Chapter 7: The First Dream
Ryo watched in amazement as the screen showed the point of view of going through a long tunnel. He suspected that it was some sort of dream scanner, and that it was going into the subconscious minds of his friends. "Too weird!" he breathed. The tunnel shot suddenly fizzled out, returning the screen to its former blank state.
Then, a little two-inch usher appeared on the seat in front of Ryo. "I'm sorry," began the usher in a jolly voice, "but the first person is not asleep at this moment. He or she is working on a paper for school that is due tomorrow. It will take a few moments for us to load up the 'film' for one of his or her previous dreams. Please excuse this inconvenience, and have a nice day." The usher disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
As he waited, Ryo thought. Hmm... who would be up at this hour working on a school project? Let's see... Sage or Rowin would, seeing as they strike me as perfectionists. Sai might. He's not a procrastinator, but he might have forgotten about it or something. Nah. Not very likely. Kento would be up 'til two, though. He's a procrastinator, and he might need the credit. Well, I can rule out Blaze. He's a tiger, for God's sake! And all Yuli does in school is color and have recess. Oh, sure, he's up 'til two. Trying to stay in the lines and reminding himself not to shove people at the water fountain. Mia could be, but I think she's done with most of her major projects. So... I've ruled out White Blaze and Yuli, and possibly Mia and Sai. Cool! Hey, this is a snap! A cinch in the first degree. Ryo smiled to himself as he crossed out the kid and the cat from the practice card's first column and put a little question mark in Sai and Mia's boxes.
Then, all of a sudden, the picture on the screen changed to the 6-5-4-3-2 thing again. Ryo leaned forward in his seat and paid close attention...
George was trapped. Cornered against the wall of a tall, wide, thinly-barred metal cage, he trembled in terror at the beast that stood in front of him. It seemed to be six feet tall, with red, beady eyes, and tufts of tan fur all over it. It had little curled up paws, with sharp-but-thin nails. It stood on its hind two legs, threatening George with chittery sounds. It seemed like George Whent had been cornered by... a giant gerbil. Suddenly, George made a break for it, only to be chased by the enormous gerbil. He ran faster and faster, but the gerbil kept gaining on him and gaining on him. Just before George reached the open door of the cage, it slammed shut. Screeching with fear, he leapt and landed on more thin metal bars. Sensing the gerbil behind him, George ran. The gerbil was practically on top of him, he realized with terror. He ran faster and faster, and got more and more tired. Just before the gerbil landed a striking blow to the back of his neck, George realized with horror that he was running on a hamster wheel. He yelled, and the gerbil picked him up with its teeth. Then...
The screen went dark. The usher reappeared. "The darkness signifies that the person woke up at that point. You will have five minutes in which to think about this before the next 'film.' Be sure to carefully weigh all evidence. Have a nice day!" He poofed back out of view.
Okayyyy... thought Ryo. Let's see. He was afraid of the gerbil. Well, I don't think it's Mia or Sage. They both had, like, eighty gerbils or hamsters or whatever when they were little, and worshipped them to the point of actually painting their toenails. At least, in Mia's case. Yuli has a gerbil, too, and hugs it and crap all the time. Kento hates all rodent-like animals, but he isn't scared of them. White Blaze eats gerbils. I don't think he fears them. Well, maybe he had gerbil-indigestion that night. Nah. Besides, I already ruled out Yuli and Blaze! Silly me. So... Rowin or Sai?
Suddenly, Ryo remembered an incident that had occurred in sixth grade. The class's pet gerbil, Ooky-Mooky, was a mean-tempered little thing. One day, some kid named Jimmy or Jimbo or Acapulco something was the cage monitor and was cleaning it out when the gerbil had run out of hiding and bitten him on the hand. Jimbo'd screamed and flung his hand in the air, gerbil still attatched. Ooky-Mooky had let go at the last minute and flew across the room, landing on some poor, unsuspecting kid's shoulder. The gerbil had bitten his ear (practically pulling a Tyson, babe. Wow), climbed into his hair, clawed around, and chittered madly. The kid had leapt up, ran around the room screaming, and finally tripped over a desk, sending him and the gerbil flying. He'd been horribly embarassed, very frightened, and made a huge mess. And that kid's name was...
"Rowin!" cried Ryo, triumphantly. "Got it!" He put a little check in the box "Rowin-1" on the practice card and wondered if they all went in order. A few moments later...