Time passes by so quickly sometimes that it seems like a dream. In fact, as the events I will describe to you unfolded, I sometimes felt that I must have been dreaming. But, as I later learned, that was impossible.
Chapter 1
A garden dream
I found them in my garden, as I wandered inside late one night in order to water the tiny rose bush, er stick rather, that grew along the concrete block wall. The other two sides of the perfect square were guarded from neighbor’s yards by a slim chain link fence. My father once told me we had the largest garden in Newark, yet it still looked small. I entered through the gate, stirring up the red dust that served as soil for our various tomato and pepper plants, and which amazingly supported the lives of 6 fig trees.
Once I stepped inside, I knew something was wrong. I turned around to look behind me and realized I was lost. Lost? In my tiny garden?
That’s when I saw them, the two men standing close to each other. Once seemed to have the advantage of the other. He was tall, thin, covered in a dusty mustard color robe, the hood pulled down low over his forehead. The second individual frowned, crossing his arms against his chest, his entire body covered by black silk. His skin glowed in the darkness, but nothing brought light to his eyes, dark orbs that swirled as if they contained galaxies of their own.
"Delirium was right, there are paths outside of my garden. But you poor Dream, will never diverge from you own path, your own book." The first man said, his voice dry, like the rustling pages of on old book.
"What are you speaking of, my brother? Have you summoned me here to mock me?"
"The reason will become clear in a moment. Now, Dream, kindly great our visitor."
I gasped as they both turned to gaze at me. I recognized them both now, Dream and Destiny, of the Endless. They existed as existence began and will always exist. "I know you," I told Dream, surprised at my own forwardness.
"Strange, for I do NOT know you, and that is not possible. All living beings dream."
Destiny began to laugh, I suppose, since his body began to quake.
"I am Kathie," I told him, "Of Newark." Heck, if I was meeting the Sandman, this could only be a dream.
I seemed to disturb Dream. "Why is she here?"
"Dream, my poor brother. You who claim to be prince of stories, are nothing but a tale yourself."
"What ARE you talking about?" He demanded.
Destiny held out the great book that was chained to his arm, and from within its pages he pulled out a slim volume, which quivered in his hands. "Here, read this. This is the path outside of the garden."
"I never knew you as one who played games my brother." Dream uttered, his hand hesitantly reaching out the take the book.
I could see now, that it wasn’t a book. It was a graphic novel. "No!" I wanted to scream, somehow I knew if Dream looked at that…
He gasped, and I could see why. The cover clearly stated, "The Sandman: by Neil Gaiman."
"Turn the pages brother. Read aloud."
Dream obliged, being too shocked to do otherwise. "And then Dream took the book from his brother saying "I never knew you as one who played games my brother." Then Dream gasped as what he saw, he questioned Destiny…" Dream looked up at Destiny in agony, "What is the meaning of this? Why have me read a book of your own creation?"
"Ah, but you know the truth, Dream, which is why we are still conversing. The book is not mine, it exists in the mortal world and it controls your actions. See, read of your final doom!"
"No." Dream sank to the ground, the book slack in his hands.
All of a sudden the light began to change, as if the moon had suddenly come out from under the clouds. In such light I could see that the three of us remained in my garden, Destiny upright by the tallest fig tree and Dream on his knees at my feet. We were only 3 feet at most from the entrance.
"Come inside," I told Dream, pulling him away from Destiny, who grinned at us, his face a horrible mask in the sudden light.
Chapter 2
Once in reality
I wanted to tell Ro about the pale man who was living in my attic, I really did, but that would have been too odd. Made him seem more real that he already was. She drove carefully around the traffic circle and I chatted about unimportant things as I doodled on a tiny pad of paper she had in her car.
"Where are we supposed to meet Doug?" She asked, interrupting my chattering of no importance.
"Harrison." I answered, ripping off the slip of paper and placing it deftly in my wallet. I always did that, kept little random sketches I had done. My drawers at home were full of napkins, diner placemats and other things I had decided I must take home after I had drawn on it.
I had forgotten how desolate the city was, as we waited on a street corner. The buildings stared down at us, stark, cold and bleak. The sidewalks were covered with litter and weeds that grew past my waist. I looked up, suddenly, my eye caught by the bright, red, white and blue billboard. "Wiccan Teenagers become Wiccan adults," it declared, and a shiver raced down my spine. "and nobody wants that."
"They’re here," Ro pulled my arm, and led me down to where the boys had arrived. We could finally leave this hellhole.
Doug needed to find mongoose eggs. Don’t ask me what a mongoose is, or why it’s suddenly laying eggs. It’s what he had a permit for, and I distinctly remember that, since I had to photocopy the dang thing for him.
The six of us crept through the dark woods. I stayed with Ro and Liz, Doug walked ahead with my brother Ben, and Ro’s brother Ted. "Here," he said, as he bent to regard a rotted old tree stump. "The eggs should be inside this thing."
"Freeze," we heard a voice say behind us. That’s when the lights got
turned on, blinding us in the sudden brightness so we couldn’t run, even
if we had wanted to. Several cops surrounded us, warding us off with shotguns.
*
"Now, what’re you kids doing out here at night?" the short, fat, lady cop asked me and Ro. Other, male cops had taken away our friends. I fretted after Liz. This couldn’t be good for her fragile state right now.
"We were gathering mongoose eggs," I answered politely, but not too politely. I remembered my law classes. Cops thought kids who were too polite were suck-ups. I had to measure the right amount of politeness and rudeness…too much rudeness and I’ll get myself thrown in jail.
"Right, Mongoose eggs," she snorted.
"It’s true!" Ro protested.
"Why don’t we have a looksy here," she pulled out my wallet, which she had taken from my purse earlier.
She began to pull out various things, mostly credit cards, and some dollar bills. The tiny slip of paper that held my sketch fell to the ground. Then she pulled out a laminated card. "Well, looky here, you do have a permit for mongoose hunting."
I must have given Doug the photocopy and kept the license myself, though I didn’t remember doing that. I cringed as I saw her bend down and pick up my sketch. She whirled on Ro.
"What is this a picture of?" she demanded.
"It’s…" I started to answer.
"Shut up, I want her to answer. If you’re such close friends, she’ll know."
Ro looked at the rough sketch of a tall man in a black trench coat and stated, "It’s a vampire."
No, it’s the Sandman, but there’s no way she would have known that. Heck, he sort of did look like a vampire, in my drawing. In fact, he kinda looked like the guy on the cover of my vampire role playing game book. Ah, that, Ro’s seen before.
"It’s from a game," she answered, shrinking away from the cop, who had tugged on Ro’s jacket with angry force.
"Where have you taken our brothers?" I demanded, trying to get the cop’s attention.
She turned on me, "Your attitude’s not helping any."
"Look, you saw the license, we’re here legally, so you can just buzz off, ok?"
She crumpled up my drawing in her fist, "Never mention vampires again, little girl, especially vampires from role playing games. Not acceptable."
"What the fuck is acceptable?" I grumbled angrily.
"Don’t start with me." She growled.
Ro tugged on my arm, motioning me to be quiet.
"Now," she began, "Some last questions. Who’s the current President of the Holy Christian State of America?"
"George Bush, Jr." I replied snidely.
"That’s George W. Bush," she corrected. "What month is it?"
"Paul-tober," Ro answered shakily.
"What religion are you?"
"We’re Catholic. Is that a crime? Or is something wrong with the Pope now, too?" I snapped.
"You better watch it girl, someday, someone’s gonna bring you in for treason. It’s not seemly for women to be so loud spoken. You should take some lessons from your friend here."
I remained silent, pretending to acquiesce, but in truth, quaking with anger through my entire bones.
"Now, have you heard or seen any other young folk in this forest?" she asked.
"No, nobody but us," I replied steadily.
"Are you sure?"
"I think we would have remembered seeing someone else hunting for Mongoose Eggs." I crossed my arms, meeting her eyes levelly.
"Not hunters." She frowned, as if debating how much to reveal to us. "You kids should stay in at night. Some folk’s might’ve taken you for pagans or some such thing."
After that phrase, the other cops returned, dragging our friends. I ran to Liz to make sure she was ok. All this talk of religion might be really bad for her. I wasn’t sure if she was completely over that whole cult thing.
"Not what we’re looking for," The older taller cop told her. "We should keep looking."
"You kids better get yourselves home."
I seethed in the car on the way home. "I can’t believe it, Father Joe was fucking right!"
"I really wish you’d watch the cursing," Ro told me.
"Why? Cause it’s not fucking ladylike? I don’t fucking care." I snapped. "How far is this thing going to go? I mean, Ro, did you see that billboard in Harrison? At one point does this ‘discouragement’ of Pagan religions go too far? Why do you think they were really looking for pagans back there?"
"What do you think they’re going to do with them, if they find them?" Liz asked from the back seat.
I stared out the window silently. The Pagan Resistance was out there, somewhere. I had hoped to find them, maybe tonight, join their ranks, somehow help in blowing away this Christian State Bush had helped created. It hadn’t been hard, merely add an amendment, making the U. S. an officially Christian country, with a little addendum, no it doesn’t deny you the freedom of religion, it just strongly discourages some religions. Things were moving slowly right now, but I had images of the Handmaid’s Tale flip flopping in my head. Maybe I should head for Canada while the going was good.
Of course, I had that pale guy in my attic to worry about.
*
When I got home I found my garden invested with more of the Endless. Death sat polishing a black and silver bicycle. I grinned at the Ankh insignia in the front of the bike. Delirium giggled to herself and I watched what must have been a horse at once time change into something that mixed a giraffe, and a camel, but had one eagle wing, and one bright butterfly wing. Half of the animal was a horrid shade of orange, the other a bright blue, and the entire thing was covered with green spots. Next to her neighed a large horse, a Clydesdale, I think, it being incredibly muscular with long hair covering it’s hooves. Behind this horse stood the twins, Despair and Desire, each with one rein to a cream colored horse, but the horse’s eyes were the black pools of despair, not the tawny yellow of desire.
"What is this?" I asked.
Death stood up, resting her rag carefully upon her bicycle. "It’s the Apocalypse."
"Oh great." I muttered, "No really? What the heck are you doing here?"
She smiled at me gently, "Sorry, Kath, it really is the end of everything and we are the Riders of the Apocalypse."
"Ok, last time I checked, the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse were Death, War, Pestilence and Famine. Looks like 1 outa 4 here."
"Well, being a bit tipsy at the time, John got the specifics a bit wrong." She shrugged, looking cute as ever despite it being the end of the world and all. "Let’s see, how does it properly go, well, Aramaic never translates to English well, you’ll just have to bear with me, ah yes, ‘And after these signs I have told, the Riders will be unleashed, Death and Destruction go first, heavy hands falling upon ungrateful people. Before the end descends, despair for what was lost, desire for what is not, and delirium for what was once delight.’"
"Um, that’s FIVE," I pointed out irritably. "And that doesn’t sound like the Bible."
"It wasn’t in the Bible, remember? And twins sometimes counted as one person in the ancient times. There is more, and it all has happened, including Dream’s seclusion and Destiny’s rebellion."
"Crap," I began to pace, then I paused, "Ok, like, supposing it is the end of the everything, why are you here? I mean, why tell me all this?"
"Because you’re the girl who doesn’t dream within the Dreaming, silly." Delirium looked up from her, ah horse.
"I see." I said, not seeing at all.
"Kathie, you must listen to me. Destiny has used you. You do not dream within the dreaming, which is why Dream did not know you when he saw you. That is part of the prophecy, but you have a certain power. Only you can stop the Apocalypse."
"Figures," I sigh, once again it was up to me to save civilization as we know it. "Ok, how do I do it."
"You have to kill Destiny."
"Well, duh, if that’s all I have to do, then sure, no problem…are you fucking out of your mind?" I exploded.
Death stared at me, not looking happy. "Think, cause right now you’re not and that’s not cool at all."
"Huh? Like, you mean, if I can’t dream in the dreaming…"
"You’re not subject to the whims of Destiny either, " Despair whispered.
"He has manipulated you, used your comic books for ill. He has forced this fork to be taken, rather than any other path in his book." Death told me sadly.
"Destiny’s Rebellion," I heard a deep, boisterous voice say behind me, "is freedom."
I turned and gasped at the large red headed man who loomed behind me. He smiled kindly, but my knees began to shake in horror. It was Destruction, the one member of the Endless who swore he would never return.
"Why are you here?" Death demanded, herself shocked at his arrival.
"There are some responsibilities I can never get away from," he sighed, motioning towards his horse.
"No! No…" I gasped, running back up my stairs, to the attic where Dream sat, reading my graphic novels.
"And now, Dream looked up and began to speak with Kathie…" he read aloud, looking up at me.
"Stop that!" I commanded "What are you doing? I mean the End of Everything is coming, aren’t you frightened?"
He gazed at me, "No."
"Of course not."
He pointed to the books in front of me. "I have learned something of interest. There are two versions, two endings."
"Well, of course, that’s what life’s like…"
"Kathie, tell me, what are the last two books of your Sandman comics?"
"Huh? Well, The Kindly Ones and The Wake," I answered, looking down at the books at his feet.
"Here is book 9, Destiny’s Rebellion, and book 10’s title tends to waver between, In the Wake, and A Wake. The two worlds seem to divide at the end of book 8, World’s End. Instead of the story tellers witnessing a great funeral, there is Destiny, tearing away the manacle that chains him to his precious book…"
I began to pace across the room, I stopped mid-pace and asked him, "Dream, if one wanted to go about killing one of the Endless, how would one do it?"
Chapter 3
Death, Taxes and Destiny
The dagger stabs neatly though the back. That was the first line of a cheesy poem I wrote in High School. What the heck did that mean anyway? "The dagger stabs neatly though the back"?
I was about to find out.
Dream had given me a dagger crafted out of the Dreaming, telling me that only weapons forged by one of the Endless could kill another. I held it behind my back as I ventured into my garden. The Riders had gone, off to proclaim the Apocalypse to the world. I could hear the screaming, the squealing of sirens, and the unmistakable sounds of explosions and gunshots.
All paths lead to Destiny’s garden, and the one in my garden was no exception. Soon I found myself in places unfamiliar. I knew I had to be close.
"You have come to see me?"
I whirled, surprised. He had crept up behind me. "Yes." I said, carefully keeping both hands behind my back.
What is it you are hiding?
Come and see.
Could I do it? Could I kill Destiny?
He stepped closer to me, clutching his book desperately to his chest, I could see that it was no longer chained to his body. I raised my arm, the dagger’s blade flashing brightly in the perpetual twilight…
And I let it fall. I just couldn’t do it, couldn’t kill another being.
Destiny stepped away, no expression on his face. Was I to die now? Would he smite me for my action?
Instead he began to laugh, steadily. He laughed so hard, he had to seat himself, using a nearby stump, settling the book on the ground next to him. "Child, have you any idea of the penalty for killing one of the Endless?"
"Well, I had an idea, yeah," I mean, I had read the entire Sandman series cover to cover. Twice. But then again, which series was I living in now?
"You are mine," he declared, "the only way I could be free of my cage."
"I don’t understand, like, you embody Destiny itself, why would you ever WANT to be free?"
"Why would I ever want at all?" he whispered, gazing at me intently. He stood and began to pace. "I never would have thought of it, if not for you."
"What are you talking about? Are you blaming me for the whole Apocalypse?" I cried.
"If you would shut up for a moment, I would explain. You know that you no longer dream in the realm of my brother, the Dreaming, instead, somehow, you became lost, dreaming in my realm, my garden. Your dreams often involved a comic book, something you were invariably reading. After all, often dreams mimic what you do during the day, especially so in my realm. Once, I picked up one of these comic books, and I began to flip its pages. This was not in my book, nor was your sudden appearance in my realm.
"I am never surprised, it is a fact. But once I read the tales you left behind, I learned that there was a deviation in reality. You see, two choices, or forks were possible. In one I would remain as I always have been, never changing. In the other, I rebel. I had to choose. I now had two books, which was correct? It had to be decreed.
"So I closed my eyes, and randomly chose a book. Thus I rebelled."
"But that isn’t rebelling, that’s just another form of you doing what you’ve always been doing."
"But my dear," he interrupted with a smile, "I had a choice. That has never happened before."
"So do we all," a deep voice greeted us from the dimness, a voice I had become very familiar with.
Dream.
Destiny whirled, aghast at the sight of Dream holding the book Destiny had left by the stump. "Give me that!" he cried, in shock.
"You may have it. I have already learned what I needed to learn." Dream tossed the book at his elder brother. "I really can’t blame you at all, you were just doing as you always do. You can no more betray your nature than I can. When met with two books, what could you do?"
"Um, yeah, but like, him doing this is causing the destruction of the world, hello!" I poked into the conversation.
"Crap," I muttered under my breath.
"Do not worry, Destiny. I will return things to their proper sequence, via the proper book." He turned and stalked away from us both.
"Um, hey, wait!" I cried, running after him.
He let me follow him as we walked, the paths changing into something else. "So," I began, wondering what to say, fighting the urge to say something stupid like, "how bout those dreams? Great huh?" Instead I gasped out, "Where are we going?"
He turned and gazed at me sadly. "I found where the books truly diverge. Destiny found his doubled book just as I was returning to the isle in Greece."
"Uh, oh no."
"Yes," he said softly, turning away from me to walk down a path I could no longer follow. "I have to kill my son."
Chapter 4
To all things, an ending
Well, it wasn’t much of an apocalypse. I did get the chance to watch with amusement the crowds rushing by screaming, and wailing, "What about the rapture?" Faith because of a presidential administration isn’t faith at all. Geez, when did I get preachy? I didn’t think Bush’s misguided theocracy would last much longer after this little fiasco. I could imagine the headlines, "president fails to prevent apocalypse." Heh.
Death came to my door the next morning.
"So, wassup?" I asked, feeling groggy and drained.
"You did the right thing."
"You told me to kill Destiny." I accused angrily.
"Because that’s what you needed to hear. You had to make a choice."
"This is so Zen," I sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "Do you want to come in?"
She grinned, shaking her head, "No, you won’t see me again until it is the end. I just wanted to let you know that you set things back on their proper course. And, now you’ll dream properly."
"No more comics in Destiny’s realm, eh?" I said wistfully.
Death laughed, shaking her thick dark hair with each movement, "I think Destiny needed the change, he’s my brother, and I love him to, ah, death, but he really needs to get out more often."
I smiled at that. "So, things are back to normal. I guess it’s Daniel I’ll be meeting in the Dreamworld?"
She held her fingers to her lips, as if gesturing for silence, then she gradually faded from view.
And that, as they say, was that.
Author’s Notes:
Ok, before you berate me for the general wackiness of this story, you must learn, the entire thing was a dream. No, I don’t mean that "Kathie" was dreaming, I meant that I dreamt the events described above. I made some of the transitions smoother when I wrote it, but the entire thing was dreamt by me a few nights ago. And you thought my writing was weird! This is like the 2nd time I’m dreamt of the Sandman. Hmmm…draw your own conclusions.
Legal disclaimer: Sandman and all related characters belong to DC comics and Neil Gaiman, that wonderful, wonderful man. Please don't sue me, I'm making no money on this whatsoever, and heck, I've spent plenty of money ON the Sandman franchise to begin with, so you can't really begrudge me a fanfic or two, huh?
CP