hello, Mayor?”
The Mayor’s voice at the other end spoke, “Powerpuff Girls! We have a big problem here…get down to City Hall immediately!”
“We’re on our way, Mayor…” Blossom answered. She hung up the phone, and stared at it, lost deep in thought. How are we going to help? Whatever the problem is, if we’re hampered by these illusions while we’re trying to stop it, we won’t be much good…but if we don’t even try, Townsville could be doomed. No, we’ve got to go!
She flew out of the room and downstairs, calling out, “Bubbles! Buttercup! Emergency…we need to get downtown!” She was momentarily confused when she didn’t receive a reply. She tried again, “Bubbles? Buttercup? Anyone?” She realized that there was no one else in the house…
Where did they go? she thought. No, no time…I’d better go alone… She flew out of the house and headed for City Hall as fast as she could. She kept an eye open for the girls just in case she spotted them flying around, but didn’t see any sign of them. I hope wherever they are, they’re all right…
She descended and entered City Hall, landing in the Mayor’s office. He was seated at his desk, and Ms. Bellum was standing next to him, as usual. “Sorry, Mayor, it’s just me for this one,” Blossom told them. “What’s the problem?”
Looking up from his desk, the Mayor said, “The problem…is the three of you, I’m afraid.”
She was momentarily taken aback, “What? Us?”
The Mayor nodded sadly, and turned to Ms. Bellum, “Tell them…”
“Well, you see, Blossom…” Ms. Bellum said, with some reluctance, “We appreciate everything that you’ve done for Townsville, but…we’ve done some thinking, and really, if it weren’t for you girls, nothing bad would ever have happened to us here…”
“What do you mean?” Blossom asked.
“The city of Townsville was a normal city a long time ago,” Ms. Bellum explained. “It wasn’t until your creation that everything bad started happening. Mojo Jojo surfaced shortly after your creation, for example…”
“Well, that’s because he was made at the same time as us…” Blossom told her.
“Exactly, but it doesn’t stop there,” Ms. Bellum continued. “In one way or another, you girls have either directly or indirectly lead to the creation of every villain in Townsville. If you had never been created, we would still be a normal town…”
Blossom was in awe, but she thought to herself, Wait…I’m dreaming, I’ve got to be. She smiled slightly, and said, “I know this is a dream,” she said. “Everything you’re saying is just a lie.”
Ms. Bellum shook her head, “This is no lie. Think about it. True, Fuzzy Lumpkins did go on a rampage through a small part of the town, but after that one isolated incident, he probably would have stayed out of Townsville’s way…he likes his solitude, after all. But it was your going after him that made him the way he is: resentful towards you and your friends. The same could be said for Sedeusa, for that matter.”
“But that’s just…” Blossom began.
Interrupting, Ms. Bellum said, “Do you think the Gangrene Gang would be causing anything more than just juvenile trouble? Their most dangerous acts have been as a result of your actions, or as a result of trying to destroy you. The same goes for Princess. If it weren’t for her desire to become a Powerpuff Girl, she wouldn’t have become any kind of threat at all to Townsville. Even the Amoeba Boys wouldn’t be a problem; they’re only trying to impress you, after all.”
Blossom paled a little. Even if this was a dream, what she was saying had a ring of truth to it. But she challenged, “What about all the giant monster attacks?”
“You mean, the ones from Monster Island?” Ms. Bellum reminded her. “The ones that come and cause havoc to Townsville just so that they can fight you?” As Blossom remembered how true that was, Ms. Bellum continued, “And even worse…our own law enforcement agency may be capable, but it’s certainly not as strong as it would be. Most of them expect you to get the job done. Your mere presence has weakened us…”
“I…” Blossom started to say, but fell speechless as it all began to sink in.
“You see, Blossom?” Ms. Bellum said. “You see how much better the city would have been without you? We can’t change the past…but if we knew then what we know now…we would have stopped Professor Utonium from creating you.”
Her words chilled Blossom to the bone. She took a step back as she thought, She’s right…dream or not, she’s right…we really are the cause of all of Townsville’s dangers. I never thought about it before, but it’s so true…despite all we’ve done for the city, we could have done a lot more if we never existed…
* * *
Blossom’s
eyes opened. She wasn’t jolted out of
her dream like before, and she wasn’t surprised in the least to find herself
lying on their bed, staring up at the ceiling.
A dream, just like I thought.
But it doesn’t matter…there’s so much truth to it…oh, why didn’t Bubbles
or Buttercup wake me up? They were
supposed to check on me…
She steeled herself, and thought, You know, it doesn’t matter…there are still a lot of things, like Roach Coach or the Broccoloids, or dozens of other small disasters like planes crashing and stuff that would have happened without us around anyway…and at least we were there to save them. Yes…it doesn’t matter what my dream was trying to tell me…Townsville is still better with us around.
Smiling, she laid back again. Maybe, if I can just keep this kind of thing in mind, these bad dreams won’t bother us again, she thought. Yes! We can beat this, if we’re strong enough to realize that they’re not real…
* * *
Bubbles scooped her hands idly through the sand in the sandbox. She and Buttercup had come to Pokey Oaks just to get away, and stayed in the playground, until they could make sense of everything. It wasn’t coming easy, though. “I just can’t believe it…” Bubbles said, with a complete lack of enthusiasm in her voice. “We really are just a side-effect, aren’t we?”
“Yeah…” Buttercup said, feeling just as listless as Bubbles. She sat with her legs curled up against her chest, just staring out at the slowly setting sun.
“What now?” Bubbles asked.
“I don’t know,” Buttercup replied. “I really don’t. I s’pose we could just go back, pretend like nothing’s wrong…but I couldn’t do that…”
Bubbles nodded, “Me either.” She resumed digging in the sand. “Blossom’ll just have to take care of everything without us around…”
“She won’t have a problem,” Buttercup said. “She’s perfect, after all, thanks to us.”
They fell quiet, the only sound being that of Bubbles digging her hands through the sand, and the wind blowing through the trees. The silence was broken, though, by a voice saying, “Girls…” They looked over to find the source of it, and say the Professor standing by the entrance of the playground.
“What do you want?” Buttercup said with some anger.
“Listen,” the professor said, walking over to the sandbox where they were sitting. “I believe I owe you an explanation…”
“No you don’t,” Bubbles said. “We know all about it…you only put enough in the mix for one…”
Nodding, Buttercup added, “Yeah, and we’re just the bad stuff that wasn’t included in Blossom when she was created…”
“That’s not the case at all,” the professor said. He crouched down next to the sandbox, and scooped up a handful of sand, as he explained, “Let’s pretend for a moment that this is how much of the ingredients is needed to create the perfect little girl.” He packed it together into a small mound, and put it back in the sandbox. “This requires sugar, spice, and everything nice…so it consists of three parts.” Using a finger, he divided the pile into three parts.
The other girls nodded, listening. He packed the pile back together again, and continued, “When I mixed it, however, I did make a mistake…but it wasn’t how you described it. Instead, I accidentally used the final measurement in my computations for each ingredient…” He scooped up another pile of sand about the same size, and added it to the first, then repeated it again with a third pile.
“So…you’re saying…” Bubbles said, brightening up a little.
“That’s right,” the professor said. “I miscalculated by accidentally including enough for three. There was sufficient sugar, spice, and everything nice to create three perfect little girls.” He smiled, “And that’s exactly what happened.”
Bubbles smiled back, and flew over to hug him. Buttercup also was relieved. I knew it…It was just a dream, and it wasn’t real. Maybe we can still make it through this! She said, “Thanks, professor…I feel so much better, knowing the truth this time…”
“Let’s go home,” the professor suggested. “It’s getting late…you three need to rest…”
“Okay,” she said, and Bubbles nodded in agreement. The professor picked them up and started walking back to the car. Buttercup felt a lot better…despite everything that’s happened to them in the past two days, she finally felt like things were looking up for once…
* * *
As the girls came into the room, they found Blossom still lying there, staring up at the ceiling. She turned their head to watch them, and said, “Oh, hi…how are things going?”
“Better,” Bubbles said, flying over and landing on the bed. “How about you?”
“A lot better, too,” Blossom said. “I had another bad dream while you were gone, but I think I pulled through it okay.” She sat up, as Buttercup landed on the bed along with them. “Girls, I think if we just keep in mind that these dreams aren’t real, then they can’t hurt us.”
Buttercup grinned, “You’re right. They’re just dreams, after all. Nobody really gets hurt in dreams.”
“Exactly! Now, what do you say we try to get a good night’s sleep?” Blossom suggested. The other two nodded, and she said, “Great! Just remember…if anything unusual happens, it’s only a dream. Tell yourself that, and you’ll be okay…”
* * *
Buttercup soared over the night sky, although she didn’t recognize the terrain below her. It looked like she was flying high over an island, amongst the clouds. Something about the fact that she didn’t recognize where she was made sense. Ahh, of course…I’m dreaming. I have to be. Either that, or I completely forgot how I got here.
As she flew along, the sky suddenly pitched in front of her, and she felt an oddly familiar sensation…her flying had suddenly cut out on her, much like the illusion that she had felt the other day. She was a little surprised by it, but she just reassured herself, aloud, “It’s a dream. It’s a dream, don’t worry…”
Her powers completely cut out, she just watched as she plummeted towards the island below. The free fall was actually kind of exhilarating in a way. This isn’t so bad, she thought. She looked beneath her to see where she was falling, and noticed it was directly towards an active volcano. She smirked…nice touch.
It grew closer and closer, and as it did, she became aware of the intense heat rising from it. Though it was mild at first, as she descended towards the brightly glowing lava below, it grew hotter and hotter, until she swore her skin was starting to burn. With some alarm, she felt it…a slight, burning pain across her entire body. What? But…but I’m dreaming! This can’t be real!
She was only seconds away from the lava, now, and the heat was unbearable. She felt it burn through her, and was suddenly filled with an awful thought…What if I did forget flying out here? What if this is really happening?! It feels like it’s really happening! She held her hands up in front of her face protectively and clenched her eyes shut, praying she would wake up before she hit.
In the next instant, she plunged into the lava. It enveloped her in pain, an intense heat that seared her straight to the core. She was disoriented, and what seemed like an eternity later, she felt herself bobbing back to the surface of the lava. As she did, she screamed…the burning was horrible, and it wouldn’t stop. She could barely see anything, not even the arms in front of her face…but what she did see of them, she almost didn’t comprehend…it didn’t look like her arms at all…they looked like they were…melting…almost like a candle. Please wake up! she thought furiously…This is just a dream, wake up! Wake up!! I can’t take it anymore, it’s so hot!! SO HOT!!
* * *
“It’s so hot…” Blossom said, wiping her forehead. She was flying down the streets of Townsville, and gazed up at the sun. Wait a second, she thought. Why is it day? It was just night? Before she had time to complete these thoughts, she saw someone approaching…
It was the Amoeba Boys…but they looked awful, pale. Where have I seen them like this before? she wondered. They strolled past her, and their leader, Bossman, said, “Oh…hiya, Blossom…” with a sniffle. An instant later, he sneezed in her direction, “Haa---cHOO! *sniff* Sorry…”
Blossom wiped herself off. Gross, she thought. As she watched them slide off down the street, she thought, Wait a second…they have colds! But…that means…oh no, I hope this doesn’t mean that horrible disease is back…
She got ready to fly off back towards home, but as she did, she felt weak. She only made it a few dozen feet before descending and landing on the grass in the park nearby. Coughing, she looked down at her arms…they quickly became pale, and small, green blemishes began to form.
It’s daytime, remember? she thought. This is only a nightmare. You’re probably just worried about it, because it was the first time you’ve been sick. Just wait it out, and you’ll wake up. She sat down on the grass, and coughed a few more times. Her limbs began to feel heavy, like they weighed a ton each, and she felt cold, and started to shiver.
A pain started throbbing in her head…closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples, and thought, Oww…I hope I wake up soon…this really hurts… As she thought this, her eyes flew open again, and she thought, Pain? Wait a minute…dreams never hurt! So what’s going on here? She was filled with a sudden sense of fear, as she tried to get up, to find help, but she could barely move, and collapsed back to the ground on her back, weak and stiff.
Okay okay…these dreams feel real…that much I know…but I still know that they’re just dreams, so I’ll just wake up. She could barely think straight, though, as she felt the cold run through her body…every muscle ached and throbbed, and she clenched her teeth to try and ignore it. Her chest felt tight, like something was squeezing on it, and it started to become difficult to breathe. A few seconds later, she felt her legs go numb.
She tried to sit up, but it was impossible now. Her eyes closed and wouldn’t open again…the feeling was draining from her body, all except the terrible throbbing and the coldness, which crept up from her deadened legs into her chest. She became aware of her own heartbeat, coming in loud thumps as it tried to fight back the disease. Each breath she took was becoming a chore…
I’m dying, she thought. But I’m dreaming…no, I can’t be dreaming, I’m really dying! I can feel it! Please, no…it can’t end this way! She felt the coldness creep up through her arms, and into her neck. She felt tears roll out from her eyes…then she felt almost nothing at all. All she could hear was the sound of her lungs trying to take another breath in, and her slowing heartbeat, each beat accompanied by a pain that shot through her. Please, let it end now, she begged. Her breath seized up in her chest, and she couldn’t take in another…her heartbeat gradually slowed, until it had beat her last…then, there was nothing but silence…
* * *
In the silence of the hallway, Bubbles kept running…she didn’t know what she was running from, but she knew she had to get away. She traveled down the long hallway, pausing for a moment to catch her breath. What’s going on? she wondered. I must be dreaming again…yes, this has to be a dream…
She looked back down the hallway and saw them coming around the corner. There were a half-dozen of them…they limped slowly forward, barely visible in the light, but she could still make them out. Their pale skin was ragged and torn, and some of their limbs were twisted at unnatural angles. Even their eyes looked glazed over, rolled back into their heads. The only sound from them besides the shuffling of their feet was their low, incoherent moaning.
Zombies, she thought. Picking herself back up again, she ran further down the hallway…as she reached the end of it, she found it was a dead end. Glancing about nervously, she looked for some way out, but there was none. The zombies came gradually closer, their arms outstretched for her, and she backed up quickly and fearfully into the corner.
It’s only a dream, it has to be, Bubbles told herself. I’ll wake up…I’ve got to wake up! The zombies surrounded her, and now there was nowhere left to run. She held up her hands protectively in front of her, but it did no good. They reached out and grabbed hold of her…she could feel the clamminess of their skin, and smelled the horrible stench of their rotting flesh. It made her cringe, and she silently prayed, Please let this be a dream…I gotta wake up…it’s not real, I gotta wake up…
She was momentarily surprised when she felt the claws of one of them digging into her arm…she felt pain from it. What? she thought…B-but…but it never hurts in dreams…and I didn’t wake up! What if…what if I can’t wake up?!
At that moment, one of the zombies brought its teeth down into her arm. A sharp pain shot through her, and she yelped in alarm. The pain actually got worse as the zombie pulled its teeth away, like it had taken something with it. Complete panic now seized Bubbles, as she realized that maybe this wasn’t a dream after all. She thrashed about, trying to get free, but she couldn’t…the grip of the zombies were unbreakable.
More of
them began to bite into her, and it just kept getting worse by the second. She felt their teeth tugging at her, she
felt the pain growing greater and greater, and began screaming her heart out. A flash of red shot past her eyes as a new
pain seized her shoulder. She looked
over, and through her tear-filled eyes, she saw her arm…but why did it look so
far away? In horror, she realized why,
and clenched her eyes shut so that she couldn’t see it anymore. Her screams continued as the pain grew still
worse, and in her mind, she shrieked, Please
let me wake up let this be a dream please oh god please make them stop make
them stop PLEASE GOD MAKE THEM STOP!!!!…
* * *
All three of the girls awoke in
a trio of screams. Buttercup was
thrashing around, and fell off the end of the bed, landing with a *thud* on the ground. Blossom sat
up, holding her hands to her chest and breathing heavily. Bubbles, shaking uncontrollably, scrambled
backwards until she was pressed up against the headboard, sweat rolling down
her head.
Blossom recovered first and,
still seized with terror, recalled every last detail of her dream. She looked over as Buttercup pulled herself
up from the ground back onto the bed with shaky hands. Blossom stammered, “You…t-too…?”
Buttercup nodded, her eyes wide
open in fear, “Y-yes…geez….wh-what was that…”
They both looked at Bubbles, who
was staring blankly forward, clutching the bed sheets up over the lower half of
her head and breathing a mile a minute.
She didn’t say anything…all they could hear was whimpering. Blossom asked, “Bubbles…a-are you
okay?” She still didn’t respond, but
pulled the covers up higher.
“What on earth’s happening to us?!” Buttercup said, her voice shaking almost as much as her hands
were. She tried to calm herself down,
but it wasn’t working. Oh man…I’m never going to go to sleep
again…I don’t care if it was just a dream, it was still the worst thing I’ve
ever felt! What if it gets worse? Can it get worse? Oh god…please, I don’t want to know…