The Story of Promiseum - Dream Walker

I think it's time to look for that missing Essential, Danny thought. He opened a dream door and went through. There were so many dreams floating around. He could feel a pull to each one, but there was a specific dream that he was trying to find. There it was! Danny entered the patio dream to look around. He walked out by the rail and looked up and down the street. He checked the trees and all of the fences. They weren't here! He concentrated for a second, then shifted to another dream. This time he went back into the meadow dream. He walked through the meadow down to the wooded area, then he walked down the path a little way. There they were, playing by the stream.

"Sing, Song, can I talk to you for a minute?" said Danny.

"Sure, Sing said we always have time for you. We like you," added Song.

"I'm glad to hear that," Danny said. "Because I like you too. The last time we talked, you said an Essential was missing. What can you tell me about that?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," said Sing. "The one missing is Jonathan," Song added.

"Gary told me that he was kidnapped." Sing said.

"What does Gary appear as?" Danny asked.

"He's a Siamese cat," Song said.

"Do you know where he likes to hang out?" Danny asked.

"He doesn't hang out anywhere," Song said.

"He's a prowler." Sing added. "You don't find him. He finds you."

"Thank you for your time,'' Danny said.

"You're welcome," they both said as they flew back to the water.

He used the door to go back to his office. "How would I find Gary?" he said to himself. They said that you didn't find him. He finds you. But I've never met him before, and he doesn't know me. So, he had no reason to find me. He walked out to his workshop and started gathering up some tools. Making furniture helped him think. He found any kind of woodworking relaxing. If I could just clear my mind, maybe something would come to me. He thought to himself.

Right now, he was working on a vanity table for Emily. It was for her birthday, and he wanted it to be perfect. He was hand carving the face of the drawers and the knobs on the front. It was starting to look great. A little stain would bring out the pattern nicely. Wait a minute! Bring it out, he thought to himself. If he couldn't find Gary, he would have to use something to help Gary find him. Not like baiting him out, but like an offering of good faith. After making a pit stop in the kitchen, Danny decided he would need a new dream. He concentrated on what he wanted then shifted into the veil of Dreams. In front of him was a new dream. It was just what he needed, so he entered.

He was now in an alleyway that seemed unnaturally long. It was pretty broad, with trash cans and dumpsters lining both sides. The walls were brick, and they had shallow alcoves, and doors randomly spaced down either side. The walls here seemed extremely high. He couldn't tell how high because they seemed to just disappear into the distance, being swallowed by the darkness above. Even with the lights above some of the doors, the alleyway still seemed pretty dark.

Suddenly, he called out into the alleyway. "I'm looking for Gary. If you can hear me, Gary, I would like to request a meeting. I also brought you a gift." He pulled a can of tuna out of his pocket, opened it with the pull tab, and set it on the ground beside a dumpster.

"Is that real tuna?" A voice asked, mainly sounding curious, but he could detect a hint of genuine surprise behind it.

Moments later, a Siamese cat appeared from behind a nearby group of trash cans. "It is," Danny said. "I brought it from the material world. It's a gift for you. I could bring you more from time to time if you would like."

"I would like that very much, thank you," Gary said. "But you didn't go through all this trouble to find me, just to bring me a gift."

"You're right," Danny admitted. "I came here because I wanted to ask you about the disappearance of Jonathan. I heard that you said he was kidnapped."

"That's true," he said. "And where did you hear this?"

"A little birdie told me,"

"Naturally," he replied. "You know Sing and Song are actually one Essential. It's not multiple personalities like Max. They are a twin spirit."

"What's a twin spirit?" Danny asked. "Is that like a spirit that has been split in half?"

"Sort of," Gary said. "But not exactly. Maybe pulled together would be more accurate, but no one knows exactly how they came to be. However, they're not the only ones. There's also Yin and Yang, John and June, ect..."

"That's very interesting. Thank you for telling me that." Danny said. " But what can you tell me about the kidnapping?"

He finished the tuna, turned around, and disappeared behind the dumpster, then reappeared as he jumped on top of the dumpster. He walked to the edge and sat down.

"I didn't witness them taking him." He began. "However, they had been stalking him for days. Like they were studying him and waiting for an opportunity."

"Who was stalking him?" Danny asked. "And why would they be studying him?"

"I think it's the people from that 'sleep clinic' that moved into the old asylum." He answered. "They're a bunch of nuts if you ask me."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's more of a cult or religious sect than anything." He replied. "They run around talking about freeing their spirits, and they worship something they call the dream Walker. I would say that they're pathetic, but what they do isn't possible, and that makes them dangerous."

"What do you mean that makes them dangerous?" Danny asked. "I go into dreams, and I talk to Essentials. Doesn’t that make me dangerous?"

"You're different." He said. "You were born that way. These are ordinary humans, and they shouldn't even know what an Essential is, let alone have the ability to capture one."

"I guess that does make them dangerous. But, how do you know I'm not dangerous?" Danny asked.

"Like I said. You're different." He said. "You're one of us, and you have the destiny to fulfill."

"What do you mean I have the destiny to fulfill? And what is that destiny?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Gary said, "but the medial spirits are excited. I'm guessing part of that Destiny is helping us and finding Jonathan, or you wouldn't be here."

"I guess you're right," Danny said. " I should take one step at a time. By the way, I like that you consider me one of you. I consider it a real honor."

"You are one of us. Otherwise, you would have thought it ridiculous to bring a can of tuna to a dream character." He said as he vanished.

I don't know about Destiny, but somehow, I am part of this world. And I would like to consider these Essentials, my friends. So, before I worry about other stuff, I want to try to rescue Jonathan.

By now, it was morning, so Danny exited the dream straight to his room. He was thinking about what to do next as he started his morning stretches. By the time Danny finished his morning routine and had breakfast, he still had no clue where to start. Danny wanted to check on this "sleep clinic," but he didn't even know what it was. Danny decided it was too dangerous unless he could get more information. Maybe if he tried researching this company, he could get some idea of what they do. Then, when he knew enough, he could pay them a visit.

Being Saturday, he didn't have much else to do. He didn't work weekends, and Emily and Robert were out of town. Their parents weren't quite wealthy, but they were in the upper-middle-class class bracket. This afforded them a few luxuries, like a timeshare cabin on a lake in the mountains. Their parents decided that a weekend away with the family would be just what they needed.

He started by checking the newspapers. If they were running some kind of business, you would expect an ad to be in the paper. There was nothing! After making numerous calls, talking to many people, calling the company directly, even calling the Better Business Bureau, he had nothing more than a vague description of who they were or what they even did. He would never find anything with his limited resources. He needed to talk to someone who had more resources. He needed to talk to Walter.

It was late afternoon, but he knew Walter would still be in his office. However, he called him to make sure. He still had to drop off his receipts anyway. Walter's office was only a few blocks away, so Danny decided to walk. He figured it would give him a chance to think. As Danny was about to cross the street at the first intersection, he saw this odd-looking guy. This guy was wearing what looked like swimming goggles, but they were tinted extra dark, more like welding goggles. He was wearing a heavy-looking backpack. There was also a wire attaching the goggles to the pack. Danny thought he looked kind of suspicious, but when the bus stopped and left, the guy was gone. I guess he was just waiting on the bus, Danny thought.

Danny went across the street, down the block, up to Walter's office. When Danny got there, Walter's secretary let him right in. As Danny came in, Walter got up from his desk and shook his hand.

"Good afternoon Danny," he said." Do you have those receipts?"

"Good afternoon Walter, I have them right here," Danny said.

"Normally, you would send these by Courier on Monday," Walter said. "Was there something else you needed?"

"Well. Kind of." Danny said. "Do you know anything about that sleep clinic in the old asylum?"

"Why do you want to know about that?" Walter asked. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"No, I heard about it from a friend and wanted to get more information,"

"Did you try to contact this clinic?

"Yes, but..." Danny started to say, but Walter cut him off.

"Don't say another word."

Danny was about to ask why, but Walter held up his hand to stop him. First, he walked over to the window and looked out. Whatever Walter saw, he wasn't happy about it. Then, he walked over to his desk. Walter pushed a button hidden under the lip in front of where he sits. The door locked, and security shutters came down over the door and windows. Suddenly, the back wall behind his desk pushed out and slid to the right. Behind it, there was a staircase leading down to the left.

"Follow me," Walter said.

Danny didn't say a word. He just did as he was told. They went down a flight of steps to a Landing, where they went down the second flight of steps going in the opposite direction. They were in what appeared to be a security room. There was a large section of computers and recording equipment on one wall. On the adjacent wall, there was a row of monitors. Walter checked all of these monitors, and then he pushed a button. On the opposite wall, a door opened up. It was an elevator. They got on the elevator, and Danny noticed that there was only one button. Walter pushed that button, the door closed, and they started going down.

"What's going on?" Danny asked Walter.

Walter said, "I'll tell you in just a minute."

The elevator door on the back wall of the elevator opened, and they stepped out. Walter brought him to what appeared to be a living room. It was an underground apartment. The furnishings and decor would probably have been considered modern in the fifties or sixties. It was an open concept with the kitchen to the right separated by a fully stocked bar. There was a short hallway with three doors in the back of the living room. The one in the middle at the back of the hall was open. It was a bathroom. The two adjacent doors across from each other, he assumed, were bedrooms. And, in the back corner on the left wall was another door.

"Welcome to my home!" Walter said. "We can talk in my office." He walked to the door in the back left corner, opened it, and held it as Danny entered.

The office was huge. Almost as big as Danny's entire apartment. The walls were lined with bookshelves almost all the way around. The shelves were filled with thousands of books. Law books, reference books, technical manuals, he had books for everything. Halfway down the walls on either side, there was a break in the shelves. In the spaces on either side, there was a wooden bench upholstered in leather.

Above the bench on the left, there was a large portrait of Walter when he was younger. Above the bench on the right, there was a large portrait of a woman. Danny assumed it was Walter's late wife. On the front wall of the office, as you enter, there was a large steel door. It was like a bulkhead door you would find on a ship, with the big wheel in the middle to open and lock it. Walter had a massive desk with a high-back leather office chair at the other end of the office. There were also two low-back leather chairs in front of the desk.

"I know what you're thinking. Was all of this necessary?" Walter began. "I assure you; it is. You see, Danny, I know what you are and what you are capable of. I also know that there is only one way you could have any knowledge of that group."

"Wait a minute!" Danny interrupted. "You know what I am? What am I, and how do you know what I can do?"

"You, Danny, are an extraordinary being," Walter said. "An unexpected product of an experiment gone wrong."

"I was created artificially?" Danny asked.

"No." "You were born naturally, the same as everyone else," Walter said. "Let me start from the beginning."