StarlightGuard's fiction

Sweet Dreams: A Sandman's Story (Excerpt)

0 bang

del.icio.us Reddit

Inappropriate

Email This!

:: Monday, March 31, 2008 by StarlightGuard

EXT. TWILIGHT PLACE - PLAYGROUND - MOMENTS LATER

Kieran and Mathon walk along the deserted playground.

KIERAN
Never seen one of them before, have you?

MATHON
Not even in my darkest nightmares.

KIERAN
Sure about that, mate?

MATHON
Yeah.

KIERAN
Well...yeah, okay that’s understandable.

MATHON
Why? What was that thing?

KIERAN
We call ‘em mares. Well I call ‘em that.
A few others do too. Read it in a book
one time, I did. It was some crazy old
superstition the Anglo Saxons had about
demons coming to your bedside at night.
Or something along those lines.
(then)
Look at the moon.

He does so. There it is, crescent waxing.

MATHON
Okay. So?

KIERAN
You’re gonna have to learn to pay
attention to that old moon up there.
She’s a clue to when the nights are
going to be quiet, and when you’re
gonna be working like a dog.

MATHON
Let me guess: a full moon brings out
the monsters...

KIERAN
You like watching those fancy science
fiction pictures, don’t ya mate?

MATHON
Yeah. Doesn’t everyone?

Kieran laughs.

KIERAN
(to himself)
Kids these days.
(to Mathon)
Now if you think you’ll be seeing men
running around growing lots of hair and
howling at the moon, you’re sadly
mistaken.

MATHON
But you said...

KIERAN
I know what I said, mate. And I didn’t
finish now did I? And while we’re at it,
let’s put to death right now any
thoughts of those neck biting blood
suckers and living mummies and whatever
else you saw in the picture shows.
There’s none of that stuff.

No blobs of living gelatin or fishy
looking people neither. The only hairy
men howling up at the moon you'll find
is me dad when he's been at the drink
too hard. You got that?

MATHON
Yeah.

KIERAN
Good. When that old moon shines as
bright as it can, no matter if there’s
clouds in front of her or not, you’ll
have the night off. Free as a bird to
do whatever you like or go wherever you
want.
(then)
Well, most everywhere. But that’s for
you to figure out on your own. The more
of the moon you can see, the less you’ll
see of them mares around.

MATHON
Sounds easy enough to remember. So, what
happens when...

KIERAN
You and I know the moon’s always gonna
be there, no matter if we can see it or
not.

That’s something the mare’s not bothered
by. If there’s no moon in the sky to be
seen, there’s gonna be an infestation
of ‘em. If you can get to the people
before they do, everything will be okay.
You make sure you get to them before
they do.

MATHON
And how do I do that?

KIERAN
You’ll have help mate. More than you
can imagine. Those that are asleep or
were dusted will be fine. It’s the ones
that aren’t asleep yet you gotta worry
about.

MATHON
And what about the cat?

KIERAN
What about it?

MATHON
It seemed like it was talking to you,
like you and it could understand each
other.

KIERAN
Well, yeah. That bother you?

MATHON
A little.

KIERAN
The boy believes in great hairy wolves
turning into people but can’t wrap his
mind around talking to a pussy cat.

MATHON
Look, I didn’t mean anything.

KIERAN
Trust the cat. You won’t hear it talking
to you or anything like that. You’ll
just know what it wants or needs. Trust
it and that’s all you gotta do about the
cat.

MATHON
Does it have a name?

KIERAN
Not that I know of. I just know the cat
is there to help. Always has been,
always will be. That’s good enough for
me. It’ll be good enough for you.

The Mau then appears before Mathon and Kieran, and walks to Kieran. It stops in front of Kieran and meows at it. Kieran looks at it for a second, and then looks back up at Mathon.

KIERAN
Gotta go now mate. Duty calls.

He smiles, waves, and disappears alongside with cat who also vanishes. Mathon is just left standing there, alone. He looks around, sighs, and then just decides to walk off into the darkness.