“Come on baby
light my fire.”
Thomas The
Tank Engine* #quote
Did you know
that one in ten donuts are donuts? And did you also know so are the
other nine? Anyway onto the flash fiction!
Dream TV
A steady,
bright light came from an aged television and illuminated an
otherwise dark room. In the room a family sat on a large,
unfashionable couch. You couldn't call them poor, but they didn't
have enough money to be called middle class. Both parents worked
unsatisfying jobs to support three children and their frail
grandfather.
On the
television was the family's favorite show, Dream TV. They watched it
together every night without fail. They had different tastes in
everything else. One child loved sports, one hated them and the third
didn't care. The grandfather read under the mellow light next to his
bed while the mother chatted on the phone with her friends about
nothing that mattered. The father attempted to paint masterpieces
with little success. But despite their differences they all loved
Dream TV like 70% of other Americans. (At least 70% is the number the
show advertised.)
On the show a
woman that couldn't be older than twenty laid sleeping in a bed with
what seemed to be a hundred wires attached to her head with cotton
and glue. The wires ran to a huge computer that could dwarf a truck.
Two people in suits sat at a fancy table in front of the computer
with a monitor next to them. They were separated from the woman by a
thick wall of soundproof glass. As soon as the show's theme music
ended they began to speak.
“Hello
viewers, its me Ben and my lovely co-host Anne.” He spoke like a
comedian building up to a punchline. “Anne could you please explain
our show for any new viewers at home?”
“Of course
Ben. Today we will be watching the dream of our contestant with Ben
and I providing commentary. Then you viewers at home will vote
whether or not you liked the dream. Whichever contestant gets the
most votes at the end of the week will get the grand prize of fifty
thousand dollars!” she explained with a friendly smile.
“Don't forget
Anne, this season were giving every contestant special drugs provided
courtesy of Samson Dreams Incorporated to increase the intensity of
their dreams.” the host smiled. The television company paid a lot
of money to put his smile on camera.
“Right Ben.
Now we're proud to provide these dreams live, straight to your TV!”
Anne's voice then became quiet and quick, “Note: This station and
all its affiliates are not responsible for any content in the
following dream.”
The television
screen switched to display the woman's dream. Though the hosts
vanished they could be heard while the dream played out.
She stood on a
long wooden bridge that weaved through the clouds. In front of her
stood a cat on two legs, leaned over like an old man on a cane.
“You can't
pass! You can't pass!” the cat hissed. “You don't have a
passport! No passport!”
“But I need
to pass!” the woman yelled in response. “I've run out of sugar so
I can't make dinner tonight. We're having onions and ice cream. The
kids love it, so I need to get through!”
“No
passport!” the cat said while a whale with a top hat flew by him.
“See? He has a passport!”
The family
laughed and laughed at the woman's dream. The woman continued begging
the cat to be let through, but to no avail. The family joked about
the cat's stubbornness.
“Poor girl.
Looks like she can't get by.” Anne said in a condescending tone.
“I wonder
where that whale got his passport? Maybe she should ask him!” Ben
laughed. He enjoyed it all as much as the family at home, sometimes a
little more.
The bridge then
turned to ice and she slipped. The cat lit on fire. The fire burned
away the cat's skin and it turned into a skeleton. It walked slowly
up to her, growing taller by the second. By the time it reached her
it became twice her height.
“Uh-oh folks,
looks like this dream turned into a nightmare!” Ben said. Though no
one in the family would admit, it the dreams that turn into
nightmares were their favorite. They found them the most exciting of
all. It crossed their mind that maybe they should have set the
episode to record before it started.
The skeleton
opened up its maw and a snake crawled out. It attacked the woman.
After it bit her it swallowed her. In the nightmare the inside of the
snake was larger than the outside and became a massive cave. Animals
that resembled bats crossed with bears flew around her and clawed
her. She screamed with bloody tears. She then woke up with a rapid
heartbeat. She turned to the hosts with a shocked expression. While
she shivered she kept thinking of the prize money to calm herself.
“Well
folks, looks like the dream ends here. Remember, pick up your phones
and vote for your favorites and tune in tomorrow for even more Dream
TV!” Ben yelled at the camera. The father got off the couch and
turned the TV off. They all wondered if tomorrow's episode would be
as good as this one.
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