Charley squinted. “Reality testing technique,” he repeated.
“Yes,” said Dr. Galt. “It involves deciding whether or not you are dreaming by examining the world around you. What this teaches you is to watch for dream signs by performing reality checks. It’s simple really—if you are able to decide that something you’ve seen cannot be happening in the real world, you must be dreaming.
“So,” she went on, with Charley’s eyes wide as saucers, intensely interested now in the art and science of oneironautics. “The first thing you have to do is train yourself to be on the lookout for dream signs. Not only in your dreams, but in everyday life. For example, are you dreaming now?”
Charley frowned. Of course he wasn’t. Nevertheless, when Dr. Galt gestured to her left and to her right, Charley looked left, then right.
“No,” he said. “I—I don’t think so.”
“How do you know that?”
Charley shrugged. “I guess because everything’s behaving properly,” he said.
“There’s no Andy, no Zorl, no goblin armies, no princesses from Austria, no dragons, no magic horses.”
“Exactly,” said Dr. Galt. “I think you are correct – you’re not dreaming.” She slowly reached out and pushed Charley gently back onto his pillows. “So, when you dream tonight, you must remember to look for signs that you are dreaming. And say to yourself, I am dreaming. This is a dream. Fully convince yourself of that fact. Okay?”
Charley nodded. He thought he understood. If he saw a monster—or Andy for that matter, he would know that he was dreaming.
“From here on out, Charley,” Dr. Galt said, “in the next few days, in every hour you are awake, you have to do that. Perform reality checks. Examine the waking world and confirm that it’s real, and not a dream—and vice versa—when you are dreaming, and see something impossible, tell yourself that you are dreaming. Once you are able to do that, convince yourself it’s just a dream. The next step will be to take control of it.”
Over the next three days when he was awake, Charley became painfully aware of the world around him, and that it was real, not a dream. Dr. Galt gave him a digital wristwatch to help him do that – it chimed on the hour, and after the chiming ended, Charley performed a reality check. He recognized that he was awake, in the real world, using each of his senses. The moment the chiming ended, Charley squinted at all the shapes and colors of the things in his field of vision; he took a deep sniff of the smells in the air. He listened to all sounds and let them register in this brain – the voices, the blare of the TV, car horns, even the hiss of the wind; he felt the things around within his reach, the texture of his wooden school desk, the smoothness of his skin. Satisfied that he was awake, and experiencing the real world, he nodded and went on with his life. Oddly enough, the idea of performing reality checks stayed with Charley even while he was dreaming.
“What are you doing?” Andy asked. Charley was staring at him, poking him.
“I’m—I’m dream…ing…”
Charley woke up that time, finding himself squinting, sleepy-eyed in what had become his very own room at the university sleep lab.
Dr. Galt came in. “The real trick,” she whispered in the darkness, “is to stay in the dream after you recognize that it is a dream.”
Soon enough, after about a week or so, Charley learned how to do that.
“Charley?” Andy asked. “What’s the matter? And why that grin?”
“This is a dream, Andy,” Charley said. “A dream.”
Andy nodded. He knew that. They were within a dream, that solemn place between life and death, and Zorl was somewhere lurking out there, waiting to burst out with his demons and seize him, and maybe Charley, too, to deliver them to whatever universe lay beyond the material world. Beyond the Door of Death on Mount Doom.
“I’m not afraid anymore, Andy,” Charley said. “I’m not afraid of Zorl. I—I can defeat him.”
But the dream faded to nothing and Zorl did not show himself. It was as if he knew that Charley had come into possession of a raw, new power, a power that he must consider before meeting him again.
“I did it,” he told Dr. Galt. “I knew I was dreaming. And I didn’t wake up.”
Dr. Galt smiled. “Good, Charley, that’s good. Now, it’s time for you to take control of your dream. Once and for all, defeat Zorl, and bring Andy home.”
Once Charley got the hang and thrill of oneironautics, he couldn’t wait to fall asleep and start dreaming.
“It’s like being Superman,” Charley marveled. “Or like you said, Neo, in The Matrix.”
Dr. Galt smiled, beaming with affection for her star pupil. The others, too, were amazed by Charley’s progress. Even Mr. Finch smiled at the success of his boy.
But the problem was, ever since Charley had become an oneironaut, he and Andy had failed to encounter Zorl.
“I’ve flown all over the place with Andy on my back,” he told Dr. Galt, “and Zorl is nowhere to be found.”
Dr. Galt didn’t have an answer for that – why Zorl had become a non-entity in his dreams. But she admitted, first to Dr. Arambaala, and after a couple days to Charley as well, that it was a bad problem that must become overcome, if Charley had any hope of curing himself of these recurrent and disturbing dreams. The key to all of that was destroying Zorl, symbolically or whatever, and stopping him from entering Charley’s dreams ever again.
“You must will him out of his hiding place,” Dr. Galt told Charley as she sifted her slender hand through the curls on top of his head. “Will him to show himself.”
But after a week of lucid dreaming without finding Zorl, it was decided that Charley should be sent home from the sleep lab. It was reasoned that by returning to a semblance of normal life, and especially sleeping in his own bed, Zorl might return to Charley’s dreams.
On the morning Dr. Strang told Charley he wouldn’t be coming back to the sleep lab that night, he glanced anxiously at Dr. Galt. The dream witch flashed a confident grin. She came over to Charley who was sitting on the edge of his bed and stroked his head.
“You don’t need me anymore, Charley,” she told him. “I can’t help you find Zorl. That’s entirely up to you.”
Before leaving the lab with Mrs. Finch, Charley ran over and gave the dream witch a hug around her thin waist.
“Thank you,” he told her.
“Good luck, Charley Finch,” she said, clearly surprised and distracted by this gesture of affection. “Good luck in finding and defeating Zorl.”
When Charley backed away to leave with his mother, the dream witch saw that there were tears in his eyes. Finally, after a breath, he turned and, taking his mother’s hand, started to leave.
At the door, the dream witch called his name and Charley turned around.
“Hopefully, you will remember me in your dreams, Charley,” she said to him.
He smiled and mouthed, “I will.”
Chapter Nine
Zorl’s Bargain
The first couple of days back home, Zorl remained absent from Charley’s dreams. Andy was there, but nothing much happened. At times, whenever it got really boring, Charley took hold of Andy’s hand or arm and they flew off like weird birds propelled by Charley’s new and special powers. They flew high above barren landscapes for mile after mile. There were forests, hills, and lakes, but nothing animate.
“It’s boring here,” Andy said. “Like a deserted island. Like a TV show gone bad, without actors, without a script. I mean, I love to fly like this and all, Charley, but I wish something, anything, would happen. For some crazy reason, I miss Zorl.”
They both laughed.
And then, one night, just like that, Zorl returned. Not as the Zorl they remembered, not as a demon prince, but as Charley’s Grandpa Joe.
“What a mean trick that is,” lamented Charley, when he saw his fake Grandpa Joe standing on a beach along a gray lake, gesturing for Charley to come down and pay a visit.
“What?” Andy asked. “Who�
�s the old man?”
“It’s supposed to be my Grandpa Joe,” Charley said. “But, I think it’s Zorl.”
They landed anyway along the shore about thirty yards from where the old man stood and cautiously approached him.
“You’re not Grandpa Joe,” Charley said, now within ten feet of the craggy old man.
“You’re Zorl.”
“And you’re that famous oneironaut, Charley Finch,” snarled Grandpa Joe. Then Zorl was upon him, suddenly leaping up from the beach thrashing and hacking about like some ninja action figure. Charley leapt high into the air, surprising himself with a somersault, and came down right on Grandpa Joe’s back, crushing the old man into the sand.
Andy backed off with a worried look. No matter how powerful Charley had become with his oneironautics, he doubted if anyone was as strong as Zorl within a dream.
“I’ll be taking both of you to Hell!” snarled Zorl, still as Grandpa Joe, on top of a sand dune, with Charley clinging to his back. “Especially you, Charley Finch.” Grandpa Joe wiggled his back in a furious attempt to throw Charley clear. “You are going through death door, too, with Andy here.”
“Release us!” shouted Charley. “Release Andy! Let him wake up, or I’ll break your back.”
But in the next moment, Zorl was out from under Charley’s grasp. And he was no longer Grandpa Joe. Instead, he had turned himself into a giant Bugs Bunny.
“Holy crap!” Andy mumbled.
Charley shut his eyes and concentrated a moment. His body stretched out and rose forty feet high to match the Zorl/-Bugs-Bunny creation eye-for-eye.
“Well, I’d be darned,” chortled the Bugs Bunny illusion.
Suddenly, Bugs was lashing out at Charley with lightening quick ninja hand-thrusts. Charley blocked them or moved his head side to side in evasive response. Charley struck back with a thrust that burst into the gigantic Bugs’ rubbery midsection and promptly bounced out. Then Zorl changed again. Now he looked like Yoda, from Star Wars, standing on the beach, his arms folded, wearing the robe of a Jedi knight. He waited for Charley to come down to his size before renewing the fight.
Charley sighed. It seemed blasphemous to fight Yoda, worse even than pummeling his Grandpa Joe.
“Useless it is,” said the Yoda voice that was really Zorl. “Zorl, to fight. Fight you forever he will.”
Charley shrank, and he and the fake Yoda commenced a cosmic, dreamy dance of warrior acrobatics across the soft, white sand, while waves of ocean and mist crashed around them.
Then, after Charley had tossed the fake, diminutive, ancient Jedi knight to the ground, he jumped to his feet, but now it was Zorl, the real Zorl, the demon, standing before him. He looked as confident and strong as Charley had ever seen him, as if he had gained the upper hand in their duel. He appeared ready to finish the fight and take Andy beyond the ancient door to Death. That puzzled Charley because, up ‘til now, it seemed like a squarely even fight. For that he was proud, and thankful for the dream witch’s instruction.
“Want to see it?” Zorl asked. The ocean calmed and a warm summer breeze, smelling of sweet brine and seaweed, wafted straight up into Charley’s nose. Charley squinted at Zorl.
“The door,” the demon said. “The door beyond which Death lies. The end of this dream. The end of life itself.”
Charley hesitated a moment. Every inch of his being told him that he should reject this offer – that it was a demon trick.
“I—I…”
“Let me put it to you this way, Charley, my old friend,” said Zorl.
“You are no friend of mine, Zorl.”
“As you wish,” Zorl said, and a curl of a nasty smile formed on his lips. “But let me put it this way—you fly up with me to Mount Doom—yeah, cool name, ain’t it? Just like in Lord of the Rings.” Smoke actually came out of the demon’s thick, deep, lizard-like nostrils as he paused to take a breath.“You fly up there with me and I open the door. Actually open it! Then we fight, Charley, my dear, old friend, until one or the other of us pushes the other through the open door. Once the door closes—game over. Either I die, or you die. And if you die, so does Andy.”
Zorl glared hard and mean at Charley a long moment.
“How’s that for drama!” he snarled.
“No,” said Charley. “That’s not a good enough bargain.”
Zorl’s scowl deepened; he was clearly puzzled. No one had ever bargained with him before.
“Either way, Andy wakes up. Whether I push you through the door, or you push me, you have to free Andy.”
Zorl seemed to think about it for a moment. With a shrug, he said, “Yeah, sure.”
“No,” said Charley, “I’m not stupid. I won’t take the word of a demon. You have to do it now, wake Andy up. Let him out of his coma.”
Zorl growled. He actually growled. And Charley, knowing that this was just a dream, growled back just as fierce, and just as mean. That sent Zorl into an even deeper funk, and his scowl somehow became even deeper still.
“Alright!” he finally shouted.
There was a shudder all around them, like an earthquake raking the land.
“He’s up,” said Zorl.
Charley opened his eyes and called out for his mother. A few moments later, Mrs. Finch came running into his bedroom. “Yes, Charley, yes?”
“Call the hospital!” he said. “Andy’s up.”
* * * *
It was true! At two o’clock, Andy had opened his eyes and looked around the room. Zorl had lived up to his end of the bargain. He had freed Andy, and now, within a dream, Zorl would do final battle with Charley at the Door to Death. Andy reached up and pressed a button for the nurse. She came running in a few moments later. Seeing Andy had awakened, she called Mrs. Moss. It was a miracle!
Half an hour later, Charley was at Andy’s bedside. Andy was tired, but he kept looking keenly at Charley. Of course, he knew about the bargain. He had heard the whole thing.
“You think you can beat him, Charley? Really beat him?”
Charley shuddered momentarily. He had made a bargain that he knew Zorl would surely hold him to. The next time he fell asleep, he’d be at Mount Doom, staring at an enormous, black door that, after fighting Zorl into submission, he would have to open and push Zorl through. To Death, the afterlife, Hades, or wherever in the Universe it lead. After another moment, Charley shrugged. He was an oneironaut after all, and could do whatever he wanted once he was within a dream. Still, he was afraid. What if he lost?
What if Zorl pushed him through the door first, into Death?
Would he die?
He wished the dream witch were there. And, as if it was a dream, in the next moment, there stood Dr. Galt, in the doorway with Dr. Arambaala and Dr. Strang. Mrs. Finch had called and told them what had happened – that Andy had awakened out of his coma, and that this was somehow related to Charley’s promise to do battle with Zorl at the Door of Death, at the top of someplace that Zorl called Mount Doom. Andy was completely worn out and could barely keep his eyes open. Mrs. Moss came back to the room and sat on a chair next to the bed. “Is he back in a coma?” she asked the doctors.
“No,” said Dr. Arambaala, “just sleeping.”
“And dreaming?” Charley asked.
Everyone shrugged. No one knew. But Charley felt sure that Andy was having a blank, dreamless sleep.
They left Andy’s room and took Charley to an elevator, which went up a couple of floors to a ward that was completely empty and deserted. It used to be the psych ward, Dr. Arambaala explained, before the hospital downsized. Charley didn’t quite understand what that meant, all he knew was that the empty, dark ward made what he was about to do – go to sleep and have a final battle with Zorl – all the more ominous and scary. After a long walk down a silent, dark hallway, they eventually made it to a room. Inside, there was a bed and some instruments set up exactly like in the sleep lab at the university. Dr. Arambaala flipped the switch by the door, bathing the room in a gentle, yellow light.
/> The dream witch patted Charley’s head as they entered the room. “Just remember,”
she said, “you will be in complete control. You can beat Zorl because you know it’s just a dream.”
Charley knew that it was more than that, and that Zorl could just as easily defeat him. But without a word, he gestured for them to leave so he could get into the pajamas his mother had brought for him.
Mrs. Finch stood there for a time, refusing to leave. “But, he’s going there alone,”
she said. “All by himself.”
The dream witch put her arm around Mrs. Finch’s shoulder. As she started to pull Mrs. Finch out of the room she said, “He’ll be just fine. He’s stronger than Zorl.” With a knowing smile, she added, “And he’ll have company.”
Chapter Ten
The Battle at the Door to Death
Charley tossed and turned for a time before finally falling asleep. In the next room, Dr. Galt was finding it more difficult to relax. It didn’t help that the technicians and Drs. Strang and Arambaala informed her that Charley had fallen asleep, and kept her informed at how long he’d been sleeping.
Finally, she sat up and pulled off the electrodes attached to her arms, head and back.
“I need quiet!”
By then, Charley was circling Zorl on the very top of Mount Doom. It was a dark round plain, and Death’s Door was at the edge of cliff that fell into a deep, dark abyss.
“You go through that door, Charley,” said Zorl, now very clearly himself, a tall, malevolent demon with thick, heavy black wings attached to his back. “You die.”
“And what happens to you?” Charley asked, circling slowly, trying to figure out whether he should attack, or pursue a defensive approach. “When I push you through that door?”
“I go back from whence I came is all,” said Zorl. “I go home. To Hell!”
Finally, Zorl launched forward and flew into Charley with such abandon and force that it knocked Charley to the ground. Charley had underestimated Zorl’s strength. In all their previous battles over the last few days since Charley had become an oneironaut, Zorl had been faking, hustling Charley into believing that he was weaker than he really was. Zorl lifted Charley and tossed him like a rag doll to the hard ground, causing Charley to lose his breath. But Charley was able to dodge a kick by rolling over, giving him an opening. He reached up and pounded Zorl’s scaly, thick thigh with a hard fist and that bent the creature over onto a knee. In the next instant, Charley jumped to his feet and flew into Zorl, pushing him within a couple of feet of the Door. Charley continued pushing with all his might and, despite Zorl’s resistance, got him to the very edge of the Door itself.
Within A Dream Page 5
