Chapter 15
Sadness stared out the window and came up with an idea. “How about we wake her up?”
“Sadness, that’s ridiculous,” Joy said. “How could we possibly…” She followed Sadness’s gaze and saw what she was staring at: Dream Productions. “How about we wake her up!” Joy said.
Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong hopped off the train and quickly made their way over to Dream Productions. The busy studio was full of action and excitement. Actors in all kinds of costumes walked around sipping coffee and carrying scripts, grips pushed rolling sets, and golf carts zipped from stage to stage.
“Whoa!” said Joy, taking in the scene. “This place is huge.”
“Yeah, it looks so much bigger than I expected,” Sadness said.
Joy almost fainted when they walked by the star of a majority of Riley’s dreams: Rainbow Unicorn. “She’s right there!” Joy whispered in awe, pointing at the unicorn casually sitting in a director’s chair.
Sadness walked right up to her. “My friend says you’re famous,” she said. “She wants your autograph.”
“No, no, Sadness, don’t bother Miss Unicorn, okay?” Joy said, grabbing Sadness. “Sorry,” she said to the unicorn. “She’s from out of town. That was so embarrassing, right?” Joy awkwardly pulled Sadness away. Then she popped her head back toward Rainbow Unicorn and quickly squealed, “I loved you in Fairy Dream Adventure Part 7! Okay, bye! I love you!”
Dashing away, Joy caught up with Sadness and Bing Bong. They had reached one of the stages and were just walking right in. The Dream Director was addressing the cast and crew. “Today’s memories are in,” the director declared. “We’ve got a lot to work with here. Riley dumped her best friend, had a miserable day at school, and quit hockey.”
Joy, Bing Bong, and Sadness hid behind some production equipment and watched the director pass out scripts. Then they sneaked over to the costume area. “Okay, how are we gonna wake her up?” Joy asked.
“Well, she wakes up sometimes when she has a scary dream. We could scare her,” Sadness offered.
Joy didn’t like that idea at all. She thought Riley had been through enough and didn’t want her to dream of anything that would make her uncomfortable. “Sadness, I know Riley. We’re gonna make her so happy that she’ll wake up with exhilaration. We’ll excite her awake!” said Joy.
“That’s never happened before,” Sadness said as she watched Joy rummage through the costume racks.
“Ooh, Riley loves dogs,” Joy said. “Put this on!” She threw half of a dog costume to Sadness.
“I don’t think that’ll work,” Sadness said, but Joy ignored her and turned to Bing Bong.
“Don’t let anything happen to these,” she said, handing him the bag of core memories. Bing Bong promised to keep them safe.
The Dream Director checked the monitor and asked the cameraman to put on the reality distortion filter. The filter made the phony-looking set and actors look completely real! “Love it,” she said, then reminded everyone to play to the camera. “Riley is the camera!” she barked. “Makeup, get out of there, we are on in five, four, three…”
The makeup artists finished powdering an actress playing Riley’s teacher and the Sleep Lights flashed on. Magical-sounding harp music played, signaling the start of the dream.
Inside Headquarters, Fear was drinking a cup of tea as he sat at the console, watching the dream unfold. He was not happy to be stuck with Dream Duty, but with Joy gone, he had no choice.
“Man, she is one bad actress,” Fear said to himself, watching the teacher unenthusiastically talk about a pop quiz. Then the teacher called on Riley to introduce herself. As the camera rose to look like Riley was standing at her desk, one of the students said, “Ew, look! Her teeth are falling out!” Teeth rained down in front of the camera.
“Teeth falling out,” Fear said, scoffing. “Let me guess, we have no pants on.”
Another student spoke. “Hey, look! She came to school with no pants on!” The camera tilted down, revealing Riley’s bare legs.
“Called it!” Fear said.
Joy and Sadness waited off camera at the stage in Dream Productions, wearing the dog costume. “Ready?” Joy whispered.
“I don’t think this happy thing is going to work. But if we scare her—” Sadness tried to explain, but Joy didn’t let her finish.
“Just… follow my lead. Here we go!” Joy yanked Sadness onto the set, dancing and barking like a dog.
The Dream Director flipped through her script, confused, as she tried to find the current scene. “Who is that?” she whispered to herself.
Joy and Sadness continued to run around in the dog costume, barking, licking students, and acting cute.
Joy looked at the sleep indicator—the needle was still on the Sleep side. She signaled Bing Bong and he released bunches of colorful balloons that poured down onto the classroom set. “Woo!” Joy yelled. “Let’s party! Let’s dance! Woo!” Then Bing Bong fired a confetti canon and a storm of confetti covered everything!
In Headquarters, Fear perked up. “Hey, a party!” he said, watching the dog happily running around in the balloons and confetti.
“Joy, this isn’t working,” said Sadness.
Bing Bong danced around offstage and knocked into a light, causing the backdrop to come down. Then the dog costume ripped in half! Joy chased after Sadness on the set. “Sadness, what are you doing? Come back here!”
Fear spit out his tea as he watched the startling sight on-screen: through the reality distortion filter, it looked just like a real dog split right down the middle!
On the screen, it looked as if half a dog were chasing its other half. “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream,” Fear chanted, trying to soothe himself. He turned a knob on the console which caused Riley to stir in her sleep.
The Dream Director watched in horror. “They’re trying to wake her up! Call security!” she yelled. Joy grabbed Sadness’s arm and scolded her. “You are ruining this dream! You’re scaring her!”
“But look, it’s working!” said Sadness, pointing at the sleep indicator. The needle was starting to move toward Awake.
“Whoa!” Joy said.
But before they could do anything else, security entered. The Dream Director pointed to Bing Bong, Sadness, and Joy. “They are not part of this dream! Get them!” she yelled.
Sadness saw the guards and grabbed Joy, pulling her backstage. “Stop right there,” a security guard called after them. A second guard got Bing Bong and tackled him to the ground.
“Ow! Hey!” cried Bing Bong.
“Pan away! Pan away!” shouted the director. The camera operator moved the camera away from the disaster happening on set, revealing Rainbow Unicorn eating at the snack table in a mystical unicorn forest set.
Fear shouted at the screen. “Boo! Pick a plot line.”
Joy and Sadness watched as the guards dragged Bing Bong, holding the bag of core memories, down toward a massive, scary-looking door.
第 15 章
憂憂盯著窗外,想到了一個方法:“我們把萊莉喚醒怎么樣?”
“憂憂,那不可能。”樂樂說道,“我們怎么可能……”她順著憂憂望去的方向,才發(fā)現(xiàn)她正盯著造夢場看。“我們把她喚醒吧!”樂樂說道。
樂樂、憂憂和兵兵跳下火車,朝造夢場趕去。播夢室里正忙得不可開交,充滿了表演和刺激。穿著各式服裝的演員走來走去,喝著咖啡,拿著劇本;手柄推動著舞臺旋轉(zhuǎn);高爾夫球車在各個場景間來回穿梭。
“哇!”樂樂看著眼前的場景,“這地方可真夠大的。”
“是啊,比我想象的大太多了。”憂憂跟著說道。
他們從萊莉大多數(shù)夢境中的主角身邊走過的時候,樂樂差點暈了過去,因為那是:彩虹獨角獸。樂樂指著正閑適地坐在導(dǎo)演椅上的獨角獸,敬畏地小聲說:“她就在那兒!”
憂憂直接走到她跟前,說:“我朋友說你很出名, 她想要你的簽名。”
“不,不,憂憂,別打擾獨角獸小姐,好嗎?”樂樂一把抓住憂憂。“對不起。”她朝獨角獸說道,“她剛從鄉(xiāng)下來,真是尷尬,對吧?”樂樂笨手笨腳地將憂憂拉開。接著她突然回頭,朝彩虹獨角獸快速喊道:“我從《仙女夢游記》第七章開始就愛上你了!好了,再見!我愛你!”
跑開后的樂樂追上了憂憂和兵兵,他們到達(dá)一處場景,正準(zhǔn)備走進(jìn)去。夢境導(dǎo)演正在對演員和劇組工作人員講話。“今天的記憶球已經(jīng)送到了。”導(dǎo)演向他們宣布,“我們有很多工作要做。萊莉甩了她最好的朋友,在學(xué)校里過了糟糕的一天,還退出了冰球比賽。”
樂樂、兵兵和憂憂躲在造夢儀器后面,看著導(dǎo)演分發(fā)劇本。然后他們悄悄溜進(jìn)服裝區(qū),樂樂問道:“好了,我們怎樣才能喚醒萊莉?”
“這個嘛,有時她做了噩夢就會醒過來,我們可以把她嚇醒。”憂憂提議。
樂樂一點也不喜歡這個方法,她覺得萊莉已經(jīng)夠遭罪的了,不想再讓她夢到不愉快的事情。她說:“憂憂,我了解萊莉。我們只要讓她盡可能地快樂,她就能興奮得醒來。我們用開心喚醒她!”
“這可從未發(fā)生過。”憂憂一邊說一邊看著樂樂在服裝架上翻來翻去。
“嗬,萊莉喜歡狗,”樂樂說,“穿上這件!”她扔給憂憂一件扮作狗的戲服。
“我不認(rèn)為這樣有用。”憂憂說道。但是樂樂并不理會,她轉(zhuǎn)向兵兵。
她將裝有核心記憶球的包遞給兵兵,說:“這些記憶球可不能有任何閃失。”兵兵答應(yīng)保障它們的安全。
夢境導(dǎo)演檢查了顯示屏,并讓攝影師裝上現(xiàn)實失真過濾鏡,過濾鏡可以讓假的場景和演員看上去和真的一模一樣!她贊道:“太棒了。”接著,她提醒每個人要對著攝像機(jī)表演。“攝像機(jī)就是萊莉!”她厲聲說道,“化妝師,離開那兒,要開始了,五,四,三……”
化妝師剛給扮演萊莉老師的演員化好妝,夢境燈光就打開了。魔幻的豎琴音樂響起,標(biāo)志著夢境的開始。
情緒總部里,怕怕正坐在控制臺上喝著茶,看著夢境展開。他不喜歡執(zhí)行夢境監(jiān)控任務(wù),但是樂樂失蹤了,他沒得選擇。
“老兄,她的演技可真爛。”看著老師無精打采地講著隨堂測驗的事,怕怕自言自語。接著,老師叫萊莉進(jìn)行自我介紹。攝像機(jī)拍到萊莉從課桌邊站了起來,其中一個學(xué)生說道:“真惡心,看!她的牙全掉出來了!”牙齒一顆顆落在了攝像機(jī)前面。
“牙齒掉光了,”怕怕嘲笑道,“我猜,莫非褲子也沒穿?”
另外一個學(xué)生叫道:“嘿,看!她沒穿褲子就來上學(xué)了!”攝像機(jī)鏡頭搖下,拍出萊莉光著的腿。
“我猜中了!”怕怕說道。
樂樂和憂憂穿著戲服,等著造夢場舞臺上的攝像機(jī)。樂樂小聲問:“準(zhǔn)備好了嗎?”
“我不認(rèn)為這種開心的事能把她喚醒,但是如果我們可以嚇嚇?biāo)?mdash;—”憂憂試著解釋,但是被樂樂制止了。
“只要……按照我說的做,我們上臺!”樂樂將憂憂拽到舞臺上,像狗一樣跳著、叫著。
夢境導(dǎo)演滿臉疑惑,迅速翻了翻劇本,試著找到相應(yīng)的場景。她小聲地嘀咕著:“那是誰?”
樂樂和憂憂穿著戲服繼續(xù)在舞臺上跑動,汪汪叫,舔?qū)W生,裝可愛。
樂樂看著睡眠指示器——指針仍然停在“睡眠”那一邊。她向兵兵示意,兵兵放出一束束五顏六色的氣球,氣球涌進(jìn)教室。“唔!”樂樂喊道,“讓我們狂歡!讓我們跳舞!唔!”接著,兵兵放了一個禮花炮,彩色紙花飄灑在整個舞臺上!
情緒總部里,怕怕來了興致。他看著那只狗在氣球和彩紙之間歡快地跑來跑去,說道: “嘿,派對啊!”
“樂樂,這樣做沒用。” 憂憂說道。
兵兵在舞臺后面跳舞,突然撞到燈上,背景幕布掉了下來。然后,狗戲服竟然撕裂成兩半!樂樂在臺上追著憂憂:“憂憂,你在干什么?回這兒來!”
怕怕看著屏幕上驚悚的場景,剛喝到嘴里的茶又吐了出來:通過現(xiàn)實失真過濾鏡,看起來就像一只真的狗從中間裂成了兩半!
屏幕上看起來就像一只狗裂開后的一半追著另一半跑。怕怕試著安慰自己,重復(fù)地說著一句話:“這只是個夢,這只是個夢,這只是個夢。”他轉(zhuǎn)動控制臺上的一個旋鈕,睡夢中的萊莉動了動。
夢境導(dǎo)演驚恐地看著,叫了起來:“他們想要喚醒她!快叫保安!”樂樂抓住憂憂的胳膊,責(zé)備她:“你把整個夢境都?xì)Я?!你嚇著她了?rdquo;
“但是你看,有效果了!”憂憂指著睡眠指示器說道,指針開始朝“蘇醒”那邊移動。
“哇!”樂樂感嘆道。
但是他們還未來得及進(jìn)一步行動,保安就進(jìn)來了。夢境導(dǎo)演指著兵兵、憂憂和樂樂叫道:“他們不是這個夢境的成員!抓住他們!”
憂憂看見保安之后趕緊抓住樂樂,把她拉到舞臺后面。一位保安在他們后面喊:“站在那兒別動!”另外一位保安抓住兵兵,把他按倒在地上。
“嗷!嘿!”兵兵哭叫起來。
“鏡頭移走!鏡頭移走!”導(dǎo)演叫道。攝影師將攝像機(jī)從舞臺上正在發(fā)生的災(zāi)難上移開,轉(zhuǎn)而拍攝正在一座神秘森林場景中的彩虹獨角獸,她坐在桌邊吃著點心。
怕怕對著屏幕大叫:“噗!劇情變得也太快了。”
樂樂和憂憂看著保安拖走兵兵,他還拿著那個裝有核心記憶球的包。兵兵被拖向一扇巨大的門,那扇門看起來陰森恐怖。