nightmare part two

You're running screaming from the angry mob, not understanding why it's apparently such a crime to be less than perfect, but you know these people are not really who they claim they are. That Jack is not the Jack you know. That Tara is not the Tara you know. But somehow, in this world, they all hate you for not being happy, for not being the best version of yourself. For waking up and realizing you don't want to say 'gosh golly' and 'what a lovely day' over and over. Your idea of what the perfect American life is, is understandably a little fucked, and now you're running for your life.

You can hear Tara screaming at you, that all she wanted to do was to make you happy and see how good things could be if you just conformed to what everyone else wanted but you know that's not the real Tara screaming at you. She wouldn't do that to you -- right? It hurts when you realize you're not actually sure, and you're also not sure if you're ever going to see home again. Your home. Your dumb lonely brownstone in Boston, living next door to your equally neurotic friend Gabe (though there is a version of Gabe running after you with a sword, and he wants your head on a platter for ruining his now perfect life - you're just the king of messing up everyone's plans, aren't you?).

Running and screaming for your life, you run down towards a street, which suddenly turns into Boston, and the neighborhood your brownstone is in. So you run towards that, and manage to reach your place of residence, running inside and shutting the door. You barricade it with anything that you can find, and you run towards your basement, where you know you keep weapons and other things you've been making.

Only, when you open your supply closet, there are no weapons. There are stuffed animals, and play swords, and bouncy balls, and basketballs and other things that can't help you at all. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," you mutter over and over in a frantic manner, as you try to find anything to defend yourself with. You grab a pool cue from your pool table and snap it in half, but when you do, it turns into little brightly colored butterflies and they fly away from you. "Fuck!" you scream, and suddenly you hear people outside. They shout that they've found you, that you're inside the house.

They're going to force you to be happy if you like it or not.

You run to flee through the one exit that you know of, but in the door stands your brother Matt, and Tara is with him. "Baby, let me help you," Tara coos as she comes towards you with a needle. "One little injection of this, and you'll be all happy and perfect again."

You run backwards and scream, "Get the fuck away from me!"

"Come on, bro," Matt says, following you also with a syringe, "Don't you want to finally be happy? I just want you to be happy, what is so wrong with that?"

"I want to be happy on my own terms!" You scream back, and you feel your back slam into a wall, and you have nowhere else to go. They're both closing in on you, ready to make you conform.

"You must be happy on our terms, Drew, you know this," Tara says, and you shake your head.

"You're not her! You're not Tara! Tara wouldn't do this! And you're not Matt! Who are you people? Get away from me! Get me out of here!"

Matt makes a disapproving sound, "Don't you get it? You're stuck here. You're stuck here with us, until you become a happy little drone like all of us. Don't you get it? There's no room in the world for someone as self-deprecating and depressive as you. That Drew doesn't deserve happiness, so we'll just make a better you. A better you that deserves this beautiful woman here," Matt turns to Tara, and pulls her towards him, and grins.

You watch as the two for them start to make out in front of you, and you know that Matt can't stand her and you know this can't be real, but all you can think is I deserve this, I knew she'd be happy with someone else, I knew I wasn't worth it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it and you sink to the floor. You hug your knees close to your chest and you hear them both laughing at you, pointing and laughing, and Tara leans down.

"If you want to be with me, you need to change everything, Drew," She says, and you close your eyes as she stabs you with the syringe. You scream, you try to fight against the drug, but it's useless. You know by now you can't fight this. You know by now there is nothing you can do. You're stuck like this. You're stuck conforming to what the people in this world want you to be.

Everything goes rainbow and bright and soon you're grinning again like a fool. You feel this extreme happiness and you know the world is perfect, because you're perfect! You're exactly as you should be, you see the world exactly as you should, and gosh everything is so happy. Everything is so wonderful. You look up at your brother and your girlfriend and both of them are looking down at you, heads tilted to the left with big bright beautiful grins on their faces. What happy lovely people you know! What a happy lovely life you have!

"What a lovely day!" You say, and Tara helps you up, and you both leave this odd looking location and head back to your beautiful home with the white picket fence. Life is perfect! It's grand!

Gosh golly, it's so good to be happy! Everything is as it should be!