In Dream’s-land

Hi fans and subscribers,

A couple weeks ago I was in another online writing camp called Write the World. Here is the completed version of the story I originally wrote for the camp.

In Dream’s-land.

12-year-old Dream Hudson and his family were rocketing along in a vintage spaceship called The Wondership, escaping from the evil WhatNot apocalypse to planet Bogerflee. He was relaxing in his wheelchair looking out at the universe before him, breathing steadily on his ventilator. He was thinking about his home in Seattle Washington and trying to imagine the horrible things the WhatNots would do to it. Dream remembered all the good and bad memories. Playing silly games with his grandparents.  Going to the Canadian Rockies. Hanging out in his home cabin. All those memories were gone forever. He whipped a strand of short black hair out of his face. His legs practically dangled off his chair from his increasing height.

Dream’s 7-year-old sister, Fiona was playing with her LEGOs on the metal floor like this was an average day at their house. His parents were seriously discussing the WhatNot apocalypse and how the family would survive on Bogerflee. Dream could faintly make out a few snippets of conversation like “Molly. If this ship is wheelchair accessible, then I bet your bottom dollar that Boogerfloor or whatever it’s called is too.” After saying that, Dream’s father leaned back in his recliner and surveyed the room with his brown eyes.

“How can you be so sure, Fredrick?” Dream’s mom said, ruffling her black hair and adjusting her recliner as well.

Suddenly, a blaring alarm went off inside the ship, as a bright red light flashed along with it. Everyone looked up from what they were doing. Fiona spilled a few of her LEGOs. They clattered on the floor with a CLANG. Their parents stood up and ran to the window.

“WHAT’S GOING ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Dream hollered over the noise.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” Dream’s father hollered, his voice tense. “And not good either.”

Dream rolled his chair up to the front window and saw something that made his blood run cold. An army of ten UFOs were lined up. Dream had seen UFOs in books and movies, but never had he thought they were REAL. The UFOs looked nothing different from the ones he’d seen in movies like ET. They were gray, metalic, saucer things with slightly visible blue lines running straight down the bottom. Tiny green and red lights flashed above and below the windows. Through the windows, the family could faintly make out that there was definitely SOMETHING there. Something green.

“Oh no. DEFINITELY not good,” Dream hollered back.

“What’s going on here,” said a gruff voice from behind them. “How will we get out of the range of these… uhhhhhhhh… What are these anyway?”

The family all turned to see a bald man in a top hat and a black and white tweed jacket. He was wearing khaki shorts and red high heel boots that reached above his knees. All and all, the man looked more like a bank robber than a spaceship driver.

“Don’t worry Mr…” Dreams’ mom started, until she realized they didn’t know the man’s name.

“Name’s Clide Mury,” the man grunted, holding out a gnarled hand. “Yours?”

After hasty introductions, Clide got straight to the point.

“What are we gonna do about…” Clide pointed out the window to the ten UFOs. “Whatever is in those things?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Dream. “But I’m sure we’ll get this all under control, sir.”

Dream tried to sound confident, but inside, he was shaking in his boots. Suddenly, a robot voice sounded over the alarms.

“INTRUDER! INTRUDER!” the voice warned. “ALL SYSTEMS EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!!!!!”

Now Dream’s mind was racing. He never thought it would get THIS crazy. The family and Clide all whirled around to see a pack of assorted animals moving so fast through the ship’s double doors that they were a hazy blur. From zebras, giraffes, deer, cheetahs and lions to dolphins, whales and fish to hawks, falcons, crows and ravens and everything in between. They all had two things in common. They all had lime green eyes the size of Dream’s wheels and as soon as the animals barreled through the doors, they ALL started attacking Dream, his family and Clide like mad. Dream got kicked in the head by a giraffe, scratched by a cat and even nipped at by a dolphin and suffered various other attacks all while screaming his head off. He tried moving his chair around to escape, but that only put him in range of more attacks. Clide and Dream’s family weren’t doing any better. Fiona was crying and writhing in pain as she got severely bitten by clouds of mosquitoes and spiders as well as mauled by other bugs. Their parents had both gotten their shoes eaten by rats, (thankfully, only the shoes, so far) and Clide’s top hat had been snatched up by a peregrine falcon! Dream never thought anything could get THIS crazy. If you’d been sitting there, you’d see a screaming, writhing family and spaceship driver with a boy in a wheelchair, all getting mercilessly attacked by squawking, shrieking, roaring animals.

The creatures made a HUGE mess of the metal ship. They ripped computers and phones and gave everyone bloody scars. Dream had a plan. It was risky, but he had no choice!

“Guys!!” Dream hollered in the midst of the attacks. “I know this sounds crazy but sit up and bring out your sharpest or hardest objects and throw them at these creatures! I’ll handle them a little differently!”

Everyone staggered up onto their feet and rummaged through their bags. Fiona started throwing LEGOs at the beasts, while their parents threw rusty knives and other cooking utensils. Clide threw staplers, scissors, pairs of tweezers, and even a smelly sock or two.

Meanwhile, Dream was taking this an ENTIRELY different way. He popped his ventilator clean off and blew it at the animals. All this commotion left the creatures no choice. The monsters recoiled in horror, shrieked in pain, and ran out of the ship into the black, expanse of the universe where their ten UFOs were hovering. All the red lights and alarms stopped. Dream put his vent back on and slowly caught his breath, sweaty and red-faced. Everyone whooped, clapped, and hugged each other in delight.

“We did it,” Dream squeaked in a quiet voice, still catching his breath.

“That was AWESOME, Dream!” his parents yelled in delight, wrapping Dream in a bear hug.

“Yes. You have certainly done well today, Hudsons,” Clide said in a much more serious tone. “And as a gift, I reward you with these.”

Clide rummaged in his purse and pulled out four shiny swords and handed them out to the family. The hilts were gleaming, even in the Wondership’s dim light. The blades were silver and didn’t have a speck of dirt on them. The whole family gaped at the swords.

“These are the swords of Dapala, the town in which you will live,” Clide grunted as he situated himself in the cockpit. “All I can say is that they will come in great handy. This isn’t the last you’ll see of those creatures. They’re very mysterious and dangerous. Very little is known about them, even the name of their species.” The family situated themselves into their previous spots as the engine revved. “What we do know of them is they live mainly on and near Bogerflee and appear only when you least expect it, so use these weapons wisely. Now are we all strapped in and ready?”

“Yes sir,” the family said in unison.

“But I have one more question, Clide,” Fiona said as she put the finishing touches on a life-size LEGO giraffe.

“Yes Fiona?” Clide said as he drove the ship nearer and nearer towards Bogerflee.

“Why didn’t you warn us of those animal monsters before we took off in your ship?” Fiona asked. This question had been lingering in the back of everyones minds ever since the creatures bounded through the doors.

“Ah,” Clide said in a voice Dream hadn’t heard him use. It wasn’t a grunt, rather a voice that denoted that Clide was in deep thought. “As I said earlier, those creatures are very unpredictable, so I had no CLUE they’d strike. Plus, I had no intention to get you all shaken up about going to Bogerflee. I figured that place would be accessible for all of you.”

“Do those creatures attack often?” Dream asked, curiosity beginning to get the better of him. Clide put up a hand to stop Dream.

“HALT,” Clide growled. “Now you two are going too far. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

The humans cruised along in the old, creaky Wondership, their future unknown. But they knew it’d involve a LOT of crazy animals!