Young Writers Society

Her breath came slowly, reveling in her elation. Lotus petals swirled around her, pirouetting in the air, gently falling from the bright blue sky to the liquid floor.

She took a tentative step forward, walking on the calm water like stained glass, each bare footfall sending out a ripple across the smooth surface. The pink petals decorated the water, kissing the solid liquid, blissfully unaware of the wavelets. She twirled around, taking in the silent wonder.

And, out of nowhere and everywhere, music began to play, an energetic fiddle riposting across the dream-scape. A smooth piano tone soon followed, filling her with warmth as it joined the violin. She took another step, watching her white dress swirl around her as she moved the rich tones of the fiddle, dodging in between the piano’s serene melody. And the girl smiled.

She danced across the water without a care in the world, twirling to the duet that reached the peak of the clouds, stretched like hands across the sky. The music possessed her like nothing she had ever known, cavorting across the waves with a driving forte.

The girl spread her arms wide, losing herself in sheer joy, closing her eyes as she spun, the lotus petals whirling around her feet in a rhapsodic gale. The violin and piano began a grand crescendo, lifting her spirits higher with each passing note.

But then it stopped growing louder. It grew...quieter. The music seemed to fade away slowly, as though the instruments were being muffled, bit by bit, and drifting away on the clouds. The lotus petals fell away and became lifeless tile on the floor, as her dream fell apart at the seams and was reshaped. She stopped dancing, slowly, and opened her eyes in apprehension.

Where was she? The cold, solid floor was so familiar, and yet it did not belong. The walls were lined with towering white appliances, their stony faces impassive to her presence. The room was huge: the ceiling seeming to stretch to the stars it obscured, while the walls were nowhere in sight to any side.

She walked down the aisles, searching past the newest expensive models for the grand symphony that had moved her so emphatically before. But the mechanical whir of distant air conditioning was all that drifted through the over-clean air.

The girl was completely lost now, not knowing where she was, or what to do. She broke into a run, desperately searching for something, anything, that looked familiar. Her heart sunk more and more with each cold slap of her feet on the white tile. As she rounded yet another desolate corner, she spotted her small, mobile salvation atop a gas oven. Her phone!

She immediately plucked the device from the stovetop, tapping the keys to awaken the metal red contraption. Her screen lit up, her wallpaper a reassuring comfort of the cute-puppy variety. Scrolling through her applications, she sighed with relief. Now all that was left was to dial the police and get herself somewhere else; somewhere safe.

The dial tone issued forth as she put the phone up to her ear. She sighed out shakily again, her sense of safety restored. A small click on the other line signaled the presence of a police officer. “Hello, this is the police. Tessa, what seems to be the problem?”

“Well, I-” Tessa began to speak, but stopped short, quickly realizing something. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, please, little girl. The police know everything! Or rather, the people that walk in your dreams know everything. About you, that is.”

“This is a dream? Then so long, creep!” Tessa used her free hand to pinch herself in the arm. That only earned her pain.

The cell phone emitted a mechanical giggle. “I’ll admit, you’re one of the more clever ones. Not many would think to do that in the heat of the moment. But, sadly, you’re in my world now, girlie.”

Tessa quickly removed the phone from her ear as it released a high-pitched whine. She cried out as the device sparked in her hand, zapping her lightly. Dropping it with a clatter to the floor, she staggered back as the electric mess activated speaker-phone. “Oh, my, what could be happening? Sorry, Tessa, but it appears that your cell-phone is having a little, oh I don’t know...” the demon in her phone cackled momentarily. “Malfunction,” he snarled gleefully.

An electric blue hand reached up through the screen, obliterating the phone into a portal. Laughing madly, a diminutive imp rose from the sparks, flipping around in mid-air like a deranged little jester. A spark kindled between the devilish horns on his head, igniting a fuzzy field of static.

Malfunction hung on a hammock of air, casually observing Tessa as she backed away in fear. “My, my, little girl. What seems to be the problem? What’s your glitch?” He tilted his head to the side, grinning. “On second thought, you know what? It’s probably me.”

Giggling, the imp floated forward until he was right in her face. “But maybe you can help me. You see, little girl, I’m looking for a precious artifact for a friend of mine. Now, I know that it’s currently somewhere in that beautiful head of yours. But the question is,” he reached out and stroked a lock of her coppery brown hair. “Where? Could you tell me? Pretty please.” Malfunction let out a sinister chuckle, his grin surpassing his own face.

Tessa scrambled back, recoiling in fear. “S-stay away from me,” she gasped.

Malfunction waggled a taloned finger at her. “Uh, uh, uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Turn around, dearie.”

Whirling around on the spot, Tessa turned to face the colossus behind her. A quaking, living boiler loomed in the middle of the aisle, its hoses whipping about to serve as limbs. The lumbering silver golem aimed a nozzle of searing gas straight at her head, its malicious soul seeking murder.

Malfunction’s mechanical voice resounded from behind her. “Run, run, as fast as you can!” Tessa whipped her head back around to see his blue aura emanating from an open oven. “Or you’ll be cooked like a gingerbread...erm, girl.”

A stream of cardinal fire erupted from the oven, engulfing everything in its path. At the same time, the boiler passed gas. Tessa stumbled and ran, ducking behind the boiler as the crimson tempest tore at its metal shell. The flames licked at her dress, singing the ends brown.

Picking herself up again, she took off, running at high speeds through the department store, which seemed to be coming to life around her. A row of refrigerators awoke from their icy slumber, rumbling after her as office fans took to the air in attempts to decapitate the poor girl. The toasters chased her with indefatigable malevolence, while an automated toilet released a torrent of dubious liquid in her path. She ran and ran, tears streaming from her eyes in despair as she managed to stay ahead of the mechanical stampede.

It could only last so long. As she rounded the aisle corner, with appliances literally dropping off the shelves to hunt her, Malfunction’s psycho-oven popped out from behind the shelf, ready to fire. “Peekaboo!”

She tore off running in the other direction, the flames licking at her heels. But as the flames died, she found herself cornered by appliances on all sides. Pushed back by power drills and walking washing machines, she was completely surrounded by the whirring, robotic mob.

Malfunction’s high-pitched cackle made itself heard above the automatic chant. “Nowhere to run now!” The machines stomped their way closer, blocking out the light with their metallic, blocky forms. Their sizzling blue aura crackled as they aimed their iceboxes, saws, leaf-blowers, beaters, and microwaves straight at her.

Tessa curled up in the corner as the machines closed in. Her heart fell into despair as she pathetically covered her head with her hands. “Help me,” she cried.

And that’s when a portal opened up above her, and a demon in headphones dropped through. “Call for a hero?” he growled. “Too bad.”

-----------

John dropped through the portal, crashing down on the floor in a pose of twisted showmanship.

The robots crowded around him all stopped short, all chorusing a greeting. “We’ve heard about you, Fury’s successor.”

“Really now?” John adjusted the Mask on his face. “Well, I’m flattered. So, before I beat the living death out of you, mind telling me who you are?”

“My name is Legion, for we are-”

“Shut up. I know there’s only one of you.”

From an overpriced oven, a cackling gremlin poked his head out and grinned. “It was worth a shot. Call me Malfunction. Nice to meet you, Noisy.”

“My name’s John,” he growled. “And I’m here to send you back to whatever bridge you crawled out from under.”

“Aw, well that’s no fun,” Malfunction sighed. “And I was this close to finding the dream-relic by myself. Now it’s just going to be a mess. Man…” He zipped back into the stove, and the machines resumed their sky-blue buzz. “Whatever. I’ll kill you before they get here. Transform!”

With that, the cerulean light enveloped the appliances, lifting them all off the ground. They began to glow and meld together, forming something even more terrifying than sentient toasters. “I’m calling on my Megazo-”

“No.”

“Oh. Fine then, my Gunda-”

“No.”

“The Gurren La-”

“I swear to God that I will murder you, somehow, someway.”

“Fine,” Malfunction grumbled. “Then…” The machines whirled around him in a mechanical tornado, clustering together in a bluish silver light. “Meet my grand creation!” The aquamarine aura faded until the form of a colossus could be seen towering over him. With arms adorned by oversized fanblades, and a giant refrigerator for a chest, the golem flexed its arms and posed. “The MechaWrecka!”

John smirked behind the Mask. “Lame.”

“Well, all the good names were taken.”

John sighed inwardly. The copyrights were safe once more.

The maiden in distress was standing up now, sniffling and still a bit unable to comprehend what was going on. John supposed that he had been the same way. Turning to her, he tossed her his headphones and smartphone. “Keep those safe for me, alright?” The girl nodded numbly.

“Attagirl.” John stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles casually. “Now then,” he said, turning to Malfunction’s MechaWrecka. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Tin Man.”

The MechaWrecka took a fighting stance, super-heated ovens on both hands. A giant monitor with Malfunction’s grinning face raised itself onto the golem's neck. “Bring it, Newbie!”

John smirked, letting hatred flow into his heart. He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and let the voice of Fury consume him. “I’ll shred you to pieces!”

-------------

Chaser’s eyes widened, and his sharp-toothed grin stretched his cheeks. “That’s right, John,” he whispered. “Fight. Fight with that valiant spirit of yours, and do your part in saving the world. Help me save the nightmares.”

He pressed himself against a shelf, peeking around the corner at the developing melee. Malfunction was playing his role perfectly, battling John with a storm of ice, firing off a fusillade of crispy bread. John leapt above the harrowing fan-blades, landing a wicked punch on the Mecha-Whatever-Malfunction-called-it-this-time, sending it reeling. The mask he wore was unmistakably the Mask of Fury.

This nightmare’s victim, Tessa, was standing up by now, fully cheering the crimson warrior on. Chaser watched as hope accrued in her heart, his pulse racing. This young lady would conjure up the classic fairytale picture: The demon defeats the giant fridge-golem and saves the princess. 

He shrugged as he thought about it. It was more or less the same principle.

He had finally tracked his creation here, and it was about to be his once more. Sure, it’d been difficult, but he’d finally done it. He felt like doing a little jig, but he’d have time for that later.

Chaser caught the spear inches from his head, pretending not to notice Sophie on the other end of the Lance. “Whew,” he whistled, feigning fascination in John’s melee. “Check out those flames Malfunction’s got! Who says oven mitts aren’t manly?”

Grinning, Chaser turned to the female Dream-Hunter, who was struggling to move her weapon. “So, do you come here often?”

A ball of light congealed at the tip of the Lance. Chaser ducked hastily to avoid it. “Be careful where you point that thing, young lady!” he snapped, watching the sphere fly off into the distance. “Geez. Coulda killed me.”

Sophie jerked her spear out of his hands, jumping backwards, wings flaring out. “Chaser,” she growled.

Chaser sighed. “Yes, that’s my name, that’s me! For the love of God, I know!”

“Judgement has come, fiend. Prepare for your demise.”

“That’s what they all say. Although, you are being a bit more Shake-spear-ian about it.” Chaser pulled his hat over his face, his voice dropping an octave. “But first, let me ask you a question. Do you like scary movies?”

“I abhor such uninspired low-budget garbage, and have no wish to see it as long as I live.”

“Huh. Welp, too bad.” Chaser replaced his hat on his azure hair. “I’ll be going now. My friend and his friends should keep you company, though. Catch ya later.” His carmine eyes streaked with glee, Chaser turned away from the valkyrie, eager to resume his work. The little girl might’ve recollected herself, and tried to chase him. But she never saw it coming. Nobody ever sees zombies coming.