Chapter 11 — Once Upon a Time….

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“The owl and the pussy cat….”

“The owl and the pussy cat…”

“The Owl and the pussy cat went to sea in a green tea leaf…”

“Ring a ring a rosies….”

“Ring a ring a rosies, we all fall out of the green tea leaf….”

“I’ll dance all night with you, all dressed up in green pussy-cat shoes with a ring of pink roses circling your crown…”

The nightmare orchestra’s dulcet tones waft over the breeze, along with a strange new sound.

“Help… Help… Help…Crochet”

“Quick Quaver, that’s Leyla. She’s calling Crochet”, shouts The Inventor as he and Quaver move cautiously through the nightmare trees. “I don’t think we are going to be able to stop her before she gets to the center of the forest.”

But wait… dear, old, confused Narrator, Leyla is non-verbal. How can she suddenly speak? This story is too confusing on many levels.

The nightmare orchestra is suddenly producing dulcet tones? Is Leyla suddenly able to talk? And, she is calling for Crochet. Isn’t Crochet gravely injured?

Suddenly, a scream echoes through the forest, silencing the nightmare orchestra, even the nightmare trees. Instant silence reigned — such as had never been heard before in the forest.

What happened, oh Narrator? Who screamed?

Hush, dear readers. Patience. I think we’ve reached a turning point in Leyla’s story. The Forest of Your Worst Nightmare is silent. It’s never been so quiet in the history of its existence.

Oh, fussy and stuffy Narrator! How can we be quiet? What’s happening? We heard a scream. And now it’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Do you have a pin? Have you dropped it? Or has Crochet woken up and dropped his crochet hooks?

Dear, dear, trying readers. If you won’t keep quiet, how can I find out what is happening in the forest?

Wait…. I can hear ghost-like voices floating out of the forest.

Oh no…. There are really giant spiders in the forest — like the Acromanutla described in Chapter 7. They aren’t just the branches of the Nightmare trees intertwined to trap people (and animals ) who stumble into this part of the forest. Except these spiders dig great big pits in the ground and weave strong webs over them to trap their prey.

Leyla has fallen into one of these traps. Quick as a flash, a huge, ugly spider with great green eyes has scurried down into the pit and started wrapping Leyla in a web of silk, while singing:

“Incy Wincy spider”

“Climbed up the water spout”

“Down came a delicious snack”

“Incy Wincy spider…..”

“Wait! Stop!” Came a stern voice floating on the breeze.

“Who are you? How dare you disturb my snack!”

“Just you wait! As soon as I’m finished here, I’ll be ready for a second snack! “

Suddenly, a bright light shot out of the darkness, and the giant spider screamed, curling into a ball and moaning to itself as if in incredible pain.

The forest shimmered. From behind the twisted trees, moving their branches together once again, creating the most awful noise, another shape scuttled forward, smaller, sleeker, its body glittering with threads of silver code.

Wait…what’s that? Dear readers… I, the usually confused narrator…am really confused. What on earth is the new creature? Look! The story is continuing…

“How dare you!” hissed the nightmare spider. “This is my domain!”

But the silver shape moved faster than anyone thought possible, hurling a net of light that crackled through the darkness like a lightning bolt striking a tree and spreading down into the earth. The giant spider’s shriek was worse than a banshee, curled into a smoking ball, and was gone.

Silence reigned once again. But this time, a glimmer of hope resonated in the silence.

What about Leyla? Look…

Leyla hung in mid-air, wrapped in sticky silk (like a cocoon). She’s no longer in the giant spider’s pit.

The silver spider crept closer, humming softly (a sound eerily comforting). “Rest, little one,” it whispered, its voice resonating like a lullaby written in binary code. “You are safe for now.”

A soft, golden beam glowed from its eyes, and Leyla’s body went still. The cocoon gently drifted to the forest floor, surrounded by a faint halo of blue light.

“Wait!” I cry. Yes, I, your perpetually bewildered narrator. “Who are you? Another nightmare? A dream? An anti-spider? Another 4IR creature?

But the silver creature vanished into the branches, leaving nothing behind but the faint scent of ozone, the silence of the forest, and the hush of deep sleep.

“Patience, dear readers,” I manage to whisper…”The forest seems to be dreaming now.” And what the future holds for Leyla and her companions…we shall discover… in time.”