I am not sure what Justin means to accomplish by going into Colin’s dream again.
I had been with him when Joy had run away from home. Justin had made me pop up as he had visited other people’s dreams, wanting me to advise him. I remember everything Justin knew about Colin’s nightmare even though I had only been in it for a few seconds.
Colin’s nightmares are dark and terrible, ones that Joy could never survive.
Joy wishes to come along, and Justin relents only as much as allowing her and Charlie to sit in one of the tunnels and look down into the dream.
“You may not ever, ever, ever set foot inside Colin’s dream! It will kill you!” he says.
Joy doesn’t need convincing this time. She agrees without arguing and sits on the edge. Charlie sits next to her. Master Mind stands behind her, ready to not allow her to go in.
And I lean on the round tunnel wall to the side and look in out of curiosity.
Our permanent jetpacks are on the tunnel ground, allowing us to move more freely in this cramped space.
Justin looks below. It’s London at night. Everything’s foggy. It feels like a horror movie waiting to happen.
Then I hear it: A man’s screams. I follow the sound and I see it: A man running through the streets. And behind him, a tentacle chasing him, a tentacle taller than him and as wide as two busses.
Charlie gasps when he sees it.
“Whoa!” Joy says and pulls her legs farther from the edge.
“I’m going in,” Justin says.
“Remind me, why are you doing this again?” I ask him.
“Because,” he says. “I want an adventure I can’t win in.”
“Phooey,” Joy mutters under breath.
“Joy–”
“I’m not going in!”
Justin nods and jumps inside, activating his jetpack.
(To be continued…)
—Told by Grampa Walt