The Dream Team

The Dream Team

“‘...In other words, we’ve taken into consideration your astounding visual skills, and have decided to assign you the task of bringing Ms. Jade's dreams to life.’” Upon hearing this, I started screaming before Skye even had the chance to get excited. Soon enough, we were bouncing up and down in every direction. Taking a break to catch our breath, Skye exclaimed, “I can't believe you got assigned to Jazmin Jade this week!!”

“I KNOW RIGHT!!” We started screaming all over again.

Suddenly, Skylar froze and sat down before telling me the news I dreaded most, “Wait, there’s more…‘To make sure that Ms. Jade gets the best storyline possible, we’ve also assigned Boss to provide the ideas and supervise your work.’”

“No. Please tell me you’re just joking,” I hoped this was just a stupid prank.

“I'm sorry Kal.”

Suddenly, the room started spinning. I slipped down, longing for the feeling of the floor steadying my feet, and instead found myself crying into Skye's soft blouse, newly stained with smudged eyeliner and mascara.

Designing Ms. Jade's dreams had been my dream since I became old enough to learn how to read her books. Every one of her storylines came from the comfort of her bed. Every book she ever wrote was dedicated to the dream team that turned a simple idea into a story. If I created something she really liked, my whole existence wouldn’t be a mere joke.

It is every creator's dream to be appreciated. The whole world's imagination depends on people like us; people who are born with a unique view. Since infancy, we are trained to turn that vision into dreams that the humans down on earth can see in their sleep. Once the training is over, we are made members of one of the organizations that are separated based on the type of view our kind can be born with.

Unfortunately for me, the team I was placed in specializes in fictionalized life and is under the supervision of Boss, a lady who makes me want to pull my hair out. Even more unfortunate for me, she burst into my office, ready to work, right when I had finished feeling sorry for myself.

Seeing her smug face, I knew that I couldn’t let her ruin my one chance to be recognized. That is why, with the help of Skye, I got up off the floor and greeted Boss before turning to my work area, ready to face whatever challenges Boss threw at me. Thinking back, it would’ve probably been a better idea to stay on the floor.

Strangely, Boss already had an idea ready. All I had to do was write out the commands that would form the images in Ms. Jade's dreams. Soon enough, we had entered Jazmin's mind and were ready to start sharing our work live. Although being scheduled to be the 3rd dream to stream meant Ms. Jade would awake right after, I couldn’t wait to share my abilities.

You'd think a boss should know the right time to review their work would be before the work needs to be absolutely ready. It wouldn’t make me an honest person if I chose to deny that even with professional training, I couldn’t catch up to Boss’s crazy mind.

The dream started out with kids coming out of a school bus… A girl, who looked similar to Ms. Jade, walked towards a boy with a fanny pack-

“That's the story?!” Boss interrupted.

“Yes, it's what you asked for.”

“I didn’t think it would sound so lame!”

I tried to hold back an eye roll and instead said, “Ma’am, this is just an idea. If Ms. Jade likes it, she will turn it into a story.”

Boss didn’t look convinced. “Make the boy her friend,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am”

Happy to see him, she asked, “Are you coming with us?”

The boy, her friend Ethan, responded-

“Make him pretend not to care,” Boss interrupted once again.

“Didn’t you just make them friends?”

“Yes, and I don't see a future for them together. Do as I say.” Boss could be seriously annoying sometimes.

Ethan didn’t bother looking at her when he said, “Sorry, I'm not leaving.” Bummed, the girl headed back to her line. Her group headed towards an auto-repair shop-

As it turns out, Boss couldn’t stop herself from adding, “Make sure to mention she's a high school student. Oh, and, make the shop look like the back of a Macy's store.”

Unable to stop my eyes from rolling, I added what she asked.

Her high school group headed towards an auto-repair shop that looked like the back of a giant store that can be found at a mall.

I waited for a couple of seconds until Boss said, “This whole auto-repair shop business seems questionable. Make it a school instead.” There it was.

“Ma'am, your honor, Ms. Jade is dreaming this right now. I can't keep redoing the image. It will make the dream blurry.” Not in the mood to listen to her reply, I hit the backspace anyway and reworded my command.

Going into the lunchroom, she passed Jacob, a worker who worried about her. Looking different in his work clothes, she didn’t recognize him as the guy who secretly admired her. When he told his friends, “I hope she doesn’t end up going to school here,” she had already bounced away with her group.

As expected, Boss changed up my layout again, “Now make her explore the doors behind the auto-repair shop.”

Not appreciating her lack of memory I asked, “What about the school?”

“Oh, forget the school. You already ruined it.”

I guess you could say my mood fell. It’s been made very clear to me that people who say that change is a good thing have, clearly, never experienced this kind of change. No one but the dream team could ever understand how Boss’s definition of change could frustrate someone. Nothing I created under Boss’s supervision would ever make sense. All I could do was follow instructions and rage about it later.

She opened a door and stepped through it, unsure of what lay ahead of her. The walls-

I had gotten used to Boss’s interrupting, so when she said, “They were spinning. She was upside down,” I knew this was just the norm.

“Wha- what are you talking about?” It was clear Boss had lost her mind.

“Every good dream keeps you wishing for more,” Boss said.

I could not believe the person hovering over me was the same person that recently turned a decent storyline into a pile of garbage. For once, Boss said something wise. Smiling, I said, “You know the truth, ma’am.”

Those walls seemed to watch her every move. The walls...they seemed to be alive. She had never been more scared of an inanimate object as she was then. As she explored the hallways, she heard voices in her head advising her to run.

Of course, Boss’s great idea was simply hidden insanity. “Thank you walls,” she said, motioning to the dream screen. Sighing, I added her suggestion.

Thanking the walls for the advice, she turned and fled.

“Why is she fleeing!? Do you want to be known for creating a loser protagonist?” Boss shrieked.

At this point, I was truly ticked off so it wasn’t my fault the following came out of my mouth, “SHUT UP, WILL YOU?! I'm doing the best I can and even my best isn’t enough to turn this garbage dream into a story worth telling, so if you could lay off my back, that’d be amazing.”

“Put. Her. Back. In. The. School.” Boss wasn’t afraid to add, “Or you’re fired immediately.”

    Because being on the dream team meant everything to me, I could only yell back, “FINE!” before finishing what would ruin me one way or another.

Finding her group again wasn’t a problem until the trouble she went through to return snatched her back into the cold, dark school. As if the school could feel her fear, two devil girls made of plastic moved towards her, cackling on their way. She did the only thing she could do; run.

Thinking it weird that Boss hadn’t interrupted, I asked, “What should she do next?”

Though Boss was no longer interested in the dream, she still said, “Have her run outside...”

She did her best to get away and thanked her feet when they found the outside.

I looked up for guidance. Boss continued, “Let her see her art teacher and run to him to get away from their viciousness…”

Standing just a few yards away from her was her engli-

“Actually, I prefer music teachers..”

She ran to her music teacher as fast as she could and called for help. Turning to the plastic girls, he asked, “Is there a problem?”

Hissing, they replied, “Mr. Silver, she is ours.”

Boss looked up from her lap with a gleam in her eye and said, “She may be an orphan child, but she is not yours.” There was the frustrating Boss I knew.

“No girls. I am her father, so she is mine.” Mr. Silver looked down at his wonderful daughter and held her hand. “Come on Jazmin. Let’s go home.”

I looked over at Boss and smiled when she gave me an approving nod. Feeling sorry for my open annoyance I told her, “I'm sorry for the way I acted.” Boss nodded and walked out of the room without any word.

At that moment, Ms. Jade woke up and blinked at the ceiling. I thought I would never get another chance to work for Jazmin Jade again until she turned to grab her phone. The hairs on my neck stood up at the sight of the twitter bird and my heart raced as she started to type…

“I just had the weirdest dream!! It gives me a crazy idea…”