The DREAM WORLD Series
DAYDREAM REALITY

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----- Chapter 7 -----
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A slow, rhythmic drumming broke the peaceful silence of the room.

Aaaagh... my head! Aaron clutched his ears in vain hope of blocking out the noise. "Go away." He mumbled and rolled over.

Despite his protest, the noise continued. Things slowly crept back into his mind. Something had happened... but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. Stumbling around in the dark, his fingers finally brushed against the light switch on the wall and the room was illuminated. Blinking, he noted ruefully that now his head hurt ten times worse than it had before. "Stupid." He mumbled and grasped the doorknob. "Who's there? It's--", He glanced at the clock. "-- 3am. You'd better have a good excuse for---".

The kid standing in the doorway stared back at him almost as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "Aaron?" He then grew serious. "I don't have much time. I just wanted to say goodbye... while I still remember everything that happened."

"Sorry. It's early, but... do I know you?"

Considering his answer carefully, the boy gave a slow shrug. "I don't know. Do you?"

"What kind of a question is that? Listen, shooting starts in two hours and as much as I'd love to spend that time standing here listening to you mimic me I'd---" Aaron broke off suddenly. It was as if a heavy gauze had been removed from around his memory. "Eric?"

"Here it's Jake, actually. Glad you finally came around." The boy handed him a stack of papers and headed for the door again.

"What--? How--? When--? Where--? Why--?" He felt like asking about a million questions as everything came back to him.

"Throw 'Who' in there and you've got a complete set." Jake quipped.

Aaron brushed by him and rushed over to the mirror. He was back to normal again. Hair. Clothes. Voice. Was I just dreaming that all of that happened?

"Nope." The door shut. "See you around."

"How did you know what I was thinking of?" He turned, but Jake was gone. "What kind of a sick joke is this? Listen, I've had a really bad past few days and my sense of humor is----"

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"--a little bent out of shape." Aaron mumbled and woke with a start.

"Morning, sleepyheads. Figured you would have at least headed back to your trailers before nodding off. Talk about dedication to one's art." A voice Aaron recognized as that of their director, Ned, broke in. "Bent out of shape about what?"

This is your brain... this is your brain on drugs. Any questions? Aaron found the public service announcement line best fit his current situation. If that was all a dream, I must have eaten something that not just disagreed with, but flat out HATED me. He glanced over and nudged LB awake.

"Wha--?" He sat bolt upright and turned the full rage of a man awoken from a deep sleep on Aaron. "What was that for?!"

"Just wanted to let you know that we finished FILMING for the night." He tried to make the sentence as pointed as possible.

LB's hands shot up to his head in a flash to verify what Aaron had been hinting at. Wig, and this time it WAS a wig! "WHOO-HOO!!"

Ned cocked an eyebrow in amusement. "Something the matter?"

"Oh!" LB backpedaled quickly. "Uhm, just glad to be able to.. go to bed." He snapped his mouth shut, but his brain was still running happy little circles, and quite possibly it's own version of the dance of joy.

"Pardon my French, but what the hell is going on?" Jeff broke in suddenly, and just as quickly shot a hand up to his throat. "My voice!"

"What about it?" Ned was rapidly feeling like the odd man out in this particular conversation.

"--is a little hoarse." Jeff finished after getting 'the look' from both LB and Aaron.

George woke up last, wearing the same confused expression on his face that the others had. Before he could utter a single word though, he stood up and could have done a back flip in joy. He was a full five foot ten again! "I knew it was just a dream!"

Ned gave the four a confused look. "Okay boys. You're getting weird. I'd say it's high time you guys got some sleep. See you in the morning." He walked off shaking his head, completely missing the celebration going on directly behind him.

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The guys had gotten out of their costumes as fast as was humanly possible, but the second part of their orders-- the go directly to sleep part-- had come harder. Oh, they had tried their best to convince themselves that it had all been one bad dream, but they knew deep down that it hadn't been. For one thing, four guys don't all have the same exact dream, at the same exact time, and interact with one another in your typical dream.

All of this weighed heavy on their minds as they slogged into the local Starbucks to unwind a little. 'Unwind' was an odd choice of words considering a triple mocha caffeine rush wasn't exactly key to relaxing oneself. A local radio station played low in the background, providing an odd background track for their meeting.

"--- a recent offering from the 1960's pop culture phenomena, The Monkees." The radio DJ was announcing the late night song lineup. "From their 1996 album, 'Justus'---"

Aaron, George, LB and Jeff all got up at the same time. Each knew the other had come up with the same excuse of having to use the bathroom. Embarrassed, they all sat back down. So much for that.

"It's my life, and I'm taking over now.
It's my life, and it's time that I learned how.
No excuses,
For the truth is,
It's my life now..."

"Well, someone had better say something before we float away down the mochachino river." LB cocked his head towards a growing stack of empty cups sitting on the table.

"I stumble and I fall
And I think about it all.."

"I dunno. A sugar high sounds like the perfect thing right now." Aaron shotgunned the last bit of creamy brown liquid and tossed the green paper cup onto the growing pile. "Who's ready for more?"

Jeff stared off into space for a long moment. "So by destroying that machine thing everything was put back to the way it was before?"

"And I make amends,
But it never ends
And I've just begun to wonder why.."

"It makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, we sorted out all the kinks and knots that Herbert guy created in the timeline." LB spoke as he worked to pull out a tight knot in his shoelaces. Meeting with no success he threw his hands up in submission. "Anyone have a pair of scissors I could borrow?"

"Well, fellahs, like it or not, we've gotta be up bright an' early tomarrah mornin'. 'Et's call it a night." George crumpled a napkin up in his fist, a playful expression on his face.

Three horrified expressions turned in George's direction.

"Just kidding, guys."

They all got up and left George sitting at the table.

"What? C'mon! Just a joke guys!........... Guys?" Grabbing up his coat, he headed for the door. "Wait up!" As he rushed out the door after the other three, he slammed into a customer coming inside, rushing to apologize as fast as he could. "Sorry. Sorry. Gotta go kill three other guys is all."

The customer got up and brushed the dirt off his coat and out of his short, blonde hair. Adjusting the wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, he chuckled and waved George on. "No big deal."

"It's my life and I'm taking over now..."

George stopped dead in his tracks. Something in the back of his brain was prickling. It was like an extremely strong sense of deja vu.

"It's my life and it's time that I learned how..."

"The guys are waiting to go back to our trailers. We're waiting on you." Aaron doubled back, but stopped as he saw the retreating form of the other man. "What was that about?"

"No excuses, for the truth is..."

Bending down, Aaron scooped up an ID badge the guy had dropped. "Hey! You forgot your----" He cut off as he read the name on the tag. JAKE. "It couldn't be the same guy... could it?"

"It's my life now."

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The VH1 movie "Daydream Believers: The Monkees Story" is copywrite Pebblehut Productions. I am in no way affiliated with the guys who played the Monkees (Aaron Lohr, LB Fisher, George Stanchev, and Jeff Geddis) in this movie. I just wrote this out of admiration for the guys and the incredible job done on the movie. If you don't agree with my interpretation of one of the actors or one of them happens to actually READ this... I'm simply guessing about what they're (you're) really like. No offense is intended! This fanfic is copywrite Random Fandom. If you would like to link Random Fandom on your own website, be my guest!