The Phantom Nightmaren Chapter 1

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 1

Chai Dream Latte

“There will always be nightmares in human’s hearts.”

Those words resided in Helen Cartwright through her teenagehood and recent adulthood.  It has helped Helen a lot, even if it came from the Nightmare King.

Helen rushed to the Bellbridge Clock Tower in her full makeup and dress.  It wasn’t a pink dress, like the last time she played there. It was a brown Victorian dress that cut off at the knees, and was low cut to show her awesome bust.  She also worse a top hat, and had goggles on her eyes. She laid down her violin case to take the instrument out.  Helen stopped at the top of the stairs.  She left the case on the ground and stood up a few CDs.  She began to play.

A few people looked at her for a few seconds, but she didn’t get any tips.  It wasn’t expected for Helen to get tips from her fellow Bellbridgers, for she will be getting a lot more for what was coming up next.  The device in Helen’s ear spoke, “ready?”

“Ready.”  

Fireworks shot out from the steps, and the crowd looked at Helen.  Then the hidden stereos started playing dubstep.  Helen started to play an excited jaunt of a song, sounding almost mechanical, but exciting.  People dressed as clockwork robots began to surround her as they danced along with Helen’s song. Helen began to dance smoothly along with her violin.  The type of dance Helen learned from a great teacher, and has been well known for mastering.

Every single person in that radius was watching the marvel of Helen Cartwright.  They all stood still to see what was going on.  

One of the robots looked at Helen, and then began to dance with her.  They both did a jig together, then the robot did a flip above Helen.  Everyone gasped.

Helen then played another note, then all the fireworks shot out in sync with her playing.  She sun around then jumped a few steps of the stairs.  She kneeled down and played the last note.  She kept her eye contact with a redheaded woman with a camera and smiled.

There were people who put money in her violin case in exchange for her CDs.  Some people didn’t have money, so they took business cards so they can buy CDs online.  This was all good, because Helen makes the most money selling CDs.  Yet there will be more people buying Helen’s stuff in the near future.

The redheaded woman put her camera in her bag and ran over to Helen, “oh my gosh, that was amazeballs!”  She passed Helen, then grabbed another camera from a railing, then another camera behind Helen.  “YouTube is going to love this!”

“I hope so, Lucy!  I’m sure my subscribers will see it for sure, but I don’t know if we’ll get anyone new from this.”

“Oh, I got Claris Sinclair to link it on her Twitter already; views will go up from there!”
Claris Sinclair was a famous composer of a famous trilogy of gothic musicals.  Helen has heard about the Indigogo about her musical movie based on her most successful one about a highly technological and utopian Hell.  She’s been getting so much money for this movie, that she’s running out of ways to spend it.  Claris already got the inheritor of the Hilton hotel chain: Athens Hilton to play the Devil’s daughter, what more can there be?

A man in a football jersey approached Helen.  He looked kind of familiar.  He put 50 note and a 10 note in the violin case, “can I have six?”

Helen perked up, “Six?  As in half a dozen?  What do you need them for?”

“Some of the members of my team in Wimbledon love you, and I thought it would be nice to give them your CDs.”

“Oh!” Lucy exclaimed, “you guys just made it to FIFA last season! Elliot Edwards has been working hard to move you guys up to this point!”

“Well, that was the publicity, but it was mostly our skills that got us there,” the man blushed,

“Helen, do you remember me?”

Helen took a good look at the man.  She knew a football player… but it couldn’t have been him.  She didn’t even think he existed since humans can’t share the same dream, “Will? You actually exist?”

“How am I supposed to answer that?” the man scratched his head, “do I live in a plane on nonexistence?”

“Do jesters live in a plan of nonexistence?” Helen replied.

“Technically no,” Will answered, “but I get that you’re baffled to see me in this plane of existence.  I was baffled to see you dressed like a Dragonborn on YouTube.”
Helen took out her cellphone, “what’s your number?”
Will gave the number to Helen, then Helen called the number.  Will declined the call, but added the number to his contacts.  

“Just don’t call me next week,” Helen mentioned, “I’m going to the States to a convention.”

“Oh, me too, is it VidCon by any chance?”

Helen giggled, “I guess it is.  I am a YouTube sensation after all.”

“Just like Elliot! I could get you guys to meet and make you become a Nerdfighter.”

“I don’t think I get rid of enough World Suck for that.  I just make music.”
***

Helen had a lot of World Suck when she was seventeen.  She was starting her first year at conservatory, and doing very well.  That was when the car accident happened.  The two people who were in that car were Helen’s mom and dad.  Helen couldn’t keep the mansion her parents had since she couldn’t find a job that could help her afford it.  So she had to sell the mansion.  She lived with her aunt while she continued to study music, until her aunt lost her job and couldn’t support Helen.  So Helen had to quit conservatory, get a full time job at a music store that sold vinyls, cassette tapes, and equipment and music for techno music.  Techno wasn’t Helen’s jam per say, but she had to learn about it to keep the job.  Helen had to thank her best friend Natalie for the job in the first place.

Helen had been seeing NiGHTS less and less.  It was more Nightmaren from there.  Yet she has done what most visitors couldn’t do: fight them off.  

Helen had been more lucid, and was able to summon her violin that fought the nightmaren off.  She dances her way towards the nightmare, and they fled away.  
One night, there was a creature that took notice.

“Well, well, aren’t you a special Visitor?” It was a booming voice in the Dreamgate.  

“NiGHTS? Is that you?” Helen asked.

“No, you can call me an angel of some sort.”

Helen raised an eyebrow, was this some sort of octopus that farts out rings? “I’d like a name.”

“Call me Jackle.  I can teach you how to be better with a violin.”

Well, conservatory was out of the picture.  Might as well learn from a dream, what is there to lose? “Sounds good, what do you want out of this?”

“Nothing.  Just your devotion,” said the voice.

***

Not only has Helen learned a lot from this, “Jackle,” but they talked about her life, and figured out a few things.  Helen had always moved around as they played violin, so Jackle taught her how to dance with it.  Helen knows a lot about classical and techno, so Jackle said to mix the two.  Helen liked video games and movies, so Jackle said to make music from those mediums.  

Natalie has been a lot of help as well, as well as her second best friend: Lucy.  Natalie composed the techno portion of the songs, while Helen composed the classical portions.  Lucy directed, shot, and edited the performances to put up on YouTube. Lucy does the the social networking as well.  

Helen had gone viral, and makes a fair amount of money from advertising, Parton, and CDs.  Sure,
Helen still worked with Natalie at the store, but it wasn’t full time anymore.  Helen had multiple panels at VidCon this year, including a concert of her music.

This was awesome! And Helen had to thank a dream creature for helping her.  For sure, it was NiGHTS saying she was someone else, but it was still kind of her to help her through a hard time.  

***

A Nightmare or a Dream?
An Angel is what it seems.
Returning my gift of music.
To its previous state.
He just needs my devotion.
I don’t know of it’s notions,
But it something that I can do to get things straight.